PubMed · 9730354
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J Shrader. 1998. Driver education.. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1054-139x(98)00106-2
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A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted to examine factors affecting the severity of motor vehicle traffic crashes (MVTCs) involving elderly drivers in Ontario. The study population included drivers aged 65 and over involved in injury-producing MVTCs between 1988 and 1993 on Ontario public roads. Information was obtained from the Canadian Traffic Accident Information Databank (TRAID) compiled from police reports. The severity of MVTC was classified as fatal, major, minor or minimal. Comparisons between fatal-, major-, minor- and minimal-injury crashes were conducted. Percentage distributions of crashes at each level of severity involving elderly drivers were examined according to specific factors and tested using the X2 test. Multivariate unconditional logistic regression was used to calculate the estimated relative risk as odds ratios (ORs) while controlling for confounding factors. A number of factors were significantly related to the increased risk of fatal-injury in crashes compared with a reference category for each variable. These included age (OR = 1.4 for 70-79 and OR = 2.3 for 80 + ), sex (OR = 1.4 for males), failing to yield right-of-way/disobeying traffic signs (OR = 1.7), non-use of seat belts (OR = 4.0), ejection from vehicle (OR = 11.3), intersection without traffic controls (OR = 1.7), roads with higher speed limits (OR = 7.9 for 70-90 km/h; OR= 5.8 for 100 km/h), snowy weather (OR= 1.6), head-on collisions (OR=55.1), two-vehicle turning collisions (OR = 3.1 for left-turn, OR = 8.7 for right-turn), overtaking (OR = 5.6), and changing lanes (OR = 2.1). Adverse medical/physical conditions increased the risk of fatality by a factor of 5 for drivers 75-79 years of age and a factor of 3.5 for those 80 years and over. However, in the age group 65-74, medical/physical condition did not appear to be related to risk of fatality. Similar but weaker associations between these factors and risk of major- and minor-injury in crashes were also observed. To reduce the severity of crashes involving elderly drivers, strategies could target specific factors such as head-on collisions, single-vehicle collisions, and traffic controls at intersections. Driver conditions such as medical/physical conditions and driver actions such as failing to yield right-of-way/disobeying traffic signs should be examined further.
A series of two studies examined the effects of threat appeals on reckless driving from a terror management theory perspective. In both studies, all the participants (N = 109) reported on the relevance of driving to their self-esteem, and, then, half of them were exposed to a road trauma film and the remaining to a neutral film. In Study 1, the dependent variable was the self-report of intentions to drive recklessly in hypothetical scenarios. In Study 2, the dependent variable was actual behavior (driving speed) in a driving simulator. Findings indicated that a road trauma film led to less reported intentions of reckless driving, but to higher driving speed than a neutral film. These effects were only found among participants who perceived driving as relevant to their self-esteem. The discussion emphasized the self-enhancing mechanisms proposed by the terror management theory.
Through a reform implemented in Sweden, September 1993, the age limit for practising car driving was lowered from 17 1/2 to 16 years while the licensing age remained 18. The purpose of lowering the age limit was to give the learner drivers an opportunity to acquire more experience as drivers before being allowed to drive on their own. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the reform in terms of accident involvement and data were therefore obtained from the national register of police reported accidents. The results show that after the reform there was a general reduction in the accident risk (accidents per 10 million km) of novice drivers with approximately 15%. Additional analyses show that the reduction of accident risk in the group who utilised the new age limit was approximately 40%, whereas those who did not utilise the prolonged training period did not benefit at all. Between 45 and 50% of the age population were found to utilise the reform. The accident reduction does not seem to be just an initial first year effect since the results were similar over 3 years of novice drivers during their first 2 years with a licence. These results suggest that the reform has been beneficial for the safety of novice drivers in Sweden. The results also suggest a potential for additional safety improvements if more young learner drivers can be brought to utilise the low age limit.