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Roadwatch: Proceedingd of the inaugural conference
466
Recent Publications
While this book has much to offer, it suffers, particularly in some chapters, from a lack of good editing. It is full of awkward phrases (e.g. “this fertile area of data was harvested by a 61 multiple item questionnaire”) and overblown prose (e.g. “we are now ready to initiate the research drama by opening the curtain on statistics”). However, if one can ignore the writing style, there is valuable information and an interesting perspective offered here, for which reason I would recommend the book to traffic safety professionals. ALISON SMILEY Human Factors North Inc. Toronto, Canada (Editor’s note: Dr. Smiley lent the book to “a 69-year-old male who has been driving since the age of 11. He has been retired 10 years in a rural area and now drives an average of 30,000 km annually.” His review follows.)
Overall, the book puts one on the defensive because of the compliant nature of the Foreword by a 65year-old driver, the pompous Preface, and the “don’t use 2 words when 20 will suffice” writing style in the early chapters. However, the chapters devoted to the data base (see review above) and the analysis of the data are worthy of study. The results should be taken into consideration in any discussion concerning retesting and licensure of the driving population in general and the elderly in particular. The additional information provided by interviews of 904 elderly drivers drawn at random, and interviews of 130 elderly drivers who had recently been in accidents causing injury, was also of value. This reviewer can identify with most of the observations such as waiting for better driving conditions if there is no urgency to make a journey. There are some concerns with respect to the safety of older drivers, nonetheless. The author claims a reasonable level of confidence in the opinions of police and insurance adjusters on accident causes and responsibility, especially if two or more are involved in the assessment of an accident. However, adjusters, according to at least two insurance companies, do not investigate accidents under $1,000 and merely pay the claim of any other driver who submits a formal claim. There are so many subjective factors associated with determining the causes of even a “simple” accident that one should be careful in placing too much weight on the analysis. For example, where a younger and an elderly driver are involved, the sympathy of the investigator may well -lie with the one who needs a car for work. It is the same unconscious prejudice that is applied to women, persons of colour, and other minority groups. At least a sample of the database accidents used in the analysis should have been subjected to a rigorous and unbiased reevaluation by acknowledged experts in accident reconstruction and in driver behaviour. J. R. SMILEY
CONFERENCE
PROCEEDINGS
Roadwatch: Proceedings of the Inaugural Conference. D. I. Smith, editor. Meeting held June 11, 1990 in Perth, Australia. Road Accident Prevention Research Unit, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia, 1990. 180 pp. A. Review of Road Safety Strategies. Strategies
for getting road safety measures implemented (A. P. Vulcan, 6-30); Reducing traffic injury in America: U.S. objectives and strategies (D. Sleet, 31-54); Promising countermeasures for the prevention of traffic accidents in Western Australia (D. I. Smith, 55-78).
B. Human Factors. Road safety education
key dissemination
and implementation
in Australian schools. An analysis of some practices (C. J. Marsh and N. H. Hyde, 80-92);
Recent Publications
467
The human factors approach to improving pedestrian safety (P. K. Arnold, R. G. Bennet, and L. R. Hartley, 93-116); Training young drivers (D. Milech, D. J. Glencross, and L. R. Hartley, 117-130). C. Examination of Specific Accident Issues. The road environment and traffic safety (G. J. Moore, 132-139); Random breath testing and how to get it to work properly (R. Homel, 140-158); Hospital inpatient accident costs for road traffic accidents casualties in Western Australia, 1988 (M. J. Giles, 159-180).
