scholarly journals Risk compensation and bicycle helmets: a false conclusion and uncritical citations

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor Radun ◽  
Jenni Radun ◽  
Mahsa Esmaeilikia ◽  
Timo Lajunen

Some researchers and many anti-helmet advocates often state that because cyclists are wearing a helmet they feel safer and take more risks. This hypothesis - risk compensation – if true, would reduce, annul or even reverse the assumed benefits of helmets in reducing head injuries. Consequently, this hypothesis is often used to oppose mandatory helmet laws. In this article, we illustrate how one of the few studies that attempted to experimentally test the hypothesis in relation to bicycle helmets arrives at a false conclusion. As a result it is often cited as evidence of risk compensation. Given the lack of experimental studies in this research area, the impact of a single study in shaping the opinions of the general public and of policy makers can be significant.

2020 ◽  
pp. 0021955X2096521
Author(s):  
Somen K Bhudolia ◽  
Goram Gohel ◽  
Kah Fai Leong

Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) is a common material used to manufacture the inner foam liner of a bicycle helmet due to its outstanding energy absorption characteristics and light-weight property. The current research presents a novel corrugated expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam design concept which is used to enhance the impact dissipation of bicycle helmets from the safety standpoint to reduce head injuries and make them lighter. The baseline comparison study under impact for different foam configurations is compared with a conventional EPS foam sample without corrugation. Corrugated foam designs under current investigation are 12.5–20% lighter and provide up to 10% higher energy absorption. The details of the novel manufacturing concept, CPSC 1203 helmet impact tests, high-speed camera study to understand the differences in the failure mechanisms are deliberated in this paper.


2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 1197-1203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jake Olivier ◽  
Sofiane Boufous ◽  
Raphael Grzebieta

Abstract Background Australian bicycle helmet laws were first introduced in Victoria in July 1990 and the remaining Australian states, Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory by July 1992. Previous research on helmet legislation has focused on changes in helmet wearing and bicycle-related head injury. Although it is generally accepted that bicycle helmets can reduce the risk of fatality due to head injury, there has been little research assessing the impact of helmet legislation on cycling fatalities. Methods An interrupted time series approach was used to assess the impact of bicycle helmet legislation on yearly-aggregated rates of bicycle-related fatalities per population from 1971 to 2016. Results Immediately following bicycle helmet legislation, the rate of bicycle fatalities per 1 000 000 population reduced by 46% relative to the pre-legislation trend [95% confidence interval (CI): 31, 58]. For the period 1990–2016, we estimate 1332 fewer cycling fatalities (95% CI: 1201, 1463) or an average of 49.4 per year (95% CI: 44.5, 54.2). Reductions were also observed for pedestrian fatalities; however, bicycle fatalities declined by 36% relative to pedestrian fatalities (95% CI: 12, 54). Conclusions In the absence of robust evidence showing a decline in cycling exposure following helmet legislation or other confounding factors, the reduction in Australian bicycle-related fatality appears to be primarily due to increased helmet use and not other factors.


2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 808-824 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Su ◽  
Echo Wen Wan ◽  
Yuwei Jiang

Abstract This research examines the effect of social exclusion on consumers’ preferences for visual density. Based on seven experimental studies, we reveal that consumers who perceive themselves as socially excluded evaluate products with dense visual patterns more positively than their nonexcluded peers. This effect occurs because social exclusion triggers a feeling of psychological emptiness and dense patterns can provide a sense of being “filled,” which helps to alleviate this feeling of emptiness. This effect is attenuated when consumers physically fill something or experience a feeling of “temporal density” (i.e., imagining a busy schedule with many tasks packed into a short time). These results shed light on consumers’ socially grounded product aesthetic preferences and offer practical implications for marketers, designers, and policy makers.


Author(s):  
Igor Radun ◽  
Jenni Radun ◽  
Mahsa Esmaeilikia ◽  
Timo Lajunen

2020 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 31301
Author(s):  
Nabil Chakhchaoui ◽  
Rida Farhan ◽  
Meriem Boutaldat ◽  
Marwane Rouway ◽  
Adil Eddiai ◽  
...  

