Eric Rodgman

CHARACTERISTICS OF DRIVERS NOT USING SEAT BELTS IN A HIGH BELT USE STATE

A study was undertaken in North Carolina to determine the characteristics of the minority of drivers who were not using seat belts following an extensive publicity/enforcement campaign, which had increased statewide use to 80%. Vehicles and drivers whose seat belt use was observed at sites across North Carolina were matched against Division of Motor Vehicles registration and driver history files for vehicle owners. The study file consisted of those observed drivers who matched the owners with respect to sex, race, and approximate age. The results of this investigation indicate that nonuse of seat belts was associated with males; younger age (<35); older vehicles (pre-1985); vehicles other than cars, especially pickups; and poor driving records. Telephone survey information indicated that nonusers were less likely to have health care coverage, more likely to acknowledge having consumed large amounts of alcohol in the past year, and more likely to have an arrest record. When asked about enforcement of the belt use law, many nonusers said that they would not respond to higher fines but they would respond to driver license points. To change the belt use behavior of this hard-core nonuser population, it well may be necessary as was done in Canada to combine publicity/enforcement campaigns with driver license points as a penalty for nonuse.

Observed and self-reported seat belt wearing as related to prior traffic accidents and convictions.

During the summer of 1987, 10,000 color-coded mailback questionnaires that identified belted and unbelted North Carolina drivers were handed out at the 72 sites that constitute the probability sample for determining the statewide belt use rate in North Carolina. By obtaining identifying information to determine the winner of a

PREVENTION OF MOTOR VEHICLE INJURIES TO ELDERLY PEDESTRIANS

500 prize from among the 5,074 respondents, police-reported traffic accident and conviction records from the North Carolina driver history file were linked to the belted and unbelted respondents. Analyses found that drivers who had been observed not wearing seat belts had 35% more accidents and 69% more convictions than did belted drivers in the previous four-year period. Similar findings were obtained from self-reported belt use.

Effect of a postviolation driver improvement class on traffic convictions and crashes

This article is based on a study conducted for the Centers for Disease Control by the University of North Carolinas (UNC) Highway Safety Research Center. The article begins by presenting background material on the older pedestrian and the causes and characteristics of older pedestrian injuries. A summary is then provided of the results of analyzing more than 26,000 pedestrian-motor vehicle crashes occurring in North Carolina during an 11-year period (1980-1990). Included in the total are 1,758 pedestrian victims age 65 or older. Similar findings are reported from an analysis of 70,825 fatal pedestrian-motor vehicle crashes occurring nationwide from 1980 to 1989 and identified from the Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS) database. Education programs, pedestrian laws, and roadway improvements are interventions which may reduce motor vehicle injuries and deaths to elderly pedestrians.

Assessing multimodal school travel safety in North Carolina

Objective: To investigate the effect of a driver improvement class on postclass moving traffic violations and crashes among drivers charged with speeding. Methods: A total of 5079 drivers who completed an 8-hour class were compared to a control group of 25,275 drivers from the same locale who had been convicted of speeding during the same time period but had not taken the class. Counts of convictions and crashes were available for all drivers for 2 years prior to the class and between 1 and 3 years after the class or key speeding conviction. Zero-inflated negative binomial models were used to measure the expected number of convictions among those who took the class compared with subjects who did not take it. Results: Individuals with a moving violation conviction had 2.5 times the odds of having previous convictions for moving violations and almost 1.5 times the odds of having been involved in a crash. Drivers who took the class had convictions similar to the control group after the class (Incidence Rate Ratio [IRR]: 1.03, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.95–1.12) but were less likely to be involved in subsequent crashes (IRR: 0.83, 95% CI: 0.77–0.91). Conclusions: The results suggest that among drivers overall, exposure to driver improvement classes as a means to change drivers’ behaviors is not significantly associated with fewer convictions for moving violations but may be effective in reducing crashes.

Characteristics of crashes attributed to the driver having fallen asleep.

School transportation has been the subject of numerous federal and state policies since the early twentieth century-the Safe Routes to School program is the most recent example. However, few recent studies have thoroughly analyzed the risks and costs associated with different modes of transportation to school. Our descriptive study assessed the injury and fatality rates and related safety costs of different modes of school transportation using crash and exposure data from North Carolina, USA from 2005 to 2012. We found that riding with a teen driver is the most dangerous mode on a per trip basis with injury rates 20 times higher and fatality rates 90 times higher than school buses, which had the lowest injury rates. Non-motorized modes had per trip injury rates equivalent to school buses but per trip fatality rates were 15 times higher than for school buses. The economic costs of school travel-related injuries and fatalities for walking, biking, and teen drivers were substantially higher than other modes. This research has important policy implications because it quantified the risks of different school travel modes which allows policymakers to consider how safety investments can reduce risks. Decades of effort by schools, communities, and the government have made school buses a very safe mode and endeavored to reduce risks to teen drivers. This study highlighted the need for these same actors to reduce the risks of injury for walking and bicycling. As more improvements are made to infrastructure around schools, repeated studies of this type will allow practitioners to examine whether the improvements help mitigate the risks.