Accidents In Taiwan Research Articles

Development of a Comprehensive Safety Evaluation Mechanism for the Highway Bus Industry

A suitable mechanism for evaluating the safety of the highway bus industry is crucial for ensuring public transportation safety in a country. In this study, we have combined indices from the Compliance Safety Accountability (CSA) program of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) in the US, the safety evaluation of renting buses in Japan, and some existing safety evaluation methods in Taiwan to develop a new safety evaluation mechanism for the highway bus industry. This paper introduces a two-stage decision making approach that includes the use of fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (Fuzzy AHP) and machine learning techniques such as decision trees, support vector machines, and random forests to develop this mechanism. The data used in this research were collected from the internet and directly from highway bus transportation companies. We calculated the safety performance of each company and assigned them different safety ranks. Compared with the causes of accidents in Taiwan, the results of this study showed that work hours, driver fitness, and administrative penalties are the three most important sub-attributes that affect the safety rank of the company.

Determination of tetramethylammonium hydroxide in air using ion chromatography or ultra-performance liquid chromatography - high-resolution mass spectrometry

Tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) is extensively utilized in the semiconductor and optoelectronic industries, serving as either a developer or an etchant. TMAH possesses acute toxicity and alkaline corrosiveness, having caused several fatal and injurious accidents in Taiwan. However, there is currently a lack of methods available for assessing TMAH exposure. This study developed a method involving sampling with quartz fiber filters followed by ultrasonic agitation in 10 mL mobile phase, filtering, and analysis using either ion chromatography (IC) or ultra-performance liquid chromatography - high-resolution mass spectrometry (UPLC-HRMS). Utilizing the characteristics of HRMS, the compound analyzed was identified as tetramethylammonium ion (TMA+) through mass spectrometry analysis. The method exhibits excellent trapping capacity and recovery rate. The linear range of TMA+ for IC is 0.3 to 100 μg/mL, with a correlation coefficient of R = 0.9998. The linear range of TMA+ for UPLC-HRMS is 0.002 to 1 μg/mL, with a correlation coefficient of R = 0.996. The recovery rates for IC and HRMS were 116.6% and 90.6%, with corresponding coefficient of variation (CV) of 2.25% and 3.53%, respectively. Samples can be stored at room temperature for 28 days. Verification of this method was conducted at the TMAH factory, and the air concentrations measured in the TMAH filling area were 3.29 and 4.75 μg/m3 from IC and UPLC-HRMS, respectively. This method will be applied in the on-site analysis of occupational hazards for operators in chemical plants, technology factories, and recycling plants, aiming to evaluate risk values to protect the safety and health of workers and prevent occupational diseases.

Quality of Life and Spiritual Health in Motorcycle Accident Survivors: An Analysis Using the SF-36 Questionnaire and Spiritual Scale

Abstract Introduction Motorcycle traffic accidents rate remained high in Taiwan letting post-trauma care an imperative issue. This study investigates the spiritual, psychological, and physical impacts of motorcycle traffic accidents in Taiwan, focusing on the role of the Injury Severity Score (ISS) in influencing quality of life (QOL) and spiritual well-being outcomes, aiming to enhance holistic recovery strategies for trauma survivors. Methods A prospective study was conducted from April 2022 to March 2024 in a level I trauma center. Patients aged 20 and above with trauma from motorcycle accidents were enrolled and divided into major (ISS ≥ 16) and non-major (ISS < 16) trauma groups. QOL and spiritual health were assessed using 36-item short-form general health survey measures (SF-36) and spiritual scale before discharge and six months later. Results Of 98 patients, we observed significant post-discharge declines in both physical and mental QOL scores, regardless of ISS. However, spiritual scores improved significantly after discharge, with notable enhancements in interpersonal relationships and adversity transcendence observed in patients with ISS < 16, but not in those with ISS ≥ 16. SF-36 analysis revealed that non-religious groups experienced significant declines in mental health scores post-discharge, unlike religious groups, which remained stable. Additionally, religious individuals showed significant post-discharge improvements in interpersonal relationships and adversity transcendence, while non-religious showed no improvement. This suggests a beneficial link between religious adherence and enhanced spiritual well-being. Conclusion Motorcycle accidents reduce QOL and heighten spiritual needs for survivors, regardless of accident severity categorized by ISS score. Integrating spirituality into rehabilitation processes can positively impact overall well-being. Holistic care, addressing physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs, is vital for optimizing long-term recovery and improving prognosis in trauma survivors, especially in regions with high rates of traffic accidents like Taiwan.

