BACKGROUND The effects of seat belt laws and public education campaigns on seat belt use are assessed on the basis of observational or self-reported data on seat belt use. Previous studies focusing on front seat occupants have shown that self-reports indicate a greater seat belt usage than observational findings. Whether this over-reporting in self reports applies to rear seat belt usage, and t...

The risk of death of unbelted rear-seat occupants is obviously increased in car crashes. However, there is little epidemiological evidence that unbelted rear-seat occupants will also increase the risk of death of front-seat passengers. We compared risk of death and severe injury of front-seat occupants in car crashes with belted or unbelted rear-seat passengers. The risk of death of belted fron...

INTRODUCTION Seat belt use reduces the risk of injuries and fatalities among motor vehicle occupants in a crash, but belt use in rear seating positions is consistently lower than front seating positions. Knowledge is limited concerning factors associated with seat belt use among adult rear seat passengers. METHODS Data from the 2012 ConsumerStyles survey were used to calculate weighted percen...

Microphones integrated on a seat belt are an interesting alternative to conventional sensor positions used for handsfree telephony or speech dialog systems in automobile environments. In the setup presented in this contribution, the seat belt consists of three microphones which usually lay around the shoulder and chest of a sitting passenger. The main benefit of belt microphones is the small di...

Proper seat belt use saves lives; however, the use rate decreased in Korea. This study aimed to measure the magnitude of the preventive effect of seat belt on case-fatality across drivers and passengers. We used the Emergency Department based Injury In-depth Surveillance (EDIIS) database from 17 EDs between 2011 and 2012. All of adult injured patients from road traffic injuries (RTI) in-vehicle...

In our paper we describe the ongoing research to develop an intelligent airbag system. Using image sequences acquired from a stereo camera, we detect the form and the position of the driver and passenger seat. And, if a seat is classified as occupied, we try to estimate the geometry and position of the human’s head as the most distinguishing feature of the body, if it is possible. The developed...

In many, if not most, elections, several different seats must be filled, so that a group of candidates, or an assembly, is selected. Typically in these elections, voters cast their ballots on a seat-by-seat basis. We show that seat-by-seat procedures are efficient or neutral only under extreme conditions. How should a voting system be judged? A time-honoured approach judges a system on the basi...