Accident; analysis and prevention
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Bus drivers often work irregular hours or split shifts and their work involves high levels of stress. These factors can lead to severe sleepiness and dangerous driving. This study examined how split shift working affects sleepiness and performance during afternoon driving. ⋯ One driver fell asleep during the drive. In addition, 12 of the 18 bus drivers reported that in their daily work they have to fight to stay awake while driving at least 2-4 times per month. While there were strong individual differences, the study clearly showed that shift-working bus drivers struggle to stay awake and thus countermeasures are needed in order to guarantee safe driving with split shift schedules.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Randomized trials and self-reported accidents as a method to study safety-enhancing measures for cyclists-two case studies.
A large number of studies show that high visibility in traffic is important in the struggle of getting the attention from other road users and thus an important safety factor. Cyclists have a much higher risk of being killed or injured in a traffic accident than car drivers so for them high visibility is particularly important. A number of studies have examined the effect of high visibility, such as reflective clothing, but most studies have been primitive, the data limited and the results very uncertain. ⋯ The trials were not blind and it seems that the lack of blinding has influenced the level of the groups accident reporting. To address this bias we used a correction factor formed by the difference in the number of single accidents of the two groups. The experiences with self-reporting of accidents via a web based questionnaire sent by e-mail with one respective two month intervals were very good; in both trials more than 80% answered all questionnaires whereas less than 2% did not answer, and the quality of the self-reported accident was considered high.