RESUMEN
OBJECTIVES: to provide an overview of the use of mobile phone in Italy while driving in the years 2015-2017. DESIGN: road side observational study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: a sample of 145.107 drivers in 28 cities across the national territory with a resident population of more than 10 million inhabitants (17% of the Italian population). For each city, the survey was carried out in Urban (U), Sub-Urban (SU), and Extra-Urban (EXT) areas. Data were aggregated by three geographic areas: North, Centre and South. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: monitoring of the use of mobile phone when driving. RESULTS: the prevalence of mobile phone use when driving is 5.6% in the North, 4.1% in the Centre, and 6.3% in the South. The stratification by urban area also shows similar values (U: 5.3%; SU: 5.1%; EXT: 7.4%). CONCLUSIONS: a considerable prevalence of use of mobile phone when driving is observable throughout Italy, with substantially homogeneous values in different territories and in areas with different levels of urbanization. This behaviour increases the risk of road traffic accidents, according to scientific literature. Despite normative sanction of this behaviour, the prevalence is still high, even though comparable to what observed in other industrialized countries. Multilevel actions could be implemented, effective according to scientific literature, not limited only to the regulatory-sanctioning ones. The reduction of the use of the mobile phone while driving can have a significant impact for public health and traffic safety, because on the prevalence data of this study it is possible to assess that potentially up to 24,000 accidents/year could be avoided in Italy.
Asunto(s)
Conducción de Automóvil , Teléfono Celular , Accidentes de Tránsito , Humanos , Italia/epidemiología , PrevalenciaRESUMEN
OBJECTIVES: to give an overview of the use of safety devices in motorized vehicles in Italy in the years 2015-2017. DESIGN: road side observational study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: a sample of 232,283 road users in 28 cities across the Italian territory with a resident population of more than 10 million inhabitants (17% of the Italian population) was considered. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: the use of seat belts (front and rear), child restraints, and motorcycle helmets were monitored. For each city, the survey was carried out in urban, sub-urban, and extra-urban areas. Data were aggregated by three geographic areas: North, Centre, and South. Data for front seat belts was also provided for drivers and passengers separately. RESULTS: the use of front seat belts shows a dramatic geographical trend ranging from 82.6% (North) to 36.3% (South). Drivers use seat belts more frequently than passengers (63.3% vs 57.4%). The same North-South trend shows the use of rear seat belts (from 19.0% to 3.3%) and child restraints (from 59.9% to 16.6%). Helmet use was high everywhere in Italy (more than 94%). CONCLUSIONS: despite the use of safety devices, which has been mandatory for many years, compliance seems to depend on the voluntary behaviour of drivers and passengers influenced by socioeconomical and cultural patterns. The use of rear seat belts and child restraints is still far from an acceptable level, as well as the use of front seat belts in the South and in the Centre. The increased use of safety devices would have significant public health and traffic safety implications, as a potential of 327 deaths/year could be saved.
Asunto(s)
Accidentes de Tránsito/estadística & datos numéricos , Vehículos a Motor/estadística & datos numéricos , Equipos de Seguridad , Humanos , Italia/epidemiología , Prevalencia , Cinturones de Seguridad , Encuestas y CuestionariosRESUMEN
The international scientific literature reports no data on the prevalence and effectiveness of back protector devices (BPD). In Italy, no data have been collected on BPD because their use is not mandatory. To fill this gap, the National Institute of Health implemented a cross-sectional study in collaboration with the National Traffic Police.Accident cases were collected from 1 December 2011 to 25 October 2013. Overall, data from 2104 accidents involving 2319 injured subjects were analysed: 1821 (78.5%) of these were motorcyclists and 498 (21.5%) mopedists. The use of Hard-shell BPD or jackets with airbags in motorcyclists is higher then in moped drivers (16.2% vs 1.3%,P»0.000). Concerning level of protection, there are no differences between drivers and passengers. In most severely injured motorcyclists (i.e. hospitalized or deceased), the percentage of injuries to the spine was lower (13.6%) among those who used a high level safety device (hard-shell BPD and/or airbags) and rose to 27.3% among those who used only protective clothing (P»0.022). When the variables potentially affecting the results of not using a high-safety device were controlled, a bivariate analysis showed that the odds of serious spinal injury were 2.72 times greater (P»0.049) and a multivariate analysis showed that they were 2.81 times greater (P»0.012). This study points out that greater use of BPD could reduce the number of injuries to the spinal column resulting from road traffic accidents involving motorized two-wheeled vehicles.