Traffic injury prevention
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Traffic injury prevention · Jan 2015
Alcohol-related road traffic injuries in Al-Ain City, United Arab Emirates.
We aimed to prospectively study the demography, severity of injury and outcome of alcohol-related road traffic collision (RTC) injuries in the United Arab Emirates. ⋯ Self reported alcohol-related car collisions in Al-Ain City had a low incidence. It affected older Emirati male nationals and was associated with lower revised trauma score, mainly due to head injury. There is a need for a national registry with data on alcohol abuse so as to assess its effects and strategies for its prevention.
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Traffic injury prevention · Jan 2015
The risk of a safety-critical event associated with mobile device use in specific driving contexts.
We explored drivers' mobile device use and its associated risk of a safety-critical event (SCE) in specific driving contexts. Our premise was that the SCE risk associated with mobile device use increases when the driving task becomes demanding. ⋯ Drivers' engagement in mobile device subtasks varies by driving context. The SCE risk associated with mobile device use is dependent on the types of subtasks performed and the driving context. The findings of this exploratory study can be applied to the design of driver-vehicle interfaces that mitigate distraction by preventing visual-manual subtasks while driving.
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Traffic injury prevention · Jan 2015
Mortality Risk in Pediatric Motor Vehicle Crash Occupants: Accounting for Developmental Stage and Challenging Abbreviated Injury Scale Metrics.
Survival risk ratios (SRRs) and their probabilistic counterpart, mortality risk ratios (MRRs), have been shown to be at odds with Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) severity scores for particular injuries in adults. SRRs have been validated for pediatrics but have not been studied within the context of pediatric age stratifications. We hypothesized that children with similar motor vehicle crash (MVC) injuries may have different mortality risks (MR) based upon developmental stage and that these MRs may not correlate with AIS severity. ⋯ Trauma severity metrics are important for outcome prediction models and can be used in pediatric triage algorithms and other injury research. Trauma severity may vary for similar injuries based upon developmental stage, and this difference should be reflected in severity metrics. The MR-based data-driven determination of injury severity in pediatric occupants of different age cohorts provides a supplement or an alternative to AIS severity classification for pediatric occupants in MVCs.
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Traffic injury prevention · Jan 2015
Effect of audio in-vehicle red light-running warning message on driving behavior based on a driving simulator experiment.
Drivers' incorrect decisions of crossing signalized intersections at the onset of the yellow change may lead to red light running (RLR), and RLR crashes result in substantial numbers of severe injuries and property damage. In recent years, some Intelligent Transport System (ITS) concepts have focused on reducing RLR by alerting drivers that they are about to violate the signal. The objective of this study is to conduct an experimental investigation on the effectiveness of the red light violation warning system using a voice message. ⋯ This driving simulator study showed a promising effect of the audio in-vehicle warning message on reducing RLR violations and crashes. It is worthwhile to further develop the proposed technology in field applications.
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Traffic injury prevention · Jan 2015
Driver Behavior During Overtaking Maneuvers from the 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study.
Lane changes with the intention to overtake the vehicle in front are especially challenging scenarios for forward collision warning (FCW) designs. These overtaking maneuvers can occur at high relative vehicle speeds and often involve no brake and/or turn signal application. Therefore, overtaking presents the potential of erroneously triggering the FCW. A better understanding of driver behavior during lane change events can improve designs of this human-machine interface and increase driver acceptance of FCW. The objective of this study was to aid FCW design by characterizing driver behavior during lane change events using naturalistic driving study data. ⋯ This study developed and validated an algorithm to detect lane change events in the 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study and characterized lane change events in the database. The characterization of driver behavior in lane change events showed that driver lane change frequency and minimum TTC vary with travel speed. The characterization of overtaking maneuvers from this study will aid in improving the overall effectiveness of FCW systems by providing active safety system designers with further understanding of driver action in overtaking maneuvers, thereby increasing system warning accuracy, reducing erroneous warnings, and improving driver acceptance.