Voluntary seat belt use among U.S. drivers: geographic, socioeconomic and demographic variation

Although voluntary seat belt use rates are low, they are not uniform among different populations of U.S. drivers. In detailed analyses of 1982 data from 12 of the 19 cities in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's national seat belt survey and from three of the National Accident Sampling System regions, belt use rates varied greatly by geographic region, socioeconomic status and demographic group. These factors also moderated the effects of other factors such as car size and origin of manufacture. Nevertheless, all together, the factors included in the study explained less than 5% of the variation in voluntary seat belt use, and no subpopulation was identified in which seat belts were used by a majority of the members.     

Pedestrian crash trends and potential countermeasures from around the world

As automobile transportation continues to increase around the world, bicyclists, pedestrians, and motorcyclists, also known as vulnerable road users (VRUs), will become more susceptible to traffic crashes, especially in countries where traffic laws are poorly enforced. Many countries, however, are employing innovative strategies to ensure that road users can more safely navigate the urban landscape. While bicyclists and motorcyclists are important road users, this paper will focus on pedestrian crash problems and solutions. Pedestrians are most at risk in urban areas due in part to the large amount of pedestrian and vehicle activity in urban areas. With this in mind, designing safe, accessible, and comprehensive facilities for pedestrians is vital to reducing pedestrian crashes. This paper will provide some insight into the magnitude of the pedestrian crash problem around the world, and will offer some lessons learned from several countries, particularly in Europe and the U.S., for improving pedestrian safety. Beginning with pedestrian safety statistics at the global, regional, and national levels, this paper will address potential countermeasures and strategies for improving pedestrian safety from an international perspective.     

Parental influence on adolescent compliance with graduated driver licensing conditions and crashes as a restricted licensed driver: New Zealand Drivers Study

Aim

To examine the influence of parental knowledge of, and support for graduated driver licensing (GDL) conditions, parental management of adolescent driving and parental driving behaviour on adolescent compliance with GDL conditions and crashes as a restricted licence driver.

Method

This research was part of the New Zealand Drivers Study (NZDS), a prospective cohort study of 3992 newly licensed car drivers. NZDS participants were recruited at the learner licence stage, with follow-up aligned with the GDL stages. At the restricted licence stage 1200 parents of NZDS adolescents, aged 15–17 years at learner licensure, were recruited and completed interviews. 895 of these adolescents progressed to their full licence and completed the full licence interview. These 895 parent–adolescent pairs were the study population in this research. Topics examined included parental knowledge of, and support for GDL conditions, management of adolescent driving (driving rules, adolescent vehicle ownership, delaying licensure), and their own driving behaviours. Outcomes examined were adolescent compliance with GDL restricted licence conditions (night-time and passenger), and crashes as a driver during the restricted licence stage.

Results

After controlling for other variables, factors independently associated with adolescent low compliance with GDL conditions were: low parental knowledge of conditions, parents’ implementing few driving rules, adolescent vehicle ownership, and parent crash involvement. Factors independently associated with adolescents being a crash involved driver were: parents’ actively delaying licensure, adolescent vehicle ownership, and parent crash involvement.

Conclusion

There is increasing recognition of the importance of parental involvement in adolescent driving. The results show that parents are influential in determining adolescent compliance with GDL and risk of crash. Parents can have considerable positive influence on their adolescent's driving through ensuring compliance with the components of GDL, limiting vehicle ownership and by modelling safe driving behaviours.     

Teen driver crash risk and associations with smoking and drowsy driving

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for young people in the United States. The goal of this study was to identify risk factor profiles of teen and young adult drivers involved in crashes. General demographic and behavioral as well as driving-related factors were considered. Analysis of a nationally representative telephone survey of U.S. young drivers ages 14 to 22 (N = 900) conducted in 2005 was restricted to 506 licensed drivers (learners excluded). Statistically significant univariate associations between factors of interest and the primary outcome, crash involvement (ever) as a driver, were identified and included within a multivariate logistic regression model, controlling for potential demographic confounders. Aside from length of licensure, only driving alone while drowsy and being a current smoker were associated with having been in a crash. Gaining a better understanding of these behaviors could enhance the development of more customized interventions for new drivers.     

