Occupant injury severity from lateral collisions: a literature review.

Problem: Side impacts are a serious automotive injury problem; they represent about 30% of all fatalities for passenger vehicle occupants. This literature review focuses on occupant injuries resulting from real lateral collisions. It emphasizes the interaction between injury patterns and crash factors, taking into account type of injuries and their severity.

The role of driver education in the licensing process in Quebec.

Problem: In many jurisdictions, driver education (DE) graduates, compared to non-graduates, are granted a time-discount that allows them to drive unsupervised several months earlier, despite little evidence of a safety benefit and consistent evidence of increased crash risk. Confounding factors may be threatening the validity of DE evaluations. A theoretical framework called the "licensing process" (LP) is proposed to identify and explore potential confounding factors in DE evaluations.

Wireless telephones and the risk of road crashes.

In light of the rapidly increasing development of the cell phone market, the use of such equipment while driving raises the question of whether it is associated with an increased accident risk; and if so, what is its magnitude. This research is an epidemiological study on two large cohorts, namely users and non-users of cell phones, with the objective of verifying whether an association exists between cell phone use and road crashes, separating those with injuries. The Société de l'Assurance Automobile du Québec (SAAQ) mailed a questionnaire and letter of consent to 175000 licence holders for passenger vehicles.

Organisation of truck-driver training for the transportation of dangerous goods in Europe and North America.

In Canada, as in several other countries, truck drivers involved in the transportation of dangerous goods must be trained. However, given the many differences in vehicles, substances transported and driving conditions, international guidelines are very open-ended. This article outlines the domestic training requirements in Canada, the United States, The Netherlands and Sweden, and examines the manner in which the training is provided.