Article

Poverty as a determinant of young drivers' fatal crash risks

December 2009
Journal of Safety Research 40(6):443-8

DOI:10.1016/j.jsr.2009.10.001

Source
PubMed

Authors:

Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice

U.S. teenaged and young-adult drivers' elevated rates of fatal traffic crash involvement typically are attributed to biological and developmental risk-taking associated with young age. However, young drivers differ from older ones along several sociodemographic dimensions, including higher poverty rates and greater concentration in poorer areas, which may contribute to their risks. Using Fatality Analysis Reporting System, Census, and Federal Highway Administration data for 1994-2007, bivariate and multivariate regression analyses were conducted of fatal motor-vehicle crash involvements per 100 million miles driven by driver age (16 through 74) and state along with 14 driver-, vehicle-, and state-level variables. Driver age was not a significant predictor of fatal crash risk once several factors associated with high poverty status (more occupants per vehicle, smaller vehicle size, older vehicle age, lower state per-capita income, lower state population density, more motor-vehicle driving, and lower education levels) were controlled. These risk factors were significantly associated with each other and with higher crash involvement among adult drivers as well. SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION: The strong association between fatal crash risk and environments of poverty as operationalized by substandard vehicle and driving conditions suggests a major overlooked traffic safety factor particularly affecting young drivers.

Development of Traffic Safety Zones and Integrating Macroscopic and Microscopic Safety Data Analytics for Novel Hot Zone Identification

Thesis

Full-text available

Jan 2014

Jaeyoung Lee

Traffic safety has been considered one of the most important issues in the transportation field. With consistent efforts of transportation engineers, Federal, State and local government officials, both fatalities and fatality rates from road traffic crashes in the United States have steadily declined from 2006 to 2011.Nevertheless, fatalities from traffic crashes slightly increased in 2012 (NHTSA, 2013). We lost 33,561 lives from road traffic crashes in the year 2012, and the road traffic crashes are still one of the leading causes of deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In recent years, efforts to incorporate traffic safety into transportation planning has been made, which is termed as transportation safety planning (TSP). The Safe, Affordable, Flexible Efficient, Transportation Equity Act - A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), which is compliant with the United States Code, compels the United States Department of Transportation to consider traffic safety in the long-term transportation planning process. Although considerable macro-level studies have been conducted to facilitate the implementation of TSP, still there are critical limitations in macroscopic safety studies are required to be investigated and remedied. First, TAZ (Traffic Analysis Zone), which is most widely used in travel demand forecasting, has crucial shortcomings for macro-level safety modeling. Moreover, macro-level safety models have accuracy problem. The low prediction power of the model may be caused by crashes that occur near the boundaries of zones, high-level aggregation, and neglecting spatial autocorrelation. In this dissertation, several methodologies are proposed to alleviate these limitations in the macro-level safety research. TSAZ (Traffic Safety Analysis Zone) is developed as a new zonal system for the macroscopic safety analysis and nested structured modeling method is suggested to improve the model performance. Also, a multivariate statistical modeling method for multiple crash types is proposed in this dissertation. Besides, a novel screening methodology for integrating two levels is suggested. The integrated screening method is suggested to overcome shortcomings of zonal-level screening, since the zonal-level screening cannot take specific sites with high risks into consideration. It is expected that the integrated screening approach can provide a comprehensive perspective by balancing two aspects: macroscopic and microscopic approaches.

The effect of hazard awareness training on teen drivers of varying socioeconomic status

Article

Jul 2021

Objective To compare the effectiveness of the Risk Awareness and Perception Training (RAPT) program among teens of various socioeconomic status (SES). Methods A secondary analysis was undertaken of data collected from 5036 teen participants for a study in 2011. They were randomly assigned to either receive RAPT or a placebo training. The total number of crashes (property damage only and injury) within the first 12 months after licensure was recorded. A Poisson regression model was employed to investigate the effectiveness of RAPT in terms of crash frequency among teens in different levels of SES, as measured by SES level (high or low) or poverty rate. Results Poverty rate was significantly associated with participants’ crash frequency within the first 12 months after licensure such that when poverty rate increased, the crash frequency increased. The interacting effect of poverty rate and training was also significant. When compared to participants who did not receive RAPT, participants who received RAPT had fewer crashes when poverty rate increased. Conclusion The RAPT program attenuated the negative effect of teen drivers’ SES on crashes. No significant effect of sex or age was found, indicating that in terms of crashes, regardless of age or sex, RAPT is equally effective at reducing crashes for lower SES teens.

Analysis of residence characteristics of at-fault drivers in traffic crashes

Article

Jan 2014
SAFETY SCI

In recent years many studies have investigated traffic crashes with various contributing factors at the macroscopic level. Nevertheless, while previous studies have concentrated only on zones where the crash occurred, there have been few studies that focused on residence characteristics associated with the origin of the drivers causing traffic crashes, so called at-fault drivers. Intuitively, it is reasonable to assume that the number of at-fault drivers is related to socio-demographic features of the at-fault drivers' residence area. Thus, the main objective of this study is to find out the relationship between the number of at-fault drivers and zonal characteristics of the residence where at-fault drivers came from. The Bayesian Poisson-lognormal model was adopted to find out the contributing factors of the residence zones on the number of crashes based on the at-fault drivers. The findings from the study implied that the crash occurrence is not only affected by roadway/traffic factors but also by several demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of residence zones. The result from this study can be used to identify zones with a higher potential of at-fault drivers; thus we can concentrate on these zones for safety treatments, including more targeted awareness, education or stricter enforcement.

Analysis of residence characteristics of at-fault drivers in traffic crashes

Article

Mar 2014

Analysis of residence characteristics of at-fault drivers in traffic crashes

Article

Oct 2014
SAFETY SCI

Effect of Different Stop Sign Configurations on Driving Speed When Approaching a Rural Intersection at Night-Time

Chapter

Feb 2021

As part of the road network utilized by all road users, intersections are places of high complexity and conflict risks. Statistics show that 40–60% of all road accidents occur at intersections, while around 20% of them result in fatalities. The consequences of collisions at intersections are particularly severe on rural roads during night-time due to higher speeds than in urban areas and poor visibility. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate how enhanced-visibility stop signs (fluorescent signs) affect driving speed when approaching a rural intersection at night-time. The study was conducted using a driving simulator comprising a 6.61 km rural road with six intersections. The results show that additional stop signs influence driving behavior and encourage drivers to reduce speed when approaching a rural intersection at night. This particularly relates to signs with enhanced visibility (fluorescent signs). The results of the study could be useful for road engineers and authorities, especially in developing countries, to increase road safety at dangerous unsignalized rural intersections by implementing low-cost traffic control measures.

A state-of-the-art review of factors that predict mortality among traumatic injury patients following a road traffic crash

Article

Feb 2021

Background Traffic related injuries are a major public health problem worldwide with millions of people dying every year. The objective of this state-of-the-art review was to identify the factors reported in the literature as being associated with mortality for trauma patients following road traffic crashes. Method A systematic search was undertaken of PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases to identify articles published in the past two decades (2000–2020). Of 8257 records, 4507 remained for title, abstract and full text screening after duplicates were removed. The level of evidence of selected studies was assessed using The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) guideline. Results This review included eighty primary research studies examining mortality risk factors following a road traffic crash. The study identified factors in five categories; (i) demographic factors; (ii) behavioural factors; (iii) crash characteristics; (iv) environmental and timing factors; (v) injury severity and pre-injury/condition. The primary studies are summarised in a matrix. Included studies included level II to level IV levels of evidence based on the NHMRC criteria. Conclusion This study shows that there are a large number of factors associated with increased risk of mortality following diverse types of traffic crashes. Understanding these wide-ranging factors can strengthen injury and mortality prevention by guiding decision makers about where to focus strategy implementation.

Effect of Road Markings and Traffic Signs Presence on Young Driver Stress Level, Eye Movement and Behaviour in Night-Time Conditions: A Driving Simulator Study

Article

Full-text available

May 2020

The study investigates how the presence of traffic signalling elements (road markings and traffic signs) affects the behaviour of young drivers in night-time conditions. Statistics show that young drivers (≤ 30 years old) are often involved in road accidents, especially those that occur in night-time conditions. Among other factors, this is due to lack of experience, overestimation of their ability or the desire to prove themselves. A driving simulator scenario was developed for the purpose of the research and 32 young drivers took two runs using it: a) one containing no road markings and traffic signs and b) one containing road markings and traffic signs. In addition to the driving simulator, eye tracking glasses were used to track eye movement and an electrocardiograph was used to monitor the heart rate and to determine the level of stress during the runs. The results show statistically significant differences (dependent samples t-test) between the two runs concerning driving speed, lateral position of the vehicle, and visual scanning of the environment. The results prove that road markings and traffic signs provide the drivers with timely and relevant information related to the upcoming situation, thus enabling them to adjust their driving accordingly. The results are valuable to road authorities and provide an explicit confirmation of the importance of traffic signalling for the behaviour of young drivers in night-time conditions, and thus for the overall traffic safety.

