A Workable Solution for Reducing the Large Number of Vehicle and Pedestrian Accidents Occurring on a Yellow Light

Traffic intersections are incredibly dangerous for drivers and pedestrians. Statistics from both Canada and the U.S. show a high number of fatalities and serious injuries related to crashes at intersections. In Canada, during 2019, the National Collision Database shows that 28% of traffic fatalities and 42% of serious injuries occurred at intersections. Likewise, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA) found that about 40% of the estimated 5,811,000 accidents in the U.S. during the year studied were intersection-related crashes. In fact, a major survey by the car insurance industry found that nearly 85% of drivers could not identify the correct action to take when approaching a yellow traffic light at an intersection. One major reason for these accidents is the “yellow light dilemma,” the ambiguous situation where a driver should stop or proceed forward when unexpectedly faced with a yellow light. This situation is even further exacerbated by the tendency of aggressive drivers to inappropriately speed up on the yellow just to get through the traffic light. A survey of Canadian drivers conducted by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation found that 9% of drivers admitted to speeding up to get through a traffic light. Another reason for these accidents is the increased danger of making a left-hand turn on yellow. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA), left turns occur in approximately 22.2% of collisions—as opposed to just 1.2% for right turns. Moreover, a study by CNN found left turns are three times as likely to kill pedestrians than right turns. The reason left turns are so much more likely to cause an accident is because they take a driver against traffic and in the path of oncoming cars. Additionally, most of these left turns occur at the driver’s discretion—as opposed to the distressingly brief left-hand arrow at busy intersections. Drive Safe Now proposes a workable solution for reducing the number of accidents occurring during a yellow light at intersections. We believe this fairly simple solution will save lives, prevent injuries, reduce damage to public and private property, and decrease insurance costs.

Exploring the Factors Associated with 12-Month Non-Return to Work among Motorcyclists Involved in Road Accidents

Introduction: Motorcyclists bear a disproportionate burden of morbidity and mortality from road accidents. In addition, the consequences of these accidents affect the ability of victims to return to work. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and factors associated with non-return to work among surviving motorcyclists involved in road accidents 12 months after the event. Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional study conducted using data from a cohort of motorcyclists involved in accidents and recruited in five hospitals in Benin from July 2019 to January 2020. The dependent variable was non-return to work 12 months after the accident (yes vs no). The independent variables were categorized into two groups: baseline and 12-month follow-up variables. Logistic regression was used to determine the factors associated with non-return to work at 12 months among the participants. Results: Among the 362 participants, 55 (15.19%, 95% CI = 11.84 - 19.29) had not returned to work 12 months after the accident. Risk factors for non-return to work identified were: smoking (aOR = 4.41, 95% CI = 1.44 - 13.56, p = 0.010), hospitalization (aOR = 2.87, 95% CI = 1.14 - 7.24, p Conclusion: The prevalence of non-return to work at 12 months was high among surviving motorcyclists involved in road accidents in Benin. Integrated support for patients based on identified risk factors should effectively improve their return to work.

Investigation of the interaction of material of fuel cladding for WWER-1000 reactor with steam at a temperature of accident overheatings

The subject of this study is the oxidation of fuel rod cladding made of material Zr1Nb(0.1% O) in steam at temperatures in the range of 660℃ to 1200℃ with a surface in the initial state (after manufacturing - grinding) and after additional chemical etching. The changes in the microstructure of tubes due to the interaction with steam were investigated. A comparison was made between the oxidation rate of this material (weight gain) and the data on the oxidation of other alloys for nuclear power plants. The oxidation rate of Zr1Nb(0.1% O) is close to the oxidation rate of other zirconium alloys. It is shown that after chemical treatment of the surface of the samples there is a more even growth of oxide films, and they have a smaller thickness for the same time of exposure than after mechanical grinding. Surface treatment before oxidation also affects the change of microstructure of samples when heated to high temperatures.

