Tobit analysis of vehicle accident rates on interstate highways.

PubMed

Anastasopoulos, Panagiotis Ch; Tarko, Andrew P; Mannering, Fred L

2008-03-01

There has been an abundance of research that has used Poisson models and its variants (negative binomial and zero-inflated models) to improve our understanding of the factors that affect accident frequencies on roadway segments. This study explores the application of an alternate method, tobit regression, by viewing vehicle accident rates directly (instead of frequencies) as a continuous variable that is left-censored at zero. Using data from vehicle accidents on Indiana interstates, the estimation results show that many factors relating to pavement condition, roadway geometrics and traffic characteristics significantly affect vehicle accident rates.

Examining accident reports involving autonomous vehicles in California

PubMed Central

Nader, Nazanin; Eurich, Sky O.; Tripp, Michelle; Varadaraju, Naresh

2017-01-01

Autonomous Vehicle technology is quickly expanding its market and has found in Silicon Valley, California, a strong foothold for preliminary testing on public roads. In an effort to promote safety and transparency to consumers, the California Department of Motor Vehicles has mandated that reports of accidents involving autonomous vehicles be drafted and made available to the public. The present work shows an in-depth analysis of the accident reports filed by different manufacturers that are testing autonomous vehicles in California (testing data from September 2014 to March 2017). The data provides important information on autonomous vehicles accidents’ dynamics, related to the most frequent types of collisions and impacts, accident frequencies, and other contributing factors. The study also explores important implications related to future testing and validation of semi-autonomous vehicles, tracing the investigation back to current literature as well as to the current regulatory panorama. PMID:28931022

Severity of vehicle bumper location in vehicle-to-pedestrian impact accidents.

PubMed

Matsui, Yasuhiro; Hitosugi, Masahito; Mizuno, Koji

2011-10-10

Pedestrian protection is one of the key topics for safety measures in traffic accidents all over the world. To analyze the relation between the collision site of the vehicle bumper and the severity of the lower extremity injuries, we performed biomechanical experiments. We compared the applied external force and the risks of subsequent injuries between the impact of the center and side positions of the front bumper. These comparisons were performed by practical impact tests with eight typical different types of cars which were typical of the current vehicle fleets. The tests were made using the TRL legform impactor which was a mechanical substitute of a pedestrian lower extremity. The TRL impactor is used all over the world for assessing the safety of car bumpers. It was found that the risks of lower extremity injuries in the impacts at the side positions, in front of the vehicle's side member, were significantly higher than those at the center. In the tests, we found that foam materials around the rigid front cross member had a significant effect on reducing the lower extremity injury risks and especially tibia fracture risk against vehicle bumper center collisions, but had little effect at the sides of the bumper over the vehicle's side members where the foam was thinner. We also found that the front shape of the vehicle affected the risk of ligaments injuries. According to these results, the information of impact locations of cars in vehicle-to-pedestrian traffic accidents is valuable for clinicians to diagnose patients with lower extremity injuries in traffic accidents and for forensic pathologists to analyze the accident reconstruction. Furthermore, the results suggest that testing of the bumper area in front of the main longitudinal beams should be included in the car safety legislation to require pedestrian safety. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Psychiatric consequences of stress after a vehicle accident.

PubMed

Dickov, Aleksandra; Martinović-Mitrović, Sladjana; Vucković, Nikola; Siladji-Mladenović, Djendji; Mitrović, Dragan; Jovicević, Mirjana; Misić-Pavkov, Gordana

2009-12-01

Vehicle accidents are a common cause of disease and death among people over 30 years of age. Essentially, reaction to stress due to the vehicle accident does not differ from the reaction to other stress factors. There are still no uniform viewpoints about the kind of sequels and their percentage representation after vehicle accidents. The research was provided as a prospective study, included 150 subjects who had vehicle accident minimum 2 years prior to the examination. A questionnaire adjusted to the needs of the research and a battery of psychological tests was used. Affective disorders occurred in 35.33% of subjects, 65% of persons suffer from travel anxiety, 9% of the total number of examinees doesn't drive any more, 65% have somatisational dysfunctions of the vegetative nervous system, while the posttraumatic stress disorder is present in 36% of subjects. In 87.4% of persons psychiatric consequences last over two years. Long term consequences in 60% of subjects occur as a combination of multiple psychiatric disorders, so the posttraumatic stress disorder and affective disorders never occur one at a time.

Reduction of police vehicle accidents through mechaniically aided supervision

PubMed Central

Larson, Lynn D.; Schnelle, John F.; Kirchner, Robert; Carr, Adam F.; Domash, Michele; Risley, Todd R.

1980-01-01

Tachograph recorders were installed in 224 vehicles of a metropolitan police department to monitor vehicle operation in an attempt to reduce the rate of accidents. Police sergeants reviewed each tachograph chart and provided feedback to officers regarding their driving performance. Reliability checks and additional feedback procedures were implemented so that upper level supervisors monitored and controlled the performance of field sergeants. The tachograph intervention and components of the feedback system nearly eliminated personal injury accidents and sharply reduced accidents caused by officer negligence. A cost-benefit analysis revealed that the savings in vehicle repair and injury claims outweighed the equipment and operating costs. PMID:16795634

Effectiveness of electronic stability control on single-vehicle accidents.

PubMed

Lyckegaard, Allan; Hels, Tove; Bernhoft, Inger Marie

2015-01-01

This study aims at evaluating the effectiveness of electronic stability control (ESC) on single-vehicle injury accidents while controlling for a number of confounders influencing the accident risk. Using police-registered injury accidents from 2004 to 2011 in Denmark with cars manufactured in the period 1998 to 2011 and the principle of induced exposure, 2 measures of the effectiveness of ESC were calculated: The crude odds ratio and the adjusted odds ratio, the latter by means of logistic regression. The logistic regression controlled for a number of confounding factors, of which the following were significant. For the driver: Age, gender, driving experience, valid driving license, and seat belt use. For the vehicle: Year of registration, weight, and ESC. For the accident surroundings: Visibility, light, and location. Finally, for the road: Speed limit, surface, and section characteristics. The present study calculated the crude odds ratio for ESC-equipped cars of getting in a single-vehicle injury accident as 0.40 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.34-0.47) and the adjusted odds ratio as 0.69 (95% CI, 0.54-0.88). No difference was found in the effectiveness of ESC across the injury severity categories (slight, severe, and fatal). In line with previous results, this study concludes that ESC reduces the risk for single-vehicle injury accidents by 31% when controlling for various confounding factors related to the driver, the car, and the accident surroundings. Furthermore, it is concluded that it is important to control for human factors (at a minimum age and gender) in analyses where evaluations of this type are performed.

2001 South Dakota motor vehicle traffic accident summary

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2002-05-01

The South Dakota Motor Vehicle Traffic Accident Summary was developed to provide : an overview of the South Dakota traffic accident picture, as well as make frequently : requested information available. Information from 2001 comprises the major porti...

1999 South Dakota motor vehicle traffic accident summary

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-05-01

The South Dakota Motor Vehicle Traffic Accident Summary was developed to provide : an overview of the South Dakota traffic accident picture, as well as make frequently : requested information available. Information from 1999 comprises the major porti...

2000 South Dakota motor vehicle traffic accident summary

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-01-01

The South Dakota Motor Vehicle Traffic Accident Summary was developed to provide : an overview of the South Dakota traffic accident picture, as well as make frequently : requested information available. Information from 2000 comprises the major porti...

1998 South Dakota motor vehicle traffic accident summary

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1998-01-01

The South Dakota Motor Vehicle Traffic Accident Summary was developed to provide : an overview of the South Dakota traffic accident picture, as well as make frequently : requested information available. Information from 1998 comprises the major porti...

1997 South Dakota motor vehicle traffic accident summary

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-01-01

The South Dakota Motor Vehicle Traffic Accident Summary was developed to provide an : overview of the South Dakota traffic accident picture, as well as make frequently requested : information available. Information from 1997 comprises the major porti...

The Impact of In-Vehicle Cell-Phone Use on Accidents or Near-Accidents among College Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seo, Dong-Chul; Torabi, Mohammad R.

2004-01-01

With in-vehicle use of cell phones rapidly increasing, the safety of young drivers, who represent 14% of licensed drivers but 26% of drivers involved in fatal crashes, may be disproportionately threatened. The authors used a questionnaire to examine the association between in-vehicle cell-phone use and accidents or near-accidents among 1,291…

Concussion in Motor Vehicle Accidents: The Concussion Identification Index

ClinicalTrials.gov

2016-08-03

Motor Vehicle Accidents; TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury); Brain Contusion; Brain Injuries; Cortical Contusion; Concussion Mild; Cerebral Concussion; Brain Concussion; Accidents, Traffic; Traffic Accidents; Traumatic Brain Injury With Brief Loss of Consciousness; Traumatic Brain Injury With no Loss of Consciousness; Traumatic Brain Injury With Loss of Consciousness

Single-vehicle and Multi-vehicle Accidents Involving Motorcycles in a Small City in China: Characteristics and Injury Patterns

PubMed Central

Xiong, Lili; Li, Liping

2015-01-01

Introduction There is a gap that involves examining differences between patients in single-vehicle (SV) versus multi-vehicle (MV) accidents involving motorcycles in Shantou, China, regarding the injury patterns and mortality the patients sustained. This study aims to address this gap and provide a basis and reference for motorcycle injury prevention. Method Medical record data was collected between October 2002 and June 2012 on all motorcycle injury patients admitted to a hospital in the city of Shantou of the east Guangdong province in China. Comparative analysis was conducted between patients in SV accidents and patients in MV accidents regarding demographic and clinic characteristics, mortality, and injury patterns. Results Approximately 48% (n = 1977) of patients were involved in SV accidents and 52% (n = 2119) were involved in MV accidents. The average age was 34 years. Collision of a motorcycle with a heavy vehicle/bus (4%) was associated with a 34 times greater risk of death (RR: 34.32; 95% CI: 17.43–67.57). Compared to patients involved in MV accidents, those involved in SV accidents were more likely to sustain a skull fracture (RR: 1.47; 95% CI: 1.22–1.77), an open head wound (RR: 1.46; 95% CI: 1.23–1.74), an intracranial injury (RR: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.26–1.53), a superficial head injury (RR: 1.37; 95% CI: 1.01–1.86), an injury to an organ (RR: 2.01; 95% CI: 1.24–3.26), and a crushing injury (RR: 1.98; 95% CI: 1.06–3.70) to the thorax or abdomen. However, they were less likely to sustain a spinal fracture (RR: 0.58; 95% CI: 0.39–0.85), a pelvic fracture (RR: 0.22; 95% CI: 0.11–0.46), an upper extremity fracture (RR: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.59–0.96), or injuries to their lower extremities, except for a dislocation, sprain, or injury to a joint or ligament (RR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.49–1.36). Conclusion The relative risk of death is higher for patients involved in multi-vehicle accidents than patients in single-vehicle accidents, especially when a

The impact of in-vehicle cell-phone use on accidents or near-accidents among college students.

PubMed

Seo, Dong-Chul; Torabi, Mohammad R

2004-01-01

With in-vehicle use of cell phones rapidly increasing, the safety of young drivers, who represent 14% of licensed drivers but 26% of drivers involved in fatal crashes, may be disproportionately threatened. The authors used a questionnaire to examine the association between in-vehicle cell-phone use and accidents or near-accidents among 1,291 conveniently recruited college students in 4 states. Of the 1,185 respondents who were drivers, 87% had a cell phone, and 86% of the cell-phone owners reported talking while driving at least occasionally. Of the 762 reported accidents or near-accidents, 21% (n = 159) involved at least 1 of the drivers talking while driving. Chi-square tests and logistic regression analyses showed that the frequency, not the duration, of drivers talking while driving was related to experiencing accidents or near-accidents. Differences between drivers who used cell phones and nonusers in unsafe driving behaviors and attitudes were also examined, and target groups for intervention efforts against talking on a cell phone while driving are suggested.

Vehicle accidents related to sleep: a review.

PubMed

Horne, J; Reyner, L

1999-05-01

Falling asleep while driving accounts for a considerable proportion of vehicle accidents under monotonous driving conditions. Many of these accidents are related to work--for example, drivers of lorries, goods vehicles, and company cars. Time of day (circadian) effects are profound, with sleepiness being particularly evident during night shift work, and driving home afterwards. Circadian factors are as important in determining driver sleepiness as is the duration of the drive, but only duration of the drive is built into legislation protecting professional drivers. Older drivers are also vulnerable to sleepiness in the mid-afternoon. Possible pathological causes of driver sleepiness are discussed, but there is little evidence that this factor contributes greatly to the accident statistics. Sleep does not occur spontaneously without warning. Drivers falling asleep are unlikely to recollect having done so, but will be aware of the precursory state of increasing sleepiness; probably reaching a state of fighting off sleep before an accident. Self awareness of sleepiness is a better method for alerting the driver than automatic sleepiness detectors in the vehicle. None of these have been proved to be reliable and most have shortcomings. Putative counter measures to sleepiness, adopted during continued driving (cold air, use of car radio) are only effective for a short time. The only safe counter measure to driver sleepiness, particularly when the driver reaches the stage of fighting sleep, is to stop driving, and--for example, take a 30 minute break encompassing a short (< 15 minute) nap or coffee (about 150 mg caffeine), which are very effective particularly if taken together. Exercise is of little use. More education of employers and employees is needed about planning journeys, the dangers of driving while sleepy, and driving at vulnerable times of the day.

Road traffic accident among motor vehicle drivers in selected high ways.

PubMed

Ahmed, M; Khanom, K; Shampa, R M; Bari, M H

2004-07-01

To assess the knowledge of the motor vehicle driver about the causes of road traffic accidents. This cross sectional study was conducted among the 107 motor vehicle drivers of selected Bus & Truck terminal & taxi stands of Dhaka city. The study was carried out during April to June 2002 at the Department of Health Promotion & Health Education of NIPSOM. The study showed about 55.1% learned driving from a friend. Out of 107 respondent 20.6% showed very high speed is one of the reason for road traffic accident.39.3% claimed for poor maintenance of roads. Regarding engine/vehicle defect 46.7% said head light defect. Increased earning is one of the reasons of very fast driving 35.5% respondent opined. These may be the reason of accident proneness of the society along with factor like family pressure, job dissatisfaction etc. Majority of the driver who took part in this study used light vehicle 54.2% and the rest 30.8% were heavy and 15% like medium light vehicle. Most of the respondent 67.3% was working as professional over for 3-6 years. 41.1% for 3 and 26.2% for 6 years. There were significant relationship (p < 0.002) between very fast driving and defective road and also engine defect were highly significant association (p < 0.005) with road traffic accident It is revealed that formal education, driving license through Bangladesh road traffic authority without unnecessary botheration, proper implementation of traffic law, training of drivers and increase level of public awareness through mass communication could reduce the road traffic accident

Statistical analyses of commercial vehicle accident factors. Volume 1 Part 1

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1978-02-01

Procedures for conducting statistical analyses of commercial vehicle accidents have been established and initially applied. A file of some 3,000 California Highway Patrol accident reports from two areas of California during a period of about one year...

Man, road and vehicle: risk factors associated with the severity of traffic accidents.

PubMed

Almeida, Rosa Lívia Freitas de; Bezerra Filho, José Gomes; Braga, José Ueleres; Magalhães, Francismeire Brasileiro; Macedo, Marinila Calderaro Munguba; Silva, Kellyanne Abreu

2013-08-01

To describe the main characteristics of victims, roads and vehicles involved in traffic accidents and the risk factors involved in accidents resulting in death. METHODS A non-concurrent cohort study of traffic accidents in Fortaleza, CE, Northeastern Brazil, in the period from January 2004 to December 2008. Data from the Fortaleza Traffic Accidents Information System, the Mortality Information System, the Hospital Information System and the State Traffic Department Driving Licenses and Vehicle database. Deterministic and probabilistic relationship techniques were used to integrate the databases. First, descriptive analysis of data relating to people, roads, vehicles and weather was carried out. In the investigation of risk factors for death by traffic accident, generalized linear models were used. The fit of the model was verified by likelihood ratio and ROC analysis. RESULTS There were 118,830 accidents recorded in the period. The most common types of accidents were crashes/collisions (78.1%), running over pedestrians (11.9%), colliding with a fixed obstacle (3.9%), and with motorcycles (18.1%). Deaths occurred in 1.4% of accidents. The factors that were independently associated with death by traffic accident in the final model were bicycles (OR = 21.2, 95%CI 16.1;27.8), running over pedestrians OR = 5.9 (95%CI 3.7;9.2), collision with a fixed obstacle (OR = 5.7, 95%CI 3.1;10.5) and accidents involving motorcyclists (OR = 3.5, 95%CI 2.6;4.6). The main contributing factors were a single person being involved (OR = 6.6, 95%CI 4.1;10.73), presence of unskilled drivers (OR = 4.1, 95%CI 2.9;5.5) a single vehicle (OR = 3.9, 95%CI 2,3;6,4), male (OR = 2.5, 95%CI 1.9;3.3), traffic on roads under federal jurisdiction (OR = 2.4, 95%CI 1.8;3.7), early morning hours (OR = 2.4, 95%CI 1.8;3.0), and Sundays (OR = 1.7, 95%CI 1.3;2.2), adjusted according to the log-binomial model. CONCLUSIONS Activities promoting the prevention of traffic accidents should primarily focus on

Biomechanical analysis of occupant kinematics in rollover motor vehicle accidents: dynamic spit test.

PubMed

Sances, Anthony; Kumaresan, Srirangam; Clarke, Richard; Herbst, Brian; Meyer, Steve

2005-01-01

A better understanding of occupant kinematics in rollover accidents helps to advance biomechanical knowledge and to enhance the safety features of motor vehicles. While many rollover accident simulation studies have adopted the static approach to delineate the occupant kinematics in rollover accidents, very few studies have attempted the dynamic approach. The present work was designed to study the biomechanics of restrained occupants during rollover accidents using the steady-state dynamic spit test and to address the importance of keeping the lap belt fastened. Experimental tests were conducted using an anthropometric 50% Hybrid III dummy in a vehicle. The vehicle was rotated at 180 degrees/second and the dummy was restrained using a standard three-point restraint system. The lap belt of the dummy was fastened either by using the cinching latch plate or by locking the retractor. Three configurations of shoulder belt harness were simulated: shoulder belt loose on chest with cinch plate, shoulder belt under the left arm and shoulder belt behind the chest. In all tests, the dummy stayed within the confinement of the vehicle indicating that the securely fastened lap belt holds the dummy with dynamic movement of 3 1/2" to 4". The results show that occupant movement in rollover accidents is least affected by various shoulder harness positions with a securely fastened lap belt. The present study forms a first step in delineating the biomechanics of occupants in rollover accidents.

Features of fatal injuries in older cyclists in vehicle-bicycle accidents in Japan.

PubMed

Matsui, Yasuhiro; Oikawa, Shoko; Hitosugi, Masahito

2018-01-02

The purpose of this study was to identify and better understand the features of fatal injuries in cyclists aged 75 years and over involved in collisions with either hood- or van-type vehicles. This study investigated the fatal injuries of cyclists aged 75 years old and over by analyzing accident data. We focused on the body regions to which the fatal injury occurred using vehicle-bicycle accident data from the Institute for Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis (ITARDA) in Japan. Using data from 2009 to 2013, we examined the frequency of fatally injured body region by gender, age, and actual vehicle travel speed. We investigated any significant differences in distributions of fatal injuries by body region for cyclists aged 75 years and over using chi-square tests to compare with cyclists in other age groups. We also investigated the cause of fatal head injuries, such as impact with a road surface or vehicle. The results indicated that head injuries were the most common cause of fatalities among the study group. At low vehicle travel speeds for both hood- and van-type vehicles, fatalities were most likely to be the result of head impacts against the road surface. The percentage of fatalities following hip injuries was significantly higher for cyclists aged 75 years and over than for those aged 65-74 or 13-59 in impacts with hood-type vehicles. It was also higher for women than men in the over-75 age group in impacts with these vehicles. For cyclists aged 75 years and over, wearing a helmet may be helpful to prevent head injuries in vehicle-to-cyclist accidents. It may also be helpful to introduce some safety measures to prevent hip injuries, given the higher level of fatalities following hip injury among all cyclists aged 75 and over, particularly women.

Evaluation of a procedure for reducing vehicle-tree accidents.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1987-01-01

A procedure for reducing vehicle-tree accidents was evaluated. The procedure, developed by the Michigan Department of Transportation, consists of five steps: (1) preparing a base map and plotting roadway information, (2) assigning priorities for fiel...

Road rage and road traffic accidents among commercial vehicle drivers in Lahore, Pakistan.

PubMed

Shaikh, M A; Shaikh, I A; Siddiqui, Z

2012-04-01

Road rage and road traffic accidents increase the burden of morbidity and mortality in a population. A cross-sectional survey with convenience sampling was conducted among commercial vehicle drivers in Lahore, Pakistan (n = 901) to record their behaviours/experiences regarding road rage and road traffic accidents. Respondents were asked about incidents of shouting/cursing/rude gestures or threats to physically hurt the person/vehicle, by others or themselves, in the previous 24 hours or 3 months, and their involvement in road traffic accidents in the previous 12 months. Auto-rickshaw drivers were significantly more likely to report various road rage experiences/behaviours and involvement in accidents compared with bus and wagon drivers. A total of 112 respondents (12.4%) reported being involved in a road traffic accident in the previous 12 months but traffic police did not record the accident in 52.7% of cases. The results of this study underline the need to improve road safety in Pakistan.

Self-Evaluative Appraisals of Coping Capability and Posttraumatic Distress following Motor Vehicle Accidents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Benight, Charles C.; Cieslak, Roman; Molton, Ivan R.; Johnson, Lesley E.

2008-01-01

This study tested the importance of coping self-efficacy (CSE) perceptions and change in perceptions of CSE for recovery from motor vehicle accident (MVA) trauma. Data were collected 7 days following the accident (Time 1; n = 163), 1 month after the accident (Time 2; n = 91), and 3 months after the accident (Time 3; n = 70). Early changes in CSE…

Delayed-onset post-traumatic headache after a motor vehicle collision: a case report

PubMed Central

Stupar, Maja; Kim, Peter SY

2007-01-01

Introduction Headaches are common after a motor vehicle accident (MVA). Post-traumatic headaches share many clinical symptoms including the clinical course of primary headaches. Secondary headaches (including those resulting from a subdural hematoma) are not as common, but should be considered in cases of post-traumatic events particularly if clinical symptoms progress. Clinical Features A case of a patient with a post-traumatic subdural hematoma demonstrates the importance of carefully examining, properly diagnosing and managing patients that experience headaches after MVAs. This patient presented with uncomplicated low back pain, neck pain and headache which progressed at one month to include focal neurological deficits. Since clinical examination alone may not be sufficient to diagnose secondary headaches, immediate referral to the emergency department may be required. Conclusion Primary contact practitioners should be aware of the various causes of headaches that result after a MVA. Headaches, which do not respond or progress, should be followed aggressively to determine their source. PMID:17657301

Association Between Vestibular Vertigo and Motor Vehicle Accidents: Data From the 2016 National Health Interview Survey.

PubMed

Wei, Eric X; Agrawal, Yuri

2018-05-18

Recent evidence has shown that individuals with vestibular impairment have higher rates of self-reported driving difficulty compared with individuals without vestibular impairment. However, it is unknown whether individuals with vestibular impairment are more likely to be involved in motor vehicle accidents. We used data from the 2016 National Health Interview Survey of U.S. adults to evaluate whether individuals with vestibular vertigo are more likely to experience motor vehicle accidents relative to individuals without vestibular vertigo. In multivariate analysis, vestibular vertigo was associated with an over threefold increased odds of motor vehicle accidents (odds ratio, 3.5; 95% confidence interval, 1.7-7.3). This study supports an assciation between vestibular dysfunction and driving impairment, and provides a relative risk of motor vehicle accidents associated with vestibular vertigo that clinicians may utilize in counseling patients on the potential safety hazards of driving.

Sleepiness, driving, and motor vehicle accidents: A questionnaire-based survey.

PubMed

Zwahlen, Daniel; Jackowski, Christian; Pfäffli, Matthias

2016-11-01

In Switzerland, the prevalence of an excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) in drivers undergoing a driving capacity assessment is currently not known. In this study, private and professional drivers were evaluated by means of a paper-based questionnaire, including Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Berlin Questionnaire, and additional questions to sleepiness-related accidents, near-miss accidents, health issues, and demographic data. Of the 435 distributed questionnaires, 128 completed were returned. The response rate was 29%. The mean age of the investigated drivers was 42.5 years (20-85 years). According to the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, 9% of the participants are likely to suffer from excessive daytime sleepiness. An equal percentage has a high risk for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome based on the Berlin Questionnaire. 16% admitted an involuntary nodding off while driving a motor vehicle. This subset of the participants scored statistically significant higher on the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (p = 0.036). 8% of the participants already suffered an accident because of being sleepy while driving. An equal number experienced a sleepiness-related near-miss accident on the road. The study shows that a medical workup of excessive daytime sleepiness is highly recommended in each driver undergoing a driving capacity assessment. Routine application of easily available and time-saving assessment tools such as the Epworth Sleepiness Scale questionnaire could prevent accidents in a simple way. The applicability of the Berlin Questionnaire to screen suspected fatal sleepiness-related motor vehicle accidents is discussed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.

Analyzing fault and severity in pedestrian-motor vehicle accidents in China.

PubMed

Zhang, Guangnan; Yau, Kelvin K W; Zhang, Xun

2014-12-01

The number of pedestrian-motor vehicle accidents and pedestrian deaths in China surged in recent years. However, a large scale empirical research on pedestrian traffic crashes in China is lacking. In this study, we identify significant risk factors associated with fault and severity in pedestrian-motor vehicle accidents. Risk factors in several different dimensions, including pedestrian, driver, vehicle, road and environmental factors, are considered. We analyze 6967 pedestrian traffic accident reports for the period 2006-2010 in Guangdong Province, China. These data, obtained from the Guangdong Provincial Security Department, are extracted from the Traffic Management Sector-Specific Incident Case Data Report. Pedestrian traffic crashes have a unique inevitability and particular high risk, due to pedestrians' fragility, slow movement and lack of lighting equipment. The empirical analysis of the present study has the following policy implications. First, traffic crashes in which pedestrians are at fault are more likely to cause serious injuries or death, suggesting that relevant agencies should pay attention to measures that prevent pedestrians from violating traffic rules. Second, both the attention to elderly pedestrians, male and experienced drivers, the penalty to drunk driving, speeding, driving without a driver's license and other violation behaviors should be strengthened. Third, vehicle safety inspections and safety training sessions for truck drivers should be reinforced. Fourth, improving the road conditions and road lighting at night are important measures in reducing the probability of accident casualties. Fifth, specific road safety campaigns in rural areas, and education programs especially for young children and teens should be developed and promoted. Moreover, we reveal a country-specific factor, hukou, which has significant effect on the severity in pedestrian accidents due to the discrepancy in the level of social insurance/security, suggesting

Traffic collisions between electric mobility devices (wheelchairs) and motor vehicles: Accidents, hubris, or self-destructive behavior?

PubMed

LaBan, Myron M; Nabity, Thomas S

2010-07-01

This study had its genesis in a personally observed collision between a motor vehicle and a motorized wheelchair (electric mobility device) on a busy street in the middle of the block at an unmarked crossing. To the observer, at the time, this appeared to be a suicidal act. This investigation was initiated to both delineate the number of these crashes nationally and understand this phenomena as a potentially planned act of self-destruction. An initial survey of police reports was immediately frustrated by an inability to separate motor vehicle and electric mobility device collisions from the much larger group that involved ambulatory citizens because both types were classified together as "pedestrian" accidents. Instead, the search engine NexisLexis was used to identify 107 newspaper articles each of which described a motor vehicle and electric mobility device accident. In the motor vehicle and electric mobility device collisions, men predominated women (3:1 ratio) with an average age of 56 yrs. Sixty of these accidents were fatal. Ninety-four percent involved an electric mobility device and 6% a manual wheelchair. In 50% of the cases, the motor vehicle was a truck, van, or sport utility vehicle. Fifty percent occurred at dusk or dawn or at night. The electric mobility device occupant was cited as the guilty party in 39% of the cases and the driver of the motor vehicle in 27%. Twenty percent were unwitnessed hit-and-run accidents, whereas "no fault" was found in 8% of the cases. Although many accidents do happen by chance, when an electric mobility device operator openly challenges busy traffic by attempting to traverse it in the middle of the block at an unmarked crossing, predisposing psychosocial factors must also be considered. Hubris or premeditated self-destructive behavior or both need to be explored as preeminent issues with reference to the prodromal of the "accident process."

Risk of Motor Vehicle Accidents Related to Sleepiness at the Wheel: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

PubMed

Bioulac, Stéphanie; Franchi, Jean-Arthur Micoulaud; Arnaud, Mickael; Sagaspe, Patricia; Moore, Nicholas; Salvo, Francesco; Philip, Pierre

2017-10-01

Sleepiness at the wheel is widely believed to be a cause of motor vehicle accidents. Nevertheless, a systematic review of studies investigating this relationship has not yet been published. The objective of this study was to quantify the relationship between sleepiness at the wheel and motor vehicle accidents. A systematic review was performed using Medline, Scopus, and ISI Web of Science. The outcome measure of interest was motor vehicle accident defined as involving four- or two-wheeled vehicles in road traffic, professional and nonprofessional drivers, with or without objective consequences. The exposure was sleepiness at the wheel defined as self-reported sleepiness at the wheel. Studies were included if they provided adjusted risk estimates of motor vehicle accidents related to sleepiness at the wheel. Risk estimates and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were extracted and pooled as odds ratios (ORs) using a random-effect model. Heterogeneity was quantified using Q statistics and the I2 index. The potential causes of heterogeneity were investigated using meta-regressions. Ten cross-sectional studies (51,520 participants), six case-control studies (4904 participants), and one cohort study (13,674 participants) were included. Sleepiness at the wheel was associated with an increased risk of motor vehicle accidents (pooled OR 2.51 [95% CI 1.87; 3.39]). A significant heterogeneity was found between the individual risk estimates (Q = 93.21; I2 = 83%). Sleepiness at the wheel increases the risk of motor vehicle accidents and should be considered when investigating fitness to drive. Further studies are required to explore the nature of this relationship. PROSPERO 2015 CRD42015024805. © Sleep Research Society 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Sleep Research Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.

Do Blue Laws Save Lives? The Effect of Sunday Alcohol Sales Bans on Fatal Vehicle Accidents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lovenheim, Michael F.; Steefel, Daniel P.

2011-01-01

This paper analyzes the effect of state-level Sunday alcohol sales restrictions ("blue laws") on fatal vehicle accidents, which is an important parameter in assessing the desirability of these laws. Using a panel data set of all fatal vehicle accidents in the U.S. between 1990 and 2009 combined with 15 state repeals of blue laws, we show that…

CORRELATION OF CERVICAL LORDOSIS MEASUREMENT WITH INCIDENCE OF MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENTS

PubMed Central

Marshall, Dorothy L.; Tuchin, Peter J.

1996-01-01

A retrospective analysis of 500 patient radiographs was conducted to measure the clinical correlation of cervical lordosis measurements and incidence of motor vehicle accident (MVA). Five hundred lateral cervical radiographs were selected at random from the practice of one of the authors (DLM). The C1-7 angle of the cervical curve was then measured by two blinded examiners. Inter-examiner reliability had a confidence interval of 95%. Eighty-two percent of patients who have had a MVA had an abnormal lordosis. The mean lordosis of patients who had been involved in a MVA was 26.1 degrees (SD 11.4), compared with 36.4 (SD 8.4) for those who had not been involved in a MVA. The results suggest a correlation of reduced cervical lordosis measurements following motor vehicle accident (MVA). PMID:17987143

Injuries Sustained in Noncombat Motor Vehicle Accidents During Operation Iraqi Freedom

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-01

armour required in the combat§ This manuscript was presented at the 52nd annual meeting of the Society of Military Orthopaedic Surgeons, December 2010...2011.04.017environment may restrict motion, which may limit a driver’s reactionary ability to hazards. Extra armour used to protect vehicles has also...severity of injuries Table 1 Demographic information for military personnel injured in noncombat motor vehicle accidents, Operation Iraqi Freedom, March

Predictors of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among Victims of Serious Motor Vehicle Accidents.

PubMed

Khodadadi-Hassankiadeh, Naema; Dehghan Nayeri, Nahid; Shahsavari, Hooman; Yousefzadeh-Chabok, Shahrokh; Haghani, Hamid

2017-10-01

Compelling evidence has shown that motor vehicle accidents have an enormous impact on mental health. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is one of the most common psychological consequences in adult survivors of accidents, so it is important to understand the prevalence and predictors of this issue since delay causes damage to crucial daily functioning. This study aimed at investigating the prevalence and predictors of PTSD after motor vehicle accident. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 528 injured patients six weeks to six months after motor vehicle accident in Imam Reza Clinic of Poursina hospital, Rasht in 2015. Data collection tools were three questionnaires including post-traumatic stress-self report (PSS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), and the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) for pain. The data were analyzed in SPSS (Version 19) using Chi-square, Fischer's exact test and multivariate logistic regression. Significance level was considered P≤0.05. The prevalence of PTSD and depression was 30.49% and 19.89% in participants, respectively. Chi-square test indicated a significant relationship among age (P=0.02), sex (P<0.001), education level (P<0.001), work status (P<0.001) and PTSD. Participants who reported pain (P<0.001) and depression (P<0.001) were more likely to have high score of PTSD than the others. Multivariate logistic regression showed this significance in sex, depression, age, educational status and pain, as constant risk factors in developing PTSD after accident. This study suggests that primary care setting should be readily prompted for diagnosis of these disorders in non-treatment seeking individuals in the community.

Epileptic auras and their role in driving safety in people with epilepsy.

PubMed

Punia, Vineet; Farooque, Pue; Chen, William; Hirsch, Lawrence J; Berg, Anne T; Blumenfeld, Hal

2015-11-01

The aim of our study was to evaluate the role of auras in preventing motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) among patients with medically refractory epilepsy. The Multicenter Study of Epilepsy Surgery database was used to perform a case-control study by identifying patients who had seizures while driving that led to MVAs (cases) and those who had seizures while driving without MVAs (controls). We compared presence of reliable auras and other aura-related features between the two groups. Two hundred fifteen of 553 patients reported having seizure(s) while driving; 74 were identified as "controls" and 141 as "cases." The two groups had similar demographic and clinical features. The presence of reliable auras was not different between the two groups (67% in cases vs. 65% in controls; odds ratio [OR] 0.89, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.49-1.61, p = 0.76). In addition, the groups did not differ in the proportion of patients who reported longer (>1 min) auras (OR 0.7, 95% CI 0.28-1.76, p = 0.47), or who thought that their auras were of sufficient duration to be protective (OR 1.19, 95% CI 0.62-2.00, p = 0.77). Our study questions the long-held belief of a protective role of reliable auras against MVAs in people with epilepsy. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2015 International League Against Epilepsy.

Autonomous Vehicles: Disengagements, Accidents and Reaction Times.

PubMed

Dixit, Vinayak V; Chand, Sai; Nair, Divya J

2016-01-01

Autonomous vehicles are being viewed with scepticism in their ability to improve safety and the driving experience. A critical issue with automated driving at this stage of its development is that it is not yet reliable and safe. When automated driving fails, or is limited, the autonomous mode disengages and the drivers are expected to resume manual driving. For this transition to occur safely, it is imperative that drivers react in an appropriate and timely manner. Recent data released from the California trials provide compelling insights into the current factors influencing disengagements of autonomous mode. Here we show that the number of accidents observed has a significantly high correlation with the autonomous miles travelled. The reaction times to take control of the vehicle in the event of a disengagement was found to have a stable distribution across different companies at 0.83 seconds on average. However, there were differences observed in reaction times based on the type of disengagements, type of roadway and autonomous miles travelled. Lack of trust caused by the exposure to automated disengagements was found to increase the likelihood to take control of the vehicle manually. Further, with increased vehicle miles travelled the reaction times were found to increase, which suggests an increased level of trust with more vehicle miles travelled. We believe that this research would provide insurers, planners, traffic management officials and engineers fundamental insights into trust and reaction times that would help them design and engineer their systems.

Autonomous Vehicles: Disengagements, Accidents and Reaction Times

PubMed Central

Dixit, Vinayak V.; Chand, Sai; Nair, Divya J.

2016-01-01

Autonomous vehicles are being viewed with scepticism in their ability to improve safety and the driving experience. A critical issue with automated driving at this stage of its development is that it is not yet reliable and safe. When automated driving fails, or is limited, the autonomous mode disengages and the drivers are expected to resume manual driving. For this transition to occur safely, it is imperative that drivers react in an appropriate and timely manner. Recent data released from the California trials provide compelling insights into the current factors influencing disengagements of autonomous mode. Here we show that the number of accidents observed has a significantly high correlation with the autonomous miles travelled. The reaction times to take control of the vehicle in the event of a disengagement was found to have a stable distribution across different companies at 0.83 seconds on average. However, there were differences observed in reaction times based on the type of disengagements, type of roadway and autonomous miles travelled. Lack of trust caused by the exposure to automated disengagements was found to increase the likelihood to take control of the vehicle manually. Further, with increased vehicle miles travelled the reaction times were found to increase, which suggests an increased level of trust with more vehicle miles travelled. We believe that this research would provide insurers, planners, traffic management officials and engineers fundamental insights into trust and reaction times that would help them design and engineer their systems. PMID:27997566

Predictors of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among Victims of Serious Motor Vehicle Accidents

PubMed Central

Khodadadi-Hassankiadeh, Naema; Dehghan Nayeri, Nahid; Shahsavari, Hooman; Yousefzadeh-Chabok, Shahrokh; Haghani, Hamid

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Background: Compelling evidence has shown that motor vehicle accidents have an enormous impact on mental health. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is one of the most common psychological consequences in adult survivors of accidents, so it is important to understand the prevalence and predictors of this issue since delay causes damage to crucial daily functioning. This study aimed at investigating the prevalence and predictors of PTSD after motor vehicle accident. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 528 injured patients six weeks to six months after motor vehicle accident in Imam Reza Clinic of Poursina hospital, Rasht in 2015. Data collection tools were three questionnaires including post-traumatic stress-self report (PSS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), and the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) for pain. The data were analyzed in SPSS (Version 19) using Chi-square, Fischer’s exact test and multivariate logistic regression. Significance level was considered P≤0.05. Results: The prevalence of PTSD and depression was 30.49% and 19.89% in participants, respectively. Chi-square test indicated a significant relationship among age (P=0.02), sex (P<0.001), education level (P<0.001), work status (P<0.001) and PTSD. Participants who reported pain (P<0.001) and depression (P<0.001) were more likely to have high score of PTSD than the others. Multivariate logistic regression showed this significance in sex, depression, age, educational status and pain, as constant risk factors in developing PTSD after accident. Conclusion: This study suggests that primary care setting should be readily prompted for diagnosis of these disorders in non-treatment seeking individuals in the community. PMID:29043281

Estimates of the economic and human consequences of motor vehicle accidents in Virginia during 1980.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1982-01-01

The purpose of this report is to describe the cost of motor vehicle accidents in two ways first, by identifying the cost components and quantifying them, and second by showing the severity of such accidents in terms of human suffering. Although many ...

Whiplash injuries of the temporomandibular joint in motor vehicle accidents: speculations and facts.

PubMed

McKay, D C; Christensen, L V

1998-10-01

Referring to the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) of the human mandibular locomotor system, it has been asserted that displacement of the TMJ disc and inflammation of TMJ tissues are the results of acute and indirect trauma to the TMJ; on occasion this is allegedly experienced in motor vehicle accidents and commonly known as a TMJ whiplash injury. It is postulated that the TMJ whiplash injury is released in the occupant or occupants of a target vehicle when its rear end is impacted by the front end of a bullet vehicle. On the basis of detailed analyses of TMJ trauma/pain histories and TMJ magnetic resonance images, presented as circumstantial evidence in favour of the postulated TMJ whiplash injury, and detailed analyses of the mathematical biophysics of the mandibular locomotor system as well as direct experimental evidence, it is concluded that the postulated TMJ whiplash injury does not exist as a single and independent disease entity caused by motor vehicle accidents. If TMJ disc displacement and inflammation are present, they are expressions of an insidious and progressive pre-existing (pre-accident) disease entity that is comprised of TMJ synovitis/osteoarthritis (phase of inflammation with presence of immune system cells), TMJ internal derangement (phase of disc displacement and deformation with presence of proteinases), and TMJ osteoarthrosis (phase of degeneration with absence of immune system cells). For the asserted TMJ whiplash manoeuvre and ensuing injury to occur as postulated, the laws of physics and biology would have to be suspended.

The Self-perception of Text-message Dependency Scale (STDS): Psychometric update based on a United States sample.

PubMed

Liese, Bruce S; Benau, Erik M; Atchley, Paul; Reed, Derek; Becirevic, Amel; Kaplan, Brent

2018-05-14

Some have suggested that text messaging is an addictive behavior. However, this characterization is uncertain, partly due to lack of well-validated measures of text messaging attitudes and behaviors. One standard instrument for measuring text messaging attitudes and behaviors is the Self-perception of Text-message Dependency Scale (STDS), though the psychometric properties of this scale have only been examined with a sample of Japanese youth. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the STDS in the United States to determine its utility as a measure of text messaging dependence. We were interested in examining the factor structure and determining the extent to which this scale would correlate with two important outcome measures: motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) and moving violations. We analyzed data from 468 adults (age 18-74; 274 women) recruited via Amazon's Mechanical Turk (mTurk) service. Participants completed the STDS and provided information about their driving-related incidents in the past year. First we performed a confirmatory factor analysis, which supported the instrument's original factor structure. Then we tested the relationship between scores on the STDS and two important variables, MVAs and moving violations. We found that the STDS significantly correlated with both MVAs and moving violations. The present study confirms that the STDS is a potentially useful instrument for studying texting dependence in the United States and with adults of all ages. The instrument may be particularly useful in predicting motor vehicle outcomes.

An investigation on fatality of drivers in vehicle-fixed object accidents on expressways in China: Using multinomial logistic regression model.

PubMed

Peng, Yong; Peng, Shuangling; Wang, Xinghua; Tan, Shiyang

2018-06-01

This study aims to identify the effects of characteristics of vehicle, roadway, driver, and environment on fatality of drivers in vehicle-fixed object accidents on expressways in Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan district of Hunan province in China by developing multinomial logistic regression models. For this purpose, 121 vehicle-fixed object accidents from 2011-2017 are included in the modeling process. First, descriptive statistical analysis is made to understand the main characteristics of the vehicle-fixed object crashes. Then, 19 explanatory variables are selected, and correlation analysis of each two variables is conducted to choose the variables to be concluded. Finally, five multinomial logistic regression models including different independent variables are compared, and the model with best fitting and prediction capability is chosen as the final model. The results showed that the turning direction in avoiding fixed objects raised the possibility that drivers would die. About 64% of drivers died in the accident were found being ejected out of the car, of which 50% did not use a seatbelt before the fatal accidents. Drivers are likely to die when they encounter bad weather on the expressway. Drivers with less than 10 years of driving experience are more likely to die in these accidents. Fatigue or distracted driving is also a significant factor in fatality of drivers. Findings from this research provide an insight into reducing fatality of drivers in vehicle-fixed object accidents.

A study of bicycle/motor-vehicle accidents : identification of problem types and countermeasure approaches. Volume 1

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1977-09-01

Author's abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine the causes of bicycle/motor-vehicle accidents and to use data on accident causation to identify potential countermeasure approaches.Data were collected by interviews and on-site investigat...

The relationship between serious injury and blood alcohol concentration (BAC) in fatal motor vehicle accidents: BAC = 0.01% is associated with significantly more dangerous accidents than BAC = 0.00%.

PubMed

Phillips, David P; Brewer, Kimberly M

2011-09-01

To analyze the severity of automotive injuries associated with blood alcohol concentration (BAC) in increments of 0.01%. Epidemiological study using the Fatality Analysis Reporting System. All people in US fatal automotive accidents, 1994-2008 (n = 1 495 667). The ratio of serious: non-serious injuries for drivers, by BAC. Accident severity increases significantly even when the driver is merely 'buzzed', a finding that persists after standardization for various confounding factors. Three mechanisms mediate between buzzed driving and high accident severity: compared to sober drivers, buzzed drivers are significantly more likely to speed, to be improperly seatbelted and to drive the striking vehicle. In addition, there is a strong 'dose-response' relationship for all three factors in relation to accident severity (e.g. the greater the BAC, the greater the average speed of the driver and the greater the severity of the accident). The severity of life-threatening motor vehicle accidents increases significantly at blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) far lower than the current US limit of 0.08%. Lowering the legal limit could save lives, prevent serious injuries and reduce financial and social costs associated with motor vehicle accidents. © 2011 Society for the Study of Addiction. No claim to original US government works.

[Mental health status of drivers--Motor vehicle accidents perpetrators].

PubMed

Merecz-Kot, Dorota; Waszkowska, Malgorzata; Wężyk, Agata

2015-01-01

This study aimed at exploring the phenomenon of motor vehicle accidents (MVA). The following research questions were addressed: what are the immediate reactions to accidents among MVA perpetrators, do MVA perpetrators develop posttraumatic stress symptoms, and what are the differences between high and low symptomatic signs in terms of socio-demographics and accident features? Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) questionnaire by Watson et al. in the Polish adaptation was applied to assess PTSD and its subclinical symptoms. The information on the MVA nature, declared MVA causes, drivers' reactions after MVA, as well as on the age, education and history of driving in the study group was collected. The results of psychological examination obtained from 209 MVA perpetrators were analyzed. The examination took place at least 1 month after the accident. In 1/3 of the study group no physiological reactions were observed directly after the accident, while 46% of respondents experienced trembling and shaking and about 30% of subjects were crying or having tears in their eyes. Compassion for the injured and victims, guilt, helplessness and fear were the most common among immediate psychological reactions related to the accident. On the day of psychological examination 11.2% of drivers met diagnostic criteria for PTSD according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth edition (DSM-IV). Drivers showing low and high PTSD symptoms did not differ in terms of age, education, and subjective perception of accident cause. Women were significantly overrepresented it the group meeting the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. The results of the study indicate the need to carry on systematic screening for mental health problems in drivers involved in serious MVA as a part of strategy for improving road safety. This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.

A comprehensive review of rollover accidents involving vehicles equipped with Electronic Stability Control (ESC) systems.

PubMed

Padmanaban, Jeya; Shields, Leland E; Scheibe, Robert R; Eyges, Vitaly E

2008-10-01

This study investigated 478 police accident reports from 9 states to examine and characterize rollover crashes involving ESC-equipped vehicles. The focus was on the sequence of critical events leading to loss of control and rollover, and the interactions between the accident, driver, and environment. Results show that, while ESC is effective in reducing loss of control leading to certain rollover crashes, its effectiveness is diminished in others, particularly when the vehicle departs the roadway or when environmental factors such as slick road conditions or driver factors such as speeding, distraction, fatigue, impairment, or overcorrection are present.

A Comprehensive Review of Rollover Accidents Involving Vehicles Equipped with Electronic Stability Control (ESC) Systems

PubMed Central

Padmanaban, Jeya; Shields, Leland E.; Scheibe, Robert R.; Eyges, Vitaly E.

2008-01-01

This study investigated 478 police accident reports from 9 states to examine and characterize rollover crashes involving ESC-equipped vehicles. The focus was on the sequence of critical events leading to loss of control and rollover, and the interactions between the accident, driver, and environment. Results show that, while ESC is effective in reducing loss of control leading to certain rollover crashes, its effectiveness is diminished in others, particularly when the vehicle departs the roadway or when environmental factors such as slick road conditions or driver factors such as speeding, distraction, fatigue, impairment, or overcorrection are present. PMID:19026219

Motor Vehicle Accidents: The Family Practitioner's Role in Their Management

PubMed Central

Knight, Peter R.; Thomas, Edward J.

1980-01-01

The modern epidemic of motor vehicle accidents claims more lives, creates more morbidity and causes more property damage every successive year. Prevention is a responsibility of every family practitioner as he prescribes and counsels in his office. He has a limited role at an accident scene, but here he supports the patient and may assist personnel of ambulance, police or fire services. In the receiving hospital emergency room the priorities of emergency care, investigations and the indications for transfer of the patient to another facility are discussed. If the victim dies, the relatives' mourning is helped by organ donation and the initiative of the family practitioner in these circumstances may help many people. ImagesFig. 3 PMID:21293698

Examination of morbidity and mortality of cases according to intra-vehicle position and accident mechanism.

PubMed

Meral, Orhan; Aktaş, Ekin Özgür; Ersel, Murat

2018-05-01

Traffic accidents are still an important public health issue in our country and intra-vehicle accidents cause substantial morbidity and mortality. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of seating position on morbidity and mortality in traffic accidents. Patients who were admitted to the Emergency Department, Faculty of Medicine, Ege University between May 1, 2014 and November 30, 2014 due to injuries in motor vehicles and who signed informed consent were included. In total, 519 cases were included, and 329 (63.4%) were male and 190 (36.6%) were female. The average age was 33.11±16.86 (range, 0-85) years. It was noted that the accidents most frequently occurred between 18.00 and 23.59 (36.3%) hours, in the car (79%), and due to collision with another car (61.7%). Although 39.5% of the injured individuals were drivers, 26.4% were front seat passengers. From a forensic medicine perspective, life-threatening injuries were approximately twice more common (37.5%-13.6%) in accidents with >110 km/h speed compared with accidents with <110 km/h speed. Accidents with >110 km/h speed caused approximately twice the amount (56.3%-26.3%) of injuries that cannot be resolved with simple medical intervention compared with accidents with <110 km/h speed. Since most people who are injured or die in traffic accidents have an active professional life, significant rehabilitation expenditure and labor loss occur along with diagnosis and treatment costs. Our study and similar studies not only show the effectiveness of the measures taken but also provide an insight into changing injury profiles and precautions to prevent them.

