Do speed cameras reduce speeding in urban areas?

Abstract This observational study aimed to estimate the prevalence of speeding on urban roadways and to analyze associated factors. The sample consisted of 8,565 vehicles circulating in areas with and without fixed speed cameras in operation. We found that 40% of vehicles 200 meters after the fixed cameras and 33.6% of vehicles observed on roadways without speed cameras were moving over the speed limit (p < 0.001). Motorcycles showed the highest recorded speed (126km/h). Most drivers were men (87.6%), 3.3% of all drivers were using their cell phones, and 74.6% of drivers (not counting motorcyclists) were wearing their seatbelts. On roadway stretches without fixed speed cameras, more women drivers were talking on their cell phones and wearing seatbelts when compared to men (p < 0.05 for both comparisons), independently of speed limits. The results suggest that compliance with speed limits requires more than structural interventions.

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Prevalence of acute diarrhea and associated factors among children under five in semi-urban areas of northeastern Ethiopia

BMC Pediatrics ◽

10.1186/s12887-021-02762-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Tarikuwa Natnael ◽

Mistir Lingerew ◽

Metadel Adane

Keyword(s):

Acute Diarrhea ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Odds Ratio ◽

Associated Factors ◽

Multivariable Analysis ◽

Water Sources ◽

Children Under Five ◽

Under Five ◽

Under Five Children ◽

Study Participants

Abstract Background Diarrheal disease is still one of the most common causes of mortality and morbidity in children under five in developing countries, including Ethiopia. Lack of specific data on the prevalence of acute diarrhea and associated factors among under-five children in the semi-urban areas of Gelsha, found in northeastern Ethiopia’s South Wollo zone, remains a major gap. Therefore, this study was designed to provide data that is important for proper planning of intervention measures to reduce the problem in this area. Methods A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 340 systematically selected children under five in semi-urban areas of Gelsha from January to March 2019. The data was collected using a structured questionnaire and an observational checklist. Bivariable (crude odds ratio [COR]) and multivariable analysis (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]) were employed using binary logistic regression model with 95% CI (confidence interval). Variables with a p-value < 0.05 from the multivariable analysis were declared as factors significantly associated with acute diarrhea. Result The prevalence of acute diarrhea among children under five in the study area was 11% (95%CI: 7.8–14.3%). About two-thirds (63.60%) of study participants used water from improved sources. About half (54.90%) of study participants practiced poor handwashing and 45.10% practiced good handwashing. We found that factors significantly associated with acute diarrhea were a child’s age of 12–23 months (AOR = 4.68, 95% CI: 1.45–1.50), the presence of two or more under-five children in the house (AOR = 2.84, 95% CI: 1.19–6.81), unimproved water sources (AOR = 2.97, 95% CI: 1.28–6.87) and presence of feces around the pit hole/slab/floor of the latrine (AOR = 3.34, 95% CI: 1.34–8.31). Conclusion The prevalence of acute diarrhea among children under five was relatively high. To reduce the problem, various prevention strategies are essential, such as the provision of health education to mothers/caregivers that focuses on keeping sanitation facilities clean and child care, and construction of improved water sources. Furthermore, implementing a strong health extension program, advocating an open defecation-free environment, and practicing a community-led total sanitation and hygiene approach might be helpful to sustainably reduce childhood diarrhea.

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Evaluating the Impacts of Speed Limit Increases on Rural Two-Lane Highways Using Quantile Regression

Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board ◽

10.1177/03611981211019732 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 036119812110197

Author(s):

Md Shakir Mahmud ◽

Nischal Gupta ◽

Babak Safaei ◽

Hisham Jashami ◽

Timothy J. Gates ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quantile Regression ◽

Spillover Effects ◽

Speed Limit ◽

Passenger Cars ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Speed Limits ◽

