The impact of verbal prompts on child safety-belt use in shopping carts

Each year thousands of children are injured by falling from shopping carts. Buckling children into the seats of shopping carts could prevent many of these injuries. A combined reversal and multiple baseline across settings design was used to evaluate the impact of verbal prompts on shopping cart safety-belt use in two stores. Safety-belt use increased following implementation of the verbal prompt. This study extends the literature on the efficacy of verbal prompting in the promotion of safety-belt use.     

PROMPTING PATRON SAFETY BELT USE AT A SUPERMARKET

We used a reversal (ABAB) design to assess the effects of a personal prompt on safety belt usage by grocery store patrons. A personal prompt delivered by grocery carriers resulted in a 12% increase in the number of patrons exiting the parking lot with their safety belts buckled. This simple, low-cost intervention offers potential savings to society from increased safety belt use.     

Analyzing pedestrian behavior when crossing urban roads by combining RP and SP data

Considering the high crash rates involving pedestrians on urban roads, it is highly relevant to understanding pedestrian crossing behavior. This paper is the first to combine stated preference (SP) and revealed preference (RP) data to evaluate the impact that individual attributes, trip characteristics, built environment, strategies to prevent unauthorized crossing, and traffic flows have on pedestrians crossing decisions in an urban context. SP and RP surveys were designed and collected in Barranquilla (Colombia) near pedestrian bridges or signalized intersections where direct crossings and a high concentration of pedestrian fatalities related to traffic accidents exist. A logit model was estimated using the data enrichment paradigm. Results show that pedestrians weigh risks and costs when choosing how to cross the road. The trajectories observed in the RP component suggest that people prefer direct crossings; nevertheless, pedestrian bridges and signalized intersections can be attractive alternatives if their location matches the origin or destination of the crossing, and no detour is needed to use them. Waiting time; safety; the fine imposed for jaywalking; personal security, and previous decisions are also variables that influence pedestrian behavior when crossing urban roads. These results can be helpful to urban planners and decision-makers interested in proposing appropriate pedestrian infrastructure. The data pooling technique and the inclusion of a cost-related variable (i.e., fine) allowed computing the willingness to pay and marginal substitution rates for attributes of the built environment and other characteristics associated with the crossing decision. Also, the inclusion of several crossing alternatives and situations allowed assessing pedestrian crossing preferences under different scenarios.     

PROMPTING PATRON SAFETY BELT USE AT A RESTAURANT

A reversal (ABABAB) design was used to assess the effects of a verbal prompt on safety belt use of restaurant patrons. A verbal prompt delivered by employees at the exit door resulted in an average increase of 20% in safety belt use by drivers leaving the restaurant. A previous study provided this type of antecedent immediately before supermarket patrons entered their vehicles. This effort demonstrates the effects of a verbal prompt with greater latency between the prompt and target response.     

Predictors of seat belt use amongst Spanish drivers

Seat belt use on Spanish urban roads is very low. Surprisingly, there is very little information to explain this low level. A number of perceptions and expectancies about seat belt use were investigated to identify factors that were able to discriminate between observed seat belt use and non-use. Seat belt use was 88% for those whose journeys included travelling on the motorway, and 35% for those travelling solely on urban roads. Unbelted drivers reported that the seat belt limited their movement and was uncomfortable significantly more often than those observed to be wearing a seat belt. Seat belt use was predicted by the type of road participants had driven on (urban or motorway), beliefs about their friends’ seat belt use, reported discomfort and the number of years driving experience. This research suggests the need for particular types of advertising campaigns paired with enforcement to increase seat belt use in order to save the lives of those travelling on Spanish roads.     

Exploring the characteristics of potential and current users of mobility scooters,among older people in Israel

Recognizing the decline in the ability of older people to serve as vehicle drivers and their physical limitations for long walks, mobility scooters are considered as an alternative mobility means for older people. An increasing popularity of scooters is recently being observed in Israel, raising safety concerns. This study explored the characteristics of potential users of mobility scooters among older people in Israel and the behaviours of their current users, by means of an opinion survey and field observations in urban areas. The opinion survey applied structured interviews, with 110 persons aged 65+. The survey's results showed that most people agreed that scooters may improve their mobility and quality of life. However, they expressed a relatively low willingness to use scooters, mostly, due to the preference for private cars but also the lack of appropriate infrastructure for safe scooter travel in the city. An increasing potential for scooters' use was associated with ages 70–84, people who are aware of their health problems and less involved in physical activities but still maintain an active lifestyle, living independently and appreciating scooter benefits. The observations included 55 video-records with older scooter riders. They showed that regardless the types of urban road or junction, the majority of scooter riders behaved like a vehicle, i.e. travelled on the roadway. Scooters' moving on a sidewalk did not create conflicts with pedestrians, while scooters travelling on the roads sometimes disturbed vehicle flows and created dangerous situations. To ensure safety of the scooter users, their travels on the sidewalks should be stimulated and, thus, appropriate adjustments of urban infrastructure are required.     

