Prevention Of Road Traffic Accidents Research Articles

A systematic review on the effectiveness of two interventions in preventing traffic accidents

Background Evidences from many countries show that successes in preventing road traffic injuries can be achieved through concerted efforts at national level. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of: Methods Our search started with a scoping review on the interventions to prevent road traffic accidents to …

Catastrophic household expenditure on health in Nepal: a cross-sectional survey.

ObjectiveTo determine the incidence of – and illnesses commonly associated with – catastrophic household expenditure on health in Nepal.MethodsWe did a cross-sectional population-based survey in five municipalities of Kathmandu Valley between November 2011 and January 2012. For each household surveyed, out-of-pocket spending on health in the previous 30 days that exceeded 10% of the household’s total expenditure over the same period was considered to be catastrophic. We estimated the incidence and intensity of catastrophic health expenditure. We identified the illnesses most commonly associated with such expenditure using a Poisson regression model and assessed the distribution of expenditure by economic quintile of households using the concentration index. FindingsOverall, 284 of the 1997 households studied in Kathmandu, i.e. 13.8% after adjustment by sampling weight, reported catastrophic health expenditure in the 30 days before the survey. After adjusting for confounders, this expenditure was found to be associated with injuries, particularly those resulting from road traffic accidents. Catastrophic expenditure by households in the poorest quintile were associated with at least one episode of diabetes, asthma or heart disease.ConclusionIn an urban area of Nepal, catastrophic household expenditure on health was mostly associated with injuries and noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes and asthma. Throughout Nepal, interventions for the control and management of noncommunicable diseases and the prevention of road traffic accidents should be promoted. A phased introduction of health insurance should also reduce the incidence of catastrophic household expenditure.

Effectiveness of two interventions in preventing traffic accidents: a systematic review.

The prevention of road traffic accidents should be considered a serious public health concern, since they are the eighth leading cause of death globally and the main cause of death for young people aged 15-29. Evidences from many countries show that successes in preventing road traffic injuries can be achieved through concerted efforts at national level. The aim of our study was to assess the effectiveness of two interventions to prevent road traffic accidents: the introduction of graduated driver licensing (GDL) and the interventions to improve pedestrian and cyclist visibility. Our search started with a scoping review on the interventions to prevent road traffic accidents to allow the development of a logical framework of traffic accidents. Specific and answerable questions formulated according to PICO scheme and combinations of keywords were used to perform a systematic search in the following databases: Pubmed, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE), Health Evidence, Transport Research International Documentation (TRID) and Google. References of selected papers were searched. Only systematic reviews and meta-analyses were eligible. No temporal limits or linguistic filters were applied. 160 systematic reviews and meta-analyses were found for the question of the introduction of GDL program and 188 on the improvement of visibility in cyclists and pedestrians. After selection, four papers were included in qualitative synthesis for each question. All included studies underwent quality evaluation. GDL programs seem to be effective in reducing crash rates among young drivers, in particular in 16 year-old. Programs with more restrictions seem also to reduce fatal events. To improve visibility of pedestrians and cyclists, street lighting has been suggested as an intervention able to improve driver's visual capabilities and ability to detect roadway hazards and to prevent car crashes. Visibility aids (fluorescent materials, lamps, flashing lights and retroreflective materials) have the potential to increase visibility and enable drivers to detect pedestrians and cyclists earlier. The two interventions seem to be effective, but further examinations are needed to measure long-term effects. It is necessary to provide feasible studies in local context to estimate the impact of introduction of GDL programs or of some of their components and to improve interventions to increase visibility of pedestrians and cyclists.

Road traffic accidents in hilly regions of northern India: What has to be done?

