The effects of persistent audible seat belt reminders and a speed-limiting interlock on the seat belt use of drivers who do not always use a seat belt

Introduction: Vehicle technologies that increase seat belt use can save thousands of lives each year. Kidd, Singer, Huey, and Kerfoot (2018) found that a gearshift interlock was more effective for increasing seat belt use than an intermittent audible reminder, but interlocks may not be more effective than persistent audible reminders lasting at least 90 seconds. Method: Forty-nine part-time belt users with a recent seat belt citation who self-reported not always using a seat belt drove two vehicles for 1 week each. Thirty-three drove a Chevrolet with an intermittent audible reminder followed by either a BMW with a persistent 90-second audible reminder (n = 17) or a Subaru with an incessant audible reminder (n = 16). The other 16 participants experienced the BMW persistent reminder followed by an interlock that limited speed to 15 mph during unbelted driving. These data were combined with data from 32 part-time belt users in Kidd et al. (2018) who experienced the intermittent reminder for 2 weeks or the intermittent reminder for 1 week and a gearshift interlock the next. Results: Relative to the intermittent reminder, seat belt use was significantly increased an estimated 30% by the BMW persistent reminder, 34% by the Subaru incessant reminder, and 33% by the speed-limiting interlock. Belt use was increased an estimated 16% by the gearshift interlock, but this change was not significant. More participants circumvented the speed-limiting interlock to drive unbelted than the audible reminders. Responses to a poststudy survey indicated that interlocks were less acceptable than reminders. Conclusions: Audible reminders lasting at least 90 seconds and a speed-limiting interlock were more effective for increasing seat belt use than an intermittent audible reminder, but reminders were found more acceptable. Practical applications: Strengthening existing U.S. safety standards to require audible reminders lasting at least 90 seconds for front-row occupants could save up to 1,489 lives annually.     

The Driver Behaviour Questionnaire as a predictor of accidents: a meta-analysis

Introduction

Through a meta-analysis, this study investigated the relation of errors and violations from the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ) to accident involvement.

Method

We identified 174 studies using the DBQ, and a correlation of self-reported accidents with errors could be established in 32 samples and with violations in 42 samples.

Results

The results showed that violations predicted accidents with an overall correlation of .13 when based on zero-order effects reported in tabular form, and with an overall correlation of .07 for effects reported in multivariate analysis, in tables reporting only significant effects, or in the text of a study. Errors predicted accidents with overall correlations of .10 and .06, respectively. The meta-analysis also showed that errors and violations correlated negatively with age and positively with exposure, and that males reported fewer errors and more violations than females. Supplementary analyses were conducted focusing on the moderating role of age, and on predicting accidents prospectively and retrospectively. Potential sources of bias are discussed, such as publication bias, measurement error, and consistency motif.

Impact on Industry

The DBQ is a prominent measurement scale to examine drivers’ self-reported aberrant behaviors. The present study provides information about the validity of the DBQ and therefore has strong relevance for researchers and road safety practitioners who seek to obtain insight into driving behaviors of a population of interest.     

The role of off-path glances: A quantitative analysis of rear-end conflicts involving Chinese professional truck drivers as the striking partners

Introduction: Rear-end crashes are one of the most frequent crash types in China, leading to significant economic and societal losses. The development of active safety systems – such as Automatic Emergency Braking System (AEBS) – could avoid or mitigate the consequences of these crashes in Chinese traffic situations. However, a clear understanding of the crash causation mechanisms is necessary for the design of these systems. Method: Manually coded variables were extracted from a naturalistic driving study conducted with commercial vehicles in Shanghai. Quantitative analyses of rear-end crashes and near crashes (CNC) were conducted to assess the prevalence, duration, and location of drivers’ off-path glances, the influence of lead vehicle brake lights on drivers’ last off-path glance, and driver brake onset, and the influence of off-path glances and kinematic criticality on drivers’ response to conflicts. Results: The results indicate that the Chinese truck drivers in our study rarely engage in distracting activities involving a phone or other handheld objects while driving. Instead, they direct their off-path glances mainly toward the mirrors, and the duration of off-path glances leading to critical situations are shorter compared to earlier analyses performed in Western countries. The drivers also often keep small margins. Conclusions: Overall, the combination of short time headway with off-path glances directed toward the mirror originates visual mismatches which, associated to a rapid change in the kinematic situation, cause the occurrence of rear-end CNC. When drivers look back toward the road after an off-path glance, a fast response seems to be triggered by lower values of looming compared to previous studies, possibly because of the short time headways. Practical Application: The results have practical implications for the development of driver models, for the design of active safety systems and automated driving, and for the design of campaigns promoting safe driving.     

