Extraordinary Passive Safety in Cars Using a Sensor Network Model

Context: The automobile industry has included active and passive safety. Active safety incorporates elements to avoid crashes and collisions. Some elements are ABS brakes and stabilization bars, among others. On the other hand, passive safety avoids or minimizes damage to the occupants in the event of an accident. Some passive safety features include seat belts and front and curtain airbags for the driver and other occupants. Method: In this research work, we propose a new category called Extraordinary Passive Safety (XPS). A model of a sensor network was designed to inspect the conditions inside the car to detect fire, smoke, gases, and extreme temperatures. The sensors send data to a device (DXPS) capable of receiving and storing the data. Results: Each sensor collects data and sends it to the DXPS every period. The sensor sends 0s while there is no risk, and 1s when it detects a risk. When the DXPS receives a 1, the pattern is evaluated, and the risk is identified. Since there are several sensors, the reading pattern is a set of 0s (000000). When a pattern with one or more 1s (000100, 010101) is received, the DXPS can send an alert or activate a device. Conclusions: The proposed solution could save the lives of children left in the car or people trapped when the car catches fire. As future work, it is intended to define the devices to avoid or minimize damage to the occupants such as oxygen supply, gas extraction, regulating the temperature, among others.

Research and Analysis of the Propagation of Vertical Vibrations in the Arrangement of a Vehicle Seat—A Child’s Seat

This paper deals with the issues of the impact of vertical vibrations on a child seated in a child seat during a journey. Its purpose was to assess the impact of fastening the child seats and road conditions on the level of vibrations recorded on child seats. The paper describes the tested child seats, the methodology of the tests and the test apparatus included in the measuring track. The tests were carried out in real road conditions where the child seats were located on the rear seat of a passenger vehicle. One was attached with standard seat belts, and the other with the ISOFIX base. When driving on roads with three types of surface, the following vertical accelerations were measured: seat of the child seats, the rear seat of the vehicle and the ISOfix base. The recorded accelerations were first analyzed in the time domain and then in the frequency domain. Three indexes (r.m.s, rmq and VDV) were used to assess the vibration comfort. Research has shown that the classic method of fastening a child seat with standard seat belts is more advantageous in terms of vibration comfort. Calculated indicators confirmed the negative impact of separating the child seat from the rear seat of the vehicle using the IQ ISOFIX base.

Compulsory vaccination: Public benefit or individual’s right limitation

Mass vaccination and its controversial assessments have become key issues under the covid-19 pandemic. Outbreaks of diseases and popularity of anti-vaccination movements require a study of legal foundations for medical interventions and freedom restrictions which are considered as the result of serious risks to health and sanitary-epidemiological well-being of the population. The question is what should be prioritized - paternalistic powers of the state or individual rights and freedoms to decide what risks to take. In terms of responsibility distribution, people often consider vaccines as more dangerous than infectious diseases [17], which makes compulsory vaccination a legal phenomenon of particular importance. In the contemporary legislation, there are various national approaches to the individual autonomy and freedoms. In some countries, vaccination is directly linked to the possibility to study (USA), in others it is associated with public health (Australia), financial sanctions (Poland) or freedoms limitations (Pakistan). In terms of public health ethics, vaccination is similar to the use of seat-belts in cars, and compulsory vaccination policy is ethically justified by the same reasons as mandatory seat-belt laws [8]: at first, they were met with great opposition; later the use of seat belts acquired the significance of not only a legal but also a social norm precisely because it was made mandatory [1]. The similar approach is applicable to vaccination: the policy of compulsory vaccination can make it a social norm. However, in the legal perspective, compulsory vaccination is a compulsory medical intervention which raises the question about whether it is possible to limit individual rights and freedoms in the name of public health safety. The article considers contradictory issues in the state policy of compulsory vaccination and its legal support. The author presents a definition of compulsory vaccination, identifies its types, describes the specifics of its national legal regulation and sanctions for the refusal to be vaccinated, and explains its social necessity and expediency as a public good.