34th Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine, Scottsdale, Arizona, October 1-3, 1990. Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine, Des Plaines, IL, USA, 1990. 536 pp. Clinical Injury Studies. Pediatric motor vehicle-bicycle collision injuries (P. F. Agran, D. G. Winn, D. N. Castillo, l-11); Helmet use, patterns of injury and medical outcome among motorcycle drivers in Maryland (B. S. Shankar, P. C. Dischinger et al., 13-34); Discussion (N. E. McSwain, 35-40); Injuries in the elderly sustained in the traffic environment (H. Sjogren and U. Bjornstig, 41-55); Environmental and rider-related factors in snowmobile, all-terrain vehicle and dirtbike crashes (C. D. Rogers, G. Pagliarello, and W. R. Nelson, 57-67). Alcohol:
Medical and Legal Consequences. The effects of. blood alcohol concentration on time of death for fatal crash victims (J. C. Fell and E. S. Hertz, 69-81); Legal outcome of intoxicated drivers involved in motor vehicle collisions (D. Barillo, T. Earnest et al., 83-95). Traffic Injury Costs. Motor vehicle injury costs by body region and severity (T. R. Miller, N. M. Pindus et al., 97-110); Multiple injuries in motor vehicle crashes (S. Luchter, 111-126). Seat Belts: Usage, Effectiveness
and Crash Testing. Effects of safety belt usage on injury patterns of hospitalized and fatally injured drivers 55 + (L. A. Cushman, R. G. Good et al., 127-137); Restrained front seat car occupant fatalities-the nature and circumstances of their injuries (G. M. Mackay, L. Cheng et al., 139-161); Usage patterns and misuse rates of automatic seat belts by system type (D. W. Reinfurt, C. L. St. Cyr, and W. S. Hunter, 163-179); Discussion (R. L. McCarthy and C. Conroy, 181-186); Motorized two-point safety belt effectiveness in preventing fatalities (L. Evans, 187-201); Occupant kinematics and belt markings in crash tests with unrestrained and partially restrained test dummies (J. R. Cromack, D. Schneider, and D. Blaisdell, 203-225). Vehicle Crashworthiness and Injury Assessment Studies. Occupant safety in modem passenger cars (B. N. Fildes, A. P. Vulcan, and J. Lenard, 227-251); The problem of compatibility in car-to-car collisions (C. Thomas, G. Faverjon et al., 253-267); Discussion (L. Evans, 269-273); Estimation of fatalities and disabilities in car to car side impacts-an evaluation of different risk factors (Y. Haland, P. Lovsund, and A. Nygren, 275-287).
The Use of Clinical Data to Study Injury Mechanisms. A prospective study of injury patterns, outcomes and costs of high speed frontal versus lateral motor vehicle crashes (J. H. Siegel, S. Mason-Gonzalez et al., 289-313); The relationship between face or skull fractures and cervical spine and spinal cord injuries: a review of 13,834 patients (D. W. Oller, J. W. Meredith et al., 315-328); Crash and injury statistics from Indy-car racing 1985-89 (T. R. Trammel1 and S. E. Olvey, 329-335). MP 23:3-I
Recent Publications
While this book has much to offer, it suffers, particularly in some chapters, from a lack of good editing. It is full of awkward phrases (e.g. “this fertile area of data was harvested by a 61 multiple item questionnaire”) and overblown prose (e.g. “we are now ready to initiate the research drama by opening the curtain on statistics”). However, if one can ignore the writing style, there is valuable information and an interesting perspective offered here, for which reason I would recommend the book to traffic safety professionals. ALISON SMILEY Human Factors North Inc. Toronto, Canada (Editor’s note: Dr. Smiley lent the book to “a 69-year-old male who has been driving since the age of 11. He has been retired 10 years in a rural area and now drives an average of 30,000 km annually.” His review follows.)
Overall, the book puts one on the defensive because of the compliant nature of the Foreword by a 65year-old driver, the pompous Preface, and the “don’t use 2 words when 20 will suffice” writing style in the early chapters. However, the chapters devoted to the data base (see review above) and the analysis of the data are worthy of study. The results should be taken into consideration in any discussion concerning retesting and licensure of the driving population in general and the elderly in particular. The additional information provided by interviews of 904 elderly drivers drawn at random, and interviews of 130 elderly drivers who had recently been in accidents causing injury, was also of value. This reviewer can identify with most of the observations such as waiting for better driving conditions if there is no urgency to make a journey. There are some concerns with respect to the safety of older drivers, nonetheless. The author claims a reasonable level of confidence in the opinions of police and insurance adjusters on accident causes and responsibility, especially if two or more are involved in the assessment of an accident. However, adjusters, according to at least two insurance companies, do not investigate accidents under $1,000 and merely pay the claim of any other driver who submits a formal claim. There are so many subjective factors associated with determining the causes of even a “simple” accident that one should be careful in placing too much weight on the analysis. For example, where a younger and an elderly driver are involved, the sympathy of the investigator may well -lie with the one who needs a car for work. It is the same unconscious prejudice that is applied to women, persons of colour, and other minority groups. At least a sample of the database accidents used in the analysis should have been subjected to a rigorous and unbiased reevaluation by acknowledged experts in accident reconstruction and in driver behaviour. J. R. SMILEY
CONFERENCE
PROCEEDINGS
Roadwatch: Proceedings of the Inaugural Conference. D. I. Smith, editor. Meeting held June 11, 1990 in Perth, Australia. Road Accident Prevention Research Unit, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia, 1990. 180 pp. A. Review of Road Safety Strategies. Strategies
for getting road safety measures implemented (A. P. Vulcan, 6-30); Reducing traffic injury in America: U.S. objectives and strategies (D. Sleet, 31-54); Promising countermeasures for the prevention of traffic accidents in Western Australia (D. I. Smith, 55-78).