Effectiveness of primary enforcement safety belt laws and enhanced enforcement of safety belt laws: a summary of the Guide to Community Preventive Services systematic reviews

BACKGROUND: The use of safety belts is the single most effective means of reducing fatal and nonfatal injuries in motor-vehicle crashes. This paper summarizes the systematic reviews of two interventions to increase safety belt use: primary enforcement safety belt laws and enhanced enforcement of safety belt laws. The reviews were previously published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. METHODS: We conducted the systematic reviews using the methodology developed for the Guide to Community Preventive Services. RESULTS: These reviews provide strong evidence that primary laws are more effective than secondary laws in increasing safety belt use and decreasing fatalities and that enhanced enforcement is effective in increasing safety belt use. Increases in belt use are generally highest in states with low baseline rates of belt use. DISCUSSION: Primary safety belt laws and enhanced enforcement programs tend to result in greater increases in usage rates for target groups with lower baseline rates. Concerns regarding public opposition to these interventions may impede their implementation in some jurisdictions. However, surveys indicate that a substantial majority of the public supports implementation of both primary laws and enhanced enforcement programs. CONCLUSION: Based on the strong evidence for effectiveness of primary safety belt laws and enhanced enforcement programs, the Task Force on Community Preventive Services recommended that all states enact primary safety belt laws and that communities implement enhanced enforcement programs.     

Polish adaptation of three self-report measures of job stressors: the Interpersonal Conflict at Work Scale,the Quantitative Workload Inventory and the Organizational Constraints Scale

Aim. The objective of the present study was to test the psychometric properties, reliability and validity of three job stressor measures, namely, the Interpersonal Conflict at Work Scale, the Organizational Constraints Scale and the Quantitative Workload Inventory. Method. The study was conducted on two samples (N?=?382 and 3368) representing a wide range of occupations. The estimation of internal consistency with Cronbach's α and the test–retest method as well as both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were the main statistical methods. Results. The internal consistency of the scales proved satisfactory, ranging from 0.80 to 0.90 for Cronbach's α test and from 0.72 to 0.86 for the test–retest method. The one-dimensional structure of the three measurements was confirmed. The three scales have acceptable fit to the data. The one-factor structures and other psychometric properties of the Polish version of the scales seem to be similar to those found in the US version of the scales. It was also proved that the three job stressors are positively related to all the job strain measures. Conclusions. The Polish versions of the three analysed scales can be used to measure the job stressors in Polish conditions.     

Ninety five percent: an evaluation of law, policy, and programs to promote seat belt use in Washington state

Seat belt use in Washington state was 83% in 2001. In 2002, a series of law, policy, and program initiatives coalesced to produce a dramatic increase in seat belt use. Washington enacted a primary enforcement seat belt, the Chief of the Washington State Patrol made safety belt enforcement one of the core missions of that agency, and Washington participated in the national Memorial Day Click It or Ticket program during May 2002 and continued the program into 2003. Evaluation of these initiatives was accomplished through observation surveys of seat belt use, analysis of seat belt violation data, and analysis of data on traffic deaths of motor vehicle occupants. The major findings were that there was a two- to three-fold increase in enforcement of the seat belt law, belt use rates increased to 93% in 2002 and again to 95% in 2003, and motor-vehicle occupant fatalities decreased by 13%. IMPACT ON PRACTICE AND POLICY: The primary seat belt law and Click It or Ticket program activities were critical factors in increasing belt use in Washington state. Media and enforcement programs targeting seat belt use can be very effective in raising the belt use rate, but a long-term commitment to continuation of these program activities is essential. Other states implementing new primary seat belt laws should consider delivering a Click It or Ticket campaign prior to the effective date of the primary law and continuing these activities during subsequent months and years.     

Organization–environment adaptation: A macro‐level shift in modeling work distress and morale

We theorized that organization–environment adaptation, the interaction between external demands and personnel resources, predicts distress and morale. We tested this hypothesis in 29 stations within one state police department, and combined three data sources. We measured environmental demands for policing via census data pertaining to the station precinct (e.g., per cent unemployed; per cent in public housing). We assessed resources via personnel numbers within stations. Outcomes were employee's perceptions of staff distress and morale at the station (N = 247), assessed twice, 14 months apart. Using hierarchical linear modeling, we found that environmental demands predicted perceptions of workgroup distress and morale and that the relationships were moderated by personnel resources. For distress, when resources were low, demands were positively associated with distress; when resources were high, demands were negatively associated with distress. For morale, when resources were high, demands were positively associated with morale; there was no relationship when resources were low. Results show that aversive and pleasurable reactions at work may be traced to how resources are employed to manage external demands. Results support a macro‐level shift in modeling distress and morale, incorporating external demands, and strategic management decisions regarding personnel resourcing. Our research suggests that rather than being a result of individual failure to adapt, compromised work ability may result from an organizational failure to adapt to the environmental context. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An OH&S Management System as a Source of Information

