We live and die by the sun: motor vehicle fatalities and circadian timing in the USA 2001 to 2018

Author(s):  
Rodolfo Soca ◽  
Charles Mounts ◽  
Lacie Hediger ◽  
Carla York
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 238-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marshall W. Meyer

Abstract Research Question What happened to US traffic safety during the first US COVID-19 lockdown, and why was the pattern the opposite of that observed in previous sudden declines of traffic volume? Data National and local statistics on US traffic volume, traffic fatalities, injury accidents, speeding violations, running of stop signs, and other indicators of vehicular driving behavior, both in 2020 and in previous US economic recessions affecting the volume of road traffic. Methods Comparative analysis of the similarities and differences between the data for the COVID-19 lockdown in parts of the USA in March 2020 and similar data for the 2008–2009 global economic crisis, as well as other US cases of major reductions in traffic volume. Findings The volume of traffic contracted sharply once a COVID-19 national emergency was declared and most states issued stay-at-home orders, but motor vehicle fatality rates, injury accidents, and speeding violations went up, and remained elevated even as traffic began returning toward normal. This pattern does not fit post-World War II recessions where fatality rates declined with the volume of traffic nor does the 2020 pattern match the pattern during World War II when traffic dropped substantially with little change in motor vehicle fatality rates. Conclusions The findings are consistent with a theory of social distancing on highways undermining compliance with social norms, a social cost of COVID which, if not corrected, poses potential long-term increases in non-compliance and dangerous driving.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 625-626
Author(s):  
Fred Hankin ◽  
Fred Vermeulen

The use of infant safety seats in automobiles has become a standard recommendation of physicians, insurance companies, and various organizations. The efficacy of these devices in the prevention of serious motor vehicle trauma is well recognized.1-7 We report an adverse incident involving such a restraining device. CASE REPORT J.R. is a 12-week-old white female infant who was secured in such a restrainer seat in the recommended manner. The day of admission was an unusually sunny spring afternoon and the child was wearing only a T-shirt and a diaper. Persistent crying by the child for 15 minutes led to the discovery of a blister 3 cm in diameter on the exposed portion of the patient's anterior right thigh (Figure).


2020 ◽  
pp. injuryprev-2020-044009
Author(s):  
Sadiqa Kendi ◽  
Michael F Taylor ◽  
James Chamberlain

Motor vehicle collisions are one of the leading causes of death and morbidity in children and young adults in the USA, and suboptimal child restraint use is an important risk factor for severe childhood injury and death. The restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic have presented unique challenges to the public health community, including how to use certified child passenger safety technicians through car seat checks. This case series assessed the feasibility of performing remote car seat checks and parental satisfaction with them. It provides preliminary evidence that remote car seat checks are feasible in a real-world environment and acceptable to caregivers during times in which in-person car seat checks are not safe or accessible.


1986 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 39-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Sagdeev

I feel very honoured at having been asked by the IAU Executive to present Prof. Sagdeev’s invited discourse on Venus in his absence. As has already been mentioned Prof. Sagdeev was summoned to the talks between the USSR and the USA in Geneva as an expert in Space Research. He went there with several very important proposals for future cooperation in scientific exploration of outer space and we all hope that the results of his mission will be beneficial for the development of space astronomy and therefore for the whole astronomical community represented by the International Astronomical Union. I am sure that all present in this room realize that it is not an easy task to present someone else’s lecture especially at such short notice and in a foreign language. Besides, it is my opinion that a talk on Venus – the brightest celestial body in the sky except the moon and the Sun – Venus which always has been the symbol of beauty, love and femininity, that such a talk should surely be given by a man.


2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 136-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob B Avraham ◽  
Misha Bhandari ◽  
Spiros G Frangos ◽  
Deborah A Levine ◽  
Michael G Tunik ◽  
...  

