Visual Reaction Time: A Tool for Reducing Road Traffic Collisions and Driving Simulator.

Objective- Attenuating post lockdown vehicular speed by employing visual reaction time as a tool to prime the citizens for creating decorum of driving and checking the road traffic fatalities.Background- It is indispensable to curb the driving speed post lockdown to avoid accidents. Even though, the impact of inactivity on RT has been well established, an insight into the new method can deal with the gross issue of road traffic casualty worldwide. Method- Using a web-based platform (http://physicsiology.com), quantification of post lockdown speed was achieved for 643 participants under average speed before lockdown and RT measurement. Results- Compared to pre lockdown vehicular speed, reduced post lockdown speed was well calculated and suggested. Also, there was a correlation between RT, age, and days of lockdown.Conclusions- Containment of speed can be achieved to prime people through RT. Additionally, RT can determine the rate of change of frequency (ROCOF) for detecting the swiftness of action (i.e., the brain's ability to deal with the transition between reaction times of different events) required for averting road traffic collisions. Compelling to suggest a need for a humanoid simulator that can garner real-time data.Application- Suggesting a fresh outlook for designing a contraption for a better appraisal of the fleet in driving skills, thus beaconing the course towards restraining road traffic fatalities

Time-varying effect of drunk driving regulations on road traffic mortality in Guangzhou, China: an interrupted time-series analysis

Background China has introduced a series of stricter policies to criminalize drunk driving and increase penalties since May 2011. However, there is no previous study examining the time-varying impacts of drunk driving regulations on road traffic fatalities based on daily data. Methods We collected 6536 individual data of road traffic deaths (RTDs) in Guangzhou from 2008 to 2018. The quasi-Poisson regression models with an inclusion of the intervention variable and the interaction of intervention variable and a function of time were used to quantify the time-varying effects of these regulations. Results During the 11-year study period, the number of population and motor vehicles showed a steady upward trend. However, the population- and motor vehicles- standardized RTDs rose steadily before May 2011, the criminalizing drunk driving intervention was implemented and gradually declined after that. The new drunk driving intervention were associated with an average risk reduction of RTDs (ER = -9.01, 95% eCI: − 10.05% to − 7.62%) during the 7.7 years after May 2011. On average, 75.82 (95% eCI, 54.06 to 92.04) RTDs per 1 million population annually were prevented due to the drunk driving intervention. Conclusion These findings would provide important implications for the development of integrated intervention measures in China and other countries attempting to reduce traffic fatalities by stricter regulations on drunk driving.

An Autopsy-Based Analysis of Fatal Road Traffic Collisions: How the Pattern of Injury Differs with the Type of Vehicle

In Italy, in only 2018, 3310 people died in road traffic accidents, more than in any other European country. Since the revelation of this occurrence, the authors carried out an analysis aimed at investigating if there was a difference in the injury patterns among different road users. A retrospective post-mortem study on road traffic fatalities was performed, which had been autopsied at the Institute of Forensic Medicine of Milan. First, the authors analyzed the epidemiological data of all the 1022 road traffic accidents subjected to an autopsy from 2007 to 2019. Secondly, further analysis of individual autopsy reports was carried out. For this purpose, 180 autopsies belonging to 5 different categories were analyzed: car, pedestrian, motorbike, bicycle, and truck. Seventy-six percent of road traffic fatalities were male, 54% were between 10 and 49 years of age, and 62% of the patients died before arriving at a hospital. “Multiple injuries” was the main cause of death. Traumatic brain injuries were particularly high in pedestrians and cyclists. In car, motorbike, and truck fatalities, thoracic and abdominal injuries were the most frequent. Therefore, pedestrians and cyclists had a higher prevalence for traumatic head injuries, while car, motorcycle, and truck occupants, on the other hand, had a higher prevalence for thoracic and abdominal injuries.

Is prevention of suicide worth less? A comparison of the value per statistical life

This paper compares the value per statistical life (VSL) in the context of suicide prevention to that of prevention of traffic fatalities. We conducted a contingent valuation survey with questions on willingness to pay (WTP) in both contexts by administering a web questionnaire to 1038 individuals aged 18 to 80. We conjectured that WTP for a given impact on the number of fatalities would be lower for suicide prevention because suicide, at least to some degree, is the result of individuals’ own decisions. However, this hypothesis was not supported by the within- or between-sample estimates of WTP or by responses to direct questions. Hence, no support is provided for the use of a lower valuation of the impact of suicide prevention than for risk-reducing programs in other fields, such as traffic safety. This implies that the same VSL should be used for evaluating suicide prevention interventions and for risk-reducing programs in other policy areas and funds for the prevention of fatalities should be directed to the area with the lowest cost per life saved.

The risks of warm nights and wet days in the context of climate change: assessing road safety outcomes in Boston, USA and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Background There remains a dearth of cross-city comparisons on the impact of climate change through extreme temperature and precipitation events on road safety. We examined trends in traffic fatalities, injuries and property damage associated with high temperatures and heavy rains in Boston (USA) and Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic). Methods Official publicly available data on daily traffic outcomes and weather conditions during the warm season (May to September) were used for Boston (2002–2015) and Santo Domingo (2013–2017). Daily maximum temperatures and mean precipitations for each city were considered for classifying hot days, warm days, and warm nights, and wet, very wet, and extremely wet days. Time-series analyses were used to assess the relationship between temperature and precipitation and daily traffic outcomes, using a quasi-Poisson regression. Results In Santo Domingo, the presence of a warm night increased traffic fatalities with a rate ratio (RR) of 1.31 (95% CI [confidence interval]: 1.00,1.71). In Boston, precipitation factors (particularly, extremely wet days) were associated with increments in traffic injuries (RR 1.25, 95% CI: 1.18, 1.32) and property damages (RR 1.42, 95% CI: 1.33, 1.51). Conclusion During the warm season, mixed associations between weather conditions and traffic outcomes were found across Santo Domingo and Boston. In Boston, increases in heavy precipitation events were associated with higher traffic injuries and property damage. As climate change-related heavy precipitation events are projected to increase in the USA, the associations found in this study should be of interest for road safety planning in a rapidly changing environment.

Sustainable Safety in The Netherlands Creating a Road Environment where People on Foot and on Bikes are as Safe as People in Cars

Road crashes claim over one million lives each year worldwide, overwhelmingly in low- and middle-income countries. A handful of higher-income countries have made great progress in reducing traffic fatalities and are moving toward Vision Zero. The goal of this study is to evaluate how one such country, the Netherlands, has cut its traffic fatalities by over 90%. The results show that the Dutch have virtually eliminated the concept of “vulnerable road users” in that the risk of fatality for pedestrians, bicyclists and vehicle occupants has all converged at a low level. This is an amazing achievement, especially when compared with countries like the U.S. where the risk of fatality for non-vehicle occupants is 5–8 times that of vehicle occupants. In this paper, we assess the evolution of risk for different types of road users in the Netherlands since 1970. We also review critical events, advocacy, policies, and programs that were implemented in the Netherlands over the last five decades to address the issue of traffic safety. This analysis demonstrates that the Dutch used protests and advocacy campaigns to garner support for policies and programs that promoted non-motorized transportation as routine mobility choice. Furthermore, the governing body for safety in the Netherlands was an early adopter (in the 1990s) of a systems-based approach to traffic safety called Sustainable Safety. A 2020 FHWA webinar highlights that this systems-based approach is now beginning to take hold in the U.S.