Injury prevention : journal of the International Society for Child and Adolescent Injury Prevention
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This study examines the association of nighttime driving and the carrying of passengers with the rate of motor vehicle crashes that resulted in severe or fatal injury to young drivers in California before the implementation of a graduated licensing system. ⋯ The injury crash rate for drivers aged 16 or 17 increases during nighttime hours and in the absence of adult supervision, with or without other passengers. Driving between 10 pm and midnight is particularly dangerous for young drivers. Nighttime driving restrictions that begin at 10 pm or earlier and restrictions on carrying passengers at any hour may increase the effectiveness of graduated licensing systems.
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Latino children are more likely to be unrestrained passengers in motor vehicles than non-Latino children, but little is known about the use of booster seats in Latino families. This study investigates Latino parents' knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about booster seats, barriers to booster seat use, and effective strategies for message delivery in the Latino community. ⋯ Campaigns to promote booster seats in the Latino community should be culturally specific, and clear guidelines for booster seat use should be given in Spanish. Legislation may be an important incentive for using booster seats, though reducing their cost and providing strategies to address child resistance and physical constraints of some vehicles are also important.
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To develop and evaluate a pilot program to reduce unauthorized access to firearms by youth by distributing gun safes and trigger locks to households. ⋯ This community based program demonstrated that Alaska Native gun owners accepted and used gun safes when they were installed in their homes, leading to substantial improvements in gun storage practices. Trigger locks were much less likely to be used.
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To examine the relationship between the numbers of people walking or bicycling and the frequency of collisions between motorists and walkers or bicyclists. The common wisdom holds that the number of collisions varies directly with the amount of walking and bicycling. However, three published analyses of collision rates at specific intersections found a non-linear relationship, such that collisions rates declined with increases in the numbers of people walking or bicycling. ⋯ A motorist is less likely to collide with a person walking and bicycling if more people walk or bicycle. Policies that increase the numbers of people walking and bicycling appear to be an effective route to improving the safety of people walking and bicycling.