The study compared female white water paddlers over two conditions: with seat raise and with no seat raise. The aim was to determine whether raising the sitting height would improve paddling efficiency. Sitting height of each participant was recorded in order to calculate the seat raise height required and three-dimensional kinematic data was collected for six participants over both conditions....

OBJECTIVE To describe several aspects of booster seat use and misuse in a sample of children attending child safety seat clinics. METHODS Booster seat practices were assessed at 76 child safety seat clinics held between April 1997 and January 1999 in Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. At each assessment, a child passenger safety team evaluated the booster seat and identified modes of misus...

This paper investigates the effects of mandatory seat belt laws on driver behavior and traffic fatalities. Using a unique panel data set on seat belt usage rates in all U.S. jurisdictions, we analyze how such laws, by influencing seat belt use, affect traffic fatalities. Controlling for the endogeneity of seat belt usage, we find that it decreases overall traffic fatalities. The magnitude of th...

To study the effect of seat height on the cardiorespiratory system and kinematics in handrim wheelchair ambulation, nine non-wheelchair users participated in a wheelchair exercise experiment on a motor-driven treadmill. The subjects conducted five progressive exercise tests. After an initial try-out test, four tests were performed at different standardized seat heights of 100, 120, 140, and 160...

OBJECTIVE Although seat belt use can significantly decrease the risk of injury, few car drivers make use of seat belts in Iran. The aim of this study was to test the utility and efficiencyof the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the health beliefmodel (HBM) in predicting intention to use a seat belt among car drivers in Sabzevar, Iran. METHODS A cross-sectional, correlational design was em...

The 1,652 additional lives saved in all 38 States and the District of Columbia resulting from the increase in seat belt use would represent an increase of 11 percent above the estimate of lives saved by seat belts (15,147) for 2007. Over 50 percent of the total benefits in lives saved (842 out of the total of 1,652 lives saved), non-fatal injuries saved (22,677 out of the total of 39,486 non-fa...

BACKGROUND Seat belts are designed to reduce injuries due to road crash among vehicle occupants. AIMS This study aims to determine the availability of seat belt in vehicles and compliance with seat belt use among vehicle occupants. MATERIALS AND METHODS This was a 24-h direct observational study of seat belt usage among vehicle occupants in Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria. By direct surveilla...

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of booster seat misuse in a Canadian province and identify determinants of non-use. METHODS A cross-sectional study using parking lot interviews and in-vehicle restraint inspections by trained staff was conducted at 67 randomly selected childcare centres across Alberta. Only booster-eligible children were included in this analysis. Odds ratios (OR) and 95...

This work aims at validating a new statistical index (Weighted Pressure Comfort Loss, WPCL) for seat comfort assessment. The validation is carried out by deepening the relationship between subjective comfort evaluations and objective measures of seat comfort and comparing, from an engineering standpoint, the new index with the pressure peak which is currently one of the most used indexes for se...

Despite the proven effectiveness of seat belt use in reducing injury severity in road traffic accidents, a large number of car occupants do not use a seat belt in Turkey. The main aim of the present study was to explain self-reported seat belt use among front seat passengers with the basic and extended (habit, moral norm and anticipated regret added) theory of planned behavior (TPB) model and t...