Perception of safety of cyclists in Dublin City

In recent years, cycling has been recognized and is being promoted as a sustainable mode of travel. The perception of cycling as an unsafe mode of travel is a significant obstacle in increasing the mode share of bicycles in a city. Hence, it is important to identify and analyze the factors which influence the safety experiences of the cyclists in an urban signalized multi-modal transportation network. Previous researches in the area of perceived safety of cyclists primarily considered the influence of network infrastructure and operation specific variables and are often limited to specific locations within the network. This study explores the factors that are expected to be important in influencing the perception of safety among cyclists but were never studied in the past. These factors include the safety behavior of existing cyclists, the users of other travel modes and their attitude toward cyclists, facilities and network infrastructures applicable to cycling as well as to other modes in all parts of an urban transportation network. A survey of existing cyclists in Dublin City was conducted to gain an insight into the different aspects related to the safety experience of cyclists. Ordered Logistic Regression (OLR) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were used in the analysis of survey responses. This study has revealed that respondents perceive cycling as less safe than driving in Dublin City. The new findings have shown that the compliance of cyclists with the rules of the road increase their safety experience, while the reckless and careless attitudes of drivers are exceptionally detrimental to their perceived safety. The policy implications of the results of analysis are discussed with the intention of building on the reputation of cycling as a viable mode of transportation among all network users.     

Does your clinical investigator understand the consequences of non-compliance?

The increasing number and complexity of clinical trials, coupled with the recent increase in attention and enforcement from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, arguably makes it more important than ever before that clinical investigators understand the regulatory requirements with which they must comply. This article outlines some of these requirements, common areas of non-compliance and FDA's enforcement options in dealing with such non-compliance. Finally, the article provides some suggestions for attaining and managing investigator compliance.     

平板电视能效标准解读

本文详细解读了《平板电视能效限定值及能效等级》GB24850-2010国家强制性能效标准及《平板电视能效标识实施规则》相关技术内容,从标准、标识法律地位,能效指标、检测方法、实验室备案、市场抽查等内容进行了全面阐述。     

Economic development's effect on road transport-related mortality among different types of road users: a cross-sectional international study

The relationship between a country's stage of economic development and its motor vehicle crash (MVC) mortality rate is not defined for different road users. This paper presents a cross-sectional regression analysis of recent national mortality in 44 countries using death certificate data provided by the World Health Organization. For five types of road users, MVC mortality is expressed as deaths per 100,000 people and per 1000 motor vehicles. Economic development is measured as gross national income (GNI) per capita in U.S. dollars and as motor vehicles per 1000 people. Results showed overall MVC mortality peaked among low-income countries at about US$ 2000 GNI per capita and at about 100 motor vehicles per 1000 people. Overall mortality declined at higher national incomes up to about US$ 24,000. Most changes in MVC mortality associated with economic development were explained by changes in rates among nonmotorized travelers, especially pedestrians. Overall MVC rates were lowest when pedestrian exposure was low because there were few motor vehicles or few pedestrians, and were highest during a critical transition to motorized travel, when many pedestrians and other vulnerable road users vied for use of the roadways with many motor vehicles.     

“Aspects of Regulatory Requirements in Industrialized Countries”

Compliance with regulatory requirements of major foreign markets for health registration of pharmaceutical products is a continuing challenge for the multinational pharmaceutical company operating from the United States. Highlights of four sample countries, France, Germany and the U.K. are reviewed.     

Integrating process safety with molecular modeling-based risk assessment of chemicals within the REACH regulatory framework: benefits and future challenges

Registration, evaluation and authorization of chemicals (REACH) represents a recent regulatory initiative by the European union commission to protect human health and the environment from potentially hazardous chemicals. Under REACH, all stakeholders must submit (thermo)physical, thermochemical, and toxicological data for certain chemicals. The commission's impact assessment studies estimate that the costs of REACH will be approximately 3-5 billion Euros. The present study advocates the systematic incorporation of computational chemistry and computer-assisted chemical risk assessment methods into REACH to reduce regulatory compliance costs. Currently powerful computer-aided ab initio techniques can be used to generate predictions of key properties of broad classes of chemicals, without resorting to costly experimentation and potentially hazardous testing. These data could be integrated into a centralized IT decision and compliance support system, and stored in a retrievable, easily communicable manner should new regulatory and/or production requirements necessitate the introduction of different uses of chemicals under different conditions. For illustration purposes, ab initio calculations are performed on heterocyclic nitrogen-containing compounds which currently serve as high energy density materials in the chemical industry. Since investigations of these compounds are still in their infancy, stability studies are imperative regarding their safe handling and storage, as well as registration under REACH.     