B. Human Factors. Road safety education
key dissemination
and implementation
in Australian schools. An analysis of some practices (C. J. Marsh and N. H. Hyde, 80-92);
Recent Publications
467
The human factors approach to improving pedestrian safety (P. K. Arnold, R. G. Bennet, and L. R. Hartley, 93-116); Training young drivers (D. Milech, D. J. Glencross, and L. R. Hartley, 117-130). C. Examination of Specific Accident Issues. The road environment and traffic safety (G. J. Moore, 132-139); Random breath testing and how to get it to work properly (R. Homel, 140-158); Hospital inpatient accident costs for road traffic accidents casualties in Western Australia, 1988 (M. J. Giles, 159-180).
34th Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine, Scottsdale, Arizona, October 1-3, 1990. Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine, Des Plaines, IL, USA, 1990. 536 pp. Clinical Injury Studies. Pediatric motor vehicle-bicycle collision injuries (P. F. Agran, D. G. Winn, D. N. Castillo, l-11); Helmet use, patterns of injury and medical outcome among motorcycle drivers in Maryland (B. S. Shankar, P. C. Dischinger et al., 13-34); Discussion (N. E. McSwain, 35-40); Injuries in the elderly sustained in the traffic environment (H. Sjogren and U. Bjornstig, 41-55); Environmental and rider-related factors in snowmobile, all-terrain vehicle and dirtbike crashes (C. D. Rogers, G. Pagliarello, and W. R. Nelson, 57-67). Alcohol:
Medical and Legal Consequences. The effects of. blood alcohol concentration on time of death for fatal crash victims (J. C. Fell and E. S. Hertz, 69-81); Legal outcome of intoxicated drivers involved in motor vehicle collisions (D. Barillo, T. Earnest et al., 83-95). Traffic Injury Costs. Motor vehicle injury costs by body region and severity (T. R. Miller, N. M. Pindus et al., 97-110); Multiple injuries in motor vehicle crashes (S. Luchter, 111-126). Seat Belts: Usage, Effectiveness
and Crash Testing. Effects of safety belt usage on injury patterns of hospitalized and fatally injured drivers 55 + (L. A. Cushman, R. G. Good et al., 127-137); Restrained front seat car occupant fatalities-the nature and circumstances of their injuries (G. M. Mackay, L. Cheng et al., 139-161); Usage patterns and misuse rates of automatic seat belts by system type (D. W. Reinfurt, C. L. St. Cyr, and W. S. Hunter, 163-179); Discussion (R. L. McCarthy and C. Conroy, 181-186); Motorized two-point safety belt effectiveness in preventing fatalities (L. Evans, 187-201); Occupant kinematics and belt markings in crash tests with unrestrained and partially restrained test dummies (J. R. Cromack, D. Schneider, and D. Blaisdell, 203-225). Vehicle Crashworthiness and Injury Assessment Studies. Occupant safety in modem passenger cars (B. N. Fildes, A. P. Vulcan, and J. Lenard, 227-251); The problem of compatibility in car-to-car collisions (C. Thomas, G. Faverjon et al., 253-267); Discussion (L. Evans, 269-273); Estimation of fatalities and disabilities in car to car side impacts-an evaluation of different risk factors (Y. Haland, P. Lovsund, and A. Nygren, 275-287).
The Use of Clinical Data to Study Injury Mechanisms. A prospective study of injury patterns, outcomes and costs of high speed frontal versus lateral motor vehicle crashes (J. H. Siegel, S. Mason-Gonzalez et al., 289-313); The relationship between face or skull fractures and cervical spine and spinal cord injuries: a review of 13,834 patients (D. W. Oller, J. W. Meredith et al., 315-328); Crash and injury statistics from Indy-car racing 1985-89 (T. R. Trammel1 and S. E. Olvey, 329-335). MP 23:3-I