Delirium Severity and Correlates among Medical Inpatients Admitted through Accident and Emergency Unit of Jos University Teaching Hospital

Background: Delirium is one of the most common medical emergencies and is associated with poor outcomes including: mortality, prolonged length of stay and poor functional outcome. The more severe delirium is the worst the clinical outcomes of medical illness. Despite the obvious, not much has been documented on delirium severity and its associated factors among medical inpatients in low income countries including Nigeria. Objectives: This study was conducted to examine the severity of delirium among medical inpatients admitted through the Accident and Emergency unit of Jos University Teaching Hospital as well as to assess its associated Sociodemographic and Clinical characteristics. Method: This was a cross-sectional study that employed a consecutive sampling technique to select 290 eligible subjects from medical inpatients that presented to Accident and Emergency unit of Jos University Teaching Hospital. On admission, patients were assessed for delirium using Confusion Assessment Method and severity of delirium was evaluated using Delirium Rating Scale-Revised-98. Results: Of the 105 delirious medical inpatients, 48 (45.7%) had severe delirium, 41 (39.1%) developed less severe delirium while 16 (15.2) presented with no severe delirium. Sociodemographic characteristics found to be significantly associated with less to more severe delirium include male gender (P = 0.001), nonprofessionals (P = 0.003), income range of N20,000 - N49,000 (P Conclusion: This study demonstrates that delirium is often associated with higher severity in Accident and Emergency unit admission and there are strongly associated clinical characteristics to watch out for in high risk medical inpatients.

A STAMP-Game model for accident analysis in oil and gas industry

Accidents in engineered systems are usually generated by complex socio-technical factors.It is beneficial to investigate the increasing complexity and coupling of these factors from the perspective of system safety.Based on system and control theories,System-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes(STAMP)is a widely recognized approach for accident analysis.In this paper,we propose a STAMP-Game model to analyze accidents in oil and gas storage and transportation systems.Stakeholders in accident analysis by STAMP can be regarded as players of a game.Game theory can,thus,be adopted in accident analysis to depict the competition and cooperation between stakeholders.Subsequently,we established a game model to study the strategies of both supervisory and supervised entities.The obtained results demonstrate that the proposed game model allows for identifying the effectiveness deficiency of the supervisory entity,and the safety and protection altitudes of the supervised entity.The STAMP-Game model can generate quantitative parameters for supporting the behavior and strategy selections of the supervisory and supervised entities.The quantitative data obtained can be used to guide the safety improvement,to reduce the costs of safety regulation violation and accident risk.

Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis of in-vessel phenomena under severe accident mitigation strategy based on ISAA-SAUP program

The phenomenology involved in severe accidents in nuclear reactors is highly complex.Currently,integrated analysis programs used for severe accident analysis heavily rely on custom empirical parameters,which introduce considerable uncertainty.Therefore,in recent years,the field of severe accidents has shifted its focus toward applying uncertainty analysis methods to quantify uncertainty in safety assessment programs,known as“best estimate plus uncertainty(BEPU).”This approach aids in enhancing our comprehension of these programs and their further development and improvement.This study concentrates on a third-generation pressurized water reactor equipped with advanced active and passive mitigation strategies.Through an Integrated Severe Accident Analysis Program(ISAA),numerical modeling and uncertainty analysis were conducted on severe accidents resulting from large break loss of coolant accidents.Seventeen uncertainty parameters of the ISAA program were meticulously screened.Using Wilks'formula,the developed uncertainty program code,SAUP,was employed to carry out Latin hypercube sampling,while ISAA was employed to execute batch calculations.Statistical analysis was then conducted on two figures of merit,namely hydrogen generation and the release of fission products within the pressure vessel.Uncertainty calculations revealed that hydrogen production and the fraction of fission product released exhibited a normal distribution,ranging from 182.784 to 330.664 kg and from 15.6 to 84.3%,respectively.The ratio of hydrogen production to reactor thermal power fell within the range of 0.0578–0.105.A sensitivity analysis was performed for uncertain input parameters,revealing significant correlations between the failure temperature of the cladding oxide layer,maximum melt flow rate,size of the particulate debris,and porosity of the debris with both hydrogen generation and the release of fission products.

Statistical Analysis of Accident Proneness of Drivers

A mathematical model describing the risks of road accidents has been built on the basis of statistical data of drivers’ accident rate. It has been revealed that drivers can be divided by the degree of their accident proneness into four categories with sharply differing probabilities of road accidents. It has been shown that there is a possibility of classification of drivers in accordance with specified categories.

