Journal of Korean Society of Transportation ISSN:1229-1366(Print) 2234-4217(Online) 대한교통학회지

Each year, a number of tourists visit Jeju Island, a popular tourist destination in the Republic of Korea. A large portion of the tourists (about 61%) use a rental car as a means of transportation. With this reason, the number of rental cars registered in Jeju was 15,517 in 2011, while the total number of the rental car has rapidly increased to 26,338 in 2015. For the same period, the number of rental car involved traffic accidents has been doubled. Thus, this study aims to analyze the rental car accidents’ characteristics, clarifying primary factors related to rental car accidents in Jeju Island. To do this, 918 rental car accidents and 4,201 non-commercial passenger car accidents that occurred in Jeju island over the two years (2014-2015) were compared, using statistical methods such as chi-square test and z-test. The results show that the characteristics of rental car involved accidents are different from those caused by the passenger cars. Most of the rental car accidents in Jeju were caused by young drivers and drivers who had just obtained their driver’s licenses. This study finds that driver immaturity, unfamiliar geography, and driving an unfamiliar vehicle are the main causes of the rental car accidents. Statistical analysis confirms that the characteristics of these accidents appeared significantly different from the passenger cars in terms of human and environmental factors. On the other hand, there is no clear evidence that vehicle-related characteristics are different between rental car and non-commercial passenger car accidents. The implications on transportation safety analysis and effective solutions to prevent rental car traffic accidents are discussed.