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Aims: Underlying psychological causes of road accidents needs to be more identified in Iran. According to studies, human errors are the most effective factor of driving accidents. The purpose of this study was to identify dangerous driving behaviors among professional drivers in Kashan. Materials and Methods: Data for this descriptive cross-sectional study were collected in Occupational Medicine Center of Kashan, Truckers Cooperative, and Aran and Bidgol Kavir Steel Company during autumn 2017 and winter 2018. Demographic information and Driving Behavior Questionnaire were completed. Data were analyzed using Chi-square and one-way ANOVA tests by SPSS version 16. Results: Studied drivers included 61 (20.1%) bus, 95 (31.4%) truck, and 147 (48.5%) trailer drivers aged 43.15 ± 10.29 with 19.48 ± 11.34 years of driving experience. Fifty-nine drivers (19.5%) had at least one accident; of them, 10 (17%) resulted in death. Seventy-two drivers (23.7%) received up to 20 penalties. There was a significant relationship between type of vehicle and age, work experience, number of working days per week, average driving speed, and smoking. There was a statistically significant relationship between slip and accident (P = 0.007). Penalties in bus drivers were significantly related to mistake (P = 0.026) and slips (P = 0.027). There was a statistically significant relationship between penalty and risky violations (P = 0.002), slips (P = 0.002), highway violations (P = 0.003), mistake (P = 0.029), and general behavior (P = 0.001) in trailer drivers. Conclusion: Assessing driving behavior and screening procedures when selecting professional drivers can reduce the incidence of accidents.

The article shows a fragment of the results of the author's concept of road safety management in Poland. The article shows the "program sequence" of the construction action of road safety management system in Poland. The main component of this "sequence" of actions to improve the road safety - should be the "road risk management model". It should be widely used in Poland as an element of knowledge and practices of international road safety management. It is primarily about the model of the Office for Land Transport Safety Authority in New Zealand adopted by the EU in its road safety policy. The article also presents other components of the author's concept, including the "3 levels" model of risk management, the idea of which is to isolate three categories of the risk associated with any transport system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Underlying psychological causes of road accidents needs to be more identified in Iran. According to studies, human errors are the most effective factor of driving accidents. The purpose of this study was to identify dangerous driving behaviors among professional drivers in Kashan. Materials and Methods: Data for this descriptive cross-sectional study were collected in Occupational Medicine Center of Kashan, Truckers Cooperative, and Aran and Bidgol Kavir Steel Company during autumn 2017 and winter 2018. Demographic information and Driving Behavior Questionnaire were completed. Data were analyzed using Chi-square and one-way ANOVA tests by SPSS version 16. Results: Studied drivers included 61 (20.1%) bus, 95 (31.4%) truck, and 147 (48.5%) trailer drivers aged 43.15 ± 10.29 with 19.48 ± 11.34 years of driving experience. Fifty-nine drivers (19.5%) had at least one accident; of them, 10 (17%) resulted in death. Seventy-two drivers (23.7%) received up to 20 penalties. There was a significant relationship between type of vehicle and age, work experience, number of working days per week, average driving speed, and smoking. There was a statistically significant relationship between slip and accident (P = 0.007). Penalties in bus drivers were significantly related to mistake (P = 0.026) and slips (P = 0.027). There was a statistically significant relationship between penalty and risky violations (P = 0.002), slips (P = 0.002), highway violations (P = 0.003), mistake (P = 0.029), and general behavior (P = 0.001) in trailer drivers. Conclusion: Assessing driving behavior and screening procedures when selecting professional drivers can reduce the incidence of accidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Every year many people are killed or injured in road accidents. The first step in planning to reduce accidents is to identify the causes of accidents. This study aimed to investigate and identify the causes and factors affecting the incidence and the severity of road accidents as a major issue in Ilam Province, Iran. Materials and Methods: This research is a descriptive study with an analytical approach. Descriptive and inferential statistics indices were used for statistical analysis. A researchermade questionnaire as fieldwork was used to investigate the factors affecting accidents. Friedman test was used in the analytical study of the data obtained from the questionnaires. The study population included all drivers of the public suburban fleet, including taxis, minibusses, and buses on the Ilam Province. Out of 190 drivers, a sample size of 127 was selected using a Cochran formula. Results: From the drivers' point of view, the main causes of public fleet accidents on the roads of Ilam Province are the quality and technical issues of the roads. Interviewees believed that dangerous turns, low width, poor road quality, and inadequate traffic signs are the main causes of accidents. After that, human factors are in the second place, including high speed and overturning, left-sway, and unmanageable rush, emphasizing the two factors of high speed and overtaking. The technical and qualitative factors of the vessels are in third place. Finally, the environmental and natural factors are in fourth place. Conclusion: Because the drivers consider the quality and technical issues of the roads as the main causes of traffic accidents in the transportation axes of Ilam Province, it is necessary to review and repair these transportation axes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Introduction This study aimed to investigate the contributing factors to serious casualty traffic crashes and their interdependency in China. Serious casualty crashes are defined as crashes that lead to more than 10 deaths. Method The data of serious casualty crashes between 2009 and 2013 were obtained from the Annual Report for Road Traffic Accidents published by the Ministry of Public Security of China (MPSC). Descriptive statistics were used to illustrate the characteristics of serious casualty crashes in terms of road user behavior, vehicle conditions, geometric characteristics, and environmental conditions. The association rule mining technique was further applied to identify sets of crash contributory factors that often occur together in serious casualty crashes. Results The results showed that serious casualty crashes are a result of complex interactions between road user behavior, vehicle factors, road geometric characteristics, and environmental factors. Association rule analysis revealed the reasons for the occurrence of serious casualty crashes in different circumstances, based on which potential policy implications for preventing serious casualty crashes were identified. Practical applications The results of this study can provide transportation agencies with useful insights for understanding why serious casualty crashes occur and developing effective