Child development and motorcycle safety

Road safety management needs to be strengthened with vision, direction, coordination, management, funding, interventions, advocacy, monitoring and evaluation. Many countries need to be strengthened with sustainable, cost effective and scientific policies. The five pillars of the Decade of Action on Road Safety 2011-2020 including safe roads, safe vehicles, people, post-crash care and efficient management need to be implemented in all Member States. Information through good research is an important building block for all these activities with strong, robust and quality data that can drive activities in future. The report provides an overview of the road safety information systems in the South-East Asia Region, the current knowledge scenario on road safety in the region, priorities for research, research methods and recommendations.

The validity of self-reported helmet use among motorcyclists in India

Background: Motorcyclists are the most vulnerable vehicle users in India. Nopublished study has assessed the validity of self-reported estimates of helmetuse in India. The objectives of this study were to assess helmet use by comparingobserved and self-reported use and to identify factors influencing use amongmotorcyclists in Hyderabad, India.Methods: Population-based observations were recorded for 68 229 motorcyclistsand 21 777 pillion riders (co-passengers). Concurrent roadside observations andinterviews were conducted with 606 motorcyclists, who were asked whether they“always wear a helmet”. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were conductedto determine factors influencing helmet use.Results: In the population-based study, 22.6% (n = 15,426) of motorcyclists and1.1% (n = 240) of pillion riders (co-passengers) were observed wearing helmets. Inroadside interviews, 64.7% (n = 392) of the respondents reported always wearinga helmet, 2.2 times higher than the observed helmet use (29.4%, n = 178) inthe same group. Compared with riders aged ≥40 years, riders in the age groups30–39 years and 18–29 years had respectively 40% (95% confidence interval[CI]: 0.4 to 1.0, P < 0.05) and 70% (95% CI: 0.2 to 0.5, P < 0.001) lower odds ofwearing a helmet after controlling for other covariates. Riders with postgraduateor higher education had higher odds of wearing a helmet (adjusted odds ratio[OR]: 4.1, 95% CI: 2.5 to 6.9, P < 0.001) than those with fewer than 12 grades ofschooling. After adjusting for other covariates, younger riders also had 40% (95%CI: 0.3 to 0.9, P < 0.05) lower odds of self-reporting helmet use, while those withpostgraduate or higher education had 2.1 times higher odds (95% CI: 1.3 to 3.3,P < 0.01) of reporting that they always wear a helmet. Police had stopped only2.3% of respondents to check helmet use in the three months prior to the interview.Conclusion: Observed helmet use is low in Hyderabad, yet a larger proportion ofmotorcyclists claim to always wear a helmet, which suggests that observationalstudies can provide more valid estimates of helmet use. Interview findings suggestthat a combination of increased enforcement, targeted social marketing andincreased supply of standard helmets could be a strategy to increase helmet usein Hyderabad.

Pattern of motorcycle-related injuries in Tehran, 1999 to 2000: a study in 6 hospitals

We studied motorcycle-related injuries in Tehran from 23 August 1999 to 21 September 2000 in 6 hospitals. Data were obtained from the trauma registry and questionnaires completed by trained physicians. Of a total of 8500 patients with trauma injuries, 1332 were motorcyclists, with a male to female ratio of 15:1. Of these, 1226 patients were driving the motorcycle at the time of the accident and 75 were pillion passengers. Crashes involving another vehicle were the commonest kind of accident [72.5%]. Helmet use was noted in only 8.6% of cases. There were 28 fatalities and head injuries were the prominent cause of death. Of those who died, none had been wearing a helmet at time of the crash. Only 2.7% of helmeted riders sustained a head injury, compared with 11.2% of riders without a helmet. The commonest musculoskeletal injury was fracture: tibial fracture with 509 cases [49.8%] comprised the largest proportion