Road traffic accidents (RTA) are responsible for 1.2 million deaths worldwide each year. RTA will become the 3(rd) largest contributor to the global burden of diseases after ischemic heart diseases (IHD) and depression. We conducted a retrospective study on RTA in a tertiary center in the hilly district of Uttarakhand in India. The number of RTA, pattern of RTA, the number of patients killed and injured, the pattern of injury causing death and disability, the severity of accidents, and the type of disability were noted from December 2009 to November 2011. The accident severity was calculated as the number of patients killed per 100 accidents. The methods for reducing the incidence of RTA were observed, and the role of policy makers was studied. The majority of deaths and disabilities in Uttarakhand were due to road traffic accidents in the hilly districts of the states. The most common cause of RTA was driving fault followed by defective roads. Proper designing of roads and minimizing the fault of drivers are essential to prevent road traffic accidents in hilly regions.

Decision of influencing of individual biorhythms of drivers on probability of origin of road traffic accidents

The researchers indicate that the level of traffic safety is influenced by many psychophysical qualities of drivers, allowing the prevention of road traffic accidents — attention, fast reaction, even temper, emotionality, resilience to risks. The emotional state is very important for human activities, in most cases determining the correctness and accuracy of actions. The paper gives the results of studies of the influence of parameters of physical, emotional and intellectual biorhythms of drivers on the probability of road traffic accidents. The change in the probability of road traffic accidents is accurately described by the regression equations, in which the parameters of driver’s physical, emotional and intellectual biorhythms are used as variables. The studies have shown that physical biorhythm has the greatest impact on the probability of traffic accidents and allows the most accurate determination of the probability value. Thus, the estimation of developed models, based on statistical parameters, indicates that they can be used in practical calculations to predict the probability of road traffic accidents.

Awareness and practice of road safety measures among undergraduate medical students in a South Indian state

The UN general assembly has declared 2011–2020 as the "Decade of Action for Road Safety”. The declaration holds significance because road traffic accidents (RTAs) have become a major cause of morbidity and mortality, especially among the adults and middle aged individuals who constitute economically most productive age groups of society. The importance of knowledge and practice of road safety measures needs to be emphasized in the prevention of RTAs. The present study is aimed to assess the knowledge and practice of road safety measures among the students of a medical college in coastal, South India. A total of 260 medical students were included in this cross-sectional study. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the relevant information from the participants. The data collected was analyzed using SPSS version 11.5. Out of the 260 participants, 149 (57.3%) were females and 111 (42.7%) were males. The overall awareness on road safety measures was slightly higher among females (20.6%) than males (19.9%). The participants had significantly low awareness with regard to alcohol and driving (4.2%), use of seat belts (20%) and use of mobile phones without hands free device (6.1%). The participants had a better knowledge about traffic signs and more than half of them identified all the signs correctly. With regard to the road safety practices, 25% were involved in drunken driving in the past one year. The practice of using mobile phones with hands free devices while driving was admitted by 20% of them. Nearly two-third participants (68%) admitted to have crossed speed limits on multiple occasions. Observations of the study emphasize on the need to generate awareness among medical students through training and IEC activities to curb the epidemic of RTAs.

Driving licenses based on points systems: Efficient road safety strategy or latest fashion in global transport policy? A worldwide meta-analysis

One of the most popular coactive measures developed to prevent road traffic accidents in recent decades is the implementation of driving licenses based on points systems (PS) which penalize repeat offenders with suspension or withdrawal of their licenses. This paper analyzes their rapid spread worldwide through an in-depth review of the existing literature. A comprehensive meta-analysis of the effects of PS on road traffic accidents and the duration of these effects has been conducted. The findings show that the strong initial positive impact (15 to 20% reductions in accidents, fatalities and injuries) seems to wear off in under eighteen months. This limited effectiveness is related to the absence of complementary enforcement to back up these measures. Without them, points systems could turn into a boomerang road safety policy, and even be abandoned at a later date. The implications of the conclusions for legislation and future research are considered.