Phase 2 : evaluation of the national crash experience : comparison of CARDfile national motor vehicle accident projections with projections from other data bases

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-01-01

The purpose of this Phase 2 Study is to compare national motor vehicle accident projections : made from the Crash Avoidance Research Data base (CARDfile) with national motor : vehicle accident projections made from other data bases. For the most part...

48 CFR 252.228-7005 - Accident reporting and investigation involving aircraft, missiles, and space launch vehicles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... investigation involving aircraft, missiles, and space launch vehicles. 252.228-7005 Section 252.228-7005 Federal... investigation involving aircraft, missiles, and space launch vehicles. As prescribed in 228.370(d), use the following clause: Accident Reporting and Investigation Involving Aircraft, Missiles, and Space Launch...

48 CFR 252.228-7005 - Accident reporting and investigation involving aircraft, missiles, and space launch vehicles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... investigation involving aircraft, missiles, and space launch vehicles. 252.228-7005 Section 252.228-7005 Federal... investigation involving aircraft, missiles, and space launch vehicles. As prescribed in 228.370(d), use the following clause: Accident Reporting and Investigation Involving Aircraft, Missiles, and Space Launch...

48 CFR 252.228-7005 - Accident reporting and investigation involving aircraft, missiles, and space launch vehicles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... investigation involving aircraft, missiles, and space launch vehicles. 252.228-7005 Section 252.228-7005 Federal... investigation involving aircraft, missiles, and space launch vehicles. As prescribed in 228.370(d), use the following clause: Accident Reporting and Investigation Involving Aircraft, Missiles, and Space Launch...

48 CFR 252.228-7005 - Accident reporting and investigation involving aircraft, missiles, and space launch vehicles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... investigation involving aircraft, missiles, and space launch vehicles. 252.228-7005 Section 252.228-7005 Federal... investigation involving aircraft, missiles, and space launch vehicles. As prescribed in 228.370(d), use the following clause: Accident Reporting and Investigation Involving Aircraft, Missiles, and Space Launch...

48 CFR 252.228-7005 - Accident reporting and investigation involving aircraft, missiles, and space launch vehicles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... investigation involving aircraft, missiles, and space launch vehicles. 252.228-7005 Section 252.228-7005 Federal... investigation involving aircraft, missiles, and space launch vehicles. As prescribed in 228.370(d), use the following clause: Accident Reporting and Investigation Involving Aircraft, Missiles, and Space Launch...

Managing moral hazard in motor vehicle accident insurance claims.

PubMed

Ebrahim, Shanil; Busse, Jason W; Guyatt, Gordon H; Birch, Stephen

2013-05-01

Motor vehicle accident (MVA) insurance in Canada is based primarily on two different compensation systems: (i) no-fault, in which policyholders are unable to seek recovery for losses caused by other parties (unless they have specified dollar or verbal thresholds) and (ii) tort, in which policyholders may seek general damages. As insurance companies pay for MVA-related health care costs, excess use of health care services may occur as a result of consumers' (accident victims) and/or producers' (health care providers) behavior - often referred to as the moral hazard of insurance. In the United States, moral hazard is greater for low dollar threshold no-fault insurance compared with tort systems. In Canada, high dollar threshold or pure no-fault versus tort systems are associated with faster patient recovery and reduced MVA claims. These findings suggest that high threshold no-fault or pure no-fault compensation systems may be associated with improved outcomes for patients and reduced moral hazard.

Key risk indicators for accident assessment conditioned on pre-crash vehicle trajectory.

PubMed

Shi, X; Wong, Y D; Li, M Z F; Chai, C

2018-08-01

Accident events are generally unexpected and occur rarely. Pre-accident risk assessment by surrogate indicators is an effective way to identify risk levels and thus boost accident prediction. Herein, the concept of Key Risk Indicator (KRI) is proposed, which assesses risk exposures using hybrid indicators. Seven metrics are shortlisted as the basic indicators in KRI, with evaluation in terms of risk behaviour, risk avoidance, and risk margin. A typical real-world chain-collision accident and its antecedent (pre-crash) road traffic movements are retrieved from surveillance video footage, and a grid remapping method is proposed for data extraction and coordinates transformation. To investigate the feasibility of each indicator in risk assessment, a temporal-spatial case-control is designed. By comparison, Time Integrated Time-to-collision (TIT) performs better in identifying pre-accident risk conditions; while Crash Potential Index (CPI) is helpful in further picking out the severest ones (the near-accident). Based on TIT and CPI, the expressions of KRIs are developed, which enable us to evaluate risk severity with three levels, as well as the likelihood. KRI-based risk assessment also reveals predictive insights about a potential accident, including at-risk vehicles, locations and time. Furthermore, straightforward thresholds are defined flexibly in KRIs, since the impact of different threshold values is found not to be very critical. For better validation, another independent real-world accident sample is examined, and the two results are in close agreement. Hierarchical indicators such as KRIs offer new insights about pre-accident risk exposures, which is helpful for accident assessment and prediction. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A systems modeling methodology for evaluation of vehicle aggressivity in the automotive accident environment

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-03-05

A systems modeling approach is presented for assessment of harm in the automotive accident environment. The methodology is presented in general form and then applied to evaluate vehicle aggressivity in frontal crashes. The methodology consists of par...

Vehicle impoundment regulations as a means for reducing traffic-violations and road accidents in Israel.

PubMed

Rosenbloom, Tova; Eldror, Ehud

2013-01-01

The vehicle impoundment sanction in Israel is applicable to several violations, and authorizes police officers to impound a vehicle for period of 30 days, in addition to license suspension. This study examined the effects of vehicle impoundment on traffic-violations and road accidents in Israel, using both subjective and objective measures. A telephone survey was administered to 378 impounded drivers, examining their knowledge and support of the impoundment penalty, as well as the impoundment's effect on their daily life and subsequent driving behaviors. Survey results indicated most impounded drivers did not recognize the violations to which impoundment applies. Respondents described the impoundment experience as one, which interfered with a variety of daily life aspects, and eventually lead them to the adoption of safer driving behaviors. Additionally, data analysis of police records was performed on 1549 impounded drivers and 1354 controls with matching violations performed prior to the application of the impoundment regulation, comparing accident and traffic-violations involvement in the subsequent year. Results indicated that impoundment failed to yield a significant effect over subsequent accident involvement, compared to previous sanctions. A comparison of subsequent traffic-violations indicated lower rates of violations following impoundment as compared with previous sanctions. Specifically, drivers whose vehicle was impounded were less likely to commit traffic violations in the following year than drivers subjected to other sanctions. The results are explained according to psychological behavioral theories of punishment effectiveness. These findings provide further support for impoundment as a deterrent for several traffic-violations. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle Rollover Accidents and Injuries to U.S. Army Soldiers by Reported Occupant Restraint Use, 1992-2013.

PubMed

Lo, Michael C; Giffin, Robert P; Pakulski, Kraig A; Davis, W Sumner; Bernstein, Stephen A; Wise, Daniel V

2017-05-01

The high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle (HMMWV) is a light military tactical vehicle. During Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S. Army modified the HMMWV into a combat vehicle by adding vehicle armor, which made the vehicle more difficult to control and more likely to roll over. Consequently, reports of fatal rollover accidents involving up-armored HMMWVs began to accumulate during the up-armoring period (August 2003 to April 2005). Furthermore, the lack of occupant restraint use prevalent in a predominantly young, male, and enlisted military population compounded the injuries resulting from these accidents. In this retrospective case series analysis, we describe the characteristics of U.S. Army HMMWV rollover accidents, occupants, and injuries reported worldwide from fiscal year 1992 to 2013 based on reported occupant restraint use. We conducted all analyses using Microsoft Excel 2010 and SAS version 9.1. Because this analysis does not constitute human subjects research, no institutional review board review was required. First, we obtained U.S. Army HMMWV accident records from the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center, and selected those records indicating a HMMWV rollover had occurred. Next, we successively deduplicated the records at the accident, vehicle, occupant, and injury levels for descriptive analysis of characteristics at each level. For each occupant position, we calculated relative, attributable, and population attributable risks of nonfatal and fatal injury based on reported occupant restraint use. Finally, we analyzed body part injured and nature of injury to characterize the injury patterns that HMMWV occupants in each position sustained based on restraint use. We performed a χ 2 test of homogeneity to assess differences in injury patterns between restrained and unrestrained occupants. A total of 819 U.S. Army HMMWV rollover accidents worldwide were reported from October 1991 through May 2013 involving 821 HMMWVs and

Self-evaluative appraisals of coping capability and posttraumatic distress following motor vehicle accidents.

PubMed

Benight, Charles C; Cieslak, Roman; Molton, Ivan R; Johnson, Lesley E

2008-08-01

This study tested the importance of coping self-efficacy (CSE) perceptions and change in perceptions of CSE for recovery from motor vehicle accident (MVA) trauma. Data were collected 7 days following the accident (Time 1; n = 163), 1 month after the accident (Time 2; n = 91), and 3 months after the accident (Time 3; n = 70). Early changes in CSE (i.e., from Time 1 to Time 2) predicted posttraumatic distress at 3 months after MVA trauma, even after controlling for Time 1 or Time 2 posttraumatic distress and other trauma-related variables (i.e., accident responsibility, litigation involvement, and peritraumatic dissociation). Early changes in CSE perceptions, however, neither moderated nor mediated the effects of early posttraumatic distress (Time 1) on 3-month posttraumatic distress. Time 2 CSE levels, however, did mediate the relationship between acute posttraumatic distress (Time 1) and 3-month posttraumatic distress (Time 3). These findings highlight the importance of early interventions aimed at strengthening self-efficacy after MVA trauma. Copyright 2008 APA, all rights reserved.

Exploring the relationship between alcohol and the driver characteristics in motor vehicle accidents.

PubMed

Abdel-Aty, M A; Abdelwahab, H T

2000-07-01

This study examines the differences in alcohol-related accident involvement among different driver groups in the state of Florida. The driver characteristics considered in this study are: age, gender, race, and residency of the driver of a motor vehicle involved in an accident while under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or alcohol and drugs. The main objective of this study is to test whether there are associations between the different driver characteristics and alcohol involvement in traffic accidents, and to identify the high-risk group within each driver factor. This would improve our understanding of the relationship between alcohol involvement, accidents, and the four aforementioned driver factors. It would also enable us to better design educational and awareness programs targeting specific groups in the population to reduce drinking and driving in the state. The relationship between alcohol-related accident involvement and the driver factors are investigated using general descriptive statistics, conditional probabilities and log-linear models. The results showed that the 25-34 age group experience the highest rate of alcohol/drug involvement in accidents. The rates decline with the increase in the age of the drivers. The results also indicated that there are significant relationships between the driver characteristics and alcohol/drug involvement in accidents. Male, white, and in-state drivers were also more involved in alcohol/drugs-related traffic accidents.

Factors associated with automobile accidents and survival.

PubMed

Kim, Hong Sok; Kim, Hyung Jin; Son, Bongsoo

2006-09-01

This paper develops an econometric model for vehicles' inherent mortality rate and estimates the probability of accidents and survival in the United States. Logistic regression model is used to estimate probability of survival, and censored regression model is used to estimate probability of accidents. The estimation results indicated that the probability of accident and survival are influenced by the physical characteristics of the vehicles involved in the accident, and by the characteristics of the driver and the occupants. Using restrain system and riding in heavy vehicle increased the survival rate. Middle-aged drivers are less susceptible to involve in an accident, and surprisingly, female drivers are more likely to have an accident than male drivers. Riding in powerful vehicles (high horsepower) and driving late night increase the probability of accident. Overall, the driving behavior and characteristics of vehicle does matter and affects the probabilities of having a fatal accident for different types of vehicles.

[Reconstruction of Vehicle-human Crash Accident and Injury Analysis Based on 3D Laser Scanning, Multi-rigid-body Reconstruction and Optimized Genetic Algorithm].

PubMed

Sun, J; Wang, T; Li, Z D; Shao, Y; Zhang, Z Y; Feng, H; Zou, D H; Chen, Y J

2017-12-01

To reconstruct a vehicle-bicycle-cyclist crash accident and analyse the injuries using 3D laser scanning technology, multi-rigid-body dynamics and optimized genetic algorithm, and to provide biomechanical basis for the forensic identification of death cause. The vehicle was measured by 3D laser scanning technology. The multi-rigid-body models of cyclist, bicycle and vehicle were developed based on the measurements. The value range of optimal variables was set. A multi-objective genetic algorithm and the nondominated sorting genetic algorithm were used to find the optimal solutions, which were compared to the record of the surveillance video around the accident scene. The reconstruction result of laser scanning on vehicle was satisfactory. In the optimal solutions found by optimization method of genetic algorithm, the dynamical behaviours of dummy, bicycle and vehicle corresponded to that recorded by the surveillance video. The injury parameters of dummy were consistent with the situation and position of the real injuries on the cyclist in accident. The motion status before accident, damage process by crash and mechanical analysis on the injury of the victim can be reconstructed using 3D laser scanning technology, multi-rigid-body dynamics and optimized genetic algorithm, which have application value in the identification of injury manner and analysis of death cause in traffic accidents. Copyright© by the Editorial Department of Journal of Forensic Medicine

Epileptic auras and their role in driving safety in people with epilepsy

PubMed Central

Punia, Vineet; Farooque, Pue; Chen, William; Hirsch, Lawrence J.; Berg, Anne T.; Blumenfeld, Hal

2015-01-01

Summary The aim of our study was to evaluate the role of auras in preventing motor vehicle accidents (MVA) among medically-refractory epilepsy patients. The Multicenter Study of Epilepsy Surgery database was used to perform a case-control study by identifying patients who had seizures while driving that led to MVAs (Cases) and those who had seizures while driving without MVAs (Controls). We compared presence of reliable auras and other aura-related features between the two groups. 215 out of 553 patients reported having seizure(s) while driving; 74 were identified as ‘Controls’ and 141 as ‘Cases’. The two groups had similar demographic and clinical features. The presence of reliable auras was not different between the two groups (67% in Cases vs 65% in Controls; OR = 0.89, 95% CI 0.49 – 1.61, p = 0.76). In addition, the groups did not differ in the proportion of patients who reported longer (>1 minute) auras (OR 0.7; 95% CI 0.28 – 1.76; p = 0.47), or who thought that their auras were sufficiently long to protect themselves (OR 1.19; 95% CI 0.62 – 2.00; p = 0.77). Our study questions the long-held belief of a protective role of reliable auras against MVAs in people with epilepsy. PMID:26391317

Who by accident? The social morphology of car accidents.

PubMed

Factor, Roni; Yair, Gad; Mahalel, David

2010-09-01

Prior studies in the sociology of accidents have shown that different social groups have different rates of accident involvement. This study extends those studies by implementing Bourdieu's relational perspective of social space to systematically explore the homology between drivers' social characteristics and their involvement in specific types of motor vehicle accident. Using a large database that merges official Israeli road-accident records with socioeconomic data from two censuses, this research maps the social order of road accidents through multiple correspondence analysis. Extending prior studies, the results show that different social groups indeed tend to be involved in motor vehicle accidents of different types and severity. For example, we find that drivers from low socioeconomic backgrounds are overinvolved in severe accidents with fatal outcomes. The new findings reported here shed light on the social regularity of road accidents and expose new facets in the social organization of death. © 2010 Society for Risk Analysis.

Cardiac Injury After All-Terrain Vehicle Accidents in 2 Children and a Review of the Literature.

PubMed

Ngo, Kimberly D; Pian, Phillip; Hanfland, Robert; Nichols, Christopher S; Merritt, Glenn R; Campbell, David; Ing, Richard J

2016-07-01

All-terrain vehicle (ATV) accidents leading to severe morbidity and mortality are common. At our institution, 2 children presented within weeks of each other after ATV accidents. Both children required cardiac valve surgery. The surgical management of these 2 children is discussed, and the literature is reviewed. On initial patient presentation, the diagnosis of a ruptured cardiac valve or ventricular septal defect (VSD) associated with these types of accidents is often delayed. We propose that patients presenting with evidence of high-energy blunt thoracic trauma after an ATV accident should undergo an electrocardiogram, cardiac enzyme assessment, and cardiac echocardiogram as part of the initial work-up to rule out significant myocardial injury.

Injuries to Occupants of U.S. Army High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles in Rollover Accidents, 1989-2007

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-04-02

This research conducted on occupant injuries in U.S. Army High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) rollover accidents was presented at the ...12  1 Introduction The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) is...Soldiers may experience the full impact of jarring forces and/or projectile forces of unrestrained equipment. Rollovers are especially hazardous to

Truck accident and fatality rates calculated from California highway accident statistics for 1980 and 1981

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Smith, R.N.; Wilmot, E.L.

California state highway accident rates for three types of truck vehicles (pickup, truck without trailer, and truck with trailer) were analyzed for 1980 and 1981 and for various road types in each of eleven state highway districts. Accident rates have not been available previously that are specific to truck vehicles, particularly truck with trailer. Reported data are presented that lead to several significant observations about truck accident rates: pickup truck accident rates are about twice the composite rates for all vehicle types; the fatality rates for trucks with trailer are nearly twice that for all vehicle types; fatality rates formore » trucks (without trailer) are comparable to the composite rates; and total accident and fatal-plus-injury rates for trucks with trailer are close to the composite rates in urban areas but higher in rural areas. The values for average total accident rates reported in 1981 are: 2.2 accidents per million vehicle miles (mvm) for pickups, 1.5 accidents per mvm for trucks, and 1.4 accidents per mvm for trucks with trailer. The values for average fatality rates reported in 1981 are: 3.8 fatalities per 100 mvm for pickups, 2.8 fatalities per 100 mvm for trucks, and 4.3 fatalities per 100 mvm for trucks with trailer. The reported rates for 1980 are approximately the same.« less

The influence of age, seat belt, time of day, and type of vehicles on road accidents in Kerman, Iran.

PubMed

Mohammadi, Ghorbanali

2009-04-01

Traffic accidents are one of the main external causes of morbidity and mortality in various parts of the world, including Kerman, a city that has experienced rapid growth in the number of cars in the last 5 years. The objective of this article was to identify the influence of age, belt use, time of day, and type of vehicle road accidents of southeastern Iran. This study used data obtained from Kerman police force reports on incidents of road traffic accidents (RTAs). We analyzed the police reports of total road accidents that occurred from 2005 to 2007. The involvement in fatal and non-fatal accidents was determined for females than among males. The analysis of the data indicated that the female drivers have a much better road safety record than male drivers, especially with regards to their involvement in severe traffic accidents. Forty-nine percent of accidents involve passenger cars, which is higher than other type of vehicles. Female drivers were found to be generally safer drivers than their male counterparts; male drivers who did not use seat belts had a higher involvement rate in road traffic accidents. Time of day analyses suggested that the problems of accidents in darkness are not a matter of visibility but a consequence of the way drivers use the roads at night. A number of recommended measures for the improvement of road safety in southeastern Iran are suggested.

Biomechanical analysis of protective countermeasures in underride motor vehicle accidents - biomed 2009.

PubMed

Kumar, Sri; Enz, Bruce; Ponder, Perry L; Anderson, Bob

2009-01-01

Traffic safety has been significantly improved over the past several decades reducing injury and fatality rates. However, there is a paucity of research effort to address the safety issues in underride accidents, specifically the side underride crashes. It is well known that the compromise of occupant space in the vehicle leads to a higher probability of serious or fatal injuries. A better understanding of occupant protection and mechanism of injuries involved in side underride accidents assists in the advancement of safety measures. The present work evaluates the injury potential to occupants during side underride crashes using the car-to-trailer crash methodology. Four crash tests were conducted into the side of a stationary trailer fitted with the side underride guard system (SURG). The SURG used in these tests is 25% lighter than the previous design. A 5th percentile hybrid III female dummy was placed in the driver seat and restrained with the three-point lap and shoulder harness. The anthropometric dummy was instrumented with a head triaxial accelerometer, a chest triaxal accelerometer, a load cell to measure neck force and moment, and a load cell to measure the femur force. The vehicle acceleration was measured using a traxial accelerometer in the rear center tunnel. High speed, standard video and still photos were taken. In all tests, the intrusion was limited to the front structure of the vehicle without any significant compromise to the occupant space. Results indicate that the resultant head and chest accelerations, head injury criterion (HIC), neck force and moment, and femur force were well below the injury tolerance. The present findings support the hypothesis that the SURG not only limits or eliminates the intrusion into the occupant space but also results in biomechanical injury values well below the tolerance limit in motor vehicle crashes.

Spectral Analysis of the Effects of Daylight Saving Time on Motor Vehicle Fatal Traffic Accidents

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1977-04-01

This report shows that Daylight Saving Time (DST) reduces the number of persons killed in motor vehicle fatal traffic accidents by about one percent. This estimate is based on a spectral (Fourier) analysis of these fatalities which utilizes a filteri...

The association between attributions of responsibility for motor vehicle accidents and patient satisfaction: a study within a no-fault injury compensation system.

PubMed

Thompson, Jason; Berk, Michael; O'Donnell, Meaghan; Stafford, Lesley; Nordfjaern, Trond

2015-05-01

This study set out to test the relationship between attributions of responsibility for motor vehicle accidents and satisfaction with personal injury compensation systems. The study analysed survey data from 1394 people injured in a motor vehicle accident who were compensated under a no-fault personal injury compensation system. Patients' ratings of satisfaction with the compensation system across five domains (resolves your issues, keeps you up-to-date, treats you as an individual, cares about you, and overall satisfaction) were analysed alongside patient attributions of responsibility for their accident (not responsible, partly responsible, totally responsible). Postaccident physical and mental health status, age, gender, and duration of compensation claim were controlled for in the analysis. A multivariate analysis of covariance indicated attributions of responsibility for accidents were significantly associated with levels of patient satisfaction across all five domains under study (F (10, 2084) = 3.7, p<0.001, η(2)  =0.02). Despite access to virtually indistinguishable services, patients who attributed responsibility for their accidents to others were significantly less satisfied with the injury compensation system than those who attributed responsibility to themselves. Satisfaction with no-fault motor vehicle injury compensation services are associated with patients' attributions of responsibility for their accident. Compensation systems and other rehabilitation services monitoring patient satisfaction should adjust for attributions of responsibility when assessing levels of patient satisfaction between time periods, services, or injured populations. Differences in levels of patient satisfaction observed between compensation or rehabilitation populations may reflect differences in attributions of responsibility for accidents rather than objective service quality. © The Author(s) 2014.

Crude estimates of cannabis-attributable mortality and morbidity in Canada-implications for public health focused intervention priorities.

PubMed

Fischer, Benedikt; Imtiaz, Sameer; Rudzinski, Katherine; Rehm, Jürgen

2016-03-01

Cannabis is the most commonly used drug in Canada; while its use is currently controlled by criminal prohibition, debates about potential control reforms are intensifying. There is substantive evidence about cannabis-related risks to health in various key outcome domains; however, little is known about the actual extent of these harms specifically in Canada. Based on epidemiological data (e.g. prevalence of relevant cannabis use rates and relevant risk behaviors; risk ratios; and annual numbers of morbidity/mortality cases in relevant domains), and applying the methodology of comparative risk assessment, we estimated attributable fractions for cannabis-related morbidity and mortality, specifically for: (i) motor-vehicle accidents (MVAs); (ii) use disorders; (iii) mental health (psychosis) and (iv) lung cancer. MVAs and lung cancer are the only domains where cannabis-attributable mortality is estimated to occur. While cannabis use results in morbidity in all domains, MVAs and use disorders by far outweigh the other domains in the number of cases; the popularly debated mental health consequences (e.g., psychosis) translate into relatively small case numbers. The present crude estimates should guide and help prioritize public health-oriented interventions for the cannabis-related health burden in the population in Canada; formal burden of disease calculations should be conducted. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Injuries and outcomes associated with recreational vehicle accidents in pediatric trauma.

PubMed

Linnaus, Maria E; Ragar, Rebecca L; Garvey, Erin M; Fraser, Jason D

2017-02-01

To identify injuries and outcomes from Recreational/Off-Highway Vehicles (RV/OHV) accidents at a pediatric trauma center. A retrospective review of a prospective pediatric trauma registry was performed to identify patients sustaining injuries from an RV/OHV between January 2007 and July 2015. Vehicles included: all-terrain vehicles (ATV), dirt bikes, utility-terrain vehicles (UTV), golf carts, go-karts, and dune buggies. Five hundred twenty-eight patients were injured while on an RV/OHV: 269 ATV, 135 dirt bike, 42 UTV, 38 golf cart, 34 go-kart, and 10 dune buggy. The majority (n=381, 72%) had at least one injury with an Abbreviated Injury Scale ≥2; 39% (n=204) had orthopedic injuries and 22% (n=116) had central neurologic injuries. Over three-fourths (n=412, 78%) were admitted. For the 48% (n=253) of patients requiring surgery, 654 surgical procedures were performed. Median hospital charge was $27,565 (IQR: $15,553-$44,935). Excluding golf carts, helmet use was 49% (n=231); 16% (n=76) wore protective clothing. Only 22% (n=26) wore a restraining belt. Severe injuries occur in children who ride RV/OHV often warranting admission and surgical intervention. Improved understanding of RV/OHV injuries may guide caregivers in decision-making about pediatric RV/OHV use and encourage use of protective gear. Level II, Prognosis Study. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

32 CFR 636.12 - Traffic accident investigation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 32 National Defense 4 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Traffic accident investigation. 636.12 Section... Stewart, Georgia § 636.12 Traffic accident investigation. In addition to the requirements in § 634.28 of... reportable motor vehicle accidents involving government owned or privately owned vehicles. ...

[Fatal occupational accidents in Lombardy].

PubMed

Pianosi, G

1995-01-01

All fatal occupational accidents compensated in Lombardy from 1984 to 1989 were analyzed (1259 cases): significant differences between geographical distribution of fatal occupational accidents and workers were observed. Males accounted for about 95% of fatalities; an excess of cases was shown in both young and elderly workers. Death was the consequence of injuries involving most frequently the head, thorax and spinal cord. An excess of fatalities was observed in agriculture and, at a lower level, in manufacturing industries; small enterprises were involved in approximately 25% of fatalities occurring in the manufacturing industries and services. Employers were the victims of fatal accidents in 50% of cases in agriculture and in 70% of cases in craft industries. Construction, agriculture and transport accounted for about 50% of all fatalities. About 50% of fatal occupational accidents were related to vehicle use: the victim was the driver in the majority of cases, sometimes the victim was run over by a vehicle or fell from a vehicle. The results agree with some previous observations (e.g.: sex and age distribution; construction, agriculture and transport as working activities at high accident risk); but some original observations have emerged, in particular about the frequency of employers as victims and the role of vehicles in the genesis of fatal occupational accidents. If further studies confirm these latter observations, important developments could follow in preventive action design and implementation.

1996 Washington state highway accident report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1996-01-01

The Motor Vehicle Laws of the state of Washington require that standard Traffic Accident Report forms be : submitted by the operator of any vehicle in an accident resulting in injury or death to any person, or damage to the : property of any person t...

Measuring pedestrian volumes and conflicts. Volume 2, Accident prediction model

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1987-12-01

This final report presents the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the study conducted to model pedestrian/vehicle accidents. A group-type analysis approach for the prediction of pedestrian/vehicle accidents using pedestrian/vehicle conflic...

Rear-end accident victims. Importance of understanding the accident.

PubMed Central

Sehmer, J. M.

1993-01-01

Family physicians regularly treat victims of rear-end vehicle accidents. This article describes how taking a detailed history of the accident and understanding the significance of the physical events is helpful in understanding and anticipating patients' morbidity and clinical course. Eight questions to ask patients are suggested to help physicians understand the severity of injury. PMID:8495140

Characteristics of worker accidents on NYSDOT construction projects.

PubMed

Mohan, Satish; Zech, Wesley C

2005-01-01

This paper aims at providing cost-effective safety measures to protect construction workers in highway work zones, based on real data. Two types of accidents that occur in work zones were: (a) construction work area accidents, and (b) traffic accidents involving construction worker(s). A detailed analysis of work zone accidents involving 36 fatalities and 3,055 severe injuries to construction workers on New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) construction projects from 1990 to 2001 established that five accident types: (a) Struck/Pinned by Large Equipment, (b) Trip or Fall (elevated), (c) Contact w/Electrical or Gas Utility, (d) Struck-by Moving/Falling Load, and (e) Crane/Lift Device Failure accounted for nearly 96% of the fatal accidents, nearly 63% of the hospital-level injury accidents, and nearly 91% of the total costs. These construction work area accidents had a total cost of $133.8 million. Traffic accidents that involve contractors' employees were also examined. Statistical analyses of the traffic accidents established that five traffic accident types: (a) Work Space Intrusion, (b) Worker Struck-by Vehicle Inside Work Space, (c) Flagger Struck-by Vehicle, (d) Worker Struck-by Vehicle Entering/Exiting Work Space, and (e) Construction Equipment Struck-by Vehicle Inside Work Space accounted for nearly 86% of the fatal, nearly 70% of the hospital-level injury and minor injury traffic accidents, and $45.4 million (79.4%) of the total traffic accident costs. The results of this paper provide real statistics on construction worker related accidents reported on construction work zones. Potential preventions based on real statistics have also been suggested. The ranking of accident types, both within the work area as well as in traffic, will guide the heavy highway contractor and owner agencies in identifying the most cost effective safety preventions.

How accurate is accident data in road safety research? An application of vehicle black box data regarding pedestrian-to-taxi accidents in Korea.

PubMed

Chung, Younshik; Chang, IlJoon

2015-11-01

Recently, the introduction of vehicle black box systems or in-vehicle video event data recorders enables the driver to use the system to collect more accurate crash information such as location, time, and situation at the pre-crash and crash moment, which can be analyzed to find the crash causal factors more accurately. This study presents the vehicle black box system in brief and its application status in Korea. Based on the crash data obtained from the vehicle black box system, this study analyzes the accuracy of the crash data collected from existing road crash data recording method, which has been recorded by police officers based on accident parties' statements or eyewitness's account. The analysis results show that the crash data observed by the existing method have an average of 84.48m of spatial difference and standard deviation of 157.75m as well as average 29.05min of temporal error and standard deviation of 19.24min. Additionally, the average and standard deviation of crash speed errors were found to be 9.03km/h and 7.21km/h, respectively. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Causal Factors and Adverse Events of Aviation Accidents and Incidents Related to Integrated Vehicle Health Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reveley, Mary S.; Briggs, Jeffrey L.; Evans, Joni K.; Jones, Sharon M.; Kurtoglu, Tolga; Leone, Karen M.; Sandifer, Carl E.

2011-01-01

Causal factors in aviation accidents and incidents related to system/component failure/malfunction (SCFM) were examined for Federal Aviation Regulation Parts 121 and 135 operations to establish future requirements for the NASA Aviation Safety Program s Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) Project. Data analyzed includes National Transportation Safety Board (NSTB) accident data (1988 to 2003), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) incident data (1988 to 2003), and Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) incident data (1993 to 2008). Failure modes and effects analyses were examined to identify possible modes of SCFM. A table of potential adverse conditions was developed to help evaluate IVHM research technologies. Tables present details of specific SCFM for the incidents and accidents. Of the 370 NTSB accidents affected by SCFM, 48 percent involved the engine or fuel system, and 31 percent involved landing gear or hydraulic failure and malfunctions. A total of 35 percent of all SCFM accidents were caused by improper maintenance. Of the 7732 FAA database incidents affected by SCFM, 33 percent involved landing gear or hydraulics, and 33 percent involved the engine and fuel system. The most frequent SCFM found in ASRS were turbine engine, pressurization system, hydraulic main system, flight management system/flight management computer, and engine. Because the IVHM Project does not address maintenance issues, and landing gear and hydraulic systems accidents are usually not fatal, the focus of research should be those SCFMs that occur in the engine/fuel and flight control/structures systems as well as power systems.

Patterns and consequences of inadequate sleep in college students: substance use and motor vehicle accidents.

PubMed

Taylor, Daniel J; Bramoweth, Adam D

2010-06-01

We examined college sleep patterns and consequences using a cross-sectional design. We found that students get insufficient sleep and frequently use medication and alcohol as sleep aids, use stimulants as alertness aids, and fall asleep at the wheel, or have motor vehicle accidents due to sleepiness. Future studies should focus on effective interventions for sleep in college students. Copyright 2010 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Fatal accident with a special automobile].

PubMed

Schmidt, Ulrike; Perdekamp, Markus Grosse; Pollak, Stefan

2002-01-01

The authors report on a traffic accident in which the passenger of a Light Four-wheeled Vehicle (Microcar) approved for use by a disabled person was killed after a rear collision with a compact car. The severity of the accident trauma was critically determined by the vehicle's light construction. Consideration is also given to the legal situation regarding registration and driver's license issues.

Factors Affecting Road Traffic Accident in Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Che-Him, Norziha; Roslan, Rozaini; Saifullah Rusiman, Mohd; Khalid, Kamil; Ghazali Kamardan, M.; Azbi Arobi, Farquis; Mohamad, Nazeera

2018-04-01

A road traffic accident resulted from the combination of factors related to the few components of the system involving environment, roads, road users, vehicles and the interaction between those systems. Road traffic accident (RTA) in Malaysia recorded as the highest fatality rate (per 100,000 population) among the ASEAN countries. In 2016, more than half of million cases accident recorded with more than 7,000 people were killed. Therefore, the RTA is one of the most critical issue in Malaysia even become the worldwide burden to authority. Generally, driving is a complex process which involves movement of a vehicle by either a computer or human controller. However, failure to control and coordinate will contribute to an accident. The objective of this study is to identify the pattern of accident in Johor Malaysia and to examine the relationship between the number of accident and the types of vehicles and roads. The results could help the government to recognise the different patterns, types of vehicles and roads that show major factors in the increasing of road traffic accident in Malaysia.

32 CFR 634.28 - Traffic accident investigation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 32 National Defense 4 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Traffic accident investigation. 634.28 Section... accident investigation. Installation law enforcement personnel must make detailed investigations of accidents described in this section: (a) Accidents involving Government vehicles or Government property on...

41 CFR 101-39.407 - Accident records.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 2 2011-07-01 2007-07-01 true Accident records. 101-39...-INTERAGENCY FLEET MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS 39.4-Accidents and Claims § 101-39.407 Accident records. If GSA's records of vehicle accidents indicate that a particular activity has had an unusually high accident frequency...

2008 Kansas traffic accident facts

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-01-01

The accident data herein, as of January 1, 2009, reflect the reporting : officers observations and opinions recorded on the KDOT forms: : 850- Motor Vehicle Accident Report : 851- Investigative-Fatality Report : 852- Truck-Bus Supplement

2006 Kansas traffic accident facts

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2007-01-01

The accident data herein, as of January 1, 2007, reflect the reporting officers : observations and opinions recorded on the KDOT forms: : 850- Motor Vehicle Accident Report : 851- Investigative-Fatality Report : 852- Truck-Bus Supplement

2005 Kansas traffic accident facts

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2006-01-01

The accident data herein, as of January 1, 2006, reflect the reporting officers : observations and opinions recorded on the KDOT forms: : 850- Motor Vehicle Accident Report : 851- Investigative-Fatality Report : 852- Truck-Bus Supplement

2002 Kansas traffic accident facts

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2003-01-01

The accident data herein, as of January 1, 2003, reflect the reporting officers : observations and opinions recorded on the KDOT forms: : 850- Motor Vehicle Accident Report : 851- Investigative-Fatality Report : 852- Truck-Bus Supplement

2000 Kansas traffic accident facts

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-01-01

The accident data herein, as of January 1, 2001, reflect the reporting officers : observations and opinions recorded on the KDOT forms: : 850- Motor Vehicle Accident Report : 851- Investigative-Fatality Report : 852- Truck-Bus Supplement

2001 Kansas traffic accident facts

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2002-01-01

The accident data herein, as of January 1, 2002, reflect the reporting officers : observations and opinions recorded on the KDOT forms: : 850- Motor Vehicle Accident Report : 851- Investigative-Fatality Report : 852- Truck-Bus Supplement

Assessing accident phobia in mild traumatic brain injury: The Accident Fear Questionnaire.

PubMed

Sutherland, Jessica; Middleton, Jason; Ornstein, Tisha J; Lawson, Kerry; Vickers, Kristin

2016-08-01

Despite a documented prevalence of accident phobia in almost 40% of motor vehicle accident (MVA) survivors, the onset of accident phobia after traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains poorly understood. There is currently a body of knowledge about posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in patients with TBI, but less is known about accident phobia following TBI, particularly in cases of mild TBI (mTBI). Accident phobia can impede safe return to driving or motor vehicle travel, inhibiting return to daily functioning. In addition, pain complaints have been found to correlate positively with postinjury anxiety disorders. The present study sought to determine the reliability and validity of the Accident Fear Questionnaire (AFQ), a measure used to assess accident phobia, in 72 patients with mTBI using secondary data analysis and the subsequent development of accident phobia postinjury. Furthermore, we sought to examine the impact of pain, anxiety, and depression complaints on the AFQ. Results reveal convergent validity and reliability in mTBI populations. Additionally, pain, anxiety, and depression measures were significantly correlated with scores on the AFQ. Psychometrically, the phobia avoidance subscale of the AFQ is a reliable measure for use with mTBI populations, although some limitations were found. In particular, the accident profile (AP) subscale was not found to be reliable or valid and could be eliminated from the AFQ. Collectively, the present study contributes to the small body of published literature evaluating accident phobia in patients with mTBI and the impact of pain on the development of postinjury anxiety disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

49 CFR 382.303 - Post-accident testing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... functions with respect to the vehicle, if the accident involved the loss of human life; or (2) Who receives a citation within 8 hours of the occurrence under State or local law for a moving traffic violation... performing safety-sensitive functions with respect to the vehicle, if the accident involved the loss of human...

49 CFR 382.303 - Post-accident testing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... functions with respect to the vehicle, if the accident involved the loss of human life; or (2) Who receives... performing safety-sensitive functions with respect to the vehicle, if the accident involved the loss of human life; or (2) Who receives a citation within thirty-two hours of the occurrence under State or local law...

Traffic Accidents Involving Cyclists Identifying Causal Factors Using Questionnaire Survey, Traffic Accident Data, and Real-World Observation.

PubMed

Oikawa, Shoko; Hirose, Toshiya; Aomura, Shigeru; Matsui, Yasuhiro

2016-11-01

The purpose of this study is to clarify the mechanism of traffic accidents involving cyclists. The focus is on the characteristics of cyclist accidents and scenarios, because the number of traffic accidents involving cyclists in Tokyo is the highest in Japan. First, dangerous situations in traffic incidents were investigated by collecting data from 304 cyclists in one city in Tokyo using a questionnaire survey. The survey indicated that cyclists used their bicycles generally while commuting to work or school in the morning. Second, the study investigated the characteristics of 250 accident situations involving cyclists that happened in the city using real-world bicycle accident data. The results revealed that the traffic accidents occurred at intersections of local streets, where cyclists collided most often with vehicles during commute time in the morning. Third, cyclists' behavior was observed at a local street intersection in the morning in the city using video pictures. In one hour during the morning commute period, 250 bicycles passed through the intersection. The results indicated that one of the reasons for traffic accidents involving cyclists might be the combined effect of low visibility, caused by the presence of box-like building structures close to the intersections, and the cyclists' behavior in terms of their velocity and no confirming safety. It was observed that, on average, bicycle velocity was 3.1 m/s at the initial line of an intersection. The findings from this study could be useful in developing new technologies to improve cyclist safety, such as alert devices for cyclists and vehicle drivers, wireless communication systems between cyclists and vehicle drivers, or advanced vehicles with bicycle detection and collision mitigation systems.

Bundled automobile insurance coverage and accidents.

PubMed

Li, Chu-Shiu; Liu, Chwen-Chi; Peng, Sheng-Chang

2013-01-01

This paper investigates the characteristics of automobile accidents by taking into account two types of automobile insurance coverage: comprehensive vehicle physical damage insurance and voluntary third-party liability insurance. By using a unique data set in the Taiwanese automobile insurance market, we explore the bundled automobile insurance coverage and the occurrence of claims. It is shown that vehicle physical damage insurance is the major automobile coverage and affects the decision to purchase voluntary liability insurance coverage as a complement. Moreover, policyholders with high vehicle physical damage insurance coverage have a significantly higher probability of filing vehicle damage claims, and if they additionally purchase low voluntary liability insurance coverage, their accident claims probability is higher than those who purchase high voluntary liability insurance coverage. Our empirical results reveal that additional automobile insurance coverage information can capture more driver characteristics and driving behaviors to provide useful information for insurers' underwriting policies and to help analyze the occurrence of automobile accidents. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Examination of Commercial Aviation Accidents and Incidents Related to Integrated Vehicle Health Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reveley, Mary S.; Briggs, Jeffrey L.; Thomas, Megan A.; Evans, Joni K.; Jones, Sharon M.

2011-01-01

The Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) Project is one of the four projects within the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Aviation Safety Program (AvSafe). The IVHM Project conducts research to develop validated tools and technologies for automated detection, diagnosis, and prognosis that enable mitigation of adverse events during flight. Adverse events include those that arise from system, subsystem, or component failure, faults, and malfunctions due to damage, degradation, or environmental hazards that occur during flight. Determining the causal factors and adverse events related to IVHM technologies will help in the formulation of research requirements and establish a list of example adverse conditions against which IVHM technologies can be evaluated. This paper documents the results of an examination of the most recent statistical/prognostic accident and incident data that is available from the Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS) System to determine the causal factors of system/component failures and/or malfunctions in U.S. commercial aviation accidents and incidents.

Breaking The Link Between Legal Access To Alcohol And Motor Vehicle Accidents: Evidence From New South Wales.

PubMed

Lindo, Jason M; Siminski, Peter; Yerokhin, Oleg

2016-07-01

A large literature has documented significant public health benefits associated with the minimum legal drinking age in the USA, particularly because of the resulting effects on motor vehicle accidents. These benefits form the primary basis for continued efforts to restrict youth access to alcohol. It is important to keep in mind that policymakers have a wide variety of alcohol-control options available to them, and understanding how these policies may complement or substitute for one another can improve policy making moving forward. Towards this end, we propose that investigating the causal effects of the minimum legal drinking age in New South Wales, Australia, provides a particularly informative case study, because Australian states are among the world leaders in their efforts against drunk driving. Using an age-based regression discontinuity design applied to restricted-use data from several sources, we find no evidence that legal access to alcohol has effects on motor vehicle accidents of any type in New South Wales, despite having large effects on drinking and on hospitalizations due to alcohol abuse. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Management, Acquisition, and Use of Motor Vehicles

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-03-01

CHAPTER 10. SAFETY , ACCIDENT PREVENTION , AND REPORTING Section 10-1. General ................................................ 10-1 Section 10-2. Policy...10-6. Safety and Accident Prevention ........................... 10-2 CHAPTER 11. IDENTIFICATION AND MARKING OF MOTOR VEHICLES VEHICLE MARKING...points to warrant disciplinary action consideration. 9-5 C 1 SAFETY . ACCIDENT PREVENTION . AND REPORTING 10-1. General. This Chapter contains policies

Railroad special investigation report : Maryland Transit Administration light rail vehicle accidents at the Baltimore-Washington International Airport transit station near Baltimore, Maryland, February 13 and August 15, 2000

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-12-11

In 2000, the Maryland Transit Administration experienced two similar accidents in the same location just 6 months apart. Both accidents involved the failure of a light rail vehicle train to stop at the designated stopping point at the Baltimore-Washi...

Computer & manual accident typing for bicyclist accidents : administrator's guide

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1983-01-01

This guide provides guidelines and procedures for classifying and analyzing bicyclist-motor vehicle accidents. The approach described herein is part of a systematic effort by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to assist states...

32 CFR 634.29 - Traffic accident investigation reports.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 32 National Defense 4 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Traffic accident investigation reports. 634.29... accident investigation reports. (a) Accidents requiring immediate reports. The driver or owner of any vehicle involved in an accident, as described in § 634.28, on the installation, must immediately notify...

Reliability verification of vehicle speed estimate method in forensic videos.

PubMed

Kim, Jong-Hyuk; Oh, Won-Taek; Choi, Ji-Hun; Park, Jong-Chan

2018-06-01

In various types of traffic accidents, including car-to-car crash, vehicle-pedestrian collision, and hit-and-run accident, driver overspeed is one of the critical issues of traffic accident analysis. Hence, analysis of vehicle speed at the moment of accident is necessary. The present article proposes a vehicle speed estimate method (VSEM) applying a virtual plane and a virtual reference line to a forensic video. The reliability of the VSEM was verified by comparing the results obtained by applying the VSEM to videos from a test vehicle driving with a global positioning system (GPS)-based Vbox speed. The VSEM verified by these procedures was applied to real traffic accident examples to evaluate the usability of the VSEM. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Investigation of adolescent accident predictive variables in hilly regions.

PubMed

Mohanty, Malaya; Gupta, Ankit

2016-09-01

The study aims to determine the significant personal and environmental factors in predicting the adolescent accidents in the hilly regions taking into account two cities Hamirpur and Dharamshala, which lie at an average elevation of 700--1000 metres above the mean sea level (MSL). Detailed comparisons between the results of 2 cities are also studied. The results are analyzed to provide the list of most significant factors responsible for adolescent accidents. Data were collected from different schools and colleges of the city with the help of a questionnaire survey. Around 690 responses from Hamirpur and 460 responses from Dharamshala were taken for study and analysis. Standard deviations (SD) of various factors affecting accidents were calculated and factors with relatively very low SD were discarded and other variables were considered for correlations. Correlation was developed using Kendall's-tau and chi-square tests and factors those were found significant were used for modelling. They were - the victim's age, the character of road, the speed of vehicle, and the use of helmet for Hamirpur and for Dharamshala, the kind of vehicle involved was an added variable found responsible for adolescent accidents. A logistic regression was performed to know the effect of each category present in a variable on the occurrence of accidents. Though the age and the speed of vehicle were considered to be important factors for accident occurrence according to Indian accident data records, even the use of helmet comes out as a major concern. The age group of 15-18 and 18-21 years were found to be more susceptible to accidents than the higher age groups. Due to the presence of hilly area, the character of road becomes a major concern for cause of accidents and the topography of the area makes the kind of vehicle involved as a major variable for determining the severity of accidents.

41 CFR 101-39.401 - Reporting of accidents.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 2 2011-07-01 2007-07-01 true Reporting of accidents...-INTERAGENCY FLEET MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS 39.4-Accidents and Claims § 101-39.401 Reporting of accidents. (a) The..., by telephone, or by facsimile machine of any accident in which the vehicle may be involved: (1) The...

Road accidents involving bicycles: configurations and injuries.

PubMed

Orsi, Chiara; Montomoli, Cristina; Otte, Dietmar; Morandi, Anna

2017-12-01

This study analyzed the most common types of accident involving bicycles and compared the frequency of injuries. The data source was the database of German In-Depth Accident Study (GIDAS). Cases consist of bicycles and their riders involved in accidents between 2000 and 2010. In most collisions, the bicycle impacted with a car. The percentage of injured bicyclists was higher in collisions with a heavy vehicle and decreased when the bicycle impacted with lighter vehicles. A high percentage of injured bicyclists in single accidents was observed; the most severe injury was more frequently to head and extremities. Accidents involving a car and a bicycle with the right of way in a bicycle path represented about 20% of involved and injured bicyclists. The ten most frequent configurations represented about 60% of involved and injured bicyclists. These results contribute to understand the dangerous scenarios for bicyclists and to suggest preventive actions.

Relationship between road traffic accidents and conflicts recorded by drive recorders.

PubMed

Lu, Guangquan; Cheng, Bo; Kuzumaki, Seigo; Mei, Bingsong

2011-08-01

Road traffic conflicts can be used to estimate the probability of accident occurrence, assess road safety, or evaluate road safety programs if the relationship between road traffic accidents and conflicts is known. To this end, we propose a model for the relationship between road traffic accidents and conflicts recorded by drive recorders (DRs). DRs were installed in 50 cars in Beijing to collect records of traffic conflicts. Data containing 1366 conflicts were collected in 193 days. The hourly distributions of conflicts and accidents were used to model the relationship between accidents and conflicts. To eliminate time series and base number effects, we defined and used 2 parameters: average annual number of accidents per 10,000 vehicles per hour and average number of conflicts per 10,000 vehicles per hour. A model was developed to describe the relationship between the two parameters. If A(i) = average annual number of accidents per 10,000 vehicles per hour at hour i, and E(i) = average number of conflicts per 10,000 vehicles per hour at hour i, the relationship can be expressed as [Formula in text] (α>0, β>0). The average number of traffic accidents increases as the number of conflicts rises, but the rate of increase decelerates as the number of conflicts increases further. The proposed model can describe the relationship between road traffic accidents and conflicts in a simple manner. According to our analysis, the model fits the present data.

Identification of pre-impact conditions of a cyclist involved in a vehicle-bicycle accident using an optimized MADYMO reconstruction combined with motion capture.

