Road Traffic Deaths Research Articles

Review on Factors Causes Road Traffic Accident In Africa

Road accident is a global tragedy with ever rising trend and endless. Road traffic injuries were among the leading causes of death, life-long disability and property damage in this world. According to World Health Organization, 2018 report; road traffic deaths were the eighth leading cause of death more than tuberculosis and HIV/ AIDS. Africa’s roads were the world’s deadliest for a multitude of reasons. Categorically; human, mechanical and environmental factors were basic causes for road traffic accident in Africa. The main purpose of this paper was review and investigating factors causes road traffic accident in Africa. This review consider all African countries and probable factors causes road traffic accident in Africa. Even though; due to constraint of data this review constitute twenty-four African country those constitute more than eighty percent of population size in Africa with sixty-three research articles to define the factors causes road traffic accident in Africa. As per the investigation on road traffic accident in African countries the majority of researchers and research articles revealed that human related factors(like speed driving, over taking, reckless driving, fatigue, drunk driving, drug, seat belt, sleeping, cell phone usage and etc.) accounted a causes for more than three fourth of road traffic accident Africa. In most populated Africa country like Nigeria, Ethiopia and Egypt more than eighty percent of road traffic accident happen due to human related factors. Particularly; drivers play a significant role for the occurrences of road traffic accident in Africa. While the remaining less than one fourth of road traffic accident causes related to environmental and mechanical related factors in Africa. As per the finding; pedestrians and passengers were the major risk taker in road traffic accident in Africa. Even if; the effect of environment and mechanical related factors were minor, it was not as such negligible causes for the occurrences of road traffic accident in Africa. So, to curb road traffic accident in Africa; concerning body, government and stake holder must undertake probable solution to fix a problem that caused by human related factor on road transport system.

The effects of Chile’s 2005 traffic law reform and in-country socioeconomic differences on road traffic deaths among children aged 0-14 years: A 12-year interrupted time series analysis

ObjectivesThis study assessed the effect of Chile’s 2005 traffic law reform (TLR) on the rates of road traffic deaths (RTD) in children aged 0–14 years, adjusting for socioeconomic differences among the regions of the country. MethodsFree-access sources of official and national information provided the data for every year of the study period (2002–2013) and for each of the country’s 13 upper administrative divisions with respect to RTD in child pedestrians and RTD in child passengers (dependent variables), and the following control variables: the number of road traffic tickets processed, investment in road infrastructure, poverty, income inequality, insufficient education, unemployment, population aged 0–14 years, and prevalence of alcohol consumption in the general population. Interrupted time series analyses (level and slope change impact model), using generalized estimating equation methods, were conducted to assess the impact of the TLR (independent variable) on the dependents variables. ResultsThere was a significant interaction between time and Chile’s 2005 TLR for a reduction in child pedestrians (incidence rate ratio [IRR] 0.87, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.79-0.96) and passengers RTD (IRR for interaction 0.80, 95% CI 0.67-0.96) trends. In addition, in child pedestrians, RTD rates were affected by poverty (IRR 1.04, 95% CI 1.02–1.05), income inequality (IRR 1.02, 95% CI 1.00–1.04), and unemployment (IRR 0.94, 95% CI 0.90-0.98), whereas in the case of child passengers, poverty (IRR 1.05, 95% CI 1.01–1.08) and income inequality (IRR 0.93, 95% CI 0.91-0.95) were significant. ConclusionsLarge-scale legislative actions can be effective road safety measures if they are aimed at promoting behavioral change in developing countries, improving the safety of children on the road. Additionally, regional socioeconomic differences are associated with higher RTD rates in this population, making this an argument in favor of road safety policies that consider these inequalities. The number of road traffic tickets processed and the investment in road infrastructure were not significant.

What can we learn from the historic road safety performance of high-income countries?

