Journal of Local and Global Health Science - Proceedings of the 24th World International Traffic Medicine Association Congress, Qatar 2015, November 2015

Background: Traffic injury is a major risk factor among children • Traffic injury is a leading cause of injuries among Chinese children aged 0 to 14.1 • Nowadays, family car ownership has reached 60 million in China2 Objectives: • Raise the public awareness on child passenger safety and correct usage of car seats, especially among parents through multi-sectorial collaboration Methods: • Introduce global evidence-based safety messages an Read More

As an integral part of engineering safer roads, road side safety devices passively interact with errant vehicles to redirect them safely back to the road or bring them to a safe and controlled stop. These devices take the form of crash cushions, cable barriers, concrete barriers, steel barriers, guard rails, guardrail terminals and others. Placement criteria and warrants are established in the AASHTO Road Side Design Guide (1). However, before Read More

The revolution of auto industry has led to an exponential increase in energy consumption, mainly fossil fuel, which motivated scientists to search for alternative clean, safe and sustainable energy resources. One of the promising energy sources is that produced as a byproduct from operating vehicles. This thermal energy can be harvested and reused as a viable secure source of electricity by utilizing thermoelectric (TE) devices. The TE solid Read More

Introduction In pursuit of the realization of the Qatar National Vision 2030 (QNV 2030) and to ensure the success of the hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the Qatari higher authorities have assigned paramount importance to instilling and prorogating traffic awareness among the various community groups and school students. Thus, the establishment of the National Committee for Traffic Safety (NCTS) headed by His Excellency the Prime Read More

Today, the world has observed a remarkable growth in the use of transportation mobile communications for road safety. While a user in a vehicle moves to a new communication cell, a wireless terminal requests a handoff for new channel in the new cell. Due to that movement, some of the challenges issues are developed such as, the increase in traffic volumes and demand for high speed transportation mobile communications call for fast, Read More

While dealing with motor vehicle collision (MVC) victims, the Paramedics on-scene make patient management decisions based on assessment of the physiological parameters, anatomic site of injury, mechanism of injury (MOI), and some special considerations (age and underlying illnesses). In victims with normal physiological and anatomical parameters, and no alarming consideration, the MOI alone is found to be an independent predictor Read More

Not being able to drive your own car can be devastating for mobility, health, finances and self-esteem. Driving is a visually demanding task (Owsley et al., 2008) and insufficient visual field can lead to revoked license. Acquired brain damage can impair the visual field and stroke is a very common diagnosis among drivers with visual field defects. de Haan et al. (2015) identified several undocumented difficulties among patients with hom Read More

Driving is a visually demanding task (Owsley, et al., 2008), manifested in visual ability requirements. Sweden, does not allow on road assessment of drivers with visual field defects. However, driving simulators can be used for fitness to drive assessment (Rizzo, 2011) but authoring driving scenarios is a critical task Vardaki et al. (2014). This paper discuss a driving simulator based assessment method aiming to assess drivers with visual field d Read More

Fatal vehicle crashes are not uncommon for ambulance paramedics (1-3). Emergency services staff may be overconfident and overestimate the privileges they have on the road and overlook basic driving safety principles (4). In line with the WHO (5) a driving safety campaign targeting some 935 registered HMCAS drivers and other staff was initiated in June 2015. We aim to determine if our approach is effective in changing behaviour a Read More

This presentation focusses on the analysis of the fundamental characteristics of traffic enforcement systems for the improvement of traffic safety and the development of a framework of principles and proposals for enforcement programs of selected traffic violations in rapidly developing countries. The methodology used includes a wide review of international literature as well as processing, evaluation and ranking of particular enforcement a Read More

Ambulance use in low-and middle-income countries is very low. This study assesses characteristics of road traffic injury (RTI) victims coming to emergency departments (EDs) by ambulance and compares with RTI victims coming via alternative modes of transportation. The Pakistan National Emergency Departments Surveillance (Pak-NEDS) was a surveillance conducted in seven major tertiary-care EDs in six main cities of Pakistan Read More

In 2010, road traffic injuries (RTIs) are the leading cause of deaths in those aged 1-19 years globally and half of those victims are vulnerable road users (VRUs), defined as pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists. Low-income countries account for the highest proportion of VRU deaths. The change in distribution of the burden of RTI during recent decades is unclear. To highlight changes over time in RTI mortality among children and adolesc Read More