Road Safety Habits and Related Factors of the Adult Population. Summary of the Doctoral Thesis

Introduction. Road traffic collisions and injuries are a global public health issue, not only due to high mortality rates, but also due to significant multiple injuries and subsequent disabilities. The number of deaths and injuries from road traffic collisions in Latvia is still significantly higher than in other European Union countries. Given the current paradigm that views road traffic injuries as predictable and avoidable, the development of an evidence–based and cross–sectoral understanding of individual habits and related factors is essential for the successful implementation of road safety improvement measures in the long term. The aim of the study was to describe persons killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions and their risk factors from 2010 to 2018, to study the road safety habits of the adult population of Latvia during the same period, as well as to clarify the relationship between the habits and individual factors, health behaviour, and attitude towards road safety factors. Material and methods. The research has been carried out in parallel in two stages. In the first stage of the study, The Statistical Database of Road Traffic Collisions and Consequences was used for the analysis, including data on 57,471 persons involved in road traffic collisions. In the second stage of the study, using the data of a representative cross–sectional study of “Health Behaviour among Latvian Adult Population”, road safety habits – the use of reflectors, the use of seat belts in the front and rear seats – were analysed. The study tool was a validated, standardised questionnaire, including data from 10,731 respondents. Frequency distribution, cross–tabulation analysis, and Chi–square (?2) test were used for processing statistical data. Odds ratio, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient, and multiple logistic regression were used to assess the associations. Results. Between 2010 and 2018, the percentage of persons killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions has decreased on average by 0.3 percentage points per year, while the incidence rate of persons killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions per 100,000 person–years has increased on average by 1.2% per year. Higher odds of being fatally or seriously injured in road traffic collisions are observed in males, among the elderly (55 years and older) and the youngest (18 to 24 years) persons, when the collision occurs on regional and local roads, and in other cities compared to Riga, as well as in persons with exceeded permitted blood alcohol concentration level. During the period from 2010 to 2018, the use of reflectors in Latvia has not changed significantly (p > 0.05), in general, they are almost always worn by 53.6% of respondents. The use of seat belts has increased slightly – from 93.5% to 95.6% in the front seat of the vehicle, from 52.4% to 56.3% in the rear seat of the vehicle (p < 0,001). The multifactor regression analysis shows that lower odds for road safety habits are observed in males, among the youngest age group (18–24 years), in respondents with primary education,as well as among residents of Riga, followed by other cities compared to rural areas. Better road safety habits are among respondents without excessive alcohol consumption (OR = 1,6 – 2,1 depending on the habit analysed), among nonsmokers (OR = 1,5 – 1,8) and those with families where smoking is not allowed in the car (OR = 1,3 – 1,7). The odds for safe road habits are higher among persons who have visited their family doctor during the last year (OR = 1,2 – 1,3). Individuals with a possitive attitude towards the use of seat belts (OR = 1,9 – 9,7 depending on the specific question) and penalties for traffic violations (OR = 1,3 – 1,9) have higher odds for road safety habits. Higher odds of wearing seat belts are among respondents with more responsible attitude towards driving under the influence of alcohol (OR = 1,8 – 2,8) and respect for speed limits (OR = 1,3 – 1,9). Conclusions. Road safety and individual habits are a pressing public health issue in Latvia. Although the proportion of persons killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions is decreasing, the incidence rate of persons killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions (per 100,000 person–years) is increasing. The use of seat belts in the front seat of the vehicle is gradually approaching the level of other European countries, while the use of seat belts in the rear seat of the vehicle and the use of reflectors is insufficient and critically low. The relationship between individual road safety habits has been demonstrated not only with demographic, socio–economic, and attitude factors but also with careless health behaviour, which highlights the need to base sectoral policies and research in the long term on an integrated approach and cross–sectoral cooperation.