Measures on the Impact-Spread of Road Accidents

Road safety system has been a concern topic for many scholars worldwide. Although there are many analysis papers on road traffic accident prevention, security, emergency rescue, safety evaluation and other aspects, there is no a thorough and complete opinion on road safety system. The study of these issues can cause a traffic accident prevention, to reduce the incidence of traffic accidents, summing up the spread of some of the impact of traffic on the control of the effective ways to combat the public security organs to reduce the incidence of traffic accidents guidance.

Audit of Inpatient Management and Outcome of Limb Fractures in Children

Trauma in children has been a concern but given little attention. Lately however, in Oman, it has been widely discussed in light of prevention of road traffic accidents and home accidents. Trauma in children comes only second to acute infection responsible for morbidity in children, with an annual cost of over £200 millions per year in UK.1 However, there are no cost figures from gulf countries currently available. In Oman, all limb fractures are managed in the regional referral hospitals established in all regions of the country. A good network of referral system exists for referring and transport of children from local health centers to regional referral hospitals, which are staffed by well trained specialized trauma units. There is a steady increase in hospital admission rates from accidental injuries, but there are no published data on the pattern, management and outcome of limb fractures in the pediatric age group. Keeping in mind the above mentioned facts, an audit of pediatric limb fracture at Nizwa regional referral hospital, was conducted to evaluate; a) the annual inpatient workload arising from pediatric limb fractures, b) pattern of fractures and their management, and c) areas where management could be improved. Pediatric trauma has low priority and as such has been given little attention. The aim of this study is to review and audit the pattern of pediatric fractures, their management and outcome in our local setting.

Fatal Traffic Injuries Among Children and Adolescents in Three Cities (Capital Budapest, Vilnius, and Tallinn)*

Motor vehicle accidental injuries are a frequent cause of death among young children and adolescents. The goal of this study was to compare patterns of injury between three capitals (Budapest, Vilnius, and Tallinn). Information on 190 fatal traffic accidents (69 pedestrians, 14 bicyclists, and 107 motor vehicle occupants) between 2002 and 2006 was collected from databases of medico-legal autopsies. The role of victims in accidents, the location of injuries, cause of death, survival period, and blood alcohol levels were evaluated. One-hundred and forty-one (74%) victims had a passive role in traffic as pedestrians, passengers in cars, or public transport. In victims who died at the scene, the rate of head injury was higher than in cases who received medical treatment (odds ratio = 2.58, CI = 1.2-5.55, p = 0.0127). These results underline the importance of postmortem studies to examine the pathomechanism of fatal traffic accidental injuries and to provide information for the prevention of road traffic accidents against children and adolescents.

Traffic regulation learning course for guilty drivers: the future safety drivers

BackgroundIn Thailand; road traffic accident is one of the most important causes of injuries and deaths. Its easy to get diver license without driving skill and knowledge and there are...

Vergleich der Schulgesetze der Länder der Bundesrepublik Deutschland im Hinblick auf die Verankerung von Prävention und Gesundheitsförderung im Gesetzestext

Health prevention and promotion in schools are key public health tasks in most countries. This study focuses on the importance given to prevention and promotion of health in law texts through comparatively analysing school laws for the sixteen federal states in Germany. The basis for the analysis are the sixteen federal school laws in Germany. A conceptual framework to analyse the law texts has been developed grouped according to the following categories: aims of literacy and education; development of organization; individual and social health; and security and accident prevention. Examples for second level categories include nutrition, motility, alcohol, violence, and road-traffic accident prevention. Based on a point-system of valuation, a ranking for the federal states was derived in terms of an assessment of the importance of health prevention and promotion in federal states' school laws. Berlin, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern -- three "new" states (i. e. formerly East-German) are leading the ranking. Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, two states that had been ruled by conservative governments for a long time, had special difficulties to take over new values in their legislation and occupied rank 14 in our ranking. The last place was taken by a state under social-democratic rule -- Nordrhein-Westfalen. However, this law dated from 1952 and a new law has just been passed in August 2005. The comparison of the school laws of the federal states in Germany demonstrates that there has been a substantial amount of change in recent years. In some school laws, the impulses of the Ottawa Charta regarding health prevention can be clearly recognised. In others prevention and promotion of health are only subordinated subjects. As in many other areas of social importance, reorientation is taking place. In particular, federal states who have placed little emphasis on school health will have to renew their corresponding legislation.

