Accident; analysis and prevention
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Fatiguing effect of multiple take-offs and landings in regional airline operations.
Fatigue is a risk factor for flight performance and safety in commercial aviation. In US commercial aviation, to help to curb fatigue, the maximum duration of flight duty periods is regulated based on the scheduled start time and the number of flight segments to be flown. There is scientific support for regulating maximum duty duration based on scheduled start time; fatigue is well established to be modulated by circadian rhythms. ⋯ The present results represent an important first step in understanding fatigue in multi-segment operations, and provide support for the number of flight segments as a relevant factor in regulating maximum duty duration. Nonetheless, based on our fatigue results, a more moderate reduction in maximum duty duration as a function of the number of flight segments might be considered. However, further research is needed to include investigation of flight safety, and to extend our findings to nighttime operations.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Evidence that implementation intentions reduce drivers' speeding behavior: testing a new intervention to change driver behavior.
Implementation intentions have the potential to break unwanted habits and help individuals behave in line with their goal intentions. We tested the effects of implementation intentions in the context of drivers' speeding behavior. A randomized controlled design was used. ⋯ Also in line with the hypotheses, implementation intentions attenuated the past-subsequent speeding behavior relationship and augmented the goal intention - subsequent speeding behavior relationship. The findings imply that implementation intentions are effective at reducing speeding and that they do so by weakening the effect of habit, thereby helping drivers to behave in accordance with their existing goal intentions. The volitional help sheet used in this study is an effective tool for promoting implementation intentions to reduce speeding.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Naturalistic conversation improves daytime motorway driving performance under a benzodiazepine: a randomised, crossover, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.
The adverse effects of benzodiazepines on driving are widely recognised. The aims of this study were both to determine the impact of naturalistic conversation on the driving ability of drivers under a benzodiazepine, and to measure the accuracy of drivers' assessments of the joint effects of the benzodiazepine and conversation. Sixteen healthy male participants (29.69 ± 3.30 years) underwent a randomised, crossover, double-blind, placebo-controlled study with the benzodiazepine lorazepam (2mg). ⋯ Pearson's correlation coefficients revealed that self-assessments were (i) not at all predictive of lane-keeping when performed before the drive, but (ii) moderately predictive of lane-keeping performance when performed during or after the drive. We conclude that conversation with a passenger may contribute to safer lane-keeping when driving under a benzodiazepine. Moreover, a degree of awareness may be attained after some experience of driving under the influence of this type of medication.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Keeping baby safe: a randomized trial of a parent training program for infant and toddler motor vehicle injury prevention.
Motor vehicle crashes are responsible for much death and disability among infants and toddlers. This study evaluated Keeping Baby Safe In and Around the Car, a multimedia DVD designed to improve knowledge about car seat installation among parents of infants and toddlers. The randomized controlled trial was conducted with 195 parents of children aged 0-24 months. ⋯ Results from analyses of covariance models show that posttest scores for the intervention condition were significantly higher than those of the control condition on both knowledge and car seat simulation measures. The results, consistent across outcome measures and regardless of child age, suggest that viewing the Keeping Baby Safe In and Around the Car DVD resulted in significant gains in parents' car seat knowledge and their ability to discriminate the critical elements of correct car seat installation. Dissemination of engaging multimedia DVDs such as this program might reduce motor vehicle crash-related injuries to infants and toddlers.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
To call or not to call--that is the question (while driving).
We studied whether decisions to engage in cell phone conversation while driving and the consequences of such decisions are related to the driver's age, to the road conditions (demands of the driving task), and to the driver's role in initiating the phone call (i.e. the driver as caller vs. as receiver). Two experiments were performed in a driving simulator in which driver age, road conditions and phone conversation, as a secondary task, were manipulated. Engagement in cell phone conversations, performance in the driving and the conversation tasks, and subjective effort assessment were recorded. ⋯ In addition, older and younger drivers were more susceptible to the deleterious effects of phone conversations while driving than middle aged/experienced drivers. While older drivers were aware of this susceptibility by showing sensitivity to road conditions before deciding whether to engage in a call or not, young drivers showed no such sensitivity. The results can guide the development of young driver training programs and point at the need to develop context-aware management systems of in-vehicle cell phone conversations.