Powered two-wheeler riders' risk of crashes associated with filtering on urban roads

Objective: The objective of this study is to estimate the crash risk per kilometer traveled by powered two-wheeler (PTW) riders filtering through traffic on urban roads.

Methods: Using the traffic injury crashes recorded by the police over a period of 3 years on 14 sections of urban roads in the city of Marseille, France, and a campaign of observations of PTWs, the crash risk per kilometer traveled by PTWs filtering was estimated and compared to the risk of PTWs that did not filter.

Results: The results show that the risk of PTW riders being involved in injury crashes while filtering is significantly higher than the risk for riders who do not filter. For the 14 sections studied, it is 3.94 times greater (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.63, 5.89). This excess risk occurred for all PTW categories. Furthermore, no space appears to be safer than the others for filtering. Riders filtering forward along the axis of the carriageway, along bus lanes, or between traffic lanes (lane-splitting) all have a crash risk greater than the risk of those who do not filter.

Conclusions: All measures limiting the practice of filtering by PTWs on urban roads would probably contribute to improving the safety of their users.     

The analysis of influence of individual and environmental factors on 2-wheeled users’ injuries

Objective: Powered 2-wheeled motor vehicles (PTWs) are one of the most vulnerable categories of road users. Bearing that fact in mind, we have researched the effects of individual and environmental factors on the severity and type of injuries of PTW users. The aim was to recognize the circumstances that cause these accidents and take some preventive actions that would improve the level of road safety for PTWs.

Methods: In the period from 2001 to 2010, an analysis of 139 road accidents involving PTWs was made by the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering in Belgrade. The effects of both individual (age, gender, etc.) and environmental factors (place of an accident, time of day, etc.) on the cause of accidents and severity and type of injuries of PTWs are reported in this article. Analyses of these effects were conducted using logistic regression, chi-square tests, and Pearson's correlation.

Results: Factors such as categories of road users, pavement conditions, place of accident, age, and time of day have a statistically significant effect on PTW injuries, whereas other factors (gender, road type; that is, straight or curvy) do not. The article also defines the interdependence of the occurrence of particular injuries at certain speeds. The results show that if PTW users died of a head injury, these were usually concurrent with chest injuries, injuries to internal organs, and limb injuries.

Conclusions: It has been shown that there is a high degree of influence of individual factors on the occurrence of accidents involving 2-wheelers (PTWs/bicycles) but with no statistically significant relation. Establishing the existence of such conditionalities enables identifying and defining factors that have an impact on the occurrence of traffic accidents involving bicyclists or PTWs. Such a link between individual factors and the occurrence of accidents makes it possible for system managers to take appropriate actions aimed at certain categories of 2-wheelers in order to reduce casualties in a particular area. The analysis showed that most of the road factors do not have a statistically significant effect on either category of 2-wheeler. Namely, the logistic regression analysis showed that there is a statistically significant effect of the place of accident on the occurrence of accidents involving bicyclists.     

Risk factors affecting the severity of traffic accidents at Shanghai river-crossing tunnel

Objective: With increasing traffic volume and urban development, increasing numbers of underground tunnels have been constructed to relieve conflict between strained land and heavy traffic. However, as more long tunnels are constructed, tunnel traffic safety is becoming increasingly serious. Thus, it is necessary to acquire their implications and impacts. This study examined 4,539 traffic accidents that have occurred in 14 Shanghai river-crossing tunnels for the period 2011–2012 and analyze the correlation between potential factors and accident injury severity.

Methods: An ordered logit model was developed to examine the correlation between potential factors and accident injury severity.

Results: Results show that increased injury severity is associated with male drivers, drivers aged 65 years or older, accident time from midnight to dawn, weekends, wet road surface, goods vehicles, 3 or more vehicles, 4 or more lanes, middle speed limits (50–79 km/h), zone 3, extra-long tunnels (over 3,000 m), and maximum longitudinal gradient.