policy initiatives and engineering countermeasures to reduce the fatalities and injuries of serious casualty crashes. Highlights • We investigated factors contributing to serious casualty crashes and their interdependency. • Driver behavior, vehicle, geometric and weather conditions of serious casualty crashes were identified. • Association rule (AR) analysis was used to identify crash contributory factors and their interdependency. • The AR results revealed causes of serious casualty crashes in different circumstances. • Policy and countermeasures were identified for serious casualty crash prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the influence of built environments on crashes with different levels of injury severity, and employed Geographically Weighted Negative Binomial Regressions to test whether these relationships varied across different neighborhoods in Austin, Texas. The results showed that high-speed roads produced more total and fatal crashes, and their influence was stronger in downtown areas than in peripheral regions. Commercial and office areas experienced more injury crashes, especially in downtown locations. It is crucial to implement programs to reduce vehicle travel demand, retrofit high-speed roads, and design land areas that generate fewer vehicle trips, especially for downtown spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to quantify the long-term effects of alternative traffic punishments, ranging from demerit point assignment to conditional suspension of driving privileges. We employ unique longitudinal traffic offense data and exploit the introduction of a point-recording scheme in Denmark. We find that drivers who are assigned one or more demerit points reduce their frequency of traffic offenses and that these effects increase with the number of demerit points accumulated. However, these effects are short-lived, lasting only for the first two years post-reform and fading thereafter. In contrast, a stricter traffic punishment that conditionally suspends the driving license seems to have significant short-run and long-run effects. Our investigation into the types of offenses suggests that the deterrence effects are specific to the offense type for which they are imposed rather than generic improvements in driving behavior. These results imply that the effects of some of the existing traffic punishments are not only short-lived but also provide “specific deterrence”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new statistical model for the identification of dangerous locations (subsections) on roads, also known as hotspots. The model is based on continual analysis of variance. The variance parameter has the potential for the synthesis of quantity and quality, especially regarding traffic accident frequencies and the consequences of traffic accidents within subsections and the significant comparison of the produced synthesis. The sensitivity of the suggested model can be adjusted with the level of disjunction and the length of subsections. A practical application of the new model is performed using a sample of 8442 traffic accidents, of which 6079 were Property Damage Only (PDO) accidents, 2041 resulted in injuries and 322 resulted in fatalities. The sample is for the period of 2001 to 2011 and is from an 'I class' two lane rural state road in the Serbia with total length of 284 kilometres. The results acquired using the continual analysis of variance were compared with previous results from four HotSpot Identification Methods (HSID) that are also based on the frequency of traffic accidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At an uncontrolled median opening, the limited priority situation and the high degree of heterogeneity in traffic stream make the merging manoeuvre of U-turning vehicles very much complex. This study is an attempt to understand this merging manoeuvre. The different types of merging manoeuvres have been identified in the field and accordingly classified into different categories. Depending upon the number of vehicles that can merge all together into the opposing through traffic by accepting a single gap, the merging has been classified into two types: single entry merging and multiple entry merging. On the other hand, based on the situation of priority of movement, the merging process is divided into another two categories: ideal merging and forced merging. More explicitly, the ideal merging is split into free merging and Swift Merging (SM). In addition, the forced entry merging is categorized into Gradual Merging (GM) and Aggressive Merging (AM). Time distance diagrams for different types of merging are presented for their better understanding. Field data collected at seven median openings located on various 6-lane divided urban roads are used to analyse different types of merging in a mixed traffic situation. All vehicles plying on the road are divided into 5 categories such as car, motorized two-wheeler (2-W), motorized three-wheeler (3-W), Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), and Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) and the merging behaviour of these categories of vehicles have been studied. The effect of influencing parameters like opposing traffic volume and delay on merging are investigated. Mathematical relations are developed between Merging Time (MT) of a vehicle type and the opposing traffic volume. To address the effect of Service Delay (SD) on the MT of a vehicle, models are proposed between SD and MT for all the five categories of vehicles. The two types of merging; gradual and swift are prominently observed in field. The time required by different categories of vehicles for these two merging at various traffic volume levels are determined. Finally, two-tailed t-test is conducted to see if the MT for the two different types of merging is statistically different. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 mathematics base their assumptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To estimate lives saved during 2008–2023 by traffic safety laws passed in six developing countries while participating in the Bloomberg Road Safety Program (BRSP). Methods BRSP-funded local staff identified relevant laws and described enforcement to the study team. We analyzed road crash death estimates for 2004–2013 from the Global Burden of Disease and projected estimates absent intervention forward to 2023. We amalgamated developing country and US literature to estimate crash death reductions by country resulting from laws governing drink driving, motorcycle helmets, safety belt use, and traffic fines. Results BRSP helped win approval of traffic safety laws in Brazil, China, Kenya, Mexico, Turkey, and Vietnam. In 2008–2013, those laws saved an estimated 19,000 lives. Many laws only took effect in 2014. The laws will save an estimated 90,000 lives in 2014–2023. Of the 109,000 lives saved, drink driving laws will account for 84%, increased motorcyclist protection for 13%, increased fines and penalty points for 2%, and safety belt usage mandates for 1%. Drink driving reductions in China will account for 56% of the savings and reduced drink driving and motorcycling deaths in Vietnam for 35%. The savings in China will result from a narrow intervention with just 4% estimated effectiveness against drink driving deaths. As a percentage of deaths anticipated without BRSP effort, the largest reductions will be 11% in Vietnam and 5% in Kenya. Conclusions Viewed as a public health