Lives Saved by Accelerating the Implementation of Vehicle Safety Technology in New South Wales.

Australian vehicle standards are governed nationwide by the Australian Design Rules (ADR) that specify regulatory standards for the safety performance of road vehicles. The aim of this study was to quantify the number of lives saved on New South Wales roads by accelerating the update of safer vehicles by aligning ADR with global best practice represented by the new European Union General Safety Regulation. The methods used in this study to estimate the impact of future road safety interventions was a logical reduction of current crashes into future casualty outcomes, the residual, based on what is known about delivery of future safety measures and system improvements. A database was prepared including information on all 2018 fatalities on NSW roads (n=347). The database contained information for each individual crash, the vehicles and persons involved and the road environment where the crash occurred. In the results of this study, it was found that a scenario of aligning Australian Design Rules with the EU General Safety Regulation on a number of key vehicle safety technologies could potentially save around 20 lives annually in 2030 and around 90 lives cumulatively, over and beyond the baseline trend, between 2023 and 2030 in New South Wales. It could be concluded that vehicle safety has significant lives saving potential, however, the time lag of benefit realisation will require continued investments in other areas like infrastructure safety, speed management and enforcement in the coming decades to achieve future trauma reduction targets in NSW.

The prevalence of crash risk factors in a population-based study of motorcycle riders.

INTRODUCTION: Motorcyclists represent an increasing proportion of road traffic casualties but, while factors associated with crashes are readily identifiable, little is known about the prevalence of those risk factors in the motorcycling population. METHOD: A stratified random-sampling frame was used to survey the population of registered motorcycles owners in New South Wales (NSW) when they attended motor registry offices. The postal codes in the State database of registered motorcycle were used to stratify the population into quartiles based on socioeconomic characteristics and to determine sample weights. RESULTS: Participants (n=506) represented 47% of eligible riders approached. On average participants were aged 43, rode 7h/week and had 17 years of riding experience. Estimates based on multiple ownership rates suggest motorcycle registration numbers exceed the active riding population by approximately 15%. Less than half rode under 101km/week, 25% rode over 300km/week and just 42% rode every day. More rode frequently for leisure (70%) than for commuting (53%) and over half rarely rode in dark (52%) or wet (67%) conditions. Most wore protective clothing - helmets (100%), jackets (82%), pants (56%), boots (57%) and gloves (73%). Those with traffic infringements (32%) were mostly for driving (25%), not riding (10%) offences. In the past year, 13% had one or more motorcycle crashes including minor spills and 76% one or more near-crash experiences. The youngest riders (15-19) reported the highest rates of exposure in kilometres, hours, frequency of riding and commuting. They also reported lower crash involvement (3%) but more near-crashes (80%). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides an account of the prevalence of key risk factors across age groups in a population of active motorcycle riders in NSW. Novice riders were represented in all age groups although most novices were under 40 years. These data can be used to guide the development of targeted countermeasures aimed at improving motorcycling safety for riders of different age groups.

Thrill and adventure seeking as a modifier of the relationship of perceived risk with risky driving among young drivers.

Risky driving contributes to road trauma, a leading cause of mortality among young people. Health-relevant behaviour models suggest a negative relationship between risky driving and perceived risk of its outcomes. However, high sensation seekers may value the "thrill" of the risk, and positive associations between sensation seeking and risky driving have been observed. This is the first study to examine whether aspects of sensation seeking modify the relationship between perceived risk and risky driving. Young drivers in metropolitan Sydney and rural New South Wales [NSW] (n=797) completed a survey relating to one of the four risky driving behaviours (speeding, drink-driving, driving while fatigued, and failing to wear a seatbelt). Results suggest that the Thrill and Adventure Seeking subscale of Zuckerman's (1994) Sensation Seeking Scale moderate the relationship of perceived risk with risky driving - indicating a negative relationship for low-scores, but not high-scorers, on the TAS subscale. Thus, road safety campaigns that emphasize the riskiness of a particular behaviour may be of limited benefit to thrill and adventure seekers.

Modification and testing of the chronic disease compliance instrument to measure treatment compliance in adolescents with diabetes.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To examine the factor structure and internal consistency of the Chronic Disease Compliance Instrument-Diabetes in an Australian sample of adolescents with diabetes, to modify the instrument and re-examine factor structure and internal consistency of subsequent scales and to examine the relationship between compliance behaviour and theoretically relevant explanatory factors. BACKGROUND: Compliance is a key challenge for adolescents with a chronic disease; however, valid and reliable self-report measures of compliance behaviour and explanatory factors for diabetes remain elusive, particularly applied in an Australian setting. DESIGN: Correlational design. METHODS: Participants were 133 adolescents (12-17 years) diagnosed with diabetes and receiving treatment at several health care settings in New South Wales. Participants voluntarily completed the self-report instrument while waiting to see their Physician/Clinical Nurse Consultant/Diabetes Educator. RESULTS: On logical modification of the instrument based on exploratory factor analysis and thorough review of item content, the instrument was shown to have sufficient factor structure and internal consistency. Further, eight of the 11 explanatory factor scales were significantly related to compliance behaviour (accounting for 31% of variance). CONCLUSIONS: The present study represents the first application of an established instrument to measure compliance to diabetes treatment among adolescents in an Australian sample and demonstrates that the instrument has sufficient factor structure and internal consistency in this setting. Findings provide a list of relevant factors for explaining compliance, which may be employed to guide the development of initiatives to increase the level of compliance to treatment among Australian adolescents with diabetes. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The Chronic Disease Compliance Instrument-Diabetes is a tool that can help nurses with their clinical practice by allowing for more efficient identification of adolescent compliance to diabetes treatment, which may be used in conjunction with HbA1c values already employed.