The Philippines is a low-middle income country with an estimated population of 102 Million and a 2.18 annual population growth rate. The consequent urbanization has rapidly increased the number of motor vehicles resulting in increased number of road traffic injuries in the country. According to the World Health Organization, next to assault, road traffic crashes are the second leading cause of injury deaths for all ages. Among 0 to 17 yea Read More

The World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention of 2004 recommended that the newly motorizing countries establish road injury surveillance to define the burden, identify high-risk groups, plan intervention and monitor their impact. Despite its stated importance in the literature, very few examples of sustained surveillance systems are reported from low income countries. This presentation shares the results of an urban RTI surveillance pro Read More

Road safety is a major public health concern. Between 2008 and 2010 an average of 220 people were killed each year and over 550 people were seriously injured in the State of Qatar because of road crashes. Qatar Red Crescent (QRC), as a member of The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) which is the host of The Global Road Safety Partnership, has identified the road safety as one of its priorities to save l Read More

The advent of the Big Data era has transformed the outlook of numerous fields in science and engineering. The transportation arena also has great expectations of taking advantage of Big Data enabled by the popularization of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). The challenges in the transportation system are many, ranging from increase in travel demand, growth in congestion, need to improve safety to the reality of limit Read More

The Qatar Mobility Innovations Center (QMIC) has defined an integrated innovations strategy for developing and deploying local solutions and applications that tackle road safety in Qatar and the region. This strategy is based on utilizing distributed data and connected devices to deliver intelligent user-centric services and applications that will tackle different problems contributing to road accidents in Qatar and the region. In t Read More

Traffic crashes are the obvious and tragic outcome of a complex process of which traffic, human factors, roadway engineering and surrounding environment are all contributing factors. Traffic operations, however, inflict more physical and psychological harm on human health, albeit, it is not immediately obvious as crashes. Some of those harms show symptoms over longer terms, possibly a lifetime. That, however, does not chang Read More

Trauma systems have been shown to improve outcomes for trauma victims with severe and multiple complex injuries in many Western settings. This same effect have not been adequately demonstrated in rapidly developing economies nor specifically for patients with road traffic injuries [RTI's]. This session will present temporal trends in the development of the trauma system and their effect on RTI patient outcomes in Qatar. A review of Read More

Oman has undergone a rapid epidemiological transition, and has witnessed substantial social and economic changes in the last four decades. Based on oil revenues, the government of Oman has accelerated the development, in the present context, of road network and rapid growth of motorization. Despite the positive side of the substantial development, however, there are other challenges appeared on the scene that have negative imp Read More

Introduction: Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among young people, aged 15-29 years (1). It is generally accepted that the high rate of adolescent injuries may be due to a variety of factors. Studies have shown young drivers are more likely to underestimate the probability of specific risks caused by traffic situations, as well as to overestimate their own driving skills making them more vulnerable to trauma. It has also been hypot Read More

Qatar is one of the 20 countries of the IDF MENA region. Three hundred and eighty seven million people have diabetes worldwide and more than 37 million people in the MENA Region; by 2035 this will rise to 68 million. There were 303,700 cases of diabetes in Qatar in 2014. Large number of diabetic patients will seek or currently hold a license to drive. Most of these patients are either on oral medications or insulin to control their diabetes. Read More

Young drivers run a greater risk everywhere. Better understanding of the underlying processes to this problem are a useful tool in preventive endeavors. An understanding that a person’s life ambition and context of driving mostly influence young drivers in terms of traffic safety more than their ability of mastering different driving situations and their skill of vehicle maneuvering is important to understand young drivers overrisk. Research has i Read More

As President of the German Road Safety Association and Vice President of the German Road Safety Council, I strongly force the way of the Vision Zero as a permanent strategy to reduce accidents and to avoid victims of the fast-growing road traffic. In this strategy are some components which have to be realized. One is an intensive campaigning for more safety by changing the behavior of the car users inside the traffic and the mobility of p Read More

Within the German road traffic safety system, the Medical-Psychological Assessment (MPA) has a more than six-decade-old history and tradition. According to the German traffic law system a driver has to make sure to drive only in a good physical and mental condition and to obey the traffic regulations. If drivers are sanctioned for driving under the influence (alcohol), driving while intoxicated (illegal drugs) or received offences for Read More

