Impact of a commercial destocking relief intervention in Moyale district, southern Ethiopia

A commercial destocking intervention was piloted in southern Ethiopia during the drought of early 2006. The intervention led to the purchase of an estimated 20,000 cattle valued at USD 1.01 million. On average, destocked households received USD 186 from the sale of cattle--approximately 5,405 households were involved. In terms of aid investment, the approximate cost-benefit ratio was 41:1. During the drought, income from destocking accounted for 54.2 per cent of household income (n = 114 households), and was used to buy food, care for livestock, meet various domestic expenses, support relatives, and either pay off debts or augment savings. Seventy-nine per cent of the income derived from destocking was used to buy local goods or services. Expenditure on livestock care amounted to 36.5 per cent of local spending, and included the private transportation of livestock to better grazing areas. The buoyant livestock export trade was considered to be an important driver of commercial destocking, demonstrating a positive link between livestock and meat exports, and pastoral vulnerability during drought.     

Alcohol-related deaths among young passengers: An analysis of national alcohol-related fatal crashes

Introduction: There is consensus that riding with an impaired driver (RWI) constitutes a major threat to public health. The aim of this study was to characterize the factors contributing to the motor-vehicle deaths of 15–20 year-old (y/o) passengers that RWI with a peer. Method: Secondary analyses of the 2010–2018 Fatality Analysis Reporting System. 5,673 passengers aged 15–20 y/o killed while riding in passenger cars with a driver aged 21 or older, 3,542 of these drivers also aged 15–20 y/o. Analyses were conducted between October 2019 and December 2020. Results: Sixty-three percent of the young passengers were killed while riding with a driver 15–20 y/o. Of these drivers, 26.8% had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) >0.00 g/dL and 77.1% had a BAC ≥0.08 g/dL. Compared with those occurring during the day on weekdays, fatalities of young passengers who RWI with a peer driver with a BAC ≥ 0.08 g/dL often occurred on weekend nights (OR = 8.2) and weekday nights (OR = 5.2), and when the passenger and driver were both male (OR = 1.8). Race/ethnicity was not a significant contributor to RWI fatalities. Conclusions: Most 15–20 y/o RWI fatalities occurred on weekends, at night, when the driver was a young peer with a high BAC, and the passenger and driver were male. The high prevalence of fatalities in these high-risk situations suggests that young driver-passenger dynamics may contribute to alcohol-related fatalities. Practical Applications: To curb RWI fatalities among underage passengers, countermeasures should focus not only on underage drinking drivers and riders, but also on drinking drivers of all ages. Prevention should increase focus on situations in which both the young passenger and young driver are males.     

商业综合体中楼梯、自动扶梯和电梯多通道耦合疏散策略研究

为选择最优疏散模式,提高商业综合体应急疏散效率,运用Pathfinder仿真软件,求解最优自动扶梯与楼梯双通道耦合模式,并探讨自动扶梯、楼梯与电梯多通道耦合疏散模式实效性.结果表明:自动扶梯与楼梯双通道耦合疏散模式中,自动扶梯双下行与楼梯耦合疏散模式疏散效果最好,疏散时间最短,总疏散时间465.95 s,比单一楼梯疏散...     

基于事故分析的公路限高门架警告标志优化设置

为优化设置公路限高门架警告标志,利用Kruskal-Wallis检验与二元logistic回归分析,从工效学及人因工程学角度剖析事故原因,基于大型车辆驾驶员视认特征与道路交通环境特点,提出警告标志前置设置最低要求,构建考虑大型车辆驾驶员视认角度标志前置距离模型,并提出预防措施.结果表明:限高门架高度警示标志设置不规范,...     

