6 Apr
2012
6 Apr
'12
11:11 p.m.
I'll be happy to look at some studies. Please provide some cites or copies. I
don't believe the assertions. 85% compliance with darn near any voluntary safety
measure is high. The key is the voluntary compliance aspect. Passive measures are much
more effective. They include much more than airbags. Some newer cars also have proximity
indicators, anti-rollover devices, tire inflation measurers, traction control, etc. Some
passive measures aren't particularly effective, such as anti-lock brakes and
"third eye" brake lights.
Much depends on the assumptions, especially in regard to sobriety checkpoints. And of
course, there's the opportunity cost of devoting the necessary law enforcement power
to this effort, what would be taken away from all other law enforcement and prevention
efforts. Intensity of effort and unrelenting effort is key. Random checkpoints and stops
won't do it, unless the frequency is very high. Requesting this at the same time as
police departments are being cut due to the Great Recessions isn't realistic. The
sobriety checkpoint effort could be replaced with breathalyzer or code or test interlocks,
but that would increase the cost of cars. I'd want to see a cost-benefit analysis of
various options. An option that's been pretty effective at very low cost is the
"friends don't let friends drive drunk" campaign. Graduated drivers
licensing for young drivers has helped also.
If anyone is interested, I have an older paper on a transportation safety policy
architecture that discusses many of the different approaches to auto safety, that I wrote
while a senior policy advisor at the US Department of Transportation. Sobriety checkpoints
hardly register on the list in terms of long-term, geographically widespread
effectiveness.
Marc Brenman
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ann Dellinger (CDC/ONDIEH/NCIPC)" <amd1(a)cdc.gov>
To: "TRB Health and Transportation" <h+t--friends(a)chrispy.net>
Sent: Tuesday, April 3, 2012 9:11:51 AM
Subject: Re: [H+T--Friends] A public health approach to preventing injuries and violence:
Q&A with Linda Degutis for National Public Health Week
Current seat belt use in the US is at 84%-85%, I wouldn’t call that very high. Much higher
in some states, much lower in others. Other high income countries have gotten theirs up to
the mid 90’s, it’s possible and effective. The potential number of lives saved is more
from the number killed in fatal crashes who were not buckled, and the ability to save
about half given the effectiveness of seat belts. The effectiveness measures may change
given the crashworthiness of today’s vehicles, more airbags and the like. We shall see.
The literature for the systematic review of sobriety checkpoints can be found on the
Community Guide website, along with methods, etc. A scientifically sound process. An
update of the review is in the works and the 20% estimate will change, but it isn’t
finished yet.
Ann M. Dellinger, PhD, MPH
Epidemiologist & Team Leader
Motor Vehicle Injury Prevention Team
Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention
CDC's Injury Center
From: h+t--friends-bounces(a)chrispy.net [mailto:h+t--friends-bounces@chrispy.net] On Behalf
Of mbrenman001(a)comcast.net
Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2012 11:45 AM
To: TRB Health and Transportation
Subject: Re: [H+T--Friends] A public health approach to preventing injuries and violence:
Q&A with Linda Degutis for National Public Health Week
I dunno, some exaggerations in this Q+A. For example, "We could have saved 3,688 more
lives in 2009 if everyone had buckled up." The rate of seat belt use in the US is
very high. Trying to get a few remaining percentage points at the tail end would probably
take as much energy as the entire previous 90+ percent. Passive systems like multiple air
bags, now present in even very inexpensive new cars, are saving many lives. Relying on
seat belts as a solution is kinda old-fashioned. Been there, done that.
Second, "Sobriety checkpoints have been shown to cut alcohol-related crashes and
deaths by about 20 percent." I'd want to see the studies on this, and find out
what the assumptions and conditions were. If the author means, "If sobriety
checkpoints were set up on every corner in every town in America every night, all night
long," well, maybe. But a 20% crash and death savings just from existing sobriety
checkpoints? I'd don't believe it. Maybe in one small town on one night with 100%
saturation and stopping all drivers.
It's important in our business to maintain our credibility by not exaggerating what
our initiatives can do and by being clear about the limits and conditions of our studies.
Marc Brenman
Social Justice Consultancy
mbrenman001(a)comcast.net
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eloisa Raynault" < eloisa.raynault(a)apha.org >
To: h+t--friends(a)chrispy.net
Sent: Tuesday, April 3, 2012 8:14:41 AM
Subject: [H+T--Friends] A public health approach to preventing injuries and violence:
Q&A with Linda Degutis for National Public Health Week
A public health approach to preventing injuries and violence: Q&A with Linda Degutis
As CDC's Injury Center celebrates its 20th anniversary, Linda Degutis, a former APHA
president, reflects on the significant advances that have been made in the field of injury
and violence prevention and her vision for meeting some of the challenges that lie ahead.
Read more at http://www.publichealthnewswire.org/?p=2992
Q: What is the scope of injury and violence? Where does it rank in the context of other
public health problems?
Past CDC director Dr. William Foege said, “Throughout history, the two major causes of
early death have been infectious disease and injury.” Today, more people ages 1–44 die
from injuries than from any other cause, including cancer, HIV or the flu. The toll of
injury and violence is unacceptable. Those of us in the injury prevention and research
field know that this is a public health issue we are making great strides in, but there
are challenges ahead that we must work to address together. Here are a few examples:
We could have saved 3,688 more lives in 2009 if everyone had buckled up.
Sobriety checkpoints have been shown to cut alcohol-related crashes and deaths by about 20
percent.
Q: We commonly hear that injuries are not accidents. Can you give us some examples of what
that means?
Those of us in the injury field know that the terms “accident,” “unavoidable” or “random
act” are used too often to describe injuries and violence.
It’s not random when a teen consumes alcohol, drives after dark with too many passengers
and crashes. It’s not an accident when a new parent is frazzled by a crying baby and
shakes the child out of frustration. An elder person falling is often avoidable. We know
what puts people at risk.
The field of injury prevention is providing scientific tools to reduce injuries and
violence-related injuries. For example, graduated drivers licensing laws, positive
parenting programs to help parents better understand and handle stresses, and balance
strengthening programs like Tai Chi can help prevent falls among elders.
Q: How important is it for the center to build partnerships in the policy and research it
develops?
We value our partners’ contributions to the field of injury and violence prevention.
Together, we move proven science-based evidence and research from testing to practice. I
believe that marrying science and partnerships does result in policies that provide
demonstrable improvements in public health — at the federal, state and local levels and
globally. The goal of our partner outreach is to create and maintain partnerships to
support these strategies.
Eloisa Raynault | American Public Health Association | 800 I Street, NW, Washington, DC
20001 | Transportation, Health and Equity Program Manager | o: 202-777-2487 |
http://www.apha.org/transportation
Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
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