Traffic injury prevention
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Traffic injury prevention · Dec 2006
Cervical spine loads and intervertebral motions during whiplash.
To quantify the dynamic loads and intervertebral motions throughout the cervical spine during simulated rear impacts. ⋯ During whiplash, the cervical spine is subjected to not only bending moments, but also axial and shear forces. These combined loads caused both intervertebral rotations and translations.
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An earlier study reported that electronic stability control (ESC) in passenger vehicles reduced single-vehicle crash involvement risk by 41% and single-vehicle fatal crash involvement risk by 56%. The purpose of the present study was to update these effectiveness estimates using an additional year of crash data and a larger set of vehicle models. ⋯ The present study confirms the results of the earlier study. There are significant reductions in single-vehicle crash rates when passenger vehicles are equipped with ESC. In addition, ESC leads to reductions in severe multiple-vehicle crashes.
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Traffic injury prevention · Dec 2006
A cost-benefit analysis of risk-reduction strategies targeted at older drivers.
The risk of motor-vehicle collisions increases as driving-related functional abilities decline. These declines can accompany normal or pathological aging and can be identified through driving-related functional screening exams upon license renewal. The objective of this cost-benefit analysis was to determine the utility of four functional screening procedures used to identify drivers at risk for motor-vehicle collisions, as well as an intervention designed to maintain or improve functional abilities. Additionally, this study sought to determine the expected cost per driver if an intervention was designed to target only those drivers who failed the functional ability-based driving screen, versus the expected cost per driver if the intervention was distributed en masse to all drivers 75 years and older. Improving functional abilities in older adults has potential far-reaching health and financial impacts which are broader than their impact of maintaining mobility. ⋯ Screening drivers upon license renewal is not currently beneficial because the available technology cannot consistently identify drivers at risk for a collision. However, the speed-of-processing intervention has demonstrated efficacy in improving driving competence (Roenker et al., 2003) and is a non-invasive, moderate-cost intervention that has the potential to protect the safety and mobility, as well as the financial interests, of older drivers and the community at large.