Drivers' perceptions and reactions to roadside memorials

Common Venues in Romantic Relationships of Adults With Symptoms of Autism and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Introduction: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) figures among the most common neurodevelopmental disorders. Despite having opposite stereotypes, both ADHD and ASD compromise, though in different ways, skills such as social interactions, communication skills, and social thinking, which may underlie difficulties in romantic relationships. Methods: We evaluated 306 adults about their romantic relationships and the intensity of their love. Participants were from one of four groups:, individuals with ASD-only traits, a group with symptoms of ADHD-only, participants with neither ADHD nor ASD symptoms (control) or from a fourth group of individuals with both ADHD and ASD traits. Results: The ASD traits group had fewer married people and more people who have never been married, while the rate of divorce was higher in the ADHD traits group. Regarding the intensity of love, the mean scores of the ADHD and the ADHD+ASD traits groups were higher in the Passionate Love Scale than the mean score of the control group. Passionate love in the ASD group was no different from the other groups. Small positive correlations were found between passionate love and ADHD and ASD behavioral problems. Conclusion: Marital status was distinct depending on symptoms of a neurodevelopmental disorder in adulthood. Also, ADHD and ASD symptoms were associated with greater passionate love. Therefore, ADHD and ASD behavioral dimensions may impact long-term and short-term experiences of a person's relationship with a significant other in distinct ways. Understanding how people with neurodevelopmental disorders experience love might help us to better clarify the mechanisms associated with their relationship patterns.

Are Roadside Crosses in Poland a Religious or Cultural Expression?

The paper contributes to the discourse on roadside memorialisation in the countries of Christian heritage in Europe, Australia, and North America. The aim of the paper is to assess the social perception of the motivation of people constructing roadside crosses at the places of fatal car accidents along public roads in Poland. Is it religious, cultural or both religious and cultural? The uniqueness of this survey lies in its representativeness of the population of one country and the religiosity variable incorporated into a public opinion poll. The study proves that there exists a relationship between one’s declaration of faith and the perception of memorial crosses. Believers more often than atheists opt for both a religious and a cultural meaning of roadside crosses. Atheists and agnostics more often than believers associate roadside crosses only with a cultural meaning—the custom of marking places of death with crosses.

Effects of roadside memorials on drivers' risk perception and eye movements

Abstract

Road crashes are a leading cause of death worldwide. In many countries, it is common to see spontaneous roadside memorials constructed in response to road fatalities. These memorials are controversial and are explicitly banned in many jurisdictions. Advocates argue that the presence of memorials improves safety by making other drivers aware of an especially dangerous road where others have died, whereas opponents argue that they are distracting and decrease safety by diverting drivers’ attention away from the road. However, there has been almost no research examining the effects of roadside memorials on road user behavior and safety. In this study, 40 drivers viewed videos of road scenes with and without memorials, to examine how the presence of roadside memorials influences drivers’ attentional allocation (indicated by eye movements to the roadside area) and safety-related behaviors (indicated by perceived risk ratings and preferred travel speeds for the road). The findings indicate memorials do capture visual attention, as participants were more likely to fixate on memorials compared with a comparison object placed on the roadside. However, fixations on the memorials, and to the roadside area in general, were relatively brief. The presence of memorials did not affect perceived risk and did not produce a clear systematic effect on preferred travel speed. Nearly all drivers in our study supported permitting roadside memorials, but a small number strongly opposed memorials on the belief they are distracting and/or distressing.

Preregistration details

This study was preregistered with Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications and received in-principle acceptance on 4 March 2018. The preregistered protocol is available here: 10.6084/m9.figshare.6181937.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s41235-019-0184-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The Association between Regional Environmental Factors and Road Trauma Rates: A Geospatial Analysis of 10 Years of Road Traffic Crashes in British Columbia, Canada

Background

British Columbia, Canada is a geographically large jurisdiction with varied environmental and socio-cultural contexts. This cross-sectional study examined variation in motor vehicle crash rates across 100 police patrols to investigate the association of crashes with key explanatory factors.

Methods

Eleven crash outcomes (total crashes, injury crashes, fatal crashes, speed related fatal crashes, total fatalities, single-vehicle night-time crashes, rear-end collisions, and collisions involving heavy vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, or motorcyclists) were identified from police collision reports and insurance claims and mapped to police patrols. Six potential explanatory factors (intensity of traffic law enforcement, speed limits, climate, remoteness, socio-economic factors, and alcohol consumption) were also mapped to police patrols. We then studied the association between crashes and explanatory factors using negative binomial models with crash count per patrol as the response variable and explanatory factors as covariates.

