Attitudes toward mandatory ignition interlocks for all offenders convicted of driving while intoxicated

Introduction: Ignition interlocks are effective in reducing alcohol-impaired driving recidivism for all offenders, including first-time offenders. Despite their effectiveness, interlock use among persons convicted of driving while intoxicated from alcohol (DWI) remains low. This cross-sectional survey of U.S. adults assessed public support for requiring ignition interlocks for all convicted DWI offenders including first-time offenders. The goal was to update results from a similar 2010 survey in light of new state requirements and increased interlock installations. Methods: Questions were included in the Porter Novelli FallStyles survey, which was fielded from September 28 to October 16, 2015. Participants were the 3,536 individuals who provided an opinion toward requiring ignition interlocks for all offenders. For analyses, opinion toward requiring interlocks for all offenders was dichotomized into ‘agree’ and ‘neutral/disagree.’ To handle missing data, 10 imputed datasets were created and pooled using fully conditional specification (FCS). Results: Fifty-nine percent of adults supported requiring interlocks for all DWI offenders. Multivariate analysis revealed that persons who did not report alcohol-impaired driving (AID) were 60% more likely to support requiring interlocks than those who reported AID. Having heard of interlocks also increased support. Support was generally consistent across demographic subgroups. Conclusions: Interlocks for all offenders have majority support nationwide in the current survey, consistent with previous reports. Support is lowest among those who have reported alcohol-impaired driving in the past 30 days. These results suggest that communities with higher levels of alcohol-impaired driving may be more resistant to requiring ignition interlocks for all convicted DWI offenders. Future studies should examine this association further. Practical applications: These results indicate that the majority of adults recognize DWI as a problem and support requiring interlocks for all offenders.     

An evaluation of Washington's driving while intoxicated law: Effect on drunk driving recidivism

The 1980 Washington driving while intoxicated (DWI) law was evaluated to determine its impact on the subsequent driving behavior of persons convicted of DWI. The major provisions of this law were mandatory jail sentences for conviction of DWI and a change in the definition of DWI. The law made it illegal per se for a person to drive with a blood alcohol level of .10% or more. The law was intended to reduce the drunk driving and accidents of individuals convicted of DWI as well as deter such behavior among the general driving population. The study assessed the deterrence effect of the law on convicted DWI offenders. It was found that individuals convicted under the provisions of this law had higher accident rates and drunk driving recidivism rates than individuals convicted under the previous law. These increases suggest that mandatory jail sentences may fail to deter subsequent acts of drunk driving. It was concluded that alternative legal sanctions for DWI (such as license suspensions or revocations) may be sufficiently stringent to produce both general and specific deterrence of drunk driving.     

The impact of 2-day jail sentences for drunk drivers in Hennepin County,Minnesota

In 1982, the judges of the Hennepin County Municipal Court met and collectively decided that they would start sentencing all convicted first-time alcohol-related offenders to serve 2 days in jail. A research study was initiated to evaluate the effects of such sentences. It was the purpose of the evaluation to examine not only the effect of this policy on traffic safety, but also its impact on the operation of the court, the correctional system, driving while intoxicated (DWI) enforcement activity, and public perceptions. The major findings were: (a) in spite of the fact that 2-day jail sentences were voluntarily imposed by the municipal judges (vs. statutorily required), there was a high degree of judicial compliance; (b) the Hennepin County Adult Corrections Facility for the most part was able to effectively accommodate the DWI offenders serving 2-day sentences; and (c) there was a statistically significant average monthly reduction in Hennepin County of 35 nighttime injury accidents coincident with the adoption of the policy and after a 2-month lag time. This is a 20% reduction when compared to the prepolicy monthly average. There has also been a marked increase in the number of DWI arrests. Overall, the experience in Hennepin County has been positive and may have important implications for other jurisdictions considering changes in their DWI policies.     

The prevention of young driver's DWI (driving while intoxicated) and RWDI (riding with a driver under influence) in Europe: a social-sequential model

Inspired by the "critical incident technique" of McKnight et al. (1995) who analyzed 12,000 drivers' decisions leading to (or not to) DWI, and identified the influence of social, motivational, and economic factors, we have developed a social-sequential model of young drivers' DWI (driving while intoxicated) and RWDI (riding with a driver under influence) prevention. DWI or RWDI may be analyzed as a four-stage process: (1) the decision to drink and to associate leisure activities with drinking; (2) the management of alcohol consumption during the evening; (3) the decision to drive after drinking; and (4) the behavioral adaptation, once the decision to drive is taken (disinhibition of risk-taking or risk compensation). At each of these four stages, preventive action can reflect the intervention of two types of actors: (1) formal social control of behavior is influenced by professionals involved in accident prevention, and (2) informal social control of behavior is influenced by the proximal environment of the subject.     

