Objective: The objective of this article is to provide empirical evidence for safe speed limits that will meet the objectives of the Safe System by examining the relationship between speed limit and injury severity for different crash types, using police-reported crash data.
Method: Police-reported crashes from 2 Australian jurisdictions were used to calculate a fatal crash rate by speed limit and crash type. Example safe speed limits were defined using threshold risk levels.
Results: A positive exponential relationship between speed limit and fatality rate was found. For an example fatality rate threshold of 1 in 100 crashes it was found that safe speed limits are 40 km/h for pedestrian crashes; 50 km/h for head-on crashes; 60 km/h for hit fixed object crashes; 80 km/h for right angle, right turn, and left road/rollover crashes; and 110 km/h or more for rear-end crashes.
Conclusions: The positive exponential relationship between speed limit and fatal crash rate is consistent with prior research into speed and crash risk. The results indicate that speed zones of 100 km/h or more only meet the objectives of the Safe System, with regard to fatal crashes, where all crash types except rear-end crashes are exceedingly rare, such as on a high standard restricted access highway with a safe roadside design. 相似文献
We compared the effects of natural and anthropogenic watershed disturbances on methyl mercury (MeHg) concentration in bulk
zooplankton from boreal Shield lakes. MeHg in zooplankton was monitored for three years in nine lakes impacted by deforestation,
in nine lakes impacted by wildfire, and in twenty lakes with undisturbed catchments. Lakes were sampled during spring, mid-
and late summer. MeHg in zooplankton showed a seasonal trend: concentrations were the lowest in spring, then peaked in mid-summer
and decreased in late summer. Over the three study years, MeHg concentrations observed in mid-summer in zooplankton from forest
harvested lakes were significantly higher than in reference and fire-impacted lakes, whereas differences between these two
groups of lakes were not significant. The pattern of distribution of MeHg in zooplankton during the different seasons paralleled
that of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), which is known as a vector of Hg from watershed soils to lake water. Besides DOC,
MeHg in zooplankton also showed a positive significant correlation with epilimnetic temperature and sulfate concentrations.
An inter-annual decreasing trend in MeHg was observed in zooplankton from reference and fire-impacted lakes. In forest harvested
lakes, however, MeHg concentrations remained higher and nearly constant over three years following the impact. Overall these
results indicate that the MeHg pulse observed in zooplankton following deforestation by harvesting is relatively long-lived,
and may have repercussions to the accumulation of MeHg along the food chain. Therefore, potential effects of deforestation
on the Hg contamination of fish should be taken into account in forest management practices. 相似文献
Long-term stationary studies on the ecology of the northern mole vole (Ellobius talpinus Pall.), performed by the mark–recapture method from 1985 to 1997, have provided original data on population dynamics and structure. The analysis shows that, to reveal cyclic fluctuations of population size in this species, the period of three years should be taken as a unit of time for estimating the duration of one phase. The 12-year population cycle in E. talpinus has four distinct phases: an increase, a peak, a decline, and a minimum. At each phase, the population is characterized by certain features of family structure, age composition, birth and death rates, and the composition of migrants. 相似文献