Differences between males and females in the prediction of smartphone use while driving: Mindfulness and income

Article

Mar 2020
ACCIDENT ANAL PREV

Introduction This study examines the relationship between two variables–mindfulness and income–with regards to their relationship to the use of smartphones by young drivers, which has been known to increase the likelihood of car accidents, endangering young drivers and other road users. The study focuses on the relationship between these variables and the use of smartphones while driving, and how this relationship differs between males and females. Method The study sample included 221 young drivers who were legally permitted to drive without supervision. The subjects were first asked to complete questionnaires on mindfulness and income. Next, their smartphone use while driving was monitored over a one-month period. This study is unique as it used an objective smartphone monitoring application (rather than self-reporting) to count the number of times the young participants actually touched their smartphones while driving. Results The findings show that the effects of social and personal factors (i.e., income and mindfulness) on the use of smartphones while driving are significant for males but not for females. Conclusions Most studies that investigate differences between males and females with respect to safety focus on differences in the averages of safety-related variables (such as safety performance and outcomes). In the current study, however, we identified differences in relationships between variables and demonstrated that what predicts safety-related behavior in males may not be a good predictor for females. Practical applications Mindfulness and income can be used to identify male populations that are at risk of using smartphones while driving. Interventions that improve mindfulness can be used to reduce the use of smartphones by male drivers.

Developing crash modification functions to assess safety effects of adding bike lanes for urban arterials with different roadway and socio-economic characteristics

Article

Jan 2014
ACCIDENT ANAL PREV

Although many researchers have estimated crash modification factors (CMFs) for specific treatments (or countermeasures), there is a lack of studies that explored the heterogeneous effects of roadway characteristics on crash frequency among treated sites. Generally, the CMF estimated by before-after studies represents overall safety effects of the treatment in a fixed value. However, as each treated site has different roadway characteristics, there is a need to assess the variation of CMFs among the treated sites with different roadway characteristics through crash modification functions (CMFunctions). The main objective of this research is to determine relationships between the safety effects of adding a bike lane and the roadway characteristics through (1) evaluation of CMFs for adding a bike lane using observational before-after with empirical Bayes (EB) and cross-sectional methods, and (2) development of simple and full CMFunctions which are describe the CMF in a function of roadway characteristics of the sites. Data was collected for urban arterials in Florida, and the Florida-specific full SPFs were developed. Moreover, socioeconomic parameters were collected and included in CMFunctions and SPFs (1) to capture the effects of the variables that represent volume of bicyclists and (2) to identify general relationship between the CMFs and these characteristics. In order to achieve better performance of CMFunctions, data mining techniques were used. The results of both before-after and cross-sectional methods show that adding a bike lane on urban arterials has positive safety effects (i.e., CMF < 1) for all crashes and bike crashes. It was found that adding a bike lane is more effective in reducing bike crashes than all crashes. It was also found that the CMFs vary across the sites with different roadway characteristics. In particular, annual average daily traffic (AADT), number of lanes, AADT per lane, median width, bike lane width, and lane width are significant characteristics that affect the variation in safety effects of adding a bike lane. Some socioeconomic characteristics such as bike commuter rate and population density also have significant effect on the variation in CMFs. The findings suggest that full CMFunctions showed better model fit than simple CMFuncttions since they account for the heterogeneous effects of multiple roadway and socioeconomic characteristics. The proposed CMFunctions provide insights into bike lane design and selection of sites for bike lane installation for reducing crashes. ã

How far from home do crashes occur? A network based analysis

Article

Oct 2019
SAFETY SCI

This paper investigates the proximity of crashes to the residential locations of the crash occupants. To this end, two years of crash data was disaggregated by the crash occupants' ZIP codes for a study area in Southwest Florida in order to calculate the roadway network distances between their residential ZIP code area centroids (origins) and crash spots (destinations). These distances are then used to create multiple O-D vectors, so that several different groups can be analyzed controlling for non-motorist types (e.g. pedestrians, cyclists), rural vs. urban origin ZIP codes, different levels of crash severity, DUI involvement, and different age groups. Then, the best-fitting statistical distributions were identified for each group to assess the proximity of crash spots to the residences of crash occupants. Finally, a selection model was implemented to identify the effects of several factors on the distance between the crash spots and the residence locations. Results indicate clear differences in crash involvement among the groups with respect to varying urban densities, people's ages and modes of travel. These findings can help in the development of more accurate crash prediction methods, as most current approaches only implement variables associated with traffic and roadway geometry.

Developments in driver’s licence holding among young people

Technical Report

Full-text available

Jan 2014

Developments in driver's licence holding among young people. Potential explanations, implications and trends

Technical Report

Full-text available

Jan 2014

Who's Not Driving among U.S. High School Seniors: A Closer Look at Race/ethnicity, Socioeconomic Factors and Driving Status

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2016
Traffic Inj Prev

Objectives: We examined associations among race/ethnicity, socioeconomic factors and driving status in a nationally representative sample of >26,000 U.S. high school seniors. Methods: Weighted data from the 2012 and 2013 Monitoring the Future surveys were combined and analyzed. We imputed missing values using fully conditional specification multiple imputation methods. Multivariate logistic regression modeling was conducted to explore associations among race/ethnicity, socioeconomic factors and driving status, while accounting for selected student behaviors and location. Lastly, odds ratios were converted to prevalence ratios. Results: Twenty-three percent of high school seniors did not drive during an average week; 14% of white students were non-drivers compared with 40% of black students. Multivariate analysis revealed that minority students were 1.8 to 2.5 times more likely to be non-drivers than their white counterparts, and students who had no earned income were 2.8 times more likely to be non-drivers than those earning an average of ≥$36 a week. Driving status also varied considerably by student academic performance, number of parents in the household, parental education, census region and urbanicity. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that resources-both financial and time-influence when or if a teen will learn to drive. Many young people from minority or lower socioeconomic families who learn to drive may be doing so after their 18(th) birthday and, therefore, would not take advantage of the safety benefits provided by graduated driver licensing. Innovative approaches may be needed to improve safety for these young novice drivers.

Developing crash modification functions to assess safety effects of adding bike lanes for urban arterials with different roadway and socio-economic characteristics

Article

Nov 2014
ACCIDENT ANAL PREV

Factors Contributing to Crashes among Young Drivers

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2014

Young drivers are the group of drivers most likely to crash. There are a number of factors that contribute to the high crash risk experienced by these drivers. While some of these factors are intrinsic to the young driver, such as their age, gender or driving skill, others relate to social factors and when and how often they drive. This article reviews the factors that affect the risk of young drivers crashing to enable a fuller understanding of why this risk is so high in order to assist in developing effective countermeasures.

Socioeconomic inequalities in premature mortality in Colombia, 1998-2007: The double burden of non-communicable diseases and injuries

Article

Mar 2014
PREV MED

Applying a Home-Based Approach to the Understanding Distribution of Economic Impacts of Traffic Crashes

Article

Oct 2020
TRANSPORT RES REC

The current practice of road safety attributes traffic crash costs to the location of traffic crashes. Therefore it is challenging to estimate the economic cost of traffic crashes and individuals who are more prone to the burden of traffic crashes. To address this limitation, this study used the home address of individuals who were involved in traffic crashes in the Knoxville Regional Travel Model (KRTM) region between 2015 and 2016. After geocoding the home addresses, 110,312 individuals were assigned to the Traffic Analysis Zone (TAZ) corresponding to their home address and the economic cost of traffic crashes per capita (ECCPC) was calculated for each TAZ. The average ECCPC in the study area was $1,250. The KRTM output was used for extracting travel behavior data elements for modeling ECCPC at the zonal level. This study also established an index to measure average zonal activity in the transportation system for each TAZ. Analysis indicates that the burden of traffic crashes was more tangible in the TAZs with lower-income households and higher average zonal activities. To account for spatial autocorrelation, a Spatial Autoregressive model (SAR) and a spatial error model (SEM) were used. The SAR model was more suitable compared with SEM and ordinary least squares regression. Findings indicate that average zonal activity and traffic exposure have a significant positive association with ECCPC. The ECCPC could be used as an index for allocating proper countermeasures and interventions to groups and areas where the burden of traffic crashes is more tangible.