PubMed

Sun, Jie; Li, Zhengdong; Pan, Shaoyou; Feng, Hao; Shao, Yu; Liu, Ningguo; Huang, Ping; Zou, Donghua; Chen, Yijiu

2018-05-01

The aim of the present study was to develop an improved method, using MADYMO multi-body simulation software combined with an optimization method and three-dimensional (3D) motion capture, for identifying the pre-impact conditions of a cyclist (walking or cycling) involved in a vehicle-bicycle accident. First, a 3D motion capture system was used to analyze coupled motions of a volunteer while walking and cycling. The motion capture results were used to define the posture of the human model during walking and cycling simulations. Then, cyclist, bicycle and vehicle models were developed. Pre-impact parameters of the models were treated as unknown design variables. Finally, a multi-objective genetic algorithm, the nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II, was used to find optimal solutions. The objective functions of the walk parameter were significantly lower than cycle parameter; thus, the cyclist was more likely to have been walking with the bicycle than riding the bicycle. In the most closely matched result found, all observed contact points matched and the injury parameters correlated well with the real injuries sustained by the cyclist. Based on the real accident reconstruction, the present study indicates that MADYMO multi-body simulation software, combined with an optimization method and 3D motion capture, can be used to identify the pre-impact conditions of a cyclist involved in a vehicle-bicycle accident. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

49 CFR 382.303 - Post-accident testing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... ALCOHOL USE AND TESTING Tests Required § 382.303 Post-accident testing. (a) As soon as practicable... vehicle. (c) The following table notes when a post-accident test is required to be conducted by paragraphs... 49 Transportation 5 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Post-accident testing. 382.303 Section 382.303...

49 CFR 382.303 - Post-accident testing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... ALCOHOL USE AND TESTING Tests Required § 382.303 Post-accident testing. (a) As soon as practicable... vehicle. (c) The following table notes when a post-accident test is required to be conducted by paragraphs... 49 Transportation 5 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Post-accident testing. 382.303 Section 382.303...

49 CFR 382.303 - Post-accident testing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... ALCOHOL USE AND TESTING Tests Required § 382.303 Post-accident testing. (a) As soon as practicable... vehicle. (c) The following table notes when a post-accident test is required to be conducted by paragraphs... 49 Transportation 5 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Post-accident testing. 382.303 Section 382.303...

[Factors associated with road accidents in the city of Lubumbashi].

PubMed

Kandolo, Simon Ilunga; Matungulu, Charles Matungulu; Mukanya, Pascal Kimba; Umba, Irène Kabange; Kabamba, Julie Ndayi; Numbi, Oscar Luboya; Ilunga, Benjamin Kabyla; Kaj, Françoise Malonga; Lubaba, Célestin Banza; Ngongo, Ghislain Mashini

2014-01-01

We conducted a retrospective non-comparative cross-sectional study in Lubumbashi on factors associated with road accidents. To contribute to the reduction of morbidity and mortality related to road accidents based on a better understanding of this phenomenon in the city of Lubumbashi, to assess the frequency and the growth of road accidents in the city of Lubumbashi and to determine the factors predisposing to these accidents. This non-controlled retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study covered the period from 1st January to 31st December 2008, and included all cases of vehicles registered by the police department after an accident. A total of 1,915 road traffic were reported, mostly caused by public transport vehicles (59%) driven by young adult males (89% of cases) with a mean age of 28 years. The main cause was speeding combined with other factors (34% of cases). The majority of these accidents occurred in the city of Lubumbashi (52.9% of cases) between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. (74% of cases). Transit vehicles were exposed to a greater risk of road accidents (59%). There is an urgent need for accurate information on the rules of the road for drivers and road users to reduce the mortality and morbidity due to road accidents.

Road accidents and business cycles in Spain.

PubMed

Rodríguez-López, Jesús; Marrero, Gustavo A; González, Rosa Marina; Leal-Linares, Teresa

2016-11-01

This paper explores the causes behind the downturn in road accidents in Spain across the last decade. Possible causes are grouped into three categories: Institutional factors (a Penalty Point System, PPS, dating from 2006), technological factors (active safety and passive safety of vehicles), and macroeconomic factors (the Great recession starting in 2008, and an increase in fuel prices during the spring of 2008). The PPS has been blessed by incumbent authorities as responsible for the decline of road fatalities in Spain. Using cointegration techniques, the GDP growth rate, the fuel price, the PPS, and technological items embedded in motor vehicles appear to be statistically significantly related with accidents. Importantly, PPS is found to be significant in reducing fatal accidents. However, PPS is not significant for non-fatal accidents. In view of these results, we conclude that road accidents in Spain are very sensitive to the business cycle, and that the PPS influenced the severity (fatality) rather than the quantity of accidents in Spain. Importantly, technological items help explain a sizable fraction in accidents downturn, their effects dating back from the end of the nineties. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Vehicle-pedestrian collisions - Aspects regarding pedestrian kinematics, dynamics and biomechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrescu, L.; Petrescu, Al

2017-10-01

Vehicle-pedestrian collisions result in a substantial number of pedestrian fatalities and injuries worldwide. Concern continues to limit and reduce the tragic consequences suffered by pedestrians involved in road accidents, caused the vehicle-pedestrian accident reconstruction become an important area and distinctly outlined in the reconstruction of road incidents involving vehicle. This paper analyzes the dynamics of vehicle-pedestrian impact influence over pedestrian biomechanics, which is directly connected with the severity of injury after contact with the vehicle profile and with the place where the pedestrian is projected. The main goal of this paper is to highlight some features of reconstruction of road accidents involving pedestrian, looking at the kinematics and dynamics of pedestrian impact for a better understanding of the phenomena that occur. The study on the dynamics and biomechanics of the pedestrian hit by the vehicle is useful in order to understand how the injuries, including the lethal ones, are generated in the collision, what is essential in road accidents reconstruction.

A motor vehicle accident fatality involving the inhalation of 1,1-difluoroethane.

PubMed

Hahn, Timothy; Avella, Joseph; Lehrer, Michael

2006-10-01

A 24-year-old female driver with a history of substance abuse was pronounced dead following a single car motor vehicle accident. A surviving front seat passenger witnessed the decedent inhaling "Dust Off" cleaner just prior to losing control of the vehicle. The propellant compound used in this product is the halogenated hydrocarbon 1,1-difluoroethane (DFE). Sealed autopsy specimens were examined for the presence and subsequent quantitation of DFE utilizing an Agilent 6850 gas chromatograph (GC)-flame-ionization detector. The levels of DFE obtained were as follows: 29.8 mg/L in femoral blood, 40.3 mg/L in pulmonary arterial blood, 85.6 mg/L in aortic blood, 79.9 mg/L in chest cavity blood, 21.2 mg/L in vitreous, 11.7 mg/kg in brain, 27.9 mg/kg in liver, 71.0 mg/L in urine, and 51.8 mg/total gastric contents. The presence of DFE was confirmed in the decedent's urine by injection on an Agilent 6890/5973 GC-mass spectrometer in full scan mode. This case presents a uniquely witnessed observation of the apparent impairing effects and consequences of the acute inhalation of halogenated hydrocarbons such as DFE and the operation of a motor vehicle. The proximity of time of death to inhalant use may also provide insight to postmortem distribution patterns of DFE in relation to normal physiologic blood flow. With further investigations, estimating the time of final use of an inhalant prior to death may be deciphered from such patterns, although a degree of caution should be applied in deaths resulting from severe trauma in which normal tissue structure is compromised because postmortem redistribution may result.

Alcohol is the main factor in excess traffic accident fatalities in France.

PubMed

Reynaud, Michel; Le Breton, Patrick; Gilot, Bertrand; Vervialle, Françoise; Falissard, Bruno

2002-12-01

The aim of this study was to better evaluate the role of alcohol drinking in fatalities linked to road traffic accidents. The data of accidents were collected by a French official agency from police records, including many variables, among which was a blood alcohol test. They were analyzed in a descriptive way and toward a logistic regression. This exhaustive database comprised all of the 500,961 accidents with casualties that involved less than three vehicles (28,506 fatal accidents) recorded in France during a 52 month period (September 1995 to December 1999). The results of the alcohol tests were known in 78.7 of the drivers. The blood alcohol concentration was over the legal limit (0.50 g/L in France) in 9.8% of the accidents with casualties overall. Considering only fatal accidents, the rate of positive alcohol test in drivers was approximately 31.5%. This rate varied depending on the period and the type of accident, raising up to 71.2% in single-vehicle accidents (loss of control) at night during the weekend. The percentage of positive alcohol tests also dramatically increased following the number of fatalities per accident (87.5% in single-vehicle accidents during weekend nights involving three or more killed). The logistic regression in single-vehicle accident shows that the higher odds ratios concern the positive blood alcohol test (OR = 4.19), clearly overwhelming the other precipitating factors of accidents (age of driver, meteorological conditions, time of day, and other factors). Drinking alcohol before driving is a well known factor of accidents. We clearly demonstrate here that it is the main factor leading to deaths linked to road traffic accidents in France. The results are strengthened, and some analyses are allowed, by the exceptional features of our database. The authors emphasize the need for prevention measures.

Vehicle accidents in highway work zones.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1981-01-01

The objective of this study was to determine the magnitude and characteristics of safety problems, in terms of reported accidents, that are associated with moving vehicular traffic around and through highway work zones. This was accomplished by exami...

Bridge-Vehicle Impact Assessment

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-08-01

Bridges in New York State have been experiencing close to 200 bridge hits a year. These : accidents are attributed to numerous factors including: improperly stored equipment on trucks; : violation of vehicle posting signs; illegal commercial vehicles...

Bridge vehicle impact assessment.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-12-01

Bridges in New York State have been experiencing close to 200 bridge hits a year. These : accidents are attributed to numerous factors including: improperly stored equipment on trucks; : violation of vehicle posting signs; illegal commercial vehicles...

41 CFR 101-39.401 - Reporting of accidents.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...-INTERAGENCY FLEET MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS 39.4-Accidents and Claims § 101-39.401 Reporting of accidents. (a) The... manager of the GSA IFMS fleet management center issuing the vehicle; (2) The employee's supervisor; and (3... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Reporting of accidents...

49 CFR 178.337-10 - Accident damage protection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Accident damage protection. 178.337-10 Section 178... Specifications for Containers for Motor Vehicle Transportation § 178.337-10 Accident damage protection. (a) All... sacrificial device must be located in the piping system outboard of the stop valve and within the accident...

32 CFR 634.28 - Traffic accident investigation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Traffic accident investigation. 634.28 Section... ENFORCEMENT AND CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS MOTOR VEHICLE TRAFFIC SUPERVISION Traffic Supervision § 634.28 Traffic accident investigation. Installation law enforcement personnel must make detailed investigations of...

Factors associated with urban non-fatal road-accident severity.

PubMed

Potoglou, Dimitris; Carlucci, Fabio; Cirà, Andrea; Restaino, Marialuisa

2018-02-05

This paper reports on the factors associated with non-fatal urban-road accident severity. Data on accidents were gathered from the local traffic police in the City of Palermo, one of the six most populated cities in Italy. Findings from a mixed-effects logistic-regression model suggest that accident severity increases when two young drivers are involved, road traffic conditions are light/normal and when vehicles crash on a two-way road or carriageway. Speeding is more likely to cause slight or serious injury even when compared to a vehicle moving towards the opposite direction of traffic. An accident during the summer is more likely to result in a slight or serious injury than an accident during the winter, which is in line with evidence from Southern Europe and the Middle East. Finally, the severity of non-fatal accident injuries in an urban area of Southern Europe was significantly associated with speeding, the age of the driver and seasonality.

32 CFR 636.12 - Traffic accident investigation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Traffic accident investigation. 636.12 Section... ENFORCEMENT AND CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS MOTOR VEHICLE TRAFFIC SUPERVISION (SPECIFIC INSTALLATIONS) Fort Stewart, Georgia § 636.12 Traffic accident investigation. In addition to the requirements in § 634.28 of...

Diabetes and driving safety: science, ethics, legality and practice.

PubMed

Cox, Daniel J; Singh, Harsimran; Lorber, Daniel

2013-04-01

Diabetes affects over 25 million people in the United States, most of whom are over the age of 16 and many of whom are licensed to drive a motor vehicle. Safe operation of a motor vehicle requires complex interactions of cognitive and motor functions and medical conditions that affect these functions often will increase the risk of motor vehicle accidents (MVA). In the case of diabetes, hypoglycemia is the most common factor that has been shown to increase MVA rates. When people with diabetes are compared with nondiabetic controls, systematic analyses show that the relative risk of MVA is increased by between 12% and 19% (Relative Risk Ratio 1.12-1.19). In comparison, the RRR for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is 4.4 and for sleep apnea is 2.4. Epidemiologic research suggests that patients at risk for hypoglycemia-related MVAs may have some characteristics in common, including a history of severe hypoglycemia or of hypoglycemia-related driving mishaps. Experimental studies also have shown that people with a history of hypoglycemia-related driving mishaps have abnormal counter-regulatory responses to hypoglycemia and greater cognitive impairments during moderate hypoglycemia.

32 CFR 634.30 - Use of traffic accident investigation report data.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 32 National Defense 4 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Use of traffic accident investigation report... § 634.30 Use of traffic accident investigation report data. (a) Data derived from traffic accident investigation reports and from vehicle owner accident reports will be analyzed to determine probable causes of...

Vehicle track interaction safety standards

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-04-02

Vehicle/Track Interaction (VTI) Safety Standards aim to : reduce the risk of derailments and other accidents attributable : to the dynamic interaction between moving vehicles and the : track over which they operate. On March 13, 2013, the Federal : R...

Risk factors associated with traffic violations and accident severity in China.

PubMed

Zhang, Guangnan; Yau, Kelvin K W; Chen, Guanghan

2013-10-01

With the recent economic boom in China, vehicle volume and the number of traffic accident fatalities have become the highest in the world. Meanwhile, traffic accidents have become the leading cause of death in China. Systematically analyzing road safety data from different perspectives and applying empirical methods/implementing proper measures to reduce the fatality rate will be an urgent and challenging task for China in the coming years. In this study, we analyze the traffic accident data for the period 2006-2010 in Guangdong Province, China. These data, extracted from the Traffic Management Sector-Specific Incident Case Data Report, are the only officially available and reliable source of traffic accident data (with a sample size>7000 per year). In particular, we focus on two outcome measures: traffic violations and accident severity. Human, vehicle, road and environmental risk factors are considered. First, the results establish the role of traffic violations as one of the major risks threatening road safety. An immediate implication is: if the traffic violation rate could be reduced or controlled successfully, then the rate of serious injuries and fatalities would be reduced accordingly. Second, specific risk factors associated with traffic violations and accident severity are determined. Accordingly, to reduce traffic accident incidence and fatality rates, measures such as traffic regulations and legislation-targeting different vehicle types/driver groups with respect to the various human, vehicle and environment risk factors-are needed. Such measures could include road safety programs for targeted driver groups, focused enforcement of traffic regulations and road/transport facility improvements. Data analysis results arising from this study will shed lights on the development of similar (adjusted) measures to reduce traffic violations and/or accident fatalities and injuries, and to promote road safety in other regions. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All

Rough set approach for accident chains exploration.

PubMed

Wong, Jinn-Tsai; Chung, Yi-Shih

2007-05-01

This paper presents a novel non-parametric methodology--rough set theory--for accident occurrence exploration. The rough set theory allows researchers to analyze accidents in multiple dimensions and to model accident occurrence as factor chains. Factor chains are composed of driver characteristics, trip characteristics, driver behavior and environment factors that imply typical accident occurrence. A real-world database (2003 Taiwan single auto-vehicle accidents) is used as an example to demonstrate the proposed approach. The results show that although most accident patterns are unique, some accident patterns are significant and worth noting. Student drivers who are young and less experienced exhibit a relatively high possibility of being involved in off-road accidents on roads with a speed limit between 51 and 79 km/h under normal driving circumstances. Notably, for bump-into-facility accidents, wet surface is a distinctive environmental factor.

Insomnia and accidents: cross-sectional study (EQUINOX) on sleep-related home, work and car accidents in 5293 subjects with insomnia from 10 countries.

PubMed

Léger, Damien; Bayon, Virginie; Ohayon, Maurice M; Philip, Pierre; Ement, Philippe; Metlaine, Arnaud; Chennaoui, Mounir; Faraut, Brice

2014-04-01

The link between sleepiness and the risk of motor vehicle accidents is well known, but little is understood regarding the risk of home, work and car accidents of subjects with insomnia. An international cross-sectional survey was conducted across 10 countries in a population of subjects with sleep disturbances. Primary care physicians administered a questionnaire that included assessment of sociodemographic characteristics, sleep disturbance and accidents (motor vehicle, work and home) related to sleep problems to each subject. Insomnia was defined using the International Classification of Sleep Disorders (ICSD-10) criteria. A total of 5293 subjects were included in the study, of whom 20.9% reported having had at least one home accident within the past 12 months, 10.1% at least one work accident, 9% reported having fallen asleep while driving at least once and 4.1% reported having had at least one car accident related to their sleepiness. All types of accident were reported more commonly by subjects living in urban compared to other residential areas. Car accidents were reported more commonly by employed subjects, whereas home injuries were reported more frequently by the unemployed. Car accidents were reported more frequently by males than by females, whereas home accidents were reported more commonly by females. Patients with insomnia have high rates of home accidents, car accidents and work accidents related to sleep disturbances independently of any adverse effects of hypnotic treatments. Reduced total sleep time may be one factor explaining the high risk of accidents in individuals who complain of insomnia. © 2013 European Sleep Research Society.

19 CFR 125.35 - Report of loss, detention, or accident.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 19 Customs Duties 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Report of loss, detention, or accident. 125.35 Section 125.35 Customs Duties U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY..., detention, or accident. Any loss or detention of bonded merchandise, or any accident happening to a vehicle...

19 CFR 125.35 - Report of loss, detention, or accident.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 19 Customs Duties 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Report of loss, detention, or accident. 125.35 Section 125.35 Customs Duties U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY..., detention, or accident. Any loss or detention of bonded merchandise, or any accident happening to a vehicle...

Applying crash data to injury claims - an investigation of determinant factors in severe motor vehicle accidents.

PubMed

Shannon, Darren; Murphy, Finbarr; Mullins, Martin; Eggert, Julian

2018-04-01

An extensive number of research studies have attempted to capture the factors that influence the severity of vehicle impacts. The high number of risks facing all traffic participants has led to a gradual increase in sophisticated data collection schemes linking crash characteristics to subsequent severity measures. This study serves as a departure from previous research by relating injuries suffered in road traffic accidents to expected trauma compensation payouts and deriving a quantitative cost function. Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) Crash Injury Research (CIREN) database for the years 2005-2014 is combined with the Book of Quantum, an Irish governmental document that offers guidelines on the appropriate compensation to be awarded for injuries sustained in accidents. A multiple linear regression is carried out to identify the crash factors that significantly influence expected compensation costs and compared to ordered and multinomial logit models. The model offers encouraging results given the inherent variation expected in vehicular incidents and the subjectivity influencing compensation payout judgments, attaining an adjusted-R 2 fit of 20.6% when uninfluential factors are removed. It is found that relative speed at time of impact and dark conditions increase the expected costs, while rear-end incidents, incident sustained in van-based trucks and incidents sustained while turning result in lower expected compensations. The number of airbags available in the vehicle is also a significant factor. The scalar-outcome approach used in this research offers an alternative methodology to the discrete-outcome models that dominate traffic safety analyses. The results also raise queries on the future development of claims reserving (capital allocations earmarked for future expected claims payments) as advanced driver assistant systems (ADASs) seek to eradicate the most frequent types of crash factors upon which insurance

[Risk factors for road traffic injury in agricultural vehicle drivers].

PubMed

Cui, M J; Chen, Y; Li, Y; Hu, J; Zhang, X J

2017-08-20

Objective: To examine the risk factors for road traffic injury in agricultural vehicle drivers. Methods: A total of 103 drivers (who had suffered agricultural vehicle road traffic injury within the past year based on the road traffic injury registrar from the Traffic Management Bureau) who were involved in the annual agricultural vehicle inspection from December 2014 to January 2015 were randomly sampled from the Yixing Agricultural Vehicle Station as the case group for this study. Based on a 1∶2 assignment ratio and matched for sex, age, and education, a total of 206 drivers who had not suffered any agricultural vehicle road traffic injury within the past year were selected as the control group. The general information, vehicle information, driving information, driving behavior, and accident details of the agricultural vehicle drivers were analyzed. Results: The incidence rate of road traffic injury was 7.24% given the 103 agricultural vehicle drivers who had suffered agricultural vehicle road traffic injury in the past year. Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that drinking, debt, pressure, history of car accident, history of drunk driving, smoking and phone use during driving, fatigue driving, and driving with illness were the risk factors for road traffic injury in agricultural vehicle drivers ( OR =2.332, 2.429, 19.778, 5.589, 8.517, 2.125, 3.203, 10.249 and 5.639, respectively) . Multivariate logistic regression analysis also demonstrated that pressure, history of car accident, history of drunk driving, fatigue driving, and driving with illness were the risk factors for road traffic injury in agricultural vehicle drivers ( OR =12.139, 11.184, 6.729, 5.939, and 6.544, respectively) . Conclusion: Pressure, history of car accident, history of drunk driving, fatigue driving, and driving with illness are the major risk factors for road traffic injury in agricultural vehicle drivers.

Pedestrian accidents : a state-of-the-art 1970-1980

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1981-09-01

In 1979 in the United States, 8,090 pedestrians were killed in motor vehicle accidents out of a total of 51,093 total traffic fatalities. An estimated total of 150,000 police reported pedestrian accidents of all severities occurred during the same ye...

Characterization of accident capacity reduction

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-01-01

Incidents are a major cause of urban highway congestion. Incidents include any event that temporarily reduces roadway capacity, such as accidents, debris, disabled vehicles, and hazardous material spills. Incident capacity reduction will be used in t...

32 CFR 634.29 - Traffic accident investigation reports.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... resulted in a fatality, personal injury, or estimated damage to Government vehicles or property in excess... accident involves no personal injury. (iii) The accident involves only minor damage to the POV and the... originally categorized a hit and run and the violator is the person submitting the report. Rights advisement...

Traffic Analysis and Road Accidents: A Case Study of Hyderabad using GIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhagyaiah, M.; Shrinagesh, B.

2014-06-01

Globalization has impacted many developing countries across the world. India is one such country, which benefited the most. Increased, economic activity raised the consumption levels of the people across the country. This created scope for increase in travel and transportation. The increase in the vehicles since last 10 years has put lot of pressure on the existing roads and ultimately resulting in road accidents. It is estimated that since 2001 there is an increase of 202 percent of two wheeler and 286 percent of four wheeler vehicles with no road expansion. Motor vehicle crashes are a common cause of death, disability and demand for emergency medical care. Globally, more than 1 million people die each year from traffic crashes and about 20-50 million are injured or permanently disabled. There has been increasing trend in road accidents in Hyderabad over a few years. GIS helps in locating the accident hotspots and also in analyzing the trend of road accidents in Hyderabad.

Relationship between accident severity and full-scale crash test. Volume II, Appendices

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1984-08-01

Available accident files are used to generate a 4l2-accident data base of guardrail impacts. This base is analyzed to develop a statistical model for predicting accident severity index (ASI) as a function of vehicle type or weight, impact speed, and ...

[Trends in traffic accident mortality in Spain, 1962-1994].

PubMed

Redondo Calderón, J; Luna Del Castillo, J D; Jiménez Moleón, J J; Lardelli Claret, P; Gálvez Vargas, R

2000-01-01

To assess the evolution of the traffic accident mortality rate in Spain from 1962 to 1994, and the role played by its four theoretical components: motorization index (vehicles/population), accidentability index (accidents/vehicles), harmfulness index (victims/accidents) and fatality index (deaths/victims). Data from the National Population Census and the Bulletin of the Dirección General de Tráfico were collected to estimate the above mentioned indicators for all accidents and accidents in road and urban zones. Simple and multiple partial correlation coefficients among variables were calculated. Poisson regression models were also obtained. An increasing trend during the whole period was observed for the national traffic accident mortality rate, especially from 1982 to 1989 in the younger age groups, followed by a decrease since 1990. The aforementioned four components were significatively associated with the mortality rate. The strength of this association was especially high for the motorization index and for the harmfulness index when all accidents and road accidents were considered. For urban accidents, the fatality index rate is the component most strongly associated with mortality rate. The role played by the accidentability index in the magnitude of the mortality rate seems less important. The growing exposure rate to traffic accidents observed in Spain (measured by the motorization index) is not directly influenced by public heath strategies. Therefore, it seems advisable to emphasize the development of measures focused to control the other three components of traffic accident mortality rate, especially those related with harmfulness and fatality.

[Computer simulation by passenger wound analysis of vehicle collision].

PubMed

Zou, Dong-Hua; Liu, Nning-Guo; Shen, Jie; Zhang, Xiao-Yun; Jin, Xian-Long; Chen, Yi-Jiu

2006-08-15

To reconstruct the course of vehicle collision, so that to provide the reference for forensic identification and disposal of traffic accidents. Through analyzing evidences left both on passengers and vehicles, technique of momentum impulse combined with multi-dynamics was applied to simulate the motion and injury of passengers as well as the track of vehicles. Model of computer stimulation perfectly reconstructed phases of the traffic collision, which coincide with details found by forensic investigation. Computer stimulation is helpful and feasible for forensic identification in traffic accidents.

Visualization of Traffic Accidents

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, Jie; Shen, Yuzhong; Khattak, Asad

2010-01-01

Traffic accidents have tremendous impact on society. Annually approximately 6.4 million vehicle accidents are reported by police in the US and nearly half of them result in catastrophic injuries. Visualizations of traffic accidents using geographic information systems (GIS) greatly facilitate handling and analysis of traffic accidents in many aspects. Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), Inc. is the world leader in GIS research and development. ArcGIS, a software package developed by ESRI, has the capabilities to display events associated with a road network, such as accident locations, and pavement quality. But when event locations related to a road network are processed, the existing algorithm used by ArcGIS does not utilize all the information related to the routes of the road network and produces erroneous visualization results of event locations. This software bug causes serious problems for applications in which accurate location information is critical for emergency responses, such as traffic accidents. This paper aims to address this problem and proposes an improved method that utilizes all relevant information of traffic accidents, namely, route number, direction, and mile post, and extracts correct event locations for accurate traffic accident visualization and analysis. The proposed method generates a new shape file for traffic accidents and displays them on top of the existing road network in ArcGIS. Visualization of traffic accidents along Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel is included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Automated and connected vehicle implications and analysis.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-05-01

Automated and connected vehicles (ACV) and, in particular, autonomous vehicles have captured : the interest of the public, industry and transportation authorities. ACVs can significantly reduce : accidents, fuel consumption, pollution and the costs o...

Frequency of work zone accidents on construction projects : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2005-08-01

The overall objective of this research was to study work zone accidents in New York State, with particular attention to the : occurrence and mitigation of rear-end vehicle accidents. The specific objectives were to: : - Recommend changes to the NYSDO...

Physics in Accident Investigations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brake, Mary L.

1981-01-01

Describes physics formulas which can be used by law enforcement officials to determine the possible velocity of vehicles involved in traffic accidents. These include, among others, the slide to stop-level road, slide to stop-sloping roadway, and slide to stop-two different surfaces formulas. (JN)

Incidents between Straight-ahead Cyclists and Right-turning Motor Vehicles at Signalised Junctions.

PubMed

Buch, Thomas Skallebæk; Jensen, Søren Underlien

2017-08-01

Accidents between right-turning motor vehicles and straight-ahead cyclists are one of the most common accident types leading to cyclist injuries at signalised junctions in Denmark. A before-after safety evaluation of applying staggered stop lines in 189 arms at 123 signalised junctions is presented. The evaluation accounts for long-term accident trends and changes in motor vehicle traffic volumes. Applying staggered stop lines gives no decline in accidents between right-turning motor vehicles and straight-ahead cyclists. However, there is a statistical tendency to a decline of these right-turn accidents involving heavy vehicles. There are several questions about factors leading to right-turn accidents that cannot be answered by recorded accident data. A study of conflicting behaviour focuses on factors leading to conflicts. Video observations have been carried out in 10 arms at signalised junctions. A total of 45 situations with conflicting behaviour between right-turning motor vehicles and straight-ahead cyclists have been investigated and compared to a reference group of simultaneous arrivals. The relative risk is lowest when both parties stop on red before entering the junction. Upon simultaneous arrival of both parties at a green light, the relative risk is highest. Cyclists tend to have a higher relative risk of being involved in conflicts if they; a) ride through on yellow, b) have a time distance of at least 2seconds to other cyclists, c) wear a black jacket, and/or d) arrive at the junction at a speed of at least 25km/h. Much less can be said about the motor vehicles or their drivers on the basis of these video observations, but motor vehicles stopping in the cycle crossing in order to yield to pedestrians or cyclists have a higher relative risk of being involved in conflicts. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analysis on tank truck accidents involved in road hazardous materials transportation in china.

PubMed

Shen, Xiaoyan; Yan, Ying; Li, Xiaonan; Xie, Chenjiang; Wang, Lihua

2014-01-01

Due to the sheer size and capacity of the tanker and the properties of cargo transported in the tank, hazmat tanker accidents are more disastrous than other types of vehicle accidents. The aim of this study was to provide a current survey on the situation of accidents involving tankers transporting hazardous materials in China. Detailed descriptions of 708 tanker accidents associated with hazmat transportation in China from 2004 to 2011 were analyzed to identify causes, location, types, time of occurrence, hazard class for materials involved, consequences, and the corresponding probability. Hazmat tanker accidents mainly occurred in eastern (38.1%) and southwest China (12.3%). The most frequent hazmat tanker accidents involved classes 2, 3, and 8. The predominant accident types were rollover (29.10%), run-off-the-road (16.67%), and rear-end collisions (13.28%), with a high likelihood of a large spill occurring. About 55.93% of the accidents occurred on freeways and class 1 roads, with the spill percentage reaching 75.00% and the proportion of spills that occurred in the total accidents amounting to 77.82%, of which 61.72% are considered large spills. The month with the highest accident probability was July (12.29%), and most crashes occurred during the early morning (4:00-6:00 a.m.) and midday (10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.) hours, 19.63% versus 16.10%. Human-related errors (73.8%) and vehicle-related defects (19.6%) were the primary reasons for hazmat tanker crashes. The most common outcomes of a hazmat tanker accident was a spill without further events (55.51%), followed by a release with fire (7.77%), and release with an explosion (2.54%). The safety situation of China's hazmat tanker transportation is grim. Such accidents not only have high spill percentages and consistently large spills but they can also cause serious consequences, such as fires and explosions. Improving the training of drivers and the quality of vehicles, deploying roll stability aids, enhancing

Prevention of bicycle accidents.

PubMed

Simpson, A H; Mineiro, J

1992-01-01

To elucidate the way of reducing the number of bicycle accidents. A prospective study of all casualties from bicycle accidents attending an accident unit for a 29-month period was performed (1831 patients). A more detailed questionnaire on the causes of accidents was used for the last 12 months of the study (818 patients). In the 0-7 and 8-12 years age groups, 87.5 per cent and 66.2 per cent, respectively, were due to cyclist error. The 8-12-year-old cyclists were twice as likely to have caused the accident if they had not had formal training (risk ratio = 2.0). Over the age of 18 years, 41.4 per cent were due to another road user. A motor vehicle was involved in 633 of the 1831 accidents. Children under the age of 8 years should not be allowed on public roads. Older children should only be allowed on the roads after formal training. This should become part of the school curriculum. A campaign to increase the awareness of motorists would be expected to reduce the number of cycle accidents. It would be beneficial to dedicate more roads and tracks to cycle use. Cyclists should be encouraged to wear more protective gear.

Effects of early nightmares on the development of sleep disturbances in motor vehicle accident victims.

PubMed

Kobayashi, Ihori; Sledjeski, Eve M; Spoonster, Eileen; Fallon, William F; Delahanty, Douglas L

2008-12-01

The present study prospectively examined the extent to which trauma-related nightmares affected the subsequent development of insomnia symptoms in 314 motor vehicle accident (MVA) victims. Participants were assessed in-hospital and at 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 1 year post-MVA. Hierarchical linear regression analyses showed that 6-week PTSD symptoms (PTSS) and 3-month nightmares, but not 2-week nightmares were positively associated with sleep onset and maintenance problems reported at 3-month post-MVA. Nightmares reported at 3-months post-MVA were positively associated with 1-year sleep maintenance problems. These findings highlight the dynamic relationship between PTSS and sleep problems as well as the potential importance of early intervention for trauma-related nightmares as a means to prevent sleep problems after a traumatic experience.

Increased traffic accident rates associated with shale gas drilling in Pennsylvania.

PubMed

Graham, Jove; Irving, Jennifer; Tang, Xiaoqin; Sellers, Stephen; Crisp, Joshua; Horwitz, Daniel; Muehlenbachs, Lucija; Krupnick, Alan; Carey, David

2015-01-01

We examined the association between shale gas drilling and motor vehicle accident rates in Pennsylvania. Using publicly available data on all reported vehicle crashes in Pennsylvania, we compared accident rates in counties with and without shale gas drilling, in periods with and without intermittent drilling (using data from 2005 to 2012). Counties with drilling were matched to non-drilling counties with similar population and traffic in the pre-drilling period. Heavily drilled counties in the north experienced 15-23% higher vehicle crash rates in 2010-2012 and 61-65% higher heavy truck crash rates in 2011-2012 than control counties. We estimated 5-23% increases in crash rates when comparing months with drilling and months without, but did not find significant effects on fatalities and major injury crashes. Heavily drilled counties in the southwest showed 45-47% higher rates of fatal and major injury crashes in 2012 than control counties, but monthly comparisons of drilling activity showed no significant differences associated with drilling. Vehicle accidents have measurably increased in conjunction with shale gas drilling. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

A Study of Lane Detection Algorithm for Personal Vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kobayashi, Kazuyuki; Watanabe, Kajiro; Ohkubo, Tomoyuki; Kurihara, Yosuke

By the word “Personal vehicle”, we mean a simple and lightweight vehicle expected to emerge as personal ground transportation devices. The motorcycle, electric wheelchair, motor-powered bicycle, etc. are examples of the personal vehicle and have been developed as the useful for transportation for a personal use. Recently, a new types of intelligent personal vehicle called the Segway has been developed which is controlled and stabilized by using on-board intelligent multiple sensors. The demand for needs for such personal vehicles are increasing, 1) to enhance human mobility, 2) to support mobility for elderly person, 3) reduction of environmental burdens. Since rapidly growing personal vehicles' market, a number of accidents caused by human error is also increasing. The accidents are caused by it's drive ability. To enhance or support drive ability as well as to prevent accidents, intelligent assistance is necessary. One of most important elemental functions for personal vehicle is robust lane detection. In this paper, we develop a robust lane detection method for personal vehicle at outdoor environments. The proposed lane detection method employing a 360 degree omni directional camera and unique robust image processing algorithm. In order to detect lanes, combination of template matching technique and Hough transform are employed. The validity of proposed lane detection algorithm is confirmed by actual developed vehicle at various type of sunshined outdoor conditions.

The effect of road and environmental characteristics on pedestrian hit-and-run accidents in Ghana.

PubMed

Aidoo, Eric Nimako; Amoh-Gyimah, Richard; Ackaah, Williams

2013-04-01

The number of pedestrians who have died as a result of being hit by vehicles has increased in recent years, in addition to vehicle passenger deaths. Many pedestrians who were involved in road traffic accident died as a result of the driver leaving the pedestrian who was struck unattended at the scene of the accident. This paper seeks to determine the effect of road and environmental characteristics on pedestrian hit-and-run accidents in Ghana. Using pedestrian accident data extracted from the National Road Traffic Accident Database at the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Ghana, a binary logit model was employed in the analysis. The results from the estimated model indicate that fatal accidents, unclear weather, nighttime conditions, and straight and flat road sections without medians and junctions significantly increase the likelihood that the vehicle driver will leave the scene after hitting a pedestrian. Thus, integrating median separation and speed humps into road design and construction and installing street lights will help to curb the problem of pedestrian hit-and-run accidents in Ghana. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The effect of concentric constriction of the visual field to 10 and 15 degrees on simulated motor vehicle accidents

PubMed Central

Udagawa, Sachiko; Iwase, Aiko; Susuki, Yuto; Kunimatsu-Sanuki, Shiho; Fukuchi, Takeo; Matsumoto, Chota; Ohno, Yuko; Ono, Hiroshi; Sugiyama, Kazuhisa; Araie, Makoto

2018-01-01

Purpose Traffic accidents are associated with the visual function of drivers, as well as many other factors. Driving simulator systems have the advantage of controlling for traffic- and automobile-related conditions, and using pinhole glasses can control the degree of concentric concentration of the visual field. We evaluated the effect of concentric constriction of the visual field on automobile driving, using driving simulator tests. Methods Subjects meeting criteria for normal eyesight were included in the study. Pinhole glasses with variable aperture sizes were adjusted to mimic the conditions of concentric visual field constrictions of 10° and 15°, using a CLOCK CHART®. The test contained 8 scenarios (2 oncoming right-turning cars and 6 jump-out events from the side). Results Eighty-eight subjects were included in the study; 37 (mean age = 52.9±15.8 years) subjects were assigned to the 15° group, and 51 (mean = 48.6±15.5 years) were assigned to the 10° group. For all 8 scenarios, the number of accidents was significantly higher among pinhole wearing subjects. The average number of all types of accidents per person was significantly higher in the pinhole 10° group (4.59±1.81) than the pinhole 15° group (3.68±1.49) (P = 0.032). The number of accidents associated with jump-out scenarios, in which a vehicle approaches from the side on a straight road with a good view, was significantly higher in the pinhole 10° group than in the pinhole 15° group. Conclusions Concentric constriction of the visual field was associated with increased number of traffic accidents. The simulation findings indicated that a visual field of 10° to 15° may be important for avoiding collisions in places where there is a straight road with a good view. PMID:29538425

[Human risk factors and injuries due to road accidents: analysis of current data].

PubMed

Marchetti, Pierpaolo; Morandi, Anna; Lombardo, Carlo; Gigli Berzolari, Francesca; Bruno, Vincenzo; Marinoni, Alessandra

2009-01-01

several studies have shown that most road accidents are due to human factors, and that these are strongly linked to a drive's age and sex. The aim of this study is to test the role that some human factors play in road accidents by analysing current road accident data in the Province of Pavia, in Northern Italy. road accidents that occurred in 2004 were analysed by integrating the paper database of the vehicle licensing office, properly computerised, with the 911 database of the Province of Pavia. This study has been carried out by analysing 1.347 road accidents and the associated 2.908 drivers of motorised vehicles. Northern Italy, the Province of Pavia. the death rate of drivers of 2-wheeled vehicles is almost nine times higher than that of 4-wheeled vehicles. Analysis shows that females are twice as exposed to road accidents than males; it also shows the benefits of extensive road education training and of being aged 30-64 and older. Drivers who have already been punished and have had their driving license scores reduced are likely to respond rapidly when in a dangerous situation and also to be without blame after an accident. Motorcycle riders are 25 times more likely to suffer serious injury than drivers of cars. Additionally, the risk of a woman being seriously injured is higher than for a man. females, young drivers and motorcycle riders who have not previously been penalised for a previous traffic violation have a higher risk of being seriously injured; females and motorcycle riders are also at greater risk of being seriously injured. We hope that this analysis will be used to improve preventative interventions for road accidents.r.

[The characteristics of computer simulation of traffic accidents].

PubMed

Zou, Dong-Hua; Liu, Ning-Guo; Chen, Jian-Guo; Jin, Xian-Long; Zhang, Xiao-Yun; Zhang, Jian-Hua; Chen, Yi-Jiu

2008-12-01

To reconstruct the collision process of traffic accident and the injury mode of the victim by computer simulation technology in forensic assessment of traffic accident. Forty actual accidents were reconstructed by stimulation software and high performance computer based on analysis of the trace evidences at the scene, damage of the vehicles and injury of the victims, with 2 cases discussed in details. The reconstruction correlated very well in 28 cases, well in 9 cases, and suboptimal in 3 cases with the above parameters. Accurate reconstruction of the accident would be helpful for assessment of the injury mechanism of the victims. Reconstruction of the collision process of traffic accident and the injury mechanism of the victim by computer simulation is useful in traffic accident assessment.

Modeling Post-Accident Vehicle Egress

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-01

interest for military situations may involve rolled-over vehicles for which detailed movement data are not available. In the current design process...test trials. These evaluations are expensive and time-consuming, and are often performed late in the design process when it is too difficult to...alter the design if weaknesses are discovered. Yet, due to the limitations of current software tools, digital human models (DHMs) are not yet widely

Exploring the factors affecting motorway accident severity in England using the generalised ordered logistic regression model.

PubMed

Michalaki, Paraskevi; Quddus, Mohammed A; Pitfield, David; Huetson, Andrew

2015-12-01

The severity of motorway accidents that occurred on the hard shoulder (HS) is higher than for the main carriageway (MC). This paper compares and contrasts the most important factors affecting the severity of HS and MC accidents on motorways in England. Using police reported accident data, the accidents that occurred on motorways in England are grouped into two categories (i.e., HS and MC) according to the location. A generalized ordered logistic regression model is then applied to identify the factors affecting the severity of HS and MC accidents on motorways. The factors examined include accident and vehicle characteristics, traffic and environment conditions, as well as other behavioral factors. Results suggest that the factors positively affecting the severity include: number of vehicles involved in the accident, peak-hour traffic time, and low visibility. Differences between HS and MC accidents are identified, with the most important being the involvement of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and driver fatigue, which are found to be more crucial in increasing the severity of HS accidents. Measures to increase awareness of HGV drivers regarding the risk of fatigue when driving on motorways, and especially the nearside lane, should be taken by the stakeholders. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Accident Avoidance Skill Training and Performance Testing. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hatterick, G. Richard; Barthurst, James R.

A two-phased study was conducted to determine the feasibility of training drivers to acquire skills needed to avoid critical conflict motor vehicle accidents, and to develop the procedures and materials necessary for such training. Basic data were derived from indepth accident investigations and task analyses of driver behavior. Principal…

The Physics of Traffic Accidents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knight, Peter

1975-01-01

Shows how physics can be used to analyze and prevent traffic accidents by determining critical speeds on curves, the behavior of motor cycles and stability of articulated vehicles, and the visibility that is needed to make a minor road junction safe. (MLH)

[Mechanism of pelvic girdle injuries in street traffic. Medical-technical accident analysis].

PubMed

Pohlemann, T; Richter, M; Otte, D; Gänsslen, A; Bartram, H; Tscherne, H

2000-04-01

During 1985 and 1993, 7,410 persons were injured in traffic accidents in the area of Hanover. Of these, 306 (4.1%) sustained a pelvic girdle injury. In 139 cases (45%), the pelvic girdle injuries were further classified (Pennal and Tile) and a technical reconstruction of the accident situation was performed. 52% were type A, 27% type B and 21% type C injuries. Some 47% of the casualties were vehicle occupants, 31% pedestrians, 12% motorcyclists and 10% cyclists. In restrained vehicle occupants pelvic girdle injuries occurred mostly in accidents with a delta-v of more than 30 km/h, whereas in unrestrained vehicle occupants, pedestrians and cyclists they also occurred with lower delta-v or collision speed. The percentage of type B and C injuries increased with higher velocities. In addition to further improvements in passive safety, lower collision speed or delta-v is necessary to reduce or prevent pelvic girdle injuries. The reconstruction of pelvic girdle injury mechanism in traffic accidents is possible, when both technical and medical parameters are considered.

Studded and unstudded winter tires in fatal road accidents in Finland.

PubMed

Malmivuo, Mikko; Luoma, Juha; Porthin, Markus

2017-07-04

The aim of the study was to compare the safety effects of studded and unstudded winter tires based on fatal road accidents. The data included 958 road accidents involving a passenger car or van that occurred in Finland from November to March between 1997 and 2012. 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. 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.

Context-aware system for pre-triggering irreversible vehicle safety actuators.

PubMed

Böhmländer, Dennis; Dirndorfer, Tobias; Al-Bayatti, Ali H; Brandmeier, Thomas

2017-06-01

New vehicle safety systems have led to a steady improvement of road safety and a reduction in the risk of suffering a major injury in vehicle accidents. A huge leap forward in the development of new vehicle safety systems are actuators that have to be activated irreversibly shortly before a collision in order to mitigate accident consequences. The triggering decision has to be based on measurements of exteroceptive sensors currently used in driver assistance systems. This paper focuses on developing a novel context-aware system designed to detect potential collisions and to trigger safety actuators even before an accident occurs. In this context, the analysis examines the information that can be collected from exteroceptive sensors (pre-crash data) to predict a certain collision and its severity to decide whether a triggering is entitled or not. A five-layer context-aware architecture is presented, that is able to collect contextual information about the vehicle environment and the actual driving state using different sensors, to perform reasoning about potential collisions, and to trigger safety functions upon that information. Accident analysis is used in a data model to represent uncertain knowledge and to perform reasoning. A simulation concept based on real accident data is introduced to evaluate the presented system concept. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

49 CFR 234.7 - Accidents involving grade crossing signal failure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 49 Transportation 4 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Accidents involving grade crossing signal failure..., STATE ACTION PLANS, AND EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION SYSTEMS Reports and Plans § 234.7 Accidents involving... railroad equipment and an automobile, bus, truck, motorcycle, bicycle, farm vehicle, or pedestrian at a...

49 CFR 234.7 - Accidents involving grade crossing signal failure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 49 Transportation 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Accidents involving grade crossing signal failure..., STATE ACTION PLANS, AND EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION SYSTEMS Reports and Plans § 234.7 Accidents involving... railroad equipment and an automobile, bus, truck, motorcycle, bicycle, farm vehicle, or pedestrian at a...

49 CFR 234.7 - Accidents involving grade crossing signal failure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 49 Transportation 4 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Accidents involving grade crossing signal failure..., STATE ACTION PLANS, AND EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION SYSTEMS Reports and Plans § 234.7 Accidents involving... railroad equipment and an automobile, bus, truck, motorcycle, bicycle, farm vehicle, or pedestrian at a...

[Traffic accidents: a health problem in primary care].

PubMed

Blanquer, J J; Rapa, M; Melchor, A; Jiménez, T; Adam, A; Mulet, M J

1993-09-15

To discover the prevalence and most relevant epidemiological characteristics of the victims of traffic accidents which occur in our health area. Hospital Casualty department (HC), Health area 19, Alcoy. This was an observational, crossover study, based on the collection of data from all those patients who had been brought into the HC for attention because of a traffic accident and who were attended between October 1, 1990 and September 31, 1991. During the study period a total of 1,111 traffic accident victims were attended. Their average age was 26.62 (SD +/- 15.95), with 69.6% being men and 30.2% women. 60.7% of the victims were attended on non-working days or the eve of a non-working day. 44.5% of those involved in accidents were in four-wheeled vehicles; 40% on two-wheeled vehicles and 11.1% of the victims were pedestrians. Injuries were light in 73.3% of cases; moderate in 15.9% and in the other 8.8% serious, grave or critical. 43.7% of the total had the accident in an urban area and 40.9% on the open road. The high prevalence of victims of accidents (8.3 per 1000 inhabitants) observed in our health area can be explained by the type of study. It is vital to obtain valid information of the real importance of this health problem. The primary care doctor must take preventive action concerning traffic accidents: a) through full studies of traffic accident levels among primary care centre users; b) primary preventive action, through the spreading of information on norms of safety; and c) secondary and tertiary prevention, by means of effective and efficacious outpatient emergency measures, as well as a thorough rehabilitation of accident victims.

The 100-car naturalistic driving study : a descriptive analysis of light vehicle-heavy vehicle interactions from the light vehicle driver's perspective

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2006-03-01

There have been several studies that have investigated interactions between light and heavy vehicles. These have primarily consisted of crash database analyses where Police Accident Reports have been studied. These approaches are generally reliable, ...

Vehicle accidents at maintenance and utility work zones.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1978-01-01

The objective of this study was to determine the magnitude and characteristics of safety problems, in terms of reported accidents, that are associated with moving vehicular traffic around and through highway maintenance and utility work zones. This w...

Advanced Vehicle Control Systems Potential Tort Liability For Developers

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1993-12-01

AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENTS AVOIDED BECAUSE THE AUTOMATIC COLLISION AVOIDANCE SYSTEM APPLIES THE BRAKES, HIGHWAYS WHICH ACCOMMODATE MORE VEHICLES WITH FEWER ACCIDENTS, AND EVEN CARS WHICH ARE PILOTED ENTIRELY BY SOPHISTICATED ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS -- ALL OF TH...

EMDR therapy for PTSD after motor vehicle accidents: meta-analytic evidence for specific treatment

PubMed Central

Boccia, Maddalena; Piccardi, Laura; Cordellieri, Pierluigi; Guariglia, Cecilia; Giannini, Anna Maria

2015-01-01

Motor vehicle accident (MVA) victims may suffer both acute and post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD). With PTSD affecting social, interpersonal and occupational functioning, clinicians as well as the National Institute of Health are very interested in identifying the most effective psychological treatment to reduce PTSD. From research findings, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is considered as one of the effective treatment of PTSD. In this paper, we present the results of a meta-analysis of fMRI studies on PTSD after MVA through activation likelihood estimation. We found that PTSD following MVA is characterized by neural modifications in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a cerebral structure involved in fear-conditioning mechanisms. Basing on previous findings in both humans and animals, which demonstrate that desensitization techniques and extinction protocols act on the limbic system, the effectiveness of EMDR and of cognitive behavioral therapies (CBT) may be related to the fact that during these therapies the ACC is stimulated by desensitization. PMID:25954183

Relationship between accident severity and full-scale crash test. Volume I, Technical research effort

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1984-08-01

Available accident files are used to generate a 4l2-accident data base of guardrail impacts. This base is analyzed to develop a statistical model for predicting accident severity index (ASI) as a function of vehicle type or weight, impact speed, and ...