The behavioral impact of an advertising campaign to promote safety belt use.

Safety belt use was observed at one restaurant during McDonald''s "Make It Click" promotional campaign. Following baseline, the program was monitored without intervention. During the final 2 weeks of the campaign an incentive strategy was added providing a large soft drink contingent on safety belt use. Safety belt use did not change from baseline levels before the incentive phase. The rate of belt use increased under contingent reward and declined during follow-up. The effects of a verbal prompt could not be assessed because of the almost nonexistent use of the "Make It Click" stickers throughout the study.     

Perception of visual inclination in a real and simulated urban environment

The perceived inclination of slopes is generally overestimated. We claim that overestimation depends on the use of impoverished stimuli and on the distance between the observer and an inclined surface. In experiment 1, participants reported the perceived inclination of a set of urban roads from two different viewing distances. Observers did not overestimate the perceived inclination of slopes when they saw roads from the shorter viewing distances, whereas they slightly overestimated the perceived inclination of slopes from the farther distance. In experiment 2, participants reported the perceived inclination of a set of stereoscopic slides representing the same urban roads as in experiment 1. Here, observers did not overestimate the perceived inclination of slopes when the projected stereoscopic image contained horizontal disparity and simulated the shorter viewing distance; while they revealed a slight overestimation from the farther distance. We found always overestimation when the binocular image did not contain horizontal disparity, independently from the viewing distance. In conclusion, slopes are overestimated when (a) horizontal disparity is absent, and (b) the viewing distance is increased.     

The effects of advance stop lines and sign prompts on pedestrian safety in a crosswalk on a multilane highway

The effects of specific signs and stop line bars designed to influence motorists to stop further back from the crosswalk when yielding right of way to pedestrians were evaluated using a reversal design. The introduction of the prompt and stop line reduced motor vehicle—pedestrian conflicts (near collisions) by almost 80%. This finding was replicated in a second experiment the following year on two streets using a multiple baseline design. The use of the advance stop line is now being incorporated by the Provincial Department of Transportation for marking crosswalks on multilane streets.     

Prompting safety belt use: comparative impact on the target behavior and relevant body language

ResearcherS used two behavioral prompts to compare increases in safety belt use: a Click It or Ticket prompt or a Flash-for-Life prompt. Participants were 1,822 unbuckled drivers exiting two student parking lots of a large university. Research assistants identified unbuckled drivers, flashed one of the two prompts, and recorded whether drivers buckled after the prompt and the drivers' facial expressions and hand gestures. Findings and implications are discussed.     

How fast would you (or should you) drive here? Investigation of relationships between official speed limit,perceived speed limit,and preferred speed

Speed is a critical risk factor, which makes its management the central point of the Vision Zero approach. Driving speed is influenced by speed choice, and in turn by the perception of the road parameters, as well as by the characteristics of drivers. Credible speed limits and self-explaining roads have been suggested as promising countermeasures; however, these rather theoretical concepts have only rarely been operationalized and quantified.The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between speed indicators (official speed limit, perceived speed limit, preferred speed), as well as their differences, and to determine which road and personality characteristics influence them. Compared to previous studies, we introduced several innovative features, including a richer personality dataset based on three different questionnaires, a focus on all three types of roads (urban, rural, transition), and representative data on observed speeds.Using statistical models of the speed indicators, we found that both speed limit belief and speed choice, as well as their differences, are often influenced by the same characteristics. These are mainly more generous road design (higher road class, higher speed limit, and wider road) and the presence of additional elements (vegetation, pavements, and pedestrian crossings). These characteristics may help improve the credibility of speed limits and self-explaining performance.     

Effects of using mobile phones while cycling: A study from the perspectives of manipulation and visual strategies

Bicycles have become one of the major modes of urban public travel. Moreover, the high number of bicycle accidents has created challenges for road traffic safety. In addition, a relationship exists between single-handed use of handlebars and the use of mobile phones while cycling, which increases the risk of cycling. The current study considers not only the impact of mobile phone use while cycling on the safety of cyclists but also the impact of the mental load of a distracting task on cycling safety. Thirty-two college students were recruited to participate in a cycling experiment with distractions that was carried out on both campus and off-campus roads. A paired t-test was used to analyze cyclists' performance under different distraction states. The results show that when performing distracting tasks, the speed of cycling is significantly reduced, the acceleration and rate of change in the deflection angle are significantly increased, and the saccade frequency is significantly reduced. In addition, texting while cycling has a greater negative impact on cycling performance than does calling or listening to music. This study reveals the harm of mobile phone use while cycling by analyzing the effects and characteristics of manipulation performance and visual strategy. The study results can contribute to improving cyclist awareness regarding distraction safety and reducing the occurrence of mobile phone distraction issues. Furthermore, this approach provides a theoretical research basis for scientific and effective intervention and improvement measures in the future.     