Traumatic Brain Injury and Cerebral Vascular Accident: Application of Rasch Analysis to Examine Differences in Disability and Outcome in Post-Hospital Rehabilitation

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate an application of Rasch analysis to identify differences in disability profiles resulting from traumatic brain injury (TBI) and cerebral vascular accident (CVA) and to examine outcome differences between the two groups following post-hospital residential rehabilitation. Participant data were collected from 32 facilities in 16 states. From 2990 neurologically impaired individuals with consecutive admissions from 2011 through 2017, 874 met inclusion criteria: TBI (n = 687) or CVA (n = 187), 18 years or older, minimum length of stay of one month, and maximum chronicity of 1 year. Participants were evaluated at admission and discharge on the Mayo Portland Adaptability Inventory-Version 4 (MPAI-4). Rasch analysis was performed to establish item reliability, construct validity and item difficulty. A Repeated Measures Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (RM MANCOVA) determined group differences and improvement from admission and discharge. Rasch Analysis demonstrated satisfactory construct validity and internal consistency (Person reliability > 0.90, Item reliability > 0.98 for admission and discharge MPAI-4s). Both groups showed significant improvement on the MPAI-4 (p 0.0005). The TBI group was more impaired on the adjustment scale at both admission and discharge (p 0.001). Rasch analysis identified two distinct impairment patterns. CVA participants exhibited deficits characteristic of focal impairment while the TBI group presented with deficits reflective of diffuse impairment. Rehabilitation was shown to be beneficial in reducing disability following neurologic injury in both groups. Importantly, Rasch Analysis accurately produced unique disability profiles that differentiated the treatment groups. This unique statistical technique offers a promising prescriptive hierarchical model for guiding neurological rehabilitation treatment.

Stem cell transplantation in cerebrovascular accidents:A global bibliometric analysis(2000-2023)

BACKGROUND Cerebrovascular accident(CVA)is a major global contributor to death and disability.As part of its medical management,researchers have recognized the importance of promising neuroprotective strategies,where stem cell transplantation(SCT)is thought to confer advantages via trophic and neuroprotective effects.AIM To evaluate the current state of research on SCT in patients with CVA,assess key trends and highlight literature gaps.METHODS PubMed was screened for SCT in CVA-related articles in October 2023,for each country during the period between 2000 and 2023.Using the World Bank data,total population and gross domestic product were collected for comparison.VOSviewer_1.6.19 was used to create the VOS figure using the results of the same query.Graphs and tables were obtained using Microsoft Office Excel.RESULTS A total of 6923 studies were identified on SCT in CVA,making 0.03%of all published studies worldwide.Approximately,68%were conducted in high-income countries,with a significant focus on mesenchymal stem cells.The journal“Stroke”featured the largest share of these articles,with mesenchymal SCT having the highest rate of inclusion,followed by hematopoietic SCT.Over time,there has been a noticeable shift from in vitro studies,which assess stem cell proliferation and neurogenesis,to in vivo studies aimed at evaluating efficacy and safety.Additionally,the number of reviews increased along this approach.CONCLUSION This bibliometric analysis provides a comprehensive guide for physicians and researchers in the field through an objective overview of research activity,and highlights both current trends and gaps.Having a potential therapeutic role in CVA,more research is needed in the future to focus on different aspects of SCT,aiming to reach a better treatment strategy and improve life quality in patients.

Conceptual Strategy for Mitigating the Risk of Hydrogen as an Internal Hazard in Case of Severe Accidents at Nuclear Power Plant Considering Existing Risks and Uncertainties Associated with the Use of Traditional Strategies

Hydrogen challenge mitigation stands as one of the main objectives in the management of severe accidents at Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs). Key strategies for hydrogen control include atmospheric inertization and hydrogen removal with Passive Autocatalytic Recombiners (PARs) being a commonly accepted approach. However, an examination of PAR operation specificity reveals potential inefficiencies and reliability issues in certain severe accident scenarios. Moreover, during the in-vessel stage of severe accident development, in some severe accident scenarios PARs can unexpectedly become a source of hydrogen detonation. The effectiveness of hydrogen removal systems depends on various factors, including the chosen strategies, severe accident scenarios, reactor building design, and other influencing factors. Consequently, a comprehensive hydrogen mitigation strategy must effectively incorporate a combination of strategies rather than be based on one strategy, taking into consideration the probabilistic risks and uncertainties associated with the implementation of PARs or other traditional methods. In response to these considerations, within the framework of this research it has been suggested a conceptual strategy to mitigate the hydrogen challenge during the in-vessel stage of severe accident development.