Road traffic deaths in high-income countries (HICs) have been steadily declining for five decades, but are rising or stable in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We use time-series cross-sectional methods to assess how age- and sex- specific death rates evolved in 20 HICs during 1955–2015, controlling for income, population density and urbanization. Past work has attributed improvements in safety in HICs to income growth, suggesting that countries intervene when they become richer (Kuznets hypothesis). In contrast, we show that HICs had statistically significant declines in road traffic injuries starting in the late 1960s that persist after controlling for income effects, and inclusion of a lagged dependent variable. These findings are consistent for all age-sex groups but the effects are strongest for the elderly and young children. We argue that the reversal in the traffic injury trend did not occur because HICs reached an income threshold. Instead, the 1960s were a period of paradigmatic change in thinking about road safety. Subsequent, safety improvements occurred because countries at different income levels established regulatory institutions that had a legislative mandate and financial resources to conduct large-scale safety interventions.

How did a lower drink-drive limit affect bar trade and drinking practices? A qualitative study of how alcohol retailers experienced a change in policy.

Introduction and AimsReducing the legal drink‐drive limit from 0.08% to 0.05% blood alcohol concentration (BAC) can reduce road traffic accidents and deaths if properly enforced. Reduced limits may be opposed by alcohol retail and manufacturing industries on the basis of commercial impact. Our aim was to qualitatively explore how a reduction in the drink‐drive limit from 0.08% to 0.05% BAC in Scotland, was experienced by bar owners or managers, including any resultant changes in customer drinking or business practice. This is the first study of this type.Design and MethodsSemi‐structured interviews were conducted with 16 owners and managers of on‐trade premises in Scotland in 2018, approximately three years after the drink‐drive limit was reduced. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.ResultsMost participants reported no long‐term financial impact on their business, but a few, mainly from rural areas, reported some reduction in alcohol sales. Observed drinking changes included fewer people drinking after work or leaving premises earlier on weekdays. Adaptations to businesses included improving the range of no/low‐alcohol drinks and food offered. Changes such as these were seen as key to minimising economic impact.Discussion and ConclusionsOpposition to legislative measures that impact on commercial interests is often strong and receives significant public attention. This study found that Scottish businesses that adapted to the drink‐drive limit change reported little long‐term economic impact. These findings are of international relevance as potential BAC limit reductions in several other jurisdictions remain the subject of debate, including regarding the impact on business.

Ambulance-to-Traffic Light Controller Communications for Rescue Mission Enhancement: A Thailand Use Case

During rescue missions, transferring injured people from accident scenes to rescue sites is considered crucial and time-sensitive. In particular, a one-second delay could put more lives in danger. Though ambulances are commonly equipped with standard siren devices, such siren signals are not recognized by traffic light controllers. Therefore, rescue missions could be delayed at intersections due to an urgency-unaware traffic light control system. In the worst case, pile-up accidents could also happen when the ambulances lawfully ignores the traffic lights. This paper proposes A2T to enhance the efficiency of rescue missions, by establishing a communication mechanism among ambulances and infrastructures (e.g., traffic light controllers). Thailand, which had the highest road traffic death rate in the world in 2015, is selected as a use case in this paper. A2T promotes information sharing between ambulances and traffic light controllers along the rescue path in advance. Such information, including speeds, locations, and emergency routes, allows the traffic light controllers to launch a prioritized green traffic light accordingly. This allows the ambulances to go through any road intersection efficiently and safely. Our comprehensive performance evaluation shows that A2T achieves 100 percent waiting time reduction for the ambulances, with only 2.48 percent increase in delay of other vehicles at the intersections.

Predictors of fatal outcomes in pedestrian accidents in Tabriz Metropolis of Iran: Application of PLS-DA method