measure, improving traffic safety provided large health gains in developing nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highway safety has been one of the most important public policy issues discussed in recent years. Accidents involving commercial vehicles result in many negative effects, both personal and economic. Although the numbers of highway accidents have been declining in the past decade, many people still suffer from the effects of severe highway accidents. As public policymakers struggle to improve safety on our highway system, they are looking for analytical tools to help them assess and leverage the impact of scarce public resources. This research effort used data envelopment analysis (DEA) for benchmarking the effi ciency of public policy factors (regulatory and fi nancial) known to have an infl uence on safety performance. The results of this research can provide objective safety performance and improvement recommendations for commercial transportation and therefore serve to be instructive to those states with lower levels of safety performance. Our findings suggest that government agencies could focus on more effective policymaking (emphasizing road condition improvement and capital outlay utilization vs. other investments) to reduce highway fatality rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the multidisciplinary learning approach to improve traffic safety for older drivers in Ohio on topics including the evaluation of driving ability, the examination of their safety needs and the implementation of the best practices for assessing and licensing older drivers.

Background Information about the burden of (non-fatal) road traffic injury is very useful to further improve road safety policy. Previous studies calculated the burden of injury in individual countries. This paper estimates and compares the burden of non-fatal serious road traffic injuries in six EU countries/regions: Austria, Belgium, England, The Netherlands, the Rhône region in France and Spain. Methods It is a cross-sectional study based on hospital discharge databases. Population of study are patients hospitalized with MAIS3+ due to road traffic injuries. The burden of injury (expressed in years lived with disability (YLD)) is calculated applying a method that is developed within the INTEGRIS study. The method assigns estimated disability information to the casualties using the EUROCOST injury classification. Results The average burden per MAIS3+ casualty varies between 2.4 YLD and 3.2 YLD per casualty. About 90% of the total burden of injury of MAIS3+ casualties is due to lifelong consequences that are experienced by 19% to 33% of the MAIS3+ casualties. Head injuries, spinal cord injuries and injuries to the lower extremities are responsible for more than 90% of the total burden of MAIS3+ road traffic injuries. Results per transport mode differ between the countries. Differences between countries are mainly due to differences in age distribution and in the distribution over EUROCOST injury groups of the casualties. Conclusion The analyses presented in this paper can support further improvement of road safety policy. Countermeasures could for example be focused at reducing skull and brain injuries, spinal cord injuries and injuries to the lower extremities, as these injuries are responsible for more than 90% of the total burden of injury of MAIS3+ casualties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Spanish road safety strategy for 2011-2020 proposes a 35% reduction in the number of severe injuries in 2011-2020. In this context, this article analyses provincial traffic accident rates in Spain by type of road and applies a nonlinear distribution methodology to dynamic severe injuries reduction targets for 2011-2020 for the purpose of setting accident rate targets in each of the Spanish provinces. Targets were weighted considering 2010 as the base year. This resulted in proposals for reducing the number of severe injuries in each province by type of road as a function of the starting situation of the indicators used in the study. In general, higher reduction must be made on highway and other type of roads (including city streets), and provinces with low population density (rural areas) such as Avila, Cuenca and Soria. The results found seek to provide policymakers with a more local view for achieving the overall Spanish traffic safety policy target, mainly for rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deaths, injuries and disabilities resulting from road traffic injuries (RTIs) are a public health major concern. This study aims to calculate the burden of RTIs in Kermanshah Province in Iran. In this study to determine the years of life lost (YLL) related to RTIs, the National Death Registration and Forensics Medicine census data were employed. We use forensic medicine data to calculate the incidence of non-fatal injuries and years lost due to disability (YLD). The cause of death and non-fatal injuries was classified using ICD-10 codes and 23 groupes of global burden of diseases (GBD) 2010. The disability-adjusted life year (DALY) estimated on the guidelines of the GBD 2010 and age and sex structure was taken from the National Statistic Center for the year 2010. Overall, 70.8% of the subjects were males. The fatal and non-fatal injury rates of RTI were 51.3 and 283.6 per 100,000 persons, respectively. YLLs and YLDs were 46613 (24.5 per 1000) and 3405 (1.8 per 1000) in both sexes, respectively. The disability adjusted life years were 40711 in males, 9306 in females and 50018 in both sexes (42.5, 9.8 and 26.3 per 1000, respectively). More than 93% of DALY was from YLL (24.5 per 1000), with a small proportion for YLD (1.8 per 1000). Accounting for more than 50,000 DALY attributed to RTIs, traffic injuries is a major public health and socioeconomic problem in Kermanshah. Designing cost-effective interventions based on comprehensive and multi-sectoral programmes at the national and provincial levels can save many lives and resources that are lost every year. Undoubtedly, establishing a surveillance system at the sub-national level and measuring the burden of injuries, as in this study, can help policy-makers and planners in lessening the burden of RTIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of different speed-control measures on the safety of unsignalized midblock street crossings.Methods: In China, it is quite difficult to obtain traffic crash and conflict data for pedestrians using such crossings, mainly due to the lack of traffic data management and organizational issues. In light of this, the proposed method did not rely on such data, but considered vehicle speed, which is a leading contributing factor of pedestrian safety at mid blocks. To evaluate the speed reduction effects at different locations, the research team utilized the following methods in this study: (1) testing speed differences-on the basis of the collected data, statistical analysis is conducted to test the speed differences between upstream and crosswalk, upstream and downstream, and downstream and crosswalk; and (2) mean distribution deviation-this value is calculated by taking the difference in cumulative speed distributions for the two different samples just mentioned. In order to better understand the variation of speed reduction effects at different distances from speed-control facilities, data were collected from six types of speed-control measures with a visual range of 60 m.Results: The results showed that