视觉记忆型次任务对驾驶绩效及安全的影响

为研究视觉记忆型次任务对驾驶绩效及安全的影响,采用对未知内容的记忆任务和对已知内容的再认任务分别表征工作记忆和长时记忆过程,构建多组不同难度的次任务,基于标准换道试验环境LCT进行双任务研究。提取并分析驾驶人执行不同任务时车道保持、换道控制等指标的差异以及次任务绩效,基于主客观数据构建综合评判模型。结果表明:双任务驾驶条件下,车辆平均路径偏差、方向盘平均转向角、车道偏移次数指标增大,正确换道比例减小,感知负荷增大,总绩效下降。困难工作记忆组与简单工作记忆组相比,随着任务难度增大,换道控制绩效下降,感知负荷增大,总绩效下降36.1%;困难再认组与工作记忆组相比,车道保持绩效、换道控制绩效提高,感知负荷下降,总绩效提高50%;简单再认组与工作记忆组相比,总绩效变化不大;困难工作记忆组综合绩效最低。上述结果说明:随着次任务难度增大,总绩效下降,但将对未知内容的工作记忆过程转化为对已知内容的再认过程时,总绩效明显提升,这一特点在任务难度较大时更为显著。     

Identifying risky drivers with simulated driving

Objective: The present study aimed to examine whether high-risk drivers differ from low-risk drivers in driving behavior in a simulated environment.

Method: The 2 risk groups including 36 drivers (18 males and 18 females) performed driving tasks in a simulated environment. The simulated driving behaviors are compared between the 2 risk groups.

Results: The high-risk drivers drove much faster and exhibited larger offsets of the steering wheel than did the low-risk drivers in events without incidents. Additionally, the high-risk drivers used turn signals and horns less frequently than the low-risk drivers.

Conclusions: The present study revealed that the high-risk group differed from the low-risk group in driving behavior in a simulated environment. These results also suggest that simulated driving tasks might be useful tools for the evaluation of drivers’ potential risks.     

The on-road experiences and awareness of sleepiness in a sample of Australian highway drivers: A roadside driver sleepiness study

Objective: Driver sleepiness contributes substantially to road crash incidents. Simulator and on-road studies clearly reveal an impairing effect from sleepiness on driving ability. However, the degree to which drivers appreciate the dangerousness of driving while sleepy is somewhat unclear. This study sought to determine drivers' on-road experiences of sleepiness, their prior sleep habits, and personal awareness of the signs of sleepiness.

Methods: Participants were a random selection of 92 drivers traveling on a major highway in the state of Queensland, Australia, who were stopped by police as part of routine drink driving operations. Participants completed a brief questionnaire that included demographic information, sleepy driving experiences (signs of sleepiness and on-road experiences of sleepiness), and prior sleep habits. A modified version of the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) was used to assess subjective sleepiness in the 15 min prior to being stopped by police.

Results: Participants' ratings of subjective sleepiness were quite low, with 90% reporting being alert to extremely alert on the KSS. Participants were reasonably aware of the signs of sleepiness, with many signs of sleepiness associated with on-road experiences of sleepiness. Additionally, the number of hours spent driving was positively correlated with the drivers' level of sleep debt.

Conclusions: The results suggest that participants had moderate experiences of driving while sleepy and many were aware of the signs of sleepiness. The relationship between driving long distances and increased sleep debt is a concern for road safety. Increased education regarding the dangers of sleepy driving seems warranted.     

The role of self-regulation in the context of driver distraction: A simulator study

Objective: There is considerable evidence for the negative effects of driver distraction on road safety. In many experimental studies, drivers have been primarily viewed as passive receivers of distraction. Thus, there is a lack of research on the mediating role of their self-regulatory behavior. The aim of the current study was to compare drivers' performance when engaged in a system-paced secondary task with a self-paced version of this task and how both differed from baseline driving performance without distraction.

Methods: Thirty-nine participants drove in a simulator while performing a secondary visual–manual task. One group of drivers had to work on this task in predefined situations under time pressure, whereas the other group was free to decide when to work on the secondary task (self-regulation group). Drivers' performance (e.g., lateral and longitudinal control, brake reaction times) was also compared with a baseline condition without any secondary task.

