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
Under what conditions do critical events trigger large-scale public discussion and mobilisation, and can these lead to policy change? In a comparative study of nuclear energy policy after the Japanese Fukushima disaster in March 2011, a theory-development approach is adopted, mobilising data collected from national news agencies’ newswires, public surveys, legislation and parliamentary databases, and newspaper editorials in 12 established democracies between March 2011 and March 2013. The analysis suggests two main hypotheses that can guide future research: critical events are more likely to trigger policy change when intense (contentious) mobilisation from policy challengers aligns with the views of the general public, and is backed by major political allies; and critical events are more likely to trigger intense (contentious) mobilisation when policy challengers articulate their opposition around pre-existing policy debates on the issue and resort to pre-existing organisational and mobilisation resources. 相似文献
This study investigates the inherent optical properties (IOP) of a Brazilian river during a non-natural, anthropogenically
mediated, toxic spill of a wood-pulping factory (the ‘Cataguazes accident’). The results indicated an outstanding transformation
in the river water chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) pools. For instance, increases in CDOM absorption coefficients,
aCDOM(λ), which were averaged at specific spectral intervals, , ranged from 58-fold at the UV-B and UV-A ranges to 95-fold at the PAR range. As a result, the water color expressed as CDOM
absorption at 440 nm, aCDOM(440), varied from 4.16 to 365.03 m-1. For S-coefficient, the variations ranged from ∼1.1 to 5.6-fold, respectively, at the 300–650 nm and UV-B range. The variability
of S as a proxy of dissolved chromophores was thus clearly influenced by the spectral range used. Optical proportions were also
investigated through the use of and S ratios at the UV-B, UV-A, and PAR ranges and, in the case of , also at the NIR range. This approach also showed clear variations between the water samples, likely reflecting changes in
the composition of optically active substances in the river system. As a whole, the findings obtained here indicated that
both the quantity and quality of the chromophoric material dissolved in the river water were greatly altered by the toxic
spill. The changes in the optical properties of the river water, although extreme and likely with no parallel in the literature,
were quite rapid as indicated by the optical resilience of the system. Overall, this study indicates that IOP might be thought,
and possibly used, as a metric tool for monitoring the state of waters and aquatic ecosystems. 相似文献