Event data recorders (EDRs) are an invaluable data source that have begun to, and will increasingly, provide novel insight into motor vehicle crash characteristics. The "black boxes" in automobiles, EDRs directly measure precrash and crash kinematics. This data has the potential to eclipse the many traditional surrogate measures used in vehicle safety that often rely upon assumptions and simplifications of real world crashes. Although EDRs have been equipped in passenger vehicles for over two decades, the recent establishment of regulation has greatly affected the quantity, resolution, duration, and accuracy of the recorded data elements. Thus, there was not only a demand to reestablish confidence in the data, but a need to demonstrate the potential of the data. The objectives of the research presented in this dissertation were to (1) validate EDR data accuracy in full-frontal, side-impact moving deformable barrier, and small overlap crash tests; (2) evaluate EDR survivability beyond regulatory crash tests, (3) determine the seat belt accuracy of current databases, and (4) assess the merits of other vehicle-based crash severity metrics relative to delta-v. This dissertation firstly assessed the capabilities of EDRs. Chapter 2 demonstrated the accuracy of 176 crash tests, corresponding to 29 module types, 5 model years, 9 manufacturers, and 4 testing configurations from 2 regulatory agencies. Beyond accuracy, Chapter 3 established that EDRs are anecdotally capable of surviving extreme events of vehicle fire, vehicle immersion, and high delta; although the frequency of these events are very rare on U.S. highways. The studies in Chapters 4 and 5 evaluated specific applications intended to showcase the potential of EDR data. Even single value data elements from EDRs were shown to be advantageous. In particular, the seat belt use status may become a useful tool to supplement crash investigators, especially in low severity crashes that provide little forensic evidence. Moreover, time-series data from EDRs broadens the number of available vehicle-based crash severity metrics that can be utilized. In particular, EDR data was used to calculate vehicle pulse index (VPI), which was shown to have modestly increased predictive abilities of serious injury compared to the widely used delta-v among belted occupants. Ultimately, this work has strong implications for EDR users, regulatory agencies, and future technologies. / Ph. D.

Where can state, local and federal government officials concentrate their resources in order to reduce the highway fatality rate? A highway fatality model was developed to determine which factor has the greatest positive or negative impact on the highway fatality rate. A cross-section of data from states for 1984 and 1985 was collected for the following variables: average speed, speed variance, percentage of drivers wearing seat belts, percentage of licensed male drivers, percentage of drivers under 25 years of age, drinking age for beer, per capita alcohol consumption, percentage of urban population, and percentage of urban roads. The highway fatality equation was estimated via an iterative approach using ordinary least squares. The variables testing significant include: average speed, speed variance, drinking age for beer, percentage of drivers under 25 years of age, and percentage of urban roads. When translating the results into a policy action, it was determined that keeping the speed limit at 55 MPH on rural interstates would prevent the greatest number of traffic fatalities. Other policy actions considered in order of their impact on highway fatalities include: more stringent enforcement of the 55 MPH speed limit, restricting teenage night-time driving, raising the driving age to 17 years of age, and raising the drinking age for beer to 21 in the seven remaining states. / M.A.

A pledge card program designed to motivate safety belt use was implemented at a Baptist church in Blacksburg, Virginia. The intervention consisted of an educational insert and pledge card which were included in church bulletins on one Sunday morning. The insert described the risk of injury on highways and added a prompt for parents to provide positive role models for their children by wearing safety belts. The pledge card included a statement that signers would buckle their safety belts for four weeks when traveling. Data were collected at predetermined time periods on Sunday mornings between January 29 and May 20, 1984. The study consisted of five phases: Unannounced Baseline, Announced Baseline, Pledge Period, Follow-Up, and Long-Term Follow-Up. Ten percent of 441 individuals attending church when the pledge cards were distributed signed and returned a pledge card. Results revealed that shoulder belt use of pledge card signers increased significantly after signing the pledge cards, while shoulder belt use of non-signers did not significantly increase. In addition, shoulder belt usage of females was significantly higher than shoulder belt usage of males following the announcement of the research and throughout the remainder of the study. Evidence of participant reactivity is also presented. Suggestions are made for mitigating reactivity, for achieving greater impact on males, and for motivating more males and females to sign pledge cards. / Master of Science