Statistical Data Analyses on Aircraft Accidents in Japan: Occurrences, Causes and Countermeasures

We investigate the major characteristics of the occurrences, causes of and counter measures for aircraft accidents in Japan. We apply statistical data analysis and mathematical modeling techniques to determine the relations among economic growth, aviation demand, the frequency of aircraft/helicopter accidents, the major characteristics of the occurrence intervals of accidents, and the number of fatalities due to accidents. The statistical model analysis suggests that the occurrence intervals of accidents and the number of fatalities can be explained by probability distributions such as the exponential distribution and the negative binomial distribution, respectively. We show that countermeasures for preventing accidents have been developed in every aircraft model, and thus they have contributed to a significant decrease in the number of accidents in the last three decades. We find that the major cause of accidents involving large airplanes has been weather, while accidents involving small airplanes and helicopters are mainly due to the pilot error. We also discover that, with respect to accidents mainly due to pilot error, there is a significant decrease in the number of accidents due to the aging of airplanes, whereas the number of accidents due to weather has barely declined. We further determine that accidents involving small and large airplanes mostly occur during takeoff and landing, whereas those involving helicopters are most likely to happen during flight. In order to decrease the number of accidents, i) enhancing safety and security by further developing technologies for aircraft, airports and air control radars, ii) establishing and improving training methods for crew including pilots, mechanics and traffic controllers, iii) tightening public rules, and iv) strengthening efforts made by individual aviation-related companies are absolutely necessary.

Accidental Ingestion of Nitric Acid in an Agricultural Company: A Case Study and Literature Review

Introduction: Though common in society, caustic accidental ingestion is rare in the agricultural industry. This study describes a case of ingestion of nitric acid used as an agricultural fertilizer by an ordinary worker at the Société de Cultures Légumières. Clinical Case: This is a 33-year-old unschooled woman who ingested a sip of nitric acid from an abandoned labelled acid canister near a farming plot of land. She showed a burn of the oral cavity with a bleeding tablecloth and an intense retrosternal pain. The duodenal oesophagus fibroscopy screening that was carried out 18 hours after the accident, revealed an esophagitis class 2b. The tests revealed no anomalies. Fifteen (15) days after the accident, the FOGD was normal. Following an 8-month-follow up, no signs of stenosis or degeneration were noted. Conclusion: The accidental ingestion of nitric acid is rare in adult. Its treatment is mainly symptomatic and aims at preserving vital functions without directly fighting the ingested substance off. The right actions must be integrated into the 15-minute Health and Safety awarenesssessions for optimum pre-hospital management. The hospital evaluation is mandatory and is carried out thanks to the digestive endoscopy, which is still relevant in this indication, but is completed by the thoraco-abdominal CT. The latter is very sensitive the transmural necrosis diagnosis.

Analysis of Traffic Accidents in Vietnam

Understanding the causes and solutions of road traffic accidents is important for developing road and action plans in a country. In Vietnam, awareness of traffic participants is the main cause of serious traffic accidents. In recent years, the number of road traffic accidents in Tuyen Quang province with deaths has decreased, but the number of accidents has increased significantly. The article uses data on traffic accidents in Tuyen Quang over the (2016-2023) has been analytically reviewed. From there, analyze accident characteristics and causes of traffic accidents in Tuyen Quang province, and propose solutions to improve traffic safety in Tuyen Quang, Vietnam. The findings can be information for managers and researchers interested in studying the province of Tuyen Quang, Vietnam road traffic safety. Additionally, the findings have led the government to achieve national targets in reducing the number of accidents and serious injuries.

Development of Accident Prediction Model under Mixed Traffic Conditions:A Case Study

Accident prediction models are developed under mixed traffic conditions.Two models have been developed.The first model is a city based traffic accident prediction model.City population and vehicle ownership are the two parameters used to develop the model.A case study of Surat city in Gujarat is taken up.Total accident occurred in the city are regressed with population and vehicle ownership.Second model is the urban arterial based accident prediction model.Past accident record of ring road of Surat city shows that there are eight different locations on a ten kilometer stretch of ring road where the accidents took place consistently.These locations are picked up as accident spots.As there are many contributing factors and causes to road accidents.A comprehensive study of road safety found that human error was the sole cause in 57%of all accidents and was a contributing factor in over 90%.Keeping this in view a new term driver-pedestrian index is used to develop this model.Regression function of Microsoft excel is used for model development.Both the models are checked with R-statistics and t-statistics further the models are validated by using statistical goodness of fit(chi square test).Hence these models can be used to predict number of accidents in future subjected to the same geometric standards.Keeping this in mind improvement measures can be taken up by the district authorities.