Working conditions and sleepiness while driving among truck drivers

Objective: The objective of this study is to identify the role of working conditions as predictors of sleepiness while driving among truck drivers.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study carried out among truck drivers who transported grains to Paranaguá Port, Paraná, Brazil. The truck drivers were interviewed and completed a self-administered questionnaire to collect data on sociodemographic and behavioral variables, working conditions, consumption of illicit psychoactive substances, and sleep patterns. Drivers were considered to be sleepy while driving if they reported a medium or high probability of napping while driving at night, during the daytime, or while stopped in traffic. The statistical analysis used logistic regression models progressively adjusted for age, behavioral variables, sleep duration, and other working conditions.

Results: In total, 670 male drivers, with a mean age of 41.9 (±11.1) years, were enrolled. The prevalence of sleepiness while driving was 31.5%. After model adjustments, the following working conditions were associated with sleepiness while driving: Distance from the last shipment of more than 1,000?km (odds ratio [OR]?=?1.54; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.07–2.23) and a formal labor contract with a productivity-based salary (OR = 2.65; 95% CI, 1.86–3.78). Consumption of illicit psychoactive substances (OR = 1.99; 95% CI, 1.14–3.47) was also associated with sleepiness while driving.

Conclusions: Distance traveled and a formal labor contract with productivity-based earnings were the working conditions associated with sleepiness while driving, regardless of other working or behavioral characteristics, age, consumption of illicit psychoactive substances, and sleep duration.     

香港为何禁止边开车边用手机

到过香港的人经常可以看到那里的人们边开车边用手机,没有到过香港的人,从反映香港生活的电影和电视剧中也可以看到这样的镜头。这不足为怪,６００万人口的香港有２４０万台手机,平均２５个人中就有一台手机,有机动车辆的人一般都有手机,他们边开车边用手机,乃司空...     

Inclusion of phone use while driving data in predicting distraction-affected crashes

Introduction: Given the tremendous number of lives lost or injured, distracted driving is an important safety area to study. With the widespread use of cellphones, phone use while driving has become the most common distracted driving behavior. Although researchers have developed safety performance functions (SPFs) for various crash types, SPFs for distraction-affected crashes are rarely studied in the literature. One possible reason is the lack of critical distracted behavior information in the commonly used safety data (i.e., roadway inventory, traffic, and crash counts). Recently, the frequency of phone use while driving (referred to as phone use data) is recorded by mobile application companies and has become available to safety researchers. The primary objective of this study is to examine if phone use data can potentially predict distracted-affected crashes. Method: The authors first integrated phone use data with roadway inventory, traffic, and crash data in Texas. Then, the Random Forest (RF) algorithm was applied to assess the significance of the feature - phone use while driving - for predicting the number of distraction-affected crashes on a road segment. Further, this study developed two SPFs for distraction-affected crashes with and without the phone use data, separately. Both SPFs were assessed in terms of model fitting and prediction performances. Results: RF results rank the frequency of phone use as an important factor contributing to the number of distraction-affected crashes. Performance evaluations indicated that the inclusion of phone use data in the SPFs consistently improved both fitting and prediction abilities to predict distracted-affected crashes. Practical Applications: The phone use data provide new insights into the safety analyses of distraction-affected crashes, which cannot be achieved by only using the conventional roadway inventory and crash data. Therefore, safety researchers and practitioners are encouraged to incorporate the emerging data sources in reducing distraction-affected crashes.     

Aggressive behavior while driving as predictor of self-reported car crashes

PROBLEM: In Greece, there is a lack of scientific evidence on the relationship between aggressive behavior while driving and young drivers' involvement in car crashes; this study examined this potential relationship. METHODS: The randomly selected samples of 356 young drivers (18-24 years old) were interviewed through a questionnaire of self-reported car crash involvement, which mainly focused on their behavior on the road and the number of car crashes in which they had been involved. RESULTS: The statistical methods used were principal components analysis (PCA) and multiple regression analysis. Two factors relevant to aggressive driving emerged: (a) driving violations and (b) irritability while driving. The multivariate model suggested that driving just for fun (joyriding) and irritability were predictors of young drivers' involvement in car crashes. It was found that younger age was negatively associated with young drivers' involvement in car crashes. IMPACT ON GOVERNMENT AND INDUSTRY: The findings of this study can contribute in the formation of public policies aiming to prevent young drivers' car crashes. These findings can also be the starting point of some health promotion interventions trying to reduce car crashes and casualties on the road. Finally, the insurance companies may be interested in applying these findings into their field of interest.     