Using Multilayer Perceptron Neural Network to Assess the Critical Factors of Traffic Accidents

This study is based on the traffic accident data of Taoyuan City from the government's open data. The study compiled the data set of traffic accidents in Taiwan from 2012 to 2017, and six classifiers were applied to evaluate the effectiveness of traffic accident prediction with the number of injuries as the prediction target. In order to verify the classifier's stability, cross-validation was used to evaluate the model during the training process, and the multilayer perceptron neural network (MLPNN) classifier performed best in testing the dataset's accuracy and evaluating the model's best performance. Then, a boosting ensemble learning approach and a combination of traffic accident factors improve the experiment's performance. According to this experiment, the results show that this study uses the Pearson Chi-square feature selection method to select important traffic factor combinations, and the boosting method indeed helps improve the effectiveness of the construction of the traffic accident model. Finally, the experimental results of the NN-MLP model have a correct rate of 77% and AUC is 78.7%. In constructing the model, it was found that the degree of injury, the part of the vehicle hit, the type of accident, the leading cause, the type of vehicle, and the period of the accident were the main factors causing dangerous traffic accidents. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2024-05-01-012 Full Text: PDF

Spatial analysis of accidents involving food delivery motorcycles in Taiwan

ABSTRACT The study explored whether the growth of food-delivery services has affected motorcycle accident patterns. When riders check their phones for directions and orders, safety risks rise. The study conducted analysis on the spatial pattern of motorcycle accidents. Separate models for food delivery and non-food delivery motorcycle accidents (FDMAs vs. NFDMAs) were built to detect differences, and the relative importance of spatial features particular to FDMAs is discussed. Trends in motorcycle accidents in Taiwan changed from 2012 to 2019. The cross-sectional analysis revealed that hotel and restaurant density along with FDMAs reported in the previous year can predict the number of FDMAs; whereas the number of NFDMAs can be determined by population density and the number of 3-legged intersections. The spatial analysis of motorcycle accidents help increase couriers’ risk awareness in specific workplaces, provide insurance companies with a benchmark for regional pricing differentiation, and offer support for distracted riding regulations.

Analysis of Environmental Factors on Intersection Accidents

In recent years, the number of fatal traffic accidents has been on the rise in Taiwan, with a total of 2865 fatalities in 2019, representing a 3% increase from the previous year, and indicating an urgent need for the improvement of Taiwan’s traffic conditions. This research focuses on the three-way intersections on provincial roads. In Taiwan, such three-way intersections account for more than 70% of all intersections on provincial roads. From 2018 to 2019, there were 41,137 accidents at three-way intersections, accounting for about 50% of the traffic accidents in Taiwan. Relevant research in Taiwan has been mostly focused on driver characteristics and other factors were less addressed. In this study, we looked into the environmental factors, conducted analysis and the results were proposed for future roadway safety improvements. This study uses a regression model for analysis, in which the dependent variable is the number of traffic accidents at each intersection. However, for 68% of the three-way intersections surveyed, the number of traffic accidents recorded during the observation period was zero. Therefore, this study uses zero-inflated models to construct a model to identify important variables that affect the severity of traffic accidents at three-way intersections. The research results show that two types of factors are related to the risk of traffic accidents at three-way intersections. The first type includes the width of the provincial road, the width of the shoulder, the width of the dividing line and the number of lanes, while the second type relates to the presence of convenience stores, gas stations, supermarkets, and other attractions, such as public retail markets at the intersection.

Navigation Risk estimation using a modified Bayesian Network modeling-a case study in Taiwan

Frequency of the shipping accidents in Taiwan has been increasing since 2013. Navigation Risk estimation using a modified Bayesian Network (BN) making use of the shipping accident data between 2014 and 2019 is conducted. Parameters based on Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) marine accident database are treated as the parent and child nodes, namely, Ship Age, Flag, Ship Type, Gross Tonnage, Accident Type, Accident Severity, Sea State and Location. The information of such knobs is compiled and forms the basis for prior and conditional probability calculations. Considering the consistency of the condition probability entries for child nodes lacking data, a mapping process contemplating the states from parent nodes is proposed. Rationality of the BN model is validated by the sensitivity analysis of the Navigation Risk outcomes and Accident Frequency and Accident Severity comparisons with the MOTC figures. General Cargoes, Bulk Carriers and Containers under 10,000 GT tend to have higher risk of accidents whereas Containers and General Cargoes over 15,000 GT are prone to encounter mishaps. Grounding, Collision and Fire/Explosion should deserve attention worldwide. The proposed BN demonstrates the feature of proactive safety analysis based on scenario analysis carrying out Navigation Risk predictions considering vessel characteristics and environmental conditions.