In a general sense Traffic Medicine in the Netherlands concerns multidisciplinary research about how to reduce traffic crashes and injuries following a “systems approach”. Several universities and research institutes are involved, including the SWOV research institute of traffic safety( 1). In a specific sense Traffic Medicine in the Netherlands concerns researching and applying regulations and methods for assessing and improving fitness to Read More

High-risk drivers (HRDs) prone to repeat episodes of dangerous driving are over-represented in road traffic morbidity, making them important targets for selective prevention. Better understanding of why some drivers engage in risky behavior is a necessary precursor to the design of effective prevention programs. Nevertheless, HRD research has traditionally focused on healthy young drivers and their self-reported personality featu Read More

Safe driving campaigns in Qatar are in their infancy. The first campaigns were fear appeals that typically involved pictures of vehicles that had been smashed almost beyond recognition in accidents posted on signs around the capital city, Doha. A second generation of campaigns has recently been developed that are also fear appeal based, but feature more sophisticated messaging and visuals than the first group did. While laudable in t Read More

International statistics show that Australia is one of the top 10 countries in terms of road crashes per 100,000 population. In spite of this, four people are killed and 90 seriously injured every day on Australian roads. In 2011, the Australian Transport and Infrastructure Council released a National Road Safety Strategy (NRSS) for Australia, calling for a reduction of at least 30 percent of deaths and serious injuries on our roads by the year 202 Read More

Road deaths and injuries are increasing in India due to unprecedented motorization and expansion of infrastructure amidst absence of strong road safety policies and programmes. In 2014, 141,000 persons died and 4,77,731 persons were injured as per official reports (1). However, data from World Health Organization, Global Burden of Disease 2013 and independent Indian studies estimate these numbers to be much higher due to under Read More

Injury contributes approximately 12% of the world’s burden of injury and there is increasing evidence that injury results in the new onset of a range of psychiatric disorders. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the more common psychiatric disorders after injury due to road crashes and other forms of traumatic injury. The incidence of PTSD in a number of well controlled studies has been reported at 10-25% but it has been reported Read More

Most of the world's population and economic growth is occurring in the cities. Essential as the movements of people and goods are to the economic and social aspects of urban life, they present people and their surrounding with the ever-increasing problems. As a consequence, world's cities face traffic congestion associated with imbalance of the available road space and operation vehicles, slow traffic flow, poor access to main activity cente Read More

Safe automobile driving requires sufficient vision, cognition, and physical capability that, in turn, depend on the relative integrity of cerebral functioning. Fairly common medical conditions such as dementia, stroke, and seizures affect the brain, and may therefore compromise safe driving. Evidence of unsafe or impaired driving in these diagnostic groups has been presented, but has also been subject to debate. Furthermore, legislation rega Read More

Traffic fatality data for four continents, namely Asia, Africa, Europe and North America, are analysed and modelled here. The analysis is based on gathered traffic death frequencies and rates for over three decades considering 176 countries within the four continents. The predicted values for the coming decade, based on best regression fits, are also analysed. The data sums to over 28,000 records. Official publications, well-known dat Read More

• Cite worldwide research & statistics on motor vehicle collisions (number of deaths, injuries and primary cause of road incidences). • Explain the concepts of defensive driving (which was pioneered and developed by the National Safety Council in 1964) • Discuss distracted driving (e.g., use of cell phones or texting while driving) which has joined speeding and alcohol as one of the 3 leading factors in fatal and serious injury crashes • Be Read More

A research team from Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ) and Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) conducted during the past three years a study that focused on traffic safety situation in Qatar, tyre properties, and the influence of tyre properties on driving safety. The presentation will compare and contrast the specifications of the Gulf Standardization Organization (GSO) and other specifications used in Europe and United St Read More

Road traffic injuries found to be the second rank of Years of Life Lost (YLL) and third rank of Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY) in Iran based on Global Burden of Disease 2010. The number of annual fatalities, which had been on the rise for several decades, reached to the maximum number of over 27500 deaths in 2005. The number decreased to 23000 in 2010 and less than 18000 in 2013. The reduction in number of deaths happened d Read More

Safety education and training is one of the four basic injury prevention strategies, although there are concerns about its effectiveness. In this study, we aimed to summarize the scientific evidence on effectiveness of education and training for different road user groups. Cochrane Injuries Group, Pubmed, Campbell Systematic Reviews and TRID databases were searched for the relevant literature. Only systematic reviews or meta-analyses were Read More

