A sequel to "Comprehensive analysis of single- and multi-vehicle large truck at-fault crashes on rural and urban roadways in Alabama": Accounting for temporal instability in crash factors.

This exploratory study is a follow-up to a 2014 study that investigated factors associated with large truck at-fault crash outcomes in Alabama. To assess unobserved temporal changes in the effects of the crash factors, this study re-creates the original crash models developed in the 2014 study using crash data from 2017 to 2019. Four mixed logit models were re-created using the same variables used in the previous study to analyze contributing crash factors to injury severity of single-vehicle (SV) and multi-vehicle-involved (MV) large truck at-fault crashes in urban and rural settings.

Exploring spatial heterogeneity in factors associated with injury severity in speeding-related crashes: An integrated machine learning and spatial modeling approach.

Speeding, a risky act of driving a vehicle at a speed exceeding the posted limit, has consistently emerged as a leading contributor to traffic fatalities. Identifying the risk factors associated with injury severity in speeding-related crashes is essential for implementing countermeasures aimed at preventing severe injury incidents and achieving Vision Zero goals. With the wealth of traffic crash data collected by various agencies, researchers have a valuable opportunity to conduct data-driven studies and employ various modeling methods to gain insights into the correlated factors affecting injury severity in traffic crashes.

Investigating the spatiotemporal characteristics and medical response during the initial COVID-19 epidemic in six Chinese cities.

In the future, novel and highly pathogenic viruses may re-emerge, leading to a surge in healthcare demand. It is essential for urban epidemic control to investigate different cities' spatiotemporal spread characteristics and medical carrying capacity during the early stages of COVID-19. This study employed textual analysis, mathematical statistics, and spatial analysis methods to examine the situation in six highly affected Chinese cities.

Injury-severity analysis of crashes involving defective vehicles and accounting for the underlying socioeconomic mediators.

Crashes occur from a combination of factors related to the driver, roadway, and vehicle factors. The impact of vehicles on road crashes is a critical consideration within road safety analysis, even though not much studies have been conducted in this area. This study assessed how various vehicle and other crash factors are significantly associated with crash outcomes.

Stability of factors influencing walking-along-the-road pedestrian injury severity outcomes under different lighting conditions: A random parameters logit approach with heterogeneity in means and out-of-sample predictions.

Pedestrians walking along the road's edge are more exposed and vulnerable than those on designated crosswalks. Often, they remain oblivious to the imminent perils of potential collisions with vehicles, making crashes involving these pedestrians relatively unique compared to others. While previous research has recognized that the surrounding lighting conditions influence traffic crashes, the effect of different lighting conditions on walking-along-the-road pedestrian injury severity outcomes remains unexplored.

An in-depth analysis of head-on crash severity and fatalities in Ghana.

Head-on collisions are often linked to more serious injuries compared to other types of crashes, due to the intense impact they cause. In low- and middle-income countries, these collisions frequently involve high occupancy public transportation vehicles, leading to higher fatality rates per crash. Given the high risk of injury and potential for multiple casualties, this study delves into the factors influencing the outcomes of head-on crashes and the number of fatalities in Ghana.

Analysis of first responder-involved traffic incidents by mining news reports.

Roadside service and incident response personnel face the risk of being killed or severely injured by passing vehicles when performing their duties on or along a road. This study investigated 5,113 responder-involved event news reports to understand the characteristics of first responder-involved incidents. Through text mining, this study examined and compared the characteristics of three types of responder-involved incidents: near-miss incidents, struck-by incidents, and line-of-duty-deaths (LODD).

A comprehensive study of child pedestrian crash outcomes in Ghana.

Pedestrians are considered as one of the vulnerable road user groups. Among pedestrians of all ages, children are the most at risk. Previous studies have shown that children have inadequate knowledge of road safety and are unable to identify risks on road.

Association between driving frequency and well-being among older adults.

Objectives: Research on driving in older adulthood suggests that driving is a form of independence for older adults and is often associated with increased social capital and overall-being. However, few studies have examined whether the frequency of driving, and not driving alone, affects likelihood of having well-being among older adults. This study aimed to examine the association between frequency of driving and well-being among older adults, guided by the activity theory of aging.

River system changes and locust breeding area evolution in the Qin-Jin region of the Yellow River Basin during the Ming and Qing dynasties and their disaster effects.

Based on the locust outbreak records in historical documents, we extracted 654 locust outbreak events in the Qin-Jin region of the Yellow River Basin during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911 CE), reconstructed the locust disaster index series according to the severity of locust plagues, and compared them with the flood, drought, famine and river disasters in the same period. The objective was to investigate the process of river system changes in the Qin-Jin region of the Yellow River Basin, their relationship with the evolution of the locust breeding area and disaster effects. The results indicate that locust outbreaks in the Qin-Jin region of the Yellow River basin during the Ming and Qing dynasties were concentrated in the summer and autumn, with disaster grades 2 and 3 predominating.

Post-pandemic shared mobility and active travel in Alabama: A machine learning analysis of COVID-19 survey data.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had unprecedented impacts on the way we get around, which has increased the need for physical and social distancing while traveling. Shared mobility, as an emerging travel mode that allows travelers to share vehicles or rides has been confronted with social distancing measures during the pandemic. On the contrary, the interest in active travel (e.

Exploring variations and influencing factors of illegal adoption: A comparison between child trafficking and informal adoption.

Background: Illegal adoption, which mainly includes child trafficking and informal adoption, has long been a prevalent social issue in China. However, the processes and patterns of illegal adoption are not well understood due to the scarcity of data.

Objective: The findings are expected to provide insightful clues for the government and the public to better understand the two categories of illegal adoption.

