Introduction: This study moves to examine the prevalence of risky driving behaviors and deficiency of communication pertinent to topics related to safe driving among adolescents in central Appalachia. Even though plenty of research displays the consequences associated with driving, drivers continue to take part in risky behaviors such as texting while driving, riding in a vehicle without wearing a seatbelt, and riding in a vehicle with someone who has been drinking. Methods: Participants of the study included three high schools in Southwest Virginia consisting of 385 11th and 12th grade students. Students were administered a paper-pencil survey either during homeroom or last period with questions taken from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey. Results: The results of the study indicate the frequent occurrence of young drivers engaging in risky driving behaviors associated with texting while driving and not wearing a seatbelt as both passenger and driver in a vehicle. Additionally, the results of the study indicate that there is a lack of healthcare provider communication related to risks associated with driving. This information is crucial because the data demonstrates the missed opportunity to provide better education to adolescents on how they can prevent harm to their lives or the lives of other citizens while driving. Conclusion: After analyzing these results, it becomes evident that more education about safe driving behaviors is crucial for benefiting the young drivers of this region. Because road injury is the leading cause of death among adolescents, it is paramount to provide educational resources to young drivers to decrease the impact of injuries and deaths related to risky driving behaviors. There resides a missed opportunity to educate adolescents about behaviors that may risk their lives or those of their peers and loved ones. In addition, researchers can conduct further studies to examine effective safe driving education programs to decrease the risk behaviors commonly engaged in by adolescent drivers.

This diploma thesis deals with the normative requirements on the activities of restraint systems. It includes biomechanical limits of the human body, restraint systems, description of the principle of their action and legislation. Legislation, particularly regulations of ECE and EC directives defines the normative requirements on the activity of restraint systems in the context of the approval process. There are described two types of restraint systems: seat belts and airbags in details. There are created simulations of crashtests and reviewed influence of using restraint systems on elimination of negative phenomenon of car accidents.