Conclusions: This article aims to provide useful information for engineers to develop interventions and countermeasures to improve tunnel safety in China.     

Analyzing pedestrian crash injury severity under different weather conditions

Objective: Pedestrians are the most vulnerable road users due to the lack of mass, speed, and protection compared to other types of road users. Adverse weather conditions may reduce road friction and visibility and thus increase crash risk. There is limited evidence and considerable discrepancy with regard to impacts of weather conditions on injury severity in the literature. This article investigated factors affecting pedestrian injury severity level under different weather conditions based on a publicly available accident database in Great Britain.

Method: Accident data from Great Britain that are publicly available through the STATS19 database were analyzed. Factors associated with pedestrian, driver, and environment were investigated using a novel approach that combines a classification and regression tree with random forest approach.

Results: Significant severity predictors under fine weather conditions from the models included speed limits, pedestrian age, light conditions, and vehicle maneuver. Under adverse weather conditions, the significant predictors were pedestrian age, vehicle maneuver, and speed limit.

Conclusions: Elderly pedestrians are associated with higher pedestrian injury severities. Higher speed limits increase pedestrian injury severity. Based on the research findings, recommendations are provided to improve pedestrian safety.     

Exposure factors of Victoria's active motorcycle fleet related to serious injury crash risk

Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe the nature and extent of current powered 2-wheeler (PTW) risk exposures in order to support future efforts to improve safety for this mode of transport.

Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of the control arm of a population-based case-control study was conducted. The control sample was selected from 204 sites on public roads within 150 km of the city of Melbourne that were locations of recent serious injury motorcycle crashes. Traffic observations and measurements at each site were sampled for a mean of 2 h on the same type of day (weekday, Saturday, or Sunday) and within 1 h of the crash time. Photographs of passing riders during this observation period recorded data relating to characteristics of PTWs, age of riders, travel speed of PTWs and all vehicles, time gaps between vehicles, visibility, and protective clothing use.

Results: Motorcycles and scooters represented 0.6% of all traffic (compared with 4% of all vehicle registrations). Riders were significantly more likely to have larger time gaps in front and behind when compared to other vehicles. The average travel speed of motorcycles was not significantly different than the traffic, but a significantly greater proportion were exceeding the speed limit when compared to other vehicles (6 vs. 3%, respectively). The age of registered owners of passing motorcycles was 42 years. Over half of riders were wearing dark clothing with no fluorescent or reflective surfaces. One third of motorcyclists had maximum coverage of motorcycle-specific protective clothing.

Conclusions: A very low prevalence of motorcyclists combined with relatively higher rates of larger time gaps to other vehicles around motorcycles may help explain their overrepresentation in injury crashes where another vehicle fails to give way. An increased risk of injury in the event of a crash exists for a small but greater proportion of motorcyclists (compared to other vehicle types) who were exceeding the speed limit. An apparent shift toward older age of the active rider population may be reducing injury crash risk relative to exposure time. There is significant scope to improve the physical conspicuity of motorcyclists and the frequency of motorcycle specific protective clothing use. These results can be used to inform policy development and monitor progress of current and future road safety initiatives.     

A study of fatal pedestrian crashes at rural low-volume road intersections in southwest China

Objective: Although intersections correspond to a small proportion of the entire roadway system, they account for a disproportionally high number of fatal pedestrian crashes, especially on rural roads situated in low- and middle-income countries. This article examines pedestrian safety at rural intersections and suggests applicable accident prevention treatments by providing an in-depth analysis of 28 fatal pedestrian crashes from 8 low-volume roads in southwest China.

Methods: The driving reliability and error analysis method (DREAM) is a method to support a systematic classification of accident causation information and to facilitate aggregation of that information into patterns of contributing factors. This is the first time that DREAM was used to analyze pedestrian–vehicle crashes and provide suggestions for road improvements in China.

