Accident; analysis and prevention
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The influence of light level was determined for three pedestrian crash scenarios associated with three adaptive headlighting solutions-curve lighting, motorway lighting, and cornering light. These results were coupled to corresponding prevalence data for each scenario to derive measures of annual lifesaving potential. For each scenario, the risk associated with light level was determined using daylight saving time (DST) transitions to produce a dark/light interval risk ratio; prevalence was determined using the corresponding annual crash rate in darkness for each scenario. ⋯ Finally, in the intersection crash analysis, the dark/light ratio for turning vehicles was lower than for nonturning vehicles; and the ratio at intersections was lower than at non-intersections. Relative safety need was determined by combining the dark/light ratio with prevalence data to produce an idealized measure of lifesaving potential. While all three scenarios suggested a potential for safety improvement, scenarios related to high speed roadway environments showed the greatest potential.
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Non-fatal road casualties are under-reported, with official figures coming from the police. In the French Rhône county, a road trauma registry constitutes a second source of reporting but its completeness needs to be assessed. We also wish to estimate an incidence rate of non-fatal road casualties that is corrected for under-count. ⋯ The degree of completeness of the registry for serious casualties is rather high, though not satisfactory.
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This paper examines the road safety effects of roundabouts built in Flanders between 1994 and 2000. While the overall effect is positive (39% reduction of injury accidents), the results vary considerably with the speed limit on the main and adjacent road (the higher, the more effective) and the pre-roundabout signalization of the intersection (32% reduction with traffic lights versus 44% without). However, microscopic analysis reveals that roundabouts are not always effective. ⋯ The number of injury accidents involving vulnerable road users is also found to increase (28%) on 50 km/h x 50 km/h junctions that were originally signalized. Moreover, the vulnerable road user is more likely to get fatally or seriously injured. Therefore, it is concluded that traffic lights protect vulnerable road users more effectively than roundabouts, which, in turn, are superior to intersections without signalization.
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The Swedish code concerning car drivers' responsibility to give way to pedestrians was strengthened in 2000. The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the short-term effects of the change in code. Another goal is to look at the effects of the reconstruction of four sites in Borås, Sweden. ⋯ At the intersection where pedestrians used marked crosswalks to a lower extent after reconstruction, children and the elderly had the smallest increase in frequency of being given way to. After reconstruction to a court-yard street, the pedestrians were given way to a lower extent compared with the other sites, though the vehicle speeds were the lowest observed at this study. At the sites were no physical changes were made, the change of code improved driver yield behavior, but no more towards children than other age groups.