Association of high profile football matches in Europe with traffic accidents in Asia: archival study

ObjectiveTo investigate the association between popular football games played in Europe and the incidence of traffic accidents in Asia.DesignStudy based on 41 538 traffic accidents involving taxis in Singapore and...

Investigating the influence of experiential training on the ability to anticipate risks of caught-in accidents

Caught-in accidents are the most common type of occupational accidents in Taiwan’s manufacturing industry. Although the law stipulates that, as a control measure, specific machinery and equipment must comply with safety standards before leaving the factory, caught-in accidents are still reported. Therefore, education and training are important. We referred to Kirkpatrick’s four-level model for analysis and chose a film manufacturer as the study subject. Workers were divided into three groups to evaluate the effectiveness of different training methods: (a) without safety/health education and training (control group); (b) with traditional lecture teaching; (c) with practical experiential training. Although statistically significant overall, only the group with practical experiential training showed statistically significant differences in graph selection and occupational accident videos compared to the group without safety/health education and training. Therefore, we suggest using traditional indoor lectures and practical experiential training for risk anticipation in enterprises to improve their performance.

Characteristic Analysis of Occupational Confined Space Accidents in Taiwan and Its Prevention Strategy.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 882 people were killed or injured due to confined space accidents in 2011–2017. Occupational accident statistics published in 2008–2018 by the Taiwan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA, Taiwan) show that 70 people suffered from disasters and 52 were injured in the 64 accident reports involving confined spaces. In the US, on average, 126 people die each year in accidents related to confined spaces, and in Taiwan, an average of 8 people per year are casualties of accidents involving confined spaces, proving that it is an area of concern that cannot be neglected. When misjudgments occur in confined spaces, not only can people be hurt, but they can even lose their lives, and the risks associated with confined spaces can subsequently result in rescue personnel also being killed or injured. This study was conducted via the systematic causal analysis technique (SCAT), which was proposed and developed by the International Loss Control Institute (ILCI), with the intention of identifying the critical basic causes of the confined space accidents that have occurred over the years in the Taiwan area, in order to propose corresponding improvement strategies. After investigating the statistics in Taiwan, it was determined that hydrogen sulfide was involved in 45% of accidental deaths in confined spaces, followed by 11% involving carbon dioxide, 9% involving carbon monoxide, and 7% involving toluene. Additional analysis of non-standard acts identified “failure of operating procedures” as being involved in 27% of accidents, followed by 25% involving “improper personal protective equipment” and 23% involving “incorrect position”. The analysis of non-standard conditions revealed that “dangerous workplace” was involved in 39% of accidents, “improper protective measures” in 30%, and “inadequate ventilation” in 27%. In accordance with our analysis results, it could be suggested that hazard prevention strategies for confined spaces, in addition to encouraging avoidance of non-standard acts by personnel, should also strive to improve these non-standard conditions. Otherwise, if not prevented deliberately and in a fundamental, relevant accidents will remain inevitable.

A Study of Applying Fuzzy Theory in Simulation-Based Education

Among all aviation accidents in Taiwan’s general aviation industry from 1998 to 2016, human factors account for the most at 51.2%, including negligence of external obstacles, poor autopilot flight ability, poor resources management of the crew, inability to follow aviation regulations, lack of understanding of the landing area, not fully comprehending the operational functions and not alert to situations. Those factors have seriously affected flight safety. Resources management training for crew members may thus be the best measure to prevent human errors. Following the Evidence-Based Training (EBT) promoted by ICAO and International Air Transport Association (IATA), this study constructs the assessment indices of EBT for helicopter crews. After collecting the opinions of helicopter flight instructors of military and civil helicopter units, we apply the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) for the preliminary assessment guidelines, use the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) to construct the hierarchy, and then calculate each criterion and each criterion weight.

Ambulance traffic accidents in Taiwan.