Objectives: Road traffic deaths in walking pedestrians are a global public health problem. Considering that in Iran pedestrians have a high proportion of deaths caused by traffic accidents, the objective of the present study was to investigate mortality rate and related factors of fatal injury in pedestrian crashes in Tabriz Metropolis of Iran as the largest and most populous city of the northwest of Iran.Methods: The design of this study is case-control based on police and Forensic Medicine Organization data. All registered fatal pedestrian crashes in Tabriz Metropolis from 2014 to 2015 (146 cases) were included in the study as the case group. Also, 292 pedestrians (the ratio of cases to controls was 1:2) with non-fatal crashes were considered as the control group. Due to high dimensional data and multicollinearity issue, Partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was used for data analysis. Importance of the variables was determined by the VIP (Variable Importance in the Projection) index. Performance of the model was assessed by using training and test set validation method. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) and classification error rates were calculated for the test set. R software version 3.5.1 (mixOmcs packages) was used for data analysis.Results: According to the results of PLS-DA, the most important variables related to fatal outcome in pedestrian crashes with VIP > 1 were: pedestrian age (positive effect), type of vehicle (light machinery with a negative effect), kind of vehicle plate (private plate with a negative effect), season of accident occurrence (winter season with a positive effect), type of driver’s licenses (Class A with a positive effect), pedestrian gender (male with a positive effect) and Fault of Pedestrian (At-fault with a positive effect). The overall accuracy for the fitted model and AUC were 0.77 and 0.79, respectively.Conclusions: The results show that predictors of a fatal outcome in pedestrian accidents in Tabriz can be attributed to the pedestrian characteristics (which notably account for differences in vulnerability in case of an accident), the car and driver features, and weather (which may all notably influence the amount of energy involved in the collision, through the car mass, speed, and conditions delaying the braking response or reducing the braking effectiveness). Regarding the statistical method, the PLS-DA is a powerful method which can be used to analyze high dimension data with multicollinearity issue.

Bold actions needed to improve civil registration data for road traffic deaths

Persisting problems of underreporting and poor quality of road traffic mortality data exist. Bold and sustained actions need to be undertaken by countries to improve civil registration data collection and reporting. Countries need to implement three specific actions to improve civil registration and vital statistics data systems and/or road traffic injury data collection:Ensure that civil registration and vital statistics systems produce high-quality cause of death data by working with the health sector to improve medical certification of cause of death and statistical coding in line with the International Classification of Diseases.Adopt a consistent definition of a road traffic death for use in police databases, particularly in countries with incomplete civil registration and vital statistics data, where police data are the most reliable source of informationLink data sources – including civil registration records, police data, health records, insurance data – to improve official road traffic fatality estimates while ensuring the privacy of individual identification.

Trends in mortality from road traffic injuries in South Korea, 1983–2017: Joinpoint regression and age-period-cohort analyses

Although mortality trends can be influenced by different ages, periods, and cohorts, few studies have demonstrated the age-period-cohort (APC) effect on road traffic injury (RTI) mortality. Moreover, APC effects in Korea have never been documented despite the high mortality rates from RTIs. This study aimed to describe the trends in mortality from RTIs and examine APC effects on RTI mortality in Korea. Using the national death certificate and census mid-year population estimates data during 1983–2017, trends in age-standardized mortality rates from RTIs were analyzed using Joinpoint regression. Intrinsic estimator regression models were used to estimate APC effects on RTI mortality. Consistent with the trend in period effects, RTI mortality increased sharply with the economic growth in the 1980s, decelerated after the implementation of road safety policies in the early 1990s, plummeted owing to the 1997–1998 financial crisis, and gradually decreased from the early 2000s. A J-shaped age effect indicated that the relative risk of road traffic death surged in people aged ≥65 years. Educational expansion from the mid-1950s turned an increasing birth cohort effect into a continuously decreasing trend after peaking around the 1938–1943 birth cohorts. The risk of road traffic death was relatively high among the Korean Generation Y, i.e., those born in 1978–1983. RTI mortality trends in Korea have been affected by diverse socioeconomic changes through cohort and period effects. Despite the recent favorable trend, RTI mortality remains high, especially among older people. Road safety policies to address the burden of RTIs require further improvement.