speed humps, transverse rumble strips, and speed bumps were effective in reducing vehicle speeds. Among them speed humps performed the best, with reductions of 21.1% and 20.0% from upstream location (25.01 km/h) and downstream location (24.66 km/h) to pedestrian crosswalk (19.73 km/h), respectively. By contrast, the speed reduction effects were minimal for stop and yield signs, flashing yellow lights, and crossings without treatment.Conclusions: Consequently, in order to reduce vehicle speeds and improve pedestrian safety at mid blocks, several speed-control measures such as speed humps, speed bumps, and transverse rumble strips are recommended to be deployed in the vicinity of pedestrian crosswalks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of alcohol and potentially impairing drugs among the general driving population in Finnmark and to compare the prevalence among Norwegian, Russian, and other foreign drivers by analyzing samples of oral fluid.Methods: In collaboration with local police, drivers were selected for a voluntary and anonymous study using a multistage cluster sampling procedure (selection of roads, time intervals, and drivers within each interval) from September 2014 to October 2015. Age, gender, citizenship, time, and geographical site were recorded. Samples of oral fluid were collected using the Quantisal device. The samples were analyzed for alcohol with an enzymatic method and for 12 illicit drugs and 16 medicinal drugs and some metabolites using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry detection.Results: A total of 3,228 drivers were asked to participate in the study. The refusal rate was 6.2%. Of the 3,027 participants in the study, 111 (3.7%) were Russian and 204 (6.7%) had citizenship other than Norwegian or Russian. The total prevalence of psychoactive substances was 4.3%. Alcohol was detected in 0.3%, psychoactive medicinal drugs in 2.5%, and illicit drugs in 1.6% of the samples. The most commonly found substances were the sleeping agent zopiclone (1.1%), tetrahydrocannabinol (THC; 1.1%), and the analgesic agent codeine (0.6%). Illicit drugs were detected significantly more often in samples from drivers of citizenship other than Norwegian or Russian. The prevalence of alcohol was somewhat higher among Russian drivers but not statistically significant. There were large differences between age groups and genders concerning illicit drugs and psychoactive medicinal drugs; illicit drugs were more frequently in samples from young male drivers, whereas psychoactive medicinal drugs were more frequently in samples from elderly female drivers.Conclusion: The total prevalence of alcohol and drugs among the general driving population in Finnmark was low and similar to previous Norwegian roadside surveys. Illicit drugs were detected significantly more often in samples from drivers with citizenship other than Russian and Norwegian and among young male drivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To provide an objective basis on which to evaluate the repeatability of vehicle crash test methods, a recently developed signal analysis method was used to evaluate correlation of sensor time history data between replicate vehicle crash tests. The goal of this study was to evaluate the repeatability of rollover crash tests performed with the Dynamic Rollover Test System (DRoTS) relative to other vehicle crash test methods.Methods: Test data from DRoTS tests, deceleration rollover sled (DRS) tests, frontal crash tests, frontal offset crash tests, small overlap crash tests, small overlap impact (SOI) crash tests, and oblique crash tests were obtained from the literature and publicly available databases (the NHTSA vehicle database and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety TechData) to examine crash test repeatability.Results: Signal analysis of the DRoTS tests showed that force and deformation time histories had good to excellent repeatability, whereas vehicle kinematics showed only fair repeatability due to the vehicle mounting method for one pair of tests and slightly dissimilar mass properties (2.2%) in a second pair of tests. Relative to the DRS, the DRoTS tests showed very similar or higher levels of repeatability in nearly all vehicle kinematic data signals with the exception of global X' (road direction of travel) velocity and displacement due to the functionality of the DRoTS fixture. Based on the average overall scoring metric of the dominant acceleration, DRoTS was found to be as repeatable as all other crash tests analyzed. Vertical force measures showed good repeatability and were on par with frontal crash barrier forces. Dynamic deformation measures showed good to excellent repeatability as opposed to poor repeatability seen in SOI and oblique deformation measures.Conclusions: Using the signal analysis method as outlined in this article, the DRoTS was shown to have the same or better repeatability of crash test methods used in government regulatory and consumer evaluation test protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the government planning a congestion charging (CC) scheme for Jakarta, public support is regarded as a prerequisite for its implementation. Politicians typically see CC reform as a controversial policy if there is no public support. Yet a CC plan is currently under active development and remains under consideration as a way to mitigate the acute traffic congestion in Jakarta. The CC theme has been recognized as a powerful instrument in both delivering efficient road use and raising revenues. Studies indicate that revenue redistribution is one of the most important determinants of public support for such scheme. Given the absence of studies from the Asian megacity context, this paper presents a systematic study of how public perceptions relate to revenue spending choice behavior. A stated preference (SP) questionnaire is developed to investigate citizen’s perceptions of CC reform, their preferences for revenue redistribution and their current travel behavior. Using data collected using this SP questionnaire in 2013, a hybrid revenue allocation (HRA) model is formulated that captures the impact of tangible factors (i.e. charges, socio-demographic characteristics, travel behavior) and intangible factors (perceptions) during process of deciding among revenue spending alternatives. The proposed model is drawn from traditional utilitarian resource (time) allocation theory, with an extension consisting of latent constructs representing subjective individual psychological perceptions. We find that there is a strong correlation between revenue allocation preferences and an individual’s subjective psychological perceptions. The most preferred revenue allocations are for public transport improvements and traffic safety improvements, with 54% and 29% agreement, respectively. We find there is little support for spending revenues on other issues such as for stimulating local business (13%) and for parks/green spaces, driving education/enforcement and improving the parking system (4% in total). The findings of sensitivity analysis further disclose that the choice of spending on public transport improvements among respondents who frequently visit the central business district (CBD) is sensitive to the level of the CC charge, while for respondents who frequently enter the CBD by car and have a medium-high income the traffic safety allocation is sensitive to charge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overall aim