Results: The key issues adversely affecting pedestrian safety can be organized in 4 distinctive thematic categories, namely, deficient intersection safety infrastructure, lack of pedestrian safety education, inadequate driver training, and insufficient traffic law enforcement. Given that resources for traffic safety investments in rural areas are limited, it is determined that the potential countermeasures should focus on low-cost, easily implementable, and long-lasting measures increasing the visibility and predictability of pedestrian movement and reducing speeding and irresponsible driving among drivers and risk-taking behaviors among pedestrians.

Conclusions: Accident prevention treatments are suggested based on their suitability for rural areas in southwest China. These countermeasures include introducing better access management and traffic calming treatments, providing more opportunities for pedestrian education, and enhancing the quality of driver training and traffic law enforcement.     

Risk factors for being the at-fault driver: A case–control study

Objective: It is estimated that road traffic accidents are globally responsible for approximately 1.2 million deaths and 20 to 50 million injuries. About 70% of traffic incidences (TIs) occur in developing countries and among countries with high TI rates; Iran is the first. The aim of this study was to measure the association between being responsible for a traffic accident and some vehicle, human; and environmental related factors in Yasuj, a city with a high incidence of road traffic injuries and deaths in Iran.

Methods: This is a time-, date-, and place-matched case–control study conducted in 2015 using all traffic accidents registered and investigated by police during 2012. In total, 194 drivers were considered the at-fault driver in a traffic accident and the 194 drivers in the same collisions were included in the analysis.

Results: Based on the results from multivariate conditional logistic regression, significant associations between vehicle maneuver (OR_{Turn to right or left/Moving forward} = 11.10, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.77–69.58, P = .01) and age (odds ratio [OR] = 1.11, 95% CI, 1.004–1.22, P = .04) and the chance of being an at-fault driver were found.

Conclusion: Driver behavior–related interventions including training and law enforcement seem to be more effective in reducing road traffic accidents in Iran.     

A new approach to managing work-related road traffic injury: The development of a health investment framework

Objective: Statistics indicate that employees commuting or traveling as part of their work are overrepresented in workplace injury and death. Despite this, many organizations are unaware of the factors within their organizations that are likely to influence potential reductions in work-related road traffic injury.

Methods: This article presents a multilevel conceptual framework that identifies health investment as the central feature in reducing work-related road traffic injury. Within this framework, we explore factors operating at the individual driver, workgroup supervisor, and organizational senior management levels that create a mutually reinforcing system of safety.

Results: The health investment framework identifies key factors at the senior manager, supervisor, and driver levels to cultivating a safe working environment. These factors are high-performance workplace systems, leader–member exchange and autonomy, trust and empowerment, respectively. The framework demonstrates the important interactions between these factors and how they create a self-sustaining organizational safety system.

Conclusions: The framework aims to provide insight into the future development of interventions that are strategically aligned with the organization and target elements that facilitate and enhance driver safety and ultimately reduce work-related road traffic injury and death.     

Driver injury severity related to inclement weather at highway–rail grade crossings in the United States

Objective: Previous studies on crash modeling at highway–rail grade crossings were aimed at exploring the factors that are likely to increase the crash frequencies at highway–rail grade crossings. In recent years, modeling driver's injury severity at highway–rail grade crossings has received interest. Because there were substantial differences among different weather conditions for driver's injury severity, this study attempts to explore the impact of weather influence on driver injury at highway–rail grade crossing.

Method: Utilizing the most recent 10 years (2002–2011) of highway–rail grade crossing accident data, this study applied a mixed logit model to explore the determinants of driver injury severity under different weather conditions at highway–rail grade crossing.

Results: Analysis results indicate that drivers' injury severity at highway–rail grade crossings is strongly different for different weather conditions. It was found that the factors significantly impacting driver injury severity at highway–rail grade crossings include motor vehicle speed, train speed, driver's age, gender, area type, lighting condition, highway pavement, traffic volume, and time of day.