Integrity control of an RBMK-1500 fuel rod locally oxidized under a bounding reactivity-initiated accident

In 2007, the license for the second reactor unit of the Ignalina nuclear power plant was renewed considering the safety-related modifications introduced in this reactor.The Safety Analysis Report for this reactor unit was prepared with more strict criteria. The bounding reactivityinitiated accident(RIA) performed by the Lithuanian Energy Institute could be mentioned as an example. The performed analysis demonstrated that even when the worst initial conditions and possible uncertainties are considered,the fuel cladding remains intact. However, the analysis was performed assuming a fresh fuel assembly. In this study, an analysis of the fuel rod cladding behavior in the RBMK-1500 reactor following a bounding RIA is performed using the computational codes FEMAXI-6 and RELAP5. The analysis is extended by modeling an oxide layer(nodular corrosion) on the external surface cladding. An uncertainty and sensitivity analysis was performed using a method developed by the Society for Plant and Reactor Safety,employing the Software for Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analyses, in order to evaluate the effect of the oxide layer on the inside and outside fuel rod temperatures. The results of the thermo-mechanical analysis(stress, strain, and enthalpy) for a local oxide layer with a thickness of 70μm show that despite the exceeded limit of allowed linear power density, the fuel rod is under acceptable safety conditions.

Sleep and Stress of Late Middle Age Males Who Are Forced to Live in Emergency Temporary Houses and Post-Earthquake Public Houses for a Long Period Due to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Accident

It has been revealed that prolonged shelter life caused by Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident in conjunction with the Great East Japan Earthquake influences sleep and mental health of the residents, and therefore its influence on their physical and emotional health has become a concern. Therefore, in this study, the authors aimed at clarifying actual situations of sleep and stress of middle age males living in shelters for a long period in each of emergency temporary houses and post-earthquake public houses. For 5 males who moved from emergency temporary houses to post-earthquake public houses, their objective and subjective sleep states were measured with Actigraph and PSQI, respectively. Furthermore, their objective and subjective stresses were measured with saliva stress biomarkers and GHQ28, respectively. Their data were analyzed by paired t-test. As result, in comparison between the life in the emergency temporary houses and post-earthquake public houses, significant variation was not recognized in their objective sleep states and saliva stress biomarkers though their subjective sleep and subjective stress were significantly worsened after moving to the post-earthquake public houses.

Not in Control,but Liable?Attributing Human Responsibility for Fully Automated Vehicle Accidents

Human agency has become increasingly limited in complex systems with increasingly automated decision-making capabilities.For instance,human occupants are passengers and do not have direct vehicle control in fully automated cars(i.e.,driverless cars).An interesting question is whether users are responsible for the accidents of these cars.Normative ethical and legal analyses frequently argue that individuals should not bear responsibility for harm beyond their control.Here,we consider human judgment of responsibility for accidents involving fully automated cars through three studies with seven experiments(N=2668).We compared the responsibility attributed to the occupants in three conditions:an owner in his private fully automated car,a passenger in a driverless robotaxi,and a passenger in a conventional taxi,where none of these three occupants have direct vehicle control over the involved vehicles that cause identical pedestrian injury.In contrast to normative analyses,we show that the occupants of driverless cars(private cars and robotaxis)are attributed more responsibility than conventional taxi passengers.This dilemma is robust across different contexts(e.g.,participants from China vs the Republic of Korea,participants with first-vs third-person perspectives,and occupant presence vs absence).Furthermore,we observe that this is not due to the perception that these occupants have greater control over driving but because they are more expected to foresee the potential consequences of using driverless cars.Our findings suggest that when driverless vehicles(private cars and taxis)cause harm,their users may face more social pressure,which public discourse and legal regulations should manage appropriately.

Transient Analysis of a Reactor Coolant Pump Rotor Seizure Nuclear Accident

The reactor coolant pump(RCP)rotor seizure accident is defined as a short-time seizure of the RCP rotor.This event typically leads to an abrupt flow decrease in the corresponding loop and an ensuing reactor and turbine trip.The significant reduction of core coolant flow while the reactor is being operated at full load can have very negative consequences.This potentially dangerous event is typically characterized by a complex transient behavior in terms of flow conditions and energy transformation,which need to be analyzed and understood.This study constructed transient flow and rotational speed mathematical models under various degrees of rotor seizure using the test data collected from a dedicated transient rotor seizure test system.Then,bidirectional fluid-solid coupling simulations were conducted to investigate the flow evolution mechanism.It is found that the influence of the impeller structure size and transient braking acceleration on the unsteady head(Hu)is dominant in rotor seizure accident events.Moreover,the present results also show that the rotational acceleration additional head(Hu1)is much higher than the instantaneous head(Hu2).

