Accident; analysis and prevention
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Between 1995 and 2004, 293 passenger car occupants died in collisions with other vehicles in northern Sweden (annual incidence: 3.3 per 100,000 inhabitants, 6.9 per 100,000 cars, or 4.8 per 10(9)km driven); half of these deaths involved heavy vehicles. The annual number of passenger car occupant deaths per 100,000 cars in car-truck/bus collisions has remained unchanged since the 1980s, but in car-car collisions it has decreased to one third of its former level. As crash objects, trucks and buses killed five times as many car occupants per truck/bus kilometer driven as did cars. ⋯ An indication of suicide was present in 4% of the deaths; for those who crashed into trucks, this percentage was doubled. Among the driver victims, 4% had blood alcohol levels above the legal limit of 0.2g/L. Frontal collision risks might be reduced by a mid-barrier, by building less injurious fronts on trucks and buses, by efficient skid prevention, and by use of flexible speed limits varying with road and light conditions.
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The aim of this study was to examine the epidemiology and health system cost of children's falls resulting in hospitalisation in 2003 in Western Australia. ⋯ Children's falls impose a considerable burden and cost to both the health care system and the community. This study has provided information on where the burden of risk and the majority of costs lie, namely males, Aboriginal children and for children aged 5-9 years, unlike their younger and older peers, playground equipment.
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Studies show that teenage drivers are at a higher risk for crashes. Opportunities to engage in technology and non-technology based distractions appear to be a particular concern among this age group. An ordered logit model was developed to predict the likelihood of a severe injury for these drivers and their passenger using a national crash database (the 2003, U. ⋯ The results of the analysis also reveal that teenage drivers have an increased likelihood of more severe injuries if distracted by a cell phone or by passengers than if the source of distraction was related to in-vehicle devices or if the driver was inattentive. Additionally, passengers of teenage drivers are more likely to sustain severe injuries when their driver is distracted by devices or passengers than with a non-distracted or inattentive driver. This supports the previous literature on teenage drivers and extends our understanding of injuries for this age group related to distraction-related crashes.
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One of the concerns in road safety is the threat older drivers may pose to other road users. Using the rate of lost life years, the present study provides a public health approach to quantify this potential threat. ⋯ Our findings suggest that among road users involved in injury crashes, older drivers are less dangerous for the other road users. By attributing other road users' lost life years to each driver age, this study represents a new contribution to the debate about ageing and road safety.
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Observational data were collected to determine the percentage of drivers that followed various seatbelt buckling sequences. Observers scored the buckling sequence and recorded the time between various startup events and fastening the seatbelt of 1600 drivers in two urban areas, Pinellas County, Florida, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The results indicated that most drivers waited to buckle their seatbelt until after they started their vehicle or placed it into gear, with a substantial proportion buckling after placing the vehicle in motion. These results suggest that a salient second seatbelt reminder that was initiated 30s after placing the vehicle in gear would only be experienced by persons who do not buckle their seatbelt and less than 1% of drivers who buckle their seatbelt more than 29 s after placing the vehicle in gear.