OBJECTIVE Nationally, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among youth ages 16 to 20 years. Graduated driver licensing (GDL) laws have been implemented to reduce motor vehicle crashes among teen drivers. Studies have shown decreases in teen crash rates and crash-related fatality rates following enactment of GDL laws. However, GDL laws typically apply to teens only until their 18...

STUDY OBJECTIVES To assess the effects of delayed high-school start times on sleep and motor vehicle crashes. METHODS The sleep habits and motor vehicle crash rates of adolescents from a single, large, county-wide, school district were assessed by questionnaire before and after a 1-hour delay in school start times. RESULTS Average hours of nightly sleep increased and catch-up sleep on weeke...

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death and acquired disability in children over age 1 in the United States. In 1998 alone, 697 children under age 6 died as occupants in motor vehicles, and nearly 100,000 were injured. This Issue Brief describes findings from Partners for Child Passenger Safety, the nation's largest surveillance system of children in car crashes, and points to impr...

Mopeds are not subject to the same laws and jurisdiction as cars or motorcycles, including the requirement of a driver's license. We undertook this study to examine the influence of alcohol (ETOH) on moped crashes. We retrospectively reviewed adult moped injuries compared with motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) and motorcycle crashes (MCCs) from 1995 through 2006. Demographics, severity of injury, mo...

BACKGROUND Bicycling is healthy but needs to be safer for more to bike. Police crash templates are designed for reporting crashes between motor vehicles, but not between vehicles/bicycles. If written/drawn bicycle-crash-scene details exist, these are not entered into spreadsheets. OBJECTIVE To assess which bicycle-crash-scene data might be added to spreadsheets for analysis. METHODS Police ...

There has been considerable research conducted on the development of statistical models for predicting motor vehicle crashes on highway facilities. These models have often been employed to estimate the number of crashes per unit of time for an entire highway segment or intersection, without distinguishing the influence different sub-groups have on crash risk. The two most important sub-groups t...

The use of c44qatis, jspi$epprep4 throughguf thg world, and in many countries is increasing (1). After alcohol, the most frequently found psychoactive substance in the blood of motorists involved in traffic crashes is cannabis. The very high costs, in human and financial terms. of road traffic crashes underscores the need for a clear understanding of the contribution of cannabis use to the inci...

Since 1996, 16 states and the District of Columbia in the United States have enacted legislation to decriminalize marijuana for medical use. Although marijuana is the most commonly detected nonalcohol drug in drivers, its role in crash causation remains unsettled. To assess the association between marijuana use and crash risk, the authors performed a meta-analysis of 9 epidemiologic studies pub...

BACKGROUND Bicycle use, despite its proven health and other benefits, is rarely part of everyday travel for many people due to the perceived risk of injury from collision crashes. This article investigated the role of physical vs. attention conspicuity in preventing bicycle crashes involving a motor vehicle in New Zealand. METHODS The Taupo Bicycle Study involved 2590 adult cyclists recruited...

Approximately one third of deaths among persons aged 15-24 years result from motor-vehicle crashes (1). Although alcohol use increases the risk for motor-vehicle crashes for all drivers, for young drivers the risk begins to increase at very low blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) (2). In addition, in young persons who drive after drinking, the relative risk for crash involvement is greater at a...