Assessing the Variability of Extreme Weather Events and Its Influence on Marine Accidents along the Northern Coast of Tanzania

The marine accidents are among the main components of the Zanzibar Disaster Management Policy (2011) and the Zanzibar Blue Economy Policy (2020). These policies aimed to institute legal frame works and procedures for reducing both the frequency of marine accidents and their associated fatalities. These fatalities include deaths, permanent disabilities and loss of properties which may result into increased poverty levels as per the sustainable development goal one (SDG1) which stipulates on ending the poverty in all its forms everywhere. Thus, in the way to support these Government efforts, the influence of climate and weather on marine accidents along Zanzibar and Pemba Channels was investigated. The study used the 10 years (2013-2022) records of daily rainfall and hourly wind speed acquired from Tanzania Meteorological Authority (TMA) (for the observation stations of Zanzibar, Pemba, Dares Salaam and Tanga), and the significant wave heights data, which was freely downloaded from Globally Forecasting System (GFS-World model of 13 km resolution). The marine accident records were collected from TASAC and Zanzibar Maritime Authority (ZMA), and the anecdotal information was collected from heads of quay and boat captains in different areas of Zanzibar. The Mann Kendal test, was used to determine the slopes and trends direction of used weather parameters, while the Pearson correlations analysis and t-tests were used to understand the significance of the underlying relationship between the weather and marine accidents. The paired t-test was used to evaluate the extent to which weather parameters affect the marine accidents. Results revealed that the variability of extreme weather events (rainfall, ocean waves and wind speed) was seen to be among the key factors for most of the recorded marine accidents. For instance, in Pemba high rainfall showed an increasing trend of extreme rainfall events, while Zanzibar has shown a decreasing trend of these events. As for extreme wind events, results show that Dar es Salaam and Tanga had an increasing trend, while Zanzibar and Pemba had shown a decreasing trend. As for the monthly variability of frequencies of extreme rainfall events, March to May (MAM) season was shown to have the highest frequencies over all stations with the peaks at Zanzibar and Pemba. On the other hand, high frequency of extreme wind speed was observed from May to September with peaks in June to July, and the highest strength was observed during 09:00 to 15:00 GMT. Moreover, results revealed an increasing trend of marine accidents caused by bad weather except during November. Also, results showed that bad weather conditions contributed to 48 (32%) of all 150 recorded accidents. Further results revealed significant correlation between the extreme wind and marine accidents, with the highest strong correlation of r = 0.71 (at p ≤ 0.007) and r = 0.75 (at p ≤ 0.009) at Tanga and Pemba, indicating the occurrence of more marine accidents at the Pemba channel. Indeed, strong correlation of r = 0.6 between extreme rainfall events and marine accidents was shown in Pemba, while the correlations between extremely significant wave heights and marine accidents were r = 0.41 (at p ≤ 0.006) and r = 0.34 (p ≤ 0.0006) for Pemba and Zanzibar Channel, respectively. In conclusion, the study has shown high influence between marine accidents and bad weather events with more impacts in Pemba and Zanzibar. Thus, the study calls for more work to be undertaken to raise the awareness on marine accidents as a way to alleviate the poverty and enhance the sustainable blue economy.

Child Victims of Road Traffic Accidents: Epidemiological and Clinical Aspects in the Medical and Surgical Emergency Department of the Donka National Hospital

Introduction: Children involved in road accidents most often suffer head or limb injuries. The severity of these injuries varies according to the age of the child, the type of road user and whether or not protective devices are used. The aim of this study was to carry out a census of admissions and to identify the epidemiological and clinical profile of children involved in road traffic accidents at Donka National Hospital. Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study of children involved in traffic accidents over a 3-month period from September 1 to November 30, 2021. All children admitted to the emergency department for a traffic accident were included in the study. Results: During the study period, 435/530 children (82.1%) were victims of road accidents. Boys accounted for 54.94% of cases, compared with 45.06% for girls. The age group most affected was 12-17 years old (48.97%). October had the highest accident rate (36.4%). Pedestrians are most affected (52.87%). Bicycles and mopeds were involved in 59.77% of accidents. Head injury was the most frequent pathology (33.33%). The study showed that 12.64% of victims were referred to intensive care, pediatric surgery, etc. We recorded 8 cases of death (1.84%). Conclusion: This study highlighted the characteristics, incidence and risk factors for accidents in children admitted to emergency departments. Accident prevention, particularly serious accidents in children, requires more precise knowledge of the factors and circumstances leading to their occurrence.