Grey Relational Analysis Method of Main Reasons of Road Traffic Accidents

Road traffic accidents are caused by many factors, which could be considered as the grey system with the characteristics of complexity, imperfect information, and non-definition. To quickly analyze the main factors contributing to traffic accidents, the grey relational analysis method is presented. In that, the grey relational degree and the grey relational order of each traffic accident factor are calculated, while the relative significance of each influence factor for traffic accidents is determined. So, the main reasons for traffic accident are specifically identified. According to a study of 2000 traffic accidents in one city in Northeast China between 2005 and 2007, the relational degree of weather is analyzed by using the grey relational analysis method when the amount of traffic accidents are looked upon as the decision attribute. The first three factors, and corresponding relational degree, are snowy (0.8587), cloudy (0.8491), and rainy (0.7877), respectively.