Assessment of driver inexperience with an automobile as a factor which contributes to highway accidents

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1984-12-01

This study addresses the statistical relationship between driver familiarity with : vehicles and accident frequency. In 1981, 8.9 percent of all drivers in NASS-reported : automobile accidents had less than 150 miles driving experience with the accid...

[Effect of post-traumatic disorders of the victims and causes of traffic accidents in the early stages of treatment].

PubMed

Scigała, Dawid Konrad; Ziołek, Jakub; Kwiatkowski, Krzysztof

2013-12-01

Poland is a country in which every year there is a lot of motor vehicle accidents, number of victims is one of the highest in European union. Helping patients after motor vehicle accidents should base on cooperation of doctors and psychologists because holistic approach to patient enables rapid and effective rehabilitation. To show connection between physical damage cause in motor vehicle accident with mental trauma, which increase on process of full recovery. There were 31 victims who were involved in motor vehicle accidents not more than one month ago. In the second group there were people who was never involved in motor vehicle accident. The procedure consisted on filling demographic questionnaire, state traite anxety inventory and aqute stress disorder questionnare. In the second part of the research was to accomplish the emotional Stroop task, which based on selecting the name of the color of a word, which was on the screen. There were two types of the words: negative related to motor vehicle accident and neutral. Participants from the research group had higher level of anxiety than participants from control group and they had significantly longer reaction time in particular on words associated to accident, which could be the signal of problems with cognitive processes because of the anxiety. Furthermore participants with head injuries and upper limbs (whitout dominant limb) have had longer reaction times in Stroop test than participants with leg injuries, it indicating on higher level of anxiety and feeling of insecurity. It should be noted that looking on a character an range of a injuries, role that participant attend in accident (victims have more emotional disturbance), because it could determinate rate of recovery and the way communication with the patient.

Latent Tricuspid Valve Rupture after Motor Vehicle Accident and Routine Echocardiography in All Chest-Wall Traumas

PubMed Central

Khurana, Suchi; Puri, Rishi; Wong, Dennis; Dundon, Benjamin K.; Brown, Michael A.; Worthley, Matthew I.; Worthley, Stephen G.

2009-01-01

Blunt chest-wall trauma is common; however, resultant tricuspid valve rupture is rare and can be subtle in its presentation. Transthoracic echocardiography plays a key role in diagnosis. Herein, we report the case of a 42-year-old woman who sustained substantial chest-wall trauma in a high-speed motor vehicle accident. She presented a week later with symptoms of right-heart failure, secondary to flail tricuspid valve leaflets and torrential tricuspid regurgitation. The case of this patient highlights the importance of early diagnosis and elicits discussion of the mechanisms that can underlie delayed tricuspid valve rupture. Because the clinical diagnosis of tricuspid valve rupture can be difficult, we believe that echocardiography should be used early and, if necessary, repeatedly in all patients who sustain blunt chest-wall trauma. PMID:20069094

[Forensic Analysis of 498 Road Traffic Accident Deaths in Haikou City].

PubMed

Bai, R; Chen, M

2017-12-01

To analyse the characteristics of road traffic accident deaths in Haikou city, and to provide reference for the identification of causes of death and the preventive measures. Totally 498 road traffic accident deaths accepted by the Traffic Police Branch of Haikou City Public Security Bureau in 2014-2016 were collected, and the related parameters such as sex, age, time of the accidents, travel mode of the victims, the types of vehicle and the cause of death were analysed. Most victims aged 21-40 years old with the sex ratio of 3:1, and the accidents mainly happened in March, April, May and October and peaked at 6：01-8：00 and 20：01-22：00 per day. Riding motorbike and electric bicycle, as travel modes, had the highest accident incidence （30.9%）. The vast majority of involved vehicles were motorbike and electric bicycle （57.4%）. The most common cause of death was craniocerebral injury, followed by chest and abdominal injury. The autopsy of road traffic accident deaths plays an important role in identification of death manner and responsibility confirmation. Copyright© by the Editorial Department of Journal of Forensic Medicine

Do alcohol excise taxes affect traffic accidents? Evidence from Estonia.

PubMed

Saar, Indrek

2015-01-01

This article examines the association between alcohol excise tax rates and alcohol-related traffic accidents in Estonia. Monthly time series of traffic accidents involving drunken motor vehicle drivers from 1998 through 2013 were regressed on real average alcohol excise tax rates while controlling for changes in economic conditions and the traffic environment. Specifically, regression models with autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) errors were estimated in order to deal with serial correlation in residuals. Counterfactual models were also estimated in order to check the robustness of the results, using the level of non-alcohol-related traffic accidents as a dependent variable. A statistically significant (P <.01) strong negative relationship between the real average alcohol excise tax rate and alcohol-related traffic accidents was disclosed under alternative model specifications. For instance, the regression model with ARIMA (0, 1, 1)(0, 1, 1) errors revealed that a 1-unit increase in the tax rate is associated with a 1.6% decrease in the level of accidents per 100,000 population involving drunk motor vehicle drivers. No similar association was found in the cases of counterfactual models for non-alcohol-related traffic accidents. This article indicates that the level of alcohol-related traffic accidents in Estonia has been affected by changes in real average alcohol excise taxes during the period 1998-2013. Therefore, in addition to other measures, the use of alcohol taxation is warranted as a policy instrument in tackling alcohol-related traffic accidents.

Vehicle familiarity and safety

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1983-07-01

A literature review and accident data analyses were conducted to examine the : relationship between vehicle familiarity and safety. The infonmation from these : diverse sources was consistent in suggesting that drivers of passenger cars and . : motor...

Trucks involved in fatal accidents codebook 1999 (version September 19, 2001)

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-09-01

This report provides one-way frequencies for all the vehicles in UMTRI's file of Trucks Involved in Fatal Accidents (TIFA), 1999. The 1999 TIFA file is a census of all medium and heavy trucks involved in a fatal accident in the United States. The TIF...

An evidence based method to calculate pedestrian crossing speeds in vehicle collisions (PCSC).

PubMed

Bastien, C; Wellings, R; Burnett, B

2018-06-07

Pedestrian accident reconstruction is necessary to establish cause of death, i.e. establishing vehicle collision speed as well as circumstances leading to the pedestrian being impacted and determining culpability of those involved for subsequent court enquiry. Understanding the complexity of the pedestrian attitude during an accident investigation is necessary to ascertain the causes leading to the tragedy. A generic new method, named Pedestrian Crossing Speed Calculator (PCSC), based on vector algebra, is proposed to compute the pedestrian crossing speed at the moment of impact. PCSC uses vehicle damage and pedestrian anthropometric dimensions to establish a combination of head projection angles against the windscreen; this angle is then compared against the combined velocities angle created from the vehicle and the pedestrian crossing speed at the time of impact. This method has been verified using one accident fatality case in which the exact vehicle and pedestrian crossing speeds were known from Police forensic video analysis. PCSC was then applied on two other accident scenarios and correctly corroborated with the witness statements regarding the pedestrians crossing behaviours. The implications of PCSC could be significant once fully validated against further future accident data, as this method is reversible, allowing the computation of vehicle impact velocity from pedestrian crossing speed as well as verifying witness accounts. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Psychoreactive disorders after motor vehicle accidents. Is it possible to predict the development of psychoreactive disorders after motor vehicle accidents?].

PubMed

Meyer, C; Dittrich, U; Küster, S; Markgraf, E; Hofmann, G O; Strauss, B

2005-12-01

The aim of this study was to assess common risk factors for the early development of psychoreactive disorders during traumatological treatment and to estimate their predictive potential. The sample consisted of 126 consecutive patients with accidental injuries recruited in an emergency room of the university hospital. We assessed this population 1 week (T1) and-on average-8 months following the accident (T2). At T1 34.5% of all patients indicated moderate and 26.4% strong symptoms of an acute stress disorder; 26.7% of all patients assessed at T2 suffered from severe post-traumatic symptoms. Linear regression analysis, using morbidity status at T2 as the dependent variable, allowed the explanation of 46.2% of the variance. The degree of early acute stress symptoms, injury, and pain intensity contributed significantly to the predictive model. We conclude that a substantial proportion of severely injured accident victims that will develop PTSD can be screened to some degree by the assessment of early stress disorder, the degree of their injury, and pain intensity, enabling secondary prevention of trauma-dependent symptomatology.

Road Accident Prevention with Instant Emergency Warning Message Dissemination in Vehicular Ad-Hoc Network.

PubMed

Gokulakrishnan, P; Ganeshkumar, P

2015-01-01

A Road Accident Prevention (RAP) scheme based on Vehicular Backbone Network (VBN) structure is proposed in this paper for Vehicular Ad-hoc Network (VANET). The RAP scheme attempts to prevent vehicles from highway road traffic accidents and thereby reduces death and injury rates. Once the possibility of an emergency situation (i.e. an accident) is predicted in advance, instantly RAP initiates a highway road traffic accident prevention scheme. The RAP scheme constitutes the following activities: (i) the Road Side Unit (RSU) constructs a Prediction Report (PR) based on the status of the vehicles and traffic in the highway roads, (ii) the RSU generates an Emergency Warning Message (EWM) based on an abnormal PR, (iii) the RSU forms a VBN structure and (iv) the RSU disseminates the EWM to the vehicles that holds the high Risk Factor (RF) and travels in High Risk Zone (HRZ). These vehicles might reside either within the RSU's coverage area or outside RSU's coverage area (reached using VBN structure). The RAP scheme improves the performance of EWM dissemination in terms of increase in notification and decrease in end-to-end delay. The RAP scheme also reduces infrastructure cost (number of RSUs) by formulating and deploying the VBN structure. The RAP scheme with VBN structure improves notification by 19 percent and end-to-end delay by 14.38 percent for a vehicle density of 160 vehicles. It is also proved from the simulation experiment that the performance of RAP scheme is promising in 4-lane highway roads.

Road Accident Prevention with Instant Emergency Warning Message Dissemination in Vehicular Ad-Hoc Network

PubMed Central

P, Gokulakrishnan; P, Ganeshkumar

2015-01-01

A Road Accident Prevention (RAP) scheme based on Vehicular Backbone Network (VBN) structure is proposed in this paper for Vehicular Ad-hoc Network (VANET). The RAP scheme attempts to prevent vehicles from highway road traffic accidents and thereby reduces death and injury rates. Once the possibility of an emergency situation (i.e. an accident) is predicted in advance, instantly RAP initiates a highway road traffic accident prevention scheme. The RAP scheme constitutes the following activities: (i) the Road Side Unit (RSU) constructs a Prediction Report (PR) based on the status of the vehicles and traffic in the highway roads, (ii) the RSU generates an Emergency Warning Message (EWM) based on an abnormal PR, (iii) the RSU forms a VBN structure and (iv) the RSU disseminates the EWM to the vehicles that holds the high Risk Factor (RF) and travels in High Risk Zone (HRZ). These vehicles might reside either within the RSU’s coverage area or outside RSU’s coverage area (reached using VBN structure). The RAP scheme improves the performance of EWM dissemination in terms of increase in notification and decrease in end-to-end delay. The RAP scheme also reduces infrastructure cost (number of RSUs) by formulating and deploying the VBN structure. The RAP scheme with VBN structure improves notification by 19 percent and end-to-end delay by 14.38 percent for a vehicle density of 160 vehicles. It is also proved from the simulation experiment that the performance of RAP scheme is promising in 4-lane highway roads. PMID:26636576

[Mortality in traffic accidents in Bayamo, Cuba 2011].

PubMed

Piña-Tornés, Arlines; González-Longoria, Lourdes; González-Pardo, Secundino; Acosta-González, Ariel; Vintimilla-Burgos, Patricio; Paspuel-Yar, Silvana

2014-01-01

With the objective of describing mortality from traffic accidents in Bayamo, Cuba, in 2011 a review was performed of injured and deceased patients due to traffic accidents, recorded in the Hospital Carlos M. de Céspedes. Of the 1,365 injured patients treated in the emergency room, the predominant groups were individuals aged 25 to 44 years comprising 372 patients (27.3%) and men comprising 1,071 (78.5%). 46 people died, most from the same age group and male. Multiple traumatisms (52.6%) and craniofacial trauma (34.2%) were the predominant injuries. Motor vehicle-pedestrian accidents stood out with a mortality of 26.3%. In conclusion, mortality from traffic accidents predominately occurs in young male adults, whose fatal consequences are due to multiple traumatisms from road accidents.

76 FR 76481 - Denial of Motor Vehicle Defect Petition

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-12-07

... the driver of a model year (MY) 2005 Honda Accord Hybrid (subject vehicle), VIN JHMCN36425C005487... incident. (6) Mr. Saroop (the petitioner's husband) was the primary driver of the subject vehicle prior to... to the accident scene. The driver and passenger in Vehicle 1 were unconscious and unresponsive. The...

Biomechanical simulation of eye-airbag impacts during vehicle accidents.

PubMed

Shirzadi, Hooman; Zohoor, Hassan; Naserkhaki, Sadegh

2018-06-01

Airbags are safety devices in vehicles effectively suppressing passengers' injuries during accidents. Although there are still many cases of eye injuries reported due to eye-airbag impacts in recent years. Biomechanical approaches are now feasible and can considerably help experts to investigate the issue without ethical concerns. The eye-airbag impact-induced stresses/strains in various components of the eye were found to investigate the risk of injury in different conditions (impact velocity and airbag pressure). Three-dimensional geometry of the eyeball, fat and bony socket as well as the airbag were developed and meshed to develop a finite element model. Nonlinear material properties of the vitreous body and sclera were found through the in vitro tests on ovine samples and for the other components were taken from the literature. The eye collided the airbag due to the velocity field in the dynamic explicit step in Abaqus. Results of compression tests showed a nonlinear curve for vitreous body with average ultimate stress of 22 (18-25) kPa. Tensile behavior of sclera was viscoelastic nonlinear with ultimate stresses changing from 2.51 (2.3-2.7) to 4.3 (4-4.6) MPa when loading strain rate increased from 10 to 600 mm/min. Sclera, ciliary body, cornea and lens were the eye components with highest stresses (maximum stress reached up to 9.3 MPa). Cornea, retina and choroid experienced the highest strains with the maximum up to 14.1%. According to the previously reported injury criteria for cornea, it was at high risk of injury considering both stress and strains. Reduced pressure of the airbag was beneficial decreased stress of all components. Comprehensive investigations in this area can disclose biomechanical behavior of the eye during eye-airbag impact. Effective guidelines can be drawn for airbag design for instance the airbag pressure which reduces risk of eye injury.

Accident or Suicide? Single-Vehicle Car Accidents and the Intent Hypothesis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peck, Dennis L.; Warner, Kenneth

1995-01-01

Brief case studies of single-vehicle car crashes are used to explore the relationship between this method of death and the intent to commit suicide. The author attempts to determine what criteria can be used to determine whether suicide was the intent, and how death by automobile crash can be determined a suicide. (JPS)

Longitudinal Associations Between PTSD Symptoms and Dyadic Conflict Communication Following a Severe Motor Vehicle Accident.

PubMed

Fredman, Steffany J; Beck, J Gayle; Shnaider, Philippe; Le, Yunying; Pukay-Martin, Nicole D; Pentel, Kimberly Z; Monson, Candice M; Simon, Naomi M; Marques, Luana

2017-03-01

There are well-documented associations between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and intimate relationship impairments, including dysfunctional communication at times of relationship conflict. To date, the extant research on the associations between PTSD symptom severity and conflict communication has been cross-sectional and focused on military and veteran couples. No published work has evaluated the extent to which PTSD symptom severity and communication at times of relationship conflict influence each other over time or in civilian samples. The current study examined the prospective bidirectional associations between PTSD symptom severity and dyadic conflict communication in a sample of 114 severe motor vehicle accident (MVA) survivors in a committed intimate relationship at the time of the accident. PTSD symptom severity and dyadic conflict communication were assessed at 4 and 16weeks post-MVA, and prospective associations were examined using path analysis. Total PTSD symptom severity at 4weeks prospectively predicted greater dysfunctional communication at 16weeks post-MVA but not vice versa. Examination at the level of PTSD symptom clusters revealed that effortful avoidance at 4weeks prospectively predicted greater dysfunctional communication at 16weeks, whereas dysfunctional communication 4weeks after the MVA predicted more severe emotional numbing at 16weeks. Findings highlight the role of PTSD symptoms in contributing to dysfunctional communication and the importance of considering PTSD symptom clusters separately when investigating the dynamic interplay between PTSD symptoms and relationship functioning over time, particularly during the early posttrauma period. Clinical implications for the prevention of chronic PTSD and associated relationship problems are discussed. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

A new approach to road accident rescue.

PubMed

Morales, Alejandro; González-Aguilera, Diego; López, Alfonso I; Gutiérrez, Miguel A

2016-01-01

This article develops and validates a new methodology and tool for rescue assistance in traffic accidents, with the aim of improving its efficiency and safety in the evacuation of people, reducing the number of victims in road accidents. Different tests supported by professionals and experts have been designed under different circumstances and with different categories of damaged vehicles coming from real accidents and simulated trapped victims in order to calibrate and refine the proposed methodology and tool. To validate this new approach, a tool called App_Rescue has been developed. This tool is based on the use of a computer system that allows an efficient access to the technical information of the vehicle and sanitary information of the common passengers. The time spent during rescue using the standard protocol and the proposed method was compared. This rescue assistance system allows us to make vital information accessible in posttrauma care services, improving the effectiveness of interventions by the emergency services, reducing the rescue time and therefore minimizing the consequences involved and the number of victims. This could often mean saving lives. In the different simulated rescue operations, the rescue time has been reduced an average of 14%.

Evaluation of initial posttrauma cardiovascular levels in association with acute PTSD symptoms following a serious motor vehicle accident.

PubMed

Buckley, Beth; Nugent, Nicole; Sledjeski, Eve; Raimonde, A Jay; Spoonster, Eileen; Bogart, Laura M; Delahanty, Douglas L

2004-08-01

The present study examined the relationship between heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) levels assessed at multiple time points posttrauma and subsequent acute posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms present at a 1-month follow-up. HR and BP levels were measured in 65 motor vehicle accident (MVA) survivors during Emergency Medical Service transport, upon admission to the trauma unit, for the first 20 min postadmission and on the day of discharge. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses revealed no significant relationships between cardiovascular levels and acute PTSD symptoms. Given the small sample size, these results should be interpreted with caution. However, the present results question the use of initial cardiovascular levels as predictors of subsequent acute PTSD in seriously injured MVA victims.

Factors Impacting Mortality in the Pre-Hospital Period After Road Traffic Accidents in Urban India.

PubMed

Chandrasekharan, Ananthnarayan; Nanavati, Aditya J; Prabhakar, Sandhya; Prabhakar, Subramaniam

2016-07-01

India currently has the dubious distinction of experiencing the highest number of road traffic accidents in the world. We believe that this study on road traffic accidents may help to identify factors in the pre-hospital setting that may influence mortality rates. A prospective observational study was carried out in a metro area in India over a period of one year. The study included consecutive patients admitted to the trauma service after road traffic accidents. Demographic information, time and place of accident, and details regarding the vehicle and the events leading up to the hospital admission were recorded. Injury severity, management in the hospital, and final outcomes in terms of mortality were noted. The data were analyzed with SPSS software. A total of 773 patients were enrolled. Of these, there were 197 deaths and 576 survivors. The majority of patients were aged 15 - 40 years (67%) and were male (87.84%). More accidents occurred at night (58.2%) than during the day (41.8%). Mortality was not significantly associated with age, sex, or time of accident. City roads (38.9%) saw more accidents than highways (26.13%), but highway accidents were more likely to be fatal. Two-wheeler riders (37.65%) and pedestrians (35.75%) formed the majority of our study population. Mortality was significantly associated with crossing the road on foot (P = 0.004). Pillion riders on two-wheeler vehicles were more likely to experience poor outcomes (relative risk [RR] = 1.9, P = 0.001). Front-seat occupants in four-wheeler vehicles were at an increased risk of not surviving the accident (61.98%; RR=2.56, P = 0.01). Lack of safety gear, such as helmets, seat belts, and airbags, was significantly associated with mortality (P = 0.05). Delays in transfers of patients to the hospital and a lack of pre-hospital emergency services was significantly associated with increased mortality (P = 0.000). A lack of respect for the law, weak legislation and law enforcement, disregard for

Risk factors for injury accidents among moped and motorcycle riders.

PubMed

Moskal, Aurélie; Martin, Jean-Louis; Laumon, Bernard

2012-11-01

To study and quantify the effect of factors related to the riders of powered two-wheelers on the risk of injury accident involvement. Based on national data held by the police from 1996 to 2005, we conducted a case-control study with responsibility for the accident as the event of interest. We estimated the odds ratios for accident responsibility. Making the hypothesis that the non-responsible riders in the study are representative of all the riders on the road, we thus identified risk factors for being responsible for injury accidents. The studied factors are age, gender, helmet wearing, alcohol consumption, validity of the subject's driving licence and for how long it has been held, the trip purpose and the presence of a passenger on the vehicle. Moped and motorcycle riders are analyzed separately, adjusting for the main characteristics of the accident. For both moped and motorcycle riders, being male, not wearing a helmet, exceeding the legal limit for alcohol and travelling for leisure purposes increased the risk of accident involvement. The youngest and oldest users had a greater risk of accident involvement. The largest risk factor was alcohol, and we identified a dose-effect relationship between alcohol consumption and accident risk, with an estimated odds ratio of over 10 for motorcycle and moped riders with a BAC of 2 g/l or over. Among motorcycle users, riders without a licence had twice the risk of being involved in an accident than those holding a valid licence. However, the number of years the rider had held a licence reduced the risk of accident involvement. One difference between moped and motorcycle riders involved the presence of a passenger on the vehicle: while carrying a passenger increased the risk of being responsible for the accident among moped riders, it protected against this risk among motorcycle riders. This analysis of responsibility has identified the major factors contributing to excess risk of injury accidents, some of which could be

Evaluating accident rates on Virginia's secondary road system.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1973-01-01

In order to establish priorities for allocating highway funds available for safety improvements, an investigation was made of a method for ranking the state's counties according to their accident histories. Million vehicle miles traveled, registered ...

The impact of traffic sign deficit on road traffic accidents in Nigeria.

PubMed

Ezeibe, Christian; Ilo, Chukwudi; Oguonu, Chika; Ali, Alphonsus; Abada, Ifeanyi; Ezeibe, Ezinwanne; Oguonu, Chukwunonso; Abada, Felicia; Izueke, Edwin; Agbo, Humphrey

2018-04-04

This study assesses the impact of traffic sign deficit on road traffic accidents in Nigeria. The participants were 720 commercial vehicle drivers. While simple random sampling was used to select 6 out of 137 federal highways, stratified random sampling was used to select six categories of commercial vehicle drivers. The study used qual-dominant mixed methods approach comprising key informant interviews; group interviews; field observation; policy appraisal and secondary literature on traffic signs. Result shows that the failure of government to provide and maintain traffic signs in order to guide road users through the numerous accident black spots on the highways is the major cause of road accidents in Nigeria. The study argues that provision and maintenance of traffic signs present opportunity to promoting safety on the highways and achieving the sustainable development goals.

The effect of road characteristics on motorcycle accident in Batu east Java Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abusini, Sobri

2013-09-01

Safe of transportation on road is global problem with not only transportation problem, but also social teritory problem in sosial life. WHO pay attention to safe transportation on road to decide healthy day in the world 2004 with caption: Road Safety is no Accident. WHO is clariafy that road accident level in the world have to reach 1.2 mellion victim death and over 30 mellion injuries every year. As much 85% sacrifice death are accident in develop state, where vehicle number only 32% from vehicle number in the world. That becouse as the objective is to decide influence road charakteristics geometrics for motorcycle accident in Batu East Java Indonesia. Using some statistical analysis it is found that the best-fit motorcycle accident model is: Acc = 0,009F0,703exp(-0,334SW-0,361G+0.077S) Where: Acc = number of accident, F = Flow, pcu/hr, SW = shoulder width (m), S = speed, km/hr, G = Gradient (0,1) The model shows that the affecting factors are flow, shoulder width and speed, therefore local government should improve some related factor (flow, shoulder width, Gradient and speed) that can reduce the number of motorcycle accident at crossing road in Batu.

Pediatric subaxial cervical spine injuries: origins, management, and outcome in 51 patients.

PubMed

Dogan, Seref; Safavi-Abbasi, Sam; Theodore, Nicholas; Horn, Eric; Rekate, Harold L; Sonntag, Volker K H

2006-02-15

In this study the authors evaluated the mechanisms and patterns of injury and the factors affecting management and outcome of pediatric subaxial cervical spine injuries (C3-7). Fifty-one pediatric patients (38 boys and 13 girls; mean age 12.4 years, range 10 months-16 years) with subaxial cervical spine injuries were reviewed retrospectively. Motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) were the most common cause of injury. Overall, 12% presented with a dislocation, 63% with a fracture, 19% with a fracture-dislocation, and 6% with a ligamentous injury. The most frequently injured level was C6-7 (33%); C3-4 (6%) was least frequently involved. Sixty-four percent of patients were neurologically intact, 16% had incomplete spinal cord injuries (SCIs), 14% had complete SCIs, and three patients (6%) died after admission and before assessment. Treatment was conservative in 64%: seven (13%) wore a halo vest and 26 (51%) wore a rigid cervical orthosis. Surgery was performed in the other 18 patients (36%), with the breakdown as follows: 15 (30%) underwent an anterior approach, two (4%) had posterior approaches, and one (2%) had a combined approach. Postoperatively, four patients (8% who had a neurological deficit improved. The overall mortality rate was 8%; all deaths were related to MVAs. There were no surgery-related deaths or complications. Subaxial cervical spine injuries are common in children 9 to 16 years of age, and occur principally between C-5 and C-7. Multilevel injury is more common in children 8 years of age and older than in younger children and infants. Most patients with subaxial cervical spine injuries can be treated conservatively. Both anterior and posterior approaches are safe and effective.

Traffic accidents involving fatigue driving and their extent of casualties.

PubMed

Zhang, Guangnan; Yau, Kelvin K W; Zhang, Xun; Li, Yanyan

2016-02-01

The rapid progress of motorization has increased the number of traffic-related casualties. Although fatigue driving is a major cause of traffic accidents, the public remains not rather aware of its potential harmfulness. Fatigue driving has been termed as a "silent killer." Thus, a thorough study of traffic accidents and the risk factors associated with fatigue-related casualties is of utmost importance. In this study, we analyze traffic accident data for the period 2006-2010 in Guangdong Province, China. The study data were extracted from the traffic accident database of China's Public Security Department. A logistic regression model is used to assess the effect of driver characteristics, type of vehicles, road conditions, and environmental factors on fatigue-related traffic accident occurrence and severity. On the one hand, male drivers, trucks, driving during midnight to dawn, and morning rush hours are identified as risk factors of fatigue-related crashes but do not necessarily result in severe casualties. Driving at night without street-lights contributes to fatigue-related crashes and severe casualties. On the other hand, while factors such as less experienced drivers, unsafe vehicle status, slippery roads, driving at night with street-lights, and weekends do not have significant effect on fatigue-related crashes, yet accidents associated with these factors are likely to have severe casualties. The empirical results of the present study have important policy implications on the reduction of fatigue-related crashes as well as their severity. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ability to monitor driving under the influence of marijuana among non-fatal motor-vehicle crashes: An evaluation of the Colorado electronic accident reporting system.

PubMed

Peterson, Alexis B; Sauber-Schatz, Erin K; Mack, Karin A

2018-06-01

As more states legalize medical/recreational marijuana use, it is important to determine if state motor-vehicle surveillance systems can effectively monitor and track driving under the influence (DUI) of marijuana. This study assessed Colorado's Department of Revenue motor-vehicle crash data system, Electronic Accident Reporting System (EARS), to monitor non-fatal crashes involving driving under the influence (DUI) of marijuana. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on surveillance system evaluation were used to assess EARS' usefulness, flexibility, timeliness, simplicity, acceptability, and data quality. We assessed system components, interviewed key stakeholders, and analyzed completeness of Colorado statewide 2014 motor-vehicle crash records. EARS contains timely and complete data, but does not effectively monitor non-fatal motor-vehicle crashes related to DUI of marijuana. Information on biological sample type collected from drivers and toxicology results were not recorded into EARS; however, EARS is a flexible system that can incorporate new data without increasing surveillance system burden. States, including Colorado, could consider standardization of drug testing and mandatory reporting policies for drivers involved in motor-vehicle crashes and proactively address the narrow window of time for sample collection to improve DUI of marijuana surveillance. Practical applications: The evaluation of state motor-vehicle crash systems' ability to capture crashes involving drug impaired driving (DUID) is a critical first step for identifying frequency and risk factors for crashes related to DUID. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Upon the reconstruction of accidents triggered by tire explosion. Analytical model and case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaiginschi, L.; Agape, I.; Talif, S.

2017-10-01

Accident Reconstruction is important in the general context of increasing road traffic safety. In the casuistry of traffic accidents, those caused by tire explosions are critical under the severity of consequences, because they are usually happening at high speeds. Consequently, the knowledge of the running speed of the vehicle involved at the time of the tire explosion is essential to elucidate the circumstances of the accident. The paper presents an analytical model for the kinematics of a vehicle which, after the explosion of one of its tires, begins to skid, overturns and rolls. The model consists of two concurent approaches built as applications of the momentum conservation and energy conservation principles, and allows determination of the initial speed of the vehicle involved, by running backwards the sequences of the road event. The authors also aimed to both validate the two distinct analytical approaches by calibrating the calculation algorithms on a case study

Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to Characterize Pediatric Pedestrian Motor Vehicle Accidents in the State of Delaware.

PubMed

Talati, Ravi; Stegmuller, Angela; Niiler, Tim; Xiang, Huiyun; Atanda, Alfred

2016-07-01

motor vehicle-associated pedestrian injuries. Specific risk factors for accidents in these areas need to be identified to facilitate the development of focused prevention strategies.

A Comprehensive Analysis of the X-15 Flight 3-65 Accident

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dennehy, Cornelius J.; Orr, Jeb S.; Barshi, Immanuel; Statler, Irving C.

2014-01-01

The November 15, 1967, loss of X-15 Flight 3-65-97 (hereafter referred to as Flight 3-65) was a unique incident in that it was the first and only aerospace flight accident involving loss of crew on a vehicle with an adaptive flight control system (AFCS). In addition, Flight 3-65 remains the only incidence of a single-pilot departure from controlled flight of a manned entry vehicle in a hypersonic flight regime. To mitigate risk to emerging aerospace systems, the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) proposed a comprehensive review of this accident. The goal of the assessment was to resolve lingering questions regarding the failure modes of the aircraft systems (including the AFCS) and thoroughly analyze the interactions among the human agents and autonomous systems that contributed to the loss of the pilot and aircraft. This document contains the outcome of the accident review.

Statistical Analysis And Treatment Of Accident Black Spots: A Case Study Of Nandyal Mandal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sudharshan Reddy, B.; Vishnu Vardhan Reddy, L.; Sreenivasa Reddy, G., Dr

2017-08-01

Background: Increased, economic activity raised the consumption levels of the people across the country. This created scope for increase in travel and transportation. The increase in the vehicles since last 10 years has put lot of pressure on the existing roads and ultimately resulting in road accidents. Nandyal Mandal is located in the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh and well developed in both agricultural and industrial sectors after Kurnool. 567 accidents occurred in the last seven years at 143 locations shows the severity of the accidents in the Nandyal Mandal. There is a need to carry out some work in the Nandyal Mandal to improve the accidents black spots for reducing the accidents. Methods: Last seven years (2010-2016) of accident data collected from Police Stations. Weighted Severity Index (WSI), a scientific method is used for identifying the accident black spots. Statistical analysis has carried out for the collected data using Chi-Square Test to determine the independence of accidents with other attributes. Chi-Square Goodness of fit test conducted for test whether the accidents are occurring by chance or following any pattern. Results: WSI values are determined for the 143 locations. The Locations with high WSI are treated as accident black spots. Five black spots are taken for field study. After field observations and interaction with the public, some improvements are suggested for improving the accident black spots. There is no relationship between the severity of accidents and the other attributes like month, season, day, hours in day and the age group except type of vehicle. Road accidents are distributed throughout the Year, Month and Season. Road accidents are not distributed throughout the day.

Solid Rocket Launch Vehicle Explosion Environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Richardson, E. H.; Blackwood, J. M.; Hays, M. J.; Skinner, T.

2014-01-01

Empirical explosion data from full scale solid rocket launch vehicle accidents and tests were collected from all available literature from the 1950s to the present. In general data included peak blast overpressure, blast impulse, fragment size, fragment speed, and fragment dispersion. Most propellants were 1.1 explosives but a few were 1.3. Oftentimes the data from a single accident was disjointed and/or missing key aspects. Despite this fact, once the data as a whole was digitized, categorized, and plotted clear trends appeared. Particular emphasis was placed on tests or accidents that would be applicable to scenarios from which a crew might need to escape. Therefore, such tests where a large quantity of high explosive was used to initiate the solid rocket explosion were differentiated. Also, high speed ground impacts or tests used to simulate such were also culled. It was found that the explosions from all accidents and applicable tests could be described using only the pressurized gas energy stored in the chamber at the time of failure. Additionally, fragmentation trends were produced. Only one accident mentioned the elusive "small" propellant fragments, but upon further analysis it was found that these were most likely produced as secondary fragments when larger primary fragments impacted the ground. Finally, a brief discussion of how this data is used in a new launch vehicle explosion model for improving crew/payload survival is presented.

PTSD symptom severity and psychiatric comorbidity in recent motor vehicle accident victims: a latent class analysis.

PubMed

Hruska, Bryce; Irish, Leah A; Pacella, Maria L; Sledjeski, Eve M; Delahanty, Douglas L

2014-10-01

We conducted a latent class analysis (LCA) on 249 recent motor vehicle accident (MVA) victims to examine subgroups that differed in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity, current major depressive disorder and alcohol/other drug use disorders (MDD/AoDs), gender, and interpersonal trauma history 6-weeks post-MVA. A 4-class model best fit the data with a resilient class displaying asymptomatic PTSD symptom levels/low levels of comorbid disorders; a mild psychopathology class displaying mild PTSD symptom severity and current MDD; a moderate psychopathology class displaying severe PTSD symptom severity and current MDD/AoDs; and a severe psychopathology class displaying extreme PTSD symptom severity and current MDD. Classes also differed with respect to gender composition and history of interpersonal trauma experience. These findings may aid in the development of targeted interventions for recent MVA victims through the identification of subgroups distinguished by different patterns of psychiatric problems experienced 6-weeks post-MVA. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PTSD Symptom Severity and Psychiatric Comorbidity in Recent Motor Vehicle Accident Victims: A Latent Class Analysis

PubMed Central

Hruska, Bryce; Irish, Leah A.; Pacella, Maria L.; Sledjeski, Eve M.; Delahanty, Douglas L.

2014-01-01

We conducted a latent class analysis (LCA) on 249 recent motor vehicle accident (MVA) victims to examine subgroups that differed in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity, current major depressive disorder and alcohol/other drug use disorders (MDD/AoDs), gender, and interpersonal trauma history 6-weeks post-MVA. A 4-class model best fit the data with a resilient class displaying asymptomatic PTSD symptom levels/low levels of comorbid disorders; a mild psychopathology class displaying mild PTSD symptom severity and current MDD; a moderate psychopathology class displaying severe PTSD symptom severity and current MDD/AoDs; and a severe psychopathology class displaying extreme PTSD symptom severity and current MDD. Classes also differed with respect to gender composition and history of interpersonal trauma experience. These findings may aid in the development of targeted interventions for recent MVA victims through the identification of subgroups distinguished by different patterns of psychiatric problems experienced 6-weeks post-MVA. PMID:25124501

Estimation of fatality and injury risk by means of in-depth fatal accident investigation data.

PubMed

Yannis, George; Papadimitriou, Eleonora; Dupont, Emmanuelle; Martensen, Heike

2010-10-01

In this article the factors affecting fatality and injury risk of road users involved in fatal accidents are analyzed by means of in-depth accident investigation data, with emphasis on parameters not extensively explored in previous research. A fatal accident investigation (FAI) database is used, which includes intermediate-level in-depth data for a harmonized representative sample of 1300 fatal accidents in 7 European countries. The FAI database offers improved potential for analysis, because it includes information on a number of variables that are seldom available, complete, or accurately recorded in road accident databases. However, the fact that only fatal accidents are examined requires for methodological adjustments, namely, the correction for two types of effects on a road user's baseline risk: "accident size" effects, and "relative vulnerability" effects. Fatality and injury risk can be then modeled through multilevel logistic regression models, which account for the hierarchical dependences of the road accident process. The results show that the baseline fatality risk of road users involved in fatal accidents decreases with accident size and increases with the vulnerability of the road user. On the contrary, accident size increases nonfatal injury risk of road users involved in fatal accidents. Other significant effects on fatality and injury risk in fatal accidents include road user age, vehicle type, speed limit, the chain of accident events, vehicle maneuver, and safety equipment. In particular, the presence and use of safety equipment such as seat belt, antilock braking system (ABS), and electronic stability program (ESP) are protection factors for car occupants, especially for those seated at the front seats. Although ABS and ESP systems are typically associated with positive effects on accident occurrence, the results of this research revealed significant related effects on accident severity as well. Moreover, accident consequences are more severe

Personnel emergency carrier vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Owens, Lester J. (Inventor); Fedor, Otto H. (Inventor)

1987-01-01

A personnel emergency carrier vehicle is disclosed which includes a vehicle frame supported on steerable front wheels and driven rear wheels. A supply of breathing air is connected to quick connect face mask coupling and umbilical cord couplings for supplying breathing air to an injured worker or attendant either with or without a self-contained atmospheric protection suit for protection against hazardous gases at an accident site. A non-sparking hydraulic motion is utilized to drive the vehicle and suitable direction and throttling controls are provided for controlling the delivery of a hydraulic driving fluid from a pressurized hydraulic fluid accumulator. A steering axis is steerable through a handle to steer the front wheels through a linkage assembly.

Frequency, causes and human impact of motor vehicle-related road traffic accident (RTA) in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo.

PubMed

Nangana, Luzitu Severin; Monga, Ben; Ngatu, Nlandu Roger; Mbelambela, Etongola Papy; Mbutshu, Lukuke Hendrick; Malonga, Kaj Francoise

2016-09-01

Road traffic accident (RTA)-related trauma remains a public health issue. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency, causes and human impact of motor vehicle-related RTA in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo. A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted in the first semester of the year 2015 in which 288 drivers (144 RTA-causing drivers and 144 control drivers who have been declared not guilty by road safety agents) involved in 144 motor vehicle-related RTA were interviewed, and only data on all RTA involving two motor vehicles with at least four wheels were recorded and analyzed. Results showed a total of 144 RTA that involved two motor vehicles with four wheels occurring during the study period which affected 104 people, including 93 injury and 11 fatality cases. The mean age of RTA-causing drivers was 33.8 ± 7.4, whereas it was 35 ± 8.8 for control drivers. The majority of RTA-causing drivers (53.4 %) did not attend a driving school. Over speeding (32 %), distracted driving (22 %), overtaking (16 %) and careless driving/risky maneuver (15 %) and driving under the influence of alcohol (9 %) were the main causes of RTA occurrence. In addition, the absence of a valid driving license [aOR = 12.74 (±2.71); 95 % CI 3.877-41.916; p = 0.015], unfastened seat belt for the RTA-causing driver [aOR = 1.85 (±0.62); 95 % CI 1.306-6.661; p = 0.048] and presence of damages on RTA-causing vehicle [aOR = 33.56 (24.01); 95 % CI 1.429-78.352; p = 0.029] were associated with the occurrence of RTA-related fatality. This study showed a relatively high frequency of RTA occurring in Lubumbashi and suggests the necessity to reinforce road traffic regulation.

49 CFR 177.854 - Disabled vehicles and broken or leaking packages; repairs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 49 Transportation 2 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Disabled vehicles and broken or leaking packages; repairs. 177.854 Section 177.854 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to Transportation PIPELINE AND... CARRIAGE BY PUBLIC HIGHWAY Vehicles and Shipments in Transit; Accidents § 177.854 Disabled vehicles and...

49 CFR 177.854 - Disabled vehicles and broken or leaking packages; repairs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 49 Transportation 2 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Disabled vehicles and broken or leaking packages; repairs. 177.854 Section 177.854 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to Transportation PIPELINE AND... CARRIAGE BY PUBLIC HIGHWAY Vehicles and Shipments in Transit; Accidents § 177.854 Disabled vehicles and...

49 CFR 177.854 - Disabled vehicles and broken or leaking packages; repairs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 49 Transportation 2 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Disabled vehicles and broken or leaking packages; repairs. 177.854 Section 177.854 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to Transportation PIPELINE AND... CARRIAGE BY PUBLIC HIGHWAY Vehicles and Shipments in Transit; Accidents § 177.854 Disabled vehicles and...

49 CFR 177.854 - Disabled vehicles and broken or leaking packages; repairs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 49 Transportation 2 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Disabled vehicles and broken or leaking packages; repairs. 177.854 Section 177.854 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to Transportation PIPELINE AND... CARRIAGE BY PUBLIC HIGHWAY Vehicles and Shipments in Transit; Accidents § 177.854 Disabled vehicles and...

Motor vehicle crashes in roadway construction workzones: an analysis using narrative text from insurance claims.

PubMed

Sorock, G S; Ranney, T A; Lehto, M R

1996-01-01

Motor vehicle travel through roadway construction workzones has been shown to increase the risk of a crash. The number of workzones has increased due to recent congressional funding in 1991 for expanded roadway maintenance and repair. In this paper, we describe the characteristics and costs of motor vehicle crashes in roadway construction workzones. As opposed to using standard accident codes to identify accident types, automobile insurance claims files from 1990-93 were searched to identify records with the keyword "construction" in the accident narrative field. A total of 3,686 claims were used for the analysis of crashes. Keywords from the accident narrative field were used to identify five pre-crash vehicle activities and five crash types. We evaluated misclassification error by reading 560 randomly selected claims and found it to be only 5%. For each of four years, 1990-93, there was a total of 648,996,977 and 1,065 crashes, respectively. There was a 70% increase in the crash rate per 10,000 personal insured vehicles from 1990-93 (2.1-3.6). Most crashes (26%) involved a stopped or slowing vehicle in the workzone. The most common crash (31%) was a rear-end collision. The most costly pre-crash activity was a major judgment error on the part of a driver (n = 120, median cost = $2,628). An overturned vehicle was the most costly crash type (n = 16, median cost = $4,745). In summary, keyword text analysis of accident narrative data used in this study demonstrated its utility and potential for enhancing injury epidemiology. The results suggest interventions are needed to respond to growing traffic hazards in construction workzones.

Fatal accident reporting system : a review of information on fatal traffic accidents in the U.S. in 1983

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1984-03-01

During 1983, 42,584 men, women, and children died in motor vehicle traffic accidents. That's more than 116 people per day. This is a 3.1 percent decline from the 1982 death toll of 43,945, and a 16.7 percent decline from the 1980 death toll of 51,091...

Smart Vehicle System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pahadiya, Pallavi; Gupta, Rajni

2010-11-01

An approach to overcome the accidental problem happens in the night, while the driver is drunk or feels sleepy. This system controls the speed of the vehicle at steep turns. It is designed, to provide the information to the driver, whether the next turn is right/left, is there any traffic jam or land sliding in the coming way. It also assists during heavy rains and mist conditions. It may be implemented by using computer or by using a dedicated microcontroller. If we have a group of vehicles connected with the system then we can locate them by using the cameras, at different places. Information regarding any vehicle can be transmitted anywhere using Internet provided at the monitoring system, so as to prevent accidents or provide information during any calamity.

Factors involved in fatal vehicle crashes

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-09-01

This report examines factors that contribute to fatal crashes involving a motor vehicle (e.g., car, truck, or bus). Accident level data was obtained from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administrations (NHTSAs) Fatality Analysis Reporting S...

Assessing injury severity in bicyclists involved in traffic accidents to more effectively prevent fatal bicycle injuries in Japan.

PubMed

Gomei, Sayaka; Hitosugi, Masahito; Ikegami, Keiichi; Tokudome, Shogo

2013-10-01

The objective of this study was to clarify the relationship between injury severity in bicyclists involved in traffic accidents and patient outcome or type of vehicle involved in order to propose effective measures to prevent fatal bicycle injuries. Hospital records were reviewed for all patients from 2007 to 2010 who had been involved in a traffic accident while riding a bicycle and were subsequently transferred to the Shock Trauma Center of Dokkyo Medical University Koshigaya Hospital. Patient outcomes and type of vehicle that caused the injury were examined. The mechanism of injury, Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) score, and Injury Severity Score (ISS) of the patient were determined. A total of 115 patients' records were reviewed. The mean patient age was 47.1 ± 27.4 years. The average ISS was 23.9, with an average maximum AIS (MAIS) score of 3.7. The ISS, MAIS score, head AIS score, and chest AIS score were well correlated with patient outcome. The head AIS score was significantly higher in patients who had died (mean of 4.4); however, the ISS, MAIS score, and head AIS score did not differ significantly according to the type of vehicle involved in the accident. The mean head AIS scores were as high as 2.4 or more for accidents involving any type of vehicle. This study provides useful information for forensic pathologists who suspect head injuries in bicyclists involved in traffic accidents. To effectively reduce bicyclist fatalities from traffic accidents, helmet use should be required for all bicyclists.

Traffic accidents in Iran, a decade of progress but still challenges ahead.

PubMed

Lankarani, Kamran B; Sarikhani, Yaser; Heydari, Seyed Taghi; Joulaie, Hasan; Maharlouei, Najmeh; Peimani, Payam; Ahmadi, Seyed Mehdi; Khorasani-Zavareh, Davoud; Soori, Hamid; Davoudi-Kiakalayeh, Ali; Masoumi, Gholamreza

2014-01-01

Iran has had incremental incidence of traffic accident mortality since introduction of mechanization about a century ago. But the newest data from Iran show decrease in the absolute number of deaths, death per 10,000 vehicles and death per 100, 000 populations. Despite its huge impact on health and economy, research in the field of traffic crashes is still scant and there are still deficiencies in problem oriented research on traffic accidents. Actual cooperation of policy makers, executive bodies and academician could build platform for intersectoral discussion of different aspects of traffic accidents and could reduce burden of traffic accidents.

Characteristics of single-vehicle crashes with e-bikes in Switzerland.

PubMed

Hertach, Patrizia; Uhr, Andrea; Niemann, Steffen; Cavegn, Mario

2018-08-01

In Switzerland, the usage and accident numbers of e-bikes have strongly increased in recent years. According to official statistics, single-vehicle accidents constitute an important crash type. Up to date, very little is known about the mechanisms and causes of these crashes. To gain more insight, a survey was conducted among 3658 e-cyclists in 2016. The crash risk and injury severity were analysed using logistic regression models. 638 (17%) e-cyclists had experienced a single-vehicle accident in road traffic since the beginning of their e-bike use. Risk factors were high riding exposure, male sex, and using the e-bike mainly for the purpose of getting to work or school. There was no effect of age on the crash risk. Skidding, falling while crossing a threshold, getting into or skidding on a tram/railway track and evasive actions were the most important accident mechanisms. The crash causes mentioned most often were a slippery road surface, riding too fast for the situation and inability to keep the balance. Women, elderly people, riders of e-bikes with a pedal support up to 45 km/h and e-cyclists who considered themselves to be less fit in comparison to people of the same age had an increased risk of injury. This study confirms the high relevance of single-vehicle crashes with e-bikes. Measures to prevent this type of accident could include the sensitisation of e-cyclists regarding the most common accident mechanisms and causes, a regular maintenance of bicycle pathways, improvements regarding tram and railway tracks and technological advancements of e-bikes. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Injury protection and accident causation parameters for vulnerable road users based on German In-Depth Accident Study GIDAS.

PubMed

Otte, Dietmar; Jänsch, Michael; Haasper, Carl

2012-01-01

Within a study of accident data from GIDAS (German In-Depth Accident Study), vulnerable road users are investigated regarding injury risk in traffic accidents. GIDAS is the largest in-depth accident study in Germany. Due to a well-defined sampling plan, representativeness with respect to the federal statistics is also guaranteed. A hierarchical system ACASS (Accident Causation Analysis with Seven Steps) was developed in GIDAS, describing the human causation factors in a chronological sequence. The accordingly classified causation factors - derived from the systematic of the analysis of human accident causes ("7 steps") - can be used to describe the influence of accident causes on the injury outcome. The bases of the study are accident documentations over ten years from 1999 to 2008 with 8204 vulnerable road users (VRU), of which 3 different groups were selected as pedestrians n=2041, motorcyclists n=2199 and bicyclists n=3964, and analyzed on collisions with cars and trucks as well as vulnerable road users alone. The paper will give a description of the injury pattern and injury mechanisms of accidents. The injury frequencies and severities are pointed out considering different types of VRU and protective measures of helmet and clothes of the human body. The impact points are demonstrated on the car, following to conclusion of protective measures on the vehicle. Existing standards of protection devices as well as interdisciplinary research, including accident and injury statistics, are described. With this paper, a summarization of the existing possibilities on protective measures for pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists is given and discussed by comparison of all three groups of vulnerable road users. Also the relevance of special impact situations and accident causes mainly responsible for severe injuries are pointed out, given the new orientation of research for the avoidance and reduction of accident patterns. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Arizona motor vehicle crash facts, 2003

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2004-01-01

This publication is an annual statistical review of the motor vehicle crashes in the State of Arizona for calendar year : 2003. The results are compiled from Arizona Traffic Accident Reports submitted to the Arizona Department of : Transportation by ...