of this paper is to enrich the global highway safety knowledge by shedding light on the current status of road safety in Iraq. Iraq is one of the major mediumincome Arabic countries in which vehicular road transport is the essential means of mobility. Recently, there has been a noticeable increase in traffic accidents and injuries; this increase is expected to be as an intuitive result of the soaring motorization which in turned is expected to be a result of the boom in economy and population after 2003. Available evidence-based literature concerning status of traffic accidents in Iraq over the past decade (2005-2015) has been analytically reviewed. Such literature includes official statistics, traffic accident studies, and current highway safety policies and traffic laws. The discussion of the synthesis of evidence-based findings revealed several important points regarding aspects such as crash characteristics, occurrence, severity, and measures. The findings can be informative for researchers interested in studying highway safety in developing countries. Also findings can guide the government to achieve its national goal in minimizing accidents and injuries. The paper attains its significance from being the first paper among those available online with timescale, spatial coverage and analytical scope sufficient to consider the preset aim. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2001 and 2002, the Korean government rewarded around $3 to civilians who photograph and report violations of traffic rules. This so-called ‘car-parazzi system’ was such a success with well over 4 million cases reported until its abolition. Our empirical results found that the car-parazzi system was much effective in significantly reducing the death tolls by traffic accidents. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Traffic safety policies are still conventionally ranked on financial and environmental criteria in developing countries, yet the equity concept can be advantageously used as an integral part of the process of traffic safety policy making. Equity in transportation is defined as how appropriately and equally the impacts of transportation are distributed among different types of users. The main contribution of this research is to introduce traffic safety equity in transportation policy making. The authors advocate for a modeling framework that considers traffic safety equity as a focal point. The analytical network process overcomes the drawbacks of data intensive models that are so difficult to implement reliably in developing countries and recognizes the existence of complex interdependencies among traffic safety factors. The approach is demonstrated on the case of Tehran, Iran. In this study, seventeen transportation elements are grouped into four clusters (driver characteristics, roadway characteristics, vehicle characteristics, and traffic control) to evaluate six policies. Public education and information is found to be the most effective policy to increase traffic safety, considering equity. The best equity-conscious policies are independent from physical infrastructures, household income level, and household location. The proposed framework is a sound approach to introduce traffic safety equity in the traffic safety policy making process of developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Introduction Traffic accidents are an undesirable burden on the society. Every year around one million deaths and more than 10 million injuries are reported due to traffic accidents. Hence, traffic accidents prevention measures must be taken to overcome the accident rate. Different countries have different geographical and environmental conditions and hence the accident factors are different in each country. Traffic accident data analysis is very useful in revealing the factors that affects the accidents in different country. The article was written in the year 2016 in the Institute of Technology & Science, Mohan Nagar, Ghaziabad, UP, INDIA. Methology In this paper, we have proposed a framework to utilize association rule mining (ARM) for classification of severity of traffic accident data obtained from police records in Mujjafarnagar district, Uttarpradesh, India. Results: the results certainly reveal some hidden factors which can be utilized to understand the factors behind road accident in this region. . Conclusions: The framework enables us to find three clusters from the data set. Each cluster represents a type of accident severity, i.e. fatal, major injury and minor/no injury. The association rules exposed different factors that are associated with road accidents in each of the category. The information extracted provides important information which can be certainly utilized to put some preventive measures to overcome the accident severity in Muzzafarnagar district. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowing about organisational safety culture in public transportation system can provide an appropriate guide to establish effective safety measures and interventions to improve safety at work. The aim of this study was investigation of association between safety culture dimensions (leadership styles and company values, usage of crashes information and prevention programmes, management commitment and safety policy, participation and control) with involved self-reported crashes. The associations were considered through Spearman correlation, Pearson chi-square test and logistic regression. The results showed an association among self-reported crashes (occurrence or non-occurrence) and factors including leadership styles and company values; management commitment and safety policy; and control. Moreover, it was found a negative correlation and an odds ratio less than one between control and self-reported crashes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a substantial amount of evidence from experimental studies to indicate that a variety of individual skills are impaired at blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) well below 0.05%. Epidemiological studies indicate that the risk of a crash increases sharply for drivers with BACs below 0.05%. The correlation between drunk driving and the risk of traffic accidents has been established on the individual as well as the aggregate level. The BAC level legally permitted is a public policy decision by legislators, while scientists can present experimental and epidemiological evidence indicating the BAC level at which psychomotor skills deteriorate and accident probabilities increase. There is considerable epidemiological evidence to support the fact that the risk of alcohol impaired drivers being involved in traffic crashes rises with increasing BAC's. By contrast, the evidence on the BAC at which a driver should be regarded as committing an offence has been the subject of much debate and various legislative decisions. Historically, per se laws specify BAC levels which are a compromise figure intended to reflect both the point at which a driver becomes significantly more likely to be involved in an accident than a comparative driver with a zero BAC and that which is politically acceptable, but falls within the BAC region of increased accident liability. Therefore, the per se legislation in most countries has not kept pace with scientific progress. This study suggests that if saving lives on the road is an important issue, then, passing laws that incorporate scientific and epidemiological studies, is necessary.