Conclusions: The findings of this study indicate that crashes are more prevalent if vehicle drivers are driving at high speed or the oncoming trains are high speed. Hence, a reduction in speed limit during inclement weather conditions could be particularly effective in moderating injury severity, allowing more reaction time for last-minute maneuvering and braking in moments before impacts. In addition, inclement weather-related crashes were more likely to occur in open areas and highway–rail grade crossings without pavement and lighting. Paved highway–rail grade crossings with installation of lights could be particularly effective in moderating injury severity.     

Road traffic mortality in the Slovak Republic in 1996–2014

Objective: Road traffic mortality takes an enormous toll in every society. Transport safety interventions play a crucial role in improving the situation. In the period 1996–2014 several road safety measures, including a complex new road traffic law in 2009, were implemented in the Slovak Republic, introducing stricter conditions for road users.

The aim of this study is to describe and analyze the trends in road user mortality in the Slovak Republic in individual age groups by sex during the study period 1996–2014.

Methods: Data on overall mortality in the Slovak Republic for the period 1996–2014 were obtained from the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic. Mortality rates were age-adjusted to the European standard population. Joinpoint regression was used to assess the statistical significance of change in time trends of calculated standardized mortality rates.

Results: Mortality rates of all types of road users as well as all age groups and both sexes in the Slovak Republic in the period 1996–2014 are decreasing. The male : female ratio decreased from 4:1 in 1996 to 2:1 in 2014. Motor vehicle users (other than motorcyclists) and pedestrians have the highest mortality rates among road user groups. Both of these groups show a significant decline in mortality rates over the study period. Within the age groups, people age 65 years and over have the highest mortality rates, followed by the age groups 25–64 and 15–24 years old.

Joinpoint regression confirmed a steady, significant decline in all mortality rates over the study period. A statistically significant decrease in mortality rates in the last years of the study period was observed in the age group 25–64 and in male motorcycle users.

Assessing the impact of the 2009 road traffic law, a drop was observed in the average standardized mortality rate of all road traffic users from 14.56 per 100,000 person years in the period 1996–2008 to 7.69 per 100,000 person years in the period 2009–2014. A similar drop in the average standardized mortality rate was observed in all individual road user groups.

Conclusions: The implementation of the new traffic regulations may have contributed significantly to the observed decrease in mortality rates of road users in the Slovak Republic. A significant decrease in mortality was observed in all population groups and in all groups of road users. The introduction of a new comprehensive road traffic law may have expedited the decrease of road fatalities, especially in the age group 25–64 years old. This type of evidence-based epidemiology data can be used for improved targeting of future public health measures for road traffic injury prevention.     

Spatial patterns of off-the-system traffic crashes in Miami–Dade County,Florida, during 2005–2010

Objective: The objective of this study is to analyze the spatial distribution of the vehicles involved in crashes in Miami–Dade County. In addition, we analyzed the role of time of day, day of the week, seasonality, drivers’ age in the distribution of traffic crashes.

Method: Off-the-system crash data acquired from the Florida Department of Transportation during 2005–2010 were divided into subcategories according to the risk factors age, time of day, day of the week, and travel season. Various spatial statistics methods, including nearest neighbor analysis, Getis-Ord hot spot analysis, and kernel density analysis revealed substantial spatial variations, depending on the subcategory in question.

Results: Downtown Miami and South Beach showed up consistently as hotspots of traffic crashes in all subcategories except fatal crashes. However, fatal crashes were concentrated in residential areas in inland areas.

Conclusion: This understanding of patterns can help the county target high-risk areas and help to reduce crash fatalities to create a safer environment for motorists and pedestrians.     

Analysis of posttraumatic stress disorder in children with road traffic injury in Wenzhou,China

Objective: Road traffic accidents are the leading health threat to children and cause significant long-term mental health problems. This study aimed to characterize posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children suffering from road traffic injuries (RTIs) in Wenzhou, China.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of 537 children (aged 1 to 13 years old) with RTIs. The epidemiological features, PTSD incidence, clinical manifestation, and risk factors were analyzed based on a customized PTSD risk factor questionnaire. The outcome factors were also evaluated by means of the logistic regression method.