The concept of an occupational health and safety management system (OH&S MS) has become widespread over the past 20 years. However, there are few studies on the subject, they are generally methodologically weak and in many cases cannot be generalized. A formalized OH&S MS is a set of rules and connected elements of the general organization management system which guarantees accomplishment of the organization?s objectives in the area of upgrading safety conditions of both employees and the environment. The need for research on voluntary management systems stems from the necessity to propagate appropriate solutions and their continuous development processes. This paper discusses an OH&S MS as a source of data and essential information on the process of developing a system. It examines the relationship between the degree to which the requirements of Standard No. PN-N-18001:2004 have been adapted and the demand for health and safety data and information.     

Documenting the sustainability of a mature Click It or Ticket program: the North Carolina experience

North Carolina was the first United States jurisdiction to implement a statewide program (called Click It or Ticket) coupling concentrated enforcement with massive publicity to increase seat belt use. After a successful pilot program in three very different North Carolina communities, the statewide program was launched in October 1993, and has been most active and productive as well as imitated by many other states over the past decade. This paper explores the combination of ingredients that have been employed and sustained over that period of time. These include: (a) a basic coalition of critical public-private agencies (central to the planning, execution, and publicity of the many Click It or Ticket programs); (b) critical top-down commitments (starting with the governor); (c) pervasive and innovative media events/press releases/ PSAs/ web site information; (d) vigorous and well-publicized law enforcement; (e) feedback on results with solid, updated data; (f) related statewide and local programs/activities; and last but not least (g) continuous funding.     

Task type as a moderator of positive/negative feedback effects on motivation and performance: A regulatory focus perspective

Applying Higgins' regulatory focus theory, we hypothesized that the effect of positive/negative feedback on motivation and performance is moderated by task type, which is argued to be an antecedent to situational regulatory focus (promotion or prevention). Thus, first we demonstrated that some tasks (e.g., tasks requiring creativity) are perceived as promotion tasks, whereas others (e.g., those requiring vigilance and attention to detail) are perceived as prevention tasks. Second, as expected, our tests in two studies of the moderation hypothesis showed that positive feedback increased self‐reported motivation (meta‐analysis across samples: N = 315, d = 0.43) and actual performance (N = 55, d = 0.67) among people working on promotion tasks, relative to negative feedback. Positive feedback, however, decreased motivation (N = 318, d = ?0.33) and performance (N = 55, d = ?0.37) among individuals working on prevention tasks, relative to negative feedback. These findings suggest that (a) performance of different tasks can affect regulatory focus and (b) variability in positive/negative feedback effects can be partially explained by regulatory focus and task type. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Workstations for people with disabilities: an example of a virtual reality approach

This article describes a method of adapting workstations for workers with motion disability using computer simulation and virtual reality (VR) techniques. A workstation for grinding spring faces was used as an example. It was adjusted for two people with a disabled right upper extremity. The study had two stages. In the first, a computer human model with a visualization of maximal arm reach and preferred workspace was used to develop a preliminary modification of a virtual workstation. In the second stage, an immersive VR environment was used to assess the virtual workstation and to add further modifications. All modifications were assessed by measuring the efficiency of work and the number of movements involved. The results of the study showed that a computer simulation could be used to determine whether a worker with a disability could access all important areas of a workstation and to propose necessary modifications.     

Tracking managerial conflict adaptivity: Introducing a dynamic measure of adaptive conflict management in organizations

Since Darwin, adaptation to change has been associated with survival and fit. Yet, despite this, leaders and managers often get stuck in dominating approaches to conflict, and few scholars have examined the role of adaptation in managing conflicts effectively over time and across changing situations. The goal of this paper is threefold. First, we develop a new measure for assessing conflict adaptivity of managers [the Managerial Conflict Adaptivity Assessment (MCAA)], based on a situated model of conflict in social relations. We define conflict adaptivity as the capacity to respond to different conflict situations in accordance with the demands specified by the situation. The measure consists of 15 distinct work‐conflict scenarios and provides five behavioral response options, which represent five primary strategies employed in conflict. Individuals who tend to respond to the conflicts in a manner consistent with the situations provided are considered to be more adaptive. Second, we test and find that managerial conflict adaptivity is related to higher levels of satisfaction with conflict processes at work as well as higher levels of well‐being at work. Third, we test the MCAA's construct validity and provide evidence that the MCAA is positively related to behavioral flexibility and self‐efficacy. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

