Objective: The objective of this study was to identify the prevalence and potential risk factors of farm vehicle–related road traffic crashes among farm vehicle drivers in southern China.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was used to interview 1,422 farm vehicle drivers in southern China. Farm vehicle–related road traffic crashes that occurred from December 2013 to November 2014 were investigated. Data on farm vehicle–related road traffic crashes and related factors were collected by face-to-face interviews.
Results: The prevalence of farm vehicle–related road traffic crashes among the investigated drivers was 7.2%. Farm vehicle–related road traffic crashes were significantly associated with self-reported vision problem (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 6.48, 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.86–10.87), self-reported sleep disorders (AOR = 10.03, 95% CI, 6.28–15.99), self-reported stress (AOR = 20.47, 95% CI, 9.96–42.08), reported history of crashes (AOR = 5.40, 95% CI, 3.47–8.42), reported history of drunk driving (AOR = 5.07, 95% CI, 2.97–8.65), and reported history of fatigued driving (AOR = 5.72, 95% CI, 3.73–8.78). The number of road traffic crashes was highest in the daytime and during harvest season. In over 96% of farm vehicle–related road traffic crashes, drivers were believed to be responsible for the crash. Major crash-causing factors included improper driving, careless driving, violating of traffic signals or signs, and being in the wrong lane.
Conclusion: Findings of this study suggest that farm vehicle–related road traffic crashes have become a burgeoning public health problem in China. Programs need to be developed to prevent farm vehicle–related road traffic crashes in this emerging country. 相似文献
Abstract: Road mortality has been implicated as a significant demographic force in turtles, particularly for females, which are killed disproportionately on overland nesting movements. Moreover, the United States' road network has expanded dramatically over the last century. We therefore predicted that historical trends in sex ratios of turtle populations would be male biased. To test this prediction, we synthesized published estimates of population-level sex ratios in freshwater and terrestrial turtles in the United States (165 estimates for 36 species, published 1928–2003). Our analysis suggests that the proportion of males in populations has increased linearly ( p = 0.001); the trend in male bias is synchronized with the expansion of the surfaced portion of the road network since 1930; sex ratios became more male biased in states with higher densities of roads; and populations have become more male biased in aquatic species, in which movement differentials between males and females are greatest, and are least biased in semiaquatic and terrestrial species, in which overland movements are more comparable between sexes. Our results suggest an ongoing depletion of breeding females from wild turtle populations over the last century because of many factors, including, and perhaps chiefly, road mortality. 相似文献
This paper presents a multi-criteria selection of the best forest road network with the aim of achieving effective preventive and timely repressive protection against forest fires. The research was carried out in national park (NP) “Tara” at a site which is under constant threat of fire. Four variants of the forest road network were designed and analyzed against seven criteria, and the best variant was selected using entropy weight coefficients (EWC) method. The importance of these seven criteria was studied by the management of the NP “Tara.” The greatest importance was given to the criteria relating to the cost of construction and maintenance of permanent and temporary roads (47% of the total value of all criteria). The EWC method did not select the variant based on the lowest costs of construction and maintenance as the best option, but the variant whose location was the most suitable for effective defense against forest fires. 相似文献
ABSTRACT: Erosion resulting from logging and road building has long been a concern to forest managers and the general public. An objective methodology was developed to estimate erosion risk on forest roads and in harvest areas on private land in northwestern California. It was based on 260 plots sampled from the area harvested under 415 Timber Harvest Plans completed between November 1978 and October 1979. Results confirmed previous findings that most erosion related to forest management occurs on a small fraction of the managed area. Erosion features larger than the minimum size inventories in this study (> 13 yd3) occupied only 0.2 percent of the area investigated. Linear discriminant analysis was used to develop two equations for identifying critical sites (sites with erosion >100 yd3ac?1). The equations were based on slope, horizontal curvature (an expression of local topography), and soil color (on road sites) or the strength of the underlying rocks (on harvest sites). The equations can be used in planning to estimate the erosion risk of proposed activities. They can also be used to estimate acceptable risk thresholds based on the value of competing resources. 相似文献
ABSTRACT: The Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) is a physically based erosion model for applications to dryland and irrigated agriculture, rangeland, and forests. U.S. Forest Service (USFS) experience showed that WEPP was not being adapted because of the difficulty in building files describing the input conditions in the existing interfaces. To address this difficulty, a suite of Internet interfaces with a database was developed to more easily predict soil erosion for a wide range of climatic and forest conditions, including roads, fires, and timber harvest. The database included a much larger climate database than was previously available for applications in remote forest and rangeland areas. Validation results showed reasonable agreement between erosion values reported in the literature and values predicted by the interfaces to the WEPP model. 相似文献
ABSTRACT: This study evaluated the use of a modified pebble count procedure (Bevenger and King, 1995) to detect cumulative watershed effects on headwater streams in the Routt National Forest in northcentral Colorado. The 42 sample reaches were stratified by disturbance (reference or disturbed) and geologic terrene (granitic or mixed sedimentary-volcanic). Water surface slope was a significant control on the number of fine particles in the reference reaches in both terranes, and the data from the disturbed reaches were adjusted accordingly. The disturbed reaches in the granitic terrene generally had a higher percentage of fine particles, and the adjusted number of fine particles was significantly correlated with the number of road crossings. Disturbed reaches in the sedimentary-volcanic (s-v) terrane generally did not have significantly more fine particles, nor were the adjusted numbers of fine particles significantly correlated with any management index. The lack of significant trends in the s-v streams is probably due to differences in weathering between the two rock types, and the location of the sample reach relative to sedimentary outcrops. Two other procedures were also used to assess cumulative watershed effects, with the Pfankuch channel stability rating yielding stronger and more consistent differences between the reference and the disturbed streams than the Tarzwell substrate ratio. We conclude that it may be difficult to define a standard reference condition, and that the number of road crossings is more strongly correlated with the number of fine particles than equivalent clearcut area. 相似文献
Abstract: New wind-energy facilities and their associated power transmission lines and roads are being constructed at a rapid pace in the Great Plains of North America. Nevertheless, little is known about the possible negative effects these anthropogenic features might have on prairie birds, one of the most threatened groups in North America. We examined radiotelemetry tracking locations of Lesser Prairie-Chickens ( Tympanuchus pallidicinctus ) and Greater Prairie-Chickens ( T. cupido ) in two locations in Oklahoma to determine whether these birds avoided or changed movement behavior near power lines and paved highways. We tracked 463 Lesser Prairie-Chickens (15,071 tracking locations) and 216 Greater Prairie-Chickens (5,750 locations) for 7 and 3 years, respectively. Individuals of both species avoided power lines by at least 100 m and Lesser Prairie-Chickens avoided one of the two highways by 100 m. Prairie-chickens crossed power lines less often than expected if birds moved randomly ( p < 0.05) but did not appear to perceive highways as a movement barrier ( p > 0.05). In addition, home ranges of Lesser Prairie-Chickens overlapped the power line less often than would be expected by chance placement of home ranges; this result was supported by kernel-density estimation of home ranges. It is likely that new power lines (and other tall structures such as wind turbines) will lead to avoidance of previously suitable habitat and will serve as barriers to movement. These two factors will likely increase fragmentation in an already fragmented landscape if wind energy development continues in prairie habitats . 相似文献