Accident; analysis and prevention
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Observational Study
Effects of peripheral transverse line markings on drivers' speed and headway choice and crash risk in car-following: A naturalistic observation study.
Rear-end crashes are closely related to car-following situation of vehicles. Speeding and insufficient headway are the major reasons as the drivers have not enough time to react to a sudden brake from the leading vehicle. Perceptual countermeasures, like speed reduction markings, are widely used in practice for accident prevention, and are verified with substantial effectiveness. ⋯ Results of general and sectional relative differences of time headway (ηh, θh), speed (ηv, θv), and distance (ηd, θd) suggests that 1) the speed was reduced, the distance and time headway were increased significantly after the installation of PTLMs when compared with the original condition; 2) a larger intersection angle (α) and a smaller longitudinal spacing (λ) of PTLMs could lead to a greater variations in speed and headway (distance); in particular, the PTLMs in a form of α=150°, λ=2m resulted in 0.44 s increase in time headway, 1.33 m/s reduction in speed, and 4.07 m increase in distance in maximum; 3) the real-time crash risk variations under the influence of PTLMs were evaluated by two modified and extended surrogate safety indicators. The effects of PTLMs were discussed and explained considering the influences of optical illusion on lane width narrowing, edge rate on speed and "discontinuity effect" on distance, respectively. The findings of this study provide theoretical support for the perceptual countermeasures and suggest comparative advantages of PTLMs in dealing with rear-end crashes by intervening drivers' speed and headway choice.
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Traffic fatalities are the second cause of violent deaths in Colombia. However, due to the signing of the peace agreement and the growing number of fatalities in road crashes, it is possible that soon traffic fatalities will be the primary cause of violent deaths in the country, particularly in urban areas. This study is an exploratory analysis focused on identifying the main factors associated with the severity of traffic crashes in urban areas, using Cartagena as a case study. ⋯ However, according to our results, it possibly will not occur unless further countermeasures are taken. Based on these findings, reducing speed limits, operational improvements at signalized intersections, zero tolerance for traffic violations related to pedestrians, an awareness campaign on pedestrian safety focused on males and people aged 60 or older, and improving motorcycle safety are the countermeasures we proposed. Furthermore, as the authorities make significant efforts to investing in pedestrian bridges, we propose a further investigation into the traffic crashes in streets where there is this infrastructure since more severe events occur near them.
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Clinical Trial
The development and validation of video-based measures of drivers' following distance and gap acceptance behaviours.
The distance at which drivers follow other vehicles has been found to be linked to crash risk. Tailgating (i.e. driving at an unsafe following distance) is both endemic and a leading cause of rear-end crashes. Similarly, drivers' decisions about when to merge with a stream of traffic are likely to influence crash risk. ⋯ In our new test of gap acceptance behaviour, participants view a series of video clips and indicate when they would pull out into the approaching stream of traffic shown in each clip. The two new measures each yielded reliable data, and we found that young drivers made riskier choices than older drivers for both following distance and gap acceptance. These age-related differences are consistent with those found in observational studies of real driving, supporting the proposal that the new tests could potentially be used as proxies for these crash-related driving behaviours in both lab-based research and large-scale online studies.
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Comparative Study
Systematic review of unintentional injury prevention economic evaluations 2010-2019 and comparison to 1998-2009.
Health economic evaluation studies (e.g., cost-effectiveness analysis) can provide insight into which injury prevention interventions maximize available resources to improve health outcomes. A previous systematic review summarized 48 unintentional injury prevention economic evaluations published during 1998-2009, providing a valuable overview of that evidence for researchers and decisionmakers. The aim of this study was to summarize the content and quality of recent (2010-2019) economic evaluations of unintentional injury prevention interventions and compare to the previous publication period (1998-2009). ⋯ Most economic evaluations of unintentional injury prevention interventions address just two injury causes. Better adherence to health economic evaluation reporting standards may enhance comparability across studies and increase the likelihood that this type of evidence is included in decision-making related to unintentional injury prevention.