Lecture Exercise on Transportation Related Injuries

Consider the following paper: Aggressive Driving by Louis Mizell, Inc (http://www.aaafoundation.org/resources/index.cfm?button=agdrtext).

1. How were aggressive driving "injuries" defined in this report?

2. What epidemiologic segment of crash prevention does this study address? (choose one)

a. human characteristics behind crashes

b. vehicular characteristics behind crashes

c. environmental characteristics behind crashes

3. What data sources were used to identify aggressive driving events?

4. What types of crashes will likely be under-reported in this study

5. Domestic violence is mentioned as a factor in aggressive driving. On the basis of this report and your understanding of trends over time in epidemiology in general, the statement that "spouses and lovers are increasingly venting their rage on the highway" is adequately supported by evidence:

a. True

b. False

Next, consider the paper: Rettig RA, Ulmer RG, Williams AF. Prevalence and characteristics of red light running crashes in the United States. Accident Analysis and Prevention 31:687-694, 1999. (See Science Direct in the HSL Online at Falk Library for full text access)

6. How were red light running crashes defined in this paper?

7. What types of crashes will not be included in this paper?

8. In what city do you want to definitely look both ways before crossing the street at a WALK signal? (i.e. who had the highest crash rate)

9. Red light cameras have been proposed as a mechanism to reduce the frequency of red light running crashes. Which of the following is a disadvantage of this type of intervention: (choose one)

a. violation rates are reduced

b. right angle crashes are reduced

c. the camera identifies the car, but not the driver

d. they have wide public support

10. The paper found with descriptive data that drivers with invalid drivers licenses were often involved in red light running crashes. If you were to design an analytic study to investigate the association between suspended licenses and red light running, which of the following studies would provide the best evidence to identify the link? (select one)

a.  a descriptive study of all persons cited with a violation at one chose intersection

b.  a longitudinal study of persons with suspended licenses and a matched control to observe subsequent red light violations

c.  a case-control study of persons cited at specific intersections

d.  a population-based survey