Clinical Spectrum of Trauma at a University Hospital in Nigeria

Background and Objectives: Data on trauma in Nigeria requires updating just as trauma care needs coordination and organization. This study was done to examine the clinical spectrum of trauma and to propose measures for organization of trauma care. Patients and Methods: A 2-year prospective report of an ongoing trauma research is presented. Data obtained from September 1999 to December 2000) include name, age, sex, presenting diagnosis at the accident and emergency (A and E) unit, injury-arrival time, ode of transportation of patients to the hosptial, and the outcome of care. Results: Trauma patients comprised 2,913 of the 4,164 (70.0%) surgical patients seen in the A and E but 129 of 171 deaths (75.4%). Types of trauma were lacerations (585 patients, 20.1%), fractures (542, 18.7%), head injury (250, 8.6%), multiple injuries (249, 8.6%), burns (159, 5.5%), and others. Road traffic accidents (RTA) occurred in 1,816 patients (62.3%), falls in 308, assaults in 258, burns in 159, home accidents in 122, gunshot injuries in 107, industrial accidents in 73, and foreign body injuries in 70. There was no pre-hospital care. Transport to the A and E was done by relations, the police and a few Good Samaritans. Most of the patients reached the hospital in 1–24 h and > 24 h, respectively. Conclusions: The spectrum of trauma is predominantly RTA-related, hence, trauma care organization would include prevention of RTA, organization of pre-hospital care aimed at transport time of < 2h, training volunteers from the populace and the police as emergency medical services technicians for resuscitation during transport and getting patients to hospital in optimal state, and an enhanced in-hospital care by designation and categorization of hospitals. These strategies, including continuous trauma research and funding, would go a long way in reducing mortalities from trauma, especially from RTA.

Fractures of the mandible in children.

To determine the pattern of occurrence of mandibular fractures in a paediatric population. A retrospective study. University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria. Seventy two paediatric patients seen and managed between 1989 and 1998. Road traffic accidents were the most common (52.8%) cause of mandibular fractures. The majority of the patients (57.0%) were within the age group (12-16 years). The body of the mandible was involved in 43.4% of the fractures. Eyelet wires with intermaxillary fixation was used in 41.7% of the cases. There is a need to enforce legislation aimed at preventing road traffic accidents to reduce maxillofacial injuries among children.

Injury control strategies: extending the quality and quantity of data relating to road traffic accidents in children.

This review describes how an extended database of information can provide the opportunity to go beyond the traditionally distinct health, engineering, and education initiatives in order to identify the effectiveness...

Correction: Scandinavian and Dutch lessons in childhood road traffic accident prevention

Correction: Scandinavian and Dutch lessons in childhood road traffic accident prevention

Prevention of road traffic accidents involving children

Prevention of road traffic accidents involving children

Scandinavian and Dutch lessons in childhood road traffic accident prevention.

Scandinavian and Dutch lessons in childhood road traffic accident prevention.

Road traffic accidents: A major public health problem in Nigeria

Analysis of data on road traffic accidents (RTAs) in Nigeria over an eight-year period showed a rising trend. To highlight the importance of RTAs in the country, the number of deaths from RTAs (1967–74) and from major communicable diseases (1964–74) was reviewed. It was found that there were annually more deaths from RTAs than even the cholera epidemic of 1971. International comparison of the RTA situation in Nigeria with that of industrialized countries (United Kingdom, Sweden and Australia) and developing countries (Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya) showed that Nigeria had by far worse mortality and morbidity rates. The importance of the involvement of doctors, especially those in the field of public health, in the prevention of RTA using the methodology which has been successfully employed in the control of communicable diseases is stressed.