Results: For the system-paced secondary task, distraction was associated with high decrements in driving performance (especially in keeping the lateral position). No effects were found for the number of collisions, probably because of the lower driving speeds while distracted (compensatory behavior). For the self-regulation group, only small impairments in driving performance were found. Drivers engaged less in the secondary task during foreseeable demanding or critical driving situations.

Conclusions: Overall, drivers in the self-regulation group were able to anticipate the demands of different traffic situations and to adapt their engagement in the secondary task, so that only small impairments in driving performance occurred. Because in real traffic drivers are mostly free to decide when to engage in secondary tasks, it can be concluded that self-regulation should be considered in driver distraction research to ensure ecological validity.     

Geographical analysis of commercial motor vehicle hazardous materials crashes on the Oregon state highway system

Crashes on highways frequently cause hazardous material exposure to the public and the environment. We evaluated differences in hazardous materials-related crashes vs. non-hazardous-material-related commercial motor vehicle crashes occurring from 2000 to 2006 on the Oregon state highway network. The two groups were compared for crash characteristics by χ² analysis, and spatial clustering was tested using Ripley's K-function and kernel density estimator analyses. There were 8,622 total commercial motor vehicle crashes, 232 being hazardous-materials related. Hazardous materials-related crashes were not significantly associated with different road surface conditions, weather conditions or cause of crash. Hazardous materials-related crashes were associated more frequently with late evening/early morning hours and under artificial lights or at dusk. The commercial motor vehicle drivers in hazardous materials-related crashes were less frequently at fault than ones in the non-hazardous materials-related crashes. The planar Ripley's K-function indicated non-hazardous materials-related crashes were more clustered than hazardous materials-related ones. Both cohorts clustered at the 12–14 mile range. The kernel density estimator analysis indicated hazardous materials-related clusters are small and discrete along the main highway corridors, non-Hazardous materials-related ones seemed to form elongated confluent clusters along all highways. Since there seem to be few differences between the two cohorts in characteristics of the crashes and the frequency of hazardous materials-related crashes is low compared to the total commercial vehicle crashes, future geographical studies may focus on characteristics of all commercial motor vehicle crashes.     

Integrating Human Impacts and Ecological Integrity into a Risk-Based Protocol for Conservation Planning

Conservation planning aims to protect biodiversity by sustainng the natural physical, chemical, and biological processes within representative ecosystems. Often data to measure these components are inadequate or unavailable. The impact of human activities on ecosystem processes complicates integrity assessments and might alter ecosystem organization at multiple spatial scales. Freshwater conservation targets, such as populations and communities, are influenced by both intrinsic aquatic properties and the surrounding landscape, and locally collected data might not accurately reflect potential impacts. We suggest that changes in five major biotic drivers—energy sources, physical habitat, flow regime, water quality, and biotic interactions—might be used as surrogates to inform conservation planners of the ecological integrity of freshwater ecosystems. Threats to freshwater systems might be evaluated based on their impact to these drivers to provide an overview of potential risk to conservation targets. We developed a risk-based protocol, the Ecological Risk Index (ERI), to identify watersheds with least/most risk to conservation targets. Our protocol combines risk-based components, specifically the frequency and severity of human-induced stressors, with biotic drivers and mappable land- and water-use data to provide a summary of relative risk to watersheds. We illustrate application of our protocol with a case study of the upper Tennessee River basin, USA. Differences in risk patterns among the major drainages in the basin reflect dominant land uses, such as mining and agriculture. A principal components analysis showed that localized, moderately severe threats accounted for most of the threat composition differences among our watersheds. We also found that the relative importance of threats is sensitive to the spatial grain of the analysis. Our case study demonstrates that the ERI is useful for evaluating the frequency and severity of ecosystemwide risk, which can inform local and regional conservation planning.