Economic development and road traffic injuries and fatalities in Thailand: an application of spatial panel data analysis, 2012\u20132016

BackgroundRoad traffic injuries (RTIs) have been one of the most critical public health problems in Thailand for decades. The objective of this study was to examine to what extent provincial economy was associated with RTIs, road traffic deaths and case fatality rate in Thailand.MethodsA secondary data analysis on time-series data was applied. The unit of analysis was a panel of 77 provinces during 2012–2016. Data were obtained from relevant public authorities, including the Ministry of Public Health. Descriptive statistics and econometric models, using negative binomial (NB) regression, negative binomial regression with random-effects (RE) model, and spatial Durbin model (SDM) were employed. The main predictor variable was gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and the outcome variables were incidence proportion of RTIs, traffic deaths and case fatality rate. The analysis was adjusted for key covariates.ResultsThe incidence proportion of RTIs rose from 449.0 to 524.9 cases per 100,000 population from 2012 till 2016, whereas the incidence of traffic fatalities fluctuated between 29.7 and 33.2 deaths per 100,000 population. Case fatality rate steadily stood at 0.06–0.07 deaths per victim. RTIs and traffic deaths appeared to be positively correlated with provincial economy in the NB regression and the RE model. In the SDM, a log-Baht increase in GDP per capita (equivalent to a growth of GDP per capita by about 2.7 times) enlarged the incidence proportion of injuries and deaths by about a quarter (23.8–30.7%) with statistical significance. No statistical significance was found in case fatality rate by the SDM. The SDM also presented the best model fitness relative to other models.ConclusionThe incidence proportion of traffic injuries and deaths appeared to rise alongside provincial prosperity. This means that RTIs-preventive measures should be more intensified in economically well-off areas. Furthermore, entrepreneurs and business sectors that gain economic benefit in a particular province should share responsibility in RTIs prevention in the area where their businesses are running. Further studies that explore others determinants of road safety, such as patterns of vehicles used, attitudes and knowledge of motorists, investment in safety measures, and compliance with traffic laws, are recommended.

RT Accidents mortality in Italy: a population-based study in Piedmont on Vulnerable Road Users

Abstract Background Among the largest Italian Regions, Piedmont (Northern Italy) had in 2017 a crude rate of road traffic accidents (RTA) deaths greater than the national average. RTA injuries remain a leading cause of injury deaths in Italy. Among them in both Piedmont and Italy many victims are vulnerable road users (VRU): pedestrians, cyclists and users of motorcycles or motorpeds. The study was aimed to describe their mechanisms of injury. Methods Observational study of the resident population in Piedmont from 2003 to 2015. Transportation Injuries (ICD-10: V01-V99) were considered, because of their greater comparability rate in bridge coding studies. A number of 5,185 RTA deaths was observed. Role, type of vehicle of the victim and collision were studied. Results Piedmont in 2017 had a RTA mortality rate (6.35 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants) greater than Italy (IRR = 1.13, 95% CI: 1.00 - 1.29; p < 0.02), 48.4% of the victims were VRU similarly to national data (49.8%). In the period the proportion of VRU on RTA deaths steadily increased from 25.6% in 2003 to 49.1% in 2015, in a significant way (z = 2.79; p = 0.005), because in a context of marked reduction of RTA mortality (-54.5%), the regional trend for VRU shows only a slight decrease (-12,6%). The VRU were: pedestrians (47.0%), motorized two-wheels users (37.4%) and cyclists (15.6%). Among pedestrians 63.9% deaths were caused by collisions with mainly automobiles (82.1%) and heavy vehicles (12.7%). In case of collision the prevalent causes of death were head injuries (41.5%) and multi-trauma (31.8%). Similar patterns were observed for cyclists, while in motorcyclists 56.5% of deaths were due to loss of control or fixed object. Conclusions VRU injuries remain a public health and social concern. Yet despite their extent, this problem is still not adequately considered in public health prevention programs. The observed mechanisms of injury evidence the importance to enhance the protection of VRU in road traffic circulation. Key messages In Italy, vulnerable road users are becoming a major group among road traffic injury deaths, because they not follow the general trend of large decrease of RTA injuries. Largest VRU group are pedestrians such as cyclists they are hit by cars or heavy vehicles with major trauma, in the motorized two-wheels loss of control and collision with fixed object are important.