Arizona motor vehicle crash facts, 2005

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2006-01-01

This publication is an annual statistical review of the motor vehicle crashes in the State of Arizona for calendar year 2005. : The results are compiled from Arizona Traffic Accident Reports submitted to the Arizona Department of Transportation by : ...

[Motorcycle accidents in the municipality of Rio Branco in the State of Acre: characterization and trends].

PubMed

Rocha, Greiciane da Silva; Schor, Néia

2013-03-01

The scope of this paper is to assess traffic accidents involving motorcycles, the victims involved and the increase in the fleet compared with other vehicles in Rio Branco, State of Acre. It is an epidemiological, descriptive and transversal study of accidents between 2005 and 2008 recorded by the Acre State Highway Department. There were 3,582 motorcycle accidents and 3,768 victims in the period. The motorcycle fleet increased by 72.8%, with involvement in accidents increasing by 42.2%, while accidents involving other vehicles only increased by 9.2%. As regards victims, there is a predominance of men, with rates of 561.1, with the age groups of between 20 and 29 and 30 and 39 being the highest, with 755.4 and 542.2, respectively. With reference to accident characteristics, the highest number of accidents - 32.4% - occurred in the afternoon, followed by the morning with 29.2% and the evening with 28.9%. 18.3% occurred on Saturdays and 15.7% on Sundays. Collisions were the commonest kind of accident, with 3,036 (84.8%) occurrences. The conclusion drawn is that it is essential to stage ongoing preventive programs and ensure greater integration among the institutions involved, with planning and campaigns to reverse the current situation.

Mortality from road traffic accidents in a rapidly urbanizing Chinese city: A 20-year analysis in Shenzhen, 1994-2013.

PubMed

Xie, Shao-Hua; Wu, Yong-Sheng; Liu, Xiao-Jian; Fu, Ying-Bin; Li, Shan-Shan; Ma, Han-Wu; Zou, Fei; Cheng, Jin-Quan

2016-01-01

This study aimed to describe the trends of motorization and mortality rates from road traffic accidents and examine their associations in a rapidly urbanizing city in China, Shenzhen. Using data from the Shenzhen Deaths Registry between 1994 and 2013, we calculated the annual mortality rates of road traffic accidents, in addition to the age- and sex-specific mortality rates and their annual percentage changes (APCs) for the period of 2000-2013. We also examined the associations between mortality rate of road traffic accidents and traffic growth with Spearman's rank correlation analysis and a log-linear model derived from Smeed's law. A total of 20,196 deaths due to road traffic accidents, including 14,391 (71.3%) male deaths and 5,805 (28.7%) female deaths, were recorded in Shenzhen from 1994 to 2013. The annual mortality rates in terms of deaths per population and deaths per vehicle changed in similar patterns, demonstrating an increase since 1994 and peaking in 1997, followed by a steady decrease thereafter. The decrease in mortality was faster in individuals aged 20 year or older compared to those younger than 20 years. The mortality rates in term of deaths per population were positively correlated with the total number of vehicles per kilometer of road but negatively correlated with the motorization rate in term of vehicles per population. The estimated model for deaths due to road traffic accidents in relation to the total population and the number of registered vehicles was ln (deaths/10,000 vehicles) = -1.902 × ln (vehicles/population) - 1.961. The coefficient was statistically significant (P < .001) and the coefficient of determination was 0.966, indicating a good model fit. We described a generally decreasing trend in the mortality rates of road traffic accidents in a rapidly urbanizing Chinese city based observations in the 20-year period from 1994 to 2013. The decreased mortality rate may be explained by the expansion of road network construction

Arizona motor vehicle crash facts, 2000

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-01-01

This publication is a statistical review of the motor vehicle crashes in the State of Arizona for calendar year 2000. : The results are compiled from Arizona Traffic Accident Reports submitted to the Arizona Department of : Transportation by state, c...

Arizona motor vehicle crash facts, 1997

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1998-01-01

This publication is a statistical review of the motor vehicle crashes in the State of Arizona for calendar year 1997. The results are : compiled from Arizona Traffic Accident Reports submitted to the Arizona Department of Transportation by state, cou...

Arizona motor vehicle crash facts, 1998

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1999-01-01

This publication is a statistical review of the motor vehicle crashes in the State of Arizona for calendar year : 1998. The results are compiled from Arizona Traffic Accident Reports submitted to the Arizona : Department of Transportation by state, c...

Arizona motor vehicle crash facts, 2001

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2002-01-01

This publication is a statistical review of the motor vehicle crashes in the State of Arizona for calendar year 2001. The : results are compiled from Arizona Traffic Accident Reports submitted to the Arizona Department of Transportation : by state, c...

Arizona motor vehicle crash facts, 2002

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2003-01-01

This publication is a statistical review of the motor vehicle crashes in the State of Arizona for calendar year 2002. The : results are compiled from Arizona Traffic Accident Reports submitted to the Arizona Department of Transportation : by state, c...

Arizona motor vehicle crash facts, 2006

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2007-01-01

This publication is an annual statistical review of the motor vehicle crashes in the State of Arizona for the calendar year 2006. : The results are compiled from Arizona Traffic Accident Reports submitted to the Arizona Department of Transportation b...

Arizona motor vehicle crash facts, 2009

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-09-29

This publication is a statistical review of the motor vehicle crashes in the State of Arizona for calendar year 2009. The results are compiled from Arizona Traffic Accident Reports submitted to the Arizona Department of Transportation by state, count...

Arizona motor vehicle crash facts, 2008

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-06-25

This publication is an annual statistical review of the motor vehicle crashes in the State of Arizona for the calendar year 2008. : The results are compiled from Arizona Traffic Accident Reports submitted to the Arizona Department of Transportation b...

Arizona motor vehicle crash facts, 2007

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-02-17

This publication is an annual statistical review of the motor vehicle crashes in the State of Arizona for the calendar year 2007. : The results are compiled from Arizona Traffic Accident Reports submitted to the Arizona Department of Transportation b...

Arizona motor vehicle crash facts, 2004

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2005-01-01

This publication is an annual statistical review of the motor vehicle crashes in the State of Arizona for calendar year 2004. The : results are compiled from Arizona Traffic Accident Reports submitted to the Arizona Department of Transportation by st...

Arizona motor vehicle crash facts, 2010

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-08-22

This publication is an annual statistical review of the motor vehicle crashes in the State of Arizona for the calendar year 2010. The results are compiled from Arizona Traffic Accident Reports submitted to the Arizona Department of Transportation by ...

Arizona motor vehicle crash facts, 2014.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-06-01

This publication is an annual statistical review of the motor vehicle crashes in the State of Arizona for the calendar year 2014. The : results are compiled from Arizona Traffic Accident Reports submitted to the Arizona Department of Transportation b...

Arizona motor vehicle crash facts, 1999

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-01-01

This publication is a statistical review of the motor vehicle crashes in the State of Arizona for calendar year 1999. : The results are compiled from Arizona Traffic Accident Reports submitted to the Arizona Department of : Transportation by state, c...

Grouping of body areas affected in traffic accidents. A cohort study.

PubMed

León, Alba Luz; Ascuntar-Tello, Johana; Valderrama-Molina, Carlos Oliver; Giraldo, Nelson Darío; Constaín, Alfredo; Puerta, Andrés; Restrepo, Camilo; Jaimes, Fabián

2018-03-01

Traffic accidents are considered a public health problem and, according to the World Health Organization, currently is the eighth cause of death in the world. Specifically, pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists contribute half of the fatalities. Adequate clinical management in accordance with aggregation patterns of the body areas involved, as well as the characteristics of the accident, will help to reduce mortality and disability in this population. Secondary data analysis of a cohort of patients involved in traffic accidents and admitted to the emergency room (ER) of a high complexity hospital in Medellín, Colombia. They were over 15 years of age, had two or more injuries in different areas of the body and had a hospital stay of more than 24 h after admission. A cluster analysis was performed, using Ward's method and the linfinity similarity measure, to obtain clusters of body areas most commonly affected depending on the type of vehicle and the type of victim. Among 2445 patients with traffic accidents, 34% (n = 836) were admitted into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the overall hospital mortality rate was 8% (n = 201). More than 50% of the patients were motorcycle riders but mortality was higher in pedestrian-car accidents (16%, n = 34). The clusters show efficient performance to separate the population depending on the severity of their injuries. Pedestrians had the highest mortality after having accidents with cars and they also had the highest number of body parts clustered, mainly on head and abdomen areas. Exploring the cluster patterns of injuries and body areas affected in traffic accidents allow to establish anatomical groups defined by the type of accident and the type of vehicle. This classification system will accelerate and prioritize ER-care for these population groups, helping to provide better health care services and to rationalize available resources.

Implementation of the Vehicle Black Box Using External Sensor and Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Back, Sung-Hyun; Kim, Jang-Ju; Kim, Mi-Jin; Kim, Hwa-Sun; Park, You-Sin; Jang, Jong-Wook

With the increasing uses of black boxes for vehicles, they are being widely studied and developed. Existing black boxes store only video and sound, and have limitations in accurately identifying accident contexts. Besides, data are lost if the black box in the vehicle is damaged. In this study, a smart black box was manufactured by storing the additional data, including on the tire pressure, in-vehicle data (e.g., head lamp operation), current location, travel path and speed, and video and sound, using OBD-II and GPS to improve the efficiency and accuracy of accident analysis. An external storage device was used for data backup via wireless LAN to allow checking of data even when the black box is damaged.

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

PubMed

Lu, Jian John; Xing, Yingying; Wang, Chen; Cai, Xiaonan

2016-01-01

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. An ordered logit model was developed to examine the correlation between potential factors and accident injury severity. 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. This article aims to provide useful information for engineers to develop interventions and countermeasures to improve tunnel safety in China.

Pregnant women in vehicles: Driving habits, position and risk of injury.

PubMed

Auriault, F; Brandt, C; Chopin, A; Gadegbeku, B; Ndiaye, A; Balzing, M-P; Thollon, L; Behr, M

2016-04-01

This study proposed to broadly examine vehicle use by pregnant women in order to improve realism of accident simulations involving these particular occupants. Three research pathways were developed: the first consisted in a questionnaire survey examining the driving habits of 135 pregnant women, the second obtained measurements of 15 pregnant women driving position in their own vehicle from the 6th to the 9th month of pregnancy by measuring distances between body parts and vehicle parts, and the third examined car accidents involving pregnant occupants. Results obtained indicate that between 90% and 100% of pregnant women wore their seat belts whatever their stage of pregnancy, although nearly one third of subjects considered the seat belt was dangerous for their unborn child. The measurements obtained also showed that the position of the pregnant woman in her vehicle, in relation to the various elements of the passenger compartment, changed significantly during pregnancy. In the studied accidents, no correlation was found between the conditions of the accident and the resulting fetal injury. Results reveal that pregnant women do not modify significantly the seat setting as a function of pregnancy stage. Only the distance between maternal abdomen and steering wheel change significantly, from 16 cm to 12 cm at 6 and 9 month respectively. Pregnant women are mainly drivers before 8 months of pregnancy, passengers after that. Car use frequency falls down rapidly from 6 to 9 months of pregnancy. Real crashes investigations indicate a low rate of casualties, i.e. 342 car accidents involving pregnant women for a period of 9 years in an approximately 1.7 million inhabitants area. No specific injury was found as a function of stage of pregnancy. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A study of finite element modeling for simulation of vehicle rollover

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Zhigui; Liu, Changye; Lv, Juncheng; Jia, Ligang; Sun, Haichao; Chen, Tao

2017-04-01

At present, the automobile ownership has been a very large figure, and growing rapidly with the social progress and development. Automobile has been one of the most important transportation in people's life. Accordingly, there are a large number of fatalities and serious injuries in traffic accident every year. Vehicle safety has been paid more and more attentions in recent years. There are several kinds of traffic accidents including frontal crash, side crash, etc., while rollover crash is a special kind. The vehicle rollover has the lowest incidence in the all kinds of traffic accidents but has the highest rate of seriously injuries, most of which lead to death. For these reasons, it is very necessary to study the vehicle rollover crash. However, it's so hard that there are a small amount of literatures studying rollover due to its variety, large degree of freedom, and difficulty to repeat and control. The method to investigate rollover crash contains experiment, the finite element method and rigid-body-based models. The finite element method contains many advantages such as low cost, repeatability, detailed data and so on, but the limitation is obvious. A test and simulation has been accomplished to study the FEM for vehicle rollover crash particularly in this paper.

Motor vehicle-related burns: a review of 107 cases.

PubMed

Papaevangelou, J; Batchelor, J S; Roberts, A H

1995-02-01

Motor vehicles are a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Burn injuries sustained from motor vehicles form a small but important subgroup. The authors have reviewed the case notes of 107 patients with motor vehicle-related burns over a 13-year period. The age ranged from 18 months to 65 years and the male to female ratio was 4:1. The mechanisms of injury were variable, although four major categories could be identified. These accounted for 83 per cent of the cases. Car fires following road traffic accidents was the largest group accounting for 48.5 per cent of cases. The remaining three groups were: motorcycle-related burns following road traffic accidents (6.5 per cent of cases), garage fire-related burns (15 per cent of cases) and car radiator-related burns (13 per cent of cases). Garage fire-related burns had the highest mortality of the four groups (25 per cent). This study demonstrated that garage fire burns are an important subgroup of motor vehicle-related burns.

Simulation of three lanes one-way freeway in low visibility weather by possible traffic accidents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pang, Ming-bao; Zheng, Sha-sha; Cai, Zhang-hui

2015-09-01

The aim of this work is to investigate the traffic impact of low visibility weather on a freeway including the fraction of real vehicle rear-end accidents and road traffic capacity. Based on symmetric two-lane Nagel-Schreckenberg (STNS) model, a cellular automaton model of three-lane freeway mainline with the real occurrence of rear-end accidents in low visibility weather, which considers delayed reaction time and deceleration restriction, was established with access to real-time traffic information of intelligent transportation system (ITS). The characteristics of traffic flow in different visibility weather were discussed via the simulation experiments. The results indicate that incoming flow control (decreasing upstream traffic volume) and inputting variable speed limits (VSL) signal are effective in accident reducing and road actual traffic volume's enhancing. According to different visibility and traffic demand the appropriate control strategies should be adopted in order to not only decrease the probability of vehicle accidents but also avoid congestion.

Bus accident analysis of routes with/without bus priority.

PubMed

Goh, Kelvin Chun Keong; Currie, Graham; Sarvi, Majid; Logan, David

2014-04-01

This paper summarises findings on road safety performance and bus-involved accidents in Melbourne along roads where bus priority measures had been applied. Results from an empirical analysis of the accident types revealed significant reduction in the proportion of accidents involving buses hitting stationary objects and vehicles, which suggests the effect of bus priority in addressing manoeuvrability issues for buses. A mixed-effects negative binomial (MENB) regression and back-propagation neural network (BPNN) modelling of bus accidents considering wider influences on accident rates at a route section level also revealed significant safety benefits when bus priority is provided. Sensitivity analyses done on the BPNN model showed general agreement in the predicted accident frequency between both models. The slightly better performance recorded by the MENB model results suggests merits in adopting a mixed effects modelling approach for accident count prediction in practice given its capability to account for unobserved location and time-specific factors. A major implication of this research is that bus priority in Melbourne's context acts to improve road safety and should be a major consideration for road management agencies when implementing bus priority and road schemes. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Heavy Vehicle Crash Characteristics in Oman 2009–2011

PubMed Central

Al-Bulushi, Islam; Edwards, Jason; Davey, Jeremy; Armstrong, Kerry; Al-Reesi, Hamed; Al-Shamsi, Khalid

2015-01-01

In recent years, Oman has seen a shift in the burden of diseases towards road accidents. The main objective of this paper, therefore, is to describe key characteristics of heavy vehicle crashes in Oman and identify the key driving behaviours that influence fatality risks. Crash data from January 2009 to December 2011 were examined and it was found that, of the 22,543 traffic accidents that occurred within this timeframe, 3,114 involved heavy vehicles. While the majority of these crashes were attributed to driver behaviours, a small proportion was attributed to other factors. The results of the study indicate that there is a need for a more thorough crash investigation process in Oman. Future research should explore the reporting processes used by the Royal Oman Police, cultural influences on heavy vehicle operations in Oman and improvements to the current licensing system. PMID:26052451

Fatal accident cause and conclusion.

PubMed

Tsach, Tsadok; Cohen, Aviva; Finegold, George

2009-01-01

The Toolmarks Laboratory prepared a report concerning a traffic accident involving the death of a road workman. The driver of the vehicle that hit the workman claimed that the wheels had failed to respond when turning left at a roundabout. A traffic investigator photographed the rack and pinion assembly of the steering system, which was subsequently removed and brought to the Toolmarks Laboratory. The rack and pinion assembly of the steering system was rebuilt, and examination showed that the system functioned properly. Specifically, the front wheels responded correctly to the steering input. Laboratory photographs of the steering system were taken in two different positions, from the same angles as the investigator's photographs at the scene of the accident. It was clear that the steering system had not been assembled properly in the garage.

Motor vehicle safety : NHTSA's ability to detect and recall defective replacement crash parts is limited

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-01-01

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the federal agency responsible for reducing accidents, deaths, and injuries resulting from motor vehicle crashes on the nation's highways, estimates that over 6 million automobile accidents ...

Rupture of the aorta following road traffic accidents in the United Kingdom 1992-1999. The results of the co-operative crash injury study.

PubMed

Richens, D; Kotidis, K; Neale, M; Oakley, C; Fails, A

2003-02-01

The true incidence and survivability of blunt traumatic aortic rupture following road traffic accidents in the UK is unclear. The objective of this study was to determine the extent of blunt traumatic aortic rupture in the UK after road traffic accidents and the conditions under which it occurs. Data for the study was obtained from the Co-operative Crash Injury Study database. Road traffic accidents that happened between 1992 and 1999 and included in the Co-operative Crash Injury Study database were retrospectively investigated. A total of 8285 vehicles carrying 14,435 occupants were involved in 7067 accidents. There were 132 cases of blunt traumatic aortic rupture, of which the scene survival was 9% and the overall mortality was 98%. Twenty-one percent of all fatalities had blunt traumatic aortic rupture (130/613). Twenty-nine percent were due to frontal impacts and 44% were due to side impacts. Twelve percent of the blunt traumatic aortic rupture cases in frontal vehicle impacts were wearing seat belts and had airbag protection and 19% had no restraint mechanism. The Equivalent Test Speed of the accident vehicles, (where equivalent test speed provides an estimate of the vehicle impact severity and not an estimate of the vehicle speed at the time of the accident), ranged from 30 to 110 km/h in frontal impacts and from 15 to 82 km/h in side impacts. Blunt traumatic aortic rupture carries a high mortality and occurred in 21% of car occupant deaths in this sample of road traffic accidents. Impact scenarios varied but were most common from the side. The use of an airbag or seat belt does not eliminate risk. The injury can occur at low severity impacts particularly in side impact. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science B.V.

[Evaluation of regulatory policies: the prevention of traffic accidents in Spain].

PubMed

Villalbí, Joan R; Pérez, Catherine

2006-03-01

Traffic accident injuries may be reduced with public policies. We review regulatory policies extending beyond the health sector by studying the case of traffic accident injuries. They have been the object of other analyses in Spain by both health professionals and professionals from other sectors, but we have not found a previous thorough review including regulatory aspects. We analyze the evolution of fatal victims of traffic accidents as collected by the Dirección General de Tráfico, stratifying for pedestrians, two-wheel vehicle occupants and occupants of other vehicles, and breaking down accidents between those occurring in roads and in urban settings. Despite the increase in exposure factors between 1970 and 2003, we observe a strong impact of regulatory policies in accident mortality. A favorable impact is seen for regulations and enforcement actions on motorcycle helmets, speed limits and the control of alcohol use, and a lower impact for safety belts, perhaps because its actual effective implementation was not equally sharp. The adoption of comprehensive plans or complex legislation packages seems to have had a positive impact, perhaps attributable to its triggering of more effective enforcement of already existing regulations. Although the existence of legal norms is not enough in itself, as its impact is low without active enforcement, compliance improves over time. In any case, the existence of specific initiatives to influence this field is important to obtain the best results of regulatory policies in public health.

Diabetes and Driving Safety: Science, Ethics, Legality & Practice

PubMed Central

Cox, Daniel J.; Singh, Harsimran; Lorber, Daniel

2013-01-01

Diabetes affects over 25 million people in the United States, most of whom are over the age of 16 and many of whom are licensed to drive a motor vehicle. Safe operation of a motor vehicle requires complex interactions of cognitive and motor functions and medical conditions that affect these functions often will increase the risk of motor vehicle accidents (MVA). In the case of diabetes, hypoglycemia is the most common factor that has been shown to increase MVA rates. When people with diabetes are compared with non-diabetic controls, systematic analyses show that the relative risk of MVA is increased by between 12 and 19% (RRR 1.12-1.19). In comparison, the RRR for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is 4.4 and for Sleep Apnea is 2.4. Epidemiologic research suggests that patients at risk for hypoglycemia-related MVAs may have some characteristics in common, including a history of severe hypoglycemia or of hypoglycemia-related driving mishaps. Experimental studies also have shown that people with a history of hypoglycemia-related driving mishaps have abnormal counter-regulatory responses to hypoglycemia and greater cognitive impairments during moderate hypoglycemia. There are medical, ethical and legal issues for health care professionals who care for people with diabetes regarding their patients’ risk of hypoglycemia-related driving mishaps. This includes identifying those at increased risk and counseling them on preventive measures, including more frequent blood glucose testing, delaying driving with low or low normal blood glucose, and carrying readily available emergency supplies in the vehicle for the treatment of hypoglycemia. PMID:23531955

Energy loss in vehicle collisions from permanent deformation: an extension of the `Triangle Method'

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vangi, Dario; Begani, Filippo

2013-06-01

The paper presents an extension of the 'Triangle Method', to evaluate the energy loss in road accidents. The improvement of the method allows to evaluate the energy loss by both the colliding vehicles in car to car impacts, considering the main possible configurations of accident. The limits of applicability of the method are those of the Campbell's method [K.E. Campbell, Energy basis for collision severity, SAE paper 740565, Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc., Warrendale, Pennsylvania, 1974; A.G. Fonda, Principles of crush energy determination, SAE 1999-01-0106, Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc., Warrendale, Pennsylvania, 1999; N.S. Tumbas and R.A. Smith, Measurement protocol for quantifying vehicle damage from an energy basis point of view, SAE paper 880072, Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc., Warrendale, Pennsylvania, 1988; G.A. Nystrom, G. Kost, and S.M. Werner, Stiffness parameters for vehicle collision analysis, SAE paper 910119, Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc., Warrendale, Pennsylvania, 1991; J.A. Neptune, G.Y. Blair, and J.E. Flynn, A method for quantifying vehicle crush stiffness coefficients, SAE paper 920607, Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc., Warrendale, Pennsylvania, 1992]. The advantage over the usual methods are that the method does not require the knowledge of the stiffness of the vehicles and only two parameters are needed to define the damage geometry. The latter can be easily evaluated by visual inspection on a suitable photographical documentation of the damages, without the need to perform any direct measurement on the vehicles. Furthermore, the method can be used also in the very frequent cases in which some of the damage data about one of the vehicles are missing or in accidents involving lateral parts of the vehicle as zones near the wheels or the front, that have different behaviour from that tested in the classical crash tests. The error analysis developed shows that the errors due to the application of the extended

Traffic dynamics around weaving section influenced by accident: Cellular automata approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kong, Lin-Peng; Li, Xin-Gang; Lam, William H. K.

2015-07-01

The weaving section, as a typical bottleneck, is one source of vehicle conflicts and an accident-prone area. Traffic accident will block lanes and the road capacity will be reduced. Several models have been established to study the dynamics around traffic bottlenecks. However, little attention has been paid to study the complex traffic dynamics influenced by the combined effects of bottleneck and accident. This paper presents a cellular automaton model to characterize accident-induced traffic behavior around the weaving section. Some effective control measures are proposed and verified for traffic management under accident condition. The total flux as a function of inflow rates, the phase diagrams, the spatial-temporal diagrams, and the density and velocity profiles are presented to analyze the impact of accident. It was shown that the proposed control measures for weaving traffic can improve the capacity of weaving section under both normal and accident conditions; the accidents occurring on median lane in the weaving section are more inclined to cause traffic jam and reduce road capacity; the capacity of weaving section will be greatly reduced when the accident happens downstream the weaving section.

Estimating rear-end accident probabilities at signalized intersections: a comparison study of intersections with and without green signal countdown devices.

PubMed

Ni, Ying; Li, Keping

2014-01-01

Rear-end accidents are the most common accident type at signalized intersections, because the diversity of actions taken increases due to signal change. Green signal countdown devices (GSCDs), which have been widely installed in Asia, are thought to have the potential of improving capacity and reducing accidents, but some negative effects on intersection safety have been observed in practice; for example, an increase in rear-end accidents. A microscopic modeling approach was applied to estimate rear-end accident probability during the phase transition interval in the study. The rear-end accident probability is determined by the following probabilities: (1) a leading vehicle makes a "stop" decision, which was formulated by using a binary logistic model, and (2) the following vehicle fails to stop in the available stopping distance, which is closely related to the critical deceleration used by the leading vehicle. Based on the field observation carried out at 2 GSCD intersections and 2 NGSCD intersections (i.e., intersections without GSCD devices) along an arterial in Suzhou, the rear-end probabilities at GSCD and NGSCD intersections were calculated using Monte Carlo simulation. The results suggested that, on the one hand, GSCDs caused significantly negative safety effects during the flashing green interval, especially for vehicles in a zone ranging from 15 to 70 m; on the other hand, GSCD devices were helpful in reducing rear-end accidents during the yellow interval, especially in a zone from 0 to 50 m. GSCDs helped shorten indecision zones and reduce rear-end collisions near the stop line during the yellow interval, but they easily resulted in risky car following behavior and much higher rear-end collision probabilities at indecision zones during both flashing green and yellow intervals. GSCDs are recommended to be cautiously installed and education on safe driving behavior should be available.

An annual analysis of clinical diagnosis versus autopsy findings in fatal motor vehicle accident in legal medicine organization of Kerman province, Iran.

PubMed

Ghadipasha, Masood; Vaghefi, Soheila Sadat; Kazemi Esfeh, Shahrooz; Teimoori, Maryam; Ouhadi, Amin Reza; Mirhosseini, Seyed Mohammad

2015-08-01

One of the most common causes of death in Iran and other developing countries, are traffic accidents. Accordingly, this study was done based on the investigation and prevention of traffic injuries. This cross sectional study includes all fatal traffic accidents in the province of Kerman during a year; moreover, spss19 software is used for analyzing data. The main references of this survey were both the clinical reports of the victims of the road accidents as well as their Autopsy findings in forensic medicine center of the Iranian province of Kerman. In this study, 1185 victims of road accidents have been under supervision. Furthermore, statistical information such as age, sex, education, career, position of the occupant (Car drivers, motorcycle drivers and pedestrians), injuries related to the accident, type of vehicle, City-location of the accident and Place of death are observed. The main causes of death victims of road accidents were categorized into six groups. Occupational groups according EE0-1Job category were classified into 9 groups. Results are reported as descriptive as a frequency index (%), mean ± standard deviation, in addition, chi squared test was used to compare the clinical findings and autopsy And p < 0.05 was considered to indicate significance. In total 1185 people, there are 939 men (79.2%) and 246 women (20.8%). Most deaths occurred in young adult, 26.7% (19-24 years, n = 316). Injuries recorded during the autopsy examination include abrasion (n = 267, 22.5%) and laceration (n = 201, 17%) That was different significantly (p = 0.0001). In comparing of the skin lesions and Fractures between the hospital clinical records and autopsy finding, the difference was significant (p = 0.0001). The most common brain injury in hospital was epidural hematoma (n = 152, 12.8%). There was significant difference when compared with autopsy (n = 165, 13.9%) then brain contusion was most autopsy findings (n = 144, 12.2%). Whereas 141 cases was diagnosed in the

Study on Brain Injury Biomechanics Based on the Real Pedestrian Traffic Accidents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, Chengjian; Yin, Zhiyong

This paper aimed to research the dynamic response and injury mechanisms of head based on real pedestrian traffic accidents with video. The kinematics of head contact with the vehicle was reconstructed by using multi-body dynamics models. These calculated parameters such as head impact velocity and impact location and head orientation were applied to the THUMS-4 FE head model as initial conditions. The intracranial pressure and stress of brain were calculated from simulations of head contact with the vehicle. These results were consistent with that of others. It was proved that real traffic accidents combined with simulation analysis can be used to study head injury biomechanics. Increasing in the number of cases, a tolerance limit of brain injury will be put forward.

Predictive factors for acute stress disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder after motor vehicle accidents.

PubMed

Yaşan, Aziz; Guzel, Aslan; Tamam, Yusuf; Ozkan, Mustafa

2009-01-01

Since traffic accidents are more common in developing countries than in developed countries, we aimed to investigate the association of several factors with the development and persistence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after traffic accidents. In the study,95 participants with injuries from traffic accidents were evaluated at 4 different times: in the beginning, and after 3, 6 and 12 months. During the first evaluation, 41.1% (39) of our participants had acute stress disorder (ASD). It was found that lower perceived social support (OR = 0.0908, 95% CI = 0.834-0.989, p = 0.027) and higher peritraumatic dissociative experience scores (OR = 1.332, 95% CI = 1.170-1.516, p < 0.001) were significant predictors of ASD. In the evaluations after 3, 6 and 12 months after the accident, we found PTSD affected 29.8, 23.1 and 17.9% of the participants, respectively. Although limitations at work and in social life after a traffic accident were not related to PTSD at 3 months (OR = 122.43, 95% CI = 0.000, p = 0.999) or at 6 months (OR = 63.438, 95% CI = 0.529-76.059, p = 0.089), limitations at work and in social life were predictors of PTSD at 12 months (OR = 155.514, 95% CI = 2.321-104.22, p = 0.019). The persistence of PTSD at the 12-month evaluation is related to ASD, limitations in work and social life, and lower social support scores. In developing countries like Turkey, long-term PTSD is commonly seen after traffic accidents. 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel.

ATF Neutron Irradiation Program Irradiation Vehicle Design Concepts

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Geringer, J. W.; Katoh, Yutai; Howard, Richard H.

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) under the Civil Nuclear Energy Working Group (CNWG) is engaged in a cooperative research effort with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to explore issues related to nuclear energy, including research on accident-tolerant fuels and materials for use in light water reactors. This work develops a draft technical plan for a neutron irradiation program on the candidate accident-tolerant fuel cladding materials and elements using the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR). The research program requires the design of a detailed experiment, development of test vehicles, irradiation of test specimens, possible post irradiation examination and characterizationmore » of irradiated materials and the shipment of irradiated materials to Japan. This report discusses the conceptual design, the development and irradiation of the test vehicles.« less

Emotional reactivity: Beware its involvement in traffic accidents.

PubMed

M'bailara, Katia; Atzeni, Thierry; Contrand, Benjamin; Derguy, Cyrielle; Bouvard, Manuel-Pierre; Lagarde, Emmanuel; Galéra, Cédric

2018-04-01

Reducing risk attributable to traffic accidents is a public health challenge. Research into risk factors in the area is now moving towards identification of the psychological factors involved, particularly emotional states. The aim of this study was to evaluate the link between emotional reactivity and responsibility in road traffic accidents. We hypothesized that the more one's emotional reactivity is disturbed, the greater the likelihood of being responsible for a traffic accident. This case-control study was based on a sample of 955 drivers injured in a motor vehicle crash. Responsibility levels were determined with a standardized method adapted from the quantitative Robertson and Drummer crash responsibility instrument. Emotional reactivity was assessed with the MATHYS. Hierarchical cluster analysis discriminated four distinctive driver's emotional reactivity profiles: basic emotional reactivity (54%), mild emotional hyper-reactivity (29%), emotional hyper-reactivity (11%) and emotional hypo-reactivity (6%). Drivers who demonstrated emotional hypo-reactivity had a 2.3-fold greater risk of being responsible for a traffic accident than those with basic emotional reactivity. Drivers' responsibility in traffic accidents depends on their emotional status. The latter can change the ability of drivers, modifying their behavior and thus increasing their propensity to exhibit risk behavior and to cause traffic accidents. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Children in crashes: mechanisms of injury and restraint systems

PubMed Central

Lapner, Peter C.; McKay, Morag; Howard, Andrew; Gardner, Bill; German, Alan; Letts, Mervyn

2001-01-01

Objectives To explore the levels of protection offered to children involved in motor vehicle collisions. Design A joint study by the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and Transport Canada, Ottawa, conducted in 2 phases: retrospective from 1990 to 1997 and prospective from 1998 to 2000. Setting CHEO, a university affiliated tertiary care centre. Patients Children admitted to CHEO between 1990 and 2000 with spinal trauma due to motor vehical crashes (MVCs). Phase 1 of the study involved analysis, in a series of 45 children after MVAs, by location of spinal injury versus belt type. Phase 2 was a prospective study of 22 children injured in 15 MVAs. Interventions A biomechanical assessment of the vehicle and its influence on the injuries sustained. Main outcome measures The nature and extent of the injuries sustained, and the vehicle dynamics and associated occupant kinematics. Results The odds ratio of sustaining a spinal injury while wearing a 2-point belt versus a 3-point belt was 24 (95% confidence interval 2.0–2.45, p < 0.1), indicating a much higher incidence with a lap belt than a shoulder strap. Conclusions Proper seat-belt restraint reduces the morbidity in children involved in MVCs. Children under the age of 12 years should not be front-seat passengers until the sensitivity of air bags has been improved. Three-point pediatric seat belts should be available for family automobiles to reduce childhood trauma in MVCs. PMID:11764879

Computational modeling of driver speed control with its applications in developing intelligent transportation system to prevent speeding-related accidents.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-08-01

Speeding is the leading contributing factor in fatal accidents in NY state, according to NY State Department of Motor : Vehicle Accidents Statistical Summary (2009). Understanding and modeling speeding and speed control is one of major : challenges i...

Development of an in-vehicle intersection collision countermeasure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pierowicz, John A.

1997-02-01

Intersection collisions constitute approximately twenty-six percent of all accidents in the United States. Because of their complexity, and demands on the perceptual and decision making abilities of the driver, intersections present an increased risk of collisions between automobiles. This situation provides an opportunity to apply advanced sensor and processing capabilities to prevent these collisions. A program to determine the characteristics of intersection collisions and identify potential countermeasures will be described. This program, sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, utilized accident data to develop a taxonomy of intersection crashes. This taxonomy was used to develop a concept for an intersection collision avoidance countermeasure. The concept utilizes in-vehicle position, dynamic status, and millimeter wave radar system and an in-vehicle computer system to provide inputs to an intersection collision avoidance algorithm. Detection of potential violation of traffic control device, or proceeding into the intersection with inadequate gap will lead to the presentation of a warning to the driver. These warnings are presented to the driver primarily via a head-up display and haptic feedback. Roadside to vehicle communication provides information regarding phased traffic signal information. Active control of the vehicle's brake and steering systems are described. Progress in the development of the systems will be presented along with the schedule of future activities.

Comparison of the effects of two legal blood alcohol limits: the presence of alcohol in traffic accidents according to category of driver in Izmir, Turkey.

PubMed

Karakus, Akan; İdiz, Nuri; Dalgiç, Mustafa; Uluçay, Tarik; Sincar, Yasemin

2015-01-01

Under existing Turkish road traffic law, there are 2 different blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limits allowed for drivers in 2013: zero blood alcohol and ≤0.50 g/L. All public transport, taxi, commercial, and official vehicle drivers must maintain a zero blood alcohol concentration while driving. Private vehicle drivers must maintain a BAC of 0.50 g/L or lower. The aim of the recent study was to evaluate the effect of these 2 legal blood alcohol limits on nonfatal traffic accidents that occurred due to the driver being under the influence of alcohol. This retrospective study was performed to evaluate the blood alcohol concentration of 224 drivers in nonfatal road accidents between June 2010 and July 2011 using headspace gas chromatography at the Izmir Forensic Medicine Group Presidency, Turkey. All cases evaluated by the toxicology department were entered into a database. We used descriptive statistics, χ(2) test, and independent sampling test to analyze the data. The total number of drivers involved in nonfatal traffic accidents was 224; 191 were private vehicle drivers and 33 were public transport, taxi, commercial, and official vehicle drivers. In the present study, alcohol was detected in the blood of about 27.2% (n = 61) of the 224 drivers. Sixty (31.4%) private vehicle drivers involved in nonfatal traffic accidents tested positive for alcohol. BAC values were also above the legal limit (0.50 g/L) in 27.7% (n = 53) of private vehicle drivers. However, the BAC was above the legal limit in only 3% (n = 1) of public transport, commercial, and official vehicle drivers involved in nonfatal traffic accidents. These results showed that private vehicle drivers subject to a BAC limit of ≤0.50 g/L were significantly associated with an increased risk of nonfatal accident involvement than drivers subject to a zero BAC limit (odds ratio [OR] = 12.29, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.64-92.22; Fisher's exact test, P <.001). Mean BAC in private vehicle drivers subject

Rules of the Road for Transporting Children--Guidelines for Developing a Motor Vehicle Safety Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hooker, Bruce; Gearhart, Kentin

1999-01-01

Discusses safety issues for child care centers that provide transportation for children. Notes the importance of vehicle usage and control, driver qualifications, vehicle maintenance, child securement, accident procedures, and driver education and training. (JPB)

Application of 3D documentation and geometric reconstruction methods in traffic accident analysis: with high resolution surface scanning, radiological MSCT/MRI scanning and real data based animation.

PubMed

Buck, Ursula; Naether, Silvio; Braun, Marcel; Bolliger, Stephan; Friederich, Hans; Jackowski, Christian; Aghayev, Emin; Christe, Andreas; Vock, Peter; Dirnhofer, Richard; Thali, Michael J

2007-07-20

The examination of traffic accidents is daily routine in forensic medicine. An important question in the analysis of the victims of traffic accidents, for example in collisions between motor vehicles and pedestrians or cyclists, is the situation of the impact. Apart from forensic medical examinations (external examination and autopsy), three-dimensional technologies and methods are gaining importance in forensic investigations. Besides the post-mortem multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the documentation and analysis of internal findings, highly precise 3D surface scanning is employed for the documentation of the external body findings and of injury-inflicting instruments. The correlation of injuries of the body to the injury-inflicting object and the accident mechanism are of great importance. The applied methods include documentation of the external and internal body and the involved vehicles and inflicting tools as well as the analysis of the acquired data. The body surface and the accident vehicles with their damages were digitized by 3D surface scanning. For the internal findings of the body, post-mortem MSCT and MRI were used. The analysis included the processing of the obtained data to 3D models, determination of the driving direction of the vehicle, correlation of injuries to the vehicle damages, geometric determination of the impact situation and evaluation of further findings of the accident. In the following article, the benefits of the 3D documentation and computer-assisted, drawn-to-scale 3D comparisons of the relevant injuries with the damages to the vehicle in the analysis of the course of accidents, especially with regard to the impact situation, are shown on two examined cases.

Bayes classifiers for imbalanced traffic accidents datasets.

PubMed

Mujalli, Randa Oqab; López, Griselda; Garach, Laura

2016-03-01

Traffic accidents data sets are usually imbalanced, where the number of instances classified under the killed or severe injuries class (minority) is much lower than those classified under the slight injuries class (majority). This, however, supposes a challenging problem for classification algorithms and may cause obtaining a model that well cover the slight injuries instances whereas the killed or severe injuries instances are misclassified frequently. Based on traffic accidents data collected on urban and suburban roads in Jordan for three years (2009-2011); three different data balancing techniques were used: under-sampling which removes some instances of the majority class, oversampling which creates new instances of the minority class and a mix technique that combines both. In addition, different Bayes classifiers were compared for the different imbalanced and balanced data sets: Averaged One-Dependence Estimators, Weightily Average One-Dependence Estimators, and Bayesian networks in order to identify factors that affect the severity of an accident. The results indicated that using the balanced data sets, especially those created using oversampling techniques, with Bayesian networks improved classifying a traffic accident according to its severity and reduced the misclassification of killed and severe injuries instances. On the other hand, the following variables were found to contribute to the occurrence of a killed causality or a severe injury in a traffic accident: number of vehicles involved, accident pattern, number of directions, accident type, lighting, surface condition, and speed limit. This work, to the knowledge of the authors, is the first that aims at analyzing historical data records for traffic accidents occurring in Jordan and the first to apply balancing techniques to analyze injury severity of traffic accidents. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Evaluating psychological injury in motor vehicle accidents (MVA): development and validation of a protocol for detecting pretense].

PubMed

Arce, Ramón; Fariña, Francisca; Carballal, Alicia; Novo, Mercedes

2006-05-01

In order to assess the feigning ability of the psychological injury in a motor vehicle accident (MVA), a total of 105 subjects, which never had suffered a serious MVA and lay in psychopathology, responded to the MMPI-2 in line with the standard instructions. Thereafter, subjects were instructed to feign moral damage generated by a MVA prior to being evaluated using a clinical-forensic interview a week later, and responding to the MMPI-2 another week later. The results show that 60.9% of the subjects were able to effectively feign moral damage on the MMPI-2, and 3.8% in the forensic clinical interview. The analysis of the instruments and procedures for the validation of subject responses i.e., the original validity control scales of the MMPI-2 and the analysis of feigning strategies in the forensic clinical interview, revealed no efficacy in feigning detection. Nevertheless, collectively, all the control measures and procedures were effective for the detection of feigning. Therefore, a protocol for the detection of feigning of moral damage has been proposed.

Test analysis and research on static choice reaction ability of commercial vehicle drivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Lingchao; Wei, Lang; Qiao, Jie; Tian, Shun; Wang, Shengchang

2017-03-01

Drivers' choice reaction ability has a certain relation with safe driving. It has important significance to research its influence on traffic safety. Firstly, the paper uses a choice reaction detector developed by research group to detect drivers' choice reaction ability of commercial vehicles, and gets 2641 effective samples. Then by using mathematical statistics method, the paper founds that average reaction time from accident group has no difference with non-accident group, and then introduces a variance rate of reaction time as a new index to replace it. The result shows that the test index choice reaction errors and variance rate of reaction time have positive correlations with accidents. Finally, according to testing results of the detector, the paper formulates a detection threshold with four levels for helping transportation companies to assess commercial vehicles drivers.

Do Cognitive Models Help in Predicting the Severity of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Phobia, and Depression After Motor Vehicle Accidents? A Prospective Longitudinal Study

PubMed Central

Ehring, Thomas; Ehlers, Anke; Glucksman, Edward

2008-01-01

The study investigated the power of theoretically derived cognitive variables to predict posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), travel phobia, and depression following injury in a motor vehicle accident (MVA). MVA survivors (N = 147) were assessed at the emergency department on the day of their accident and 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months later. Diagnoses were established with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM–IV. Predictors included initial symptom severities; variables established as predictors of PTSD in E. J. Ozer, S. R. Best, T. L. Lipsey, and D. S. Weiss's (2003) meta-analysis; and variables derived from cognitive models of PTSD, phobia, and depression. Results of nonparametric multiple regression analyses showed that the cognitive variables predicted subsequent PTSD and depression severities over and above what could be predicted from initial symptom levels. They also showed greater predictive power than the established predictors, although the latter showed similar effect sizes as in the meta-analysis. In addition, the predictors derived from cognitive models of PTSD and depression were disorder-specific. The results support the role of cognitive factors in the maintenance of emotional disorders following trauma. PMID:18377119

Functional capacity evaluation of work performance among individuals with pelvic injuries following motor vehicle accidents.

PubMed

Ratzon, Navah Z; Ari Shevil, Eynat Ben; Froom, Paul; Friedman, Sharon; Amit, Yehuda

2013-01-01

Pelvic injuries following motor vehicle accidents (MVA) cause disability and affect work capabilities. This study evaluated functional, self-report, and medical-based factors that could predict work capacity as was reflected in a functional capacity evaluation (FCE) among persons who sustained a pelvic injury. It was hypothesized that self-reported functional status and bio-demographic variables would predict work capacity. Sixty-one community-dwelling adults previously hospitalized following a MVA induced pelvic injury. FCE for work performance was conducted using the Physical Work Performance Evaluation (PWPE). Additional data was collected through a demographics questionnaire and the Functional Status Questionnaire. All participants underwent an orthopedic medical examination of the hip and lower extremities. Most participants self-reported that their work capacity post-injury were lower than their job required. PWPE scores indicated below-range functional performance. Regression models predicted 23% to 51% of PWPE subtests. Participants' self-report of functioning (instrumental activities of daily living and work) and bio-demographic variables (gender and age) were better predictors of PWPE scores than factors originating from the medical examination. Results support the inclusion of FCE, in addition to self-report of functioning and medical examination, to evaluate work capacity among individuals' post-pelvic injury and interventions and discharge planning.

Motor vehicle seat belt restraint system analysis during rollover.

PubMed

Meyer, Steven E; Hock, Davis; Forrest, Stephen; Herbst, Brian; Sances, Anthony; Kumaresan, Srirangam

2003-01-01

The multi-planar and multiple impact long duration accident sequence of a real world rollover results in multidirectional vehicle acceleration pulses and multiplanar occupant motions not typically seen in a planar crash sequence. Various researchers have documented that, while contemporary production emergency locking seatbelt retractors (ELRs) have been found to be extremely effective in the planar crashes in which they are extensively evaluated, when subjected to multi-planar acceleration environments their response may be different than expected. Specifically, accelerations in the vertical plane have been shown to substantially affect the timeliness of the retractors inertial sensor moving out of its neutral position and locking the seat belt. An analysis of the vehicle occupant motions relative to the acceleration pulses sensed at the retractor location indicates a time phase shift that, under certain circumstances, can result in unexpected seat belt spool out and occupant excursions in these multi-planar, multiple impact crash sequences. This paper will review the various previous studies focusing on the retractors response to these multidirectional, including vertical, acceleration environments and review statistical studies based upon U.S. government collected data indicating a significant difference in belt usage rates in rollover accidents as compared to all other planar accident modes. A significant number of real world accident case studies will be reviewed wherein the performance of ELR equipped seatbelt systems spooled out. Finally, the typical occupant injury and the associated mechanism due to belt spool out in real world accidents will be delineated.

CARDfile data base representativeness, Phase 1 : general characteristics including populations, vehicles, roads, and fatal accidents

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1988-08-01

This report details the results of an analysis performed to evaluate the : representativeness of the Crash Avoidance Research accident data base : (CARDfile). The accident records for 1983 and 1984 from six states (Indiana, : Maryland, Michigan, Penn...

CARDfile Data Base Representatives - Phase I: General Characteristics including Populations, Vehicles, Roads, and Fatal Accidents

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1985-12-01

This report details the results of an analysis performed to evaluate the representativeness of the Crash Avoidance Research accident data base (CARDfile). The accident records for 1983 and 1984 from six states (Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Pennsylvan...

Construction equipment and motor vehicle related injuries on construction sites in Turkey.

PubMed

Gürcanli, G Emre; Müngen, Ugur; Akad, Murat

2008-08-01

Research on occupational accidents on construction sites in Turkey is very few. Moreover, research on motor vehicle and equipment accidents also do not exist. Investigation in the scope of this study shows that after falls and contact with electricity, accidents involving heavy equipment and motor vehicles rank third and fourth, respectively. This study aims to reveal the characteristics of these types of accidents, deduct the prominent causes that lead to fatalities as well as permanent disabilities using the present data. With the aid of obtained results, recommendations are made for safety experts on how to derive data from insufficient sources in Turkey and to evaluate these data for prevention and mitigation of the risks that construction workers are exposed to. 168 fatal and 38 non-fatal traffic accident-caused incidents as well as 206 fatal and 97 non-fatal construction equipment accidents, which were selected from official statistics and expert reports, were taken into consideration. Analysis and classification of these accidents were done according to the way they happened, the type of construction site and the occupation of the victims. Moreover, the leading causes of fatal and non-fatal injuries, to which drivers, operators and co-operators are exposed, are presented. Critical findings concerning prominent ways of occurrence, type of construction work and occupation are presented; and a number of measures for reducing the present risks are suggested. Some approaches for analysing relevant data are proposed for further research.

Numerical reconstruction and injury biomechanism in a car-pedestrian crash accident.

PubMed

Zou, Dong-Hua; Li, Zheng-Dong; Shao, Yu; Feng, Hao; Chen, Jian-Guo; Liu, Ning-Guo; Huang, Ping; Chen, Yi-Jiu

2012-12-01

To reconstruct a car-pedestrian crash accident using numerical simulation technology and explore the injury biomechanism as forensic evidence for injury identification. An integration of multi-body dynamic, finite element (FE), and classical method was applied to a car-pedestrian crash accident. The location of the collision and the details of the traffic accident were determined by vehicle trace verification and autopsy. The accident reconstruction was performed by coupling the three-dimensional car behavior from PC-CRASH with a MADYMO dummy model. The collision FE models of head and leg, developed from CT scans of human remains, were loaded with calculated dummy collision parameters. The data of the impact biomechanical responses were extracted in terms of von Mises stress, relative displacement, strain and stress fringes. The accident reconstruction results were identical with the examined ones and the biomechanism of head and leg injuries, illustrated through the FE methods, were consistent with the classical injury theories. The numerical simulation technology is proved to be effective in identifying traffic accidents and exploring of injury biomechanism.