Results: The PTSD incidence was 24.77% in children with RTIs. The incidence of PTSD was related to the personality, family environment, and family care of the children. It was found that early psychological intervention and reasonable family care from the family might promote physical and mental welfare as well as contribute to the development of more effective treatments to prevent PTSD.

Conclusion: For susceptible children, in addition to dealing with the somatic injury, psychological intervention and family care should be carried out as early as possible.     

The casualties from electric bike and motorized scooter road accidents

Objective: The objective of this study was to describe demographic and injury characteristics of hospitalized injured patients involved in e-bike and motorized scooter accidents at a national level in Israel divided by different road user groups: riders and pedestrians.

Methods: This was a retrospective study based on data from the National Trauma Registry, between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2015. All hospitalized casualties due to the involvement of an e-bike or motorized scooter were included. The type of hospitalized road user was further categorized and described by different variables.

Results: During the study period, the Israel Trauma Registry identified 795 hospitalized patients due to an e-bike or motorized scooter accident, with a dramatic 6-fold increase from 2013 to 2015. Although the majority of the injured patients were riders, 8% were pedestrians. Among the total casualties, 33% were children aged 0–14 years and among pedestrians 42% were children and 33% were seniors (ages 60+). Five persons died in hospital, 3 riders and 2 pedestrians.

Conclusions: E-bike and motorized scooter riders represent the majority of patients hospitalized due to related traffic incident. This finding questions the social and economic advantages of electric-powered 2-wheeled vehicles.     

Transport company safety climate—The impact on truck driver behavior and crash involvement

Objective: The present study investigated the relationships between safety climate and driving behavior and crash involvement.

Methods: A total of 339 company-employed truck drivers completed a questionnaire that measured their perceptions of safety climate, crash record, speed choice, and aberrant driving behaviors (errors, lapses, and violations).

Results: Although there was no direct relationship between the drivers' perceptions of safety climate and crash involvement, safety climate was a significant predictor of engagement in risky driving behaviors, which were in turn predictive of crash involvement.

Conclusions: This research shows that safety climate may offer an important starting point for interventions aimed at reducing risky driving behavior and thus fewer vehicle collisions.     

Risk factors for the severity of injury incurred in crashes involving on-duty police cars

Objective: This article explores the risk factors associated with police cars on routine patrol and/or on an emergency run and their effects on the severity of injuries in crashes.

Methods: The binary probit model is used to examine the effects of important factors on the risk of injuries sustained in crashes involving on-duty police cars.

Results: Several factors significantly increase the probability of crashes that cause severe injuries. Among those causes are police officers who drive at excessive speeds, traffic violations during emergency responses or pursuits, and driving during the evening (6 to 12 p.m.) or in rainy weather. Findings also indicate some potential issues associated with an increase in the probability of crashes that cause injuries. Younger police drivers were found to be more likely to be involved in crashes causing injuries than middle-aged drivers were. Distracted driving by on-duty police officers as well as civilian drivers who did not pull over to let a police car pass in emergency situations also caused serious crashes.

Conclusions: Police cars are exempted from certain traffic laws under emergency circumstances. However, to reduce the probability of being involved in a crash resulting in severe injuries, officers are still obligated to drive safely and follow safety procedures when responding to emergencies or pursuing a car. Enhancement of training techniques for emergency situations or driving in pursuit of an offender and following the safety procedures are essential for safety in driving during an emergency run by police.     

Factors associated with prehospital death among traffic accident patients in Osaka City,Japan: A population-based study

Objective: Although it is important to assess the factors associated with traffic accident fatalities to decrease them as a matter of public health, such factors have not been fully identified.

Methods: Using a large-scale data set of ambulance records in Osaka City, Japan, we retrospectively analyzed all traffic accident patients transported to hospitals by emergency medical service personnel from 2013 to 2014. In this study, prehospital death was defined as that occurring at the scene or in the emergency department immediately after hospital arrival. We assessed prehospital factors associated with prehospital death due to traffic accidents by logistic regression models.