Road traffic crash characteristics of drivers who take prescription medicines that carry a risk to driving

Article

Sep 2020
INT J DRUG POLICY

Background The specific features of crashes involving an alcohol-intoxicated driver have been extensively characterized, but no such data are available for crashes involving a driver who has used a prescription medicine, which could help to plan and target prevention and control initiatives. This study aimed to describe the characteristics of crashes involving drivers under the influence of prescription medicines. Methods We took advantage of CESIR, a French record linkage study for which data were extracted and matched from three French national databases: police reports, the national police database of injurious crashes and the national health care insurance database (HCI database). The drivers included in the study were those involved in an injurious road crash in France from July 1, 2005 to December 31, 2015, whose national identity number, date of birth and sex allowed matching. Prescription medicines considered were those with the two highest levels of warning. Results Similar crash profiles were found when drivers used alcohol or medicines, particularly with respect to injury severity, type of vehicle, type of collision, type of road and cross-track profile. Alcohol-related crashes were over-represented during weekends and in low-density areas and medicine-related crashes were over-represented during weekdays and in cities of fewer than 300 000 inhabitants. While a much higher strength of association with responsibility was found for alcohol than for medicines, the proportion of crashes with drivers using medicines was twice as high as crashes with drivers using alcohol. Conclusion The lower risk carried by medicines is therefore in part compensated by a higher prevalence of use, making medicines one of the hidden factors of road risk. Characterizing these crashes will therefore be useful to better focus road safety intervention on the prevention of driving under the influence of psychotropic medicines.

Effect of Socioeconomic Factors on Crash Occurrence

Technical Report

Full-text available

Jun 2020

Road traffic crashes are a leading cause of death in the United States. In Kentucky, per capita crash rates and crash-related fatalities have outpaced the national average for over a decade. Wanting to explain why the U.S. Southeast sees higher crash rates than other regions, researchers have argued the region’s unique socioeconomic conditions provide a compelling explanation. Taking this observation as a starting point, this study examined the relationship between highway safety and socioeconomic characteristics using an extensive crash dataset from Kentucky. This research sought to identify at-risk drivers based on the socioeconomic and demographic attributes of the zip codes in which they reside. Using the quasi-induced exposure approach, binary logistic regression was used to develop predictions of driver at-fault probability based on socioeconomic characteristics of their residence zip code. Statistical analysis found that variables such as income, education level, poverty level, employment, age, gender, rurality, and number of traffic-related convictions of a driver’s zip code influence the likelihood of their being at fault in a crash. This finding can be used to identify groups of drivers most likely to be involved in crashes and develop targeted and efficient safety programs. Spatial analysis did not uncover robust correlations between county-level socioeconomic characteristics and at-fault driver involvement across the state. The results can be used to identify target groups for safety improvements and aid in the Kentucky Safety Circuit Rider Program activities.

Effect of Socioeconomic and Demographic Factors of Driver Residence on Crash Occurrence

Thesis

Full-text available

May 2020

Shraddha Sagar

In the U.S., road traffic crashes are a leading cause of death. Crash data from the state of Kentucky shows that the per capita crash rates and crash-related fatalities were higher than the national average for over a decade. In effort to explain why the U.S. Southeast experiences higher crash rates than other regions of the country, previous research has argued the region’s unique socioeconomic provide a compelling explanation. Taking this observation as a starting point, this study examines the relationship between highway safety and socioeconomic characteristics using an extensive crash dataset from Kentucky. The primary goal of this research is to define the at-risk group of drivers based on the socioeconomic and demographic attributes of the zip codes in which drivers reside. This study utilizes crashes that occurred in Kentucky during the period 2013-2016. The quasi-induced exposure technique used assumes that the not-at-fault drivers represent the total population in question and the crash rate measure of exposure is developed in terms of the relative accident involvement ratio (RAIR), which is the ratio of the percentage of at-fault drivers to the percentage of not-at-fault drivers from the same subgroup. With fault status, dichotomous in nature, being the response variable, binary logistic regression is used, which is beneficial when the effects of more than one explanatory variable are examined. The final prediction model estimates the probability of the fault status of the driver based on multiple independent variables. Logistic regression models are developed to predict the occurrence of single- and two-unit crashes based on socioeconomic variables. The models for single- and two-unit crashes are quite similar to each other. The results indicate that variables such as driver age-group and gender, rurality, poverty level, average conviction, and driver population density of the area are associated with a driver’s likelihood to be involved in a crash. Educational attainment is observed to have an impact only on single-unit crash occurrence. Finally, it is concluded that younger and older drivers residing in zip codes with low socioeconomic conditions have a higher likelihood of causing a crash for both single- and two-unit crashes: agreeing with prior research findings and maintaining the typical U-shape curve of crash involvement. Males have higher at-risk probability in their younger ages than females, while females perform better at their young ages when compared to males. The findings of this research thus identify at-risk groups of drivers who are most likely to be involved in crashes, and potential safety measures are recommended to control the risk of these targeted groups.

Risk factors of deaths related to road traffic crashes in World Health Organization regions: A systematic review

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2019

Background: Identification of risk factors involved in road traffic deaths (RTDs) could help policymakers and road traffic managers to adopt effective strategies and approaches for the prevention and control of these incidents, while the lack of accurate data on the risk factors of RTDs causes the problem to persist. This systematic review aimed at assessing the national studies regarding the risk factors of RTDs in the regions covered by the World Health Organization (WHO). Methods: This review study was conducted during 2008–2018 via searching in databases of PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, Cochrane, Thomson Reuters, Web of Science, EMBASE, ProQuest, and Trip databases. Initially, a literature review was performed to find similar systematic reviews, followed by another literature review to retrieve the published or registered protocols. At the next stage, PECOTS was developed for the search strategy, followed by the quality assessment. The eligibility criteria in this study were the national-level studies about the risk factors related to RTDs, English-language studies, and studies published during 2008–2018. Results: In total, 169 articles were included in this study, with the highest and lowest number of the published articles in the United States and African countries, respectively. According to the reviewed studies, human factors accounted for the most common risk factors involved in RTDs. In the southeastern regions of Asia, the main road-related risk factor for RTDs was reported to be the type of roads. Furthermore, roadside departure to the right side and long roads were denoted in the national data of the Western Pacific region on the incidence of RTDs. Differences were observed between the six regions covered by the WHO in terms of the time-related risk factors for RTDs. Conclusions: Several risk factors have been reported for RTDs in the countries covered by the WHO, and each risk factor is considered to have various subcategories. Therefore, it could be concluded that there are different epidemiological patterns for road traffic accidents and RTDs.

A geographically weighted regression to estimate the comprehensive cost of traffic crashes at a zonal level

Preprint

Full-text available

Oct 2019
ACCIDENT ANAL PREV

Global road safety records demonstrate spatial variation of comprehensive cost of traffic crashes across countries. To the best of our knowledge, no study has explored the variation of this matter at a local geographical level. This study proposes a method to estimate the comprehensive crash cost at the zonal level by using person-injury cost. The current metric of road safety attributes safety to the location of the crash, which makes it challenging to assign the crash cost to home-location of the individuals who were involved in traffic crashes. To overcome this limitation, we defined Home-Based Approach crash frequency as the expected number of crashes by severity that road users who live in a certain geographic area have during a specified period. Using crash data from Tennessee, we assign those involved in traffic crashes to the census tract corresponding to their home address. The average Comprehensive Crash Cost at the Zonal Level (CCCAZ) for the period of the study was $18.2 million (2018 dollars). Poisson and Geographically Weighted Poisson Regression (GWPR) models were used to analyzing the data. The GWPR model was more suitable compared to the global model to address spatial heterogeneity. Findings indicate population of people over 60-years-old, the proportion of residents that use non-motorized transportation, household income, population density, household size, and metropolitan indicator have a negative association with CCCAZ. Alternatively, VMT, vehicle per capita, percent educated over 25-year-old, population under 16-year-old, and proportion of non-white races and individuals who use a motorcycle as their commute mode have a positive association with CCCAZ. Findings are discussed in line with road safety literature.

Socioeconomic Characteristics and Crash Injury Exposure: A Case Study in Florida Using Two-Step Floating Catchment Area Method

Article

Oct 2017
APPL GEOGR

MEASURING THE ASSOCIATION OF SOCIOECONOMIC NEIGHBOURHOOD CHARACTERISTICS WITH TRAFFIC SAFETY PERFORMANCE

Conference Paper

Full-text available

May 2016

Increasing evidence suggests that neighborhood-based measures of socioeconomic status are correlated with traffic injury. The main objective of this study is to determine the differences in associations between predictive variables and injury crashes (i.e. including injury and fatal crashes). To this end, crash data, socio-demographic, socioeconomic characteristics and road network variables are collected at the neighborhood-level and categorized by different genders and transport mode; " car driver " , " car passenger " and " vulnerable road users " (i.e. pedestrians and cyclists). In this study an activity-based transportation model called FEATHERS (Forecasting Evolutionary Activity-Travel of Households and their Environmental RepercussionS) is utilized to produce exposure measures. Exposure measures are in the form of production/attraction trips for several traffic analysis zones (TAZ) in Flanders, Belgium. Analyzing crashes at a neighborhood-level provides important information that enables us to compare traffic safety of different neighborhoods. This information is used to identify safety problems in specific zones and consequently, implementing safety interventions to improve the traffic safety condition. This can be carried out by associating casualty counts with a number of factors (i.e. developing crash prediction models) which have macro-level characteristics, such as socio-demographic and network level exposure. The results indicate that socioeconomic variables are differently associated with casualties of different travel modes and genders. For instance, income level of residence of a TAZ is a significant predictor of male car driver injury crashes while it doesn't significantly contribute to the prediction of female car driver injury crashes.

