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Simple Ways for Saving Lives
Submit responseThe article of Dr. Stevenson's is very interesting. This article showed that intervention increasing the use of safe belt. Traumatic brain injury is one of the most leading causes of death and disability in developing countries. In Indonesia, there are numerous reports that showed high mortality is correlated with unsafe practice of driving or motorcycling. Previous report showed that the use of safety belts is the single most effective means of reducing fatal and nonfatal injuries in motor-vehicle crashes. Previous review from Shults et.al. showed that primary safety belt laws and enhanced enforcement programs tend to result in greater increases in usage rates for target groups with lower baseline rates. Previous reviews also showed that interventions which combine education with either incentives or distribution of free booster seats have a beneficial effect on acquisition and use of booster seats for children. This is a simple way for saving more lives.
References
Shults RA,Nichols JL, Zarr DC, Sleeta DA, Eldera RW, Effectiveness of primary enforcement safety belt laws and enhanced enforcement of safety belt laws: A summary of the Guide to Community Preventive Services systematic reviews, Journal of Safety Research, 2004, 35(2;)189-196
Magnussen L, Emusu D, King W, Osberg JS. Interventions for promoting booster seat use in 4–8 year olds traveling in motor vehicles. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2006, Issue 1.
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Seat belt wearing in other Chinese cities
Submit responseThe article documenting the successful seat belt intervention and attributable increase in wearing in Guanghzhou, China is a substantial contribution to road safety in middle-income and low-income countries. The reported increase in seat belt wearing is particularly significant in the context of documented declines over 3 years (2005-2007) in two other eastern seaboard Chinese cities, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province and Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province. The baseline Nanjing results were described in Injury Prevention (Dec 2007), the 3 year 2 city results are currently available on line.[1,2] The minimal wearing of rear seat belts (consistently below 1%) is an additional noteworthy outcome measure of this latter series of surveys. Considering the substantially documented injury prevention benefits of seat belt wearing and that in China fitting has been required in front seats from 1993 and in rear seats of new vehicles since 2004 (and that laws and regulations are in place), interventions that promote community awareness of the effectiveness of seat belts together with sustained enforcement should be actively encouraged.
References
1. Routley V, Ozanne-Smith J, Li D, et al. "Patterns of seat belt wearing in Nanjing, China." Inj. Prev, 2007, 13(6): 388-393.
2. Routley,V, Ozanne-Smith J, Li D et al. China belting up or down? Seat belt wearing trends in Nanjing and Zhoushan. Accid Anal Prev (in press). Available online 4 September 2008.
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