Evaluating the impact of criminalizing drunk driving on years of life lost of road traffic deaths in one megacity, China

TPS 771: Diet and lifestyle, Exhibition Hall, Ground floor, August 26, 2019, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Abstract: Aim: Road safety is an important public health issue worldwide. However, few studies analyse the association between criminalizing drunk driving and Years of Life Lost (YLL) of Road Traffic Deaths (RTD). There are still countries which do not have the law preventing drunk driving. Our study can provide useful information about this. Methods: We used interrupted time-series analysis to find the changes of YLL before and after the law enforcement using RTD data from 2008 to 2014 in Tianjin. We also examined RTD risk change related to the law. Results Simple comparisons of the median of RTD and the YLL in all subgroups except the >=65 age group showed reductions after enactment of the new law in May 2011. Results: The overall RTD and YLL decreased by 9.6% (125 vs. 113) and 16.11% (5786 vs. 4854) after the law. In regression analyses with adjustment for seasonality, months, holidays and the number of people in each district, the RTD and YLL declined significantly after the new traffic law, especially obvious in the middle age group. However, the upgrade of the law in 2013 does not have any effect on the YLL and the RTD. Conclusions YLL provides a complementary measure for examining the effect of criminalization on drunk driving RTD. Conclusion: This study highlights that the law can lead to reduction in RTD and YLL in Tianjin, China. Large, immediate public health benefits resulted from the new road traffic law in China. However, the first issue of the law is more effective than the upgrade of the law later.

Смертность от дорожно-транспортных происшествий в России: подходы к оценке, тенденции и перспективы

В России в 2016 г. общий коэффициент смертности от ДТП по данным полиции впервые снизился до уровня, не наблюдавшегося с 1971 г., после чего продолжил снижаться. Позитивные тенденции, видимо, послужили основой для оптимистичных целей, заложенных в стратегии безопасности дорожного движения на 2018-2024 гг. (стратегия БДД).
 Опираясь на данные полиции, государственную статистику смертности, международные базы данных о смертности и безопасности дорожного движения, авторы пытаются ответить на вопросы: достижимы ли поставленные цели в указанные сроки, насколько они согласуются с европейскими тенденциями дорожно-транспортной смертности, а также с существующей в России пространственной, возрастной и категориальной дифференциацией дорожно-транспортной смертности.
 Исследование показало, что установленные сроки достижения целевых ориентиров в стратегии БДД очень сжаты. На сегодняшний день лишь в крупных и средних по численности населения городах есть потенциал для реализации стратегии, где общий коэффициент смертности к 2024 г. не должен превышать 1,5-2 погибших на 100 тыс. человек, тогда как в небольших городах и сельских населенных пунктах – 2,5-3 погибших на 100 тыс. человек. На протяжении долгих лет наибольшему риску смерти на российских дорогах подвержены водители и пассажиры в возрасте 15-44 года и пешеходы старше 60 лет, не нашедшие отражения в стратегии БДД в качестве приоритетных категорий.
 Помимо этого, в статье показано, что для устранения существующих расхождений между опубликованными числами погибших двух официальных систем учета (полиции и Росстата) самым первым шагом может быть отказ Росстата от используемого в данный момент подхода к выделению контингента погибших в ДТП на основе действующей краткой номенклатуры причин смерти и переход на один из двух международных вариантов агрегации трехзначных кодов причин смерти, используемый ВОЗ для выделения числа погибших в ДТП.

Traffic Education for Inexperienced Drivers with Virtual Driving Simulator

The numbers of vehicles in the traffic and population density have been increased with rising affluence. Besides this situation, people are not enough information about the traffic. In 2013, the number of road accidents was 1.207.354 in Turkey according to the Turkish Statistical Institute. World Health Organization’s data in 2013 says that worldwide the total number of road traffic deaths is about 1.24 million per year. Along with these motivations, we developed a system for traffic education with both theoretical and practical exercises. The theoretical part of the system includes some tests which are about traffic, engine of vehicle and first aid information. The theoretical system has 10 test questions for each user. Another part of the system is a simulator with software and hardware. Firstly, in the system, a user answers the test and he/she should be successful at least 70 percent. Then, the user can use the simulator. The simulator includes a steering wheel, a pedal system, a shift knob, a driver seat, a visual display and a virtual platform with software. With this system, inexperienced drivers will be able to acquire experience.