BackgroundTraumatic injury is the leading cause of paediatric morbidity and mortality in the USA. We present updated national data on emergency department (ED) discharges for traumatic injury for a recent 7-year period.MethodsWe conducted a descriptive epidemiological analysis of the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample Survey, the largest and most comprehensive database in the USA, for 2006–2012. Among children and adolescents, we tracked changes in injury mechanism and severity, cost of care, injury intent and the role of trauma centres.ResultsThere was an 8.3% (95% CI 7.7 to 8.9) decrease in the annual number of ED visits for traumatic injury in children and adolescents over the study period, from 8 557 904 (SE=5861) in 2006 to 7 846 912 (SE=5191) in 2012. The case-fatality rate was 0.04% for all injuries and 3.2% for severely injured children. Children and adolescents with high-mortality injury mechanisms were more than three times more likely to be treated at a level 1 trauma centre (OR=3.5, 95% CI 3.3 to 3.7), but were more no more likely to die (OR=0.96, 95% CI 0.93 to 1.00). Traumatic brain injury diagnoses increased 22.2% (95% CI 20.6 to 23.9) during the study period. Intentional assault accounted for 3% (SE=0.1) of all child and adolescent ED injury discharges and 7.2% (SE=0.3) of discharges among 15–19 year-olds. There was an 11.3% (95% CI 10.0 to 12.6) decline in motor vehicle injuries from 2009 to 2012. The total cost of care was $23 billion (SE=0.01), a 78% increase from 2006 to 2012.ConclusionsThis analysis presents a recent portrait of paediatric trauma across the USA. These analyses indicate the important role and value of trauma centre care for injured children and adolescents, and that the most common causes and mechanisms of injury are preventable.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 448-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine C Wheeler-Martin ◽  
Allison E Curry ◽  
Kristina B Metzger ◽  
Charles J DiMaggio

BackgroundDespite substantial progress, motor vehicle crashes remain a leading killer of US children. Previously, we documented significant positive impacts of Safe Routes to School interventions on school-age pedestrian and pedalcyclist crashes.ObjectiveTo expand our analysis of US trends in motor vehicle crashes involving school-age pedestrians and pedalcyclists, exploring heterogeneity by age and geography.MethodsWe obtained recent police-reported crash data from 26 states, calculating population rates of pedestrian and pedalcyclist crashes, crash fatality rates and pedestrian commuter-adjusted crash rates (‘pedestrian danger index’) for school-age children as compared with other age groups. We estimated national and statewide trends by age, injury status, day and travel hour using hierarchical linear modeling.ResultsSchool-age children accounted for nearly one in three pedestrians and one in two pedalcyclists struck in motor vehicle crashes from 2000 to 2014. Yet, the rates of these crashes declined 40% and 53%, respectively, over that time, on average, even as adult rates rose. Average crash rates varied geographically from 24.4 to 100.8 pedestrians and 15.6 to 56.7 pedalcyclists struck per 100 000 youth. Crash rates and fatality rates were inversely correlated.ConclusionsDespite recent increases in adult pedestrian crashes, school-age and younger pedestrians experienced ongoing declines in motor vehicle crashes through 2014 across the USA. There was no evidence of displacement in crash severity; declines were observed in all outcomes. The growing body of state crash data resources can present analytic challenges but also provides unique insights into national and local pedestrian crash trends for all crash outcomes.


2002 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 167-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antony Hewish

Bearing in mind the dramatic impact of radioastronomy upon our knowledge of the Universe during the years after World War II, it is remarkable that the seminal discovery of radio emission from our galaxy by Karl Jansky in the USA in 1931 attracted so little attention from the astronomical community at that time. It was, in fact, the radio amateur Grote Reber, of Wheaton, Illinois, and not the professionals, who first followed up Jansky's discovery. Designing his own radio telescopes, the first of which were unsuitable because the wavelengths were too short, Reber persevered until, in 1941, he successfully performed surveys of the distribution of radio noise intensity across the sky that indicated a strong concentration towards the galactic centre. In this country the key figure was J.S. Hey, who was engaged in wartime operational research concerned with anti-aircraft radar when, in February 1942, radar stations along the south coast of England were seriously affected by radio interference of unknown origin. From the direction of the interfering signals Hey concluded that the Sun must be responsible, so he contacted the Royal Greenwich Observatory and was informed that a large sunspot group was near the centre of the solar disc. He correctly deduced that some kind of disturbance in the solar atmosphere must have generated the radio signals, but this remained a wartime secret until the cessation of hostilities. Returning to his discovery in 1946, when the Sun was again active, Hey and his team made more detailed observations and showed that the intense bursts of radiation were often associated with solar flares. In the same year, while following up the work of Jansky and Reber, Hey noticed that radiation from the direction of the constellation Cygnus often showed fluctuations of intensity on a time-scale of a few seconds. With his experience of solar radiation, Hey deduced that a discrete source must have been responsible and more were soon located by other groups. Initially called radio stars, but later found to be supernova remnants, normal galaxies and new types of galaxy located near, or beyond, the limits of optical telescopes, Hey's discovery initiated an era of research that transformed observational astronomy. Such was the pace and excitement of this period that the significance of Hey's pioneering contributions tended to be overlooked. He was not proposed for Fellowship of The Royal Society until 1978, and he was elected in the same year.


2010 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 544-556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter O. Simmons ◽  
Thomas J. Zlatoper

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