Ambulanssjukvården är idag en högteknologisk del av den svenska vårdkedjan där patienten ska förväntas möta samma vårdkvalité som i den övriga vården. Ambulansen är utformad till ett vårdrum där patienten ska kunna vårdas, behandlas och transporteras till sjukhus på ett säkert sätt. Prioritet-1 transport innebär att ambulansen med siren och/eller blåljus påkallar fri väg för att snabbt kunna ta sig till skadeplats och patient, eller snabbt kunna transportera patient till sjukhus. Dessa transporter innebär att ambulansen framförs i hastigheter över rådande hastighetsbestämmelser, och utgör en trafiksäkerhetsrisk för både omgivning, personal i ambulansen och patienten. Tidigare forskning har visat att majoriteten av ambulansrelaterade olyckor uppkommer under prioritet-1 transporter. Samtidigt som det innebär en flerfaldigt förhöjd risk för skador med dödlig utgång för personalen i vårdutrymmet vid dessa olyckor jämfört med personal i förarhytten. Detta förklaras av ambulansens design och tekniska utformning samt låg grad av bältesanvändning hos vårdande ambulanspersonal. Ambulanspersonalen har beskrivit att de vid omhändertagandet av den kritiskt sjuke patienten behöver vara obältade under transporten för att utföra avancerad och livsuppehållande behandling under transport. Att transportera patienter är en av de huvudsakliga uppgifterna i dagens ambulanssjukvård, och i ambulanssjuksköterskans kompetensbeskrivning beskrivs att denne ska kunna transportera patienten på ett patient- och trafiksäkert sätt. Studiens syfte var att beskriva sjuksköterskors bedömning av trafiksäkerheten i ambulansens vårdutrymme under prioritet-1 transport till sjukhus. En webenkät utformades för att undersöka sjuksköterskors bedömning av tre identifierade trafiksäkerhetsrisker i vårdutrymmet, den obältade vårdaren, den obältade patienten samt förekomsten av lösa föremål. Resultatet visade en låg bältesanvändning för vårdande sjuksköterska under transport, en hög bältesanvändning för patienten samt en hög förekomst av lösa föremål i vårdutrymmet. Sjuksköterskans utbildning påverkade inte bältesanvändningen för vårdaren, bältesanvändningen för patienten eller förekomsten av lösa föremål. Dock visade resultatet att specialistsjuksköterskorna inom ambulanssjukvård, bedömde trafiksäkerhetsrisken högre för patienten vid de tillfällen då vårdaren var obältad, än de grundutbildade sjuksköterskorna. Vidare ansåg flera av respondenterna att tidsintervallet då hen var obältad och förekomst av lösa föremål utgjorde en högre risk för vårdande sjuksköterska än för patienten. Det var författarnas slutsats att prioritet-1 transporter med ambulans framförs i höga hastigheter, detta med ökad skade-och mortalitetsrisk för ambulanspersonal och patient vid en eventuell kollision. En markant lägre bältesanvändning hos ambulanspersonalen i vårdutrymmet jämfört med nationell data av civila bilister i Sverige, samt av ambulanspersonalen upplevd dålig fordonsdesign med lösa föremål som följd ökar skaderisken ytterligare. Ambulanspersonalen saknar kunskap kring de risker det innebär att färdas obältad i ett fordon, samt kunskap kring de skador lösa föremål kan åstadkomma vid eventuell skadehändelse med involverad ambulans. Vårdmiljön i ambulansen har stor förbättringspotential, där design och utformning kan minska behovet av vårdarens rörlighet och förekomsten av lösa föremål. Kunskap kring trafiksäkerhet och dess betydelse för patient och vårdare behöver ökas hos den operativa ambulanspersonalen. Nyckelord: prehospital, trafiksäkerhet, utryckningskörning, bältesanvändning, lösa föremål / Ambulance care is today an advanced medical instance of the Swedish care system, where patients can expect to meet the same quality of care as in any other care institution. The ambulance is designed to be used as a room for care where the patient can be safely treated and transported to hospitals in a safe way. Priority-1 transport means that the ambulance with the siren and/or lights, demands free access on the road, to quickly get to the patient, or to quickly transport the patient to the hospital. These transports mean that the ambulance drives at speeds that exceeds speed limits, and poses a road safety hazard to both the environment, ambulance staff and the patient. Previous research has shown that the majority of ambulance-related accidents occur under priority-1 transports. At the same time as it involves a multiple increased risk of fatal injury for the personnel in the care space. This is explained by the ambulance's technical design and low proportion of belt use in ambulance staff. Ambulance staff have described that when handling the severely ill patient, they need to be unbelted during transportation to perform advanced and life-saving treatment during transportation. The patient transport to, or between hospitals is one of the main tasks in today's ambulance care, and in the ambulance nurse's competence description it is described that the ambulance nurse should be capable of transporting the patient in a patient-and road safe way.   The purpose of the study was to describe the nurse's assessment of road safety in the ambulance care area, under priority-1 transport to hospitals.   A web survey was designed to investigate the nurse's assessment of three identified road safety risks in the care area, the unbelted care provider, the unbelted patient and the presence of loose objects.   The result showed a low belt usage for the staff during transport, a high belt use for the patient and a high incidence of loose items in the care space. The nurses level of education did not affect the use of seat belts for the nurses, seat belt use or the occurrence of loose objects. However, the result of the fact that the ambulance nurse compared with the undergraduate nurse assessed the road safety risk higher for the patient on occasions when the caretaker was unbelted. It was significantly more common that the nurse considered the time interval when he or she was unbelted as a risk for him/ herself, and the loose objects occur to be posed a higher risk to the caregiver than to the patient. It was the authors' conclusion that priority 1 transports with ambulances are performed at high speeds, whit increased injury and mortality risk for ambulance staff and patient in a possible collision. A significantly lower seat belt use of ambulance staff in the care space compared to national data of civilian drivers in Sweden, as well as the ambulance staff's experience of poor vehicle design with loose items as a consequence, increases the risk of injury further. The care space in the ambulance has great potential for design improvments which can reduce ambulance nurses need of mobility and the presence of loose objects. Knowledge of traffic safety and its importance for patients and care givers, needs to be increased in the operational ambulance personnel.   Keywords: prehospital, traffic safety, emergency driving, seat belt use, loose objects

No description available.