Severity analysis of single-vehicle left and right run-off-road crashes using a random parameter ordered logit model.

Objectives: Single vehicle (SV) run-off-road crashes are a major cause of severe injury and fatality. Such crashes can result in different levels of severity depending on the direction (i.e.

Learning about injury severity from no-injury crashes: A random parameters with heterogeneity in means and variances approach.

The traditional approach to injury-severity analyses does not allow in-depth understanding of no-injury crashes, as crash factors found to contribute to the various injury severities may have similar effects on the severity of vehicle damage even if no injury is recorded. Viewing no-injury crashes using the vehicle damage severities as sub-categories and bases for potential injuries can improve understanding of future injury crashes. To better understand the mechanism of no-injury crashes and the crash factors that contribute to the extent of vehicle damage beyond the single categorization of these crashes in injury severity analysis, this study presents a vehicle damage severity analysis for no-injury crashes.

Severity analysis of crashes involving in-state and out-of-state large truck drivers in Alabama: A random parameter multinomial logit model with heterogeneity in means and variances.

The trucking sector contributes significantly to the economic vitality of the United States. Large trucks are primarily used for transporting goods within and across states. Despite its economic importance, large truck crashes constitute public safety concerns.

Are first responders prepared for electric vehicle fires? A national survey.

Transitioning to electric vehicles (EVs) will create both opportunities and challenges. Although some programs and resources related to EVs have been made available to first responders, it remains unknown whether our first responders are well prepared for traffic incidents that involve EVs and whether there are any organizational and geographic disparities in preparedness. To answer these questions, a national survey was conducted to collect feedback on responders' incident management knowledge and training experiences related to EVs, as well as their attitudes and concerns towards EVs.

Localizing safety performance functions for two-way STOP-controlled (TWST) three-leg intersections on rural two-lane two-way (TLTW) roadways in Alabama: A geospatial modeling approach with clustering analysis.

Safety Performance Functions (SPFs) can be used to predict the number of crashes for highway facilities by site characteristics, including traffic exposures and other specific site factors. The traditional approach to developing SPFs relies on factors that are observed in the data and has an unstated assumption that the relationships between safety performance and observed factors are stationary. However, there might be factors that are not captured by the data but also have significant impacts on roadway safety performance.

From zero to hero: the spatio-temporal patterns and migration influence mechanism of world-class athletes in China.

At present, China is in an important stage of transition into a global sports power where "outstanding competitive sports talents" are required to play an important role. Therefore, it is of great theoretical and practical significance to conduct in-depth research on domestic "outstanding competitive sports talents" to promote the sustainable development of China's competitive sports and enhance its comprehensive strength. In this study, WCA refers to "world-class athletes," indicating a group of talents who won medals in international sports events such as the Olympic Games during 2009-2019.

Exploration of motorcyclists' red-light running and helmet use at signalized intersections in Ghana.

Objective: There is a dearth of empirical studies on motorcyclists' red-light running and helmet use at signalized intersections in low and middle-income countries like Ghana, Nigeria and Malaysia. This study seeks to fill the gap by looking at red-light running and helmet use at signalized intersections in the Cape Coast metropolis, Ghana. The study also identified potential areas of intervention to reduce the dangers posed by motorcyclists' red-light running in the Cape Coast Metropolis without the use of a helmet.

Establishment of hospital resilience framework in urban China: insight from Wuhan City.

Since the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) swept the world, many countries face a problem that is a shortage of medical resources. The role of emergency medical facilities in response to the epidemic is beginning to arouse public attention, and the construction of the urban resilient emergency response framework has become the critical way to resist the epidemic. Today, China has controlled the domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases through multiple emergency medical facilities and inclusive patient admission criteria.

Rainfall-induced hydroplaning risk over road infrastructure of the continental USA.

Extreme rainfall causes transient ponding on roads, which increases the risk of vehicle accidents due to hydroplaning (HP), a phenomenon characterized by reduced friction between the pavement surface and the tires of moving vehicles. Before mitigation plans are drawn, it is important to first assess the spatio-temporal patterns of hydroplaning risk (HpR). This study quantifies HpR over the entire continental USA considering the coupled role of precipitation characteristics and pavement properties.

Integrating machine learning into path analysis for quantifying behavioral pathways in bicycle-motor vehicle crashes.

The behavioral pathways in traffic crashes describe the chained linkages among contributing factors, pre-crash road user behaviors, and crash outcomes. Bicyclists are more vulnerable than motorists on road and their pre-crash behaviors play an essential role in the pathways leading to injuries. The objective of this study is to develop a methodological framework that integrates machine learning with path analysis to quantify behavioral pathways in bicycle-motor vehicle crashes.

From the past to the future: Modeling the temporal instability of safety performance functions.

In roadway safety management, safety performance functions (SPFs) are widely used by state and local agencies to predict crashes for base site conditions. SPFs are developed based on historical traffic safety data and are used to make predictions for anticipated site characteristics in the future. An underlying assumption in SPF development is that the relationships between crash frequency and site conditions are stationary from the past (when the model data were collected) to the future (for which SPFs are applied).

Ride-hailing with kids: Who's got their back?

Introduction: As transportation network companies (TNC) are on the rise, assessing the safety of children traveling in these vehicles is imperative. For this reason, this study developed and adopted a scoring system to assess states' safety standards for children traveling in TNC vehicles.

Methods: The scoring was based on two parameters pertaining to child car seat laws for TNCs: clarity and stringency.

How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect road crashes and crash outcomes in Alabama?

With the rising number of cases and deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic, nations and local governments, including many across the U.S., imposed travel restrictions on their citizens.