Enhanced Multi-Class Driver Injury Severity Prediction Using a Hybrid Deep Learning and Random Forest Approach

Predicting driver injury severity and identifying factors influencing crash outcomes are crucial for developing effective traffic safety measures. This study focuses on estimating driver injury severity (uninjured, injured, or killed) and determining critical factors affecting crash outcomes. A hybrid framework combining Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) and Random Forest (RF) is proposed, where a DNN extracts features and RF performs the final classification, leveraging ensemble methods. The results were compared with those of well-known methods (e.g., kNN, XGBoost), with the hybrid approach achieving the best performance (0.92 accuracy, 0.89 F1-macro, 0.91 F1-micro scores) in predicting injury severity. The results showed that crash type, vehicle type, driver fault, intersection type, season, time, and road type had the greatest impact, while factors like pavement condition and driver gender had minimal influence. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to combine DNN-based feature extraction with RF classification in the context of traffic injury severity prediction. The framework offers a new approach for drivers and policymakers, providing a deeper understanding of driver injury severity prediction and its underlying factors.