FACTORS AFFECTING ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS IN BENGHAZI, LIBYA

PubMed Central

Al-Ghaweel, Ibrahim; Mursi, Saleh A.; Jack, Joel P.; Joel, Irene

2009-01-01

Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate the factors responsible for road traffic accidents in Benghazi. Material and Methods: Retrospective and descriptive studies were done in the years 2006-2007. The data was collected from Traffic and License Department, Benghazi. The data were analyzed, based on fatalities, the severely handicapped, hit and run victims and were correlated with age, sex, time, environmental factors, type of roads, etc. Results: One-Thousand-Two-Hundred-Sixty-Five accidents occurred between the years 2006-2007 within the Benghazi city limits; 11.14% of the injuries were fatal; 67.35% of the victims had severe injuries and 21.51% escaped with minor injuries. Table 1 shows that 73.04% lost their lives within the city limits, 13.47% on the fly-over, and 2.12% on minor roads connected to main roads within the city limits. The mean of the accidents and its standard deviation were 16.66± 25.67 with a variance of fatality of 1.54. Conclusion: It is concluded from the studies that major road traffic accidents occur because of environmental stress factors. In addition, fatalities and the seriousness of the accidents depend on a number of factors such as the age of the vehicle, safety measures, human error and time and place of accident. PMID:23012183

Fatal accident distribution by age, gender and head injury, and death probability at accident scene in Mashhad, Iran, 2006-2009.

PubMed

Zangooei Dovom, Hossein; Shafahi, Yousef; Zangooei Dovom, Mehdi

2013-01-01

Several studies have investigated road traffic deaths, but few have compared by road user type. Iran, with an estimated 44 road traffic deaths per 100,000 population in 2002 had higher road traffic deaths than any other country for which reliable estimates can be made. So, the present study was conducted on road death data and identified fatal accident distribution by age, gender and head injury as well as the influences of age and gender on deaths at accident scenes for all road user groups. Data used in this study are on fatal road accidents recorded by forensic medicine experts of the Khorasan Razavi province in Mashhad, the capital of the province, the second largest city and the largest place of pilgrimage, immigration and tourism in Iran. Chi-square test and odds ratio were used to identify the relation of death place with age and gender in 2495 fatal road accidents from 2006 to 2009. The t-test and analysis of variance were employed for continues variable, age, to compare males' and females' mean age for all road user categories. For two genders, all three groups of fatalities (pedestrian, motorcyclist and motor vehicle occupant) had a peak at the ages of 21-30. The youngest were male motorcyclists (mean age = 28). Old pedestrians were included in road deaths very much, too. Male/female overall ratio was 3.41 and the highest male/female ratio was related to motorcyclists (14). The overall ratio of head injury to other organ injuries (torso and underbody) was 2.51 and pedestrians had the largest amount of head injury (38.2%). Regarding death at accident scene, for all road users, gender did not have any significant relation with death at the scene (P-value > 0.1); on the contrary, age had significant relation (P-value < 0.05). Females were more vulnerable at accident scenes (male/female ratio at accident sense < 1). Pedestrians aged 21-30, motorcyclists 41-50 and motor vehicle occupants 31-40 died the most at accident scenes. Identifying the most

Unanticipated benefits of automotive emission control: reduction in fatalities by motor vehicle exhaust gas.

PubMed

Shelef, M

1994-05-23

In 1970, before the implementation of strict controls on emissions in motor vehicle exhaust gas (MVEG), the annual USA incidence of fatal accidents by carbon monoxide in the MVEG was approximately 800 and that of suicides approximately 2000 (somewhat less than 10% of total suicides). In 1987, there were approximately 400 fatal accidents and approximately 2700 suicides by MVEG. Accounting for the growth in population and vehicle registration, the yearly lives saved in accidents by MVEG were approximately 1200 in 1987 and avoided suicides approximately 1400. The decrease in accidents continues unabated while the decrease in expected suicides by MVEG reached a plateau in 1981-1983. The reasons for this disparity are discussed. Juxtaposition of these results with the projected cancer risk avoidance of less than 500 annually in 2005 (as compared with 1986) plainly shows that, in terms of mortality, the unanticipated benefits of emission control far overshadow the intended benefits. With the spread of MVEG control these benefits will accrue worldwide.

Accident prediction model for public highway-rail grade crossings.

PubMed

Lu, Pan; Tolliver, Denver

2016-05-01

Considerable research has focused on roadway accident frequency analysis, but relatively little research has examined safety evaluation at highway-rail grade crossings. Highway-rail grade crossings are critical spatial locations of utmost importance for transportation safety because traffic crashes at highway-rail grade crossings are often catastrophic with serious consequences. The Poisson regression model has been employed to analyze vehicle accident frequency as a good starting point for many years. The most commonly applied variations of Poisson including negative binomial, and zero-inflated Poisson. These models are used to deal with common crash data issues such as over-dispersion (sample variance is larger than the sample mean) and preponderance of zeros (low sample mean and small sample size). On rare occasions traffic crash data have been shown to be under-dispersed (sample variance is smaller than the sample mean) and traditional distributions such as Poisson or negative binomial cannot handle under-dispersion well. The objective of this study is to investigate and compare various alternate highway-rail grade crossing accident frequency models that can handle the under-dispersion issue. The contributions of the paper are two-fold: (1) application of probability models to deal with under-dispersion issues and (2) obtain insights regarding to vehicle crashes at public highway-rail grade crossings. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Factors contributing to young moped rider accidents in Denmark.

PubMed

Møller, Mette; Haustein, Sonja

2016-02-01

Young road users still constitute a high-risk group with regard to road traffic accidents. The crash rate of a moped is four times greater than that of a motorcycle, and the likelihood of being injured in a road traffic accident is 10-20 times higher among moped riders compared to car drivers. Nevertheless, research on the behaviour and accident involvement of young moped riders remains sparse. Based on analysis of 128 accident protocols, the purpose of this study was to increase knowledge about moped accidents. The study was performed in Denmark involving riders aged 16 or 17. A distinction was made between accident factors related to (1) the road and its surroundings, (2) the vehicle, and (3) the reported behaviour and condition of the road user. Thirteen accident factors were identified with the majority concerning the reported behaviour and condition of the road user. The average number of accident factors assigned per accident was 2.7. Riding speed was assigned in 45% of the accidents which made it the most frequently assigned factor on the part of the moped rider followed by attention errors (42%), a tuned up moped (29%) and position on the road (14%). For the other parties involved, attention error (52%) was the most frequently assigned accident factor. The majority (78%) of the accidents involved road rule breaching on the part of the moped rider. The results indicate that preventive measures should aim to eliminate violations and increase anticipatory skills among moped riders and awareness of mopeds among other road users. Due to their young age the effect of such measures could be enhanced by infrastructural measures facilitating safe interaction between mopeds and other road users. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Empirical Non-TNT Approach to Launch Vehicle Explosion Modeling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blackwood, James M.; Skinner, Troy; Richardson, Erin H.; Bangham, Michal E.

2015-01-01

In an effort to increase crew survivability from catastrophic explosions of Launch Vehicles (LV), a study was conducted to determine the best method for predicting LV explosion environments in the near field. After reviewing such methods as TNT equivalence, Vapor Cloud Explosion (VCE) theory, and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), it was determined that the best approach for this study was to assemble all available empirical data from full scale launch vehicle explosion tests and accidents. Approximately 25 accidents or full-scale tests were found that had some amount of measured blast wave, thermal, or fragment explosion environment characteristics. Blast wave overpressure was found to be much lower in the near field than predicted by most TNT equivalence methods. Additionally, fragments tended to be larger, fewer, and slower than expected if the driving force was from a high explosive type event. In light of these discoveries, a simple model for cryogenic rocket explosions is presented. Predictions from this model encompass all known applicable full scale launch vehicle explosion data. Finally, a brief description of on-going analysis and testing to further refine the launch vehicle explosion environment is discussed.

A robust observer based on H∞ filtering with parameter uncertainties combined with Neural Networks for estimation of vehicle roll angle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boada, Beatriz L.; Boada, Maria Jesus L.; Vargas-Melendez, Leandro; Diaz, Vicente

2018-01-01

Nowadays, one of the main objectives in road transport is to decrease the number of accident victims. Rollover accidents caused nearly 33% of all deaths from passenger vehicle crashes. Roll Stability Control (RSC) systems prevent vehicles from untripped rollover accidents. The lateral load transfer is the main parameter which is taken into account in the RSC systems. This parameter is related to the roll angle, which can be directly measured from a dual-antenna GPS. Nevertheless, this is a costly technique. For this reason, roll angle has to be estimated. In this paper, a novel observer based on H∞ filtering in combination with a neural network (NN) for the vehicle roll angle estimation is proposed. The design of this observer is based on four main criteria: to use a simplified vehicle model, to use signals of sensors which are installed onboard in current vehicles, to consider the inaccuracy in the system model and to attenuate the effect of the external disturbances. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed observer.

Pattern extraction for high-risk accidents in the construction industry: a data-mining approach.

PubMed

Amiri, Mehran; Ardeshir, Abdollah; Fazel Zarandi, Mohammad Hossein; Soltanaghaei, Elahe

2016-09-01

Accidents involving falls and falling objects (group I) are highly frequent accidents in the construction industry. While being hit by a vehicle, electric shock, collapse in the excavation and fire or explosion accidents (group II) are much less frequent, they make up a considerable proportion of severe accidents. In this study, multiple-correspondence analysis, decision tree, ensembles of decision tree and association rules methods are employed to analyse a database of construction accidents throughout Iran between 2007 and 2011. The findings indicate that in group I, there is a significant correspondence among these variables: time of accident, place of accident, body part affected, final consequence of accident and lost workdays. Moreover, the frequency of accidents in the night shift is less than others, and the frequency of injury to the head, back, spine and limbs are more. In group II, the variables time of accident and body part affected are mostly related and the frequency of accidents among married and older workers is more than single and young workers. There was a higher frequency in the evening, night shifts and weekends. The results of this study are totally in line with the previous research.

A review on the temporal pattern of deer-vehicle accidents: impact of seasonal, diurnal and lunar effects in cervids.

PubMed

Steiner, Wolfgang; Leisch, Friedrich; Hackländer, Klaus

2014-05-01

The increasing number of deer-vehicle-accidents (DVAs) and the resulting economic costs have promoted numerous studies on behavioural and environmental factors which may contribute to the quantity, spatiotemporal distribution and characteristics of DVAs. Contrary to the spatial pattern of DVAs, data of their temporal pattern is scarce and difficult to obtain because of insufficient accuracy in available datasets, missing standardization in data aquisition, legal terms and low reporting rates to authorities. Literature of deer-traffic collisions on roads and railways is reviewed to examine current understanding of DVA temporal trends. Seasonal, diurnal and lunar peak accident periods are identified for deer, although seasonal pattern are not consistent among and within species or regions and data on effects of lunar cycles on DVAs is almost non-existent. Cluster analysis of seasonal DVA data shows nine distinct clusters of different seasonal DVA pattern for cervid species within the reviewed literature. Studies analyzing the relationship between time-related traffic predictors and DVAs yield mixed results. Despite the seasonal dissimilarity, diurnal DVA pattern are comparatively constant in deer, resulting in pronounced DVA peaks during the hours of dusk and dawn frequently described as bimodal crepuscular pattern. Behavioural aspects in activity seem to have the highest impact in DVAs temporal trends. Differences and variations are related to habitat-, climatic- and traffic characteristics as well as effects of predation, hunting and disturbance. Knowledge of detailed temporal DVA pattern is essential for prevention management as well as for the application and evaluation of mitigation measures. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Aberrant Behaviors and Road Accidents among Iranian Truck Drivers, 2010.

PubMed

Ketabi, Damon; Barkhordari, Abalfazl; Mirmohammadi, Seyyed Jalil; Mehrparvar, Amir Houshang

2011-01-01

Road accidents are a social phenomenon in different communities that its infra-structural dimensions of which as well as technologic failures such as road quality, and tech-nical faults of automobiles, need to be assessed in detail. Iran has the first order in the world for deadly road accidents. This study was designed to assess the association between aberrant behaviors of truck drivers and the incidence of road accidents in Yazd, center of Iran, in 2010. This cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study was conducted on 300 truck drivers in Yazd. We used 3 questionnaires, including one for demographic data, Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ), and one for drivers' self-evaluation of the of their driving. Five types of the behavior had the highest frequency: Misjudge speed of oncoming vehicle when overtaking.; Deliberately disregard the speed limits late at night or very early in the morning.; Ignore 'give way' signs, and narrowly avoid colliding with traffic having right of way.; Stuck behind a slow-moving vehicle on a two-lane highway, you are driven by frustration to try to overtake in risky circumstances.; Drive with only 'half-an-eye' on the road while looking at a map, changing a cassette or radio channel, etc. The more the driver's driv-ing was influenced by emotional and mental states the more deliberate violations and slips. Among truck drivers, safety has not developed sufficiently, and because of the dangers of road accidents both for the drivers and other people and its economic losses, the importance of the presenting some solutions is completely obvious.

Road traffic accidents in children: the 'what', 'how' and 'why'.

PubMed

Lee, Yue Yen; Fang, Eric; Weng, Yanyi; Ganapathy, Sashikumar

2018-04-01

Road traffic accidents (RTAs) in Singapore involving children were evaluated, with particular focus on the epidemiology, surrounding circumstances and outcomes of these accidents. Key factors associated with worse prognosis were identified. We proposed some measures that may be implemented to reduce the frequency and severity of such accidents. This was a retrospective study of RTAs involving children aged 0-16 years who presented to the Children's Emergency at KK Women's and Children's Hospital, Singapore, from January 2011 to June 2014. Data was obtained from the National Trauma Registry and analysed in tiers based on the Injury Severity Score (ISS). A total of 1,243 accidents were reviewed. RTA victims included motor vehicle passengers (60.4%), pedestrians (28.5%), cyclists (9.9%) and motorcycle pillion riders (1.2%). The disposition of emergency department (ED) patients was consistent with RTA severity. For serious RTAs, pedestrians accounted for 63.6% and 57.7% of Tier 1 (ISS > 15) and Tier 2 (ISS 9-15) presentations, respectively. Overall use of restraints was worryingly low (36.7%). Not restraining increased the risk of serious RTAs by 8.4 times. Young age, high ISS and low Glasgow Coma Scale score predicted a longer duration of intensive care unit stay. The importance of restraints for motor vehicle passengers or helmets for motorcycle pillion riders and cyclists in reducing morbidity requires emphasis. Suggestions for future prevention and intervention include road safety education, regulation of protective restraints, use of speed enforcement devices and creation of transport policies that minimise kerbside parking. Copyright: © Singapore Medical Association.

Death from a driverless vehicle.

PubMed

Das, Siddhartha; Menezes, Ritesh G

2018-03-01

Road traffic accidents are a major cause of fatalities around the world, and a number of deaths are caused by moving traffic on public roads. Deaths from vehicles that are off the highway may be called non-traffic fatalities which can be due to a vehicle reversing, carbon monoxide poisoning, weather-induced over-heating inside the vehicle and electric windows. Children (and animals) are the usual victims. We report a case from India where a man was found lying dead by the roadside with a lorry nearby. The autopsy findings indicated that he had been run over, but as there was no history of a vehicular collision and with no eyewitnesses, the investigators were unsure of the probable sequence of events that led to his death. The autopsy findings, history, circumstantial evidence and chemical analysis enabled us to work out what had happened.

Model of cyclist accident characteristics in the city of Malang and Blitar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arifin, M. Z.; Agustin, I. W.

2018-01-01

Utilization of bicycles as an environmentally friendly mode of transportation is reconcerned as the development of sustainable transportation programs. The use of bicycles in some developed countries such as the Netherlands is 27 per cent of total travel, while for developing countries such as Indonesia, cyclists are less than 1% of total travel with low educated characteristics (65 per cent) and low income (48 per cent). Cyclist reduces dependencies on petroleum and environmental pollution as well as lessen the occurrence of congestion and traffic accidents involving motor vehicles. It was necessary to know the behavior and interaction of bicycle riders with other vehicle users in a heterogeneous traffic flow. The main purpose of the research is to create a model of bicycle accidents to increase the road traffic safety in Malang city and Blitar city. The research used analyses of frequency, the road’s level of service, and multiple linear regression. The results showed that there was a need for a development basis of a special lane for bicycle. It aims to reduce the level and number of cyclist accidents and to achieve transportation safety as well as to raise public awareness in traffic safety.

Micro-simulation of vehicle conflicts involving right-turn vehicles at signalized intersections based on cellular automata.

PubMed

Chai, C; Wong, Y D

2014-02-01

At intersection, vehicles coming from different directions conflict with each other. Improper geometric design and signal settings at signalized intersection will increase occurrence of conflicts between road users and results in a reduction of the safety level. This study established a cellular automata (CA) model to simulate vehicular interactions involving right-turn vehicles (as similar to left-turn vehicles in US). Through various simulation scenarios for four case cross-intersections, the relationships between conflict occurrences involving right-turn vehicles with traffic volume and right-turn movement control strategies are analyzed. Impacts of traffic volume, permissive right-turn compared to red-amber-green (RAG) arrow, shared straight-through and right-turn lane as well as signal setting are estimated from simulation results. The simulation model is found to be able to provide reasonable assessment of conflicts through comparison of existed simulation approach and observed accidents. Through the proposed approach, prediction models for occurrences and severity of vehicle conflicts can be developed for various geometric layouts and traffic control strategies. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fatality Reduction by Air Bags: Analyses of Accident Data through Early 1996

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1996-08-01

The fatality risk of front-seat occupants of passenger cars and light trucks equipped with air bags is compared to the corresponding risk in similar vehicles without air bags, based on statistical analysis of Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS)dat...

The economic costs of traffic accidents in Spain.

PubMed

Bastida, Julio López; Aguilar, Pedro Serrano; González, Beatriz Duque

2004-04-01

This study aimed to evaluate the economic impact of traffic accidents in Spain during 1997. The cost-of-illness method was used. Direct costs were divided into health services costs, insurance administration costs, and the costs of the material damages to the vehicles. Indirect costs were obtained through transformation of physical units into monetary units using the approach based on the human capital theory. The total cost of traffic accidents was 6,280.36 million euros, which amounts to 157.59 euros for each inhabitant in Spain and represents 1.35% of the gross national product. The total direct cost was 3,397.00 million euros, representing 54.1% of the total cost. The total indirect cost was 2,883.36 million euros, accounting for 45.9% of the total cost. The high socioeconomic cost of traffic accidents clearly indicates the need for the different administrations in Spain to collaborate in implementing preventive measures.

Method for Assessing Risk of Road Accidents in Transportation of School Children

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pogotovkina, N. S.; Volodkin, P. P.; Demakhina, E. S.

2017-11-01

The rationale behind the problem being investigated is explained by the remaining high level of the accident rates with the participation of vehicles carrying groups of children, including school buses, in the Russian Federation over the period of several years. The article is aimed at the identification of new approaches to improve the safety of transportation of schoolchildren in accordance with the Concept of children transportation by buses and the plan for its implementation. The leading approach to solve the problem under consideration is the prediction of accidents in the schoolchildren transportation. The article presents the results of the accident rate analysis with the participation of school buses in the Russian Federation for five years. Besides, a system to monitor the transportation of schoolchildren is proposed; the system will allow analyzing and forecasting traffic accidents which involve buses carrying groups of children, including school buses. In addition, the article presents a methodology for assessing the risk of road accidents during the transportation of schoolchildren.

An analysis of drivers most responsible for fatal accidents versus a control sample

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1976-05-01

Author's abstract: Recently the Boston University Traffic Accident Research Special Study Team has completed the investigation of an experimental driver sample consisting of 267 motor vehicle operators judged to have been 'most responsible" for a hig...

An analysis of drivers most responsible for fatal accidents versus a control sample

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1975-11-01

Author's abstract: Recently the Boston University Traffic Accident Research Special Study Team has completed the investigation of an experimental driver sample consisting of 267 motor vehicle operators judged to have been most responsible" for a high...

Agricultural vehicles and rural road safety: tackling a persistent problem.

PubMed

Jaarsma, Catharinus F; De Vries, Jasper R

2014-01-01

Crashes involving agricultural vehicles (AVs) on public roads are an increasing road safety problem. We aim to analyze developments in the appearance and severity of these accidents, identify influencing factors, and draw lessons for possible interventions for accident prevention within the context of modern mechanized agriculture. To analyze developments in the appearance of accidents we use a subset of accidents with AVs involved on public roads in The Netherlands aggregated per year for 1987-2010. To identify and explore preventive measures we use an in-depth study of the Dutch Safety Board. With a study of international literature we put our findings in a wider context. During this time span, Dutch annual averages show 15 registered fatal accidents involving AVs, 93 with hospitalization and 137 with slight injuries. For nonfatal accidents, the numbers are decreasing over time. This decrease is proportionate to the reduction in the total number of traffic victims. For fatalities, however, the number is stable, increasing its proportion in all traffic fatalities from 1 in 1987 to 2 percent in 2010. Related to the number of inhabitants, this number is 2 times the value in the UK and 3 times the value in the United States. Influencing factors can be related to the 3 road system components (AV, driver, and infrastructure). Weak points for AVs are the view from the driver's seat, visibility at night, permitted vehicle width, and crash aggressivity (large kinetic energy of the AV) that is transferred to other road users in case of a collision. Important factors identified for the driver are poor risk perception and high risk acceptance, in combination with speeding, dysfunctional use such as the use of AVs as modes of transport to and from school, and driving on public roads without protecting or removing protruding and sharp components. For infrastructure, the focus is on road design and separation of AVs from other motor vehicles. Lessons to be learned follow from

Traffic accident reconstruction and an approach for prediction of fault rates using artificial neural networks: A case study in Turkey.

PubMed

Can Yilmaz, Ali; Aci, Cigdem; Aydin, Kadir

2016-08-17

Currently, in Turkey, fault rates in traffic accidents are determined according to the initiative of accident experts (no speed analyses of vehicles just considering accident type) and there are no specific quantitative instructions on fault rates related to procession of accidents which just represents the type of collision (side impact, head to head, rear end, etc.) in No. 2918 Turkish Highway Traffic Act (THTA 1983). The aim of this study is to introduce a scientific and systematic approach for determination of fault rates in most frequent property damage-only (PDO) traffic accidents in Turkey. In this study, data (police reports, skid marks, deformation, crush depth, etc.) collected from the most frequent and controversial accident types (4 sample vehicle-vehicle scenarios) that consist of PDO were inserted into a reconstruction software called vCrash. Sample real-world scenarios were simulated on the software to generate different vehicle deformations that also correspond to energy-equivalent speed data just before the crash. These values were used to train a multilayer feedforward artificial neural network (MFANN), function fitting neural network (FITNET, a specialized version of MFANN), and generalized regression neural network (GRNN) models within 10-fold cross-validation to predict fault rates without using software. The performance of the artificial neural network (ANN) prediction models was evaluated using mean square error (MSE) and multiple correlation coefficient (R). It was shown that the MFANN model performed better for predicting fault rates (i.e., lower MSE and higher R) than FITNET and GRNN models for accident scenarios 1, 2, and 3, whereas FITNET performed the best for scenario 4. The FITNET model showed the second best results for prediction for the first 3 scenarios. Because there is no training phase in GRNN, the GRNN model produced results much faster than MFANN and FITNET models. However, the GRNN model had the worst prediction results. The

Emotional Intelligence and the Occurrence of Accidents in Motorcycle Drivers in Kashan, Iran.

PubMed

Asgarian, Fatemeh Sadat; Aghajani, Mohammad; Alavi, Negin Masoudi

There is an inherent risk of death and injury for motorcyclists. Some factors such as personality and psychological characteristics may be contributors of motor vehicle accidents/crashes. This study aimed to determine the relationship between emotional intelligence and its related components and the occurrence of accidents/crashes in motorcycle drivers. In this case-control study, 280 motorcycle drivers with and without a history of motorcycle-related accidents or crashes in Kashan, Iran, were selected for convenience sampling. The tool used was the Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire and included 90 items. Logistic regression revealed that components of emotional intelligence identified as happiness, optimism, flexibility, self-actualization, autonomy, and interpersonal relationships were different between motorcycle drivers with and without an accident/crash. Our findings emphasized the important role of developing and enhancing the skills of emotional intelligence as related to the prevention of accidents/crashes.

The social accident: a theoretical model and a research agenda for studying the influence of social and cultural characteristics on motor vehicle accidents.

PubMed

Factor, Roni; Mahalel, David; Yair, Gad

2007-09-01

The paper develops a sociological model to explain collisions between two drivers or more. The "Social Accident" model presented here integrates empirical findings from prior studies and extant sociological theories. Sociological theory posits that social groups have unique cultural characteristics, which include a distinctive world view and ways of operating that influence its members. These cultural characteristics may cause drivers in different groups to interpret a given situation differently; therefore, they will make conflicting decisions that may possibly lead to road accidents. The proposed model may contribute to an understanding of the social mechanism related to interactions and communication among drivers by presenting new directions for understanding accidents and collisions. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research that will employ the model to assess its predictive and practical utility.

Road Traffic Accident Analysis of Ajmer City Using Remote Sensing and GIS Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhalla, P.; Tripathi, S.; Palria, S.

2014-12-01

With advancement in technology, new and sophisticated models of vehicle are available and their numbers are increasing day by day. A traffic accident has multi-facet characteristics associated with it. In India 93% of crashes occur due to Human induced factor (wholly or partly). For proper traffic accident analysis use of GIS technology has become an inevitable tool. The traditional accident database is a summary spreadsheet format using codes and mileposts to denote location, type and severity of accidents. Geo-referenced accident database is location-referenced. It incorporates a GIS graphical interface with the accident information to allow for query searches on various accident attributes. Ajmer city, headquarter of Ajmer district, Rajasthan has been selected as the study area. According to Police records, 1531 accidents occur during 2009-2013. Maximum accident occurs in 2009 and the maximum death in 2013. Cars, jeeps, auto, pickup and tempo are mostly responsible for accidents and that the occurrence of accidents is mostly concentrated between 4PM to 10PM. GIS has proved to be a good tool for analyzing multifaceted nature of accidents. While road safety is a critical issue, yet it is handled in an adhoc manner. This Study is a demonstration of application of GIS for developing an efficient database on road accidents taking Ajmer City as a study. If such type of database is developed for other cities, a proper analysis of accidents can be undertaken and suitable management strategies for traffic regulation can be successfully proposed.

[Epidemiological profile of traffic accidents in Marília, São Paulo State, Brazil, 2012].

PubMed

Biffe, Carina Rejane Fernandes; Harada, Airi; Bacco, Alexander Bocchi; Coelho, Carine Silveira; Baccarelli, João Lucas Ferrareto; Silva, Karoline Lopes; Braccialli, Luzmarina Aparecida Doretto; Beloni, Margarete; Bernardes, Maria Luiza Guidinho; Lacerda, Stephanie Ribeiro; Silva, Thainá Inoue

2017-01-01

to describe the profile of victims of traffic accidents and traffic-related deaths in Marília-SP, Brazil. this is a descriptive study, based on data from police reports (PR) and Death Certificates (DC), in 2012. 1,537 PR were gathered; among the 3,257 individuals involved in traffic accidents, 67.3% were men, and 53.3% were between 20-39 years of age; most accidents occurred on road intersections (35.2%), at 8 a.m. (6.8%), 1 p.m. (7.2%) and 7 p.m. (8.1%); motorcycle was the most involved vehicle in the accidents (47.6%); among the 78 deaths reported, 61 were men, 31 were over 50 years old, and 23 were motorcyclists; 32 fatal accidents occurred on highways. the main victims and fatal victims of traffic accidents were male motorcyclists; fatal accidents occurred mainly on highways, and the main victims were over 50 years old.

A Saturation Balancing Control Method for Enhancing Dynamic Vehicle Stability (PREPRINT)

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-03-01

force estimation; axle saturation level; independent drive; torque biasing; 1. Introduction Vehicle stability control ( VSC ) systems have widely been...shown to reduce accidents by minimizing driver’s loss of control during aggressive emergency maneuvers. VSC systems manipulate one or more of the... VSC (also referred to as vehicle dynamics control (VDC)) systems available on the market today are brake-based systems which extend the functionality

Road accident rates: strategies and programmes for improving road traffic safety.

PubMed

Goniewicz, K; Goniewicz, M; Pawłowski, W; Fiedor, P

2016-08-01

Nowadays, the problem of road accident rates is one of the most important health and social policy issues concerning the countries in all continents. Each year, nearly 1.3 million people worldwide lose their life on roads, and 20-50 million sustain severe injuries, the majority of which require long-term treatment. The objective of the study was to identify the most frequent, constantly occurring causes of road accidents, as well as outline actions constituting a basis for the strategies and programmes aiming at improving traffic safety on local and global levels. Comparative analysis of literature concerning road safety was performed, confirming that although road accidents had a varied and frequently complex background, their causes have changed only to a small degree over the years. The causes include: lack of control and enforcement concerning implementation of traffic regulation (primarily driving at excessive speed, driving under the influence of alcohol, and not respecting the rights of other road users (mainly pedestrians and cyclists), lack of appropriate infrastructure and unroadworthy vehicles. The number of fatal accidents and severe injuries, resulting from road accidents, may be reduced through applying an integrated approach to safety on roads. The strategies and programmes for improving road traffic should include the following measures: reducing the risk of exposure to an accident, prevention of accidents, reduction in bodily injuries sustained in accidents, and reduction of the effects of injuries by improvement of post-accident medical care.

Visual impairment and road traffic accidents among drivers in Jimma Town, Southwest Ethiopia.

PubMed

Biza, Mohamed; Mossie, Andualem; Woldemichael, Kifle; Gelaw, Yeshigeta

2013-04-01

Vision play a vital role in driving where good and efficient visual functioning of the driver is essential. Any significant loss of visual function will diminish a driver's ability to operate a motor vehicle safely and will thus contribute to road traffic injury. However, there is little evidence indicating that defects of vision alone cause road traffic accidents. To determine the impact of visual impairment and other factors on road traffic accident among vehicle drivers. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 249 sampled drivers in Southwest Ethiopia. A pretested interviewer led questionnaire was used for interview and vision tests were done using Snellen's acuity chart and Ishihara pseudo-isochromatic plates. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 16.0. The mean age of drivers was 33.6 years (SD +/- 10.3). The relative frequency of self reported road traffic accident was 15.3%. The prevalence of uncorrected binocular visual impairment was 1.6% and there was a significant association between visual impairment and road traffic accident (P < 0.05). Uncorrected refractive error was seen in 7.6% and 8.8% of drivers in the right and left eyes respectively, and 3.2% of them had vision less than what is required to obtain driving license (visual acuity of 6/12). None of the drivers with refractive errors were wearing appropriate corrections. Color vision impairment was seen in 1.6% of the drivers. A significant proportion (9.6%) of the drivers did not have eye exam for their driving license. Uncorrected binocular visual impairment was strongly associated with road traffic accident. There is need for consistent inspection and screening, strict rules and regulations of licensing and health education for drivers to minimize road traffic accident.

Fatal and Injury Accident Rates on Federal-Aid and Other Highway Systems/1975

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1977-01-28

Data on fatal and nonfatal injuries in motor vehicle traffic accidents for calendar year 1975 are summarized by highway system in the tables. These tables, compiled from reports submitted to the Federal Highway Administration by the 50 States and the...

Fatal and Injury Accident Rates on Federal-Aid and Other Highway Systems/1973

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1974-11-01

Data on fatal and nonfatal injuries in motor vehicle traffic accidents for calendar year 1973 are summarized highway system in the tables. These tables, compiled from reports submitted by the 50 States and the District of Columbia, include data for a...

Fatal and Injury Accident Rates on Federal-Aid and Other Highway Systems/1974

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1975-11-01

Data on fatal and nonfatal injuries in motor vehicle traffic accidents for calendar year 1974 are summarized by highway system in the tables. These tables, compiled from reports submitted to the Federal Highway Administration by the 50 States and the...

A retrospective study on the unseen epidemic of road traffic injuries and deaths due to accidents in Mwanza City - Tanzania.

PubMed

Ngallaba, S E; Majinge, C; Gilyoma, J; Makerere, D J; Charles, E

2013-06-01

Sixty percent of the global deaths and injuries occur in the developing world and mostly are due to Road traffic accidents (RTAs. looking at the etiological related factors which include, carelessness of the driver, condition of the vehicle or motorcycle, poor condition of roads, risky behavior of the driver, most of these factors can be prevented to some extent. This study therefore, determined the pattern of cases and deaths due to traffic road accidents in Mwanza City Tanzania. In this retrospective study, records, registers and case notes In the surgical ward and causality, medical records and central police station from 2008 to 2011 were used. The study focused on the two referral hospitals (Sekouture regional hospital and Bugando Medical Center). There were 3450 cases due to accidents reported at both centers (Sekouture regional hospital and Bugando Medical Center of which 3224 (93.4%) had complete information for analysis.2225 (69%) were male and 999 (31%) were female, and the most affected group were male. Among the RTAs2809 cases (87%) were due to motor cycle accidents which were the leading cause of RTAs with case fatality rate of 5% while motor vehicle has case fatality rate of 24% which is 5 times that of motor cycle. Among all RTAs the leading cause of injuries is Motor cycle traffic accidents followed by motor vehicle. RTAs are on increase particularly the motor cycle traffic accidents and has claimed a good number of innocent people's lives however most of them are preventable, therefore driving course to be introduced to motor cycle drivers with emphasize on the road posters signal, rules and regular checkup of their motor cycles especially commercial motor cycle.

Sleep Disorders as a Cause of Motor Vehicle Collisions

PubMed Central

de Mello, Marco Túlio; Narciso, Fernanda Veruska; Tufik, Sergio; Paiva, Teresa; Spence, David Warren; BaHammam, Ahmed S.; Verster, Joris C.; Pandi-Perumal, Seithikurippu R.

2013-01-01

Studies have shown that a large proportion of traffic accidents around the world are related to inadequate or disordered sleep. Recent surveys have linked driver fatigue to 16% to 20% of serious highway accidents in the UK, Australia, and Brazil. Fatigue as a result of sleep disorders (especially obstructive sleep apnea), excessive workload and lack of physical and mental rest, have been shown to be major contributing factors in motor vehicle accidents. A number of behavioral, physiological, and psychometric tests are being used increasingly to evaluate the impact of fatigue on driver performance. These include the oculography, polysomnography, actigraphy, the maintenance of wakefulness test, and others. Various strategies have been proposed for preventing or reducing the impact of fatigue on motor vehicle accidents. These have included: Educational programs emphasizing the importance of restorative sleep and the need for drivers to recognize the presence of fatigue symptoms, and to determine when to stop to sleep; The use of exercise to increase alertness and to promote restorative sleep; The use of substances or drugs to promote sleep or alertness (i.e. caffeine, modafinil, melatonin and others), as well as specific sleep disorders treatment; The use of CPAP therapy for reducing excessive sleepiness among drivers who have been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea. The evidence cited in this review justifies the call for all efforts to be undertaken that may increase awareness of inadequate sleep as a cause of traffic accidents. It is strongly recommended that, for the purpose of promoting highway safety and saving lives, all disorders that cause excessive sleepiness should be investigated and monitored. PMID:23626880

Curve Estimation of Number of People Killed in Traffic Accidents in Turkey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berkhan Akalin, Kadir; Karacasu, Murat; Altin, Arzu Yavuz; Ergül, Bariş

2016-10-01

One or more than one vehicle in motion on the highway involving death, injury and loss events which have resulted are called accidents. As a result of increasing population and traffic density, traffic accidents continue to increase and this leads to both human losses and harm to the economy. In addition, also leads to social problems. As a result of increasing population and traffic density, traffic accidents continue to increase and this leads to both human losses and harm to the economy. In addition to this, it also leads to social problems. As a result of traffic accidents, millions of people die year by year. A great majority of these accidents occur in developing countries. One of the most important tasks of transportation engineers is to reduce traffic accidents by creating a specific system. For that reason, statistical information about traffic accidents which occur in the past years should be organized by versed people. Factors affecting the traffic accidents are analyzed in various ways. In this study, modelling the number of people killed in traffic accidents in Turkey is determined. The dead people were modelled using curve fitting method with the number of people killed in traffic accidents in Turkey dataset between 1990 and 2014. It was also predicted the number of dead people by using various models for the future. It is decided that linear model is suitable for the estimates.

A case study of deer-vehicle accidents on I-64.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1971-01-01

This case study of interstate fencing has indicated several findings which should be reviewed by the Virginia Department of Highways Environmental Quality Division. The major findings are: 1. Approximately 55 deer-vehicle collisions occurred on I-64 ...

Estimating Traffic Accidents in Turkey Using Differential Evolution Algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akgüngör, Ali Payıdar; Korkmaz, Ersin

2017-06-01

Estimating traffic accidents play a vital role to apply road safety procedures. This study proposes Differential Evolution Algorithm (DEA) models to estimate the number of accidents in Turkey. In the model development, population (P) and the number of vehicles (N) are selected as model parameters. Three model forms, linear, exponential and semi-quadratic models, are developed using DEA with the data covering from 2000 to 2014. Developed models are statistically compared to select the best fit model. The results of the DE models show that the linear model form is suitable to estimate the number of accidents. The statistics of this form is better than other forms in terms of performance criteria which are the Mean Absolute Percentage Errors (MAPE) and the Root Mean Square Errors (RMSE). To investigate the performance of linear DE model for future estimations, a ten-year period from 2015 to 2024 is considered. The results obtained from future estimations reveal the suitability of DE method for road safety applications.

Yellow taxis have fewer accidents than blue taxis because yellow is more visible than blue

PubMed Central

Ho, Teck-Hua; Chong, Juin Kuan; Xia, Xiaoyu

2017-01-01

Is there a link between the color of a taxi and how many accidents it has? An analysis of 36 mo of detailed taxi, driver, and accident data (comprising millions of data points) from the largest taxi company in Singapore suggests that there is an explicit link. Yellow taxis had 6.1 fewer accidents per 1,000 taxis per month than blue taxis, a 9% reduction in accident probability. We rule out driver difference as an explanatory variable and empirically show that because yellow taxis are more noticeable than blue taxis—especially when in front of another vehicle, and in street lighting—other drivers can better avoid hitting them, directly reducing the accident rate. This finding can play a significant role when choosing colors for public transportation and may save lives as well as millions of dollars. PMID:28265081

Yellow taxis have fewer accidents than blue taxis because yellow is more visible than blue.

PubMed

Ho, Teck-Hua; Chong, Juin Kuan; Xia, Xiaoyu

2017-03-21

Is there a link between the color of a taxi and how many accidents it has? An analysis of 36 mo of detailed taxi, driver, and accident data (comprising millions of data points) from the largest taxi company in Singapore suggests that there is an explicit link. Yellow taxis had 6.1 fewer accidents per 1,000 taxis per month than blue taxis, a 9% reduction in accident probability. We rule out driver difference as an explanatory variable and empirically show that because yellow taxis are more noticeable than blue taxis-especially when in front of another vehicle, and in street lighting-other drivers can better avoid hitting them, directly reducing the accident rate. This finding can play a significant role when choosing colors for public transportation and may save lives as well as millions of dollars.

Spatiotemporal Analysis for Wildlife-Vehicle Based on Accident Statistics of the County Straubing-Bogen in Lower Bavaria

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pagany, R.; Dorner, W.

2016-06-01

During the last years the numbers of wildlife-vehicle-collisions (WVC) in Bavaria increased considerably. Despite the statistical registration of WVC and preventive measures at areas of risk along the roads, the number of such accidents could not be contained. Using geospatial analysis on WVC data of the last five years for county Straubing-Bogen, Bavaria, a small-scale methodology was found to analyse the risk of WVC along the roads in the investigated area. Various indicators were examined, which may be related to WVC. The risk depends on the time of the day and year which shows correlations in turn to the traffic density and wildlife population. Additionally the location of the collision depends on the species and on different environmental parameters. Accidents seem to correlate with the land use left and right of the street. Land use data and current vegetation were derived from remote sensing data, providing information of the general land use, also considering the vegetation period. For this a number of hot spots was selected to identify potential dependencies between land use, vegetation and season. First results from these hotspots show, that WVCs do not only depend on land use, but may show a correlation with the vegetation period. With regard to agriculture and seasonal as well as annual changes this indicates that warnings will fail due to their static character in contrast to the dynamic situation of land use and resulting risk for WVCs. This shows that there is a demand for remote sensing data with a high spatial and temporal resolution as well as a methodology to derive WVC warnings considering land use and vegetation. With remote sensing data, it could become possible to classify land use and calculate risk levels for WVC. Additional parameters, derived from remote sensed data that could be considered are relief and crops as well as other parameters such as ponds, natural and infrastructural barriers that could be related to animal behaviour and

Understanding transit accidents using the National Transit Database and the role of Transit Intelligent Vehicle Initiative Technology in reducing accidents

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2004-06-01

This report documents the results of bus accident data analysis using the 2002 National Transit Database (NTD) and discusses the potential of using advanced technology being studied and developed under the U.S. Department of Transportations (U.S. ...

Cortical folding in post-traumatic stress disorder after motor vehicle accidents: Regional differences in gyrification.

PubMed

Chu, Chun; Xie, Bing; Qiu, Mingguo; Liu, Kaijun; Tan, Liwen; Wu, Yi; Chen, Wei; Zhang, Shaoxiang

2017-04-01

Structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have revealed evidence of brain abnormalities in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients. Cortical complexity and local gyrification index (lGI) reflect potential biological processes associated with normal or abnormal cognitive functioning. In the current study, lGI was used to explore cortical folding in PTSD patients involved in motor vehicle accidents (MVA). MRI brain scans were acquired from 18 PTSD patients who had suffered MVA at least 6 months previously and 18 healthy control subjects. All MRI images were obtained on a 3-T Siemens MRI machine and the cortical folding was analyzed using the workflow provided by software FreeSurfer. A general FreeSurfer's general linear model was used in the group analysis. In addition, correlation analysis was performed between the average of lGI extracted from the significantly different areas and the data for the clinical scale. The PTSD patients had significantly greater Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale scores than the control group. The patients showed significantly reduced lGI in the left lateral orbitofrontal cortex, consistent with findings of previous volumetric studies on PTSD. But there were no significant correlations in the left lateral orbitofrontal cortex between Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale scores and lGI. We suggest that abnormal gyrification in PTSD patients can be an important indicator of neurodevelopment deficits and may indeed be a biological marker for PTSD. © 2016 The Authors. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences © 2016 Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Evaluating the "cushion effect" among children in frontal motor vehicle crashes.

PubMed

Harbaugh, Calista M; Zhang, Peng; Henderson, Brianna; Derstine, Brian A; Holcombe, Sven A; Wang, Stewart C; Kohoyda-Inglis, Carla; Ehrlich, Peter F

2018-05-01

The "Cushion Effect," the phenomenon in which obesity protects against abdominal injury in adults in motor vehicle accidents, has not been evaluated among pediatric patients. This work evaluates the association between subcutaneous fat cross-sectional area, quantified using analytic morphomic techniques and abdominal injury. This retrospective study includes 119 patients aged 1 to 18years involved in frontal impact motor vehicle accidents (2003-2015) with computed tomography scans. Subcutaneous fat cross-sectional area was measured and converted to age- and gender-adjusted percentiles from population-based normative data. Multivariable analysis determined the risk of the primary outcome, Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale (MAIS) 2+ abdominal injury, after adjusting for age, weight, seatbelt status, and impact rating. MAIS 2+ abdominal injuries occurred in 20 (16.8%) of the patients. Subcutaneous fat area percentile was not significantly associated with MAIS 2+ abdominal injury on multivariable logistic regression (adjusted Odds Ratio, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.72-1.03; p=0.10). The "cushion effect" was not apparent among pediatric frontal motor vehicle crash victims in this study. Future work is needed to investigate other analytic morphomic measures. By understanding how body composition relates to injury patterns, there is a unique opportunity to improve vehicle safety design. Prognosis Study, Level III. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Estimating roadside encroachment rates with the combined strengths of accident- and encroachment-based approaches

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-09-01

In two recent studies by Miaou, he proposed a method to estimate vehicle roadside encroachment rates using accident-based models. He further illustrated the use of this method to estimate roadside encroachment rates for rural two-lane undivided roads...

Preliminary Analysis of Aircraft Loss of Control Accidents: Worst Case Precursor Combinations and Temporal Sequencing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Belcastro, Christine M.; Groff, Loren; Newman, Richard L.; Foster, John V.; Crider, Dennis H.; Klyde, David H.; Huston, A. McCall

2014-01-01

Aircraft loss of control (LOC) is a leading cause of fatal accidents across all transport airplane and operational classes, and can result from a wide spectrum of hazards, often occurring in combination. Technologies developed for LOC prevention and recovery must therefore be effective under a wide variety of conditions and uncertainties, including multiple hazards, and their validation must provide a means of assessing system effectiveness and coverage of these hazards. This requires the definition of a comprehensive set of LOC test scenarios based on accident and incident data as well as future risks. This paper defines a comprehensive set of accidents and incidents over a recent 15 year period, and presents preliminary analysis results to identify worst-case combinations of causal and contributing factors (i.e., accident precursors) and how they sequence in time. Such analyses can provide insight in developing effective solutions for LOC, and form the basis for developing test scenarios that can be used in evaluating them. Preliminary findings based on the results of this paper indicate that system failures or malfunctions, crew actions or inactions, vehicle impairment conditions, and vehicle upsets contributed the most to accidents and fatalities, followed by inclement weather or atmospheric disturbances and poor visibility. Follow-on research will include finalizing the analysis through a team consensus process, defining future risks, and developing a comprehensive set of test scenarios with correlation to the accidents, incidents, and future risks. Since enhanced engineering simulations are required for batch and piloted evaluations under realistic LOC precursor conditions, these test scenarios can also serve as a high-level requirement for defining the engineering simulation enhancements needed for generating them.

Estimating the off-network presence of STAA dimensioned vehicles on North Carolina roadways using CMV crash data, 2001-2005

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-05-06

The present study used commercial motor vehicle (CMV) crash data from NCDOTs Traffic Engineering Accident : Analysis System (TEAAS) to infer the presence and relative extent of STAA dimensioned vehicles operating : beyond the 3-mile buffer of the ...

Explorative spatial analysis of traffic accident statistics and road mortality among the provinces of Turkey.

PubMed

Erdogan, Saffet

2009-10-01

The aim of the study is to describe the inter-province differences in traffic accidents and mortality on roads of Turkey. Two different risk indicators were used to evaluate the road safety performance of the provinces in Turkey. These indicators are the ratios between the number of persons killed in road traffic accidents (1) and the number of accidents (2) (nominators) and their exposure to traffic risk (denominator). Population and the number of registered motor vehicles in the provinces were used as denominators individually. Spatial analyses were performed to the mean annual rate of deaths and to the number of fatal accidents that were calculated for the period of 2001-2006. Empirical Bayes smoothing was used to remove background noise from the raw death and accident rates because of the sparsely populated provinces and small number of accident and death rates of provinces. Global and local spatial autocorrelation analyses were performed to show whether the provinces with high rates of deaths-accidents show clustering or are located closer by chance. The spatial distribution of provinces with high rates of deaths and accidents was nonrandom and detected as clustered with significance of P<0.05 with spatial autocorrelation analyses. Regions with high concentration of fatal accidents and deaths were located in the provinces that contain the roads connecting the Istanbul, Ankara, and Antalya provinces. Accident and death rates were also modeled with some independent variables such as number of motor vehicles, length of roads, and so forth using geographically weighted regression analysis with forward step-wise elimination. The level of statistical significance was taken as P<0.05. Large differences were found between the rates of deaths and accidents according to denominators in the provinces. The geographically weighted regression analyses did significantly better predictions for both accident rates and death rates than did ordinary least regressions, as

How shall we design the future vehicle for Chinese market.

PubMed

Chen, Fang; Wang, Minjuan; Zhu, Xi Chan; Li, Jiaqi

2012-01-01

Surface transportation system is developing very fast in China and the number of vehicles is increasing quickly as well. This development creates a lot of problems on traffic safety and the number of accident is also increasing. In this paper, we made deep analysis of different possible causes of safety problems through three aspects: the traffic environment and infrastructure, in-vehicle information system design and the characteristics of drivers. There are many factors in each aspects may contribute to the transportation safety problems. Problems with infrastructure design and traffic design contribute over 50% of the traffic accident. Another important factor is that people has very little traffic safety concept and very weak on understanding the important of right behavior on the road. This paper has pointed the urgent needs to study the human factors in road and transportation system and vehicle HMI design, as there are very few such studies available in literature based on Chinese situation. The paper also proposed the needs to develop proactive educational system that can promote driver's understanding of traffic safety and to take the right action during drive.

Analysis of factors associated with traffic accidents of cyclists attended in Brazilian state capitals.

PubMed

Sousa, Carlos Augusto Moreira de; Bahia, Camila Alves; Constantino, Patrícia

2016-12-01

Brazil has the sixth largest bicycles fleet in the world and bicycle is the most used individual transport vehicle in the country. Few studies address the issue of cyclists' accidents and factors that contribute to or prevent this event. VIVA is a cross-sectional survey and is part of the Violence and Accidents Surveillance System, Brazilian Ministry of Health. We used complex sampling and subsequent data review through multivariate logistic regression and calculation of the respective odds ratios. Odds ratios showed greater likelihood of cyclists' accidents in males, people with less schooling and living in urban and periurban areas. People who were not using the bike to go to work were more likely to suffer an accident. The profile found in this study corroborates findings of other studies. They claim that the coexistence of cyclists and other means of transportation in the same urban space increases the likelihood of accidents. The construction of bicycle-exclusive spaces and educational campaigns are required.

