ABSTRACT
Aim: The presence of noise in urban environments is rarely considered a factor that causes damage to the environment. The primary generating source is transportation means, with vehicles being the ones that affect cities the most. Traffic noise has a particular influence on the quality of life of those who are exposed to it and can cause health alterations ranging from annoyance to cardiovascular diseases. This study aims to describe the relationship between the traffic noise level and the perceived annoyance in the inhabitants of a city on the Northern Border of Mexico. The work carried out in a city represents the vulnerability characteristics: economic, social, and migratory of its sizable portion of the inhabitants. Due to that, it is impossible to identify precisely the number of residents as the number of vehicles in circulation. Methods: The streets and avenues with an annual average daily traffic of more than 1,000 vehicles were considered for the measurement of traffic noise. The equipment used was a vehicle gauge with non-invasive speed radar; type I integrating sound level meters, with their respective gauges and tripods. A questionnaire was applied to people living within 250 m of the streets and avenues in which the noise was measured. Results: The noise measurement found a parameter of LAeq estimated for 12 h during the day, exceeding 70 dBA. The data received from the questionnaire were statistically tested by using Pearson's correlation tests. A total number of 2,350 people were participated, of whom 1,378 were women (58.6%) and 972 were men (41.4%). The age of participants is ranged from 18 to 75 years. The overall perception of traffic noise annoyance identified that 1,131 participants (48.1%) responded "Yes" as they considered the noise annoying. Participants who responded "No" as well as those who responded "Do not know" resulted in a total of 1,219 people (51.9%). Conclusion: The results show that the population is desensitized to traffic noise and does not perceive it as an annoyance. The flow of vehicles and the type of vehicles are the significant factors for the propagation and increase in the traffic noise levels. Women present a considerable appreciation of traffic noise perception instead of younger people who demonstrate a higher tolerance to high-level exposure. This reflects the lack of information of the population around the noise problem and its effects.
ABSTRACT
Objective: The objective of this study was to identify pedestrian risk behaviors that result in traffic accidents and characterization of the accidents experienced by participants in this study to provide information for the generation of integral preventive strategies. Methods: The study was correlational, descriptive, and transversal and followed a quantitative approach divided into 2 stages. In the first stage, an observational study was performed to identify the manifested risk behaviors of pedestrians, which served as a basis for the construction and design of a questionnaire. In the second stage, the questionnaire was applied to a group of 1,536 participants. Pearson's correlation coefficient was applied to establish associations between gender and age with respect to risk behaviors. Results: The 3 behaviors that participants reported performing always or very often include using electronic gadgets (except mobile phones), not using a pedestrian crosswalk, and using a mobile phone. In addition, 18.5% were involved in at least one road accident as a pedestrian in the last 5 years. Of the total number of registered accidents, 21% resulted in pedestrian injuries, 48.3% of which were serious. These were due to external causes not related to human factors or unidentified (58.5%) and behavior factors as a whole (41.4%, 31.5% of which were caused by pedestrians). Pearson's correlation coefficient showed evidence of a correlation between age and risk behaviors. Conclusions: All subjects in this study performed several risky actions as pedestrians, at least occasionally, and at least one fifth had been involved in a road accident as a pedestrian. It is known that the surroundings can positively or negatively influence individuals' behaviors; therefore, once prevention measures are identified, it is possible to influence risk behaviors. Therefore, road safety education and the physical environment must be considered together, and efforts focused on optimum infrastructure also need to consider road safety education.
