Classification of Emergency Responses to Fatal Traffic Accidents in Chinese Urban Areas

Fatal traffic accidents in urban areas can adversely affect the urban road traffic system and pose many challenges for urban traffic management.Therefore,it is necessary to first classify emergency responses to such accidents and then handle them quickly and correctly.The aim of this paper is to develop an evaluation index system and to use appropriate methods to investigate emergency-response classifications to fatal traffic accidents in Chinese urban areas.This study used a multilevel hierarchical structural model to determine emergency-response classification.In the model,accident attributes,urban road network vulnerability,and institutional resilience were used as classification criteria.Each evaluation indicator was selected according to importance ranking and independence screening and was given an interpretation and a quantitative criterion.The Fuzzy Delphi Method was used to rank the importance of the evaluation indices and the combined weight of each index was calculated using the G1 method.Finally,the case of a fatal traffic accident was used to validate the model.The results showed that the multilevel hierarchical structural model,Fuzzy Delphi Method,and G1 method can effectively address the problem of emergency-response classification.Because of its simplicity and adaptability,the approach presented here could be useful for decisionmakers and practitioners for determining emergency-response classifications.

Assessing Factors for Occurrence of Road Accidents in Tanzania Using Panel Data Analysis: Road Safety Perspective

This study assessed critical factors for road traffic accidents and associated mitigation to reduce the accidents by the year 2030. The study was guided by research questions, what are the major causatives of road accidents and how to mitigate the problem. The study used secondary data collected from the repository database of traffic police at the division of Tanzania Road Safety Squad. Data were collected at the events of accident occurrences and reported annually by regions. Panel data analysis was used to allow for controlling variables which cannot be observed over time and across areas such as regions. Pooled Poisson model, fixed effect and random effect Poisson model was applied to assess factors for road traffic accidents. Fixed effect model was the best model with a reasonably good fit. Results indicated that all predictors are significant under fixed effect Poisson model with a p-value less than 0.05 but Passengers and Railway crossing road was found insignificant and dropped in the final model. Laws and regulatory frameworks should be formulated and enforced promptly for Tanzania may reach the target of 2nd decade of action for roads safety 2021-2030.

Screening for volatile sulphur compounds in a fatal accident case

Acute fatal poisoning due to the inhalation of toxic gas frequently occurs in China.Volatile sulphur compounds(VSCs)are toxic to humans.In fatal poisoning investigations,such as those in industrial settings,a number of VSCs,including methanethiol(MT),dimethyl sulphide(DMS),dimethyl disulphide(DMDS)and dimethyl trisulphide(DMTS),can coexist.To date,there is limited data regarding these compounds in post-mortem cases.In the present study,we report toxicological findings in a fatal accident case with two victims.Headspace gas chromatography/flame ionization detector with two columns of different polarities was utilized to screen MT,DMS,DMDS and DMTS in blood.The limits of detection in both methods were 0.05 mg/mL.No sulphur compounds were detected in the blood samples of the two victims.DMS and DMDS were detected in the lungs at concentrations of 0.5 and 1.3 mg/g and 2.2 and 4.1 mg/g,respectively.DMDS liver concentrations were 2.5 and 6.5 mg/g.In addition to hydrogen sulphide,screening for additional VSCs could help establish the cause of death.