安全百句"要点"

规章制度健全点 ,领导干部重视点 ,“三违”现象杜绝点 ,技术措施全面点 ,计划编制细心点 ,安全教育经常点 ,专业知识多学点 ,持证操作安全点 ,全员意识增强点 ,安全工作就好点。安全业务精通点 ,发现问题就多点。现场辛苦多跑点 ,发现隐患多说点 ,整改问题严肃点 ,安全防护投入点 ,劳保制度健全点 ,事故相对就少点。高处作业注意点 ,“三保四口”重视点 ,起重吊装小心点 ,坠落事故避免点 ,钢绳系数选大点 ,吊车腿下垫实点 ,限位装置可靠点 ,起落回转平稳点 ,指挥经验全面点 ,安全施工是重点。噪声污染重视点 ,施工扰民注意点 ,施工现场文明…     

Sensitivity evaluation of the visual,tactile, and auditory detection response task method while driving

Objectives: In this article, we evaluate the sensitivity to cognitive load of 3 versions of the Detection Response Task method (DRT), proposed in ISO Draft Standard DIS-17488.

Methods: We present a user study with 30 participants in which we compared the sensitivity to cognitive load of visual, audio, and tactile DRT in a simulated driving environment. The amount of cognitive load was manipulated with secondary n-back tasks at 2 levels of difficulty (0-back and 1-back). We also explored whether the DRT method is least sensitive to cognitive load when the stimuli and secondary task are of the same modality. For this purpose, we used 3 forms to present the n-back task stimuli: visual, audio, and tactile. Responses to the task were always vocal. The experiment was based on a between-subject design (the DRT modalities) with 2 levels of within-subject design study (modalities and difficulty of the secondary n-back tasks). The participants' primary task in the study was to drive safely, and a second priority was to answer to DRT stimuli and perform secondary tasks.

Results: The results indicate that all 3 versions of the DRT tested were sensitive to detecting the difference in cognitive load between the reference driving period and driving and engaging in the secondary tasks. Only the visual DRT discriminated between the 0-back and 1-back conditions on mean response time. Contrary to expectations, no interaction was observed between DRT modality and the stimuli modality used for presentation of the secondary tasks.

Conclusions: None of the 3 methods of presenting DRT stimuli showed a consistent advantage in sensitivity in differentiating multiple levels of cognitive load if all response times, hit rates, and secondary task performance are considered. If only response time is considered, the visual presentation of the DRT stimulus used in this study showed some advantages. In interpreting these data, it should be noted that the methods of DRT stimulus presentation varied somewhat from the currently proposed draft ISO standard and it is possible that the relative salience level of the visual DRT stimulus influenced the findings. It is further suggested that more than 2 levels of difficulty of the n-back task should be considered for further investigation of the relative sensitivity of different DRT stimuli modalities. Parameters that indicate change in cognitive load (response time, hit rate, task performance) should be analyzed together in assessing the overall impact on the driver and not individually, in order to obtain a fuller insight of the assessed cognitive load.     

Drowsiness and distraction while driving: A study based on smartphone app data

Introduction: Due to the negative impact on road safety from driver drowsiness and distraction, several studies have been conducted, usually under driving simulator and naturalistic conditions. Nevertheless, emerging technologies offer the opportunity to explore novel data. The present study explores retrospective data, which was gathered by an app designed to monitor the driver, which is available to any driver owning a smartphone. Method: Drowsiness and distraction alerts emitted during the journey were aggregated by continuous driving (called sub-journey). The data include 273 drivers who made 634 sub-journeys. Two binary logit models were used separately to analyze the probability of a drowsiness and distraction event occurring. Variables describing the continuous driving time (sub-journey time), the journey time (a set of sub-journeys), the number of breaks, the breaking duration time and the first sub-journey (categorical variable) were included. Additionally, categorical variables representing the gender and age of the drivers were also incorporated. Results: Despite the limitations of the retrospective data, interesting findings were obtained. The results indicate that the main risk factor of inattention is driving continuously (i.e., without stopping), but it is irrelevant whether the stop is long or short as well as the total time spent on the journey. The probability of distraction events occurring during the journey is higher than drowsiness events. Yet, the impact of increasing the driving time of the journey and stopping during the journey on the probability of drowsiness is higher than the probability of distraction. Additionally, this study reveals that the elderly are more prone to drowsiness. The data also include a group of drivers, who did not provide information on gender and age, who were found to be associated to drowsiness and distraction risk. Conclusions: The study shows that data gathered by an app have the potential to contribute to investigating drowsiness and distraction. Practical applications: Drivers are highly recommended to frequently stop during the journey, even for a short period of time to prevent drowsiness and distraction.     