Agriculture consistently ranks as one of the most dangerous occupations based on an overall work death rate. Tractor overturns, by far the single largest cause of death on farms, account for approximately 19% of all on-farm deaths. The concept of a Roll-over Protective Structure (ROPS) came into existence in 1971 and is designed to form a protection zone for the operator. However, the only way that the operator will stay in the zone is by using a seatbelt or other restraint system. A survey on tractor seatbelt usage was undertaken. Results indicate that only 13% of operators wear seatbelts half or more of the time and 61% report never wearing one. The reasons for these practices are a combination of factors: too much inconvenience, time consuming, an old habit of not wearing one, and a feeling that there is no danger. However, even in the face of such negativity, the survey revealed that 65% of the operators were neutral or approved of the idea of an automatically closing seatbelt. An automatically closing restraint system prototype was designed and built. The system was found to be costly ($560.00) and the potential for mass retrofitting was found to be very limited. However, an automatically closing seatbelt seems to be a viable solution to the problem of operators being unwilling to use the seatbelts provided. / Master of Science

A field study investigated the relevancy of certain theories in applied psychology for increasing vehicle safety belt use by children. Five different intervention activities applied either extrinsic rewards, or focused on the development of intrinsic motivation (e.g., personal commitment, awareness, active participation). The subjects were 138 children, aged five to eleven years, who attended five 30-min safety belt intervention activities as part of a summer recreation program conducted at three elementary schools. Safety belt use by children and their parents was directly observed and coded by vehicle license number both before and after the interventions. Coupons for free food at a fast food restaurant were distributed to participants by the school personnel, and safety belt use was observed at the restaurant's drive-thru window to assess generalization. The results revealed that participants from all three reward contingency conditions (i.e., rewards for safety belt use, participation, and noncontingent rewards) significantly increased their frequency of safety belt use from the baseline to intervention phase. The parents, although not direct participants in the program, showed similar increases in safety belt use. The increase in safety belt use also generalized to the fast food restaurant for both children and parents; however this effect was transient. Data collected during a three-week withdrawal period indicated that safety belt use decreased slightly among participants rewarded for belt use during the intervention, whereas safety belt use increased slightly for those who received noncontingent rewards or rewards for participation. This finding is consistent with "minimal justification" and "intrinsic motivation" theories and suggests that long-term maintenance and generalization of changes in safety belt use are inversely related to the degree of external control exerted to motivate safety belt use. From an application perspective, this research developed practical community-based interventions for increasing the use of safety belts among children, and demonstrated that behavior change among children may influence the safety belt use of other members in their family. / Ph. D.

This study examined the parameters under which risk compensation in driving can occur due to the use of safety belts. Risk compensation theories hypothesize that if individuals wear safety belts, they will . drive in a more risky manner than if they do not wear safety belts due to the increased perception of safety they provide. Although much of the current literature has debated the existence of risk compensation in driving for many years, until the current study an experimental analysis of the effect has not yet been conducted that permits a controlled examination of both between-subject and within-subject effects. Risk compensation was not found in the between-subject analyses of the present research, however the within-subject analyses demonstrated the risk compensation effect. Subjects drove significantly faster when they switched from not wearing a safety belt to wearing a safety belt than subjects who either did not switch belt use or drivers who switched from safety belt use to safety belt non-use. The study also suggested that the mechanism by which risk compensation occurs is that safety belt use makes drivers feel safer when they can compare the sensations wearing a safety belt vs. those when not wearing a safety belt. The risk compensation effect probably did not manifest itself in the between-subject studies because this comparison did not (and could not) take place. The implications of this study to driving real automobiles on multi-user roadways is discussed. Suggestions and examples of possible research to further expand the knowledge about how and when risk compensation occurs are also provided. / Ph. D. / incomplete_metadata