Novel textiles have received a lot of attention from researchers in the last decade due to some of their unique features. The introduction of intelligent materials into textile structures offers an opportunity to develop multifunctional textiles, such as sensing, reacting, conducting electricity and performing energy conversion operations. In this research work nanocomposite-based highly piezoelectric and electroactive β-phase new textile has been developed using the pad-dry-cure method. The deposition of poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) − carbon nanofillers (CNF) − tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS), Si(OCH2CH3)4 was acquired on a treated textile substrate using coating technique followed by evaporation to transform the passive (non-functional) textile into a dynamic textile with an enhanced piezoelectric β-phase. The aim of the study is the investigation of the impact the coating of textile via piezoelectric nanocomposites based PVDF-CNF (by optimizing piezoelectric crystalline phase). The chemical composition of CT/PVDF-CNC-TEOS textile was detected by qualitative elemental analysis (SEM/EDX). The added of 0.5% of CNF during the process provides material textiles with a piezoelectric β-phase of up to 50% has been measured by FTIR experiments. These results indicated that CNF has high efficiency in transforming the phase α introduced in the unloaded PVDF, to the β-phase in the case of nanocomposites. Consequently, this fabricated new textile exhibits glorious piezoelectric β-phase even with relatively low coating content of PVDF-CNF-TEOS. The study demonstrates that the pad-dry-cure method can potentially be used for the development of piezoelectric nanocomposite-coated wearable new textiles for sensors and energy harvesting applications. We believe that our study may inspire the research area for future advanced applications.


2005 ◽  
pp. 60-71
Author(s):  
E. Serova ◽  
O. Shick

Russian policy makers argue that agriculture suffers from decapitalization due to financial constraints faced by producers. This view is the basis for the national agricultural policy, which emphasizes reimbursement of input costs and substitutes government and quasi-government organizations for missing market institutions. The article evaluates the availability of purchased farm inputs, the efficiency of their use, the main problems in the emergence of market institutions, and the impact of government policies. The analysis focuses on five groups of purchased inputs: farm machinery, fertilizers, fuel, seeds, and animal feed. The information sources include official statistics and data from two original surveys.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Ammar Ahmed ◽  
Rafat Naseer ◽  
Muhammad Asadullah ◽  
Hadia Khan

In this competitive environment, organizations strive to satisfy their customer by providing best quality service at affordable and fair prices with a view to enhance their revenues. To achieve the objective of revenue maximization, organizations strive to identify the factors that help them in retaining their customers. Drawing from the signalling theory of marketing, the current study proposes a novel conceptual model representing the impact of service quality with food quality and price fairness on customer retention in restaurant sector of Pakistan. The paper underlines an important arena of knowledge for academicians as well as organizational scientists on the subject. On the basis of literature available on the variables understudy, the present study forwards eight research propositions worthy of urgent scholarly attention. The conceptualized model of the present article can also be viewed significant in unleashing further avenues for the restaurant management entities, policy makers and future researchers in the domain of managing in the service sector businesses.


2017 ◽  
pp. 89-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mai Nguyen Thi Tuyet ◽  
Hung Nguyen Vu ◽  
Linh Nguyen Hoang ◽  
Minh Nguyen Hoang

This study focuses on examining the impact of three components of materialism on green purchase intention for urban consumers in Vietnam, an emerging economy. An extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is applied as the conceptual framework for this study. The hypotheses are empirically tested using survey data obtained from consumers in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. The regression results show support for most of our hypotheses. The findings indicate that two out of three facets of materialism are significant predictors of green purchase intention. Specifically, success is found to be negatively related to purchase intention, while happiness is related positively to the intention. All three antecedents in the TPB model, including attitude towards green purchase, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control are also found to have positive impacts on purchase intention. The research findings are discussed and implications for managers and policy makers are provided.


2012 ◽  
pp. 22-46
Author(s):  
Huong Nguyen Thi Lan ◽  
Toan Pham Ngoc

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of public expenditure cuts on employment and income to support policies for the development of the labor mar- ket. Impact evaluation is of interest for policy makers as well as researchers. This paper presents a method – that is based on a Computable General Equilibrium model – to analyse the impact of the public expenditure cuts policy on employment and income in industries and occupations in Vietnam using macro data, the Input output table, 2006, 2008 and the 2010 Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey.


2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 294-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chik Collins ◽  
Ian Levitt

This article reports findings of research into the far-reaching plan to ‘modernise’ the Scottish economy, which emerged from the mid-late 1950s and was formally adopted by government in the early 1960s. It shows the growing awareness amongst policy-makers from the mid-1960s as to the profoundly deleterious effects the implementation of the plan was having on Glasgow. By 1971 these effects were understood to be substantial with likely severe consequences for the future. Nonetheless, there was no proportionate adjustment to the regional policy which was creating these understood ‘unwanted’ outcomes, even when such was proposed by the Secretary of State for Scotland. After presenting these findings, the paper offers some consideration as to their relevance to the task of accounting for Glasgow's ‘excess mortality’. It is suggested that regional policy can be seen to have contributed to the accumulation of ‘vulnerabilities’, particularly in Glasgow but also more widely in Scotland, during the 1960s and 1970s, and that the impact of the post-1979 UK government policy agenda on these vulnerabilities is likely to have been salient in the increase in ‘excess mortality’ evident in subsequent years.


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