How did I do it then? How will I do it later? A theoretical review of the impact of mental time travel on decision-making processes

Mentally traveling to one's personal past and future connects the current self with self at different points in time. When making decisions in the present, individuals benefit from their past and potential future decisions with the help of mental time travel. This review documents the theoretical and empirical studies concerning mental time travel to past and future decisions and their influence on current decision-making processes. Particularly, certain characteristics of past and future decisions directly or indirectly influence present life decisions. Synthesizing the existing literature, we developed a theoretical model suggests that temporally close decisions tend to include different type of details and diverge from distant decisions in terms of personal meaningfulness. Further, past and future decisions that are elaborated and meaningful, have a great impact on present decisions. Future empirical work testing this model has the potential to generate findings that will inform intervention strategies towards improved decision-making.     

The Effects of Prompts on Minority Children's Screening Attendance at a Community Mental Health Center

This study examined the impact of prompts upon the screening attendence rate at a children's community mental health center (CMHC) serving lower socioeconomic urban minority clients. Subjects (274 children under age 18 and their adult caretakers who contacted the CMHC for screening appointments) were assigned to one of three conditions: (a) a phone prompt one day before the appointment, (b) a letter prompt one to two days before the appointment, and (c) a no-intervention control group. Both phone and letter prompts produced significantly greater attendance than the no-intervention condition. The phone prompt group evidenced a tendency toward greater attendance than the letter prompt group. A cost analysis indicated that the phone prompt generated more net revenue than the other two conditions and had a lower total cost and per subject than the conditon. The data suggest that prompts can be effectively used by mental health facilities to engage minority clients in the intial phase of the treament process.     

Relative Income and Marital Happiness Among Urban Chinese Women: The Moderating Role of Personal Commitment

Compared with the rich knowledge in the West, studies of the impact of wives’ relative income on marital quality during the fast socioeconomic change period in urban China have surprisingly fallen far behind. This study attempted to examine the impact of relative income on marital happiness among urban Chinese women. Using an urban Beijing sample of 763 married women, this study found that a woman married to a husband with lower income tended to be less happy with her marriage, but this effect will be countered if there is more love in the sense of a genuine concern about the well-being of the partner and a willing to make sacrifice for him. The results were interpreted from theoretical verification and possible mechanisms linking personal commitment and marital happiness.     

Active prompting to decrease cell phone use and increase seat belt use while driving

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. Seat belt use reduces the risk of serious injury in an accident, and refraining from using a cell phone while driving reduces the risk of an accident. Cell phone use while driving increases accident rates, and leads to 2,600 U.S. fatalities each year. An active prompting procedure was employed to increase seat belt use and decrease cell phone use among drivers exiting a university parking lot. A multiple baseline with reversal design was used to evaluate the presentation of two signs: "Please Hang Up, I Care" and "Please Buckle Up, I Care." The proportion of drivers who complied with the seat belt prompt was high and in line with previous research. The proportion of drivers who hung up their cell phones in response to the prompt was about equal to that of the seat belt prompt. A procedure that reduces cell phone use among automobile drivers is a significant contribution to the behavioral safety literature.     

Improved driver behaviour at bus stops on local roads: Comparison of different treatments

Every day, millions of students use school bus as a mean of transportation to and from schools. Nevertheless, most of the school bus related crashes occur at or near bus stops. The overtaking of stopped school buses during boarding and alighting of students imposes safety risks on students and drivers. This study aims to investigate the impact of three different treatments on driving behavior at bus stops. In total, this study compared four different conditions. Three of them were treatment conditions namely (Red Pavement, Road Narrowing, and smart LED), which were compared with a control condition (i.e., the default bus stop layout without any additional treatments as implemented in the State of Qatar). Each condition was tested for three situations. Situation 1 and Situation 2 were designed with the presence of a stopped school bus on the same and on the opposite travel directions, respectively, while, Situation 3 was designed without any school bus at the bus stop location. A total of 72 subjects participated in the experiment. Generalized Linear Mixed Model (GLMM) was employed to study the impact of several factors on the overtaking/crossing probability of the stopped school bus. In Situation 1, Road_narrowing condition outperformed the other conditions by making 94.3 % of drivers to stop for the bus, while in Situation 2, LED condition performed best by making 48.6 % of drivers stop for the bus that is stopped at the opposite travel direction. Moreover, the LED and Road_narrowing treatments were effective in moderating drivers’ speed behavior, lowering their traveling speed by 5.16 km/h and 5.11 km/h, respectively even in the absence of any bus at the bus stop. Physical road narrowing condition outperformed the other tested conditions, and therefore, can be recommended as a low-cost treatment to improve safety at bus stops. In locations where the implementation of physical road narrowing is not feasible, LED treatment can be used to moderate driver traveling speed and stopping behavior.     

