https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9302-1243
The present issue contains several submissions which attest to the fact of an increase in the number of fruitful collaborations between researchers in various countries. China has one joint effort and three independent presentations. We welcome the submissions to this issue of the journal from Saudi Arabia, Hungary, Pakistan, Tanzania, Sweden, Greece, Iran, USA, Croatia, UAE, Switzerland, Qatar, Ghana, the Republic of Korea and India. That is to say, the fifteen essays in the present issue represent the efforts of our contributors from sixteen countries. We note with some disquiet that researcher-contributors and readers alike continue to labour under the pall of the pandemic.
YI Zhang, et al., from China have submitted an essay on the characteristics of emergency room visits in patients with facial injuries in mainland China during the 60-day level 1 Emergency Response to Covid-19. The number of facial injuries during this period was greatly diminished. This decline was more evident in teenagers and young adults and most pronounced from late evening to early morning the next day. These findings, the authors maintain, can help the medical authorities in coping better with pandemics in the future.
Arshad Jamal, et al., from Saudi Arabia, China, Hungary and Pakistan have jointly presented a paper on machine learning techniques for predicting injury severity of traffic crashes in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, using data collected from January 2017 to December 2019. The authors claim that their model outperformed the earlier models in overall accuracy and gave a better predictive performance among the various injury severity classes.
Filbert Francis, et al., from Tanzania and Sweden have studied motorcycle related injuries in Tanzania using multiple correspondence and cluster analysis. Their essential focus is on road infrastructure and traffic density at high risk urban locations. The authors of the study found that two of the three hotspot clusters identified were hazardous and unsafe for motorcyclists and accounted for fatal and severe injuries. The third cluster which had less severe outcomes, had road traffic control measures in place.
Fani Antoniou, et al., from Greece have presented a paper on the accidents that occur in different types of construction and at different stages of construction within the ambit of a single market/country. Their research points to the fact that Greece should have more stringent Health & Safety (H&S) regulations that meet international standards. Construction sites of buildings, road projects and urban renovations tended to be more prone to accidents, particularly at the stage when the temporary support structures were being erected. The authors highlighted the contradictions regarding the contributing factors as perceived by the professionals with those verified by international real accident data.
Dina Mustafa Awadalla, et al., from the United Arab Emirates have made a submission on the risks of single vehicle run-off-road crash fatalities and how they are influenced by roadside design compliance. The clear zone on the side of the road were often narrower than the recommended width; barrier related deficiency regarding placement, or inadequate test levels; and, high curb height were all factors that contributed to run-off-road fatalities. In short, non-compliant roadside design was suspected as being the main factor which resulted in fatalities in single vehicle run-off-road crashes.
Zeljka Babic, et al., from Croatia have presented a paper on the emergency response to poisonings in preschool children in two groups in and around the city of Zagreb, Croatia. The authors conclude that although the regulatory packaging restrictions such as child resistant caps, flow restrictors for liquid medications or reductions in unit-dose packaging can reduce the severity of childhood poisoning, more effort is needed in ensuring that theses incidences do not happen in the first place.
Wael K. M. Alhajyaseen, et al., from Qatar and Switzerland have made a presentation on road safety and the Covid-19 pandemic by examining the opinions of road safety experts and the general public. An important finding of the study is the contradictions in perceptions of the general public versus road safety experts. While the general public reported that the roads became safer and driving behaviour improved during the pandemic, the majority of the experts disagreed.
Zhipeng Peng, et al., from China have sent in a paper which discusses the factors influencing injury severity of crashes in both, the day time and the night time, on a mountainous expressway in China. The authors conclude that serious crashes on mountain freeways are preventable. The proposed countermeasures cover all three aspects: education and enforcement, technology improvement, and road engineering. The proposed road engineering countermeasures have been linked to safe driving practices. The future researchers may work on a simulation model to take this area of research forward.
Daniel Atuah Obeng, et al., from Ghana have studied the pedestrian safety perceptions on midblock crosswalk utilization in Sunyani municipality in Ghana. Pedestrian risk and behaviour at a crosswalk is a well-researched area. The results of this study contributes to this field by highlighting the perceptions of pedestrians on the use of crosswalks regarding the location of crosswalks. They found that if the views and perceptions of the pedestrians are incorporated in the location, design and construction of these facilities, it would go a long way in increasing the use of these midblock crosswalks and reduce the occurrences of avoidable accidents. This is an important finding for the experts who are involved in designing these facilities.
Hyeonmyeong Jeon, et al., from the Republic of Korea have sent in an essay on the factors affecting injury severity and the number of vehicles involved in a freeway traffic accident. The number of vehicles involved in a multiple vehicle accident on a freeway can indicate the many factors affecting severity, which cannot be provided by the victim fatality rate. An important suggestion that has been made is the prevention of drowsy driving. It should also be noted that traffic volume will have a direct bearing on pile-up accidents on a freeway.
Dipanjan Mukheree, et al., from India have made a submission on the evaluation of proactive pedestrian safety at the road network level in Kolkata city. The study assesses the important factors affecting pedestrian safety in vehicle-pedestrian crashes using post-encroachment time. The study results generally are in agreement with earlier studies; however, two important findings discussed by the authors include the presence of inaccessible crosswalks and its impact on Post Encroachment Time (PET) and safety, and impact of increase in share of pedestrians using cross walk on PET.
The achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal of reducing traffic fatalities by half in 2030, depends on the efforts of the young researchers working on various complex aspects of road safety. We look forward to receiving innovative research studies in the coming years.
Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India
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Funding
The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.