Results: This study enrolled 28,903 emergency patients involved in traffic accidents, of whom 68 died prehospital. In a multivariate model, elderly patients aged ≥75 years (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 4.34; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.29–8.23), nighttime (AOR = 2.75; 95% CI, 1.65–4.70), and type of injured person compared to bicyclists such as pedestrians (AOR = 9.58; 95% CI, 5.07–17.99), motorcyclists (AOR = 2.75; 95% CI, 1.21–6.24), and car occupants (AOR = 2.98; 95% CI, 1.39–6.40) were significantly associated with prehospital death due to traffic accidents. In addition, the AOR for automobile versus nonautomobile as the collision opponent was 4.76 (95% CI, 2.30–9.88).

Conclusions: In this population, the factors associated with prehospital death due to traffic accidents were elderly people, nighttime, and pedestrian as the type of patient. The proportion of prehospital deaths due to traffic accidents was also high when the collision component was an automobile.     

Studded and unstudded winter tires in fatal road accidents in Finland

Objective: The aim of the study was to compare the safety effects of studded and unstudded winter tires based on fatal road accidents.

Methods: The data included 958 road accidents involving a passenger car or van that occurred in Finland from November to March between 1997 and 2012.

Results: Comparing the proportions of winter tire type in accidents and in general traffic showed that the overall effect of tire type on the number of accidents was not significant, although studded tires reduced fatal accidents by 10–15%. Compared to unstudded tires, studded tires reduced accidents significantly only on bald ice in 2005–2012. Drivers using unstudded tires were more experienced and their profession was more frequently related to driving. In addition, the vehicle age was lower for vehicles with unstudded tires. On the other hand, the state of repair was less pertinent for unstudded than for studded tires. These confounding factors offset their effects to some degree.

Conclusions: The risk of fatal road accidents in winter between studded and unstudded tires does not differ significantly. However, the accident risk has recently been substantially higher on bald ice for unstudded than for studded tires. The magnitude of this risk difference is difficult to determine without specific information on exposure by road surface.     

Prevalence of alcohol among nonfatally injured road accident casualties in two level III trauma centers in northern Ghana

Background: Alcohol use is pervasive among motorists on the road in Ghana; however, we do not know the extent to which this behavior is implicated in road accidents in this country.

Objectives: The main objective of this research was to establish the prevalence of alcohol in the blood of nonfatally injured casualties in the emergency departments (EDs) in northern Ghana.

Method: Participants were injured road traffic crash victims, namely, pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, and drivers seeking treatment at an ED. The study sites were 2 level III trauma centers located in Wa and Bolgatanga. Participants were screened for alcohol followed by breath tests for positive participants using breathalyzers.

Results: Two hundred and sixty-two accident victims visited EDs, 58% of whom were in Wa. Among the victims, 41% were hospitalized and 57% experienced slight injuries. The vast majority (76%) of the casualties were motorcyclists, 13% were pedestrians, 8% were cyclists, and 2% were drivers. Casualties who had detectable alcohol in their blood were predominantly vulnerable road users. In all, 34% of participants had detectable blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) and the mean BAC for all casualties who tested positive and could give definitive BACs was 0.2265 (226 mg/dl). The prevalence of alcohol use was 53% among cyclists, 34% among motorcyclists, 21% among pedestrians, and 17% among drivers. Male casualties were more likely to test positive for alcohol than females. In addition, the prevalence of alcohol was significantly higher among injured casualties in Bolgatanga compared to Wa.

Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of alcohol use among nonfatally injured casualties in northern Ghana and injury severity increased with BAC. AUDIT screening in the hospital, alcohol consumption guideline, road safety education with an emphasis on minimizing or eliminating alcohol consumption, and enhanced enforcement of the BAC limit among motorists are recommended.