Vision-based lane departure warning framework

Collisions arising from lane departures have contributed to traffic accidents causing millions of injuries and tens of thousands of casualties per year worldwide. Many related studies had shown that single vehicle lane departure crashes accounted largely in road traffic deaths that results from drifting out of the roadway. Hence, automotive safety has becoming a concern for the road users as most of the road casualties occurred due to driver's fallacious judgement of vehicle path. This paper proposes a vision-based lane departure warning framework for lane departure detection under daytime and night-time driving environments. The traffic flow and conditions of the road surface for both urban roads and highways in the city of Malacca are analysed in terms of lane detection rate and false positive rate. The proposed vision-based lane departure warning framework includes lane detection followed by a computation of a lateral offset ratio. The lane detection is composed of two stages: pre-processing and detection. In the pre-processing, a colour space conversion, region of interest extraction, and lane marking segmentation are carried out. In the subsequent detection stage, Hough transform is used to detect lanes. Lastly, the lateral offset ratio is computed to yield a lane departure warning based on the detected X-coordinates of the bottom end-points of each lane boundary in the image plane. For lane detection and lane departure detection performance evaluation, real-life datasets for both urban roads and highways in daytime and night-time driving environments, traffic flows, and road surface conditions are considered. The experimental results show that the proposed framework yields satisfactory results. On average, detection rates of 94.71% for lane detection rate and 81.18% for lane departure detection rate were achieved using the proposed frameworks. In addition, benchmark lane marking segmentation methods and Caltech lanes dataset were also considered for comparison evaluation in lane detection. Challenges to lane detection and lane departure detection such as worn lane markings, low illumination, arrow signs, and occluded lane markings are highlighted as the contributors to the false positive rates.

Drink driving and speeding in Sao Paulo, Brazil: empirical cross-sectional study (2015–2018)

ObjectivesTo evaluate the prevalence of drink driving and speeding during 2015–2018 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.DesignCross-sectional observational study.SettingRoads representing the five main regions of the city of Sao Paulo in Brazil,...

Improving Road Traffic Safety Through the Use of Innovative Technologies

The use of innovative technologies is the most effective and promising way to improve the road traffic safety management system. The relevance of the work is expressed in the need for continuous implementation of innovations in the context of growing disproportion between the sharp increase in the number of vehicles, high traffic intensity, and imperfection of road traffic management (problems of existing infrastructure, poor information support for road users, etc.), which results in road traffic injuries and deaths. In the course of the research, it was found that in the context of the Republic of Adygea, using rumble strips installed at the road shoulder reduces the number of run-off-road collisions by 30%, while using centerline rumble strips reduces the number of cross-over incidents and resultant head-on collisions by 15%.

Driver and road characteristics associated with child pedestrian injuries

BackgroundChild pedestrians make up a significant proportion of all road traffic deaths. Our primary objective was to examine the association of driver characteristics with child pedestrian injuries with a secondary objective to broadly describe the road characteristics surrounding these collisions. MethodsWe included drivers involved in child (<18 years old) pedestrian motor-vehicle collisions (PMVCs) in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta (2010–2015). These drivers were compared with not at fault (Alberta adaptation of a Canadian culpability scoring tool) drivers involved in vehicle-only collisions. The data were analyzed with unconditional logistic regression. ResultsSeven hundred ninety-three drivers collided with 826 children. One quarter of child PMVC drivers were 40–54 years old (25.2%). Younger drivers, 16–24 (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.62, 95% CI: 1.27–2.09), and older drivers, ≥55 (aOR = 1.57, 95% CI: 1.24–1.99) were more likely to be involved in a child PMVC. Time of day between 06:01 – 09:00 (aOR = 1.46, 95% CI: 1.16–1.85) and 18:01 – 24:00 (aOR = 1.68, 95% CI: 1.30–2.17), no seatbelt use (aOR = 2.30, 95% CI: 1.09–4.85), having a child passenger in the vehicle (aOR = 2.15, 95% CI: 1.56–2.96), and impairment including ‘had been drinking’ (aOR = 7.70, 95% CI: 2.85–20.86) and ‘fatigued/asleep/medical defect’ (aOR = 27.15, 95% CI: 8.30–88.88) were also associated with being a driver involved in a child PMVC. ConclusionsAge, time, impairment and distraction were risk factors for being a driver involved in a child PMVC. Because child PMVC driver characteristics differ from the general driver population, driver-based interventions are a rational additional means of preventing child PMVCs.