Background: Road traffic crashes (RTC), that daily kill 3400 people and leave 15,000 with a permanent disability could be prevented through the implementation of safety programs developed in partnership with governments and institutions. The relationship between key stakeholders can be a crucial determinant to the effectiveness of road safety programs. This issue has rarely been addressed. We conducted a detailed organizational analysis of the stakeholders involved in road safety programs in Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). Methods: A case study was performed. The framework used was a snowball effect in which the characterization of all key stakeholders and the links between them, as well as the factors that led to these links, were determined. The effect of the relations between key stakeholders on the prevention of RTC was assessed through an analysis of the transactional, intangible and controlling factors that influence these relationships. Results: The design and implementation of road safety programs in Lao PDR suffer from weak relationships between stakeholders and a poorly functional bicephal leadership between the Ministry of Public Works and Transport and the non-governmental organisation called Handicap International. This poor coordination between key stakeholders is evident, particularly in the area of collective action and is reinforced by a lack of interest from several different stakeholders. Most agencies do not prioritize road safety. Uneven distribution of funding is another contributing factor. Strengthening the leadership is crucial to the success of the program. Some organisations have skills, power the decision making and the allocation of resources in regards to road safety programs. Encouraging participation of these organizations through a more prominent position would thus result in a better collaboration. Non-monetary rewards would further help to strengthen collaborative work. Conclusion: The bicephal nature of the leadership of road safety programs proves detrimental, is associated with a weak coalition between stakeholders, and contributes to the declaimed poor effectiveness of the existing programs. The study has identified non-monetary and realistic means of strengthening the collaboration between key stakeholders. Stakeholders need to revise their interpretive schemes, in order to actively support the reinforcement of government leadership of road safety policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the regulatory failure of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), as of June 2015. Topics discussed include mishandling of the automobile ignition switch defect by the American automoaker General Motors (GM), NHTSA's inability to cope with Toyota's sudden acceleration problems, and increased number of deaths due to manufacturing defects in automobiles.

Over the past two decades, China has experienced a dramatic increase in auto ownership and use, with the number of privately owned vehicles increasing more than 70 folds in twenty years, from 0.82 million in 1990 to 59.39 million in 2010. Urban roads in major Chinese cities have, thus, become much more congested. Congestion pricing, theoretically, helps to internalize traffic externalities and reduce congestion. Practically, it has been implemented in a number of countries. This article presents the economic theory of congestion pricing and discusses international practices of congestion pricing. Based on the theory and practices, the article proposes implications for China and argues that China should consider implementing congestion pricing to combat traffic congestion in major cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to reduce the death toll of road traffic it is necessary to focus on how vehicles and roads can be improved. Like other dangerous machines, motor vehicles should be equipped with safety devices that prevent mistakes by the operator from leading to serious consequences. Speed limiters that prevent driving at illegal speeds would save many lives, and so would alcohol interlocks. Meshi Ori's proposal that most cars should be replaced by motorcycles would not lead to the moral improvement that he hopes for. We need motor vehicles with better, not worse, protection of the driver and passengers than the cars presently in use. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The automatic crash information notification system (ACINS) is an effective technology to enhance the potential for saving crash victims by reducing the crash response time (CRT) of emergency medical services. Shorter CRT results in a greater potential to save the lives and to alleviate the severity of injuries for crash victims. To fully operate the ACINS, reliable assessments of the safety benefits would be needed for justifying public investment. This study proposed a methodology for quantifying the effectiveness of the ACINS and applied the methodology to the Korean freeway system. The proposed methodology consists of three steps. The first step is to develop a statistical model for predicting injury severity of crash victims using ordered logistic regression. The second step is to estimate the amount of reduced CRT by applying ACINS. The effectiveness of the ACINS, which are defined as the number of reduced fatalities and severe injuries, were evaluated with the consideration of the market penetration rate (MPR) in third step. It has been found that approximately 9.4-15.4% of fatalities can be reduced with 100% MPR when the proposed methodology is applied to 2011 freeway crash data. The outcomes of this study support decision making for public investments and for establishing relevant traffic safety policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks at the issue of using the dipped-beam and daytime running lights in 41 European countries. The author also reports on the recent changes regarding the installation of lighting and light-signalling devices on motor vehicles in the EU intro- duced by the Commission Directive 2008/89/EC. The article concludes with a brief summary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: System dynamics (SDs) is a methodology that can be used to understand the behavior and dynamics of complex systems over time. SD utilizes a range of tools and techniques such as influence and causal loop diagrams, computer simulation and optimization. SD has been used to facilitate the analysis of complex physical and social systems, e.g. water resources, climate change and industrial accidents. One of the key reasons for its growing popularity is that it allows policy experimentation and facilitates the discussion of ‘what-if’ scenarios. Within the realm of road traffic research, SD has been primarily used to examine micro level issues such as the interactions between the driver, infrastructure and the vehicle. Even though such micro level analysis are important, macro traffic safety policies can create more sustainable systems that pre-empt safety issues and reduce likelihood of traffic