The theory of planned behavior (TPB) and texting while driving behavior in college students

Objective: To examine the role of intent and other theory of planned behavior (TPB) constructs in predicting college students' willingness to text while driving (TWD).

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. 243 male and female college students enrolled in the 2013–2014 academic year in the College of Health, Human Services & Nursing completed a survey on TWD. Inclusion criteria: All races and ethnicities, ≥18 years of age, cell phone owner, and licensed driver.

Results: Over 70% of the sample (n = 243) reported talking on a cell phone and sending and receiving text messages “at least a few times” while driving within the past week. However, only 27% reported being stopped by police. Of these, 22% reported being fined. Within the past 30 days, 26% reported reading or sending TWD and having to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting another car or pedestrian(s) as a result. In all, 47% of the variance in intention to send TWD was accounted for by the full TPB model. Intention, in turn, predicted willingness to TWD. Intention also mediated the relationship between perceived behavioral control and willingness to TWD.

Conclusion: Attitude was found to be the strongest predictor of intention. In addition, intention was found to mediate the relationship of willingness to TWD on perceived behavioral control. These findings highlight potential factors that could be targeted in behavioral change interventions seeking to prevent TWD.     

Real-world effects of using a phone while driving on lateral and longitudinal control of vehicles

IntroductionTechnologies able to augment human communication, such as smartphones, are increasingly present during all daily activities. Their use while driving, in particular, is of great potential concern, because of the high risk that distraction poses during this activity. Current countermeasures to distraction from phone use are considerably different across countries and not always widely accepted/adopted by the drivers.MethodsThis study utilized naturalistic driving data collected from 108 drivers in the Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems (IVBSS) program in 2009 and 2010 to assess the extent to which using a phone changes lateral or longitudinal control of a vehicle. The IVBSS study included drivers from three age groups: 20–30 (younger), 40–50 (middle-aged), and 60–70 (older).ResultsResults from this study show that younger drivers are more likely to use a phone while driving than older and middle-aged drivers. Furthermore, younger drivers exhibited smaller safety margins while using a phone. Nevertheless, younger drivers did not experience more severe lateral/longitudinal threats than older and middle-aged drivers, probably because of faster reaction times. While manipulating the phone (i.e., dialing, texting), drivers exhibited larger lateral safety margins and experienced less severe lateral threats than while conversing on the phone. Finally, longitudinal threats were more critical soon after phone interaction, suggesting that drivers terminate phone interactions when driving becomes more demanding.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that drivers are aware of the potential negative effect of phone use on their safety. This awareness guides their decision to engage/disengage in phone use and to increase safety margins (self-regulation). This compensatory behavior may be a natural countermeasure to distraction that is hard to measure in controlled studies.Practical ApplicationsIntelligent systems able to amplify this natural compensatory behavior may become a widely accepted/adopted countermeasure to the potential distraction from phone operation while driving.     

Mobile phone use while driving: Predicting drivers’ answering intentions and compensatory decisions

The current study considered, for the first time, compensatory decisions within the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to explain why people use mobile phones while driving. The effects of age, gender, and mobile phone mode on respondents’ answering intentions and compensatory decisions were mainly examined. A series of questions were administered to 333 drivers (ages 25-59), which included (1) demographic measures, (2) scales that measured prior mobile use activities in both driving and ordinary contexts, (3) a question to measure drivers’ perceptions of the safety of hands-free phones, and (4) TPB measures, which measured answer intention and two compensatory behavioural decisions (i.e., reminding the caller that he/she is driving, limiting the length of a conversations (including perceived its limits)), along with predictive variables. Drivers reported a moderate likelihood of answering intention and a strong tendency to engage in the two compensatory behaviours. Answering intention and compensatory decisions, perceived behavioural control, perceived risk, and usage frequency were more dependent on mobile phone mode and age group than gender. The regression models explained 64% and 67% of the variance in answering intention in the handheld and hands-free scenario separately. Attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural risk and control (PBRC), and prior answering behaviour emerged as common predictors. The predictive models explained 31% and 37% of the variance for perceived limits of a conversation length in handheld and hands-free scenarios, respectively. Answering intention and PBRC consistently predicted most of the variance (handheld: 28%; hands-free: 32%) for this compensatory perception limits. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.     

