Jeremy Woolley

How Safe Are Children When Transported by Bicycle

ABSTRACT Objectives: With the increasing popularity of cycling generally and availability of new bicycle child carriers, there is an emerging interest in the safety of child bicycle passengers and riders. However, very little is known about the nature and extent of injuries to child bicycle riders and passengers. The aim of this study was to enhance our understanding of child safety in bike transportation and to identify injury patterns and outcomes. Method: Analyses of Victorian hospital data (emergency department presentations and hospital admissions) were undertaken to describe and compare injury outcomes among children aged 0–3 years, 4–6 years, and 7–10 years on bicycles. Data over the 15-year period, July 1, 1999, to June 30, 2014, were examined. Results: A total of 17,859 emergency department presentations and 4,794 hospitalizations were reported for child cyclists under the age of 10 years. The rate of emergency department presentations and hospital admissions per 100,000 population decreased by 1.5% (−2.8 to −0.2%) and 5.0% (−6.5 to −3.4%), respectively. For emergency department presentations, the most commonly injured body parts included the head (34.9%), elbows and forearms (14.6%), and wrist and hands (16.3%). For hospital admissions, the head was again the most commonly injured body region (36.5%), followed by the elbow and forearm (26.7%) and shoulder and upper arm (9.1%). Comparisons of injured body regions between age groups revealed that children aged 3 and under were significantly more likely to sustain injuries to the head that required hospital admissions compared to older age groups. In contrast, older children, between the ages of 7 and 10 years, were significantly more likely to sustain injuries to either the arms, wrists, or hands. Further analysis of the nature of injury revealed that children aged 3 and under had a significantly higher number of open wound injuries compared to older children. Conclusion: This article provides an exploratory and broad overview of the magnitude and severity of injuries among child bike riders and passengers and highlights that younger children are more likely to sustain head injuries compared to older children. This is likely the result of very young children being passengers on bicycles who are constrained in a seat or trailer with little protection or opportunity to mitigate injuries. Highlights: • Analyses of injury data to understand the nature and extent of injuries to children on bikes as passengers and riders.• Child cyclist injuries as a significant safety issue within Victoria, Australia.• Young children aged 0–3 years experienced significantly more head injuries compared to older children.

250 Pedestrian-vehicle interactions: early results from the Australian naturalistic driving study (ands)

Background Typologies have been defined previously for pedestrian-vehicle interactions and are primarily based on retrospective analysis of crash data. The naturalistic driving study currently underway in Australia makes it possible to study pedestrian-vehicle interaction events that would not otherwise be identified in the crash data. This work evaluates the feasibility of using automated, manual, and semi-automated methods to identify pedestrian-vehicle interaction events. Methods Sensors and cameras were installed on the vehicles of volunteers in and around two major Australian cities which recorded their natural driving behaviour for 4 months. Forward video from select vehicles was reviewed independently by two reviewers to identify potential pedestrian-vehicle interaction events from which a typology of behaviours was formulated. These events served as the gold standard against which select automated and semi-automated methods of identification were assessed. Results A prototype typology of pedestrian-vehicle interaction events was formulated using naturalistic driving data and categorised in terms of risk of being struck. Some case scenarios will be discussed. The feasibility of using select automated, semi-automated, and manual methods to identify these events was also evaluated. Conclusions This work provides a first look at using Australian naturalistic driving data to study the interactions between vehicles and pedestrians. These findings will assist in the development of methods that can be used to most effectively answer research questions pertaining to interactions between vehicles and pedestrians as well as other vulnerable road users in the future.