Site Specific ◽

Rural Highways ◽

Speed Selection ◽

Numerous Site

Understanding speed selection behavior of drivers following speed limit increases is critically important. To date, the literature has largely focused on freeways and the effects of speed limit changes on two-lane highways remains under researched. Prior research has generally focused on changes to mean speeds, although the speeds of both the highest and lowest drivers are also of great interest. This study investigates trends in free-flow travel speeds following 2017 legislation that increased the posted speed limit from 55 to 65 mph on 943 mi of rural highways in Michigan. Speed data were collected for over 46,000 drivers at 67 increase segments where speed limit increased and 28 control segments where speed limits remained unchanged, before and during each of the two successive years following the speed limit increases. Site-specific traffic, geometric, and cross-sectional information was also collected. Impacts of the speed limit increases on the 15th, 50th, and 85th percentile speeds were evaluated using quantile regression. Separate analyses were conducted for passenger cars and heavy vehicles. Locations where the speed limits were raised experienced increases in travel speeds ranging from 2.8 to 4.8 mph. The control sites experienced marginal changes in speeds, which suggests that any spillover effects of the higher speed limits have been limited. Significant differences were observed across the quantiles with respect to the effects of the speed limit increases, as well as numerous site-specific variables of interest. The results provide important insights about the nature of driver speed selection and the impacts of speed limit increases.

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European birds adjust their flight initiation distance to road speed limits

Biology Letters ◽

10.1098/rsbl.2013.0417 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 9 (5) ◽

pp. 20130417 ◽

Cited By ~ 48

Author(s):

Pierre Legagneux ◽

Simon Ducatez

Keyword(s):

Habitat Structure ◽

Territory Size ◽

Speed Limit ◽

Vehicle Speed ◽

Flight Initiation Distance ◽

Speed Limits ◽

Behavioural Responses ◽

Road Speed ◽

Flight Initiation ◽

Local Speed

Behavioural responses can help species persist in habitats modified by humans. Roads and traffic greatly affect animals' mortality not only through habitat structure modifications but also through direct mortality owing to collisions. Although species are known to differ in their sensitivity to the risk of collision, whether individuals can change their behaviour in response to this is still unknown. Here, we tested whether common European birds changed their flight initiation distances (FIDs) in response to vehicles according to road speed limit (a known factor affecting killing rates on roads) and vehicle speed. We found that FID increased with speed limit, although vehicle speed had no effect. This suggests that birds adjust their flight distance to speed limit, which may reduce collision risks and decrease mortality maximizing the time allocated to foraging behaviours. Mobility and territory size are likely to affect an individuals' ability to respond adaptively to local speed limits.

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Recognition of speed limits on speed-limit signs by using machine learning

2017 24th International Conference on Mechatronics and Machine Vision in Practice (M2VIP) ◽

10.1109/m2vip.2017.8211442 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Shigeharu Miyata

Keyword(s):

Machine Learning ◽

Speed Limit ◽

Speed Limits

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Dietary Calcium Intake and Associated Factors Among Pregnant Women in Loma District, South West Ethiopia, 2020

10.21203/rs.3.rs-169289/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Adisu Hailu Tofu ◽

Yibeltal Kassa ◽

Damene Darota Amamo

Keyword(s):

Pregnant Women ◽

Calcium Intake ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Associated Factors ◽

Statistical Significance ◽

Dietary Calcium ◽

Dietary Calcium Intake ◽

Nutritional Counseling ◽

South West ◽

South West Ethiopia

Abstract Background: Low dietary calcium intakes could cause harmful effects to the pregnant woman by influencing pregnancy outcome. Adequate intake of dietary calcium during pregnancy reduces the risk of complications and aids in improved birth outcome. Many researchers focus on urban areas to address the issue and our study was focused on rural community. Hence the study is aimed at assessing dietary calcium intake in rural communities.Objective: To assess the dietary calcium intakes and associated factors among pregnant women in Loma, south west Ethiopia from May to July, 2019Methods: -A community based cross-sectional study was conducted in Loma district, Dawuro zone, southwest Ethiopia. Data were collected from 398 pregnant women after random selection from nine kebeles. Simple random sampling technique was employed to select study subjects. Socio-economic and demographic, and health related data was collected using structured, interviewer administered, and pre tested questionnaire. The 24 hr dietary recall was used for three different days with seven days interval as per the recommendation. When dietary data is collected, often it was converted into nutrients, especially the calcium intake by using Ethiopian food composition table. Collected data was checked for completeness, and entered in to Epi Data version 3.02 for data clearance and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. AOR with 95% C.I results of multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the statistical significance of associations between independent and dependent variables. The level of statistical significance was declared at p <0.05.Result: The median calcium intake was 543mg per day. From 398 participants, 265(66.6%) were at risk of inadequate intake of calcium. Greater than half 249 (62.6%) respondents had practiced avoiding calcium rich food during their pregnancy. The finding of this study identified that nutritional counseling have strong statistical association with dietary calcium intake of mothers during pregnancy. The chance of dietary calcium intakes during pregnancy who were received nutritional counseling 2.4 times higher than those who were not received nutritional counseling (AOR=2.432 95% CI: 1.072-5.517).Conclusion and recommendation: From the present study, it can be concluded that, majority of pregnant mothers 265(66.6%) had a poor dietary calcium intakes during their pregnancy. It is recommended that consumption of enough calcium and dairy products should be included and emphasized in the nutrition education component of maternal health programs.