“Aspects of Regulatory Requirements in Industrialized Countries”

Abstract

Compliance with regulatory requirements of major foreign markets for health registration of pharmaceutical products is a continuing challenge for the multinational pharmaceutical company operating from the United States. Highlights of four sample countries, France, Germany and the U.K. are reviewed.     

Quantification of margins and uncertainties: Example analyses from reactor safety and radioactive waste disposal involving the separation of aleatory and epistemic uncertainty

In 2001, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in conjunction with the national security laboratories (i.e., Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories) initiated development of a process designated quantification of margins and uncertainties (QMU) for the use of risk assessment methodologies in the certification of the reliability and safety of the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile. A previous presentation, “Quantification of Margins and Uncertainties: Conceptual and Computational Basis,” describes the basic ideas that underlie QMU and illustrates these ideas with two notional examples. The basic ideas and challenges that underlie NNSA's mandate for QMU are present, and have been successfully addressed, in a number of past analyses for complex systems. To provide perspective on the implementation of a requirement for QMU in the analysis of a complex system, three past analyses are presented as examples: (i) the probabilistic risk assessment carried out for the Surry Nuclear Power Station as part of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) reassessment of the risk from commercial nuclear power in the United States (i.e., the NUREG-1150 study), (ii) the performance assessment for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant carried out by the DOE in support of a successful compliance certification application to the U.S. Environmental Agency, and (iii) the performance assessment for the proposed high-level radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, carried out by the DOE in support of a license application to the NRC. Each of the preceding analyses involved a detailed treatment of uncertainty and produced results used to establish compliance with specific numerical requirements on the performance of the system under study. As a result, these studies illustrate the determination of both margins and the uncertainty in margins in real analyses.     

中国食品接触材料新食品安全国家标准

目的研究食品接触材料新食品安全国家标准的主要要求和变化,给出合规性评价建议。方法全面深入研究食品接触材料新国标,并与旧国标进行比较,分析新国标的管理特点和重要变化。结论新标准在标准涵盖范围、管理模式、技术要求、迁移试验规则等方面发生了一系列的重大变化,并给食品接触材料相关行业带来了挑战。为了更好地实施新标准,给出了新标准合规性评价的建议。     

Unsupervised driving by learner licence holders: Associated characteristics and crash risk

Aims

To determine: (a) the association between socio-demographic, and behavioural factors and compliance with supervised driving condition as a learner licensed driver, (b) whether unsupervised driving as a learner licence holder was associated with elevated crash risk while holding a learner licence.

Study design

The study population was the New Zealand Drivers Study (NZDS) cohort, a prospective cohort study designed to explore the relationship between a comprehensive range of driving and traffic safety related factors and subsequent traffic crashes and convictions among newly licensed drivers.

Results

Thirty-one percent of the study sample was non-compliant at least once with the supervised driving condition. Many socio-demographic and behavioural risk factors were independently associated with unsupervised driving. The strength of the associations was greatest for those with relatively high levels of unsupervised driving (13+ trips). High distance driven showed the strongest relationship: RR 8.91 (95% CI 5.27–15.07). Unsupervised driving was associated with increased risk of crash: 1–12 trips: RR 1.84 (1.29–2.61), and 13+ trips: RR 2.71 (1.94–3.80).Given that a significant portion of learner licence holders report driving unsupervised and those that violate this condition the most are more likely to crash, evaluation of strategies designed at improving compliance with learner licence supervised driving condition should be a research priority.     

Requirements for authorisation of internal dosimetry services

In order to ensure that a facility is in compliance with the occupational exposure requirements established by regulatory authorities, the measurements and dose assessments specified in the individual monitoring programme need to be reliable. There are two important questions that shall be addressed here: one is how the licensed facilities can demonstrate to their workers and regulatory bodies compliance with the regulatory limits and the reliability of the results of the individual monitoring programmes; the other concerns the mechanisms used to demonstrate to a facility in another country the reliability of the measurement results of an individual monitoring bioassay programme. The accreditation of the bioassay laboratory, according to ISO/IEC 17025, shall be the basic requirement for obtaining the authorisation granted by the national regulatory authority. For the second question, such confidence can be achieved through International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC).     

Cyclists' perception of risk in roundabouts

Converting an intersection into a roundabout improves motor vehicle safety, but a similar safety effect is not found for car–bicycle collisions. Very little is known about the reasons behind these collisions. In this study a first step towards an understanding of the reasons behind these collisions is taken. The study focuses on cyclists’ perceived risk in specific situations, factors influencing the perception of risk and cyclists’ knowledge about traffic rules regulating the interaction between road users in roundabouts.