Deep learning based automatic vertical height adjustment of incorrectly fastened seat belts for driver and passenger safety in fleet vehicles

The recognition of incorrect fastening of seat belts is significant in passenger and driver safety for the automotive industry and public health. It should be made sure that the passenger’s seat belt is not only fastened but also correctly fastened across the body so that the passenger is adequately protected in the event of an accident. Current technology employs the buckle effect sensor, which merely solves the buckling detection problem, but there is no reliable solution for the correct positioning of the seat belt. Additionally, computer vision-based systems are still incapable of recognizing the incorrect positioning of seat belts when the training is performed by employing the subjects out of the fleet. Considering this fact, in this study, we propose a novel solution that employs a vision-based incorrect fastening seat belt detector to perform automatic vertical height adjustment independent from drivers and passengers for the fleet vehicles. We recognize the incorrect positioning of the seat belt inside the car by the acceptable distance of the seat belt from the neck of drivers or passengers to avoid neck injuries and the deaths caused by neck cuts. An extensive benchmarking is performed by comparing the three CNN architectures such as; DenseNet121, GoogLeNet (Inception-v3), ResNet50 with respect to sensitivity, specificity, precision, false-positive rate, false-negative rate, F1 score, and accuracy. Additionally, training and validation loss curves and accuracy curves are plotted for all the models. Later, the three models are evaluated with a precision-recall (PR) curve at the end. According to the results, the DenseNet121 achieved the highest classification accuracy among the tested models with 99.95%. This paper includes information about the proposed system elements, registration of data, elaboration of data, program algorithm, testing the system in the lab, and on the vehicle.

Use of seat belts among public transport drivers in Tacna, Peru: Prevalence and risk factors

Introduction There are individuals who still refuse to wear seat belts, despite its effectiveness in reducing morbidity and mortality in road traffic accidents. We aimed to determine the prevalence and risk factors according to the use of seat belts among public transport drivers in Tacna, Peru. Methodology This analytical transversal study was carried out among public transport drivers (buses and taxis) in a Peruvian city. Questionnaires were used to evaluate the general and occupational characteristics and the use of seat belts (observed). Descriptive statistics and risk factors were obtained, these latter through generalized linear models. Results Of the 460 drivers, 77% used their seat belts, with a difference in use depending on the type of public transport (p<0.001). In the multivariate model, the risk of not using the belt was associated with the following: older age (p<0.001), having complete studies (p<0.001), a higher level/category of driving license (3 categories had p<0.001), having a higher number of previous road traffic accidents (p = 0.011), and received medical attention in that accident (p<0.001), those who reported using a cell phone while driving (p = 0.005), if the co-driver’s belt had 3 anchorage points (p<0.001), and working for > 5 hours that day (p = 0.002). However, male drivers and those who had their belt with 3 anchorage points had greater use (both p<0.001). Conclusions One in five drivers did not use a seat belt, and important characteristics of those who did not comply with this traffic law were evaluated to generate control and intervention measures.

A VR-Enhanced Rollover Car Simulator and Edutainment Application for Increasing Seat Belt Use Awareness

Most countries have active road safety policies that seek the objective of reducing deaths in traffic accidents. One of the main factors in this regard is the awareness of the safety measures, one of the most important being the correct usage of the seat belt, a device that is known to save thousands of lives every year. The presented work shows a VR-enhanced edutainment application designed to increase awareness on the use of seat belts. For this goal, a motorized rollover system was developed that, synchronized with a VR application (shown in a head-mounted display for each user inside a real car), rolls over this car with up to four passengers inside. This way, users feel the sensations of a real overturn and therefore they realize the consequences and the results of not wearing a seat belt. The system was tested for a month in the context of a road safety exhibition in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, one of the leading countries in car accidents per capita. More than 500 users tested and assessed the usefulness of the system. We measured, before and after the rollover experience, the perception of risk of not using the seat belt. Results show that awareness regarding the use of seat belts increases very significantly after using the presented edutainment tool.