Research has shown that seat belt wearing among white-collar workers can be motivated through the use of incentives. Incentive strategies have not, however, been effective among blue-collar workers for several reasons: (1) lack of identification with the programs; (2) lack of influence on development of the programs; (3) the perception of the programs as a form of behavioral control; and (4) the blue-collar worker's perception of driving being a relatively riskless task and their "negative macho" image of seat belt wearing, among others. The incentive program evaluated in this study was developed with consideration of the points listed above and included, as its major component for combatting the aforementioned problems, an "awareness session" which attempted to make blue-collar workers aware of the value of vehicular safety belts while soliciting their opinions as to how a seat belt motivation program should be conducted. It was hoped that the latter component would foster identification with the program and allay any suspicion of management control. This program was very effective at motivating safety belt use among blue-collar workers, effecting an eight-fold increase in the percentage of seat belt wearers. In addition, the design enabled a conclusion that the "awareness session" was a necessary component of the intervention package. / M. S.

- Companies in Private International Law The purpose of this diploma thesis is to examine regulation of companies in private international law in the Czech Republic and also from the European Union law perspective. The thesis is divided into four main chapters. First chapter provides a brief definition of the basic legal concepts that are central to this thesis - definition of a company and definition of a private international law. Second chapter explains the concept of lex personalis and two opposing conflict of law theories, which link companies to a certain system of law; the incorporation theory and the real seat theory. Third chapter focuses on the relevant Czech legislation, especially on the Czech Commercial Code, which contains provisions on determining lex personalis of a company as well as rules on cross-border transfer of seat of a company. Forthcoming re-codification of private law in Czech Republic is also discussed with regard to the regulation of companies in private international law. Fourth, the most extensive chapter of this thesis describes and analyzes the European Union law relating to the freedom of establishment of companies. First, the very concept of freedom of establishment is explained with references to primary EU law. Subsequently, six landmark decisions of the Court...

With regard to the gradual economic globalisation markets of States become more and more interconnected, especially so in the European Union which aims to create a single internal market without internal borders and barriers to the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital. Naturally, it influences behaviour of economic participants on the market. With increase of competition it is necessary to be more innovative, active and to search for new opportunities for expansion not only in one's own State but also abroad which entails entering into relations with foreign entities. In the course of time it might be useful or even necessary to relocate the place of business. Such need might not and, indeed, does not concern only natural person but also legal entities such as companies. However, the status of companies in cross-border relations has some specific features in comparison to the status of natural persons. A company is only an artificial product of law, a mere legal fiction, and therefore, its existence is much more closely linked with a specific legal order. A company has legal personality only insofar as some legal order acknowledges it. Different approaches how to link a company to a certain State have been evolved in different States - either the connecting factor is the statutory...

The aim of this work is to analyse the companies under the private international and European law, their cross-border mobility and the problems associated therewith. Crucial emphasis is placed on the synthesis of foreign and Czech authors and confrontation of theory and practice in the light of the current global development of company law in private international law. The key point is the determination of personal status of the company and the conflict between the incorporation theory and the real seat theory. At the outset the author explains the reasons which led him to write this thesis, including the methods used to do so. The whole thesis is divided into four main thematic areas. In the first chapter, some of the basic concepts are defined in order to clarify the thematic framework within which the thesis will be dealt with. The second chapter addresses the definition of the term "Company", its personal status, various approaches to determine the effects of different conflict theories and the regulatory competition arising thereof. The third part deals with a detailed analysis of the Czech law, in particular with the relationship between the Czech Republic and foreign companies, the concept of residence, criteria for determining personal status and different approaches to the cross-border...