A motor vehicle accident (MVA) is any crash occurring on a road between one or more motor vehicles, including cars, motorbikes, scooters, trucks, buses, or pedestrians on public roads (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 1998). Motor vehicle accidents are a major health issue in Australia, being one of the leading causes of fatality and injury (Donovan, Fielder, Ouschan, & Ewing, 2011). While the number of accidents has significantly decreased over the years, MVAs are still a major issue in today’s society (Ramage-Morin, 2008). Mortality and injury rates of MVAs are dependent on geographic region, with different states having varying rates of MVAs. Additionally, MVAs impact majorly on the individual, with a high percentage developing Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following the accident (Harvey, 1998). They also impact the economy and therefore society, with the cost of MVAs being approximately seventeen billion dollars annually in 2003 (Connelly & Supangan, 2006). Risk factors of MVAs are determined by the driver’s behaviour, such as speed and alcohol/drugs. Social factors are also a contributor, including age and gender. The final contributing risk factors are environmental, which include time and place. Age is one of the main leading risk factors to MVAs, which has had strategies implemented to control this and decrease the risk of accidents associated with age.
Firstly, the magnitude of MVAs in Australia has been considerably reduced, with the number of accidents falling year by year. However, this does not make this issue insignificant, as it is still a major problem. They are the second leading cause of fatality due to external damage (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare,...
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...Public Health. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-11-270
Harvey, A. C. a. B., Richard A. (1998). The Relationship Between Acute Stress Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Prospective Evaluation of Motor Vehicle Accident Survivors. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66(3), 507-512.
Hatfield, J., Fernandes, R., Faunce, G., & Job, R. F. S. (2008). An implicit non-self-report measure of attitudes to speeding: Development and validation. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 40(2), 616-627. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2007.08.020
Ramage-Morin, P. L. (2008). Motor vehicle accident deaths, 1979 to 2004. Health Reports, 19(3), 45-51.
Viallon, V., & Laumon, B. (2013). Fractions of fatal crashes attributable to speeding: Evolution for the period 2001–2010 in France. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 52(0), 250-256. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2012.12.024
Statistics show 16- to 17-year-old driver death rates increase with each additional passenger, which is due to distracted driving. Taking your eyes off the road for 2 (two) seconds, at 60 mph, means you have driven blindly for half the length of a football field. The risk of fatality is 3.6 times higher, when they are driving with passengers than when alone. For many years, the correlation between driving behavior and age has interested highway safety researchers and administrators. It is general knowledge that the greatest risk of motor vehicle crash...
To answer the first question one must see where we were, where they were, and what projections did they set for a 6 year projection goal. Abbott case study updated version 2012, or even now 2013 percentage rates. In 2013, Abbott global vehicle accidental rate had improved by 6 percent from the 2012 rate, to 4.8 accidents per million miles driven (Abbott, 2013). The long t...
"CDC -Injury - Teen Drivers: Fact Sheet." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web. 23 Mar. 2010. .
In 1966, the National Highway Safety Bureau (NHSB) was designed by the Highway Act. NHSB’s director, Dr. William Haddon, noticed that he could prevent motor-vehicle injuries by applying public health methods and epidemiology. Various passages demanded the government to set standards for the highway and motor vehicles. The federal government responded by developing new safety features in cars such as safety belts, head rests, and shatter-resistant windshields. Barriers, reflectors, and center line strips were placed on roadways to provide direction and illumination. Traffic safety laws, wearing a safety belt, and public education encouraged drivers to make safer decisions. The use of safety belts has skyrocketed from 11% in 1981 to 68% in 1997 and decreases When the community and government understood the necessity for motor-vehicle safety, various programs such as Prior to the implementation, the rate stood at 18 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 1925; however, the rate stood at 1.7 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 1997. With all of the new safety features with cars, public education and enforcement of safety laws, “motor-vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of injury-related deaths in the United States.” Over 23.9 million vehicle crashes were reported in 1997; estimated costs were around $200 billion.
According to the Journal of Applied Behavioral Analysis, "automobile crashes are the leading cause of death for those aged 3 to 33, with 43,005 (118 per day) Americans killed in 2002 alone" (Clayton, Helms, Simpson, 2006). Worldwide, vehicle accidents consist of 1.2 millions deaths per year, "behind only childhood infections and AIDS as cause of death amount people aged 5 to 30 years old" (Clayton., 2006). The annual cost of road accidents is estimated about $518 billion"(Factor, Yair, Mahalel, 2013). The fact alone of being in a moving, heavy vehicle is a danger in itself but individuals that do not wear their seat belts, talk on the phone, text, and do other distracting behavior also put themselves in even more harmful situations.
