Crashes and Traffic Signal Violations Caused by Commercial Motorcycle Couriers

BACKGROUND: Motorcycles are one of the important members of commercial transportation because of the convenient use during congested traffic conditions and the ease of parking in narrow streets. This study investigates the characteristics of crashes and traffic signal violations caused by motorcycle couriers. METHODS: From the national compensation data, this study analyzed the traffic crashes caused by 671 motorcycle couriers. RESULTS: Among 671 injured couriers, 50.6% were aged less than 40 years, 49.2% run in a small business of < 5 employees, and 47.2% had work experience of < 6 months. Motorcycle crashes occurred mainly due to “rider overturned alone” (67.5%), in the daytime (73.5%), or on cloudy or clear days (77.2%). However, the violation rate caused by motorcycle couriers was high in couriers in a small business of < 5 employees (13.9%), with work experience of < 6 months (13.9%), on cloudy or clear days (12.4%), on an intersection (29.8%), in the type of “crash with a vehicle” (31.2%), or in a death accident (35.7%). CONCLUSION: The findings of this study can be used as a baseline in devising policies for preventing crashes of motorcycle couriers.

Comparisons of Traffic Collisions between Expressways and Rural Roads in Truck Drivers

BACKGROUND: Truck driving is known as one of the occupations with the highest accident rate. This study investigates the characteristics of traffic collisions according to road types (expressway and rural road). METHODS: Classifying 267 accidents into expressway and rural road, we analyzed them based on driver characteristics (age, working experience, size of employment), time characteristics (day of accident, time, weather), and accident characteristics (accident causes, accident locations, accident types, driving conditions). RESULTS: When we compared the accidents by road conditions, no differences were found between the driver characteristics. However, from the accident characteristics, the injured person distributions were different by the road conditions. In particular, driving while drowsy is shown to be highly related with the accident characteristics. CONCLUSION: This study can be used as a guideline and a base line to develop a plan of action to prevent traffic accidents. It can also help to prepare formal regulations about a truck driver's vehicle maintenance and driving attitude for a precaution on road accidents.

Workplace Accidents and Work-related Illnesses of Household Waste Collectors

BACKGROUND: Household waste collectors (HWCs) are exposed to hazardous conditions. This study investigates the patterns of workplace injuries and work-related illnesses of HWCs. METHODS: This study uses cases of workplace injuries and work-related illnesses of HWCs that occurred between 2010 and 2011. We analyzed 325 cases of injuries and 36 cases of illnesses according to the workers' age, length of employment, size of workplace, injured part of body, day and month of injury, type of accident, agency of accident, and collection process. RESULTS: There were significant differences in the effect of workers' length of employment, injured part of body, type of accident, agency of accident, and collection process. Results show that most injuries occur in workers in their 50s and older. This study also shows that 51.4% of injuries occur at businesses with 49 employees or fewer. Injuries to waste collectors happen most often when workers are electrocuted after slipping on the ground. The second most prevalent form of injury is falling, which usually happens when workers hang from the rear of the truck during transportation or otherwise slip and fall from the truck. Work-related illnesses amongst waste collectors are mostly musculoskeletal conditions due to damaging postures. CONCLUSION: These findings will be instructive in devising policies and guidelines for preventing workplace injuries and work-related illnesses of HWCs.

A Study of the Need of Clinical Expert System for Acid-Base Diagnosis / 대한임상병리학회지

BACKGROUND: Rapid and accurate diagnosis of multiple acid-base disorders is not so easy. The authors evaluated a need of a computer-aided diagnosis program for acid-base disorders through the questions of 25 cases with acid-base disorders in 105 physicians. METHODS: For 39 college graduated students and 66 housestaffs, we asked them to diagnose 25 sample cases of acid-base disorders, which were selected from the published 36 cases (Horn et. al. 1992, Halperin and Goldstein 1994, Walmsley and White 1988). The 25 questions consisted of 15 cases with single disorder, 8 cases with double disorder and 2 cases with triple disorder. RESULTS: The 39 college graduated students diagnosed correctly in 55.4%; 79.6% in single disorders, 23.7% in double disorders and 0.0% in triple disorders. The 36 housestaffs (answer rate: 55.4%) diagnosed correctly in 61.7%; 82.4% in single disorders, 38.2% in double disorders and 0.0% in triple disorders. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that the physicians can't diagnose acid-base disorders well and that they needs a computer-aided expert system to diagnose the acid-base disorders and to ensure uniform quality of patient care.