Investigating the role of health belief model on seat belt use for front seat passengers on urban and rural roads.

What makes a vehicle user buckle up? Considering the strong effect of seat belt use in reducing injuries and fatalities in a vehicle crash, we investigated the role of the health belief model on seat belt use among front-seat passengers on urban and rural roads. A questionnaire based on the theory components was randomly distributed in public areas of Sari, Iran. Structural equation model was used to test the study hypotheses. The results revealed that anticipated severity and perceived susceptibility directly affected seat belt use on urban roads, whereas perceived barriers had a reverse effect on seat belt use on urban roads. Perceived barriers with an indirect and perceived susceptibility with a direct effect, played an essential role in explaining seat belts use on rural roads. Outcomes of this study extend the knowledge of seat belts use behavior among front seat passengers by introducing new factors of potential influence, which could lead to practical solutions aimed to enhance seat belts utilization among these vehicle users and decrease the rate of injuries and fatalities in road crashes.

Bicyclists injury severities: An empirical assessment of temporal stability.

Cyclists are among the most vulnerable participants in road traffic, making their safety a top priority. Riding behavior of bicyclists could shift over time, affecting the level of injuries sustained in bicyclist-involved crashes. Many studies have been done to identify the factors influencing bicyclist injury severity, but the temporal stability of these variables over time needs further study. The temporal instability of components that affect the cyclist injury levels in bicycle collisions is explored in this paper. To obtain potential unobserved heterogeneity, yearly models of cyclist-injury levels (including potential consequences of no, minor, and severe injury) were measured separately applying a random parameters logit model that allows for potential heterogeneity in estimated parameters' means and variances. Employing a data source on bicycle collisions in Los Angeles, California, over the course of six years (January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2017), several variables which may impact the injury level of cyclists were explored. This paper has also employed a set of likelihood ratio tests assessing the temporal instability of the models. The temporal instability of the explanatory parameters has been evaluated with marginal effects. The results of the model assessment indicate that several factors may raise the chances of severe bicyclist injuries in collisions, including cyclists older than 55 years old, cyclists who were identified to be at-fault in crashes, rear-end collisions, cyclists who crossed into opposing lane before the collision, crashes occurring early mornings (i.e., 00:00 to 06:00) and so on. The results also showed that the details and estimated parameters of the model do not remain stable over the years, however the source of this instability is unclear. In addition, the findings of model estimation demonstrate that considering the heterogeneity in the random parameter means and variances will enhance the overall model fit. This study also emphasizes the significance of accounting for the transferability of estimated models and the temporal instability of parameters influencing the injury severity outcomes in order to dynamically examine the collected data and adjust safety regulations according to new observations.

The role of perceived risk, reasons for non-seat belt use and demographic characteristics for seat belt use on urban and rural roads.

Despite the well-documented benefits of seat belt use, a large number of drivers fail to fasten their seat belts in Iran. Efforts to improve seat belt use can be enhanced by identifying factors that motivate seat belt use. The main aims of this study were to assess the relationship between perceived risk of being ticketed and seat belt use among adult drivers on urban and rural roads and to identify reasons for not wearing a seat belt while exploring the relationship between these reasons and demographic information of adult drivers. An additional aim was to explain seat belt use on these two types of roads based on the perceived risk of being ticketed, demographic characteristics of drivers and the reasons for not wearing a seat belt. A total of 546 questionnaires were distributed including demographic information, items measuring the perceived risk of being ticketed and inquiry about the reasons for refusing to wear a seat belt. The results from valid questionnaires (n = 397) revealed that the perceived risk of being ticketed was not a predictor of seat belt use on urban and rural roads while controlling for age, gender, the influence of being ticketed and discomfort were predictors of seat belt use on urban roads. Meanwhile, older drivers, being ticketed in the past 3 years, having vehicle crashes in the past 3 years and discomfort were sole predictors of seat belt use on rural roads. Also, the findings suggested that there were differences between groups of respondents based on their demographic characteristics in the perceived risk of being ticketed and reported reasons for not wearing seat belts. The findings of this article extended the outcomes of previous studies in factors affecting seat belt use separately for drivers on urban and rural roads, which can help policy-makers promote seat belt use rates.

Factors affecting use and nonuse of child safety car seats in Gorgan, Iran.

