Changing Lanes, Changing Times ? the Risks Facing Female Drivers Today

描述（由申请人提供）：尽管男性长期以来在机动车碰撞事故（MVCs）中处于领先地位，但最近的国际研究表明，女性，特别是年轻女性司机，正在缩小这一差距。女性参与撞车事故的相对增加与撞车事故暴露的增加有关，同时还有其他中介因素，如车辆操作问题、掌握交通状况以及对风险态度的改变。本研究的目标是对大型国家数据集进行二次分析，以确定年龄/种族/族裔群体的女性更容易受到卷入车祸的风险（在不同的驾驶条件和行为下）。基于有限版本的驾驶行为等级模型，本研究将利用1990-2004年死亡分析报告系统（FARS）、抗撞性数据系统（CDS）和一般估计系统（GES）提供的丰富的碰撞相关信息来识别处于危险中的女性群体。在通过邮政编码标识符将相关地理，美国人口普查信息纳入这些文件后，将应用一般潜在变量模型（GLVM）。最后，根据现有信息，我们将应用分解方法来估计概念模型中三个层次的碰撞伤害概率：“车辆操纵”（即基本驾驶技能不足），“掌握交通情况”（例如不遵守交通法规）；以及“驾驶的目的和背景”（例如，酒后驾车）。这种理解将是一个至关重要的贡献，为设计未来的研究，旨在实现为什么一些年龄和种族/民族群体和亚群体的女性司机在MVC伤害的风险增加的原因。公共卫生相关性声明——本研究将评估不同年龄和种族/族裔群体的女性发生机动车碰撞（MVC）的风险。通过确定风险增加的妇女群体，这项研究将有助于设计专门针对这一风险最高群体的有效预防政策。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Although men have long held the lead in motor vehicle crashes (MVCs), recent international research indicates that women, particularly young female drivers, are closing the gap. The relative increase in females involved in crashes has been associated with an increase in crash exposure, together with other mediating factors such as problems in vehicle handling, mastering traffic situations, and changes in attitudes toward risk. The goal of this proposed study is to perform a secondary analysis of large, national datasets to identify the age/race/ethnic groups of females increasingly vulnerable to the risk of being involved in MVCs (under different driving conditions and behaviors). Based on a limited version of the Hierarchical Levels of Driving Behavior's model, this proposed study will take advantage of the rich crash-related information provided by the 1990-2004 Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), Crashworthiness Data System (CDS), and General Estimates System (GES) to identify the groups of females at risk. After including relevant geographical, US Census-based information to these files via zip code identifiers, a General Latent Variable Model (GLVM) will be applied. Finally, with the information at hand, we will apply a decomposition method to estimate the probability of crash injuries at each of the three hierarchical levels in our conceptual model: "vehicle maneuvering" (i.e., inadequate basic driving skills), "mastering traffic situations" (e.g., failure to obey a traffic law); and "goals and context of driving" (e.g., drink and drive). This understanding will be a crucial contribution to the design of future research aimed at realizing the reasons why some age and race/ethnic groups and subgroups of female drivers are at an increasing risk of MVC injuries. Public Health Relevance Statement -- This study will evaluate the risk of motor vehicle crash (MVC) for women of different age and race/ethnic groups. By identifying those groups of women at an increasing risk, this study will contribute to the design of efficient prevention policies tailored specifically to this most at-risk group.