One thousand and nineteen cyclists aged 18–85 participated in the study. Data were collected using structured interviews conducted in five Danish roundabouts.

Underestimation of risk and lack of knowledge about relevant traffic rules may contribute to car–bicycle collisions in roundabouts. Cyclists prefer road designs with a clear regulation of road user behaviour. A need to increase knowledge about traffic rules regulating road user behaviour in roundabouts is identified.     

Analyzing the follower–followee ratio to determine user characteristics and institutional participation differences among research universities on ResearchGate

This study aims to examine how the follower–followee ratio determines user characteristics on the academic social networking site ResearchGate (RG) and to examine institutional participation differences among research universities. It uses the follower–followee ratio as the categorization measure for grouping 87,083 RG users from 61 U.S. universities, in three research activity levels as determined by The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education (2016). As a result of analysis, individuals in the sample were further differentiated into three categories or user groups based on the follower–followee ratio: Information Source users (37.98%), Friend users (54.21%), and Information Seeker users (7.81%). These three user categories differ in overall scholarly reputation, popularity, and academic influence with a decrease from Information Source users to Information Seeker users. This study also reveals the current status of institutional participation in terms of activity level, and differences in user composition at three research activity levels. While the proportion of the Information Seeker users remains roughly the same across research activity levels, as the scholarly reputation of a university increases, there is an increase in the proportion of Friend users. The results help promote a deeper understanding of the follower–followee relationship among users on an academic social networking site, as well as the institutional user participation status. Future research should consider an international comparison between nations and disciplines. Application of this approach to other academic social networking sites would enhance general understanding of academic social networking sites and their users.     

基于压差法的薄膜透气性测试装置研究现状

分析了国内外基于压差法的塑料薄膜透气性测试装置的研究现状,总结了影响满足国家标准要求的透气性测试装置测试性能的主要因素。指出了单密封结构的测试装置难以满足高阻隔性薄膜透气性的测试要求,提出了合理处理高阻隔性薄膜透气性测试问题的途径。     

Changes in biochemical,hemodynamic, and dialysis adherence parameters in hemodialysis patients during Ramadan

This paper aimed to study the effect of Ramadan fasting on biochemical and clinical parameters and compliance for dialysis. A prospective multicenter observational cross‐sectional study comparing fasting with a non‐fasting stable adult hemodialysis patients for demographic and biochemical parameters, compliance with dialysis, inter‐dialytic weight gain, pre‐ and post‐blood pressure, and frequency of intradialytic hypotensive episodes was carried out. Six hundred thirty‐five patients, of whom 64.1% fasted, were studied. The fasters were younger (53.3 ± 16.2 vs. 58.4 ± 16.1 years; P = 0.001) but had similar duration on dialysis (P = 0.35). More fasters worked (22.0% vs. 14.6%; P = 0.001) and missed dialysis sessions during Ramadan. No differences were noted between groups in sex, diabetic status, or dialysis shift or day. There were no differences in the pre‐ and post‐dialysis blood pressure; serum potassium, albumin or weight gain; diabetic status; sex; and dialysis shift time or days. However, serum phosphorous was significantly higher in the fasting group (2.78 ± 1.8 vs. 2.45 ± 1.6 mmol/L; P = 0.045). There were no intragroup differences in any of the parameters studied when comparing the findings during Ramadan with those in the month before Ramadan. Fasters were significantly younger and more likely to be working, to miss dialysis sessions, and to have higher serum phosphorous levels. No other differences were observed.     

Impact of BAC limit reduction on different population segments: a Poisson fixed effect analysis

Over the past few decades, several countries enacted the reduction of the legal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit, often alongside the administrative license revocation or suspension, to battle drinking-and-driving behavior. Several researchers investigated the effectiveness of these policies by applying different analysis procedures, while assuming population homogeneity in responding to these laws.

The present analysis focuses on the evaluation of the impact of BAC limit reduction on different population segments. Poisson regression models, adapted to account for possible observation dependence over time and state specific effects, are estimated to measure the reduction of the number of alcohol-related accidents and fatalities for single-vehicle accidents in 22 U.S. jurisdictions over a period of 15 years starting in 1990.

Model estimates demonstrate that, for alcohol-related single-vehicle crashes, (i) BAC laws are more effective in terms of reduction of number of casualties rather than number of accidents, (ii) women and elderly population exhibit higher law compliance with respect to men and to young adult and adult population, respectively, and (iii) the presence of passengers in the vehicle enhances the sense of responsibility of the driver.