Die Risikohomeostasistheorie (RHT) ist ein formales Konzept zur Erklärung menschlichen Verhaltens im Straßenverkehr bei verändertem Unfallrisiko. Vor dem Hintergrund des gegenwärtigen Standes der Ökonometrie weisen die Untersuchungen zur RHT mittels langer Zeitreihen einige Schwächen auf. Im folgenden wird versucht, diese Schwächen einerseits mit dem Stationaritätskonzept der Ökonometrie und andererseits mit einer auf Dummyvariablen basierenden Methode zu beheben. Gleichzeitig wird die Theorie einem neuerlichen Test auf ihre Gültigkeit hinsichtlich der Unfallsituation im Straßenverkehr in Deutschland unterzogen. Die Arbeit nimmt Bezug erstens auf die Wirksamkeit von Regulierungsmaßnahmen (hier: Verschärfung der Gurtanlegepflicht) und zweitens auf die Wirkungen der deutschen Wiedervereinigung. Beiden Ereignissen wird nach der RHT keine Wirkung zugesprochen. Die Ergebnisse der Analysen unterstützen die Thesen der RHT nur schwach. Sie belegen, daß konsequente und mit Strafandrohung belegte Regulierungsmaßnahmen entgegen dem Postulat der Risikohomeostasisthese eine stark positive Wirkung auf die Unfallsituation besitzen. Außerdem werden die komplexen Entscheidungsprozesse von Verkehrsteilnehmern im Kontext mehrerer theoretischer Konzepte untersucht. Es zeigt sich, das Theorien zur Beschreibung individuellen Verhaltens unter Unsicherheit sehr gut geeignet sind, tatsächliches Verhalten von Verkehrsteilnehmern zu erklären. / Risk homeostasis theory (RHT) is a behavioural theory of risk taking in road traffic. So far, most of the published papers concerning RHT and long time series are based on econometric methods which are not very well suited for this purpose. We propose here to address the issue using instead the econometric concept of stationarity and a concept based on dummy variables. We then test the RHT with German traffic accident data and specifically analyze compulsory traffic safety measures (the penalty for not using seat belts) as well as the effects of German reunification. Both are ineffective according to RHT. Our results, found by using several risk measures, show only weak evidence for RHT. Contrary to RHT, we can show that compulsory safety measures combined with penalties had a strict positive effect on the road traffic accident risk. We also develop a solution which focuses on the complex decision-making process of an individual in road traffic. This is done within the context of several theories explaining individuals decision-making under uncertainty. There we can show that these theoretical concepts are very well suited to explain actual behavior of road users.

Die Risikohomeostasistheorie (RHT) ist ein formales Konzept zur Erklärung menschlichen Verhaltens im Straßenverkehr bei verändertem Unfallrisiko. Vor dem Hintergrund des gegenwärtigen Standes der Ökonometrie weisen die Untersuchungen zur RHT mittels langer Zeitreihen einige Schwächen auf. Im folgenden wird versucht, diese Schwächen einerseits mit dem Stationaritätskonzept der Ökonometrie und andererseits mit einer auf Dummyvariablen basierenden Methode zu beheben. Gleichzeitig wird die Theorie einem neuerlichen Test auf ihre Gültigkeit hinsichtlich der Unfallsituation im Straßenverkehr in Deutschland unterzogen. Die Arbeit nimmt Bezug erstens auf die Wirksamkeit von Regulierungsmaßnahmen (hier: Verschärfung der Gurtanlegepflicht) und zweitens auf die Wirkungen der deutschen Wiedervereinigung. Beiden Ereignissen wird nach der RHT keine Wirkung zugesprochen. Die Ergebnisse der Analysen unterstützen die Thesen der RHT nur schwach. Sie belegen, daß konsequente und mit Strafandrohung belegte Regulierungsmaßnahmen entgegen dem Postulat der Risikohomeostasisthese eine stark positive Wirkung auf die Unfallsituation besitzen. Außerdem werden die komplexen Entscheidungsprozesse von Verkehrsteilnehmern im Kontext mehrerer theoretischer Konzepte untersucht. Es zeigt sich, das Theorien zur Beschreibung individuellen Verhaltens unter Unsicherheit sehr gut geeignet sind, tatsächliches Verhalten von Verkehrsteilnehmern zu erklären. / Risk homeostasis theory (RHT) is a behavioural theory of risk taking in road traffic. So far, most of the published papers concerning RHT and long time series are based on econometric methods which are not very well suited for this purpose. We propose here to address the issue using instead the econometric concept of stationarity and a concept based on dummy variables. We then test the RHT with German traffic accident data and specifically analyze compulsory traffic safety measures (the penalty for not using seat belts) as well as the effects of German reunification. Both are ineffective according to RHT. Our results, found by using several risk measures, show only weak evidence for RHT. Contrary to RHT, we can show that compulsory safety measures combined with penalties had a strict positive effect on the road traffic accident risk. We also develop a solution which focuses on the complex decision-making process of an individual in road traffic. This is done within the context of several theories explaining individuals decision-making under uncertainty. There we can show that these theoretical concepts are very well suited to explain actual behavior of road users.

No description available.