Three thousand people, including 500 children, are killed every day on the world’s roads. These amounts to 1.2 million deaths a year .In addition more than 50 million people are seriously injured; many are disabled for life. According to WHO reports, the number of road crashes fatalities will increase worldwide by 60% by 2020. Road crashes represent a major social cost to most societies, and their management has thus been a high priorit Read More

The main goal of this presentation is to describe the current state of research in regards to in-vehicle feedback technology aimed at young drivers. Young drivers have a higher crash risk worldwide than other age groups, and the first months after licensing are the most dangerous. Several countries have achieved important crash reductions over the past years that are associated with the implementation of graduated driver licensing pro Read More

Road traffic injuries [RTI’s] are known to be a global leading cause of death and disability. In Latin America, they have been shown in disproportionately affect young males, vulnerable road users and low-income populations. Some of the world’s highest death rates from RTI’s are found in this region and this lecture will describe the efforts to improve road safety in the Dominican Republic [DR]. Temporal trends in RTI incidence and mortality rat Read More

In place of Germany as a whole, the situation of traffic medicine in Hamburg is described. As a metropolis in the north of Europe and hub for the land traffic, maritime transport and air traffic – Hamburg is a good location for the topic of traffic safety. In particular the maritime medicine as well as the production of traffic airplanes define our city. Furthermore Hamburg and the University Medical Center of Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), as a sci Read More

Injuries and fatalities occur in all forms of transportation. Numerically, road traffic accidents account for the great majority worldwide. Special questions (especially from the forensic medical point of view) are associated with maritime and flight crashes, when bodies are heavily mutilated and severely decomposed (concerning i. e. identification). – Post mortem radiological investigations are of special value (especially body scanning, pm CT, Read More

Pregnancy causes diverse physiologic and lifestyle changes that may contribute to increased driving and driver error. We compared a woman’s risk of a serious motor vehicle crash during her second trimester to her own baseline risk before pregnancy. We conducted a population-based self-matched exposure-crossover longitudinal cohort analysis of women who gave birth in Ontario, Canada, between April 1, 2006 and March 31, 2011 (5 y Read More

Canada is a country of about 35 million people located about 11,000 kilometers away from Qatar. The purpose of this talk is to provide six informal insights from the Canadian experience that may inform traffic risks in Qatar. A greater awareness of these points, we suggest, might help lessen the losses from traffic crashes in both countries.

Saudi Arabia is a vast country of 2,149,690 km2, and is the largest Arab state in Western Asia. The Kingdom has been categorized as a high-income nation, and is part of the “Group of Twenty” (G-20) of major economies. It has a total population of approximately 27 million, one-fourth of whom are expatriates, with the highest population density (per km2) of 101 in Jizan, and 38 in Makkah, and the lowest of 2.8 in Najran, and 3.6 in Al Jawf Read More

If every driver in Sweden were to obey the speed limits there would be more than 100 lives spared each year. Every reduction of 1 km/h on average speed in the country saves approximately 20 lives per year (SRA 2015). One of many important measures in the later road safety work in Sweden is a project attempting to reduce speed, namely the implementation of speed cameras. Without a comprehensive increase in traffic surveillance i Read More

Reliable high quality traffic safety data has been essential for monitoring, developing and evaluating strategies to reduce the burden of injuries from traffic injuries. Information is often available in many different sources including police reports, ambulance/emergency medical service (EMS) run data, emergency department(ED) and hospital data, and mortality data from death certificates or medical examiner/coroner systems. However wh Read More

The presentation will highlight the population health effects arising from land-use changes and public policy initiatives that lead to changes in transport mode share for six international cities namely, Melbourne, Beijing, Delhi, London, Copenhagen and New York. The findings demonstrate that policies encouraging optimal land-use for active transport combined with provision of infrastructure that reduces the risk of injury for vulnerable road Read More

The United Nations has declared the period from 2011 to 2020 as the Decade of Action for Traffic Safety. The World Health Organization indicates that in most Latin America countries, alcohol consumption is responsible for about 8% of all existing diseases. Worldwide 35% to 50% of all serious vehicule crashes are alcohol related (JORGE, ADURA, 2012-2013). Brazil has a practical system of control to catch drunk drivers, while the abuse of ot Read More