森林可燃物可持续管理技术理论与研究

实现森林可燃物可持续管理是减少和控制森林火灾的基础。本文介绍了基于可物管理的防火林带和计划火烧的预防和控制森林火灾方法。     

Ergodynamics and Hybrid Intelligence Systems in the Reliability of Power Plant Operators

Based on ergodynamics and the hybrid intelligence theory, an analysis of the nuclear power plant operator’s performance is given at the levels of strategies, tactics, and actions. Special attention is paid to the strategies used in the course of severe accidents at nuclear power plants. Data from Ukrainian and Russian power plants and training centres and from accidents around the world were collected and processed. It is shown that in an emergency it is essential for the human operator to be flexible. This flexibility includes two main training and personal factors: a large set of strategies and tactics the operator manages to use, and quick transformations between the strategies (tactics). It was also found that some emergency tasks are too complicated: They require simultaneous use of different strategies, with time strictly limited by nuclear power plant dynamics. Those tasks cannot be successfully solved by any individual operator. Hybrid intelligence systems involving different specialists should be used in those cases in order to avoid failures in emergency problem solving.     

Driving anger and its expressions: further evidence of validity and reliability for the Driving Anger Expression Inventory French adaptation

Introduction: The aims of this study were to provide further evidence of validity and reliability for the Driving Anger Expression Inventory (DAX) French adaptation (Villieux & Delhomme, 2008, Le Travail Humain, 71(4), 359-384) and to investigate the relationships between driving anger, how people express their anger while driving, and traffic violations among young drivers in France. Method: The French adaptations of the DAX, of the Driving Anger Scale (DAS), and of the Extended Violations Scale were administered to a sample of 314 drivers. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis of the French DAX items yielded a three factors solution with 11 items, which obtained better goodness-of-fit to the data. Cronbach α reliabilities for DAX factors ranged from .71 to .79. Aggressive forms of anger expression correlated positively with driving anger and traffic violations whereas the 'Adaptive/Constructive Expression' factor correlated negatively with these variables. Discussion: Globally, our results replicated earlier findings and showed that DAX factors are useful predictors of self reported violations and complement established measures like the DAS. Impact on Industry: Implications for driver education and interventions were examined.     

大型仓库防火分隔带设计和预期财产损失研究

基于"性能化设计仓库安全水平不低于处方式设计仓库"的设计理念,针对某大型仓库进行了防火分隔带的设计和预期财产损失的评估。探讨了具体案例中采用事件树、概率计算与数值模拟相结合进行性能化设计安全水平分析和预期财产损失评估的方法。研究结果表明,进行仓库消防系统有效性分析和预期财产损失评估,有助于更全面地评价消防性能化设计方案的安全水平。     

Trust as a mediator of the relationship between organizational justice and work outcomes: test of a social exchange model

Data obtained from full‐time employees of a public sector organization in India were used to test a social exchange model of employee work attitudes and behaviors. LISREL results revealed that whereas the three organizational justice dimensions (distributive, procedural and interactional) were related to trust in organization only interactional justice was related to trust in supervisor. The results further revealed that relative to the hypothesized fully mediated model a partially mediated model better fitted the data. Trust in organization partially mediated the relationship between distributive and procedural justice and the work attitudes of job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and organizational commitment but fully mediated the relationship between interactional justice and these work attitudes. In contrast, trust in supervisor fully mediated the relationship between interactional justice and the work behaviors of task performance and the individually‐ and organizationally‐oriented dimensions of citizenship behavior. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Detection of the toughest: Pedestrian injury risk as a smooth function of age

Objective: Though it is common to refer to age-specific groups (e.g., children, adults, elderly), smooth trends conditional on age are mainly ignored in the literature. The present study examines the pedestrian injury risk in full-frontal pedestrian-to–passenger car accidents and incorporates age—in addition to collision speed and injury severity—as a plug-in parameter.

Methods: Recent work introduced a model for pedestrian injury risk functions using explicit formulae with easily interpretable model parameters. This model is expanded by pedestrian age as another model parameter. Using the German In-Depth Accident Study (GIDAS) to obtain age-specific risk proportions, the model parameters are fitted to the raw data and then smoothed by broken-line regression.

Results: The approach supplies explicit probabilities for pedestrian injury risk conditional on pedestrian age, collision speed, and injury severity under investigation. All results yield consistency to each other in the sense that risks for more severe injuries are less probable than those for less severe injuries. As a side product, the approach indicates specific ages at which the risk behavior fundamentally changes. These threshold values can be interpreted as the most robust ages for pedestrians.

Conclusions: The obtained age-wise risk functions can be aggregated and adapted to any population. The presented approach is formulated in such general terms that in can be directly used for other data sets or additional parameters; for example, the pedestrian's sex. Thus far, no other study using age as a plug-in parameter can be found.