In this unending season of the coronavirus pandemic, we recognise with appreciation the efforts put in by all the contributors to our journal, including those whose work did not manage to find inclusion in these pages. We welcome the new decade with hope and promise of meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal(UN SDG) target 3.6, i.e. reducing deaths due to road traffic injuries by half before the end of this decade. In a continuation of the same spirit, we renew our invitation to researchers and scholars in the field to press on with their good work and keep our submission trays full.
The present issue has a spurt of six contributions from USA, in three of which the contributors have collaborated with researchers from other countries. We welcome these cross-country collaborative efforts, particularly between the high income and other countries as it makes for the adoption (where possible) of best practices in one part of the world, adapting to local conditions in another part of the world.
Three articles in this issue have addressed the all-time important pedestrian safety issue. Ali Coleen Fant et al. from USA, have used a combined database from hospital and transportation sources to make a comparative study of injury severity among pediatric pedestrians (in the age group 0–19) in rural and urban areas. Mild and soft tissue injuries were more common in urban settings, while the more severe injuries were more likely to occur in the rural areas, which would point to these factors impinging on population density. The present essay posits a linkage between hospital discharge data and crash data, which leads one to believe that this database could be extended to include other databases for further investigations in the future.
Kim Foulds et al. from USA, have made a presentation on the unintentional injuries of young children in Bangladesh, by leveraging the “Play Safe with Sisimpur” programme in tandem with a school based, child-to-child and adult-to-adult mentorship model. Children below the age of 18 are susceptible to injuries related to road traffic, animal bites, drowning, poisonous substances, falls and burns, which poses a public health problem. This study demonstrates the scale and value of multimedia intervention and peer-to-peer mentoring in reducing unintentional injuries among the rural children in Bangladesh.
Andres Villaveces et al. from USA and Chile, have submitted an essay on road traffic deaths and transport modes with the focus on pedestrians and motorised two wheelers who constitute nearly fifty percent of all fatalities in the Americas. Pedestrian mortality is highest in Mesoamerica and the Andean sub-region, while motorcycle mortality is also the highest in the Andean sub-region, followed by the Southern Cone, even though there are notable variations. The authors maintain that the evidence seems to suggest that pedestrian injuries tend to be clustered geographically. Only five countries in the region under study follow best-practice criteria for speed laws. It was felt that insufficient legislation could be a contributing factor to the number of road deaths in the region.
Farshidreza Haghighi et al. from the Netherlands, Iran, Norway and USA have jointly submitted a paper on pedestrian accidents on urban, suburban and rural roads in the Gilan province of Iran, using structural equation modelling (SEM). The poor design of intersections and the quality of locally manufactured cars may be major contributing factors that put pedestrians at risk. The road, the vehicle, the human and the environment are all factors (in that particular order of importance) that play a part in fatal accidents involving pedestrians. Tavakoli Kashani et al. from Iran have presented the factors affecting the accident size of motorcycle crashes using a structural equation modelling approach. The study considered issues relating to the driver (age, sex), the time and place of the crash, and the relevant environmental factors in such a way that it can be applied to other areas with other characteristics. The authors do acknowledge the fact that the present work omits the key factor of helmet use. These two studies highlight the fact of an increasing use of SEM as a methodological tool in the injury research arena. Structural equation modelling enables examination of the complex interactions among multiple dimensions of risk factors.”
Studies targeting specific professionals are rare in the traffic safety field. We are pleased to carry two such studies in this volume.
Zhipeng Peng et al. from China have made a comparative analysis among various age groups of taxi drivers and their work related factors leading to road traffic accidents. The data for this study were based on a self-reporting questionnaire. The authors suggest that measures should be undertaken to reduce fatigue and risky driving behaviour. Incentive policies should be put in place to support those taxi drivers who have no traffic violation against them. The classroom teaching, the curriculum and the assessment in the education of taxi drivers should be carefully designed to suit the different age groups whose needs, and limitations vary from each other.
Cynthia Bir et al. from USA have made a presentation on the deaths of law enforcement officers and their involvement in motor vehicle accidents. This presents the highest number of accidental fatalities in USA. While most officers understand the dangers associated with their professions, it is unclear whether they understand the prevalence of motor vehicle accident related fatalities.
Addae Boateng Adu-Gyamfi from Ghana, has submitted a paper on the cost of workplace injuries in the informal sector in Kumasi. Particularly in the informal sector, it was noticed that injuries in the workplace led to loss of productivity and imposed enormous financial and emotional burdens on the survivors and his/her family members. The author suggests that those in authority should seriously consider protecting the country’s artisans by instituting special insurance schemes that cover all the workers in the informal sector.
Methods of generating reliable data and a closer look at road environment to reduce traffic crash risk will remain the focus area in this decade. Rahul Goel, et al, from UK, Peru and Brazil have made a joint presentation on using satellite imagery to estimate heavy vehicle volume for ecological injury analysis in India. The unreliable data in low- and middle-income countries on road traffic issues present certain limitations that can be partially mitigated by identifying heavy vehicles (trucks and buses, undifferentiated from each other for the purposes of the present study) from Google Earth satellite imagery. Those living within a I km zone of the National Highway in the state of Rajasthan were geocoded (45,000 villages and 300 cities) for this study. The volume of heavy vehicles, and rural population in proximity to the highway are positively associated with fatality risk.
Mahdi Rezapour et al. from USA have made a presentation that attempts to identify the contributory factors impacting the severity of accidents involving traffic barriers while accounting for the heterogeneity of the latter. The study results show that having to take a turn before the barrier, being a younger driver and driving in adverse weather conditions were factors which significantly reduced the severity of their traffic barrier crashes. It was found that large shoulder lengths were preferable, where the (non-concrete) barrier is at or below 30 inches in height; small shoulder lengths were preferred when the barrier (concrete) is 40 inches or higher.
Vatanavongs Ratanavaraha et al. from Thailand have sent in a paper on driver injury severity in single-vehicle crashes based on age-groups. There are, of course, several factors that could influence the severity of injury to the driver in a single-vehicle crash: time, road, environment, vehicle, and factors relating to the characteristics of the driver. The influence of these relevant factors were found to vary, in such accidents, among the developed and developing countries. The influence of alcohol and driver fatigue on both young and old alike, was seen to increase the risk of a fatal crash.
We are happy to announce the online special issues of the journal. Papers published in this journal will be grouped under specific themes and published online with free access to safety researchers. Our readers can look forward to a special issue on Accidental Statistical Notes in the coming months.
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India
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