Mandibular Fracture Patterns at a Medical Center in Central Taiwan: A 3-Year Epidemiological Review.

PubMed

Lin, Fu-Yu; Wu, Chao-I; Cheng, Hsu-Tang

2017-12-01

Mandibular fractures constitute a major portion of maxillofacial trauma and may lead to considerable functional and aesthetic sequelae if treatment is inadequate or delayed. An epidemiology study on mandibular fractures may guide the preventive efforts of the Taiwan public health care system. Therefore, a retrospective review was conducted at a medical center in central Taiwan to evaluate the current mandibular fracture epidemiology.The medical records and digitized radiographs of 198 patients who received treatment for mandibular fractures during a 3-year period (from October 2010 to September 2013) at a medical center in central Taiwan were reviewed to obtain demographic and injury data.The average age was 29.4 years (3-82 years). Patients aged 21 to 30 years sustained the most mandibular fractures (62 patients, 31.3%). The overall sex distribution (male to female) ratio was 1.8. Motor-vehicle accidents (MVAs) were the most common mechanism of injury (162 patients, 82%), and scooter and motorcycle riders wearing partial-coverage helmets constituted the majority of patients. A chart review identified 198 patients with 335 mandibular fractures; 113 patients (57.1%) had multiple mandibular fractures. The most common fracture sites were the symphysis and parasymphysis regions (38.9%), followed by the condyle (26.0%), angle (14.3%), body (14.3%), and ramus (6.6%).MVAs are the major cause of mandibular fractures in central Taiwan, and patients aged <30 years sustained the most mandibular fractures. Compared with previous studies, the present study has a higher percentage of women with mandibular fractures. In addition, inadequate mandibular protection by partial-coverage helmets may be a major reason for mandibular fractures most commonly localized in the symphysis and parasymphysis regions. The incidence and causes of mandibular fractures may reflect the trauma patterns within the community, thus facilitating the development of a preventive strategy for the

A Vehicle Active Safety Model: Vehicle Speed Control Based on Driver Vigilance Detection Using Wearable EEG and Sparse Representation.

PubMed

Zhang, Zutao; Luo, Dianyuan; Rasim, Yagubov; Li, Yanjun; Meng, Guanjun; Xu, Jian; Wang, Chunbai

2016-02-19

In this paper, we present a vehicle active safety model for vehicle speed control based on driver vigilance detection using low-cost, comfortable, wearable electroencephalographic (EEG) sensors and sparse representation. The proposed system consists of three main steps, namely wireless wearable EEG collection, driver vigilance detection, and vehicle speed control strategy. First of all, a homemade low-cost comfortable wearable brain-computer interface (BCI) system with eight channels is designed for collecting the driver's EEG signal. Second, wavelet de-noising and down-sample algorithms are utilized to enhance the quality of EEG data, and Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) is adopted to extract the EEG power spectrum density (PSD). In this step, sparse representation classification combined with k-singular value decomposition (KSVD) is firstly introduced in PSD to estimate the driver's vigilance level. Finally, a novel safety strategy of vehicle speed control, which controls the electronic throttle opening and automatic braking after driver fatigue detection using the above method, is presented to avoid serious collisions and traffic accidents. The simulation and practical testing results demonstrate the feasibility of the vehicle active safety model.

BISON Modeling of Reactivity-Initiated Accident Experiments in a Static Environment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Folsom, Charles P.; Jensen, Colby B.; Williamson, Richard L.

2016-09-01

In conjunction with the restart of the TREAT reactor and the design of test vehicles, modeling and simulation efforts are being used to model the response of Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) concepts under reactivity insertion accident (RIA) conditions. The purpose of this work is to model a baseline case of a 10 cm long UO2-Zircaloy fuel rodlet using BISON and RELAP5 over a range of energy depositions and with varying reactor power pulse widths. The results show the effect of varying the pulse width and energy deposition on both thermal and mechanical parameters that are important for predicting failure ofmore » the fuel rodlet. The combined BISON/RELAP5 model captures coupled thermal and mechanical effects on the fuel-to-cladding gap conductance, cladding-to-coolant heat transfer coefficient and water temperature and pressure that would not be capable in each code individually. These combined effects allow for a more accurate modeling of the thermal and mechanical response in the fuel rodlet and thermal-hydraulics of the test vehicle.« less

Relationships of working conditions, health problems and vehicle accidents in bus rapid transit (BRT) drivers.

PubMed

Gómez-Ortiz, Viviola; Cendales, Boris; Useche, Sergio; Bocarejo, Juan P

2018-04-01

The aim of this study was to estimate accident risk rates and mental health of bus rapid transit (BRT) drivers based on psychosocial risk factors at work leading to increased stress and health problems. A cross-sectional research design utilized a self-report questionnaire completed by 524 BRT drivers. Some working conditions of BRT drivers (lack of social support from supervisors and perceived potential for risk) may partially explain Bogota's BRT drivers' involvement in road accidents. Drivers' mental health problems were associated with higher job strain, less support from co-workers, fewer rewards and greater signal conflict while driving. To prevent bus accidents, supervisory support may need to be increased. To prevent mental health problems, other interventions may be needed such as reducing demands, increasing job control, reducing amount of incoming information, simplifying current signals, making signals less contradictory, and revising rewards. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A structural survey of classes of vehicles for crashworthiness : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1978-02-01

This document reviews three phases of a study conducted to evaluate and improve the crashworthiness of passenger carrying vehicles in intercity service. Phase I surveyed the accident data over a period 1966 to 1973 and identified those areas responsi...

[Preparation of the database and the homepage on chemical accidents relating to health hazard].

PubMed

Yamamoto, M; Morita, M; Kaminuma, T

1998-01-01

We collected the data on accidents due to chemicals occurred in Japan, and prepared the database. We also set up the World Wide Web homepage containing the explanation on accidents due to chemicals and the retrieval page for the database. We designed the retrieval page so that users can search the data from keywords such as chemicals (e.g. chlorine gas, hydrogen sulfide, pesticides), places (e.g. home, factory, vehicles, tank), causes (e.g. reaction, leakage, exhaust gas) and others (e.g. cleaning, painting, transportation).

The role alcohol, marijuana and other drugs in the accidents of injured drivers

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1982-03-01

A study was conducted of 497 drivers injured in a motor vehicle accident and treated at a hospital. The objectives were to determine the incidence of alcohol and other drugs in their blood systems at the time of the crash and the role these drugs may...

Characteristics of motorcyclists involved in accidents between motorcycles and automobiles.

PubMed

Oliveira, Amanda Lima de; Petroianu, Andy; Gonçalves, Dafne Maria Villar; Pereira, Gisele Araújo; Alberti, Luiz Ronaldo

2015-01-01

traffic accidents are one of the main causes of death and disability, with motorcyclists representing the great majority of both the victims and the perpetrators. this work studied the characteristics of motorcyclists injured in accidents involving motorcycles and automobiles. this study sought to interview 100 motorcyclists who had been injured in collisions between motorcycles and automobiles, and who were undergoing emergency hospital treatment in the region of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The questionnaires included demographic information (age, gender, skin color, education level, profession) and questions about years of licensed driving practice, how often they would drive an automobile, how long they had had a motorcycle driver's license, how often they would ride a motorcycle, the number of prior accidents involving a car, and the number of prior accidents not involving a car. of the 100 consecutive accidents studied, 91 occurred with men and 9 with women, aged between 16 and 79 (m = 29 ± 11) years. Regarding their reason for using a motorcycle, 83% reported using it for transport, 7% for work, and 10% for leisure. Most of these accident victims had secondary or higher education (47%). Of the motorcyclists who held a car driver's license, 68.3% drove the vehicle daily or weekly and held the license for more than one year. Sixty-seven percent of the accident victims used a motorcycle daily and had a motorcycle driver's license for at least one year. among the motorcyclists injured, most were men aged 20 years or older, with complete secondary education, and experienced in driving both motorcycles and cars, indicating that recklessness while driving the motorcycle is the main cause of traffic accidents.

Spatial and temporal trends of deer harvest and deer-vehicle accidents in Ohio

Treesearch

Aaron L. Iverson; Louis R. Iverson

1999-01-01

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus} have been increasing dramatically in the eastern United States, with concomitant increases in impacts resulting from deer browsing and deer-vehicle collisions. In Ohio, the number of deer were estimated at near zero in 1940 to over 450,000 in 1995. We analyzed estimates of deer harvest and deer-vehicle...

Effects of personality on risky driving behavior and accident involvement for Chinese drivers.

PubMed

Yang, Jiaoyan; Du, Feng; Qu, Weina; Gong, Zhun; Sun, Xianghong

2013-01-01

Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of injury-related fatalities in China and pose the most serious threat to driving safety. Driver personality is considered as an effective predictor for risky driving behavior and accident liability. Previous studies have focused on the relationship between personality and risky driving behavior, but only a few of them have explored the effects of personality variables on accident involvement. In addition, few studies have examined the effects of personality on Chinese drivers' risky driving and accident involvement. The present study aimed to examine the effects of personality variables on Chinese drivers' unsafe driving behaviors and accident involvement. Two hundred and twenty-four Chinese drivers aged 20 to 50 were required to complete questionnaires assessing their personality traits (anger, sensation-seeking, altruism, and normlessness), risky driving behaviors (aggressive violations, ordinary violations), and accident involvement (all accidents, serious accidents, at-fault accidents). Multivariate regression analyses, adjusting for gender, age, and overall mileage, were conducted to identify the personality traits related to risky driving behaviors and accident involvement. Participants' personality traits were found to be significantly correlated with both risky driving behavior and accident involvement. Specifically, the traits of anger and normlessness were effective predictors for aggressive violations. The traits of anger, sensation-seeking, normlessness, and altruism were effective predictors for ordinary violations. Moreover, altruism and normlessness were significant predictors for the total number of accidents participants had during the past 3 years. Consistent with previous studies, the present study revealed that personality traits play an important role in predicting Chinese drivers' risky driving behaviors. In addition, Chinese drivers' personality characteristics were also associated with accident

Factors correlated with traffic accidents as a basis for evaluating Advanced Driver Assistance Systems.

PubMed

Staubach, Maria

2009-09-01

This study aims to identify factors which influence and cause errors in traffic accidents and to use these as a basis for information to guide the application and design of driver assistance systems. A total of 474 accidents were examined in depth for this study by means of a psychological survey, data from accident reports, and technical reconstruction information. An error analysis was subsequently carried out, taking into account the driver, environment, and vehicle sub-systems. Results showed that all accidents were influenced by errors as a consequence of distraction and reduced activity. For crossroad accidents, there were further errors resulting from sight obstruction, masked stimuli, focus errors, and law infringements. Lane departure crashes were additionally caused by errors as a result of masked stimuli, law infringements, expectation errors as well as objective and action slips, while same direction accidents occurred additionally because of focus errors, expectation errors, and objective and action slips. Most accidents were influenced by multiple factors. There is a safety potential for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), which support the driver in information assimilation and help to avoid distraction and reduced activity. The design of the ADAS is dependent on the specific influencing factors of the accident type.

Data mining of tree-based models to analyze freeway accident frequency.

PubMed

Chang, Li-Yen; Chen, Wen-Chieh

2005-01-01

Statistical models, such as Poisson or negative binomial regression models, have been employed to analyze vehicle accident frequency for many years. However, these models have their own model assumptions and pre-defined underlying relationship between dependent and independent variables. If these assumptions are violated, the model could lead to erroneous estimation of accident likelihood. Classification and Regression Tree (CART), one of the most widely applied data mining techniques, has been commonly employed in business administration, industry, and engineering. CART does not require any pre-defined underlying relationship between target (dependent) variable and predictors (independent variables) and has been shown to be a powerful tool, particularly for dealing with prediction and classification problems. This study collected the 2001-2002 accident data of National Freeway 1 in Taiwan. A CART model and a negative binomial regression model were developed to establish the empirical relationship between traffic accidents and highway geometric variables, traffic characteristics, and environmental factors. The CART findings indicated that the average daily traffic volume and precipitation variables were the key determinants for freeway accident frequencies. By comparing the prediction performance between the CART and the negative binomial regression models, this study demonstrates that CART is a good alternative method for analyzing freeway accident frequencies. By comparing the prediction performance between the CART and the negative binomial regression models, this study demonstrates that CART is a good alternative method for analyzing freeway accident frequencies.

Incidence of posttraumatic stress disorder after traffic accidents in Germany.

PubMed

Brand, Stephan; Otte, Dietmar; Petri, Maximilian; Decker, Sebastian; Stübig, Timo; Krettek, Christian; Müller, Christian W

2014-01-01

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is possibly an overlooked diagnosis of victims suffering from traffic accidents sustaining serious to severe injuries. This paper investigates the incidence of PTSD after traffic accidents in Germany. Data from an accident research unit were analyzed in regard to collision details, and preclinical and clinical data. Preclinical data included details on crash circumstances and estimated injury severity as well as data on victims' conditions (e.g. heart rate, blood pressure, consciousness, breath rate). Clinical data included initial assessment in the emergency department, radiographic diagnoses, and basic life parameters comparable to the preclinical data as well as follow-up data on the daily ward. Data were collected in the German-In-Depth Accident Research study, and included gender, type of accident (e.g. type of vehicle, road conditions, rural or urban area), mental disorder, and AIS (Abbreviated Injury Scale) head score. AIS represent a scoring system to measure the injury severity of traffic accident victims. A total 258 out of 32807 data sets were included in this analysis. Data on accident and victims was collected on scene by specialized teams following established algorithms. Besides higher AIS Head scores for male motorcyclists compared to all other subgroups, no significant correlation was found between the mean maximum AIS score and the occurrence of PTSD. Furthermore, there was no correlation between higher AIS head scores, gender, or involvement in road traffic accidents and PTSD. In our study the overall incidence of PTSD after road traffic accidents was very low (0.78% in a total of 32.807 collected data sets) when compared to other published studies. The reason for this very low incidence of PTSD in our patient sample could be seen in an underestimation of the psychophysiological impact of traffic accidents on patients. Patients suffering from direct experiences of traumatic events such as a traffic accident

Epidemiological characteristics of fatal traffic accidents in Fars province, Iran: a community-based survey.

PubMed

Heydari, S T; Hoseinzadeh, A; Ghaffarpasand, F; Hedjazi, A; Zarenezhad, M; Moafian, G; Aghabeigi, M R; Foroutan, A; Sarikhani, Y; Peymani, P; Ahmadi, S M; Joulaei, H; Dehghankhalili, M; Lankarani, K B

2013-08-01

To determine the epidemiological characteristics of fatal traffic accidents in Fars province, Iran. This cross-sectional study included 3642 traffic accident deaths in Fars province, Iran between November 2009 and November 2011. The data source was the Fars Forensic Medicine Registry, which covers the entire province. According to Iranian law, all deaths resulting from injuries or accidents must be investigated to determine the exact cause of death by autopsy. All such deaths are referred to forensic medicine centres in each city, and all data are sent to the main centre in Shiraz, the capital city of Fars province. Males accounted for 78.3% of the decedents (sex ratio of almost 3.6:1), and the mean ± standard deviation age of all decedents was 32.2 ± 20.3 years. Autopsy reports indicated that head trauma was the most common cause of death. Most collisions were vehicle-vehicle crashes (52.3%), with cars and motorcycles being the most prevalent modes of transport (39.6% and 24.6%, respectively). Fatal accidents were most common during the summer. Most fatal injuries (61.4%) occurred on outer-city roads and 27.4% occurred on inner-city roads. Significant associations were found between decedent's status (car driver, motorcycle driver or passenger, pedestrian or passenger) and interval between injury and death, light conditions at the scene of the accident, place of death, site of injury and cause of death. Although the clinical management of trauma patients has improved in Iran, coordination between trauma system organizations is required to decrease the burden of injuries. Copyright © 2013 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Usefulness of post mortem computed tomography versus conventional forensic autopsy of road accident victims (drivers and passengers).

PubMed

Moskała, Artur; Woźniak, Krzysztof; Kluza, Piotr; Romaszko, Karol; Lopatin, Oleksiy

2017-01-01

Aim of the study: Deaths of in-vehicle victims (drivers and passengers) of road accidents represent a significant group of issues addressed by forensic medicine. Expressing opinions in this regard involves first of all the determination of the cause of death and the forensic pathologist's participation in the process of road accident reconstruction through defining the mechanism of bodily harm. The scope of the opinion as well as its accuracy and degree of detail largely depend on the scope of forensic autopsy. In this context, techniques that broaden the capabilities of standard autopsy are of particular importance. This paper compares the results of post mortem computed tomography (PMCT) of road accident victims (drivers and passengers) against the results of standard examination in order to determine the scope to which PMCT significantly enhances autopsy capabilities. Material and methods: The analysis covers 118 in-vehicle victims (drivers and passengers) examined from 2012 to 2014. In each case, post-mortem examination was preceded by PMCT examination using Somatom Emotion 16 (Siemens AG, Germany). Results: The results are presented in a tabular form. Conclusions: In most road accident victims (drivers and passengers), post mortem computed tomography significantly increases the results' degree of detail, particularly with regard to injuries of bones and gas collections.

A comparative study of road traffic accidents in West Malaysia.

PubMed

Silva, J F

1978-11-01

The problem of road traffic accidents in developing countries is now becoming a cause for concern. This is more so as preventive measures have not kept pace with economic progress and development. This paper reviews the present situation in West Malaysia, one of the better developed countries of the East, during the period 1970 to 1975. A comparative study has been made between the United States and Malaysia. To enable the urgency of the problem in developing countries to be appreciated the increases in the country's population and in the number of vehicles in use and their relation to the lesser increase in road mileage over the period of study have been discussed. The study has considered every aspect of the causative factors leading to traffic accidents, such as the effects of weather, seasonal variation, and road and lighting conditions. The common human errors leading to accidents have been discussed. Other factors, such as the ethnic distribution in Malaysia, and their relation to road accidents have shown the effect of the social structure on the problems. The data evaluated in this study make it clear that preventive measures are very necessary in underdeveloped as well as in developed countries.

Prevalence of alcohol and drugs among car and van drivers killed in road accidents in Norway: an overview from 2001 to 2010.

PubMed

Christophersen, Asbjørg S; Gjerde, Hallvard

2014-01-01

To examine the prevalence of alcohol and drugs in blood samples collected from car and van drivers killed in traffic accidents in Norway during the time period from 2001 to 2010. Blood samples (n = 676, 63% of all killed drivers) were analyzed for alcohol, psychoactive medications, and illicit drugs. The cutoff limits for positive results were set according to the new legislative limits under the Norwegian Road Traffic Act. The results were assessed in relation to sex and age, time of day and day of week, and single- versus multiple-vehicle and all investigated vehicle accidents. Alcohol or one or more drugs was detected in samples from 40.2 percent of all investigated drivers, with 28.7 percent showing blood concentrations of at least 5 times the legislative limits. For the investigated female drivers, the total prevalence was 24.0 percent. Among the single-vehicle accidents, alcohol or drugs was found in 63.8 percent of the cases, with 49.1 percent showing blood concentrations of at least 5 times the legislative limits. Alcohol was detected in 25.3 and 49.1 percent of samples from all investigated drivers and among drivers killed in single-vehicle accidents, respectively. Psychoactive medications were found in 14.4 and 17.7 percent and illicit drugs in 14.1 and 19.2 percent, respectively. The most commonly detected group of medications was benzodiazepines, and amphetamines and tetrahydrocannabinol were the most commonly detected illicit drugs. The prevalence of alcohol alone was highest among drivers under the age of 25, and the combination of alcohol with other drugs was highest among drivers under the age of 35. Drivers between the ages of 25 and 54 showed the highest prevalence of medications and/or illicit drugs without the presence of alcohol. The highest prevalence of alcohol or drugs was found among drivers killed in single-vehicle accidents on weeknights (83.8%) and on weekend nights (89.3%). The findings confirm that a large number of fatally injured

Generation of Recombinant Modified Vaccinia Virus Ankara Encoding VP2, NS1, and VP7 Proteins of Bluetongue Virus.

PubMed

Marín-López, Alejandro; Ortego, Javier

2016-01-01

Modified Vaccinia Virus Ankara (MVA) is employed widely as an experimental vaccine vector for its lack of replication in mammalian cells and high expression level of foreign/heterologous genes. Recombinant MVAs (rMVAs) are used as platforms for protein production as well as vectors to generate vaccines against a high number of infectious diseases and other pathologies. The portrait of the virus combines desirable elements such as high-level biological safety, the ability to activate appropriate innate immune mediators upon vaccination, and the capacity to deliver substantial amounts of heterologous antigens. Recombinant MVAs encoding proteins of bluetongue virus (BTV), an Orbivirus that infects domestic and wild ruminants transmitted by biting midges of the Culicoides species, are excellent vaccine candidates against this virus. In this chapter we describe the methods for the generation of rMVAs encoding VP2, NS1, and VP7 proteins of bluetongue virus as a model example for orbiviruses. The protocols included cover the cloning of VP2, NS1, and VP7 BTV-4 genes in a transfer plasmid, the construction of recombinant MVAs, the titration of virus working stocks and the protein expression analysis by immunofluorescence and radiolabeling of rMVA infected cells as well as virus purification.

A Bayesian hierarchical model for accident and injury surveillance.

PubMed

MacNab, Ying C

2003-01-01

This article presents a recent study which applies Bayesian hierarchical methodology to model and analyse accident and injury surveillance data. A hierarchical Poisson random effects spatio-temporal model is introduced and an analysis of inter-regional variations and regional trends in hospitalisations due to motor vehicle accident injuries to boys aged 0-24 in the province of British Columbia, Canada, is presented. The objective of this article is to illustrate how the modelling technique can be implemented as part of an accident and injury surveillance and prevention system where transportation and/or health authorities may routinely examine accidents, injuries, and hospitalisations to target high-risk regions for prevention programs, to evaluate prevention strategies, and to assist in health planning and resource allocation. The innovation of the methodology is its ability to uncover and highlight important underlying structure of the data. Between 1987 and 1996, British Columbia hospital separation registry registered 10,599 motor vehicle traffic injury related hospitalisations among boys aged 0-24 who resided in British Columbia, of which majority (89%) of the injuries occurred to boys aged 15-24. The injuries were aggregated by three age groups (0-4, 5-14, and 15-24), 20 health regions (based of place-of-residence), and 10 calendar years (1987 to 1996) and the corresponding mid-year population estimates were used as 'at risk' population. An empirical Bayes inference technique using penalised quasi-likelihood estimation was implemented to model both rates and counts, with spline smoothing accommodating non-linear temporal effects. The results show that (a) crude rates and ratios at health region level are unstable, (b) the models with spline smoothing enable us to explore possible shapes of injury trends at both the provincial level and the regional level, and (c) the fitted models provide a wealth of information about the patterns (both over space and time

Staged collision and damage data. Volume 2: Report for accident reconstruction of thirty (30) test vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1981-01-01

Test vehicles were instrumented with accelerometers to measure vehicle accelerator resultants. The vehicles were also identified for residual crush and collision deformation classification (CDC) measurements.

Network-level accident-mapping: Distance based pattern matching using artificial neural network.

PubMed

Deka, Lipika; Quddus, Mohammed

2014-04-01

The objective of an accident-mapping algorithm is to snap traffic accidents onto the correct road segments. Assigning accidents onto the correct segments facilitate to robustly carry out some key analyses in accident research including the identification of accident hot-spots, network-level risk mapping and segment-level accident risk modelling. Existing risk mapping algorithms have some severe limitations: (i) they are not easily 'transferable' as the algorithms are specific to given accident datasets; (ii) they do not perform well in all road-network environments such as in areas of dense road network; and (iii) the methods used do not perform well in addressing inaccuracies inherent in and type of road environment. The purpose of this paper is to develop a new accident mapping algorithm based on the common variables observed in most accident databases (e.g. road name and type, direction of vehicle movement before the accident and recorded accident location). The challenges here are to: (i) develop a method that takes into account uncertainties inherent to the recorded traffic accident data and the underlying digital road network data, (ii) accurately determine the type and proportion of inaccuracies, and (iii) develop a robust algorithm that can be adapted for any accident set and road network of varying complexity. In order to overcome these challenges, a distance based pattern-matching approach is used to identify the correct road segment. This is based on vectors containing feature values that are common in the accident data and the network data. Since each feature does not contribute equally towards the identification of the correct road segments, an ANN approach using the single-layer perceptron is used to assist in "learning" the relative importance of each feature in the distance calculation and hence the correct link identification. The performance of the developed algorithm was evaluated based on a reference accident dataset from the UK confirming that

Road traffic accidents in children: the ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘why’

PubMed Central

Lee, Yue Yen; Fang, Eric; Weng, Yanyi; Ganapathy, Sashikumar

2018-01-01

INTRODUCTION Road traffic accidents (RTAs) in Singapore involving children were evaluated, with particular focus on the epidemiology, surrounding circumstances and outcomes of these accidents. Key factors associated with worse prognosis were identified. We proposed some measures that may be implemented to reduce the frequency and severity of such accidents. METHODS This was a retrospective study of RTAs involving children aged 0–16 years who presented to the Children’s Emergency at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Singapore, from January 2011 to June 2014. Data was obtained from the National Trauma Registry and analysed in tiers based on the Injury Severity Score (ISS). RESULTS A total of 1,243 accidents were reviewed. RTA victims included motor vehicle passengers (60.4%), pedestrians (28.5%), cyclists (9.9%) and motorcycle pillion riders (1.2%). The disposition of emergency department (ED) patients was consistent with RTA severity. For serious RTAs, pedestrians accounted for 63.6% and 57.7% of Tier 1 (ISS > 15) and Tier 2 (ISS 9–15) presentations, respectively. Overall use of restraints was worryingly low (36.7%). Not restraining increased the risk of serious RTAs by 8.4 times. Young age, high ISS and low Glasgow Coma Scale score predicted a longer duration of intensive care unit stay. CONCLUSION The importance of restraints for motor vehicle passengers or helmets for motorcycle pillion riders and cyclists in reducing morbidity requires emphasis. Suggestions for future prevention and intervention include road safety education, regulation of protective restraints, use of speed enforcement devices and creation of transport policies that minimise kerbside parking. PMID:29214322

The use of volumetric projections in Digital Human Modelling software for the identification of Large Goods Vehicle blind spots.

PubMed

Summerskill, Stephen; Marshall, Russell; Cook, Sharon; Lenard, James; Richardson, John

2016-03-01

The aim of the study is to understand the nature of blind spots in the vision of drivers of Large Goods Vehicles caused by vehicle design variables such as the driver eye height, and mirror designs. The study was informed by the processing of UK national accident data using cluster analysis to establish if vehicle blind spots contribute to accidents. In order to establish the cause and nature of blind spots six top selling trucks in the UK, with a range of sizes were digitized and imported into the SAMMIE Digital Human Modelling (DHM) system. A novel CAD based vision projection technique, which has been validated in a laboratory study, allowed multiple mirror and window aperture projections to be created, resulting in the identification and quantification of a key blind spot. The identified blind spot was demonstrated to have the potential to be associated with the scenarios that were identified in the accident data. The project led to the revision of UNECE Regulation 46 that defines mirror coverage in the European Union, with new vehicle registrations in Europe being required to meet the amended standard after June of 2015. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Injury pattern among non-fatal road traffic accident cases: a cross-sectional study in Central India.

PubMed

Ganveer, Gunjan B; Tiwari, Rajnarayan R

2005-01-01

What is the pattern of injuries among non-fatal cases of road traffic accidents? To study the pattern of injuries among non-fatal cases of road traffic accidents. Cross-sectional study. Nagpur, a city in central India. 423 non-fatal cases of road traffic accidents reporting for treatment to Indira Gandhi Medical College, Nagpur during 1999-2000. Demographic characteristics, accident characteristics. Percentages, proportions, Chi-square test. Out of total 423 subjects, 363 (85.8%) were male while only 60 (14.2%) were female subjects. Majority of the victims (75%) were in the age group 18- 37 years. Sideways collision was the most common type of accident seen in 269 (63.59%) cases. Two wheelers and LMV were the common vehicle being involved in accidents (69.97%) and these accidents were almost equally distributed in both half of the day. Fracture of the bones was the common injury afflicted to the victims followed by multiple injuries like blunt injury, abrasions and lacerations. Lower extremity was involved in 192 (45.39%) cases while multiple sites were affected in 114 (26.95%) cases. In the present study, the fractures were the commonest injury among the victims of non-fatal road traffic accidents.

Building of communication system for nuclear accident emergency disposal based on IP multimedia subsystem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Kang; Gao, Guiqing; Qin, Yuanli; He, Xiangyong

2018-05-01

The nuclear accident emergency disposal must be supported by an efficient, real-time modularization and standardization communication system. Based on the analysis of communication system for nuclear accident emergency disposal which included many functions such as the internal and external communication, multiply access supporting and command center. Some difficult problems of the communication system were discussed such as variety access device type, complex composition, high mobility, set up quickly, multiply business support, and so on. Taking full advantages of the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), a nuclear accident emergency communication system was build based on the IMS. It was studied and implemented that some key unit and module functions of communication system were included the system framework implementation, satellite access, short-wave access, load/vehicle-mounted communication units. The application tests showed that the system could provide effective communication support for the nuclear accident emergency disposal, which was of great practical value.

Public Health Profile of Road Traffic Accidents in Kosovo 2010-2015.

PubMed

Ramadani, Naser; Zhjeqi, Valbona; Berisha, Merita; Hoxha, Rina; Begolli, Ilir; Salihu, Drita; Krasniqi, Pranvera

2017-12-15

To determine the characteristics of the Socio-medical profile of road traffic accidents in Kosovo, between 2010 and 2015 year. Retrospective study. A descriptive method based on the database of road traffic accidents from the National Police of Kosovo. In Kosovo for the period 2010-2015, on average, the yearly number of road traffic accidents is 18437 with mortality rate 7.4 per 100000 and lethality of 1.5%. The highest number of fatal cases are drivers and above 19 years old with more than 80%. Among injured significantly highest percentage is among passengers for all years and above 19 years old. Road traffic accident with a vehicle occurs most frequently, with approximately over 70%, mostly on dry road 72.9% and clear weather 71.1%. The driver is the contributing factors of road traffic accidents on average 99.3% whereas climatic conditions only 0.5%, with over 50% of crashes occurring in urban road 56.2%, mostly during Monday 16.0% and in the afternoon rush hours between 14.00-18.00 with 31.0%. There is a slight decrease in the mortality rate of 0.1‰ and lethality rate of 0.1% each year, whereas there is an increase of 21.5‰ for traumatism rate for each year.

An Efficient Optimal Design Methodology for Nonlinear Multibody Dynamics Systems with Application to Vehicle Occupant Restraint Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-04-01

Lai, W., Carhart, M., Richards, D., Brown, J. and Raasch, C., (2006), Modeling the Effects of Seat Belt Pretensioners on Occupant Kinematics During...from being ejected from the vehicle but also be able to assist rapid entry into the vehicle during a rollover or other accidents to avoid injury or...vehicles, such as gunner restraint systems, blast-protective seating systems and other restraint systems, and commercial applications, such as

Driving behaviors and on-duty road accidents: a French case-control study.

PubMed

Fort, Emmanuel; Chiron, Mireille; Davezies, Philippe; Bergeret, Alain; Charbotel, Barbara

2013-01-01

A case-control study was carried out to identify driving behaviors associated with the risk of on-duty road accident and to compare driving behaviors according to the type of journey (on duty, commuting, and private) for on-duty road accident victims. Cases were recruited from the Rhône Road Trauma Registry between January 2004 and October 2005 and were on duty at the time of the accident. Control subjects were recruited from the electoral rolls of the case subjects' constituencies of residence. Cases' and controls' driving behavior data were collected by self-administered questionnaire. A logistic regression was performed to identify behavioral risk factors for on-duty road accidents, taking into account age, sex, place of residence, road accident risk exposure, socio-occupational category, and type of road user. A second analysis focused specifically on the case subjects, comparing their self-assessed usual behaviors according to the type of journey. Significant factors for multivariate analysis of on-duty road accidents were female gender, history of on-duty road accidents during the previous 10 years, severe time pressure at work, and driving a vehicle not belonging to the driver. On-duty road accident victims reported behavioral risk factors more frequently in relation to driving for work than driving for private reasons or commuting: nonsystematic seat belt use, cell phone use at least once daily while driving, and history of accidents with injury during the previous 10 years. This study provides knowledge on behavioral risk factors for on-duty road accidents and differences in behavior according to the type of journey for subjects who have been on-duty road accident victims. These results will be useful for the design of on-duty road risk prevention.

Staged collision and damage data. Volume 1: Report for accident reconstruction of thirty (30) test vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hand, D. H.

1981-01-01

The test vehicles were impacted tested for compliance with FMVSS 212/219/301-75. As a parallel nonconflicting effort, the test vehicles were instrumented with accelerometers to measure vehicle accelerator resultants.

An Examination of Commercial Motor Vehicle Hours of Service Safety Regulation

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-01

enough data for a statistical analysis of its effects on truck driver safety. This research found that by comparing truck driving safety data prior...impact on the commercial motor vehicle industry. Research has demonstrated how fatigue leads to increased accident rates by decreasing reaction time

Orthognathic Surgery and Implant-Supported Bridge in a Class III Patient Injured in a Motor Vehicle Accident.

PubMed

Honda, Koji; Hirota, Makoto; Iwai, Toshinori; Fujita, Koichi; Omura, Susumu; Ono, Takashi; Tohnai, Iwai

2018-05-01

Occlusal and esthetic rehabilitation of jaw deformities in patients with partially edentulous maxilla are challenging procedures. This article describes a patient involving a skeletal Class III, 36-year-old male patient with a single bilateral anterior partially edentulous maxilla resulting from injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident; his anterior teeth had been lost for more than 10 years. His lip protruded from the lateral view due to the proclined upper incisors and mandibular protrusion.Because of the facial deformity and inadequate prosthesis of the maxilla, the prosthesis had dropped out repeatedly. Bone deficiency was prominent in the area of the anterior maxillary region and required augmentation for implant restoration.Consultation among the prosthodontist, orthodontist, and patient led to a decision to perform an orthognathic surgery and bone graft before implant treatment. After orthodontic treatment combined with orthognathic surgery, 3 dental implants were placed with simultaneous iliac bone graft for prosthetic rehabilitation. The treatment restored the maxillary dental arch, which supported the upper lip with appropriate occlusion, both esthetically and functionally. After a 2-year clinical follow-up, the orthoprosthesis of the maxilla remained stable, and the patient was satisfied with the outcome of treatment. The combination of orthodontic, surgical, and dental implant treatment could be an option for skeletal Class III patients with bone-deficient, edentulous jaws.

Driver behavior and accident frequency in school zones: Assessing the impact of sign saturation.

PubMed

Strawderman, Lesley; Rahman, Md Mahmudur; Huang, Yunchen; Nandi, Apurba

2015-09-01

Based on the models of human information processing, if a driver observes too many of the same signs, he or she may no longer pay attention to those signs. In the case of school zones, this expected effect may lead to non-compliance to posted speeds, negatively impacting safety around nearby schools. This study aims to investigate the effect of the number of nearby school zones on driver behavior (vehicle speed and compliance) and accident frequency. As a measure of the density of school zones, this study introduced and defined a new term sign saturation and presented a methodology to calculate sign saturation for school zones. Results found a significant effect of sign saturation on vehicle speed, compliance, and accident frequency. This study also examined the speeding behavior in school zones for different time of the day and day of the week. Results found that speeding was more prevalent in the early mornings and during the weekends. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Vehicle Active Safety Model: Vehicle Speed Control Based on Driver Vigilance Detection Using Wearable EEG and Sparse Representation

PubMed Central

Zhang, Zutao; Luo, Dianyuan; Rasim, Yagubov; Li, Yanjun; Meng, Guanjun; Xu, Jian; Wang, Chunbai

2016-01-01

In this paper, we present a vehicle active safety model for vehicle speed control based on driver vigilance detection using low-cost, comfortable, wearable electroencephalographic (EEG) sensors and sparse representation. The proposed system consists of three main steps, namely wireless wearable EEG collection, driver vigilance detection, and vehicle speed control strategy. First of all, a homemade low-cost comfortable wearable brain-computer interface (BCI) system with eight channels is designed for collecting the driver’s EEG signal. Second, wavelet de-noising and down-sample algorithms are utilized to enhance the quality of EEG data, and Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) is adopted to extract the EEG power spectrum density (PSD). In this step, sparse representation classification combined with k-singular value decomposition (KSVD) is firstly introduced in PSD to estimate the driver’s vigilance level . Finally, a novel safety strategy of vehicle speed control, which controls the electronic throttle opening and automatic braking after driver fatigue detection using the above method, is presented to avoid serious collisions and traffic accidents. The simulation and practical testing results demonstrate the feasibility of the vehicle active safety model. PMID:26907278

Virtopsy -- noninvasive detection of occult bone lesions in postmortem MRI: additional information for traffic accident reconstruction.

PubMed

Buck, Ursula; Christe, Andreas; Naether, Silvio; Ross, Steffen; Thali, Michael J

2009-05-01

In traffic accidents with pedestrians, cyclists or motorcyclists, patterned impact injuries as well as marks on clothes can be matched to the injury-causing vehicle structure in order to reconstruct the accident and identify the vehicle which has hit the person. Therefore, the differentiation of the primary impact injuries from other injuries is of great importance. Impact injuries can be identified on the external injuries of the skin, the injured subcutaneous and fat tissue, as well as the fractured bones. Another sign of impact is a bone bruise. The bone bruise, or occult bone lesion, means a bleeding in the subcortical bone marrow, which is presumed to be the result of micro-fractures of the medullar trabeculae. The aim of this study was to prove that bleeding in the subcortical bone marrow of the deceased can be detected using the postmortem noninvasive magnetic resonance imaging. This is demonstrated in five accident cases, four involving pedestrians and one a cyclist, where bone bruises were detected in different bones as a sign of impact occurring in the same location as the external and soft tissue impact injuries.

Effects of weather conditions, light conditions, and road lighting on vehicle speed.

PubMed

Jägerbrand, Annika K; Sjöbergh, Jonas

2016-01-01

Light conditions are known to affect the number of vehicle accidents and fatalities but the relationship between light conditions and vehicle speed is not fully understood. This study examined whether vehicle speed on roads is higher in daylight and under road lighting than in darkness, and determined the combined effects of light conditions, posted speed limit and weather conditions on driving speed. The vehicle speed of passenger cars in different light conditions (daylight, twilight, darkness, artificial light) and different weather conditions (clear weather, rain, snow) was determined using traffic and weather data collected on an hourly basis for approximately 2 years (1 September 2012-31 May 2014) at 25 locations in Sweden (17 with road lighting and eight without). In total, the data included almost 60 million vehicle passes. The data were cleaned by removing June, July, and August, which have different traffic patterns than the rest of the year. Only data from the periods 10:00 A.M.-04:00 P.M. and 06:00 P.M.-10:00 P.M. were used, to remove traffic during rush hour and at night. Multivariate adaptive regression splines was used to evaluate the overall influence of independent variables on vehicle speed and nonparametric statistical testing was applied to test for speed differences between dark-daylight, dark-twilight, and twilight-daylight, on roads with and without road lighting. The results show that vehicle speed in general depends on several independent variables. Analyses of vehicle speed and speed differences between daylight, twilight and darkness, with and without road lighting, did not reveal any differences attributable to light conditions. However, vehicle speed decreased due to rain or snow and the decrease was higher on roads without road lighting than on roads with lighting. These results suggest that the strong association between traffic accidents and darkness or low light conditions could be explained by drivers failing to adjust their

A study of bicyclist kinematics and injuries based on reconstruction of passenger car-bicycle accident in China.

PubMed

Nie, Jin; Yang, Jikuang

2014-10-01

Like pedestrians, bicyclists are vulnerable road users, representing a population with a high risk of fatal and severe injuries in traffic accidents as they are unprotected during vehicle collisions. The objective of this study is to investigate the kinematics response of bicyclists and the correlation of the injury severity with vehicle impact speed. Twenty-four car-bicyclist cases with detailed information were selected for accident reconstruction using mathematical models, which was implemented in the MADYMO program. The dynamic response of bicyclists in the typical impact configuration and the correlation of head impact conditions were analyzed and discussed with respect to the head impact speed, time of head impact and impact angle of bicyclists to vehicle impact speed. Furthermore, the injury distribution of bicyclists and the risk of head injuries and fractures of lower limbs were investigated in terms of vehicle impact speed. The results indicate that wrap-around distance (WAD), head impact speed, time of head impact, head impact angle, and throw-out distance (TOD) of the bicyclists have a strong relationship with vehicle impact speed. The vehicle impact speed corresponding to a 50% probability of head AIS 2+ injuries, head AIS 3+ injuries, and lower limb fracture risk for bicyclists is 53.8km/h, 58.9km/h, and 41.2km/h, respectively. A higher vehicle impact speed produces a higher injury risk to bicyclist. The results could provide background knowledge for the establishment or modification of pedestrian regulations considering bicyclist protection as well as being helpful for developing safety measures and protection devices for bicyclists. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Vehicle Steering Recognition System Based on Low-Cost Smartphone Sensors.

PubMed

Liu, Xinhua; Mei, Huafeng; Lu, Huachang; Kuang, Hailan; Ma, Xiaolin

2017-03-20

Recognizing how a vehicle is steered and then alerting drivers in real time is of utmost importance to the vehicle and driver's safety, since fatal accidents are often caused by dangerous vehicle maneuvers, such as rapid turns, fast lane-changes, etc. Existing solutions using video or in-vehicle sensors have been employed to identify dangerous vehicle maneuvers, but these methods are subject to the effects of the environmental elements or the hardware is very costly. In the mobile computing era, smartphones have become key tools to develop innovative mobile context-aware systems. In this paper, we present a recognition system for dangerous vehicle steering based on the low-cost sensors found in a smartphone: i.e., the gyroscope and the accelerometer. To identify vehicle steering maneuvers, we focus on the vehicle's angular velocity, which is characterized by gyroscope data from a smartphone mounted in the vehicle. Three steering maneuvers including turns, lane-changes and U-turns are defined, and a vehicle angular velocity matching algorithm based on Fast Dynamic Time Warping (FastDTW) is adopted to recognize the vehicle steering. The results of extensive experiments show that the average accuracy rate of the presented recognition reaches 95%, which implies that the proposed smartphone-based method is suitable for recognizing dangerous vehicle steering maneuvers.

Crashes involving farm tractors and other farm vehicles/equipment in North Carolina 1995-1999

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-04-01

Tables and figures are shown to depict a statistical representation of crashes involving farm tractors and other farm vehicles or equipment, in North Carolina. Information displayed includes crash frequency, crashes by county, accident severity, type...

Etiologies of pediatric craniofacial injuries: a comparison of injuries involving all-terrain vehicles and golf carts.

PubMed

White, Lauren C; McKinnon, Brian J; Hughes, C Anthony

2013-03-01

To determine incidence and etiologies of craniofacial injuries in the pediatric population through comparison of injuries caused by all-terrain vehicles and golf cart trauma. Case series with chart review. Level 1 trauma center. Retrospective review of pediatric traumas at a tertiary academic medical center from 2003 to 2012 identified 196 patients whose injuries resulted from accidents involving either all-terrain vehicles or golf carts. Data was collected and variables such as age, gender, driver vs. passenger, location of accident, Glasgow coma scale, Injury severity scale, Abbreviated injury scale, and presence or absence of helmet use were examined. 196 pediatric patients were identified: 68 patients had injuries resulting from golf cart accidents, and 128 patients from ATV accidents. 66.4% of ATV-related traumas were male, compared to 52.9% of golf cart-related traumas. Ages of injured patients were similar between the two modalities with average age of ATV traumas 10.8 (±4.0) years and golf cart traumas 10.0 (±4.6) years. Caucasians were most commonly involved in both ATV (79.7%) and golf cart traumas (85.3%). 58.6% of all ATV related trauma and 69.1% of all golf cart trauma resulted in craniofacial injuries. The most common craniofacial injury was a closed head injury with brief loss of consciousness, occurring in 46.1% of the ATV traumas and 54.4% of the golf cart traumas. Temporal bone fractures were the second most common type of craniofacial injury, occurring in 5.5% of ATV accidents and 7.4% of the golf cart traumas. Length of hospital stay and, cases requiring surgery and severity scores were similar between both populations. Intensive care admissions and injury severity scores approached but not reach statistical significance (0.096 and 0.083, respectively). The only statistically significant differences between the two modalities were helmet use (P=0.00018%) and days requiring ventilator assistance (P=0.025). ATVs and golf carts are often exempt

A comparative study of road traffic accidents in West Malaysia.

PubMed Central

Silva, J. F.

1978-01-01

The problem of road traffic accidents in developing countries is now becoming a cause for concern. This is more so as preventive measures have not kept pace with economic progress and development. This paper reviews the present situation in West Malaysia, one of the better developed countries of the East, during the period 1970 to 1975. A comparative study has been made between the United States and Malaysia. To enable the urgency of the problem in developing countries to be appreciated the increases in the country's population and in the number of vehicles in use and their relation to the lesser increase in road mileage over the period of study have been discussed. The study has considered every aspect of the causative factors leading to traffic accidents, such as the effects of weather, seasonal variation, and road and lighting conditions. The common human errors leading to accidents have been discussed. Other factors, such as the ethnic distribution in Malaysia, and their relation to road accidents have shown the effect of the social structure on the problems. The data evaluated in this study make it clear that preventive measures are very necessary in underdeveloped as well as in developed countries. PMID:718073

Structural Health Monitoring for a Z-Type Special Vehicle

PubMed Central

Yuan, Chaolin; Ren, Liang; Li, Hongnan

2017-01-01

Nowadays there exist various kinds of special vehicles designed for some purposes, which are different from regular vehicles in overall dimension and design. In that case, accidents such as overturning will lead to large economical loss and casualties. There are still no technical specifications to follow to ensure the safe operation and driving of these special vehicles. Owing to the poor efficiency of regular maintenance, it is more feasible and effective to apply real-time monitoring during the operation and driving process. In this paper, the fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors are used to monitor the safety of a z-type special vehicle. Based on the structural features and force distribution, a reasonable structural health monitoring (SHM) scheme is presented. Comparing the monitoring results with the finite element simulation results guarantees the accuracy and reliability of the monitoring results. Large amounts of data are collected during the operation and driving progress to evaluate the structural safety condition and provide reference for SHM systems developed for other special vehicles. PMID:28587161

Childhood mental ability in relation to cause-specific accidents in adulthood: the 1970 British Cohort Study.

PubMed

Batty, G D; Deary, I J; Schoon, I; Gale, C R

2007-07-01

Few data link childhood mental ability (IQ) with risk of accidents, and most published studies have methodological limitations. To examine the relationship between scores from a battery of mental ability tests taken in childhood, and self-reported accidents between the ages of 16 and 30 years. In the British Cohort study, a sample of 8172 cohort members born in Great Britain in 1970 had complete data for IQ score assessed at 10 years of age and accident data self-reported at age 30 years. The relationship between childhood IQ score and later risk of accident was complex, differing according to sex and the type of accident under consideration. Women with higher childhood IQ were more likely than those with lower scores to report having had an accident(s) while at work, in a vehicle, engaging in sports, and in unspecified circumstances. Adjustment for markers of socioeconomic position weakened or eliminated some of these relations, but higher childhood IQ remained associated with increased risk of sporting and unspecified accidents. Men with higher childhood IQ scores were less likely than those with lower scores to report accidents at work, but more likely to report accidents at home, playing sports or in unspecified circumstances. After adjustment for socioeconomic circumstances, higher childhood IQ in men remained associated with an increased risk of accidents at home or in unspecified circumstances. The relationship between childhood mental ability and accidents in adulthood is complex. As in other studies, socioeconomic position has an inconsistent relationship with non-fatal accident type.

Development of a prototype vehicle-infrastructure integration system for real-time traffic management.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-08-01

Freeway congestion is a major problem in many urban areas. It has been estimated that freeway incidents (events that impede the flow of traffic: accidents, disabled vehicles, etc.) account for one-half to three-fourths of the total congestion on metr...

Public Health Profile of Road Traffic Accidents in Kosovo 2010-2015

PubMed Central

Ramadani, Naser; Zhjeqi, Valbona; Berisha, Merita; Hoxha, Rina; Begolli, Ilir; Salihu, Drita; Krasniqi, Pranvera

2017-01-01

AIM: To determine the characteristics of the Socio-medical profile of road traffic accidents in Kosovo, between 2010 and 2015 year. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective study. METHODS: A descriptive method based on the database of road traffic accidents from the National Police of Kosovo. RESULTS: In Kosovo for the period 2010-2015, on average, the yearly number of road traffic accidents is 18437 with mortality rate 7.4 per 100000 and lethality of 1.5%. The highest number of fatal cases are drivers and above 19 years old with more than 80%. Among injured significantly highest percentage is among passengers for all years and above 19 years old. Road traffic accident with a vehicle occurs most frequently, with approximately over 70%, mostly on dry road 72.9% and clear weather 71.1%. The driver is the contributing factors of road traffic accidents on average 99.3% whereas climatic conditions only 0.5%, with over 50% of crashes occurring in urban road 56.2%, mostly during Monday 16.0% and in the afternoon rush hours between 14.00-18.00 with 31.0%. CONCLUSIONS: There is a slight decrease in the mortality rate of 0.1‰ and lethality rate of 0.1% each year, whereas there is an increase of 21.5‰ for traumatism rate for each year. PMID:29362641

Comprehensive analysis of single- and multi-vehicle large truck at-fault crashes on rural and urban roadways in Alabama.

