scholarly journals COVID Lockdowns, Social Distancing, and Fatal Car Crashes: More Deaths on Hobbesian Highways?

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.

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-218
Author(s):  
Stanislav Gennadyevich Malkin

The following paper deals with methodological features of studying of empires legacy role in policy of the leading powers in the countries of the third world through a prism of asymmetric conflicts historical modeling. The author pays special attention to the role of Great Britain and the USA foreign policy course defining after World War II during Cold War in the second half of the 20th century and Global War on Terror at the beginning of the 21st century. The author pays attention to methodological traps (such as the probability of the research problem on the given variable and terminological confusion) as well as to research opportunities which are opened by such approach in the field of the historical and political analysis (for example, evolution of the international relations theory and practice in the conditions of the world order transformation after World War II). Special attention is given to the value of such methodological reception as asymmetric conflicts historical modeling in expert estimates of the leading powers foreign policy. The paper also deals with the role of expert community and academic expertize as an important component of that analytical operation which is carried out within historical simulation of the asymmetrical conflicts.


Author(s):  
Tetiana Yelova

The new geopolitical realities after the World War II saw the revival of the Polish state in a new form. The Republic of Poland appeared on the map of Central Europe, with about half of its territory being the so-called Recovered Territories, while the state borders moved west. The new eastern border of the post-war Poland ran along the Curzon line. The new post-war eastern border of Poland was being negotiated and agreed upon by the Soviet and the Polish authorities starting from 1944 on an annual basis, up to 1948. The last exchange of territories took place in 1951. The debates about the political map of Europe and the new eastern border of Poland, which became a new reality after the World War II, were held both at politicians’ offices and in various media outlets. The most prominent debate about the new Polish eastern border could be found on the pages of the Kultura immigrant periodical. The Polish immigrant public intellectuals Jerzy Giedroyc, Juliusz Mieroszewski, Josef Czapski and other members of the Kultura periodical editorial board were adamant about the need to recognize the Polish borders drawn after the World War II. Such a stance was unacceptable for the Polish Governmentin-Exile based in London and some immigrant circles in the USA. Starting from 1952, the Kultura editorial staff is consistent in its efforts to defend the principle of inviolability of borders drawn after the World War II, urging the Poles to give up on the so-called Polish Kresy (Kresy Wschodnie) and to reconcile with the neighbours on the other side of the new eastern border.


2003 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 107-118
Author(s):  
Joseph G. Gall

With the death of Harold Garnet (‘Mick’) Callan on 3 November 1993, the community of cell biologists lost one of the twentieth century's most profound and colourful students of chromosomes. During his 50-year scientific career the study of chromosomes and genes went from purely descriptive and morphological to deeply analytical and molecular. Steeped by training in the earlier tradition, Callan nevertheless contributed enormously to this revolution with his meticulous studies on the giant chromosomes of amphibians, all the while maintaining that he was a ‘mere cytologist’ on whom much of the molecular analysis was lost. Mick Callan and I were professional colleagues and close personal friends whose careers intersected at many points. We visited and worked in each other's laboratories, we published together, we generated a voluminous correspondence (much of it in the days when letters were handwritten), and our families enjoyed many good times together in Scotland and the USA. My most difficult task in writing this biography has been to extract from the vast amount of public and personal information in my possession those parts of Mick Callan's life and work that will be of chief interest to a broader audience. I have been helped in this by a 30 000-word autobiography written by him near the end of his life, covering the period from his birth in 1917 to the end of World War II in 1945. This account provides considerable insight into the factors that shaped his later professional career and is an engrossing account of the life of a boy in prewar England and a young man at Oxford and in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the worst days of the war. Callan's autobiography has been deposited in the University library, St Andrews, Scotland.


2017 ◽  
Vol 08 (04) ◽  
pp. 647-648 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahsivadhanan Col Sundaravadhanan

ABSTRACTStatistics prove that more Indians die in Road traffic related accidents than in wars. Prior to World War II, the death toll across the world used to be very high. It was at this juncture that a Military Neurosurgeon named Hugh Cairns introduced the compulsory wearing of crash helmets and brought about a reduction in mortality by more than 50%. Within a decade of introduction of crash helmets in Britain, the entire world followed suit. The results of his efforts are here for all of us to see. This innovative military neurosurgeon is credited as the one who introduced the concept of mobile neurosurgical units during world war and also the first proponent of usage of penicillin in war. His concepts in war surgery are still followed by militaries across the world. This article comes as a tribute to this great Neurosurgeon who helped in saving millions of lives.


2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 579-599
Author(s):  
Cindy Whang

ABSTRACT On 13 August 2018, US President Donald Trump signed a legislation called the ‘Export Controls Act of 2018’ (ECA) that is important for reinvigorating the export control regime in the USA. This paper argues that contents of the ECA will not only impact the USA but also the way that the ECA is structured will potentially have a long-lasting influence on international export control regimes and the role that export controls play in international trade. International export control regimes were established post-World War II as a trade measure to pursue common strategic and national security goals among allied countries. Due to the sensitive nature of national security issues, international export control agreements were structured as non-binding agreements that heavily relied on the consensus of participating countries in formulating export control lists that the participating countries could then adopt in their domestic regulations. The cohesiveness of the global export control regimes has been based on the cornerstones of the consensus-building and list-based standards. The USA established its export control regimes to complement these international export control regimes and has been a strong proponent of requesting countries to adopt the international export control lists into domestic regulations. With the passage of the ECA, the infusion of economic policy considerations such as maintaining the USA’s technological leadership through adding a category of emerging and foundational technology has changed the long-standing export control narrative. Through the changes made to the US ECA, the scope of national security subject to export control regimes has expanded from being focused on military-oriented goods and technology into one that now includes commercial technology. While the changes made through the ECA serve to protect the USA’s technological interests, the statute could also undermine important elements of the global export control regime that the international community has established in the past seventy years post-World War II.


2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (10) ◽  
pp. 787-796 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Smith ◽  
Henry Meleki Kiwelu ◽  
Jan Weckendorf

Traditionally unreinforced tension-side notches at supports of glued-laminated-timber (glulam) bending members have been designed in Canada assuming shear capacity is reduced in proportion to the square of the residual depth ratio. The origin of that practice lies in World War II era studies in the USA on solid wood members. More recent research in Canada, US, and Europe has focussed on application of linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) methods to such problems, reflecting that such approaches can account for effects of variables other than notch depth ratio. Canadian wood design code CSA Standard 086 “Engineering Design in Wood” first capitalized on availability of LEFM approaches in 1994 by adopting such a method for design of sawn lumber members with tension-side notches at supports. The same was not done then for glulam members because of paucity of supporting test data. That gap has now been filled and the 2014 edition of CSA Standard 086 employs consistent LEFM based design approaches for both sawn lumber and glulam members with tension-side notches. New provisions for glulam recognize influences that notch length and shape, and how laminations in members are fabricated have on member capacities. Discussion here addresses the logic that underpins the new glulam provisions and how application of those provisions impacts design solutions. Overall impact of the new design provisions is to discourage use of relatively large tension-side notches at supports of larger glulam bending members, while not discouraging use of notches in smaller glulam members.


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