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An evaluation of variation in pathology investigations and associated factors for adult patients presenting to emergency departments with chest pain: An observational study

International Journal of Clinical Practice ◽

10.1111/ijcp.13305 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 73 (3) ◽

pp. e13305 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Nasir Wabe ◽

Maria R. Dahm ◽

Ling Li ◽

Robert Lindeman ◽

Alex Eigenstetter ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Chest Pain ◽

Observational Study ◽

Emergency Departments ◽

Associated Factors ◽

Adult Patients

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Adherence to respectful maternity care guidelines during COVID-19 pandemic and associated factors among healthcare providers working at hospitals in northwest Ethiopia: A multicenter, observational study

Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health ◽

10.1016/j.cegh.2021.100830 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 100830

Author(s):

Azmeraw Ambachew Kebede ◽

Birhan Tsegaw Taye ◽

Kindu Yinges Wondie ◽

Agumas Eskezia Tiguh ◽

Getachew Azeze Eriku ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Observational Study ◽

Maternity Care ◽

Associated Factors ◽

Healthcare Providers ◽

Northwest Ethiopia ◽

Respectful Maternity Care ◽

Multicenter Observational Study ◽

Care Guidelines

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Regional differences in reasons for consultation and general practitioners’ spectrum of services in Northern Germany – Results of a cross-sectional observational study

10.21203/rs.2.16496/v3 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Ingmar Schäfer ◽

Heike Hansen ◽

Thomas Ruppel ◽

Dagmar Lühmann ◽

Hans-Otto Wagner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Observational Study ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Medical Training ◽

Practice Trial ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Federal States ◽

German Federal States ◽

Number Of Patients ◽

Individual Consultation

Abstract Background Among other factors, the patients’ consultation reasons and GPs’ spectrum of services determine the process and outcome of the medical treatment. So far, however, there has been little information on differences in reasons for consultation and GPs’ services between urban and rural areas. Our study’s goal was thus to investigate these factors in relation to the regional location of GPs’ practices. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional observational study based on standardised GP interviews in a quota sampling design. All counties and independent cities within a radius of 120 km around Hamburg were divided into three regional categories (urban area, environs, rural area) and stratified proportionally to the population size. Differences in the number of reasons for consultation and services were analysed by multivariate linear regressions in mixed models adjusted for random effects on the levels of the German federal states and administrative districts. Differences in individual consultation reasons and services were identified by logistic regression via stepwise forward and backward selection. Results Primary care practices in 34 of the 37 selected administrative districts (91.9%) were represented in the dataset. In total, 211 GPs were personally interviewed. On average, GPs saw 344 patients per month with a slightly higher number of patients in rural areas. They reported 59.1 ± 15.4 different reasons for consultation and 30.3 + 3.9 different services. There was no statistically significant regional variation in the number of different consultation reasons, but there was a broader service spectrum by rural GPs (ß=-1.42; 95% confidence interval -2.75/-0.08; p=0.038) which was statistically explained by a higher level of medical training. Additionally, there were differences in the frequency of individual consultation reasons and services between rural and urban areas. Conclusion GPs in rural areas performed more frequently services usually provided by medical specialists in urban areas. This might be caused by a low availability of specialists in rural areas. The association between medical training and service spectrum might imply that GPs compensate the specific needs of their patients by completing advanced medical training before or after setting up a medical practice. Trial registration The study was registered in ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02558322).

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