Ambulance traffic accidents (ATAs) are the leading cause of occupation-related fatalities among emergency medical service (EMS) personnel. We aim to use the Taiwan national surveillance system to analyze the characteristics of ATAs and to assist EMS directors in developing policies governing ambulance operations. A retrospective, cross-sectional and largely descriptive study was conducted using Taiwan national traffic accidents surveillance data from January 1, 2011 to October 31, 2016. Among the 1,627,217 traffic accidents during the study period, 715 ATAs caused 8 deaths within 24h and 1844 injured patients. On average, there was one ATA for every 8598 ambulance runs. Compared to overall traffic accidents, ATAs were 1.7 times more likely to result in death and 1.9 times more likely to have injured patients. Among the 715 ATAs, 8 (1.1%) ATAs were fatal and 707 (98.9%) were nonfatal. All 8 fatalities were associated with motorcycles. The urban areas were significantly higher than the rural areas in the annual number of ATAs (14.2±7.3 [7.0-26.7] versus 3.1±1.9 [0.5-8.4], p=0.013), the number of ATA-associated fatalities per year (0.2±0.2 [0.0-0.7] versus 0.1±0.1 [0.0-0.2], p=0.022), and the annual number of injured patients (who needed urgent hospital visits) in ATAs (19.4±7.3 [10.5-30.9] versus 5.2±3.8 [0.9-15.3], p<0.001). The ATA-associated fatality rate in Taiwan was high, and all fatalities were associated with motorcycles. ATAs in a highly motorcycle-populated area may require further investigation. An ambulance traffic accident reporting system should be built to provide EMS policy guidance for ATA reduction and outcome improvements.

Safety-Culture Exploration in Taiwan’s Metal Industries: Identifying the Workers’ Background Influence on Safety Climate

The present study aims to assess the safety-climate level in Taiwan’s metal industries, as well as to identify the influence of workers’ backgrounds on the safety climate. An earlier report showed that a poor safety culture was related to the cause of accidents in Taiwan’s traditional manufacturing industries. This study surveyed a total of 839 workers who voluntarily participated and completed the safety-culture questionnaires. These workers were from a Taiwanese metal company and its five satellite companies. Three safety-climate factors, namely safety perception, safety communication and safety-management systems, were assessed. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted by developing structural equation modeling to ensure the questionnaire’s validity. The influence of workers’ backgrounds on the safety climate was identified by using one-way ANOVA. The reliability result of the questionnaire was above the acceptable level. The overall safety-climate score was 4.22 out of a five-point scale for safety perception, 4.23 for safety-management systems and 3.97 for safety communication. The scores indicate a good level of safety climate, with room for improvement in safety communication. Additionally, the influence of workers’ backgrounds on the safety climate was confirmed. Based on the validity test, it was also found that the questionnaire could be improved by reconstructing its questions in its development process in order to increase the safety-climate model’s reliability and validity, as well as its model fit.

Sanction changes and drunk-driving injuries/deaths in Taiwan

Driving under the influence (DUI) is one of the major causes of traffic accidents in Taiwan. About 5% of injuries involve DUI, and nearly 20% of deaths are due to alcohol-related crashes. During early 2006 to the end of 2014, the authorities in Taiwan increased the severity of fine and jail penalties for DUI offenders three times. At the same time, the monthly drunk-driving injures decreased nearly 40% and the monthly alcohol-related traffic death dropped more than 80%. In this paper, we examine the effects of sanction changes on the reduction of drunk-driving casualties during this period. We find that drunk-driving injuries and deaths significantly dropped after the statutory changes. The reduction was immediate following all sanction changes that raised the maximum fines or jail terms of DUI offenders. Policies that increased the maximum jail terms of DUI offenders seem to have a better gradual effect on the reduction of alcohol-related traffic casualties. Although increased sanctions are found to be effective in reducing drunk-driving casualties, we need more future research to examine the policy-to-perception and the policy-to-behavior links.

Epidemiology and patterns of facial fractures due to road traffic accidents in Taiwan: A 15-year retrospective study

ABSTRACTObjective: The facial region is a commonly fractured site, but the etiology varies widely by country and geographic region. To date, there are no population-based studies of facial fractures in Taiwan.Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of patients diagnosed with facial fracture and registered in the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan between 1997 and 2011. The epidemiological characteristics of this cohort were analyzed, including the etiology, fracture site, associated injuries, and sex and age distributions.Results: A total of 6,013 cases were identified that involved facial fractures. Most patients were male (69.8%), aged 18–29 years (35.8%), and had fractures caused by road traffic accidents (RTAs; 55.2%), particularly motorcycle accidents (31.5%). Falls increased in frequency with advancing age, reaching 23.9% among the elderly (age > 65 years). The most common sites of involvement were the malar and maxillary bones (54.0%), but nasal bone fractures were more common among those younger than 18 years.Conclusion: Most facial injuries in Taiwan occur in young males and typically result from RTAs, particularly involving motorcycles. However, with increasing age, there is an increase in the proportion of facial injuries due to falls.

