The effect of new safety helmet legislation on bicycle accidents in young children

Summary

A study of 813 child bicycle injury presentations at Brisbane's hospitals between April 1991 and June 1992 inclusive. A self-administered questionnaire completed by the caregiver of any child 14 years and under, who presented to the Accident and Emergency Department of five of Brisbane's major hospitals. This requested demographic details, accident, injury, safety helmet ownership and wearing details. It also requested information about parent's educational level and whether the helmet slipped or came off during the accident.

CR 119: Description of Fatal Crashes Involving Various Causal Variables (1993)

Summary

This report comprises quantitative analyses of the 1988 FORS Fatality File and reviews of original documentation to provide descriptions of the role of the following causal variables in fatal crashes: fatigue, speeding, alcohol (>.05 and less than .15, >.15), young (17-20 and 21-25) and elderly roadusers (>65). The 1988 Fatality File, contains details of each of the 2560 fatal crashes, resulting in 2875 fatalities that occurred in Australia in that year.

CR 118: Road Safety Mass Media Campaigns: A Meta Analysis (1993)

Summary

This report details the use of a scientific approach to synthesise the results of a large number (87) of evaluated road safety mass media campaigns. The approach adopted involved the use of Meta Analysis techniques which provides a means of reconciling conflicting findings and allows for a more rigorous approach to synthesis by statistically attempting to develop generalisations across all categories of interest.

Optimism Bias, Risk Utility and Risk Taking on the Road

Summary

The aims of the study were to determine the role of optimism bias and risk utility in risk taking on the road, test the egocentrism account of optimism bias and the effects of vehicle insurance on optimism bias.

CR 127A: The Speed Review: Appendix of Speed Workshop Papers (1993)

Summary

An important part of the speed review recently undertaken for the Road Safety Bureau, Roads and Traffic Authority N.S.W. in conjunction with the Federal Office of Road Safety was a meeting of 45 Australian experts with research, government authority, and motoring backgrounds, as well as a keynote speaker from Sweden, to identify current problems and issues in Australia. The workshop encompassed six keynote addresses on speed research and current issues and developments in N.S.W., Victoria, and overseas.

CR 115: Trends in Road Crash Fatality Rates Summary Report: Australia 1970–1990 (1993)

Summary

Australia has seen a substantial and sustained reduction in road crash fatality rates between 1970 and 1990. This report describes and analyses the changes in road fatality rates in Australia. Annual time trends are examined by road user type (all fatalities, drivers, passengers, pedestrians, motor cyclists and bicyclists), gender, age and time of week. The trends for each road user type are compared with those in other countries. This report summarises the results of two more detailed reports, CR 113 and CR 114.

CR 127: The Speed Review: Road Environment, Behaviour, Speed Limits, Enforcement and Crashes (1993)

Summary

A study was undertaken to review the role of vehicle speed in road crashes, speed limits, enforcement and behaviour, and the environment. A review of the international literature was initially carried out to highlight overseas findings and issues identified for further research and development. Visits were also made to a select number of overseas research and government agencies in Scandinavia, Europe and the United States to gain first hand knowledge of problems and research being undertaken in these countries.

Elderly Drivers and Visual Impairment

Summary

Older drivers comprise the fastest growing sector of the driving population and have been reported to have more traffic convictions and accidents per kilometre driven than any other age group. Although studies have indicated that the skills required for safe driving begin to decline at age 55 years and above, it is not known which particular aspects of driver behaviour contribute to the increased accident involvement of the elderly.

CR 132: Sharing the Main Street: Practitioners' Guide to Managing the Road Environment of Traffic Routes through Commercial Centres (1993)

Summary

Sharing the Main Street represents the culmination of research which started over ten years ago at the University of New South Wales into the competing uses of the street space through town centres and other activity areas. Encouraged by this research, and local and overseas precedents, the RTA decided to develop guidelines for country and metropolitan local authorities who may wish to consider appropriate changes to their "Main Streets".

CR 121: Young Driver Research Program—Overview Report (1993)

Summary

The over involvement of young drivers in road crashes is a very large and, to date, intractable road safety problem. In recognition of the need for a comprehensive research effort aimed at gaining a more detailed understanding of contributory factors to young driver crashes, this report presents an overview of the young driver research program which has been established under the auspices of the Federal Government's Road Safety Research Initiative.
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