PubMed

Islam, Samantha; Jones, Steven L; Dye, Daniel

2014-06-01

The research described in this paper analyzed injury severities at a disaggregate level for single-vehicle (SV) and multi-vehicle (MV) large truck at-fault accidents for rural and urban locations in Alabama. Given the occurrence of a crash, four separate random parameter logit models of injury severity (with possible outcomes of major, minor, and possible or no injury) were estimated. The models identified different sets of factors that can lead to effective policy decisions aimed at reducing large truck-at-fault accidents for respective locations. The results of the study clearly indicated that there are differences between the influences of a variety of variables on the injury severities resulting from urban vs. rural SV and MV large truck at-fault accidents. The results showed that some variables were significant only in one type of accident model (SV or MV) but not in the other accident model. Again, some variables were found to be significant in one location (rural or urban) but not in other locations. The study also identified important factors that significantly impact the injury severity resulting from SV and MV large truck at-fault accidents in urban and rural locations based on the estimated values of average direct pseudo-elasticity. A careful study of the results of this study will help policy makers and transportation agencies identify location specific recommendations to increase safety awareness related to large truck involved accidents and to improve overall highway safety. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Changes in speed distribution: Applying aggregated safety effect models to individual vehicle speeds.

PubMed

Vadeby, Anna; Forsman, Åsa

2017-06-01

This study investigated the effect of applying two aggregated models (the Power model and the Exponential model) to individual vehicle speeds instead of mean speeds. This is of particular interest when the measure introduced affects different parts of the speed distribution differently. The aim was to examine how the estimated overall risk was affected when assuming the models are valid on an individual vehicle level. Speed data from two applications of speed measurements were used in the study: an evaluation of movable speed cameras and a national evaluation of new speed limits in Sweden. The results showed that when applied on individual vehicle speed level compared with aggregated level, there was essentially no difference between these for the Power model in the case of injury accidents. However, for fatalities the difference was greater, especially for roads with new cameras where those driving fastest reduced their speed the most. For the case with new speed limits, the individual approach estimated a somewhat smaller effect, reflecting that changes in the 15th percentile (P15) were somewhat larger than changes in P85 in this case. For the Exponential model there was also a clear, although small, difference between applying the model to mean speed changes and individual vehicle speed changes when speed cameras were used. This applied both for injury accidents and fatalities. There were also larger effects for the Exponential model than for the Power model, especially for injury accidents. In conclusion, applying the Power or Exponential model to individual vehicle speeds is an alternative that provides reasonable results in relation to the original Power and Exponential models, but more research is needed to clarify the shape of the individual risk curve. It is not surprising that the impact on severe traffic crashes was larger in situations where those driving fastest reduced their speed the most. Further investigations on use of the Power and/or the

Examining the nonparametric effect of drivers' age in rear-end accidents through an additive logistic regression model.

PubMed

Ma, Lu; Yan, Xuedong

2014-06-01

This study seeks to inspect the nonparametric characteristics connecting the age of the driver to the relative risk of being an at-fault vehicle, in order to discover a more precise and smooth pattern of age impact, which has commonly been neglected in past studies. Records of drivers in two-vehicle rear-end collisions are selected from the general estimates system (GES) 2011 dataset. These extracted observations in fact constitute inherently matched driver pairs under certain matching variables including weather conditions, pavement conditions and road geometry design characteristics that are shared by pairs of drivers in rear-end accidents. The introduced data structure is able to guarantee that the variance of the response variable will not depend on the matching variables and hence provides a high power of statistical modeling. The estimation results exhibit a smooth cubic spline function for examining the nonlinear relationship between the age of the driver and the log odds of being at fault in a rear-end accident. The results are presented with respect to the main effect of age, the interaction effect between age and sex, and the effects of age under different scenarios of pre-crash actions by the leading vehicle. Compared to the conventional specification in which age is categorized into several predefined groups, the proposed method is more flexible and able to produce quantitatively explicit results. First, it confirms the U-shaped pattern of the age effect, and further shows that the risks of young and old drivers change rapidly with age. Second, the interaction effects between age and sex show that female and male drivers behave differently in rear-end accidents. Third, it is found that the pattern of age impact varies according to the type of pre-crash actions exhibited by the leading vehicle. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The effect of Center High Mounted Stop Lamp (CHMSL) on rear-end accidents in Israel.

PubMed

Bar-Gera, Hillel; Schechtman, Edna

2005-05-01

This paper examines the effect of the use of Center High Mounted Stop Lamp (CHMSL) on rear-end accidents, as reflected in Israeli police records from calendar years 1991-2002. The basic analysis, similar to that used in previous CHMSL studies, compares the involvement in accidents of passenger cars of model years 1994-1996 that are equipped with CHMSL with passenger cars of model years 1991-1993 that are not equipped with CHMSL. The number of involvements as the struck vehicle in a rear-end accident was used as the relevant measurement and the number of involvements as the striking vehicle in a rear-end accident was used as the reference measurement. The results yielded an odds ratio of 0.93. The explanation that the CHMSL is responsible for the 7% decrease is intuitively appealing and is consistent with previous findings. However, the strength of this evidence is marginal (p = 0.07). Additional analyses evaluated the model year effect in greater detail, in order to determine whether there exists a change point between 1993 and 1994 as would be expected from a CHMSL effect, or whether the effect is spurious. Detailed analyses were performed on the ratio of struck to striking involvements as well as the rates of involvement of both types. These analyses showed that (1) the chosen reference measurement is an appropriate one, but (2) the 0.93 odds ratio is quite possibly due to other reasons unrelated to the CHMSL, thus further limiting the confidence in CHMSL effectiveness.

Investigation of Vehicle Rear Under Run Protection Device (RUPD) Using Aluminium Foam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagaraj Goud, B.; pachori, Avinash

2017-08-01

Whenever the passenger cars meet with accidents with the heavy duty truck from rear, it will tend to penetrate under the truck bed called truck trailer under-ride crash. This is responsible for the thousands of accidents, causing severe injuries and spot death. This is mostly due to the lack of effective guarding system. The Present paper gives an importance on energy absorption mechanism of a Rear under Run Protection Device (RUPD) under crash effect of the truck. The aim of the study is to replace Steel RUPD with aluminum foam, which promises an improvement of vehicle crashworthiness as well as to reduce weight of the vehicle. The aluminum foam is selected due to the high specific strength and specific stiffness. This inborn character makes it a promising candidate in the modern lightweight structures in the automotive engineering which can contribute to the improvement of mileage in addition to safety of the occupants.

Automated Guided Vehicle For Phsically Handicapped People - A Cost Effective Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, G. Arun, Dr.; Sivasubramaniam, Mr. A.

2017-12-01

Automated Guided vehicle (AGV) is like a robot that can deliver the materials from the supply area to the technician automatically. This is faster and more efficient. The robot can be accessed wirelessly. A technician can directly control the robot to deliver the components rather than control it via a human operator (over phone, computer etc. who has to program the robot or ask a delivery person to make the delivery). The vehicle is automatically guided through its ways. To avoid collisions a proximity sensor is attached to the system. The sensor senses the signals of the obstacles and can stop the vehicle in the presence of obstacles. Thus vehicle can avoid accidents that can be very useful to the present industrial trend and material handling and equipment handling will be automated and easy time saving methodology.

Robust Road Condition Detection System Using In-Vehicle Standard Sensors

PubMed Central

Castillo Aguilar, Juan Jesús; Cabrera Carrillo, Juan Antonio; Guerra Fernández, Antonio Jesús; Carabias Acosta, Enrique

2015-01-01

The appearance of active safety systems, such as Anti-lock Braking System, Traction Control System, Stability Control System, etc., represents a major evolution in road safety. In the automotive sector, the term vehicle active safety systems refers to those whose goal is to help avoid a crash or to reduce the risk of having an accident. These systems safeguard us, being in continuous evolution and incorporating new capabilities continuously. In order for these systems and vehicles to work adequately, they need to know some fundamental information: the road condition on which the vehicle is circulating. This early road detection is intended to allow vehicle control systems to act faster and more suitably, thus obtaining a substantial advantage. In this work, we try to detect the road condition the vehicle is being driven on, using the standard sensors installed in commercial vehicles. Vehicle models were programmed in on-board systems to perform real-time estimations of the forces of contact between the wheel and road and the speed of the vehicle. Subsequently, a fuzzy logic block is used to obtain an index representing the road condition. Finally, an artificial neural network was used to provide the optimal slip for each surface. Simulations and experiments verified the proposed method. PMID:26703605

Robust Road Condition Detection System Using In-Vehicle Standard Sensors.

PubMed

Castillo Aguilar, Juan Jesús; Cabrera Carrillo, Juan Antonio; Guerra Fernández, Antonio Jesús; Carabias Acosta, Enrique

2015-12-19

The appearance of active safety systems, such as Anti-lock Braking System, Traction Control System, Stability Control System, etc., represents a major evolution in road safety. In the automotive sector, the term vehicle active safety systems refers to those whose goal is to help avoid a crash or to reduce the risk of having an accident. These systems safeguard us, being in continuous evolution and incorporating new capabilities continuously. In order for these systems and vehicles to work adequately, they need to know some fundamental information: the road condition on which the vehicle is circulating. This early road detection is intended to allow vehicle control systems to act faster and more suitably, thus obtaining a substantial advantage. In this work, we try to detect the road condition the vehicle is being driven on, using the standard sensors installed in commercial vehicles. Vehicle models were programmed in on-board systems to perform real-time estimations of the forces of contact between the wheel and road and the speed of the vehicle. Subsequently, a fuzzy logic block is used to obtain an index representing the road condition. Finally, an artificial neural network was used to provide the optimal slip for each surface. Simulations and experiments verified the proposed method.

Unsafe Driving by High School Seniors: National Trends from 1976 to 2001 in Tickets and Accidents after Use of Alcohol, Marijuana and Other Illegal Drugs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Malley, Patrick M.; Johnston, Lloyd D.

2003-01-01

Study reports trends among high school seniors in number of tickets or warnings received, number of vehicle accidents, and number of these events occurring after use of alcohol, marijuana, or other illegal drugs. Despite decline in the number of accidents and tickets received after drinking or drug use, aggressive policies are still needed to…

Identification and development of countermeasures for bicyclist/motor-vehicle problem types. Volume 3, Model regulations

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1982-08-01

A detailed re-analysis of previously collected bicycle/motor-vehicle accident data (Cross and Fisher, 1977) was undertaken to define potential countermeasures. Countermeasure development was then undertaken in the areas of Training (see Volume I), Pu...

Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for PTSD Symptoms after a Road Accident: An Uncontrolled Case Series

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beck, J. Gayle; Palyo, Sarah A.; Winer, Eliot H.; Schwagler, Brad E.; Ang, Eu Jin

2007-01-01

This report examined whether Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) could be used in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in the aftermath of a serious motor vehicle accident. Six individuals reporting either full or severe subsyndromal PTSD completed 10 sessions of VRET, which was conducted using software designed to…

Difference in rural and urban driver-injury severities in highway-rail grade crossing accidents.

PubMed

Hao, Wei; Kamga, Camille

2017-06-01

Based on the Federal Railway Administration (FRA) database, there were 25,945 highway-rail crossing accidents in the United States between 2002 and 2011. With an extensive research, analysis results showed that there were substantial differences between rural and urban areas at highway-rail grade crossings. However, there is no published study specific on driver's injury severity at highway-rail grade crossings classified by area types. Using an ordered probit modelling approach, the study explores the determinants of driver-injury severity at rural highway-rail grade crossings compared with urban highway-rail grade crossings. The analysis found that motor vehicle driver's injury level at rural highway-rail grade crossing is extremely higher than urban area. Compared to collisions at urban area, collisions happened at rural area tend to result in more severe injuries. These crashes were more prevalent if vehicle drivers are driving at a high speed or the oncoming trains are high-speed. Moreover, highway-rail grade crossing accidents were more likely to occur at rural area without pavement and lighting.

Traumatic upper cervical spinal fractures in teaching hospitals of China over 13 years

PubMed Central

Wang, Hongwei; Ou, Lan; Zhou, Yue; Li, Changqing; Liu, Jun; Chen, Yu; Yu, Hailong; Wang, Qi; Zhao, Yiwen; Han, Jianda; Xiang, Liangbi

2016-01-01

Abstract To investigate the incidence and pattern of patients managed for traumatic upper cervical spinal fractures (TUCSFs) in teaching hospitals in China over 13 years. We retrospectively reviewed 351 patients with TUCSF admitted to our teaching hospitals. Incidence rates were calculated with respect to age, gender, etiologies of trauma, anatomical distribution, anatomical classification, American spinal injury association impairment scale (ASIA) classification of neurological deficit and associated injuries. There were 260 male and 91 female patients, with a mean age of 44.2 ± 16.3 years. The mean age of the patients significantly increased by year of admission, from 35.2 ± 14.5 years to 47.5 ± 17.2 years (P = 0.005). Motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) (n = 132, 37.6%) and high falls (n = 104, 29.6%) were the 2 most common mechanisms. The number of C2 fractures (n = 300, 85.5%) was significantly higher than that of C1 (n = 99, 28.2%) (P < 0.001). High falls resulted in significantly more Type I C1 fractures than other etiologies (all P < 0.001). MVAs resulted in many more Type II and Type III C1 fractures and Type II and Type III C2 fractures than other etiologies. High falls were the most common injury type (n = 44, 36.4%) resulting in neurological deficits. Patients who presented with Landell classification Type I single C1 fracture (n = 6, 42.9%) had the highest rate of neurological deficits. Eighty-two patients had combined injuries; the most common pattern was cervical + cervical spine (n = 44, 12.5%), followed by cervical + thoracic spine (n = 27, 7.7%). A total of 121 patients (34.5%) suffered neurological deficits. Of all patients with TUCSF without combined injuries, single C2 fractures accounted for the highest rate of neurological deficits (n = 62, 32.0%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that sex (OR = 1.876, 95% CI: 1.022–3.443, P = 0.042), etiology (MVA pedestrians vs high fall: OR = 0.187, 95% CI: 0

Features of the traffic accidents happened in the province of Aydın between 2005 and 2011.

PubMed

Dirlik, Musa; Bostancıoğlu, Başak Çakır; Elbek, Tülay; Korkmaz, Bedir; Çallak Kallem, Füsun; Gün, Berk

2014-09-01

In this study, it was aimed to analyze the traffic accidents with postmortem examinations and autopsies. From the one thousand eight hundred and fifteen forensic autopsies, reports of 334 traffic accidents were searched. Features such as the scene of the accident, type of the accident, type of the vehicles involved in the accident, the year, season, day and hour of the accident, the positions of the victims in the traffic, concomitant orthopedic injuries, whether autopsy was performed, and cause of death were investigated. Among the one thousand eight hundred and fifteen forensic death cases, observed cause of death was determined to be traffic accidents in 334 (18.4%) cases. Male cases accounted 84.1%, and male to female ratio was 5.3 to 1. From the reports, 32.6% of the accidents happened in summer and most commonly during holidays (33%). The rate of the accidents happened in the city center was 35.3% and 32.9% of these cases died due to pedestrian collision. Moreover, it was determined that the most injured person was the driver. Automobiles took the lead in the causes of the traffic accidents. It is realized that traffic accident-related deaths have a substantial place among forensic deaths and continue to be an important public health problem. It is conspicuous that improving public education on traffic safety, increasing traffic management and control measures are of great significance.

GIS based analysis of Intercity Fatal Road Traffic Accidents in Iran

PubMed Central

Alizadeh, A; Zare, M; Darparesh, M; Mohseni, S; Soleimani-Ahmadi, M

2015-01-01

Road traffic accidents including intercity car traffic accidents (ICTAs) are among the most important causes of morbidity and mortality due to the growing number of vehicles, risky behaviors, and changes in lifestyle of the general population. A sound knowledge of the geographical distribution of car traffic accidents can be considered as an approach towards the accident causation and it can be used as an administrative tool in allocating the sources for traffic accidents prevention. This study was conducted to investigate the geographical distribution and the time trend of fatal intercity car traffic accidents in Iran. To conduct this descriptive study, all Iranian intercity road traffic mortality data were obtained from the Police reports in the Statistical Yearbook of the Governor’s Budget and Planning. The obtained data were for 17 complete Iranian calendar years from March 1997 to March 2012. The incidence rate (IR) of fatal ICTAs for each year was calculated as the total number of fatal ICTAs in every 100000 population in specified time intervals. Figures and maps indicating the trends and geographical distribution of fatal ICTAs were prepared while using Microsoft Excel and ArcGis9.2 software. The number of fatal car accidents showed a general increasing trend from 3000 in 1996 to 13500 in 2012. The incidence of fatal intercity car accidents has changed from six in 100000 population in 1996 to 18 in 100000 population in 2012. GIS based data showed that the incidence rate of ICTAs in different provinces of Iran was very divergent. The highest incidence of fatal ICTAs was in Semnan province (IR= 35.2), followed by North Khorasan (IR=22.7), and South Khorasan (IR=22). The least incidence of fatal ICTAs was in Tehran province (IR=2.4) followed by Khozestan (IR=6.5), and Eastern Azarbayejan (IR=6.6). The compensation cost of fatal ICTAs also showed an increasing trend during the studied period. Since an increasing amount of money was being paid yearly for the

GIS based analysis of Intercity Fatal Road Traffic Accidents in Iran.

PubMed

Alizadeh, A; Zare, M; Darparesh, M; Mohseni, S; Soleimani-Ahmadi, M

2015-01-01

Road traffic accidents including intercity car traffic accidents (ICTAs) are among the most important causes of morbidity and mortality due to the growing number of vehicles, risky behaviors, and changes in lifestyle of the general population. A sound knowledge of the geographical distribution of car traffic accidents can be considered as an approach towards the accident causation and it can be used as an administrative tool in allocating the sources for traffic accidents prevention. This study was conducted to investigate the geographical distribution and the time trend of fatal intercity car traffic accidents in Iran. To conduct this descriptive study, all Iranian intercity road traffic mortality data were obtained from the Police reports in the Statistical Yearbook of the Governor's Budget and Planning. The obtained data were for 17 complete Iranian calendar years from March 1997 to March 2012. The incidence rate (IR) of fatal ICTAs for each year was calculated as the total number of fatal ICTAs in every 100000 population in specified time intervals. Figures and maps indicating the trends and geographical distribution of fatal ICTAs were prepared while using Microsoft Excel and ArcGis9.2 software. The number of fatal car accidents showed a general increasing trend from 3000 in 1996 to 13500 in 2012. The incidence of fatal intercity car accidents has changed from six in 100000 population in 1996 to 18 in 100000 population in 2012. GIS based data showed that the incidence rate of ICTAs in different provinces of Iran was very divergent. The highest incidence of fatal ICTAs was in Semnan province (IR= 35.2), followed by North Khorasan (IR=22.7), and South Khorasan (IR=22). The least incidence of fatal ICTAs was in Tehran province (IR=2.4) followed by Khozestan (IR=6.5), and Eastern Azarbayejan (IR=6.6). The compensation cost of fatal ICTAs also showed an increasing trend during the studied period. Since an increasing amount of money was being paid yearly for the car

Review of Global Menace of Road Accidents with Special Reference to Malaysia- A Social Perspective

PubMed Central

Kareem, Abdul

2003-01-01

Road accident is ‘a global tragedy’ with ever-rising trend. The goal of this article includes review of the causes and nature of accidents, statistical data regarding road accidents and the economical impact. 1.17 million deaths occur each year worldwide due to road accidents 70 % of which occur in developing countries. 65% of deaths involve pedestrians, 35 % of which are children. Estimates suggest that 23–34 million people are injured worldwide every year in road crashes - a value almost twice that previously estimated. It is estimated that more than 200 U.S. citizens die each year due to road accidents abroad. Every year in Europe, more than 50,000 peoples are killed in road accidents, and more than 150,000 remain disabled. It is a sad fact that the total number of road accidents in Malaysia exceeded 223,000 in 1999. On the average, 16 persons died from these road accidents, every single day in 1999. Lack of attention, reckless driving, lack of proper protection, speeding, bad personal habits, social and behavioral misconduct and inconsiderate drivers of larger vehicles are some of the problems that cause accidents. In Malaysia, motorcycle fatal accidents (60%) warrant a high degree of concern. Young children and senior citizens are found to be in the vulnerable age group. In Malaysia, in 1999 alone, general insurers paid RM1.67 billion or an average of RM4.6 million a day on motor claims. It is now recognized that road traffic accidents represent a major public health problem, because of the high number of victims involved and because of the seriousness of the consequences for themselves and for their families. PMID:23386795

Road accidents and tourism: the case of the Balearic Islands (Spain).

PubMed

Rosselló, Jaume; Saenz-de-Miera, Oscar

2011-05-01

The increase in the number of tourists for many destinations and their increased mobility within host countries or regions has implied a rise in tourism-associated externalities, with vehicle crashes as the most common cause of injury for tourists. Within the transport literature, the number and variation in the amount of accidents has been related to a large set of determining variables, including weather conditions, socio-economic characteristics, exposure, physical characteristics of the road and a variety of dummies that try to capture effects such as safety laws and seasonal variations. However, the presence of tourism has been neglected. Using the case study of the Balearic Islands, the present study estimates the role of tourism in determining the number of accidents in a daily context, using the set of variables suggested by the literature and incorporating a daily measure for the stock of tourists at a host destination. Results show how tourism can be associated with a significant amount of the accidents that take place in the Balearics. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sensor Systems for Vehicle Environment Perception in a Highway Intelligent Space System

PubMed Central

Tang, Xiaofeng; Gao, Feng; Xu, Guoyan; Ding, Nenggen; Cai, Yao; Ma, Mingming; Liu, Jianxing

2014-01-01

A Highway Intelligent Space System (HISS) is proposed to study vehicle environment perception in this paper. The nature of HISS is that a space sensors system using laser, ultrasonic or radar sensors are installed in a highway environment and communication technology is used to realize the information exchange between the HISS server and vehicles, which provides vehicles with the surrounding road information. Considering the high-speed feature of vehicles on highways, when vehicles will be passing a road ahead that is prone to accidents, the vehicle driving state should be predicted to ensure drivers have road environment perception information in advance, thereby ensuring vehicle driving safety and stability. In order to verify the accuracy and feasibility of the HISS, a traditional vehicle-mounted sensor system for environment perception is used to obtain the relative driving state. Furthermore, an inter-vehicle dynamics model is built and model predictive control approach is used to predict the driving state in the following period. Finally, the simulation results shows that using the HISS for environment perception can arrive at the same results detected by a traditional vehicle-mounted sensors system. Meanwhile, we can further draw the conclusion that using HISS to realize vehicle environment perception can ensure system stability, thereby demonstrating the method's feasibility. PMID:24834907

Measuring accident risk exposure for pedestrians in different micro-environments.

PubMed

Lassarre, Sylvain; Papadimitriou, Eleonora; Yannis, George; Golias, John

2007-11-01

Pedestrians are mainly exposed to the risk of road accident when crossing a road in urban areas. Traditionally in the road safety field, the risk of accident for pedestrian is estimated as a rate of accident involvement per unit of time spent on the road network. The objective of this research is to develop an approach of accident risk based on the concept of risk exposure used in environmental epidemiology, such as in the case of exposure to pollutants. This type of indicator would be useful for comparing the effects of urban transportation policy scenarios on pedestrian safety. The first step is to create an indicator of pedestrians' exposure, which is based on motorised vehicles' "concentration" by lane and also takes account of traffic speed and time spent to cross. This is applied to two specific micro-environments: junctions and mid-block locations. A model of pedestrians' crossing behaviour along a trip is then developed, based on a hierarchical choice between junctions and mid-block locations and taking account of origin and destination, traffic characteristics and pedestrian facilities. Finally, a complete framework is produced for modelling pedestrians' exposure in the light of their crossing behaviour. The feasibility of this approach is demonstrated on an artificial network and a first set of results is obtained from the validation of the models in observational studies.

Helmet use and risk compensation in motorcycle accidents.

PubMed

Ouellet, James V

2011-02-01

The "risk compensation" hypothesis suggests that individuals offset perceived gains in safety by increasing their risk-taking behavior to maintain a stable or "homeostatic" level of risk. If this is true for motorcyclists, then helmet use, which reduces the risk of brain injury and death, may lead helmet users to take more risks when they ride. Thus, increased risk-taking by helmet users should show up as overrepresentation in crashes, and accident reconstruction should reveal risky behaviors in the seconds just before the crash. This article examines data from two separate studies involving the on-scene, in-depth investigation and reconstruction of motorcycle crashes: 900 in Los Angeles (1976-1977) and another 1082 in Thailand (1999-2000). Each crash was investigated on scene within minutes of its occurrence by teams of specially trained researchers and later reconstructed in order to identify precrash and crash events, verify helmet use/nonuse, etc. "Exposure" data on helmet use and other readily visible factors were also collected for the population-at-risk by observing riders who passed by each accident scene some time after a crash that had been investigated by the team. In this article, helmeted and unhelmeted accident-involved riders are compared to each other as well as to the population-at-risk. In Thailand, helmeted riders did not differ significantly from unhelmeted riders in alcohol use, precrash speed, being the primary or sole cause of the crash, or unsafe speed or lane positioning for the traffic conditions; they were no more likely to be in a single-vehicle accident, to crash by running off the road, or to lose control. In Los Angeles, drinking riders were half as likely to wear a helmet as nondrinkers. However, when drinkers and nondrinkers were segregated, helmeted riders were no more likely to cause their crash, run stop signs or red lights, commit other traffic code violations, or run off the road. They did not differ in speed or single-vehicle

Mechanisms of motor vehicle crashes related to burns--an analysis of the German In depth Accident Study (GIDAS) database.

PubMed

Brand, S; Otte, D; Stübig, T; Petri, M; Ettinger, M; Mueller, C W; Krettek, C; Haasper, C; Probst, C

2013-12-01

Patients of motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) suffering burns are challenging for the rescue team and the admitting hospital. These patients often face worse outcomes than crash patients with trauma only. Our analysis of the German In-depth Accident Study (GIDAS) database researches the detailed crash mechanisms to identify potential prevention measures. We analyzed the 2011 GIDAS database comprising 14,072 MVC patients and compared individuals with (Burns) and without (NoBurns) burns. Only complete data sets were included. Patients with burns obviously resulting of air bag deployment only were not included in the Burns group. Data acquisition by an on call team of medical and technical researchers starts at the crash scene immediately after the crash and comprises technical data as well as medical information until discharge from the hospital. Statistical analysis was done by Mann-Whitney-U-test. Level of significance was p < 0.05. 14,072 MVC patients with complete data sets were included in the analysis. 99 individuals suffered burns (0.7%; group "Burns"). Demographic data and injury severity showed no statistical significant difference between the two groups of Burns and NoBurns. Injury severity was measured using the Injury Severity Score (ISS). Direct frontal impact (Burns: 48.5% vs. NoBurns: 33%; p < 0.05) and high-energy impacts as represented by delta-v (m/s) (Burns: 33.5 ± 21.4 vs. NoBurns: 25.2 ± 15.9; p < 0.05) were significantly different between groups as was mortality (Burns: 12.5% vs. NoBurns: 2.1%; p < 0.05). Type of patients' motor vehicles and type of crash opponent showed no differences. Our results show, that frontal and high-energy impacts are associated with a frequency of burns. This may serve automobile construction companies to improve the burn safety to prevent flames spreading from the motor compartment to the passenger compartment. Communities may impose speed limits in local crash hot spots. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All

[Epidemiology of maxillofacial fractures due to traffic accidents in Medellin (Colombia)].

PubMed

Agudelo-Suárez, Andrés A; Duque-Serna, Francisco Levi; Restrepo-Molina, Lucas; Martínez-Herrera, Eliana

2015-09-01

To characterize maxillofacial fractures due to traffic accidents in patients attending the Hospital Universitario San Vicente Fundación (Medellin-Colombia) from 1998 to 2010. A descriptive study (n =1609) was carried out with information from the medical records of patients meeting the inclusion criteria established by the general objective of the study. The variables consisted of sex, age, year, type and number of fractures, and type of vehicle. A descriptive analysis of the variables was performed and the frequency of fractures due to traffic accidents was calculated according to year and sex. Crude and adjusted odds ratios (aOR) were estimated to establish associations among age, type of vehicle, and the presence of two or more fractures with stratification by sex. The frequency of maxillofacial fractures due to traffic accidents increased in 2007 (men: n=198, women: n=35) and decreased from 2008 to 2010 in both sexes. Fractures were more frequent in persons aged <35 years (80%) and in men (82%). The highest frequency of fractures was observed in motorists. Male users of motorcycles (aOR=1.41; confidence interval 95% [95%CI]: 1.02- 1.94) and bicycles (aOR=1.61; 95%CI: 1.01- 2.56) were more likely to report two or more fractures compared with pedestrians, after adjustment for other variables. Most maxillofacial fractures occurred in men and in motorists. Future studies should analyze other determinants affecting the epidemiology of maxillofacial fractures. Strategies should be designed to improve the use of protective elements and drivers' knowledge and practices. Copyright © 2014 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

A Vehicle Steering Recognition System Based on Low-Cost Smartphone Sensors

PubMed Central

Liu, Xinhua; Mei, Huafeng; Lu, Huachang; Kuang, Hailan; Ma, Xiaolin

2017-01-01

Recognizing how a vehicle is steered and then alerting drivers in real time is of utmost importance to the vehicle and driver’s safety, since fatal accidents are often caused by dangerous vehicle maneuvers, such as rapid turns, fast lane-changes, etc. Existing solutions using video or in-vehicle sensors have been employed to identify dangerous vehicle maneuvers, but these methods are subject to the effects of the environmental elements or the hardware is very costly. In the mobile computing era, smartphones have become key tools to develop innovative mobile context-aware systems. In this paper, we present a recognition system for dangerous vehicle steering based on the low-cost sensors found in a smartphone: i.e., the gyroscope and the accelerometer. To identify vehicle steering maneuvers, we focus on the vehicle’s angular velocity, which is characterized by gyroscope data from a smartphone mounted in the vehicle. Three steering maneuvers including turns, lane-changes and U-turns are defined, and a vehicle angular velocity matching algorithm based on Fast Dynamic Time Warping (FastDTW) is adopted to recognize the vehicle steering. The results of extensive experiments show that the average accuracy rate of the presented recognition reaches 95%, which implies that the proposed smartphone-based method is suitable for recognizing dangerous vehicle steering maneuvers. PMID:28335540

Stability and optimised H∞ control of tripped and untripped vehicle rollover

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, Zhilin; Zhang, Lei; Zhang, Jiale; Khajepour, Amir

2016-10-01

Vehicle rollover is a serious traffic accident. In order to accurately evaluate the possibility of untripped and some special tripped vehicle rollovers, and to prevent vehicle rollover under unpredictable variations of parameters and harsh driving conditions, a new rollover index and an anti-roll control strategy are proposed in this paper. Taking deflections of steering and suspension induced by the roll at the axles into consideration, a six degrees of freedom dynamic model is established, including lateral, yaw, roll, and vertical motions of sprung and unsprung masses. From the vehicle dynamics theory, a new rollover index is developed to predict vehicle rollover risk under both untripped and special tripped situations. This new rollover index is validated by Carsim simulations. In addition, an H-infinity controller with electro hydraulic brake system is optimised by genetic algorithm to improve the anti-rollover performance of the vehicle. The stability and robustness of the active rollover prevention control system are analysed by some numerical simulations. The results show that the control system can improve the critical speed of vehicle rollover obviously, and has a good robustness for variations in the number of passengers and longitude position of the centre of gravity.

Computerized tomography assessment of cranial and mid-facial fractures in patients following road traffic accident in South-West Nigeria.

PubMed

Abiodun, Adeyinka; Atinuke, Agunloye; Yvonne, Osuagwu

2012-01-01

Globally, the most common cause of cranio-facial fractures is road traffic accident (RTA) with computerized tomography (CT) scan as the gold standard in the diagnosis of patients with cranial and facial fractures. The purpose of this study is to assess the pattern of cranial and facial fractures on CT in head injured patients following RTA. Using CT, detailed analyses of 236 patients with head injury following RTA were performed between 2006 and 2008, Data recorded included cause of injury, age and gender distribution, cranial and mid-facial fractures sustained, associated intracranial and soft tissue injury and the types of vehicular accident. The peak age of the patients was between 30 and 39 years. RTA was more common in males than females. Motor-vehicle was the most common cause of RTA in the present study (66.9%). More passengers were involved in the motor vehicle (87.3%) and motorcycle (52.0%) accidents than their corresponding drivers, and they were predominantly males. Majority of the patients involved in pedestrian road traffic accident (PRTA) were motor vehicle victims (93.3%). There were more patients with cranial (59.8%) than mid-facial fractures (40.2%). Majority of the patients had temporal bone cranial fracture (31.1%) and combined or mixed type of mid-facial fractures (41.3%). Intracranial bleeding (31.7%) was the most common associated intracranial finding. RTAs continue to be a menace and are the main cause of craniofacial injury in Nigeria. This pattern of etiologic factors is in accordance with data from most developing countries. Special attention should be paid to reinforcement of legislation and enactment of laws aimed at the reduction of head injury and provision for easy access to CT for the head injured patient.

An epidemiological study of road traffic accident cases admitted in a tertiary care hospital.

PubMed

Pathak, S M; Jindal, A K; Verma, A K; Mahen, A

2014-01-01

Road traffic accidents are a leading cause of mortality and morbidity globally. In India, more than a million are injured annually and about a lakh are killed in road traffic accidents.(1) It causes the country to lose around 55,000 crores annually which is 2-3% of Gross Domestic Production (GDP).(2) This cross sectional study was conducted to elucidate the role of various factors involved in road traffic accidents. Road traffic accident cases admitted to a tertiary care hospital between 01 Oct 2009 and 28 Feb 2011 were included in the study. A total of 182 patients were studied. Information was collected through questionnaire, hospital records and on-site visit. OPD cases, comatose patients and deaths were excluded. Two-wheelers were the commonest vehicle involved in vehicular accidents. Most accidents happened at a speed of 40-60 km/h (37.9%). Most of the patients were aged between 20 and 30 years. Majority had a driving experience of less than 5 years. Monsoons witnessed 46.7% cases. Most cases occurred between 6 and 10 pm. Among severe injuries, the commonest was lower limb fractures (19.8%). There are multiple factors associated with road traffic accidents which due to the lack of road safety measures in the country are playing their role. It is the need of the hour to address this issue and formulate comprehensive, scientific and practical rules and regulations as well as evaluate its enforcement.

Random parameter models for accident prediction on two-lane undivided highways in India.

PubMed

Dinu, R R; Veeraragavan, A

2011-02-01

Generalized linear modeling (GLM), with the assumption of Poisson or negative binomial error structure, has been widely employed in road accident modeling. A number of explanatory variables related to traffic, road geometry, and environment that contribute to accident occurrence have been identified and accident prediction models have been proposed. The accident prediction models reported in literature largely employ the fixed parameter modeling approach, where the magnitude of influence of an explanatory variable is considered to be fixed for any observation in the population. Similar models have been proposed for Indian highways too, which include additional variables representing traffic composition. The mixed traffic on Indian highways comes with a lot of variability within, ranging from difference in vehicle types to variability in driver behavior. This could result in variability in the effect of explanatory variables on accidents across locations. Random parameter models, which can capture some of such variability, are expected to be more appropriate for the Indian situation. The present study is an attempt to employ random parameter modeling for accident prediction on two-lane undivided rural highways in India. Three years of accident history, from nearly 200 km of highway segments, is used to calibrate and validate the models. The results of the analysis suggest that the model coefficients for traffic volume, proportion of cars, motorized two-wheelers and trucks in traffic, and driveway density and horizontal and vertical curvatures are randomly distributed across locations. The paper is concluded with a discussion on modeling results and the limitations of the present study. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Time-to-collision analysis of pedestrian and pedal-cycle accidents for the development of autonomous emergency braking systems.

PubMed

Lenard, James; Welsh, Ruth; Danton, Russell

2018-06-01

The aim of this study was to describe the position of pedestrians and pedal cyclists relative to the striking vehicle in the 3 s before impact. This information is essential for the development of effective autonomous emergency braking systems and relevant test conditions for consumer ratings. The UK RAIDS-OTS study provided 175 pedestrian and 127 pedal-cycle cases based on in-depth, at-scene investigations of a representative sample of accidents in 2000-2010. Pedal cyclists were scattered laterally more widely than pedestrians (90% of cyclists within around ±80° compared to ±20° for pedestrians), however their distance from the striking vehicle in the seconds before impact was no greater (90% of cyclists within 42 m at 3 s compared to 50 m for pedestrians). This data is consistent with a greater involvement of slow moving vehicles in cycle accidents. The implication of the results is that AEB systems for cyclists require almost complete 180° side-to-side vision but do not need a longer distance range than for pedestrians. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Fukushima radiation accident: consequences for radiation accident medical management.

PubMed

Meineke, Viktor; Dörr, Harald

2012-08-01

The March 2011 radiation accident in Fukushima, Japan, is a textbook example of a radiation accident of global significance. In view of the global dimensions of the accident, it is important to consider the lessons learned. In this context, emphasis must be placed on consequences for planning appropriate medical management for radiation accidents including, for example, estimates of necessary human and material resources. The specific characteristics of the radiation accident in Fukushima are thematically divided into five groups: the exceptional environmental influences on the Fukushima radiation accident, particular circumstances of the accident, differences in risk perception, changed psychosocial factors in the age of the Internet and globalization, and the ignorance of the effects of ionizing radiation both among the general public and health care professionals. Conclusions like the need for reviewing international communication, interfacing, and interface definitions will be drawn from the Fukushima radiation accident.

Advanced vehicle dynamics of heavy trucks with the perspective of road safety

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trigell, Annika Stensson; Rothhämel, Malte; Pauwelussen, Joop; Kural, Karel

2017-10-01

This paper presents state-of-the art within advanced vehicle dynamics of heavy trucks with the perspective of road safety. The most common accidents with heavy trucks involved are truck against passenger cars. Safety critical situations are for example loss of control (such as rollover and lateral stability) and a majority of these occur during speed when cornering. Other critical situations are avoidance manoeuvre and road edge recovery. The dynamic behaviour of heavy trucks have significant differences compared to passenger cars and as a consequence, successful application of vehicle dynamic functions for enhanced safety of trucks might differ from the functions in passenger cars. Here, the differences between vehicle dynamics of heavy trucks and passenger cars are clarified. Advanced vehicle dynamics solutions with the perspective of road safety of trucks are presented, beginning with the topic vehicle stability, followed by the steering system, the braking system and driver assistance systems that differ in some way from that of passenger cars as well.

Modeling Vehicle Collision Angle in Traffic Crashes Based on Three-Dimensional Laser Scanning Data.

PubMed

Lyu, Nengchao; Huang, Gang; Wu, Chaozhong; Duan, Zhicheng; Li, Pingfan

2017-02-28

In road traffic accidents, the analysis of a vehicle's collision angle plays a key role in identifying a traffic accident's form and cause. However, because accurate estimation of vehicle collision angle involves many factors, it is difficult to accurately determine it in cases in which less physical evidence is available and there is a lack of monitoring. This paper establishes the mathematical relation model between collision angle, deformation, and normal vector in the collision region according to the equations of particle deformation and force in Hooke's law of classical mechanics. At the same time, the surface reconstruction method suitable for a normal vector solution is studied. Finally, the estimation model of vehicle collision angle is presented. In order to verify the correctness of the model, verification of multi-angle collision experiments and sensitivity analysis of laser scanning precision for the angle have been carried out using three-dimensional (3D) data obtained by a 3D laser scanner in the collision deformation zone. Under the conditions with which the model has been defined, validation results show that the collision angle is a result of the weighted synthesis of the normal vector of the collision point and the weight value is the deformation of the collision point corresponding to normal vectors. These conclusions prove the applicability of the model. The collision angle model proposed in this paper can be used as the theoretical basis for traffic accident identification and cause analysis. It can also be used as a theoretical reference for the study of the impact deformation of elastic materials.

Typical pedestrian accident scenarios for the development of autonomous emergency braking test protocols.

PubMed

Lenard, James; Badea-Romero, Alexandro; Danton, Russell

2014-12-01

An increasing proportion of new vehicles are being fitted with autonomous emergency braking systems. It is difficult for consumers to judge the effectiveness of these safety systems for individual models unless their performance is evaluated through track testing under controlled conditions. This paper aimed to contribute to the development of relevant test conditions by describing typical circumstances of pedestrian accidents. Cluster analysis was applied to two large British databases and both highlighted an urban scenario in daylight and fine weather where a small pedestrian walks across the road, especially from the near kerb, in clear view of a driver who is travelling straight ahead. For each dataset a main test configuration was defined to represent the conditions of the most common accident scenario along with test variations to reflect the characteristics of less common accident scenarios. Some of the variations pertaining to less common accident circumstances or to a minority of casualties in these scenarios were proposed as optional or supplementary test elements for an outstanding performance rating. Many considerations are incorporated into the final design and implementation of an actual testing regime, such as cost and the state of development of technology; only the representation of accident data lay within the scope of this paper. It would be desirable to ascertain the wider representativeness of the results by analysing accident data from other countries in a similar manner. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Motor Vehicle Trauma: An Unnecessary Disease

PubMed Central

Johnson, Douglas H.

1987-01-01

The motor vehicle accident kills and maims more of our young people than any other affliction. Yet prevention of injuries and deaths from MVA receives less emphasis in medical education, medical publications and collective political action than the problem merits. In daily practice, there are numerous opportunities for prevention counselling, alcoholic driver case finding, and critical assessment of the privilege of driving. Within their community, family physicians can have input into some preventive programs. At government level, physicians should increase their pressure for legislative action to reduce MVA injuries and deaths. PMID:21267343

Quantification method analysis of the relationship between occupant injury and environmental factors in traffic accidents.

PubMed

Ju, Yong Han; Sohn, So Young

2011-01-01

Injury analysis following a vehicle crash is one of the most important research areas. However, most injury analyses have focused on one-dimensional injury variables, such as the AIS (Abbreviated Injury Scale) or the IIS (Injury Impairment Scale), at a time in relation to various traffic accident factors. However, these studies cannot reflect the various injury phenomena that appear simultaneously. In this paper, we apply quantification method II to the NASS (National Automotive Sampling System) CDS (Crashworthiness Data System) to find the relationship between the categorical injury phenomena, such as the injury scale, injury position, and injury type, and the various traffic accident condition factors, such as speed, collision direction, vehicle type, and seat position. Our empirical analysis indicated the importance of safety devices, such as restraint equipment and airbags. In addition, we found that narrow impact, ejection, air bag deployment, and higher speed are associated with more severe than minor injury to the thigh, ankle, and leg in terms of dislocation, abrasion, or laceration. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Major Accidents (Gray Swans) Likelihood Modeling Using Accident Precursors and Approximate Reasoning.

PubMed

Khakzad, Nima; Khan, Faisal; Amyotte, Paul

2015-07-01

Compared to the remarkable progress in risk analysis of normal accidents, the risk analysis of major accidents has not been so well-established, partly due to the complexity of such accidents and partly due to low probabilities involved. The issue of low probabilities normally arises from the scarcity of major accidents' relevant data since such accidents are few and far between. In this work, knowing that major accidents are frequently preceded by accident precursors, a novel precursor-based methodology has been developed for likelihood modeling of major accidents in critical infrastructures based on a unique combination of accident precursor data, information theory, and approximate reasoning. For this purpose, we have introduced an innovative application of information analysis to identify the most informative near accident of a major accident. The observed data of the near accident were then used to establish predictive scenarios to foresee the occurrence of the major accident. We verified the methodology using offshore blowouts in the Gulf of Mexico, and then demonstrated its application to dam breaches in the United Sates. © 2015 Society for Risk Analysis.

Domino effect in chemical accidents: main features and accident sequences.

PubMed

Darbra, R M; Palacios, Adriana; Casal, Joaquim

2010-11-15

The main features of domino accidents in process/storage plants and in the transportation of hazardous materials were studied through an analysis of 225 accidents involving this effect. Data on these accidents, which occurred after 1961, were taken from several sources. Aspects analyzed included the accident scenario, the type of accident, the materials involved, the causes and consequences and the most common accident sequences. The analysis showed that the most frequent causes are external events (31%) and mechanical failure (29%). Storage areas (35%) and process plants (28%) are by far the most common settings for domino accidents. Eighty-nine per cent of the accidents involved flammable materials, the most frequent of which was LPG. The domino effect sequences were analyzed using relative probability event trees. The most frequent sequences were explosion→fire (27.6%), fire→explosion (27.5%) and fire→fire (17.8%). Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Enhancing roll stability of heavy vehicle by LQR active anti-roll bar control using electronic servo-valve hydraulic actuators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vu, Van Tan; Sename, Olivier; Dugard, Luc; Gaspar, Peter

2017-09-01

Rollover of heavy vehicle is an important road safety problem world-wide. Although rollovers are relatively rare events, they are usually deadly accidents when they occur. The roll stability loss is the main cause of rollover accidents in which heavy vehicles are involved. In order to improve the roll stability, most of modern heavy vehicles are equipped with passive anti-roll bars to reduce roll motion during cornering or riding on uneven roads. However these may be not sufficient to overcome critical situations. This paper introduces the active anti-roll bars made of four electronic servo-valve hydraulic actuators, which are modelled and integrated in a yaw-roll model of a single unit heavy vehicle. The control signal is the current entering the electronic servo-valve and the output is the force generated by the hydraulic actuator. The active control design is achieved solving a linear optimal control problem based on the linear quadratic regulator (LQR) approach. A comparison of several LQR controllers is provided to allow for tackling the considered multi-objective problems. Simulation results in frequency and time domains show that the use of two active anti-roll bars (front and rear axles) drastically improves the roll stability of the single unit heavy vehicle compared with the passive anti-roll bar.

Evaluation of Severity Score in Patients with Lower Limb and Pelvic Fractures Injured in Motor Vehicle Front-Impact Collisions.

PubMed

Gokalp, Mehmet Ata; Hekimoglu, Yavuz; Gozen, Abdurrahim; Guner, Savas; Asirdizer, Mahmut

2016-12-01

BACKGROUND Lower limb and pelvic injuries and fractures occur at a very high incidence in motor vehicle accidents. In this study, the characteristics (e.g., body side, bone location, and fracture severity) of lower limb and pelvic fractures that occurred during front-impact collisions were correlated with the injured patients' sex, age, and position in the vehicle. MATERIAL AND METHODS We retrospectively evaluated 191 patients (136 males, 55 females) who were injured in motor vehicle accidents, specifically in frontal collisions. RESULTS This study revealed that most of lower limb and pelvic fractures occurred in males (71.2%; p=.000), 19-36 years old (55.5%; p=.000), small vehicles (86.4%; p=.000), and rear seat passengers (49.2%; p=.000). Fractures most commonly occurred in the left side of the body (46.6%; p=.000) and upper legs (37.7%; p=.000). Severity scores were higher (2.76) in males than females (2.07). No statistically significant was found in severity scores of patients and other personal characteristics and fracture features of patients with lower limb and pelvic fractures who were injured in a vehicle during front-impact collisions (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS The results of this study will be useful for the automobile industry, forensics and criminal scientists, and for trauma research studies.

Reliability Assessment Of Conceptual Launch Vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bloomer, Lisa A.

2005-01-01

Planning is underway for new NASA missions to the moon and to MARS. These missions carry a great deal of risk, as the Challenger and Columbia accidents demonstrate. In order to minimize the risks to the crew and the mission, risk reduction must be done at every stage, not only in quality manufacturing, but also in design. It is necessary, therefore, to be able to compare the risks posed in different launch vehicle designs. Further, these designs have not yet been implemented, so it is necessary to compare these risks without being able to test the vehicles themselves. This paper will discuss some of the issues involved in this type of comparison. It will start with a general discussion of reliability estimation. It will continue with a short look at some software designed to make this estimation easier and faster. It will conclude with a few recommendations for future tools.

Learning lessons from Natech accidents - the eNATECH accident database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krausmann, Elisabeth; Girgin, Serkan

2016-04-01

When natural hazards impact industrial facilities that house or process hazardous materials, fires, explosions and toxic releases can occur. This type of accident is commonly referred to as Natech accident. In order to prevent the recurrence of accidents or to better mitigate their consequences, lessons-learned type studies using available accident data are usually carried out. Through post-accident analysis, conclusions can be drawn on the most common damage and failure modes and hazmat release paths, particularly vulnerable storage and process equipment, and the hazardous materials most commonly involved in these types of accidents. These analyses also lend themselves to identifying technical and organisational risk-reduction measures that require improvement or are missing. Industrial accident databases are commonly used for retrieving sets of Natech accident case histories for further analysis. These databases contain accident data from the open literature, government authorities or in-company sources. The quality of reported information is not uniform and exhibits different levels of detail and accuracy. This is due to the difficulty of finding qualified information sources, especially in situations where accident reporting by the industry or by authorities is not compulsory, e.g. when spill quantities are below the reporting threshold. Data collection has then to rely on voluntary record keeping often by non-experts. The level of detail is particularly non-uniform for Natech accident data depending on whether the consequences of the Natech event were major or minor, and whether comprehensive information was available for reporting. In addition to the reporting bias towards high-consequence events, industrial accident databases frequently lack information on the severity of the triggering natural hazard, as well as on failure modes that led to the hazmat release. This makes it difficult to reconstruct the dynamics of the accident and renders the development of

Phase 2 : evaluation of the national crash experience : comparison of CARDfile national motor vehicle accident projections with projections from NASS