Results

Between 2003 and 2012 there were 1,434,239 insurance claim collisions, 386,326 police reported crashes, and 3,404 fatal crashes. Across police patrols, there was marked variation in per capita crash rate and in potential explanatory factors. Several factors were associated with crash rates. Percent roads with speed limits ≤ 60 km/hr was positively associated with total crashes, injury crashes, rear end collisions, and collisions involving pedestrians, cyclists, and heavy vehicles; and negatively associated with single vehicle night-time crashes, fatal crashes, fatal speeding crashes, and total fatalities. Higher winter temperature was associated with lower rates of overall collisions, single vehicle night-time collisions, collisions involving heavy vehicles, and total fatalities. Lower socio-economic status was associated with higher rates of injury collisions, pedestrian collisions, fatal speeding collisions, and fatal collisions. Regions with dedicated traffic officers had fewer fatal crashes and fewer fatal speed related crashes but more rear end crashes and more crashes involving cyclists or pedestrians. The number of traffic citations per 1000 drivers was positively associated with total crashes, fatal crashes, total fatalities, fatal speeding crashes, injury crashes, single vehicle night-time crashes, and heavy vehicle crashes. Possible explanations for these associations are discussed.

Conclusions

There is wide variation in per capita rates of motor vehicle crashes across BC police patrols. Some variation is explained by factors such as climate, road type, remoteness, socioeconomic variables, and enforcement intensity. The ability of explanatory factors to predict crash rates would be improved if considered with local traffic volume by all travel modes.

Safety impact of Gateway Monuments

Gateway Monuments are free standing roadside structures or signage that communicate the name of a city, country or township to motorists. The placement of such monuments within state-controlled right-of-way is a relatively recent occurrence in California. As a result, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) initiated research to quantify the impacts that this type of signage may or may not have on crashes in their vicinity. To date, no specific research has examined the impact such features have on crashes. To determine whether these features impacted safety, the before-after study method using the Empirical Bayes technique was used, with reference groups and Safety Performance Functions adapted from existing studies, eliminating the need to calibrate new models. Results indicated that, on an individual basis, no deterioration in safety was observed at any monument site. When all sites were examined collectively (using two different scenarios), the calculated index of effectiveness values were 0.978 and 0.680, respectively, corresponding to 2.2% and 32.0% reductions in crashes. In addition to the EB method, naïve study methods (with and without AADT taken into account) were applied to the study data. Results (crash reductions) from these methods also showed that the presence of Gateway Monuments did not have negative impact on traffic safety. However, the use of EB technique should be very careful employed when adopting reference groups from different jurisdictions, as these may affect the validity of EB results. In light of these results, Caltrans may continue to participate in the Gateway Monument Program at its discretion with the knowledge that roadway safety is not impacted by monuments.

Effects of roadside memorials on traffic flow

Despite their growing popularity in North America, little research has been conducted on understanding the effects of roadside memorials on drivers' behaviour. In this study, we examined the short-term effects of roadside memorials on traffic speed and headways on a high speed intercity freeway as well as its long-term effect on traffic speed on a high speed urban freeway. Our study found that the placement of roadside memorials did not have any significant effect on traffic speeds or headways, either in the short or long term. Therefore, concerns about the negative effects on driver behaviour were not supported by this research, at least with regards to speeding and following too closely. However, no positive effects on safety were found either.

Is a combined enforcement and penalty strategy effective in combating red light violations? An aggregate model of violation behavior in Hong Kong

Red light violations are a major cause of traffic crashes at signalized intersections. In Hong Kong, prosecutions for red light violations have increased in the past decade. An automated enforcement camera system has been established to combat this prohibited driver behavior. In addition, both demerit points and financial penalties were revised upwards in 2006 to strengthen the deterrent effect of the system. An observational study of driver tendency to run a red light was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the combined penalty and camera strategy. Both the short- and long-term effects of the strategy on red light violations were estimated. The influences of factors including temporal variation, the presence of a red light camera, geometric design, and traffic control type were also determined with an aggregate count data model. The results show that the frequency of red light violations significantly decreased after the implementation of the new penalty system, and that the reduction remained significant one year after implementation. Interestingly, no evidence was found for an association between the frequency of red light violations and the presence of a red light camera.