Trends in Socioeconomic Inequalities in Motor Vehicle Accident Deaths in the United States, 1995-2010

Article

Sep 2015

Motor vehicle accident (MVA) mortality has been declining overall, but little is known about trends by socioeconomic position. We examined trends in education-related inequalities in US MVA death rates from 1995 to 2010. We used mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics and population estimates from the Current Population Survey, and we calculated vehicle- and person-miles traveled using data from the National Household Travel Survey. We used negative binomial regression to estimate crude and age-, sex-, and race-adjusted mortality rates among adults aged 25 years or more. We found larger mortality decreases among the more highly educated and some evidence of mortality increases among the least educated. Adjusted death rates were 15.3 per 100,000 population (95% confidence interval (CI): 10.7, 19.9) higher at the bottom of the education distribution than at the top of the education distribution in 1995, increasing to 17.9 per 100,000 population (95% CI: 14.8, 21.0) by 2010. In relative terms, adjusted death rates were 2.4 (95% CI: 1.7, 3.0) times higher at the bottom of the education distribution than at the top in 1995, increasing to 4.3 times higher (95% CI: 3.4, 5.3) by 2010. Inequality increases were larger in terms of vehicle-miles traveled. Although overall MVA death rates declined during this period, socioeconomic differences in MVA mortality have persisted or worsened over time.

Age, Poverty, Homicide, and Gun Homicide: Is Young Age or Poverty Level the Key Issue?

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2015

Mike Males

Traditional theories of “adolescent risk taking” have not been validated against recent research indicating that youthful traffic crash, violent crime, felony crime, and firearms mortality rates reflect young people’s low-socio-economic status (SES) compared with older adults’, not young age. Aside from a small number of recent, conflicting studies, the literature gap on this key issue remains. The present study examines the 54,094 homicide deaths, including 41,123 gun homicides, victimizing California residents ages 15 to 69 during 1991 to 2012 by poverty status. Without controlling for poverty, homicide rates display the traditional age-curve peaking at 19, then declining. When poverty is controlled, the traditional age-curve persists only for high-poverty populations, in which young people are vastly over-represented, and homicide rates are elevated for all ages. This finding reiterates that “adolescent risk taking” may be an artifact of failing to control for age-divergent SES.

Teenagers’ High Arrest Rates

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2013
J ADOLESCENT RES

The association of more crime with youthful age is widely accepted in social science. However, a literature search revealed no studies of the age-crime relationship that controlled for young ages' economic disadvantage. This research gap is addressed using the California Criminal Justice Statistics Center's arrest detail and Census poverty statistics for 2010. When poverty rates were controlled, younger and older ages' violence disparities largely disappeared. Where teenagers and emerging adults display typical middle-aged demographics (two thirds non-Latino, White, or Asian, poverty levels under 10%), they display middle-aged violent crime rates; where ages 40 to 69 have typical teenage demographics (54% Black or Latino, 17% in poverty), they display teenaged violent crime levels. These findings challenge conventional theories associating violence with young age.

Development of adjustment functions to assess combined safety effects of multiple treatments on rural two-lane roadways

Article

Feb 2015
ACCIDENT ANAL PREV

Bicycle Helmet Laws Are Associated with a Lower Fatality Rate from Bicycle-Motor Vehicle Collisions

Article

Full-text available

May 2013

Objective: To assess the association between bicycle helmet legislation and bicycle-related deaths sustained by children involved in bicycle-motor vehicle collisions. Study design: We conducted a cross-sectional study of all bicyclists aged 0-16 years included in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System who died between January 1999 and December 2010. We compared fatality rates in age-specific state populations between states with helmet laws and those without helmet laws. We used a clustered Poisson multivariate regression model to adjust for factors previously associated with rates of motor vehicle fatalities: elderly driver licensure laws, legal blood alcohol limit (<0.08% vs ≥ 0.08%), and household income. Results: A total of 1612 bicycle-related fatalities sustained by children aged <16 years were evaluated. There were no statistically significant differences in median household income, the proportion of states with elderly licensure laws, or the proportion of states with a blood alcohol limit of >0.08% between states with helmet laws and those without helmet laws. The mean unadjusted fatality rate was lower in states with helmet laws (2.0/1,000,000 vs 2.5/1,000,000; P = .03). After adjusting for potential confounding factors, lower fatality rates persisted in states with mandatory helmet laws (adjusted incidence rate ratio, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.70-0.98). Conclusion: Bicycle helmet safety laws are associated with a lower incidence of fatalities in child cyclists involved in bicycle-motor vehicle collisions.

Contextual deprivation, daily travel and road traffic injuries among the young in the Rhone Departement (France)

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2011

This study investigated the effect of the socioeconomic level of the municipality of residence on personal injury road traffic accident risk among young persons of 10-24 years of age in the Rhône Département. This effect was assessed by comparing incidences of injuries (n=2792 casualties) on the basis of three denominators: the resident population of young people, the number of users of each mode and the distances covered by each mode. The results are presented for each type of road users (pedestrians, car passengers, car drivers, motorised two-wheeler riders, cyclists, public transport users). Young persons from deprived municipalities use motorised-two wheelers, bicycles and the car (as passengers and drivers) less frequently, they walk more and take public transports more often than those from other municipalities. When considering injury risk, motorised two wheeler injuries among adolescent males, for example, are significantly less frequent in deprived municipalities. But the motorised two-wheeler riders as well as car passengers from deprived municipalities are characterized by an excess injury risk, whether the selected denominator is the number of users or the kilometres travelled by this mode. For the first time in France, this study has enabled a comparison of the effects of a contextual socioeconomic indicator (the type of municipality of residence, deprived, or not) on daily travel practices and injury incidences among the population, among the users of each mode and per km of travel.

Differential Effects of Ridesharing on the Reduction of Drunk Driving Fatalities

Article

Jan 2022

County-level crash prediction models for Pennsylvania accounting for income characteristics

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2022

The majority of current safety prediction models utilize roadway and traffic data as independent variables to describe safety performance at a microscopic level. Recent work moves toward predicting these measures within some region as a function of roadway and traffic data, as well as non-traditional variables, such as socioeconomic measures. This paper aims to provide a holistic view of the intersection of socioeconomics and safety in Pennsylvania by investigating possible relationships between wealth and various aspects of safety performance, including crash frequency, severity, and cost. The analyses presented in this paper serve as case studies with intentions to promote the development of more robust, wealth-inclusive safety analyses in the future. The study reveals relationships between socioeconomic-related measures and crash frequency, severity, and cost estimations. These relationships indicate counties with increased levels of socioeconomic distress (quantified by multiple socioeconomic-related variables) are estimated to experience more crashes – particularly related to alcohol usage – and higher total crash costs, and crashes that occur in counties with increased levels of socioeconomic distress are estimated to be more likely to result in an increased injury severity level compared to crashes that occur elsewhere. These results support previous work and expand on that work by considering multiple socioeconomic-related variables and their impacts on three unique safety-related measures. The existence of a relationship between crash frequency, severity, and cost and wealth-related variables opens the door to further exploration of including wealth in traditional safety analyses. This paper discusses these relationships and offers recommendations for future work.

Evaluating the FRSC's "Don't Drink and Drive" Media Campaign in South-east, Nigeria: Effects on Motorists' Exposure and Compliance Levels

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2021

Background Several campaigns on road traffic accidents have been launched by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) of Nigeria in collaboration with the Beer Sectoral Group (BSG). One such campaign is the "Don't Drink and Drive" intervention launched in 2008. This intervention was initiated to discourage drunk-driving and to improve safety on Nigerian roads through awareness creation. While it is a fact that the the combined enforcement and public education roles of the stakeholders has enormous potentials to tackle drunk driving problems, indigenous empirical evaluation on drivers' exposure and compliance to such DDD messages is scanty. This paper therefore examined motorists' exposure to FRSC's "Don't Drink and Drive" media campaign in South-east, Nigeria and its effects on their compliance levels. Methods A descriptive survey was used to elicit information from 360 registered commercial and private drivers in three selected states (Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu) in South-eastern region of Nigeria. A multistage sampling approach was adopted in the study. Specifically, a combination of simple random sampling techniques and a purposive sampling procedure was adopted to access respondents across the region under study. Participants volunteered to complete paper version of the questionnaire at their convenience. An independent-samples t-test, a one-way between-groups analysis of variance (ANOVA) and a chi-square test for odd ratio (OR) and relative risks (RR) were performed to test the variables of interests in the study. Results Among other findings, data revealed that in terms of the participants' level of exposure to the DDD campaign, significant differences were observed in age, education, income and number of years spent driving. We also found that drivers' agreement level of the contents of the DDD campaigns was appreciable. Results particularly suggest that the DDD campaigns had a significant impact on drivers' likelihood of avoiding alcohol when driving, reducing alcohol intake at other times and educating others on the danger of drunk driving. Conclusion We conclude that the DDD campaigns might be more effective when policy designers and interventionists concerned with road safety begin to focus on the differences in the demographic characteristics of the drivers. Nonetheless, we advised that the intervention should continue alongside the use of legal back-up (i.e., by imposing some sanctions on drunk drivers) for optimal performance, while campaign efforts should factor in the roles of multiple variables that have been raised in this study.

