Introduction: Age-related changes (e.g., cognitive, physiologic) can affect an individual's mobility and increase risks for falls and motor-vehicle crashes, which are leading causes of injuries and injury deaths among older Americans.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Falls and motor-vehicle crashes (MVCs) are leading causes of unintentional injury deaths among older adults (65+) in the United States. Injury prevention resources exist to help healthcare providers reduce fall and MVC risk among older adult patients. However, awareness of these resources among healthcare providers is unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Safe, affordable, and convenient transportation may help older adults (age 65 and older) stay independent, access healthcare services, and maintain their quality of life. While older adults in the United States primarily rely on private automobiles, those who reduce or cease driving may require alternative forms of transportation. Ride share services show promise as an alternative mode of transportation for older adults, particularly for those who no longer drive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSome older drivers choose to avoid certain situations where they do not feel confident driving. Little is known about the process by which older drivers may use avoidance in transitioning to non-driving. We analyzed 2015 ConsumerStyles data for 1198 drivers aged 60+.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the United States, older adults (age 65 and older) rely on private automobiles for transportation. For those who stop driving, access to alternative modes of transportation is important for health, wellbeing, mobility, and independence. This paper explores older adult willingness to use fully autonomous vehicle (FAV) ride sharing and the features or services of FAV ride sharing that would make them willing to take a ride.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Despite 49 states and the District of Columbia having seat belt laws that permit either primary or secondary enforcement, nearly half of persons who die in passenger vehicle crashes in the United States are unbelted. Monitoring seat belt use is important for measuring the effectiveness of strategies to increase belt use.
Objective: Document self-reported seat belt use by state seat belt enforcement type and compare 2016 self-reported belt use with observed use and use among passenger vehicle occupant (PVO) fatalities.
Introduction: Safe and accessible transportation options are important for older adults' health, safety, mobility, and independence. Ride share services may promote older adult health and well-being. This is the first study that describes ride share services available to older adults (65+ years) in the United States, including factors that may affect use of services.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Unrestrained drivers and passengers represent almost half of all passenger vehicle occupant deaths in the United States. The current study assessed the relationship between the belief about importance of seat belt use and the behavior of always wearing a seat belt.
Method: Data from 2012 ConsumerStyles were analyzed separately for front and rear passenger seating positions.
Problem/condition: Motor-vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death in the United States. Compared with urban residents, rural residents are at an increased risk for death from crashes and are less likely to wear seat belts. These differences have not been well described by levels of rurality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Motor-vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death among children in the United States, and almost one-fourth of all trips by school-aged children are trips to and from school. This study sought to determine how children (5-18years) travel to and from school and, among those living ≤1mile of school, to explore the role of school bus service eligibility on school travel mode.
Methods: We used national 2012 survey data to determine prevalence of usual school travel mode, stratified by distance from school.
Introduction: In 2013, injuries to bicyclists accounted for 925 fatalities and 493,884 nonfatal, emergency department-treated injuries in the United States. Bicyclist deaths increased by 19% from 2010 to 2013. The greatest risk of death and disability to bicyclists is head injuries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Seat belt use reduces the risk of injuries and fatalities among motor vehicle occupants in a crash, but belt use in rear seating positions is consistently lower than front seating positions. Knowledge is limited concerning factors associated with seat belt use among adult rear seat passengers.
Methods: Data from the 2012 ConsumerStyles survey were used to calculate weighted percentages of self-reported rear seat belt use by demographic characteristics and type of rear seat belt use enforcement.
Motor vehicle collisions and crashes are a leading cause of death among Nevada residents aged 5-34 years, representing 14% of all injury deaths in that age group in 2010. During 2008-2011, a total of 173 pedestrian deaths from motor vehicle collisions occurred in Nevada, accounting for 16% of motor vehicle deaths in the state. Approximately 75% (2 million persons) of Nevada residents live in Clark County, which includes the city of Las Vegas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProblem: Motor-vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death in the United States. Seatbelts are highly effective in preventing serious injury and death in the event of a crash. Not all states have primary enforcement of seatbelt laws.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Although a health impact assessment (HIA) is a tool that can provide decision makers with recommendations to promote positive health impacts and mitigate adverse health impacts of proposed projects and policies, it is not routinely conducted on most major projects or policies.
Purpose: To make health a decision criterion for the Atlanta BeltLine, a multibillion-dollar transit, trails, parks, and redevelopment project.
Methods: An HIA was conducted in 2005-2007 to anticipate and influence the BeltLine's effect on health determinants.
Background: Alcohol-impaired driving caused 10,839 deaths in 2009. Alcohol-impaired driving fatalities as a percentage of all motor vehicle fatalities decreased from 1982 to 1999 but have remained stable since. Understanding characteristics of those who engage in this behavior is critical to achieving future reductions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To determine the potential moderating effect of seat belt law on seat belt compliance among persons who engage in adverse health behaviors.
Methods: Self-reported use of seat belts and adverse health behaviors in a 2008 US state-based population survey.
Results: Seat belt law moderates the use of seat belts among males and females who smoked, males who were physically inactive, and males and females who engaged in multiple risk behaviors.
The objective of the study was to compare national and state-level estimates of self-reported and observed seatbelt use for 2008. Self-reported seatbelt use from the 2008 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System was compared with 2008 observed seatbelt use published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The ratio of self-reported belt use to observed use was calculated for each state, and the correlation between the two seatbelt measures was examined using the Pearson correlation coefficient.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: With new data available, we sought to update existing literature on the prevalence of self-reported seat belt use by state, region, and rural/urban status and to estimate the strength of the association between seat belt use and rural/urban status adjusted for type of seat belt law and several other factors.
Methods: We examined data on self-reported use of seat belts from 50 states, the District of Columbia, and three territories using the 2008 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a state-based random-digit-dialed telephone survey (n=406,552). Reported seat belt use was assessed by state, U.
Problem: Motor-vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death in the United States. In the event of a crash, seat belts are highly effective in preventing serious injury and death.
Methods: Data from the 2006 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System were used to calculate prevalence of seat belt use by state and territory and by type of state seat belt law (primary vs.
Motor vehicle crashes killed almost 5,000 pedestrians in 2005 in the United States. Pedestrian risk may be higher in areas characterized by urban sprawl. From 2000 to 2004, pedestrian fatality rates declined in the United States, but the Atlanta metropolitan statistical area did not experience the same decline.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: secondary enforcement laws (police may issue a safety belt citation only if the vehicle has been stopped for another reason).
Methods: We analyzed 2002 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data from 50 states and the District of Columbia. We performed multivariable, log-linear regression analyses to assess the effect of sociodemographic characteristics and safety belt laws on safety belt use.