Modification and testing of the chronic disease compliance instrument to measure treatment compliance in adolescents with asthma.

Compliance is a key challenge for adolescents with asthma, and valid and reliable measures of compliance behaviour and explanatory factors remain elusive, particularly in an Australian setting. This study aimed to examine the factor structure and internal consistency of the chronic disease compliance instrument - asthma in an Australian sample of adolescents with asthma, as well as the relationship between compliance behaviour and explanatory factors. Participants were 132 adolescents (12-17 years) diagnosed with asthma, who voluntarily completed the self-report instrument. Upon logical modification of the instrument based on exploratory factor analysis and review of item content, the chronic disease compliance instrument - asthma was shown to have sufficient factor structure and internal consistency in an Australian setting. Further, findings provide a list of relevant factors for explaining compliance behaviour, which may be employed to guide the development of initiatives to increase the level of compliance with treatment among Australian adolescents with asthma.

The role of risk-propensity in the risky driving of younger drivers.

Young drivers are over-represented in road injury statistics, partly because they engage in more risky driving than older people. Although it is assumed that younger people have greater risk-propensity, defined as a positive attitude to risk, relevant theory is imprecise and relevant research is clouded by inappropriate measures. 89 participants aged 16-25 and 110 participants aged over 35 were recruited outside motor registries. Participants completed a battery of questionnaires including Rohrmann's [Rohrmann, B. 2004. Risk attitude scales: concepts and questionnaires. Project report. Available at http://www.rohrmannresearch.net/pdfs/rohrmann-racreport.pdf (last accessed 12th February 2008)] measures of risk-aversion, risk-propensity, and risk-related motives for risky driving, as well as measures of risk-perception and risky driving. Compared to older drivers, younger drivers demonstrated lower risk-aversion, and higher propensity for taking accident risks, as well as stronger motives for risky driving in relation to experience-seeking, excitement, sensation-seeking, social influence, prestige-seeking, confidence/familiarity, underestimation of risk, irrelevance of risk, "letting off steam", and "getting there quicker". Further, these variables were associated with risky driving. Some evidence was observed for the possibility that risk propensity moderates the relationship between perceived risk and risky behaviour. These results suggest approaches to targeting the "young driver problem".

An implicit non-self-report measure of attitudes to speeding: development and validation.

Speeding is a major contributor to road trauma and attitudes toward speeding are hypothesised to be a key determinant of the behaviour. Attitudinal research is limited by reliance on self-report measures and the attendant possibility of reporting biases. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) aims to measure attitudes without reliance on self-report, by assessing the association between a target-concept and an evaluation, in terms of reaction time for compatible versus non-compatible pairings. The present research aimed to develop and evaluate an IAT to measure attitudes to speeding. Forty-five licensed drivers completed the speed-related IAT, and drove a driving simulator. Participants also completed a questionnaire that assessed self-reported attitudes to speeding, and several variables theoretically related to attitudes, including speeding behaviour. Observed IAT results suggested that attitudes toward speeding are negative, and were generally consistent with results derived from the simulated driving and self-reported behaviours, beliefs, and attitudes. Thus, the speed-related IAT appears to be a valid measure of attitudes toward speeding, which might be used to measure attitudes in road safety research without reliance on self-report.

A challenge to the assumed generalizability of prediction and countermeasure for risky driving: different factors predict different risky driving behaviors.

In road safety, it may be debated whether all risky behaviors are sufficiently similar to be explained by similar factors. The often assumed generalizability of the factors that influence risky driving behaviors has been inadequately tested. Study 1 (N=116) examined the role of demographic, personality and attitudinal factors in the prediction of a range of risky driving behaviors, for young drivers. Results illustrated that different driving behaviors were predicted by different factors (e.g., speeding was predicted by authority--rebellion, while drink driving was predicted by sensation seeking and optimism bias). Study 2 (N=127) examined the generalizability of these results to the general driving population. Study 1 results did not generalize. Predictive factors remained behavior-specific, but different predictor-behavior relationships were observed in the community sample. Overall, results suggest that future research and practice should focus on a multi-factor framework for specific risky driving behaviors, rather than assuming generalizability across behaviors and driving populations.

Misunderstanding of right-of-way rules at various pedestrian crossing types: observational study and survey.

Misunderstanding of right-of-way rules may contribute to pedestrian trauma, especially at crossings where pedestrian and traffic signals appear to give contradictory messages. Two thousand eight hundred and fifty-four pedestrians were observed crossing at signal-controlled intersections to compare attention to traffic for different combinations of pedestrian and traffic signals. In addition, a survey was conducted at signal-controlled intersections and nearby car parks in metropolitan and rural areas. Five hundred and seventy-four participants took the role of pedestrian or driver when responding to questions regarding beliefs about pedestrian right-of-way for a range of situations at signal-controlled crossings, zebra crossings, and unmarked sections of road (specifically: alone, with pedestrian refuge, or paved). Results suggest that at signal-controlled crossings pedestrian right-of-way is erroneously thought to be influenced by the pedestrian signal. Many respondents thought that a pedestrian refuge or paving gave a pedestrian right-of-way at an otherwise unmarked section of road. In many situations more than 20% of both drivers and pedestrians reported that they would take right-of-way. Pedestrian crossing types should be rationalised, and education should be provided regarding rules and responsibilities at available crossings.