Pedestrians’ road crossing behaviour in front of automated vehicles: Results from a pedestrian simulation experiment using agent-based modelling

The objective of this research is to explore the relation between personal characteristics of pedestrians and their crossing behaviour in front of an automated vehicle (AV). For this purpose, a simulation experiment was developed using Agent-Based Modelling (ABM) techniques. Sixty participants were asked to cross the road in a virtual environment displayed on a computer screen, allowing to record their crossing behaviour when in the presence of AVs and conventional vehicles (CVs). In some experimental configurations, the AVs communicated their intention to continue or not to continue their trajectories through the use of lights. The ABM allowed controlling the behaviour of the vehicles when interacting with the simulated avatar of the respondents. The subjects of the experiment were also asked to fill in a questionnaire about usual behaviour in traffic, as well as attitudes and risk perceptions toward crossing roads. The questionnaire data were used to estimate individual specific behavioural latent variables by means of principal component analysis which resulted in three main factors named: violations, lapses, and trust in AVs. The results of generalized linear mixed models applied to the data showed that besides the distance from the approaching vehicle and existence of a zebra crossing, pedestrians’ crossing decisions are significantly affected by the participants’ age, familiarity with AVs, the communication between the AV and the pedestrian, and whether the approaching vehicle is an AV. Moreover, the introduction of the latent factors as explanatory variables into the regression models indicated that individual specific characteristics like willingness to take risks and violate traffic rules, and trust in AVs can have additional explanatory power in the crossing decisions.     

Cars overtaking cyclists on different urban road types – Expectations about passing safety are not aligned with observed passing distances

Cars overtaking cyclists have been identified as a source of crashes and subjective risk. Several studies investigated the passing distance for different road types. There has been less research concerning cyclists’ expectations concerning the passing distance at different road types. Thus, we aim at contrasting cyclists’ expectations about the passing safety for different speed limits and cycling infrastructures with the passing distances observed at corresponding urban road types. For this purpose, we show participants images of a predefined set of survey zones in a web-based survey, and ask them about the expected passing safety of cars overtaking them when imagining riding their bikes at these locations. We measure the observed passing distances at the same survey zones with a bike-mounted sensor. We find that cars meet the German legal minimum passing distance of 1.5 m in towns in only 30% of all observed events. In 30 km/h speed zones, passing distances at roads featuring dedicated cycling infrastructure (e.g. bike lanes, cycling boulevards) are decreased as compared to those featuring no cycling infrastructure. In contrast, people estimate that the passing safety on roads with dedicated cycling infrastructure is safer than without cycling infrastructure. This effect is even more pronounced on living streets. Situations where oncoming cars (e.g. living streets, ‘opposite’ roads) must be passed in close distance are apparently not perceived as particularly dangerous. Cycling tracks in 50 km/h speed zones increase both the observed passing distance and the corresponding expectations about passing safety. Taken together, the qualitative comparison of the two datasets implies that cyclists’ expectations about cars passing them in a more adequate and safe distance in streets with reduced speed limits and dedicated cycling infrastructure are not justified in light of the actually observed passing distances. Possible explanations for the contradicting patterns could be that cyclists prefer situations where space is explicitly dedicated for bikes, that they account for the anticipated car traffic volume, and that they assume oncoming cars as less dangerous to pass.     

Do internals speed less and externals speed more to cope with the death anxiety?

Past research has showed that mortality salience (MS) increases reckless driving and speeding when the individual perceives driving to be relevant to his or her self-esteem. We claimed that drivers’ control orientations also play a significant role in the relationship between MS and speeding. We hypothesized that both a general desirability of control and traffic locus of control (T-LOC) would moderate the effect of MS on speeding. We tested our hypothesis using an online experiment on a sample of 208 young male drivers. Participants were exposed to either mortality or dental pain salience, and they filled out desirability of control, T-LOC, and self-report speeding measures. The results showed that, for individuals with low desirability of control, MS increased preferred speed and decreased intention to comply with speed limit and the percentage of time complied with the speed limit on urban roads with 50 km/h speed limit. For individuals with high desirability of control, on the other hand, MS increased intention to comply with the speed limit on rural roads and percentage of the time complied with the speed limit on both urban and rural roads. In contrast, the interaction between MS and T-LOC showed that an external T-LOC is positively associated with both intention to comply and the percentage of the time complied with the speed limits only on rural roads with 90 km/h.