Effect of Socioeconomic Factors on Kentucky Truck Driver Crashes

Technical Report

Full-text available

Jun 2020

Kentucky crash data for the 2015-2016 period reveal that per capita crash rates and increases in crash-related fatalities in the state outpaced the national average. To explain why the U.S. Southeast sees higher crash rates than other regions of the country, previous research has argued the region’s unique socioeconomic conditions provide a compelling explanation. Taking this observation as a starting point, this study uses an extensive crash dataset from Kentucky to examine the relationship between highway safety and socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. Its focus is single- and two-unit crashes that involve commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) and automobiles. Using binary logistic regression and the quasi-induced exposure technique to analyze data on the socioeconomic and demographic attributes of the zip codes in which drivers reside, factors are identified which can serve as indicators of crash occurrence. Variables such as income, education level, poverty level, employment, age, gender, and rurality of the driver’s zip code influence the likelihood of a driver being at fault in a crash. Socioeconomic factors exert a similar influence on CMV and automobile crashes, irrespective of the number of vehicles involved. Research findings can be used to identify groups of drivers most likely to be involved in crashes and develop targeted and efficient safety programs.

A Bayesian vector autoregression-based data analytics approach to enable irregularly-spaced mixed-frequency traffic collision data imputation with missing values

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2019
TRANSPORT RES C-EMER

Traffic collision data are always collected in irregularly spaced and mixed frequency. Conventional treatment on these kinds of data, for instance, aggregating the high-frequency data into the lower frequency, can lead to the loss of relevant information of high-frequency data, and introduce potential temporal instabilities. A novel Bayesian vector autoregression approach is proposed to address this problem. An unevenly-spaced traffic collision data with missing values, containing all collisions in different severities that occurred on the state highways in Washington State from January 2006 to December 2016, is selected in this study the impacts of transportation-, weather- and socioeconomic-related characteristics on traffic collisions. A Gibbs sampler is used to conduct Bayesian inference for model parameters and unobserved high-frequency variables. Results show that the model has a fairly superior fit accuracy, and is able to capture the unobserved heterogeneity in the dataset. The proposed VAR also demonstrates better performance than other missing value imputation techniques, including linear regression, predictive mean matching, k-nearest neighbors, and random forests. This study provides potential in the guidance of model construction that considers the mixed-time-series nature of data.

Road conditionality and personality: An exploratory study among young male and female French drivers

Article

May 2019

In France, as in other countries, young drivers have a higher risk of being killed on the road than other drivers. Because several sociodemographic variables must be taken into account, these are tested here through specific approaches. The theory of conditionality postulates that norms are essentially conditional and in the field of traffic a specific tool has been devised to measure legitimate transgressions of the Highway Code. As for the concept of Locus of Control developed from social learning theories, it makes it possible to measure a personality trait. In this exploratory study, 21 young male and 29 young female drivers filled out both tools. Comparisons dealt with gender, age and level of education for these two types of measures. The results confirm the presumed differences overall, the discussion bearing on the results observed with regard to the literature.

Socioeconomic and sociodemographic inequalities and their association with road traffic injuries

Article

Dec 2016

Increasing evidence suggests that neighborhood-based measures of socioeconomic status are correlated with traffic injury. The main objective of this study is to determine the differences in associations between predictive variables and injury crashes (i.e. including injury and fatal crashes). This study makes a novel contribution by establishing the association between traffic casualties and socio-demographic, socioeconomic characteristics, traffic exposure data and road network variables, at the neighborhood-level while categorized by different genders and transport mode; ‘car driver’, ‘car passenger’ and ‘active mode users’ (i.e. pedestrians and cyclists). In this study an activity-based transportation model called FEATHERS (Forecasting Evolutionary Activity-Travel of Households and their Environmental RepercussionS) is utilized to produce exposure measures. Exposure measures are in the form of production/attraction trips for several traffic analysis zones (TAZ) in Flanders, Belgium. Analyzing crashes at a neighborhood-level provides important information that enables us to compare traffic safety of different neighborhoods. This information is used to identify safety problems in specific zones and consequently, implementing safety interventions to improve the traffic safety condition. This can be carried out by associating casualty counts with a number of factors (i.e. developing crash prediction models) which have macro-level characteristics, such as socio-demographic and network level exposure. The results indicate that socioeconomic variables are differently associated with casualties of different travel modes and genders. For instance, income level of residence of a TAZ is a significant predictor of male car driver injury crashes while it does not significantly contribute to the prediction of female car driver injury crashes.

Association between trauma and socioeconomic deprivation: A registry-based, Scotland-wide retrospective cohort study of 9,238 patients

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2016

Background: Trauma remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the UK and throughout the world. Socioeconomic deprivation has been linked with many types of ill-health and previous studies have shown an association with injury in other parts of the world. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between socioeconomic deprivation and trauma incidence and case-fatality in Scotland. Methods: The study included nine thousand two hundred and thirty eight patients attending Emergency Departments following trauma across Scotland in 2011-12. A retrospective cohort study was conducted using secondary data extracted from the national trauma registry. Postcode of residence was used to generate deciles using the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. The incidence rate ratio (IRR) was calculated to allow comparison of incidence of trauma across SIMD deciles. For mortality, observed: expected ratios were obtained using observed mortality in the cohort and expected deaths using probability of survival based on Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS) method. Results: Compared with the most deprived decile, the least deprived had an incidence rate ratio (IRR) for all trauma of 0.43 (95 % CI 0.32-0.58, p < 0.001). The association was stronger for penetrating trauma (IRR 0.07, 95 % CI .01-0.56, p = 0.011). There was a significant interaction between age, gender and SIMD. For case fatality, multivariate logistic regression showed that, severity of trauma (ISS > 15) OR 18.11 (95 % CI 13.91 to 23.58) and type of injury (Penetrating versus blunt injury) OR 2.07 (95 % CI 1.15 to 3.72) remain as independent predictors of case fatality in this dataset. Discussion: Our data shows a higher incidence of trauma amongst a socioeconomically deprived population, in keeping with other areas of the world. In our dataset, outcome, as measured by in-hospital mortality, does not appear to be associated with socioeconomic deprivation. Conclusion: In Scotland, populations living in socioeconomically deprived areas have a higher incidence of trauma, especially penetrating trauma, requiring hospital attendance. Case fatality is associated with more severe trauma and penetrating trauma, but not socioeconomic deprivation.

Multilevel Analysis on Factors Influencing Death and Transfer in Inpatient with Severe Injury

Article

Sep 2013

Background: This study was conducted to evaluate the individual and community level factors which were influencing the severe injury patients' death and transfer at discharge. Methods: Analysis data is based on Korean National Hospital Discharge In-depth Survey Data released by the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention from 2006 to 2008. Study subjects was 11,026 inpatients with of severe injury. For multi-level analysis, socio-demographic characteristics, injury related characteristics, hospitalization related characteristics were used as individual level factors, and socio-environmental characteristics and health care resource characteristics were used as community level factors. Results: As to community level factors affecting mortality of severe injury, the possibility of death was also high in cases of less numbers of surgeons per a population of 100,000 and more number of operation beds. As to community level factors affecting transfer of severe injury, vulnerable areas with higher social deprivation index and low population density had higher possibility of transfer. Conclusion: Both individual level factors and community level factors affected clinical outcomes of treatment for severe injury. In particular, since there happened higher death and transfer of severe injury in socioeconomic and medical vulnerable areas, special efforts for establishing preventive policy and care system for injury in national and area level should be directed toward such areas.

Keep on cruising: Changes in lifestyle and driving style among male drivers between the age of 18 and 23

Article

Sep 2013

Despite recent improvements in general road safety levels, young male drivers in most western countries continue to be overrepresented in road traffic accidents. Lifestyle related motivational factors are a key element in the young male driver problem. Based on 379 posted questionnaires completed by the same male drivers at the age of 18 and again at the age of 23, this study examined changes in the relationship between lifestyle and driving style over a 5 year period. A number of changes in car use, driving style and engagement in different leisure time activities were found. Cruising was related to an extrovert social life as well as problem behaviours such as drink driving. At the age of 18 cruising was a part of the normal social life of the majority of the participants. However, while most drivers reduced their level of cruising as well as related problem behaviour over time, a smaller group still showed a similar life style at the age of 23. The study confirmed the importance of lifestyle related motivational factors for driving behaviour among young drivers.