Pedestrian overpass use and its relationships with digital and social distractions, and overpass characteristics

Pedestrian deaths and injuries are a major health issue in both developed and developing countries. In Vietnam, pedestrians account for about 10–11% of all road traffic deaths, while their travel distance contributes to approximately 2.4% of the total distance travelled by all modes. This paper aims to explore the use of pedestrian overpasses and identify influencing factors, particularly with regards to social and digital distractions, and overpass characteristics. An observational survey was conducted in Hanoi, Vietnam, in March 2017 at ten pedestrian overpasses. Behaviours of 608 pedestrians, including those who used an overpass to cross and those who illegally crossed, were observed. The rates of overpass usage varied significantly, between 35.9% and 96.5%. Modelling results suggest that pedestrians tended to compensate for the risks of illegal crossing by forming group and avoiding digital and social distractions (i.e., calling, operating a mobile phone’s screen, listening to music, or talking to other pedestrians while crossing). In addition, overpass usage decreased with taller overpasses, but increased with wider overpasses. Effects of gender, weather, and illegal crossing speed on overpass use were also discussed.

Factors with the Highest Impact on Road Traffic Deaths in Iran; an Ecological Study.

The largest proportion of road traffic deaths (RTDs)happen in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs). The efforts for decreasing RTDscan besuccessful ifthere isprecise information about its related risk factors. This studyaimedto determine economic, population, road, and vehicle factors with the highest impacts on RTDs in Iran. This is an ecological study, whichhas been doneusing covariatesincluding:the population density, economic growth, urbanization, distance traveled (km) in 100 thousand people, the length of urban roads, the length of rural roads and the Vehicle per 1000 population for each province of Iran in 2015. The covariates considered had been gathered from different sources and to determine which one of the covariates has an effect on RTDs, the Negative Binomial (NB) regression model was used. The mean number of RTDs per 100000 population was 474 ± 70.59 in 2015. The highest and lowest rates of deathbelongedto Fars and Qom provinces, respectively. The results of the univariate model showed the population density as the only covariate of RTDs (p=0.001). Also, among other covariates, GDP was the only variable with a p-value equal to 0.2. In the multivariate NB model, it was seen that the population density (p=0.001), and GDP (p=0.02) significantly correlated with RTDs. For a unit (Million Rial) increase in the GDP of the province, the number of deaths decreased by as much as 0.0014. In addition, for a unit increase in population density, the number of deaths went up by as much as 30. Population density and GDP had positive and negative effects on the number of fatal road traffic injuries, respectively. By considering these factors in presentational and controlling programs on road traffic injuries, it is possible to decrease the RTDs.

An Integrated Information System for Road Traffic Accidents

Road traffic accidents come at a high price: 1.25 million road traffic deaths occurred globally in 2013. As the road network and the environmental conditions contribute significantly in the cause of accidents, it is crucial to understand where and when they occur, in order to plan actions for road safety improvement. For this reason, the Region of the North Aegean, Greece, in collaboration with the University of the Aegean, has established a spatial database and a web-based geographic information system (webGIS) for the registration, storage, visualization and analysis of the traffic accidents occurred in its jurisdiction. In this article, besides the development and operation of the system, the authors present a spatio-temporal analysis of the data collected since 2004 for the island of Lesvos. Hot spots and risky periods were identified, leading to useful conclusions and directions for road safety improvements.