Acute cannabis consumption and motor vehicle collision risk: systematic review of observational studies and meta-analysis

Objective To determine whether the acute consumption of cannabis (cannabinoids) by drivers increases the risk of a motor vehicle collision

A Research Synthesis of Text Messaging and Driving Performance

To determine the effects of text messaging on driving performance, all available experimental studies that measured driving performance were identified through a variety of database searches and backtracking strategies, and analyzed using standard research synthesis methods. Fourteen studies with a total of 519 participants were coded and analyzed. Methodology, independent and dependent variables, and statistical analyses varied widely across studies, but conclusions were clear and convergent. Reaction time, crashes, longitudinal and lateral control, eye movements, hazard detection and subjective workload measures indicate significant decrements in driving performance while reading and typing text messages. The importance of the results for further policy development and methodological reporting is briefly introduced

Driving under the influence behaviours among high school students who mix alcohol with energy drinks

Published by Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.11.035 © 2017. Made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Alcohol and energy drinks are commonly used substances by youth in Canada, and are often mixed (AmED). While several studies have shown that AmED can have dangerous effects, less well understood is how AmED is associated with driving under the influence of either alcohol or drugs. This study sought to determine whether youth who use AmED were more likely to engage in driving, or being a passenger of a driver, under the influence of alcohol or cannabis compared to youth who use either alcohol or energy drinks alone. This study used data from grade 10–12 students who took part in the 2014/2015 Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey (N=17,450). The association of past-year AmED use with past-30day: driving under the influence of alcohol or cannabis, and riding with an alcohol- or cannabis-influenced driver, was assessed using logistic regression. One in four youth had consumed AmED in the previous 12months. AmED users were more likely to engage in all risk behaviours except riding with a drinking driver, relative to youth who only consumed alcohol. No association was observed for youth who consumed alcohol and energy drinks on separate occasions. Youth who use AmED demonstrate a higher risk profile for driving under the influence of alcohol or cannabis, than youth who use alcohol alone. Future research should explore the biopsychosocial pathways that may explain why using energy drinks enhances the already heightened risk posed by alcohol on other health-related behaviours such as driving under the influence.Canadian Cancer Society (grant #2011-701019

Communication and marketing as tools to cultivate the public's health: a proposed "people and places" framework

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Communication and marketing are rapidly becoming recognized as core functions, or core competencies, in the field of public health. Although these disciplines have fostered considerable academic inquiry, a coherent sense of precisely how these disciplines can inform the practice of public health has been slower to emerge.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>In this article we propose a framework – based on contemporary ecological models of health – to explain how communication and marketing can be used to advance public health objectives. The framework identifies the attributes of people (as individuals, as social networks, and as communities or populations) and places that influence health behaviors and health. Communication, i.e., the provision of information, can be used in a variety of ways to foster beneficial change among both people (e.g., activating social support for smoking cessation among peers) and places (e.g., convincing city officials to ban smoking in public venues). Similarly, marketing, i.e., the development, distribution and promotion of products and services, can be used to foster beneficial change among both people (e.g., by making nicotine replacement therapy more accessible and affordable) and places (e.g., by providing city officials with model anti-tobacco legislation that can be adapted for use in their jurisdiction).</p> <p>Summary</p> <p>Public health agencies that use their communication and marketing resources effectively to support people in making healthful decisions and to foster health-promoting environments have considerable opportunity to advance the public's health, even within the constraints of their current resource base.</p

Public place restrictions on smoking in Canada: assessing the role of the state, media, science and public health advocacy

While much is known about the impact of law and public policy, we know considerably less about their antecedents. Theories of policy adoption suggest that a variety of policy inputs help to shape legislative change. This research considers the enactment of municipal smoking bylaws in Canada between 1970 and 1995. The emergence of second-hand smoke (SHS) has been offered as a viable explanation for the increased enactment of local smoking restrictions. A number of indicators confirm the rising public health concern around SHS. Using Health Canada data on municipal smoking bylaw enactment in Canada, this paper employs an event history analysis to trace the role of four indicators of the increased recognition of SHS as a public health concern--scientific research, parliamentary debate, print media, and health advocacy. Findings indicate that the print media and health advocacy play the strongest role in explaining the increase in the adoption of municipal smoking bylaws in Canada. Results lend support to the quantitative study of the policy adoption process and to theories of policy making that consider multiple influences on policy adoption.Second-hand smoke Public policy adoption Canada Municipal smoking bylaws Donald Black Event history analysis

Development and validation of a crash culpability scoring tool

Objective: Several traffic safety research techniques require researchers to separate crash-involved drivers into culpable and non-culpable. Non-culpable drivers are assumed to be randomly involved in the crash by external factors and to approximate a non-collision control population. If this is true, factors that increase crash risk should be found more often in culpable than in non-culpable drivers. While a culpability scoring tool has been developed for research purposes, that tool does not adequately address wintery driving conditions.(Robertson and Drummer 1994) Moreover, traditional culpability scoring requires assessors to read and score individual collision reports. The purpose of this study is to develop and validate an automated, rule-based Canadian culpability scoring tool which is capable of rapidly scoring police crash reports from large administrative datasets. Methods: We used an iterative approach to develop and validate our tool. First, the Robertson – Drummer culpability scoring tool was modified to include the extensive police report data collected in the British Columbia Traffic Accident System (TAS) and to account for wintery driving conditions. This was done in consultation with traffic safety experts. The scoring tool was automated, employing a rule-based decision model that avoids interpretation of free text reports. The scoring tool was applied to 73 collisions (134 drivers). Two experts also reviewed these collisions and determined the culpability of each driver. Discrepant cases were discussed to understand why the scoring tool differed from the expert assessment and the scoring tool was modified accordingly. The final tool was compared with expert assessment on another sample of 96 crashes. The tool was also applied to a sample of 2086 crash-involved drivers with known blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) and the adjusted odds of culpability were calculated for several BAC ranges. Results: The final scoring tool included seven factors and had content validity for traffic safety experts. It had excellent agreement with expert scoring on the first set of collisions (kappa = 0.83, 95%CI: 0.75 – 0.91)) and on the second set (kappa = 0.84, 95%CI: 0.77 – 0.92)). When applied to crash-involved drivers with known BAC levels, the scoring tool exhibited predictive validity: the odds of culpability increased with higher BACs consistent with the known dose effect of BAC on crash risk. Conclusions: We have developed an automated culpability scoring tool contextualized to Canadian driving conditions. This tool will allow road safety researchers to assess collision responsibility in large administrative data sets derived from police reports.Medicine, Faculty ofNon UBCEmergency Medicine, Department ofReviewedFacultyResearche

Culpability analysis is still a valuable technique

Medicine, Faculty ofNon UBCEmergency Medicine, Department ofReviewedFacult