Driver personality characteristics related to self-reported accident involvement and mobile phone use while driving

A causal model was developed in this study to clarify the effect of mobile phone use on driving safety. Based on the model, a series of questionnaires were developed, and 194 car drivers were interviewed based on these questionnaires. Results showed that perceived risk and mobile phone usage habits varied with different individual traits. Drivers who were prone to accidents revealed a lower perception of safety risks and a higher self-reported accident rate resulting from mobile phone use than those who were not accident-prone. Aggressive drivers were found to use mobile phones more frequently while driving but had a similar accident rate to non-aggressive drivers. Frequency in mobile phone use while driving significantly increased among aggressive male drivers regardless of accident proneness. Findings from this study imply that the perceived risk of drivers might be an ignored but important factor in the relationship between mobile phone use and driving safety. Because of the difficulty in practically identifying who is accident-prone or not, this study suggests that overall prohibition in mobile phone use while driving is needed to reduce the corresponding number of traffic accidents.     

Transdermal alcohol monitoring combined with contingency management for driving while impaired offenders: A pilot randomized controlled study

Objectives: In a pilot randomized controlled trial of contingency management (CM) and transdermal alcohol monitoring (TAM) with offenders driving while impaired by alcohol (DWI), perceptions regarding the acceptability of a TAM device, recruitment issues, and the impact of CM and TAM on alcohol use over a 6-week period were evaluated. The results aimed to inform the design of future trials and programs involving CM and TAM for DWI remediation.

Methods: TAM devices were affixed to 37 voluntary, community-recruited male DWI offenders with problem alcohol use. They were randomized to one of 3 groups: (1) CM; (2) alcohol use feedback (FB); and (3) TAM device only (CTL). Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered on the acceptability of TAM devices and recruitment, and alcohol use was monitored via TAM and self-report.

Results: The TAM device was perceived positively, with benefits for reducing drinking noted. Nevertheless, some of its inconveniences appeared to influence participant recruitment and attrition, including its large size and limited water resistance. TAM data revealed a significant main effect of time for reduction in weekly peak transdermal alcohol concentration (P = .02), with a decrease between means of weeks 1 and 6 (M = 0.15, SE = 0.02 vs. M = 0.09, SE = 0.02; P = .005). No significant group effect was detected.

Conclusions: TAM is a viable adjunct to CM with DWI offenders, though the TAM device used here may influence both study recruitment and adherence. These findings can guide the design of future studies into CM and TAM for DWI remediation.     

Mobile phone use while driving: Development and validation of knowledge,attitude, and practice survey instruments

Introduction: Instruments that assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of mobile phone use serve as a primary assessment tool on which mobile phone distracted driving interventions can be designed. The objective of this study is to develop and validate KAP-modeled survey instruments that measure the knowledge of mobile phone hazards while driving (KMPHD), the attitude of drivers towards mobile phone use while driving (AMPUD), and the practice of mobile phone use while driving (PMPUD). Method: This study was a cross-sectional analytical survey conducted in Ibadan, Nigeria. Three instruments were designed to measure KMPHD, AMPUD, and PMPUD. Content validity, item analysis, exploratory factor analysis were conducted, and items were excluded based on the collective results of the analysis. The domains of the constructs and the reliability of the instruments are reported. A confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the regression weights of each item and the model fit. Results: From an original list of 13, 12, and 10 items in the KMPHD, AMPUD, and PMPUD instruments, a final list of 7, 5, and 7 items were generated in each survey instrument, respectively. Two domains of the knowledge of hazards and practice of mobile phone use were obtained, and attitude to phone use while driving was a single domain. The reliabilities (Cronbach alpha) of the KMPHD (0.881), AMPUD (0.954), and PMPUD (0.920) were sufficiently high. Also, all items in the three instruments had moderate-to-high regression coefficients, and the model fits of the instruments were good. Conclusions: This study provides KAP-modeled survey instruments that can be used to assess a population-based knowledge, attitude, and practice of mobile phone use while driving. Practical Applications: This survey instrument can be used in assessing baseline knowledge, attitude, and practice of phone use while driving and determine the focus and effectiveness of mobile phone-induced distracted driving interventions.