Adolescent Rationality

Article

Jul 2013
ADV CHILD DEV BEHAV

David Moshman

Adolescents are commonly seen as irrational, a position supported to varying degrees by many developmentalists, who often appeal to recent research on adolescent brains. Careful review of relevant evidence, however, shows that (1) adults are less rational than is generally assumed, (2) adolescents (and adults) are categorically different from children with respect to the attainment of advanced levels of rationality and psychological functioning, and (3) adolescents and adults do not differ categorically from each other with respect to any rational competencies, irrational tendencies, brain structures, or neurological functioning. Development often continues in adolescence and beyond but categorical claims about adolescents as distinct from adults cannot be justified. A review of U.S. Supreme Court decisions concerning intellectual freedom, reproductive freedom, and criminal responsibility shows ongoing ambivalence and confusion about the rationality of adolescents. Developmental theory and research suggest that adolescents should be conceptualized as young adults, not immature brains, with important implications for their roles, rights, and responsibilities.

Is Jumping Off the Roof Always a Bad Idea? A Rejoinder on Risk Taking and the Adolescent Brain

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2010
J ADOLESCENT RES

Mike Males

Three respondents provide cogent commentary on the author’s first article, “Does the Adolescent Brain Make Risk Taking Inevitable? A Skeptical Appraisal.” Two respondent papers argue that the author mischaracterized valid and useful developmental and biological arguments affirming adolescents’ singular risk propensities; the third response raises innovative biological perspectives suggesting unique adolescent brain abilities that strongly challenge current developmental discourse. In his rejoinder to the three respondents, the author presents new statistical and biological data to argue that current adolescent-risk theories will not survive rigorous, age-comparative socioeconomic analyses, objective inventories of cognitive capacities across the life span, and long overdue concession that grown-up outcomes show “risk taking” is not just (or even mainly) an adolescent event.

Inégalités socio-spatiales de risque routier à l'adolescence

Technical Report

Full-text available

Jan 2011

Ce 4ème rapport traite des effets du niveau socio-économique du lieu de résidence sur le risque d'accidents routiers avant 25 ans, et tout particulièrement chez les 14-17 ans. Les analyses ont été menées essentiellement par Idlir Licaj dans le cadre de sa thèse en épidémiologie, en lien étroit avec le projet Isomerr-Jeunes. Après un bref exposé des données utilisées - registre médical Arvac des accidents corporels de la route du Rhône et enquête ménages déplacements lyonnaise 2005-06 -, les taux d'accidents routiers des garçons et des filles, total et désagrégés par mode de transport, sont analysés en deux temps à l'aide de régressions logistiques : i) en les rapportant à la population résidente (nombre d'accidents annuels / 100 000 habitants de chaque catégorie d'âge/sexe). Les risques à scooter, mobylette ou moto, d'une part, et selon les autres modes (vélo, marche à pied, voiture, rollers-planches) d'autre part, ne sont pas identiquement répartis au plan territorial. Les deux-roues motorisés se révèlent, à l'inverse des autres modes, moins générateurs de risque dans les communes défavorisées. Des analyses sur les 14-17 ans précisent le diagnostic, tout comme la distinction des accidents selon leur gravité, et l'analyse du lieu d'accident en fonction du domicile. ii) en les rapportant à l'exposition au risque (nombre d'usagers de chaque mode, distances par mode de déplacement). Ces indicateurs mettent en évidence des risques " unitaires " d'accidents à deux-roues motorisé et en voiture sensiblement différents de ceux obtenus à partir des taux d'incidences bruts. En particulier, les rapports de risque concernant le deux-roues motorisé entre les deux types socio-économiques de zones s'inversent lorsque l'on prend en compte le fait que ce mode est nettement moins utilisé dans les zones avec ZUS, vraisemblablement pour des raisons économiques. Ces résultats montrent l'intérêt d'une analyse épidémiologique qui prenne en compte l'exposition réelle au risque routier, par le biais de l'accès aux modes de transport, car celui-ci est inégalement réparti entre ménages, et entre territoires.

Dying to get out: Young drivers, safety and social inequity

Article

Jun 2013
INJURY PREV

Objective: Deaths and serious injuries among young drivers are an important public health concern. Road safety researchers and policy makers tend to focus on strategies to restrict the driving activities of young people. Other social research suggests the disadvantages experienced by young people in socially deprived groups are exacerbated by not having a driving licence or owning a car. In this qualitative study, we consider the views of young people from less affluent backgrounds in the south-west of England who took part in a brief intervention to encourage them to delay gaining a driving licence and car ownership. Methods: Between September 2011 and January 2012, a researcher observed four training sessions involving 173 young people. Postintervention, digitally recorded focus groups were conducted at three venues involving 23 randomly selected young people. Data from the focus group transcripts were sorted into charts in relation to key research questions and scrutinised using constant comparison. Results: These young people believed the ability to drive, and car ownership, could increase their independence, improve access to further education, widen their employment opportunities, and enable them to contribute to family or household responsibilities. Conclusions: We argue there is a potential conflict between some strategies seeking to promote young driver safety and the impact this may have on equity and social disadvantage. Interdisciplinary work is required between professionals and researchers in transport, road safety, public health and social equity. Government policies should include low-cost, safe, reliable and attractive transport alternatives for young people in more deprived communities.

Substance use and social, health and safety-related factors among fatally injured drivers

Article

Mar 2012

The aim of this study was to examine different socio-demographic, health and safety-related factors, and psychoactive substance use among fatally injured drivers in road traffic accidents in Finland during 2006-2008. An accident information register maintained by the Traffic Safety Committee of Insurance Companies (VALT) of the Finnish Motor Insurers' Centre was used as basic data, and the basic data were complemented with further toxicological analytical information retrieved from autopsy reports from the Department of Forensic Medicine, Helsinki University. The data included all the drivers (n=556) who were driving a motor vehicle and who died in a road traffic accident in Finland during 2006-2008. Of all the 556 fatally injured drivers 43% (n=238) had psychoactive substance findings. 51% (n=121) of substance positive drivers had a finding for alcohol only, the rest had a finding for one or more illicit/medicinal drugs impairing driving ability, and possibly also alcohol. Fatally injured drivers with alcohol findings were significantly younger (mean age 34 years) than sober drivers (mean age 44 years) or drivers with findings for drugs (mean age 45 years). Socio-demographic background did not differ substantially among drunken/drugged and sober drivers, although drivers with alcohol findings had a slightly lower education and socioeconomic position. Previous substance abuse problems were highly prevalent among drivers with substance findings and mental or both mental and physical health problems were more common among drivers with drug findings. The non-use of safety equipment and driving at a high speed were more common among fatally injured drivers with substance findings. Substance abuse and mental health problems, as well as reckless driving behavior were more pronounced among fatally injured drivers with substance findings when compared to sober drivers. Thus, prevention and early intervention concerning substance abuse, mental health problems and DUI are essential. Improved traffic safety cannot be achieved by means of traffic policy only, but integration with other policies, such as health and social policy should be strengthened.

Fatal crash involvement of unlicensed young drivers: County level differences according to material deprivation and urbanicity in the United States

Article

Mar 2012

This study assessed the association between county level material deprivation and urbanization with fatal road traffic crashes involving young unlicensed drivers in the United States (US). Road traffic crashes have been positively associated with area deprivation and low population density but thus far few studies have been concerned specifically with young drivers, especially those that are unlicensed. A county material deprivation index was derived from the Townsend Material Deprivation Index, with variables extracted from the US Census (2000). An urbanicity scale was adapted from the US Department of Agriculture's Rural-Urban Continuum Codes (2003). Data on fatal crashes involving a young unlicensed driver during a seven-year period (2000-2006; n=3059) were extracted from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System. The effect of deprivation and urbanicity on the odds of the occurrence of at least one fatal crash at the county level was modeled by conditional and unconditional logistic regression. The conditional model found a positive association between material deprivation and a fatal crash involving a young unlicensed driver (OR=1.19, 95% CI 1.17, 1.21). The interaction between urbanicity and material deprivation was negatively associated in suburban counties for fatal crashes (OR=0.92, 95% CI 0.90, 0.95). An association with material deprivation and the likelihood of a fatal crash involving a young unlicensed driver is a new finding. It can be used to inform specific county-level interventions and promote state licensing policies to provide equity in young people's mobility regardless of where they live.