Objective: Motor vehicle accidents, which are among the main causes of child mortality in Iran and the Middle East, impose staggering costs for the community. Ignoring use of safety devices for children in most motor vehicle crashes will lead to death or serious injury. Because few studies have been performed on effective and predictive factors regarding use of child safety seats, the purpose of this study was to examine the factors affecting the use and nonuse of child safety seats, along with the factors that can facilitate how a child safety seat is used. Method: This study was conducted in the urban area of Gorgan using a questionnaire. Through random selection, 204 parents with at least one child, aged 8 years or younger, reported their knowledge about the benefits of using a child safety seat. Results: The results showed that 80% of parents never use a child safety seat, and 13% always use a child safety seat. More than 93% thought that it was necessary to make usage of the child safety seat obligatory. In addition, 80% of parents believed that a child safety seat prevents children from injury in crashes. In addition, 38% of parents were not aware of child safety devices and child safety, less than 20% said that they did not use a child safety seat because their spouse did not support its use, and 28% of them thought that a child safety seat does not affect the safety of the child. In general, 91% of parents reported that if child safety seat use were mandated, the frequency of use would increase. A law on the use of child safety seats is a very important variable in their use, which can enhance the chance of using a child safety seat by 6.5 times. Conclusion: Special instructions should be developed to create incentive strategies for using a child safety seat. Mandating the use of a child safety seat, equipping cars with a child safety seat, encouraging children to use it, and providing continuous education and training are important factors for increasing the use of child safety seats.

The Belief and Attitude of the Drivers Toward the Usage of Cellphone while Driving; A Population-Based Survey.

OBJECTIVE: To presents a survey investigating differences between drivers' beliefs regarding utilizing cellphone when driving. METHODS: In this population-based survey, the participants who were studied in the North of Iran, Gorgan, were categorized as main urban and rural areas. A sample of 400 drivers, 92 women and 308 men, filled out the four sections questionnaire which was based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) used for measuring the differences between the drivers' opinions (attitudinal beliefs, normative beliefs, and perceived control behavioral beliefs) about utilizing a cell phone when driving along with their age and driving purpose. Data were collected by distributing the 68- query questionnaire between the drivers. RESULTS: The MANOVA analysis showed that important discrepancies were found between the normative, control and behavioral beliefs of cellular phone users while driving. As expected, frequent business and younger users with sturdy intention expressed more benefits of further concentration on family members and fewer obstacles that would prevent them from utilizing cellphone when driving than older and frequently personal users. CONCLUSION: These results indicated that the benefits of utilizing cellphone while driving are greater than its dangers. To reduce cellphone utilization when driving and increase road safety, more effort is required to lower the perceived advantages of the behavior and to outstand the risks of this hazardous driving act.

Role of Motorcycle Running Lights in Reducing Motorcycle Crashes during Daytime; A Review of the Current Literature.

In comparison to other transportation modes, riding motorcycle is prone to accidents. Motorcyclists are more exposed to physical injury than the car drivers. Many multi-vehicle motorcycles crashes occur, there is right-of- way violation takes place in which another vehicle turns in fronts of a motorcycle, or a sudden cross of path of an on-coming motorcycle. One main factor which leads to high rate of motorcycle crashes is lack of conspicuity of motorcycles by other road users especially during day time traffic. This paper highlights previous studies on the implementation of motorcycle DRLs, focusing on the efficacy of the DRLs to improve motorcycle conspicuity. This paper reviews the impacts of DRL by motorcyclists on multi-vehicle motorcycle crash. The three categories of effects of motorcycle DRLs were reviewed. All literature, supporting that operating headlights during daytime appears to be an influential and effective approach to reduce rate of collision by improving motorcycle's conspicuity in traffic. The motorcycle DRLs managed to reduce about 4 to 20% of motorcycle crash risk. This paper also recommends that motorcycle DRLs must be used globally, especially in countries with high motorcycle accidents to improve the safety of the riders as well as their pillion riders.

Motorcyclist rear brake simple perception-response times in rear-end collision situations.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the baseline motorcycle riders' perception-response times (PRTs) in an expected object braking task and to determine the significant difference between PRTs of older and younger riders. METHODS: Fifty-nine participants sat on their motorcycles in exactly the same way as they would when riding and then they awaited activation of the taillights of the passenger car (parked) in front of them. PRTs of the motorcyclists were transcribed from the camcorder when the riders hit the brakes as quickly as possible following the activation of the car's brake lights. RESULTS: Results of PRT were calculated by taking the average of both male and female older and younger riders. The study demonstrates that the mean and standard deviation of the motorcycle baseline PRTs are 0.44 and 0.11 s, respectively. Riders' age and gender were not found to be significant variables for PRT. CONCLUSION: The mean of baseline perception-reaction time of motorcycle riders is smaller than that of passenger car drivers. If traffic facilities are designed based on passenger car drivers' simple perception-reaction times where drivers are generally more alert (for example, in traffic signal design), they can provide the required PRT for motorcyclists. This suggests that the utilization of more powerful brake lights on motorcycles could be highly effective for preventing rear-end motorcycle collisions.