After the incident, I began doing some research on teenage car accidents at the advice of the officer who had responded to the scene. What I read about and learned was frightening. In 2008 over three thousand teen deaths occurred, either as a passenger or driver in a ...
Every year we collect a plethora of statistics about almost everything, including elderly motorist, and when it comes to these, the findings are horrifying. It is predicted that the percent of elderly motorist will nearly double by the year 2030. Today, the percent of motorist aged 65 and up is 16; in 2030, it is suspected to be 25 percent (Kluger 1). Nobody wants to think about Grandma getting in an accident, but it happens. The chance of a wreck heightens at 65 and the years following (Neighmond 1). Seniors are more likely to expire due to wrecks than any other age group (Olson 3). Senior motorist are not only a risk to themselves, but they are a risk to the people around them.
There are people who would say that teens are more reckless than the elderly. Although it is widely known that teens are often involved in dangerous driving activities such as racing, reckless driving, packing a car past its normal ca...
What is as dangerous if not more dangerous than murder and suicide? A car accident is. Being in the seat of a vehicle put’s a driver’s life in jeopardy the instant they are in the seat of a vehicle. Adam Ford explains drivers licenses were issued first in the 1900s and conditions have changed substantially: More powerful cars exist, and more are on the road (Ford). With this notion, Ford explains why cars are more dangerous on the road; however, the types of cars that exist in present times are not the sole reason the road is more dangerous. John Pearson states, car accidents are the leading cause of death from ages three to thirty-five world-wide (Pearson). Mainly, drivers cause these car accidents. Cellphone usage in the US is one of the central contributors to car crashes, because the habits shaped from cellphone usage, such as texting generate danger. According to The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), more than 500,000 people were injured and 5,500 were killed by distracted driving in 2009 (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). The road has become a progressively hazardous place with distracted driving on the increase. Additionally, alcohol misuse causes increased danger while in a car. Ralph Hingson, a Sc.D., states that of all alcoholic-related crashes in 2002, 4 percent caused death, and 42 percent caused injury. Hingson further asserts, in dissimilarity of the crashes that did not involve alcohol, 0.6 percent caused deaths, and 31 percent caused injury (Hingson). Deaths and injuries increased this much cannot be taken lightly. Furthermore, age is also a factor in why car crashes have increased in the last decade. Youth drivers are the primary users of cellphones, which means that they text...
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for United States teens.1 In the first month of driving for a teen their crash risk is particularly high.5,6 Fourteen percent of the U.S. population is represented by young people of the ages fifteen to twenty. However they account for thirty percent (Nineteen billion dollars) of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries among males, and twenty-eight percent (Seven billion dollars) of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries among females. In 2012, two thousand eight hundred and twenty-three teenagers, between the ages of thirteen to nineteen, died in the United States from crash injuries.2 Seventy-nine percent of teenagers killed in crashes in 2012 were...
Again, it makes the headlines; an older driver causes a dangerous automobile crash. As the amount of elderly driving has increased in the past decade, the risk for others to be out on the road has increased. In 2012, there were 36 million licensed older drivers in the United States. (Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation (US)) As a 34% increase from 1999, it has been noted that seniors are driving past their ability by an average of 10 years. (Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation (US)). Elderly continue to drive despite the prominent physiological changes that worsen as they age. The amount of automobile collisions suggests that prevention must occur in order to make the roads safer. By examining older drivers’ medical complications, older drivers must be retested to be able to drive a vehicle.
“The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status, or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we all believe that we are above-average drivers” -Dave Barry, comedian. The number of accidents over the last ten years have drastically increased, drivers are paying less attention to the road itself. Many individuals behind the wheel of a car believe that their driving does not affect the road conditions, however it always will. The driving habits of today are catastrophic due to the reasoning that the driving will affect other lives through reckless or distracted driving, and disobeying traffic laws.
Based on available resources, 40000 people die each year in car accidents. This figure is an intimidating figure because it show the occurrence of death in a crash. In this accident, the leading cause of death is people under the age of 35 years old. Safety belts can prevent death in about half of these accident.
Next, many people have either died or have been injured in motor vehicle accidents, each year there are about 5 million people injured in vehicle related accidents (The Environmental Impact of Automobiles). Although this all m...
Richard Petty once said “You’ll got home safe, so drive safe, and stay safe.” Being a racing legend, he is an advocate for safe driving to minimise the cases of road crushes that have been on the rise. He double up as the chairman of the Veterans’ Safe Driving Initiative, the initiative is aimed at guiding the veterans returning from deployment on safe driving tips. It is necessarily important since the infrastructure has changed over time. Another initiative is being run in Minnesota where the teens are guided on the important safe driving tips. Study shows that more crushes are likely to occur in teen driving than veteran driving. It is also evident that young drivers are more likely to cause a crush within six months of passing the driving test and young male are worse than the females in the field.