accidents. This paper develops two models to demonstrate how the methodology of SD can facilitate and encourage macro and meso level analysis of traffic safety policy. The first model is used to assess policy options so as to encourage the purchase of cars with higher safety ratings. The second model, is used to evaluate the impact of public transport policies on travel time and traffic safety considerations. The strength and weaknesses of the SD methodology in road transport/safety analysis are also examined. It is suggested that SD is most appropriate for formulating macro level policy as it can account for the dynamic complexity associated with the road transport system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The purpose of evaluating mutually exclusive alternatives is to select the one with the most benefits for implementation. A number of analytic techniques are available for such evaluation purposes. This paper discusses four such techniques: cost effectiveness C/E, benefit-to-cost ratio B/C, internal rate of return (IRR), and payoff period (PP), including their theoretical foundation and data requirements. Also discussed are the measures of effectiveness (MOEs) associated with each of these techniques and how they are to be interpreted. Alternatives to be selected for implementation following such evaluation can typically be funded under different policy objectives. This paper identifies three such objectives: Objective A, constrained resource perspective; Objective B, investment perspective; and Objective C, face-value perspective. The possible relationship between the alternative selection and the program is discussed in the paper. A case study for a set of six mutually exclusive highway safety alternatives is presented using the four analytic techniques and three objectives, resulting in various possible solutions. Results show that under compatible assumptions, and for a given policy objective, the outcome of the evaluation is not affected by the choice of the analytic technique. However, for a given analytic technique, the outcome may be affected by the choice of the policy objective chosen. The principles presented are relevant for most public projects (e.g., transit, airports) involving the investment of taxpayer resources, even though the case study involves a highway safety project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess the availability and coverage of publicly available road safety data at the national and state levels in India. Methods: We reviewed the 2 publicly accessible data sources in India for the availability of data related to traffic injuries and deaths: (1) the National Crime Records Bureau ( NCRB) and (2) the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH). Using the World Health Organization (WHO) manual for the comprehensive assessment of road safety data, we developed a checklist of indicators required for comprehensive road safety assessment. These indicators were then used to assess the availability of road safety data in India using the NCRB and MORTH data. We assessed the availability of data on outcomes and exposures indicators (i.e., number of crashes, injuries, deaths, timing of deaths, gender and age distribution of injuries and deaths), safety performance indicators (i.e., with reference to select risk factors of speeding, alcohol, and helmet use), and cost indicators (i.e., medical costs, material costs, intervention costs, productivity costs, time costs, and losses to quality of life). Results: Information on outcome indicators was the most comprehensive in tenns of availability. Both NCRB and MORTH databases had data for most of the need areas specified by the WHO under outcomes and exposure indicators. Regarding outcome and exposure indicators, data were available for 81 and 91 percent of specified need areas at the national level from NCRB and MORTH databases, respectively. At the state level, data on outcome and exposure indicators were available for only 54 percent of need areas from either of the 2 sources. There were no data on safety performance indicators in the NCRB database. From the MORTH database, data availability on safety performance indicators was 60 percent at both national and state levels. Data availability on costs and process indicators was found to be below 20 percent at the national and state levels. Conclusion: Overall, there is an urgent need to improve the publicly available road safety data in India. This will enhance monitoring of the burden of traffic injuries and deaths, enable sound interpretation of national road safety data, and allow the formulation effective road safety policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the contradictory discourses on manners, safety and emotion that arose with mass motorization in Japan in the 1960s and which continue through the present. It documents the way in which multiple government entities end up working at cross-purposes in their attempts to cultivate safer drivers and slow the epidemic of traffic accidents. On the one hand, the discourse on driving manners suggests a widespread embrace of the Traffic Bureau's and other government agencies' concern with safety. On the other hand, the emphasis on manners may lead to angrier driving, which promotes accidents according to psychological studies of driving. The picture that emerges is one in which attempts at social control are complicated by the often unpredictable emotional reactions of subjects caught in a web of institutional and ideological processes. By exploring the relationship of emotion to driving school curricula and the discourse on manners, this article extends previous studies of self, social control, and social management in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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The French authorities installed the country's first speed cameras in November 2003. More than 2,600 devices are in operation throughout the road and highway network in 2010. France has seen a significant decrease in the number of fatalities and injuries since the implementation of this speed enforcement program. The French system functions differently and has its own special characteristics when it is compared with other speed enforcement programs. An empirical analysis of this program can yield new findings regarding the enforcement mechanism and could open up new avenues for traffic safety policy. The first section shows how the French program was implemented and how it is operated. The second section offers a detailed investigation into the deterrent effect and punishment policy, followed by the French government. The final section focuses on the political consequences of implementation. This contribution highlights the insights the French automatic speed enforcement programme can yield for other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interviews with members of the Norwegian national assembly's Standing Committee for Transport and Communications were conducted in 1995, 1997, 2001 