Behavioral Policies and Teen Traffic Safety

Article

Full-text available

May 2001
AM ECON REV

The Role of Poverty in California Teenagers' Fatal Traffic Crash Risk

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2009

Mike Males

Teenagers' high rates of motor vehicle crashes, accounting for 40% of external deaths among 16-19 year-olds, have been ascribed largely to inherent "adolescent risk-taking" and developmental hazards. However, the fact that compared to adults 25 and older, teenagers are twice as likely to live in poverty and low-income areas, risk factors for many types of violent death, has not been assessed. This paper uses Fatality Analysis Reporting System data on 65,173 fatal motor vehicle crashes by drivers in California's 35 most populous counties for 1994-2007 to analyze fatal crash involvements per 100 million miles driven by driver age, county, poverty status, and 15 other traffic safety-related variables. Fatal crash rates were substantially higher for every driver age group in poorer counties than in richer ones. Multivariate regression found socioeconomic factors, led by the low levels of licensing and high unemployment rates prevalent in low-income areas, were associated with nearly 60% of the variance in motor vehicle crash risks, compared to 3% associated with driver age. The strong association between fatal crash risk and poverty, especially for young drivers who are concentrated in high-poverty brackets and low-income areas, suggests that factors related to poorer environments constitute a major traffic safety risk requiring serious attention.

Spatial Analysis of Fatal Injury Crashes in Pennsylvania

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2006
ACCIDENT ANAL PREV

Using injury and fatal crash data for Pennsylvania for 1996-2000, full Bayes (FB) hierarchical models (with spatial and temporal effects and space-time interactions) are compared to traditional negative binomial (NB) estimates of annual county-level crash frequency. Covariates include socio-demographics, weather conditions, transportation infrastructure and amount of travel. FB hierarchical models are generally consistent with the NB estimates. Counties with a higher percentage of the population under poverty level, higher percentage of their population in age groups 0-14, 15-24, and over 64 and those with increased road mileage and road density have significantly increased crash risk. Total precipitation is significant and positive in the NB models, but not significant with FB. Spatial correlation, time trend, and space-time interactions are significant in the FB injury crash models. County-level FB models reveal the existence of spatial correlation in crash data and provide a mechanism to quantify, and reduce the effect of, this correlation. Addressing spatial correlation is likely to be even more important in road segment and intersection-level crash models, where spatial correlation is likely to be even more pronounced.

Carrying Passengers as a Risk Factor for Crashes Fatal to 16- and 17YearOld Drivers

Article

Mar 2000

Li-Hui Chen

Context Injuries from motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among teenagers. Carrying passengers has been identified as a possible risk factor for these crashes.Objective To determine whether the presence of passengers is associated with an increased risk of crashes fatal to 16- and 17-year-old drivers and whether the risk varies by time of day and age and sex of drivers and passengers.Design and Setting Incidence study of data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and General Estimates System (1992-1997), as well as the Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey (1995).Subjects Drivers aged 16 and 17 years who drove passenger cars, vans, or pickup trucks.Main Outcome Measure Driver deaths per 10 million trips by number of passengers, driver age and sex, and time of day; and driver deaths per 1000 crashes by passenger age and sex.Results Compared with drivers of the same age without passengers, the relative risk of death per 10 million trips was 1.39 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.24-1.55) for 16-year-old drivers with 1 passenger, 1.86 (95% CI, 1.56-2.20) for those with 2 passengers, and 2.82 (95% CI, 2.27-3.50) for those with 3 or more passengers. The relative risk of death was 1.48 (95% CI, 1.35-1.62) for 17-year-old drivers with 1 passenger, 2.58 (95% CI, 2.24-2.95) for those with 2 passengers, and 3.07 (95% CI, 2.50-3.77) for those with 3 or more passengers. The risk of death increased significantly for drivers transporting passengers irrespective of the time of day or sex of the driver, although male drivers were at greater risk. Driver deaths per 1000 crashes increased for 16- and 17-year-olds transporting male passengers or passengers younger than 30 years.Conclusion Our data indicate that the risk of fatal injury for a 16- or 17-year-old driver increases with the number of passengers. This result supports inclusion of restrictions on carrying passengers in graduated licensing systems for young drivers.

Risk Taking in AdolescenceNew Perspectives From Brain and Behavioral Science

Article

Apr 2007

Laurence Steinberg

Trying to understand why adolescents and young adults take more risks than younger or older individuals do has challenged psychologists for decades. Adolescents' inclination to engage in risky behavior does not appear to be due to irrationality, delusions of invulnerability, or ignorance. This paper presents a perspective on adolescent risk taking grounded in developmental neuroscience. According to this view, the temporal gap between puberty, which impels adolescents toward thrill seeking, and the slow maturation of the cognitive-control system, which regulates these impulses, makes adolescence a time of heightened vulnerability for risky behavior. This view of adolescent risk taking helps to explain why educational interventions designed to change adolescents' knowledge, beliefs, or attitudes have been largely ineffective, and suggests that changing the contexts in which risky behavior occurs may be more successful than changing the way adolescents think about risk.

Crash involvements of 16-year-old drivers

Article

Jun 1997
J SAFETY RES

All reported crashes—property damage, nonfatal injury, and fatal—estimated for 1993 in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's General Estimates System were examined for 16-year-old drivers. Results were compared to the crash involvements of other teenagers, older drivers, and fatal injury crash involvements as tabulated by the Fatal Accident Reporting System. Sixteen-year-olds were more likely than other teenagers and older drivers to be involved in single-vehicle crashes, and to be in crashes between 6 p.m. and 11:59 p.m. They were also more likely to have been charged with a moving violation and to have been culpable for the crash. Sixteen-year-old drivers in crashes, compared with other teenage drivers, were proportionately more likely to be female and to be accompanied by other teenage passengers. These differences among 16-year-olds, other teenagers, and older drivers are also found when only fatal crashes are considered. Characteristics of the crashes of 16-year-olds can be used as a guide in establishing licensing policies for initial license holders.

Article

Jun 2000
J Stud Alcohol

To re-examine and refine estimates for alcohol-related relative risk of driver involvement in fatal crashes by age and gender as a function of blood alcohol concentration (BAC) using recent data. Logistic regression was used to estimate age/gender specific relative risk of fatal crash involvement as a function of the BAC for drivers involved in a fatal crash and for drivers fatally injured in a crash, by combining crash data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System with exposure data from the 1996 National Roadside Survey of Drivers. In general, the relative risk of involvement in a fatal vehicle crash increased steadily with increasing driver BAC in every age/gender group among both fatally injured and surviving drivers. Among 16-20 year old male drivers, a BAC increase of 0.02% was estimated to more than double the relative risk of fatal single-vehicle crash injury. At the midpoint of the 0.08% - 0.10% BAC range, the relative risk of a fatal single-vehicle crash injury varied between 11.4 (drivers 35 and older) and 51.9 (male drivers, 16-20). With only very few exceptions, older drivers had lower risk of being fatally injured in a single-vehicle crash than younger drivers, as did women compared with men in the same age range. When comparable, results largely confirmed existing prior estimates. This is the first study that systematically estimated relative risk for drink-drivers with BACs between 0.08% and 0.10% (these relative risk estimates apply to BAC range midpoints at 0.09%.) The results clearly show that drivers with a BAC under 0.10% pose highly elevated risk both to themselves and to other road users. 2000)

What we know, what we don't know, and what we need to know about graduated driver licensing

Article

Feb 2003
J SAFETY RES

On November 5-7, 2002, the Symposium on Graduated Driver Licensing in Chatham, MA, brought together 75 researchers and practitioners from the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to document the current science of graduated driver licensing (GDL) and to outline research needs. Participants reviewed 12 background papers and discussed the papers in depth. The symposium's background papers are published in this issue of the Journal of Safety Research. This paper summarizes and provides a quick reference to information from the symposium papers and participant discussions. It cites the 12 symposium papers, which in turn provide more information and cite original sources. Issues and recommendations not followed by a citation were raised in the symposium discussions. This paper is divided into seven sections. The first six sections summarize information from the symposium papers and discussions. The sections are: (1) The need for graduated driver licensing; (2) Effectiveness of GDL as implemented; (3) The learner's permit phase; (4) The provisional license phase; (5) The roles of teens, parents, and public agencies; and (6) Enacting and implementing GDL. In each of these six sections, research needs are classified as either high priority (important for designing and implementing effective GDL programs) or lower priority (useful but not critical for GDL at this time). The final section summarizes the discussion of research issues and priorities from the symposium's closing session. This section has three topics: general research, issues involving parents, and issues involving graduated licensing legislation and implementation. It presents participants' collective views on both broad priorities and specific issues. In providing a concise summary of presentations and discussions from the symposium, this paper necessarily omits some information and points of discussion. The views and judgments expressed are the authors' best attempt to capture the symposium's consensus, but they do not necessarily represent the views of the authors, their organizations, or any other individual symposium participant. In particular, they are not necessarily endorsed by the symposium's sponsors: General Motors, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the National Safety Council, and Nationwide.

