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Biomedical subjects

L S Robertson

Publications and source records attributed to L S Robertson.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1983

Worker injuries: the effects of Workers' Compensation and OSHA inspections.

Detailed analysis of work exposure and worker attributes failed to explain changes in injury claims in three plants, each in a separate state, during 1973-1980. When relative exposure to hazard and worker attributes are controlled, changes in injury rates are largely explained by increases in Workers' Compensation greater than inflation and by inspections made by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Rises in Workers' Compensation greatly increased the claims for injuries, while OSHA citations substantially decreased objectively verifiable injuries in the year following an inspection. Data on days lost due to injury in 167 industrial groupings in 20 states also indicate significant reductions of workdays lost in correlation with OSHA inspections, when increases due to Workers' Compensation are controlled. The results thus appear to be generalizable. Previous studies of OSHA failed to adequately control for Workers' Compensation effects, and thus underestimated the effects of OSHA.

Absenteeism↗
PubMed1983

Highway injury.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1981

Patterns of teenaged driver involvement in fatal motor vehicle crashes: implications for policy choice.

The failure (sometimes with harmful effects) of many current public policies to reduce fatal motor vehicle crashes of teenaged drivers points up the need to consider a broader range of policy options. This article examines data on 236,205 drivers in fatal crashes, including 19,470 who were less than eighteen years old, for patterns which might suggest or rule out particular options. Adults are seldom in the vehicle when drivers under eighteen crash, but requiring the presence of an adult might increase adult deaths rather than reduce teenage crashes. Identification of risk groups through crash and violation records cannot be very effective because drivers under eighteen in fatal crashes usually have no prior record. Legal precedent regarding minors and the pattern of fatal crash involvement by licensure status and time of day suggest that raising the age of licensure to eighteen or prohibiting driving from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. by drivers under eighteen would reduce deaths substantially. Since only 52 percent of motorcyclists under eighteen had a valid motorcyclist license, increased enforcement of motorcyclist licensure laws has the potential to reduce motorcyclists' deaths even if present licensing ages are retained.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1981

Automobile safety regulations and death reductions in the United States.

The effectiveness of federal automobile safety standards was examined using detailed data on 236,000 vehicles in fatal crashes in the United States during 1975-1978. Controlling statistically for type of regulation, types of vehicles, and ages of vehicles, the federal motor vehicle safety standards were associated with substantial reductions in car occupant death per 100 million vehicle miles travelled, and some reductions in fatal collisions of the federally regulated vehicles with pedestrians, motorcyclists, and bicyclists. Some 37,000 fewer deaths occurred in 1975-1978 than would have been expected without the federal standards.

Accident Prevention↗
PubMed1980

Environmental correlates of intercity variation in age-adjusted cancer mortality rates.

Factors contributing to urban differences in cancer mortality rates are difficult to specify because of migration and the delay between exposure to carcinogens and manifestations of the disease. Proxy measures for prior migration, motor vehicle emissions, industrial pollution, factors in the water supplies, and climate, explain more than half the intercity variation in age-adjusted cancer mortality rates among 98 cities in the U.S. in 1970. The potential importance of these environmental factors as the "urban factor" in cancer is discussed.

Carcinogens, Environmental↗
PubMed1980

Crash involvement of teenaged drivers when driver education is eliminated from high school.

In 1976, Connecticut eliminated state funding for high school driver education and nine school systems dropped the courses from their high school curricula. This research examined the effect of this action on overall licensure of 16-17 year old drivers in communities that dropped the course to those in similar sized communities that retained the driver education course using local funds. Substantial reductions in the numbers of 16-17 year olds who became licensed occurred in the communities that dropped the course. As a result, the numbers of crashes involving 16-17 year olds resident in such communities were also substantially reduced. The conclusion of previously reported research that high school driver education is a major contributor to earlier licensure and accompanying crash involvement of the 16-17 year old population is supported by this additional evidence.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1978

Driver education and fatal crash involvement of teenaged drivers.