and 2004. The politicians were asked about the usefulness of analytic input that planners contribute to national plans, first the Norwegian Road and Road Traffic Plan and later the National Transport Plan. Questions related to steering, coordination, delegation and the inclusiveness of the planning process were also posed. Changes in the politicians' attitudes to types of analytic planning input are outlined. Furthermore, the last round of interviews sheds light on the apparent paradox that parliamentarians accept delegation of highway investment decisions despite their profound scepticism regarding the cost-benefit analyses and impact calculations that are essential to management by objectives and results (MBOR), which was to give them continued political control despite delegation. Another conundrum is the parliamentarians' willingness to renounce the right to decide over most highway projects, even if these were seen as politically important, in order to obtain a strategic overview which they have been unable to use for changing the priorities set by the Government. The political concentration on strategic steering, the concomitant delegation, and MBOR are central components of New Public Management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stated and revealed travel behavior of a sample of 60 rural drivers aged 54-92 years provided a basis to explore the potential effectiveness of two common driver's license restrictions aimed at older drivers: time of day and road class. The potential utility and impact of these restrictions have not been explored with revealed data for jurisdictions with a large population of rural older drivers where automobile dependence is high. Data were drawn from a multiday Global Positioning System-based travel diary survey of rural older drivers in New Brunswick, Canada. Revealed travel data showed that over 50 percent of the rural drivers in the sample did not drive after dark, and 40 percent drove less than 1 percent of their total surveyed kilometers on major highways, higher rates than from participant-stated responses. The proportion of participants taking night trips and traveling on major highways decreased with age. The majority of trips taken after dark by all participants had a rural destination. The average daily kilometers driven on major highways by men and women aged 75 years and older was nearly identical (1.79 km/day). These exposure considerations suggest that restricting night travel and major highway travel for the oldest rural drivers (75 years and older) may have limited utility given that the majority of participants did not drive in these situations, and for those who did, most of their trips were in rural areas where enforcement could be expected to be limited. A better approach may be to encourage increased self-regulation through training, age-friendly upgrades to transportation infrastructure to help rural older drivers stay driving safely as long as possible, and the development of appropriate rural alternatives to help a driver transition to nondriver. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early 1990s, in order to improve road safety in The Netherlands, the Institute for Road Safety Research (SWOV) developed an evidence-based ‘Sustainable Safety’ concept. Based on this concept, Dutch road safety policy, was seen as successful and as a best practice in Europe. In The Netherlands, the policy context has now changed from a sectoral policy setting towards a fragmented network in which safety is a facet of other transport-related policies. In this contribution, it is argued that the implementation strategy underlying Sustainable Safety should be aligned with the changed context. In order to explore the adjustments needed, two perspectives of policy implementation are discussed: (1) national evidence-based policies with sectoral implementation; and (2) decentralized negotiation on transport policy in which road safety is but one aspect. We argue that the latter approach matches the characteristics of the newly evolved policy context best, and conclude with recommendations for reformulating the implementation strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Snow and ice control operations offer direct benefits to the public, including fewer accidents, improved mobility and reduced travel costs. They also offer indirect benefits such as sustained economic productivity, reduction in accident claims and continued emergency services. These activities are not without their costs, however, specifically in terms of materials, equipment and labour, as well as potential impacts on motor vehicles, transportation infrastructure and the environment. Maintenance agencies are continually challenged to provide a high level of service on winter roadways and improve safety and mobility in a cost-effective manner while minimising corrosion and other adverse effects to the environment. Science and technology play a key role in facilitating the best practices for sustainable winter road maintenance, with the ultimate goal of delivering the right type and amount of materials in the right place at the right time. The interdisciplinary nature of snow and ice control activities requires experts from a variety of disciplines working together to produce viable solutions and to promote best practices that address the multiple objectives of winter road service. This paper synthesises the findings from some of the major efforts in this area and presents a discussion of best practices, emerging challenges and research needs in winter road maintenance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A lack of representative European accident data to aid the development of safety policy, regulation and technological advancement is a major obstacle in the European Union. Data are needed to assess the performance of road and vehicle safety and also to support the development of further actions by stakeholders. A recent analysis conducted by the European Transport Safety Council identified that there was no single system in place that could meet all of the needs and that there were major gaps including in-depth crash causation information. This paper describes the process of developing a data collection and analysis system designed to partly fill these gaps. A project team with members from seven countries was set up to devise appropriate variable lists to collect fatal crash data, using retrospective detailed police reports (n = 1300), under the following topic levels: accident, road environment, vehicle and road user. The typical level of detail recorded was a minimum of 150 variables for each accident. The project will enable multidisciplinary information on the circumstances of fatal crashes to be interpreted to provide information on a range of causal factors and events surrounding the collisions. This has major applications in the areas of active safety systems, infrastructure and road safety, as well as for tailoring behavioural interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]