Accident; analysis and prevention
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In western countries, a typical car-motorcycle crash occurs at an intersection where a car manoeuvres into the path of an oncoming motorcycle, which involves a car driver violates motorcycle's right of way (ROW). In Taiwan, however, a unique type of crash (approach-turn crash) occurs when a turning (including U-turn) motorcycle frequently infringes upon a car's ROW. The primary objective of this study was to examine injuries sustained by motorcyclists in this unique type of crash. ⋯ Motorcyclists tended to be more severely or fatally injured and had increased head and face, neck, and chest and abdomen injuries when they were ROW violators than when their ROWs were violated at an intersection. Efforts to curb drunk riding and unlicensed riding may constitute effective intervention points.
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Taxi drivers worldwide often have very long driving hours and experience frequent fatigue. These conditions are associated with a high prevalence of fatigue and accidents. However, the key factors that distinguish high/low fatigue-related accident risk (FRAR) taxi drivers are uncertain. ⋯ The FRAR model with only four major measurable predictors achieved a sensitivity of 91.9% and a specificity of 94.6% on predicting labeled data. Adjusting drive-rest habits and self-evaluation pertaining to these predictors is good for high-risk drivers to mitigate their accident risk. It was concluded that taxi drivers' drive-rest habits, experience, and intention for fatigue driving are crucial, and to a large degree determine their FRAR, and the prediction model can satisfactorily identify high-risk taxi drivers.
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This study aims to investigate pedestrian crossing behavior and safety at uncontrolled mid-block crosswalks with different numbers of vehicle lanes. For this purpose, twelve uncontrolled mid-block crosswalks in Wuhan, China were selected to collect data via field investigation. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze pedestrian crossing behavior, and the distribution of pedestrian-vehicle conflicts on different vehicle lanes was given. ⋯ As the number of vehicle lanes increases, the proportion of pedestrians adopting the rolling gap crossing mode, crossing the street with others, and changing the speed or path increase accordingly. Moreover, the number of pedestrian-vehicle conflicts at two-way six-lane crosswalks is 5.96 times higher than that of two-lane crosswalks, and 2.04 times higher than that of four-lane crosswalks. From the results of OP models, it was found that pedestrian behavioral characteristics such as rolling gap crossing mode, crossing with others significantly increased the possibility of pedestrian-vehicle conflicts.
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Recent evidence shows that compared to experienced drivers, young-inexperienced drivers are more likely to be involved in a crash mainly due to their poor hazard perception (HP) abilities. This skill develops with experience and may be developed through training. We assumed that as any other skill, HP developed through implicit learning. ⋯ During the learning transference session, both trained groups focused on hazards earlier compared to untrained drivers. These results imply that repetitive training may facilitate HP acquisition among young-inexperienced drivers. Patterns concerning experienced drivers are also discussed.
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Over the past decade in Melbourne the popularity of cycling has increased both as a mode of transport and a recreational activity, while at the same time walking has consistently been the most prevalent form of physical activity. Increasing levels of active transport use and physical activity are seen as important public health issues, particularly as the rate of urbanisation continues to grow throughout the world. To date there has been limited research conducted in Australia looking at the prevalence of pedestrian injuries resulting from collisions with cyclists. ⋯ The analysis demonstrated that over the past ten years there does not appear to have been a substantial increase in the number of pedestrian injuries resulting from collisions with cyclists. Furthermore the prevalence of injuries was small, especially when compared to injuries sustained by pedestrians from collisions with motor vehicles. The findings highlight that efforts to increase active transport participation should be encouraged and there may be situations where is it suitable to increase interaction and sharing of space between pedestrians and cyclists.