Accident; analysis and prevention
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Bicycle helmets reduce fatal and non-fatal head and face injuries. This study evaluated the effect of mandatory bicycle helmet legislation targeted at those less than 18 years old on helmet use for all ages in Alberta. ⋯ Bicycle helmet legislation was associated with a greater increase in helmet use among the target age group (<18). Though HP increased over 2-fold among adolescents to an estimated 63% in 2006, this percentage was approximately 30% lower than among children <13.
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This study investigated (i) the prevalence of conversing on a cell phone while driving in New Zealand, (ii) respondents' perception of risk regarding this behaviour and (iii) attitudes towards legislation banning cell phone use while driving. In addition, the study examined the association between the prevalence of conversing on a cell phone and risk perception. Anonymous, self-reported, survey data was collected via the internet from 1057 drivers nationwide regarding the frequency of conversing on a cell phone, including hands-free and hand-held conversing, risk perception, views on legislation, and demographic information. A positive relationship was found between the frequency of conversing on a cell phone and risk perception; that is, as the frequency of conversing on a cell phone increased, the perceived risk of this behaviour decreased.
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On 27 August 2006 at 0606 eastern daylight time (EDT) at Bluegrass Airport in Lexington, KY (LEX), the flight crew of Comair Flight 5191 inadvertently attempted to take off from a general aviation runway too short for their aircraft. The aircraft crashed killing 49 of the 50 people on board. To better understand this accident and to aid in preventing similar accidents, we applied mathematical modeling predicting fatigue-related degradation in performance for the Air Traffic Controller on-duty at the time of the crash. ⋯ Relative to other times of day, the modeling results suggest an elevated risk of fatigue-related error, incident, or accident in the early morning due to truncated sleep from the early start and adverse circadian phase from the time of day. This in turn suggests that fatigue mitigation targeted to early morning starts might reduce fatigue risk. In summary, this study suggests that mathematical models predicting performance from sleep/wake history and circadian phase are (1) useful in retrospective accident analysis provided reliable sleep/wake histories are available for the accident personnel and, (2) useful in prospective fatigue-risk identification, mitigation, and accident prevention.
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There have been many studies of the link between the level of policing in an area and the behaviour of local drivers, but those that have been conducted in the United Kingdom were either small scale or were conducted many years ago. Consequently, a practical trial was carried out in London in May 2008 to investigate the effects of increasing the level of traffic policing in a busy urban area under modern conditions. Operation Radar ran for four weeks and increased the visible presence of police on a six mile stretch of the A23 in South London. ⋯ These surveys measured vehicle speeds and drivers' use of mobile phones and seatbelts. Vehicle speeds reduced systematically during the operation along the route and in surrounding areas, and some effects remained at least two weeks after the operation had finished. The survey data do not, however, show any positive effect of enforcement on the use of mobile phones or seatbelts.
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In the current study, research was conducted in five cities in China to examine seatbelt use and to explore Chinese drivers' attitudes toward using seatbelts. Multiple data collection methods consisted of 35 initial semi-structured interviews to create questions for an in-person survey and 500 driver observations that included administering the in-person survey. ⋯ Also examined were the relationships between seatbelt use (both objective observation and subjective self-reported use) and self-reported car crashes and traffic violations. This study provides insight into the attitudes of Chinese drivers on seatbelt use and potential interventions.