Fatal crash involvement of teenagers per licensed driver and per population in 27 states was related to the proportions of teenagers who received high school driver education. Among 16--17 year olds, driver education was associated with a great increase in the number of licensed drivers, without a decrease in the fatal crash involvement per 10,000 licensed drivers- About 80 per cent of the 16--17 year olds who took high school driver education obtained licenses that they would not otherwise have obtained until age 18 or thereafter. The net effect is much higher death involvement rates per 10,000 population, on average, in states with greater proportions of 16-17 year olds receiving high school driver education. The data suggest that most teenagers would obtain licenses when they are 18--19 years old, irrespective of high school driver education, and indicate that differences among the states in fatal crash involvement rates per 10,000 licensed 18--19 year old drivers were not significantly related to either high school driver education or delayed licensure.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1977

Car crashes: perceived vulnerability and willingness to pay for crash protection.

A national random sample of 1,017 new-car buyers was surveyed. The respondents indicated a clear preference for more, automatic crash protection rather than for protection that must be activated by those to be protected. Respondents were willing to add an average of $12 to their monthly car payments, if the added cost would save 6,000 lives a year--three times the amount that the currently available technology would actually cost to save 8,800 lives per year. Buyer preferences for crash protection and their willingness to pay were unrelated to their feelings of personal vulnerability to death or injury in car crashes.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1977

Development of sex-trait stereotypes among young children in the United Staes, England, and Ireland.

The Sex Stereotype Measure II (SSM II), a 32-item revision of the Williams, Bennett, and Best Sex Stereotype Measure, was developed to assess children's knowledge of conventional, sex-trait stereotypes defined by American university students. The procedure employed brief stories and human figure silhouettes which were individually administered to 5- and 8-year-old children in the United States, England, and Ireland and group administered to 11-year-olds in the United States. In the United States, knowledge of sex-trait stereotypes was found to develop in a linear fashion between the ages of 5 and 11, with more male traits than female traits being known at each age level. Cross-nationally, there was a high degree of similarity in the nature of the sex stereotypes being learned by the children in the 3 countries, although the rate of learning appeared slower among the Irish children. In all countries there was a clear progression in sex-stereotype learning from age 5 to age 8. English boys had greater knowledge of stereotypes than English girls, but this was not true in Ireland and the United States. Generally, knowledge of male stereotype traits appeared to develop earlier while knowledge of the female traits increased more rapidly between ages 5 and 8. The similarity in sex-stereotype learning in the 3 countries is discussed, and studies in progress in other countries of greater cultural diversity are noted.

Behavior↗
PubMed1976

Estimates of motor vehicle seat belt effectiveness and use: implications for occupant crash protection.

Estimates of the effectiveness of seat belts, when used, in reducing motor vehicle occupant deaths vary widely. A recently publicized claim by one analyst that seat belts reduce vehicle occupant deaths 70-80 per cent is based on studies found to contain fundamental systematic error. Deaths occur only 50 per cent less often to belted compared to nonbelted vehicle occupants in crashes, according to previously unanalyzed data from three U.S. states during recent years. New belt systems would be about 60 per cent effective with 100 per cent use. But surveys of observed belt use in 1975 U.S. cars indicate that two-thirds of drivers were not using belts. Prospects for widespread adoption and enforcement of belt use laws in the U.S. are not encouraging. Substantial reductions in fatal and other injuries would result from the adoption of requirements mandating automatic (passive) protection for front seat occupants in crashes with forward decelerations.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1976

Delivery of health care for children: report of an experiment.

This paper summarizes an experiment evaluating the effectiveness of primary pediatric care delivered to a sample of low-income inner-city families. Primary pediatric care in this study was similar to pediatric group practice. The study findings indicated that the effects of primary care compared with the episodic care received by the control families were appreciable. This included the decreasing of hospitalizations, operations, illness visits, and appointment breaking; increasing of health supervision visits, preventive services, and patient satisfactions; and accomplishing these changes at a lower cost. Patient morbidity was not altered. Medicaid made no difference in the care patterns of the experimental families and apparently benefited only those control families who were white. The controlled clinical trial offers the best opportunity to compare different models of priervices for children.

Attitude to Health↗