The association between meteorological variables and road traffic injuries: a study from Macao

Abstract

ObjectiveCorrelation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis were conducted to estimate the influence of meteorological factors on road traffic injuries stratified by severity. Crash rate was defined as mean monthly road traffic accidents per 1,000 vectors.DesignEcological time-series study.SettingMacao traffic accident registry database between January 1st, 2001 and November 31st, 2016.ParticipantsIn total, 393,176 traffic accidents and 72,501 cases of road traffic injuries (RTIs) were enrolled; patients’ severity was divided into mild injury, required hospitalisation, and death.ExposureVariation of monthly meteorological factors.Main outcome measureWeather-condition-related road traffic accidents, injuries, and deaths.ResultsWindy weather significantly correlated with increased number of traffic accidents among all transport vectors (r = .375 to .637; p < 0.001). Multiple linear regression showed temperature (B = 0.704; p < 0.05) and humidity (B = − 0.537; p < 0.001) were independent factors for mild injury. The role of windy weather was relatively more obvious among patients with severe injuries (B = 0.304; p < 0.001) or those who died (B = 0.015; p < 0.001). A longer duration of sunshine was also associated to RTI-related deaths (B = 0.015; p < 0.001). In total, 13.4% of RTIs were attributable to meteorological factors and may be preventable.ConclusionThe World Health Organization stated that RTIs are a major but neglected public health challenge. This study demonstrates meteorological factors have significant effects on any degree of RTIs. The results may not be generalized to other climates or populations while the findings may have implications in both preventing injuries and to announce safety precautions regarding trauma and motor vehicle collisions to the general public by public agencies.

Pedestrian Detection in Severe Weather Conditions

“…In the table (7) we have presented the training results of YOLOv3 and TINYv3 detectors of the modified SCUT dataset. We have used two thresholds for IoU, which were set to 50% and 25%.…”

“…One of the causes of traffic accidents is the bad weather condition. Rain, fog, snow, and wind are factors affecting visibility and act via a psycho-physiological function of the driver [5], [6], increasing the traffic accident rate by up to 13% [7], [8]. The leading countries in traffic safety are the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Ireland.…”

Evaluating the short-term effect of ambient temperature on non-fatal outdoor falls and road traffic injuries among children and adolescents in China: a time-stratified case-crossover study

“…Children and adolescents are prone to outdoor environmental factors due to their increased independence and elevated activity levels (Patton et al, 2016). Ambient temperature changes may affect human behavioral patterns and traffic intensity (Abe et al, 2008;Gao et al, 2016;Lio et al, 2019). For instance, an optimal ambient temperature may lead to increased outdoor activities among children and adolescents, resulting in a rising incidence of unintentional injuries.…”

Association between High Ambient Temperatures and Road Crashes in an Australian City with Temperate Climate: A Time-Series Study, 2012–2021

“…A global analysis reported that the deaths due to road crashes attributable to high temperatures significantly increased from 20,270 in 1990 to 28,396 in 2019 [14]. A growing body of evidence has shown that high ambient temperatures are associated with an increased risk of road traffic crashes [15][16][17][18][19][20]. For example, a study in China reported that significantly more road crashes occurred during summer [17].…”