The evolution and effectiveness of graduated licensing

Article

Feb 2003
J SAFETY RES

Herb M Simpson

This paper traces the history of graduated licensing, starting about the point in time when Pat Waller's paper on the genesis of the concept ends, and examines the extent to which graduated licensing has produced reductions in collisions. It concludes with some general observations about future research needs, anticipating several of the papers that follow. The evolution of graduated licensing is chronicled, beginning with the early and largely unsuccessful efforts to introduce it in the United States in the late 1970s, through the pioneering efforts in New Zealand, which resulted in the first truly graduated system in 1987, to Canada where the program was introduced 7 years later, to the United States where it has flourished in more recent years. This 25-year history lesson hopefully creates an appreciation for the somewhat torturous journey that graduated licensing has experienced in achieving acceptance among the public and policy-makers-a journey that is not yet over, as subsequent papers in the symposium will show. The proliferation of graduated licensing in recent years is a mixed blessing-the wider adoption of graduated licensing has been a very positive development, but the programs that have evolved are anything but homogeneous in structure or content. Although this is often necessary for various reasons, it is worrisome that some programs are graduated licensing in name only. This suggests that future efforts to promote graduated licensing must emphasize adherence to the fundamental risk reduction and multistage principles on which the concept is based. The paper also considers the extent to which graduated licensing achieves its objective of reducing collisions among those covered by the program. Understandably, most jurisdictions would not introduce graduated licensing until it was shown to be effective and this, to some extent, slowed the process of implementation. The obvious irony is that it could not be shown to be effective until it was introduced. Fortunately, as history demonstrates, some jurisdictions were prepared to try the system based on its very sound empirical rationale. And, their confidence has been rewarded. A growing body of research, which shows that graduated licensing has been associated with significant and substantial reductions in collisions, is briefly described. The paper concludes with some general observations designed to anticipate the papers that follow. First, it outlines questions that still remain unanswered about graduated licensing-why or how it works, with whom it works, and what features are most effective. Precise and unambiguous answers to these questions are essential for the design of a system that maximizes the potential for reducing collisions, injuries, and deaths. Second, it signals a note of caution on the limits of graduated licensing-it is important to recognize just how effective and beneficial this program is; it is equally important to recognize that it is not the sole panacea for the problem of collisions involving new drivers.

The social patterning of injury repetitions among young car drivers in Sweden

Article

Feb 2005
ACCIDENT ANAL PREV

A national register-based cohort study was conducted to explore whether the social patterning of car drivers suffering injury repetitions differs from that of once-injured drivers in a cohort of young persons in Sweden (aged 18-26). Injury repeaters were defined as individuals sustaining injuries as a car driver on more than one occasion over an 8-year period. Only subjects obtaining a driver's licence before the age of 27 were included in the study. The social variables considered were, in turn, gender, socioeconomic position of origin, and own educational attainment. Attention was also paid to age at licensing. Two types of comparisons were made, using odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals. First, the odds of injury repeaters were computed using the once-injured car drivers as a reference group. Second, odds were compiled for once, twice, and three or more times injured people, using the non-injured at all as a comparison group. The results show that, by and large, the injury-risk distribution of car drivers with injury repetition does not differ from that of one-injury drivers with regard to gender, education, or socioeconomic group. However, drivers from self-employed households show greater odds of injury repetition (OR 1.65, CI 1.02-2.67) than of one injury compared with drivers from the families of non-manual employees. Since the number of injury repeaters is low and their socioeconomic distribution is very similar to that of the once injured, there is no need to regard them as a group at excess risk or different from the one-time injured. Reducing risk levels and risk differentials for the one time injured should therefore receive priority with regard to traffic-injury prevention.

Socioeconomic Background and Road Traffic Injuries: A Study of Young Car Drivers in Sweden

Article

Oct 2003

The aim of this study is to explore the manner in which different measures of original socioeconomic position (SEP) influence road traffic injuries (RTIs) among young car drivers in Sweden. The study consists of young people age 16-23. Subjects were taken from the Swedish Population and Housing Census of 1990 (n=727,995), and followed up by a search for cases of injury to car drivers in Sweden's National Hospital Discharge Register over the years 1991-96 (n=1,599). Household SEP was measured using social class, education, and disposable income. Relative risks were estimated by Poisson regression and population attributable risks were computed for each measure of SEP. Children of unskilled workers, of the self-employed, and of farmers, as well as children of parents with compulsory education only showed an increased risk of injury as car drivers compared to children in the highest socioeconomic group and children of highly educated parents. By contrast, level of household disposable income was found not to vary with RTI among young drivers. Twenty-five percent of the injuries could be avoided if all young people had the injury rate of the highest socioeconomic group, and 29% if all young people had the injury rate of those with highly educated parents. The reduction of risk differences based on household SEP calls for consideration of factors related to both differential exposure and differential susceptibility, which may be addressed in driver education.

The relationship between blood alcohol concentration (BAC) and crash risk

Article

Feb 2008
J SAFETY RES

The role of age (youth and driving inexperience) and alcohol as major risk factors in traffic crash causation has been firmly established by numerous studies over the past 50 years. Less well established is how the two variables interrelate to influence crash risk. Some investigations have hypothesized an interactive or synergistic effect in which young drivers with less experience and a greater tendency to take risks are more adversely affected at lower blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) than are older drivers. The evidence for this hypothesis is mixed. Resolution of this issue has important implication for developing countermeasures directed at the young driver crash problem. Case control data previously collected in Long Beach and Fort Lauderdale were reanalyzed using a more sensitive method for detecting interaction effects than used in the original analysis. A conditional logistic regression analyses found a highly significant agexBAC interaction (P<.0001) involving differences between drivers under 21 and those 21 and older. The results clearly indicate that positive BACs in drivers under 21 are associated with higher relative crash risks than would be predicted from the additive effect of BAC and age. It is likely that two mechanisms are operating to cause the interaction. First, it seems likely that the crash avoidance skill of young novice drivers would be more adversely affected by alcohol due to their driving inexperience, immaturity, and less experience with alcohol. Second, drivers under 21 who choose to drink and to drive after drinking probably have pre-existing characteristics that predisposed them to risk taking and crash involvement apart from any increased vulnerability to alcohol impairment. The results support increased enforcement of zero-tolerance BAC laws for minors.

Crash risk of alcohol impaired driving National household travel survey

Jan 2002

R Blomberg
H Moskowitz
M Burns
R Peck
D Fiorentino

Blomberg, R., Moskowitz, H., Burns, M., Peck, R., & Fiorentino, D. (2005). Crash risk of alcohol impaired driving. Retrieved August 26, 2009, from http://www.dunlapandassociatesinc. com/crashriskofalcoholinvolveddriving.pdf Bureau of Transportation Statistics. (2003). National household travel survey, 2001. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Transportation Table A-17. http://www.bts. gov/publications/highlights_of_the_2001_national_household_travel_survey/ (accessed Dec 10, 2006).

Carrying passengers as a risk factor for crashes fatal to 16-and 17-year-old drivers Behavioral policies and teen traffic safety. American Economics Association National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Jan 2000

L H Chen
S P Baker
E R Braver
L Guohua
−
T Dee
E Evans

Chen, L. H., Baker, S. P., Braver, E. R., & Guohua, L. (2000). Carrying passengers as a risk factor for crashes fatal to 16-and 17-year-old drivers. Journal of the American Medical Association, 283(12), 1578−1582. Dee, T., & Evans, E. (2001). Behavioral policies and teen traffic safety. American Economics Association. AEA Papers and Proceedings, 91, 91−96. FARS Web-Based Encyclopedia. (2008). National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Available at: http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/queryReport.cfm?stateid=0&year=2005 (accessed Jan 25, 2009).

Poverty, not " risk taking, " may be the real problem in teenage accidents.The Chronicle of the American Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association

Jan 2007
4-5

M Males

Males, M. (2007). Poverty, not " risk taking, " may be the real problem in teenage accidents.The Chronicle of the American Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association, 55(2), 4−5 8, 19.

Public policy and alcohol related crashes among older drivers

Jan 2002

McCarthy

McCarthy, P. S. (2002). Public policy and alcohol related crashes among older drivers. 16th International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs, and Traffic Safety, Montreal, Canada, August 2002. Available at: http://www.econ.gatech.edu/papers/mccarthy_CADTS_paper_ SOEwebst_091402.pdf (accessed Feb 1, 2007).

Detailed poverty (P60 package) table of contents. Com-munity Population Survey, Annual Demographic Survey, March supplement

Feb 2000

U S Bureau

U.S. Census Bureau. (2003). Detailed poverty (P60 package) table of contents. Com-munity Population Survey, Annual Demographic Survey, March supplement. March 2000 http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032000/pov/toc.htm (accessed Jan 20, 2008).

Behavioral policies and teen traffic safety. American Economics Association

Jan 2001
91

Poverty, not “risk taking,” may be the real problem in teenage accidents

Jan 2007
4

Males

Poverty as a determinant of young drivers' fatal crash risks

Abstract

No full-text available

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