Road safety

ABSTRACT
Background The objective of the current study is to determine to what extent the reduction of Chile’s traffic fatalities and injuries during 2000–2012 was related to the police traffic enforcement increment registered after the introduction of its 2005 traffic law reform.
Methods A unique dataset with assembled information from public institutions and analyses based on ordinary least square and robust random effects models was carried out. Dependent variables were traffic fatality and severe injury rates per population and vehicle fleet. Independent variables were: (1) presence of new national traffic law; (2) police officers per population; (3) number of traffic tickets per police officer; and (4) interaction effect of number of traffic tickets per police officer with traffic law reform. Oil prices, alcohol consumption, proportion of male population 15–24 years old, unemployment, road infrastructure investment, years’ effects and regions’ effects represented control variables.
Results Empirical estimates from instrumental variables suggest that the enactment of the traffic law reform in interaction with number of traffic tickets per police officer is significantly associated with a decrease of 8% in traffic fatalities and 7% in severe injuries. Piecewise regression model results for the 2007–2012 period suggest that police traffic enforcement reduced traffic fatalities by 59% and severe injuries by 37%.
Conclusions Findings suggest that traffic law reforms in order to have an effect on both traffic fatality and injury rates reduction require changes in police enforcement practices. Last, this case also illustrates how the diffusion of successful road safety practices globally promoted by WHO and World Bank can be an important influence for enhancing national road safety practices

This research was carried out as part of the French national multidisciplinary research project, PREDIT-SARI. Using a driving simulator, it aimed to test the effectiveness of road treatments intended to inform drivers about the risk of losing control on rural roads with “crest vertical curves” (Landis et al., 2004). [Rosey, F., Auberlet, J.M., Bertrand, J., Plainchault, P., 2008. Impact of perceptual treatments on lateral control during driving on crest vertical curves: a driving simulator study. Accid. Anal. Prev. 40, 1515–1523, Scopus.] used a fixed-base driving simulator to test four perceptual treatments intended to help drivers maintain lateral control when driving on crest vertical curves and found that two of them, rumble strips on both sides of the centerline and sealed shoulders, were more effective than the others. This first study prompted us to ask if non-visual sensory cues (e.g., vestibular or proprioceptive perceptions) could influence driver perception and consequently lateral control. We therefore conducted a second study on a motion-base driving simulator, using the same virtual 3D database. The results showed that: (1) drivers drive closer to the center of their lane when there are rumble strips on both sides of the centerline, or when there are sealed shoulders, than they do with the current marking system (i.e., continuous lines), and (2) the impact of the two tested perceptual treatments was replicated on both types of driving simulator.

In this article, the ideas behind two different speed camera systems in Australia, Victoria, and Sweden are explored and compared. The study shows that even if the both systems technically have the same aim -to reduce speeding -the ideas of how that should be achieved differ substantially. The approach adopted in Victoria is based on the concept that speeding is a deliberate offence in which a rational individual wants to drive as fast as possible and is prepared to calculate the costs and benefits of his behaviour. Therefore, the underlying aim of the intervention is to increase the perceived cost of committing an offence whilst at the same time decrease the perceived benefits, so that the former outweigh the latter. The Swedish approach, on the other hand, appears to be based on a belief that road safety is an important priority for the road users and one of the reasons to why road users drive too fast is lack of information and social support.

This paper discusses about the prevailing issue of hazard light "misuse" among some Malaysian road users. This preliminary discussion is a part of a future research in one of the research clusters established at MIROS -the Weather-related Road Accident Preventive Program (WRRAPP). The issue can be addressed through the amendments in the current road transport legislation and also to propose the use of rear fog lamp or a new light that could serve the purpose. Future research in WRRAPP will bring this issue in a Focus Group Discussion that could gain more valuable information from both the road users and relevant experts.

When dealing with the duality of traffic accidents and road safety, smoking while driving is one of the factors that, despite the social beliefs and/or misconceptions, causes a large number of injuries and deaths worldwide. Although smoking is a well-known harmful behavior for people's health, it affects health and safety in many ways, perhaps more than some segments of the population can imagine. This is the specific case of drivers. The main objective of this study was to describe the behavioral and representational aspects of drivers that modulate the smoking-accidents relation. Specifically, it focuses in the frequency and reasons why drivers smoke while driving. On the other hand, it was also considered the perception of drivers regarding the probability of penalty, the penalties imposed, and their severity. Finally, drivers' opinion on the effectiveness of such penalty in order to change this behavior was also studied. A sample of 1100 Spanish drivers was obtained from a national sampling process. The results showed that approximately the 11% of drivers circulate regularly smoking. Among the specific reasons, the most common is that constitutes a habit of the interviewed driver. Regarding punishment, drivers considered as limited the probability of being caught. Moreover, there has been no respondents who have been fined for this behavior while driving. In general, it seems that drivers are aware of the risk implied by this behavior. However, there are very few drivers who value this as a high-risk behavior. This agrees with the respondents' opinion that it is, in other words, driving under a low sense of responsibility. Thus, it results logical that the sanction that the respondents believe more appropriate for the behavior of smoking while driving is an economic penalty. As a conclusion, it has been remarked that there is a clear lack of correspondence between the risk perceived in this misbehavior and the frequency and motives argued to perform it while driving. It is worth mentioning that it makes important to improve the awareness and monitoring of this behavior among Spanish drivers as a manner to, first, promote healthy habits among key sectors of population, and, second, to prevent potential road crasher related to the psychomotor impairments that this behavior implies on driving performance.