Trends of fire deaths and effects of fire safety measures in Taiwan during 1971-2015

Purpose: Although fire causes 2 % of deaths of the global accidents in Taiwan, injury or death caused by fire is frequent and largely preventable.Approach: Using the Health and Vital Statistics, Fire Losses and Casualties Table, Abridged Life Tables, and Services for Fire Fighting by official publications during 1971-2015, we approached the trends of population, ages, gender, and social costs associated with fatal fire and evaluated the effects of fire safety measures.Results: The higher mortality rate of fire death was in the elders. Fire death rates were 1.92 folds higher risk in males than in females (p &lt; 0.05). The potential years of life lost (PYLL) implied the most efficient evaluation for the fire safety measures. Fire mortality and casualty could be prevented by fire prevention, fire rescue and emergency medical measures effectively. The most significant effect of fire safety measures was evasion training that adopted the indicator of mortality per 102 burned houses (MBH).Conclusions: Therefore, fire prevention efforts should concentrate on males, and elders. The decreasing of fire numbers should be developed and encouraged.

Epidemiology of orthopedic fractures and other injuries among inpatients admitted due to traffic accidents: a 10-year nationwide survey in Taiwan.

To investigate the major injury patterns associated with traffic accidents and evaluate the risk factors of the main injury, a survey of Taiwan's national insurance admission data between 2002 and 2011 was performed. The incidence of traffic-accidents-related hospitalization was between 9.17% and 11.54% and the average mortality rate of the inpatients admitted due to traffic accidents was 0.68%. Of all inpatients due to road traffic accidents in Taiwan, orthopedic fractures were the most common injuries that accounted for 29.36% of them. There were a total of 391,197 cases of three orthopedic fracture groups that were divided into (1) fracture of upper limb, (2) fracture of lower limb, and (3) fracture of spine and trunk. An increase in national medical cost used for inpatients with orthopedic fractures was noted and ranged from US$ 45.6 million to US$ 86 million annually. These orthopedic fracture patterns were frequently associated with other injuries especially head injuries (ranged from 14% to 26%). A significant relation to male gender, older age, low income, and admission to high-level hospital to the observed fracture patterns was observed.

MEASURING THE PERCEPTION OF SAFETY AMONG TAIWAN CONSTRUCTION MANAGERS

Using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), this study develops a model to evaluate construction managers’ perception of safety as relates to six aspects: human error (HE), safety resource and application (SRA), safety equipment and training (SET), site culture and external factors (SCF), safety inspection and audit (SIA), and accident medium and activities (AMA). The model was used to identify and compare the level of safety perceived by Taiwanese construction managers including safety managers, contractor managers, public works managers, design and audit managers, owner audit and control managers, and others. Analysis reveals that safety managers have the highest perception of safety while owner audit and control managers have the lowest. Surprisingly, public works managers and design and audit managers have lower levels of perceived safety than do contractor managers. Apparently, reinforcing the perception of safety between these two types of construction personnel is important to reducing construction accidents in Taiwan.

Risk Factors in Motorcyclist Fatalities in Taiwan

Objective: To assess the impact of the following factors on rider fatality: rider's age, gender, licensing status, accident liability, use of helmet, alcohol consumption, vehicle class, road conditions, presence of passengers, and passenger injuries. Methods: Data on motorcycle accidents in Taiwan between 2006 and 2008 were analyzed. A logistic regression model was used to establish a fatality risk model for motorcyclists and investigate high-risk factors for motorcyclist fatality. Results: Higher fatality rates among motorcycle riders correlate with the following factors: male, older, unlicensed, not wearing a helmet, riding after drinking, and driving heavy (i.e., above 550 cc) motorcycles. In addition, motorcyclists involved in nighttime, nonurban single-vehicle accidents have a higher risk of death, and lone riders have a higher risk of death in accidents than do riders carrying passengers. The seriousness of passenger injury also correlates positively with the rider's risk of death. Conclusions: Nearly 60 percent of all driving fatalities in Taiwan involve motorcycles. Consideration of factors behind the high frequency and risk of motorcycle deaths, specifically rider age above 60 years, not wearing a motorcycle helmet, riding after drinking, and driving without a valid license, could help in the development of effective traffic safety management measures.

Grade-Crossing Safety

Official statistics showed that the majority of grade-crossing accidents in Taiwan were caused by intrusion of road users violating the right-of-way of the railroad. Therefore, it is critical that additional measures need to be developed to prevent or mitigate the seriousness of intrusion incidences even though many warning facilities were already in place. In this article, we propose to use the real-time crossing site image, instead of alarm signals, to provide train drivers with more vital information. In addition, we also take advantage of the radio-link capacity to display numerical information of train distance on the fly to deter potential intrusion attempts. The result of this project can be used as a reference design for the augmentation of grade-crossing safety of rail systems facing similar intrusion problems.