Biomedical subjects

A Scott McKnight

Publications and source records attributed to A Scott McKnight.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Human error in recreational boating.

Each year over 600 people die and more than 4000 are reported injured in recreational boating accidents. As with most other accidents, human error is the major contributor. U.S. Coast Guard reports of 3358 accidents were analyzed to identify errors in each of the boat types by which statistics are compiled: auxiliary (motor) sailboats, cabin motorboats, canoes and kayaks, house boats, personal watercraft, open motorboats, pontoon boats, row boats, sail-only boats. The individual errors were grouped into categories on the basis of similarities in the behavior involved. Those presented here are the categories accounting for at least 5% of all errors when summed across boat types. The most revealing and significant finding is the extent to which the errors vary across types. Since boating is carried out with one or two types of boats for long periods of time, effective accident prevention measures, including safety instruction, need to be geared to individual boat types.

Accident Prevention↗

PubMed2004

Living dangerously: driver distraction at high speed.

Recent research indicates that cell phone use can distract drivers from safe vehicle operation. However, estimates of the prevalence of cell phone use while driving have been limited to daytime hours and low-speed roadways. This paper describes the results of a study to estimate rates of cell phone use and other distractions by examining approximately 40,000 high-quality digital photographs of vehicles and drivers on the New Jersey Turnpike. The photographs, which originally were collected as part of a separate study, were taken both during the day and during the night and at different locations across the span of the Turnpike. A radar gun linked to the camera recorded the speeds of vehicles as they passed. This provided us with the speeds of every vehicle photographed, and allowed us to determine population counts of vehicles. A panel of three trained coders examined each photograph and recorded the presence of cell phone use by the drivers or any other distracting behavior. Demographic information on the driver was obtained during previous examinations of the photographs for an unrelated study. A rating was considered reliable when two out of the three coders agreed. Population estimates (and confidence intervals) of cell phone use and other distractions were estimated by weighting the cases by the inverse probability of vehicle selection. Logistic regression was used to predict cell phone use from demographic and situational factors. The results indicated that the most frequent distraction was cell phone use: 1.5% of the drivers on the Turnpike were using cell phones compared to the 3 to 4% use rates reported in the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) surveys conducted during the daytime on lower speed roadways. The Turnpike survey indicated that cell phones were used less on weekends and at night, and when the driver was exceeding the speed limit or had a passenger in the car.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Controlling impaired driving through vehicle programs: an overview.

The growing recognition of the problem presented by illicit vehicle operation by those whose license has been suspended for driving while intoxicated (DWI) has led to the increasing use of vehicle sanctions. These sanctions include vehicle impoundment and forfeiture, vehicle registration cancellation, and vehicle interlocks as penalties for DWI and driving while suspended (DWS). This article reviews the current information available on the use and effectiveness of vehicle sanctions for reducing offender recidivism. In the United States, 14 states have impoundment laws that are widely used as sanctions for both DWI and DWS, with the length of the impoundment increasing with the number of previous offenses. These laws have been shown to reduce recidivism while the vehicle is in custody and, to a lesser extent, even after the vehicle has been released. Vehicle impoundment is also widely used in Canada and New Zealand. Although a larger number of U.S. states have laws providing for vehicle forfeiture for DWI or DWS, this sanction tends to be limited to multiple offenders and therefore impacts fewer drivers. Cancellation of the vehicle registration and the confiscation of the vehicle plates are increasing in popularity because the vehicle tags are the property of the state, rather than the vehicle owner. Vehicle alcohol interlocks have proven to be an effective method for reducing DWI offender recidivism while they are on the car, but appear to produce only limited post-treatment behavior change. Interlocks are widely used in the United States and Canada and are beginning to be implemented in Europe and Australia. The issues that arise in implementing vehicle sanction programs are discussed and the actions taken by states to deal with them are described.

Alcohol Drinking↗

PubMed2003

Young novice drivers: careless or clueless?

The per-mile accident rate of 16-year-old novices is approximately 10 times that of adults, a difference that has been attributed to the immaturity of youth and the errors of inexperience. Research separating the two influences shows that, over the first few years, the effects of experience greatly exceed those of age, with reductions of approximately two-thirds in the first 500 miles of driving. A study was undertaken to identify the behavioral antecedents of young driver accidents, including any subset of antecedents that could account for the inordinately high initial accident rate. Narrative descriptions of more than 2000 accidents involving 16-19-year-old drivers in two states were analyzed for behavioral contributors. The great majority of non-fatal accidents resulted from errors in attention, visual search, speed relative to conditions, hazard recognition, and emergency maneuvers, with high speeds and patently risky behavior accounting for but a small minority. Differences in the types of errors by first year novices and more experienced youth were relatively few in number and small in magnitude, indicating that the benefits of experience apply rather generally across all aspects of driving.

Accidents, Traffic↗

PubMed2002

Sobriety tests for low blood alcohol concentrations.

The legal limits of blood alcohol concentration (BAC) for operators of commercial vehicles throughout the United States, and underage drivers in most states, are approximately half the 0.08-0.10% imposed on other drivers. Easily administered measures involving performance and appearance are needed to establish probable cause for requesting breath tests. Several measures showing relationships to blood alcohol were examined for their ability to distinguish BACs under and over 0.04% within the 0.00-0.08% range. Measures of heat loss. pupillary response, balance, complex tasks, and accuracy under speed were studied in controlled experiments with alcohol-dosed subjects. The only reliable index of blood alcohol was horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN) as administered in the standardized field sobriety test (SFST), using alternative scoring criteria. Although other measures evidenced intra-individual change at low BACs, the magnitude of change was greatly exceeded by inter-individual differences, thwarting their use in detecting drivers with BACs lower than 0.08%. HGN, however, proved as valid in detecting BACs in the 0.04-0.08% range as at the higher levels of the SFST. It is also as valid when administered to a seated subject as one standing, making it of particular benefit in enforcement, where the behavior of low BAC drivers rarely provides probable cause to request that they leave a vehicle to be tested in a standing position.

Accidents, Traffic↗