Jane C. Stutts

DRIVER RISK FACTORS FOR SLEEP-RELATED CRASHES

A population-based case-control study was carried out to examine driver risk factors for sleep-related motor vehicle crashes. Cases included 312 drivers involved in recent North Carolina crashes and identified on police reports as asleep at the time of the crash and 155 drivers identified as fatigued. Controls were 529 drivers also involved in recent crashes but not identified as asleep or fatigued, and 407 drivers not involved in recent crashes. All drivers were contacted for brief telephone interviews. Results showed that drivers in sleep-related crashes were more likely to work multiple jobs, night shifts, or other unusual work schedules. They averaged fewer hours sleep per night, reported poorer quality sleep, were less likely to feel they got enough sleep, were sleepier during the day, drove more often late at night, and had more prior instances of drowsy driving. Compared to drivers in non-sleep-related crashes, they had been driving for longer times, been awake more hours, slept fewer hours the night before, and were more likely to have used soporific medications. Knowledge of specific risk factors for sleep-related crashes is an important first step in reducing the thousands of deaths and injuries each year in the US attributed to drowsy driving.

Do Older Drivers with Visual and Cognitive Impairments Drive Less

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether older drivers with poorer cognitive and/or visual function drive fewer miles or avoid driving in situations that pose higher crash risks, such as at nighttime, in rush hour traffic, or when weather conditions are bad.

Motor vehicle and roadway factors in pedestrian and bicyclist injuries: an examination based on emergency department data

Information on 2558 persons treated for injuries incurred while bicycling or walking was collected from eight hospital emergency departments over approximately a one-year time period. The emergency departments represented a mix of urban and suburban/rural sites in three states--California, New York, and North Carolina. The data were collected on special survey forms and included detailed information about the location of the injury event. Results show that, overall, 70% of the reported bicycle injury events and 64% of the reported pedestrian injury events did not involve a motor vehicle. In addition, 31% of the bicyclists and 53% of the pedestrians were injured in non-roadway locations such as sidewalks, parking lots, or off-road trails. Although pedestrians and bicyclists struck by motor vehicles in the roadway were generally the most seriously injured, they represented less than a third of the reported cases. Increased knowledge of non-roadway and non-motor vehicle pedestrian and bicyclist injury events can contribute to more effective program and countermeasure development to improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety.

The association of helmet use with the outcome of motorcycle crash injury when controlling for crash/injury severity

Many studies have reported that helmet use by motorcycle riders significantly decreases their risk of head injury, death, and disability in the event of a crash. However, these studies have not controlled for crash severity and thus do not conclusively show the value of helmet use by motorcycle riders. Using data from a statewide trauma registry, the present study examines the association of helmet use with various outcomes of motorcycle crashes, controlling for overall crash severity as measured by a modified Injury Severity Score. The results show that in crashes where the overall degree of injury was comparable, the risk of head injury in hospitalized motorcyclists was nearly twice as high for unhelmeted riders as it was for helmeted riders, thus confirming the protective effects of helmet use. However, there were no significant differences in various measurements of resource utilization, including days in hospital, hospital charges, and need for post-hospital rehabilitation. A higher incidence of extremity injuries among the helmeted riders may account for their failure to demonstrate consistently lower resource utilization, despite lower rates of head injury.

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

Evaluating the North Carolina safety belt wearing law

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.

Bicycle accidents and injuries: A pilot study comparing hospital- and police-reported data

The North Carolina Seat Belt Law required an evaluation of the effectiveness of the act with a report of the findings to the Legislature three years after the law went into effect. This paper addresses changes in statewide belt usage and in occupant injury associated with that law. Observational data collected bimonthly from a probability sample of 72 sites stratified by geographic region, rural/urban location, road type, and time of day show that belt use rose from a baseline rate of 25% to a warning ticket phase rate of 45%. Belt use then reached 78% upon enforcement and is now nearly 64%. Time series analysis showed that statistically significant reductions in percentages of moderate and serious injuries occurred at the beginning of both the warning ticket and the enforcement phases. Forecasts of injuries and deaths were also developed from the time series models and were compared with observed totals. Warning tickets brought about a modest 5.4% reduction in serious injuries; fatalities among occupants covered by the law showed no change. In contrast, the subsequent enforcement phase saw a reduction of 11.6% in fatalities and 14.6% in serious or worse injuries. This represents an estimated annual savings of 131 lives and over 2,300 serious injuries in North Carolina during the 18 months following onset of enforcement.

Pedestrian Crash Types: 1990s Update

Bicycle accident and injury data collected by two different samples of North Carolina hospital emergency rooms during the summers of 1985 and 1986 are examined and compared with state police-reported bicycle accident data for the same time periods. Of the 649 emergency room treated bicyclists, 62% were children aged 5-14 and 70% were male. Nineteen percent of the riders suffered moderate or worse injuries (AIS greater than or equal to 2), and 6% were hospitalized. In contrast, less than half of the police-reported accidents involved riders under 15 years of age, 85% of the riders were male, and two-thirds suffered moderate or worse injury. Whereas virtually all of the police-reported accidents involved a motor vehicle, less than a fifth of the emergency room cases did. Only 10% of the emergency room cases were duplicated on the state accident files. It is estimated that 800 children ages 0-19 are hospitalized annually in North Carolina for bicycle-related injuries, and an additional 13,300 children receive emergency room treatment.

Police Reporting of Pedestrians and Bicyclists Treated in Hospital Emergency Rooms

A report is given on an application of the NHTSA pedestrian crashtyping system for categorizing pedestrian-motor-vehicle crashes according to the specific sequence of events leading up to individual crashes. Results are based on a recent sample of over 5,000 pedestrian crashes drawn from six states and reported by police. Over 80 percent of the pedestrian crashes fell into the following crash type categories: vehicle turn or merge (9.8 percent), intersection dash (7.2 percent), driver violation at intersection (5.1 percent), other intersection (10.1 percent), midblock dart or dash (13.3 percent), other midblock (13.1 percent), not in roadway and waiting to cross (8.6 percent), walking along roadway (7.9 percent), and backing vehicle (6.9 percent). These crash types were found to vary according to the characteristics of the pedestrian and factors of the location, environment, and roadway. The process of typing pedestrian crashes can be a valuable tool at both the state and local level for developing more h...

TRB Workshop 2007: Licensing authorities' options for managing older driver safety--practical advice from the researchers

Drawing on a study of injured pedestrians and bicyclists treated at hospital emergency rooms in California, New York, and North Carolina, an attempt was made to match the emergency room cases to state motor vehicle crash data, and to analyze the factors associated with the occurrence of a match. The purpose is to (1) provide additional information on the likely level of underreporting of pedestrian– and bicycle–motor vehicle collisions on state crash files and (2) examine whether cases that are reported differ in any systematic way from those that are not reported. A total of 388 pedestrian– and 255 bicycle–motor vehicle cases were available for inclusion in the analysis, with 56 percent of the pedestrian and 48 percent of the bicycle cases matched to state crash files. After adjusting for other potential confounders, pedestrians who were hospitalized or killed were 1.3 times more likely to be reported on the state crash files than were pedestrians receiving emergency room treatment only; those struck in the roadway were 1.7 times more likely to be reported than those struck in nonroadway locations; and those ages 15 to 24 were 70 percent less likely to be reported than pedestrians of all other ages. In contrast, the only factor found to be associated with police reporting of bicycle–motor vehicle crashes was the severity level of the injury: bicyclists who were hospitalized or killed were 1.4 times more likely to be reported on the state crash files than were bicyclists receiving emergency room treatment only.