The George Institute for International Health, The University of Sydney. Postal address: PO Box M201 Missenden Road, Sydney, NSW 2050.
J Safety Res. 2010 Apr;41(2):123-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jsr.2009.12.006. Epub 2010 Mar 31.
Little has been published on changes in young driver fatality rates over time. This paper examines differences in Australian young driver fatality rates over the last decade, examining important risk factors including place of residence and socioeconomic status (SES).
Young driver (17-25years) police-recorded passenger vehicle crashes were extracted from New South Wales State records from 1997-2007. Rurality of residence and SES were classified into three levels based on drivers' residential postcode: urban, regional, or rural; and high, moderate, or low SES areas. Geographic and SES disparities in trends of fatality rates were examined by the generalized linear model. Chi-square trend test was used to examine the distributions of posted speed limits, drinking driving, fatigue, seatbelt use, vehicle age, night-time driving, and the time from crash to death across rurality and socioeconomic status.
Young driver fatality rate significantly decreased 5% per year (p<0.05); however, stratified analyses (by rurality and by SES) showed that only the reduction among urban drivers was significant (average 5% decrease per year, p<0.01). The higher relative risk of fatality for rural versus urban drivers, and for drivers of low versus high SES remained unchanged over the last decade. High posted speed limits, fatigue, drink driving and seatbelt non-use were significantly associated with rural fatalities, whereas high posted speed limit, fatigue, and driving an older vehicle were significantly related to low SES fatality.
The constant geographic and SES disparities in young driver fatality rates highlight safety inequities for those living in rural areas and those of low SES. Better targeted interventions are needed, including attention to behavioral risk factors and vehicle age.
关于年轻驾驶员死亡率随时间变化的研究甚少。本文通过考察过去十年中澳大利亚年轻驾驶员死亡率的差异，研究了包括居住地和社会经济地位（SES）在内的重要危险因素。
从 1997 年至 2007 年新南威尔士州警方记录的年轻驾驶员（17-25 岁）乘用车碰撞事故中提取数据。根据驾驶员的居住邮政编码，将居住地的农村/城市和 SES 分为三级：城市、区域或农村；高、中、低 SES 地区。采用广义线性模型检验死亡率趋势的地理和 SES 差异。采用卡方趋势检验，检验居住地和 SES 分布情况，包括限速、酒后驾车、疲劳、安全带使用、车辆年龄、夜间驾驶和事故发生到死亡的时间。
年轻驾驶员死亡率每年显著下降 5%（p<0.05）；然而，分层分析（按农村/城市和 SES）表明，只有城市驾驶员的死亡率下降显著（每年平均下降 5%，p<0.01）。过去十年中，农村驾驶员相对于城市驾驶员，以及低 SES 驾驶员相对于高 SES 驾驶员的死亡率相对风险仍然较高。高限速、疲劳、酒后驾车和不系安全带与农村死亡显著相关，而高限速、疲劳和驾驶旧车与低 SES 死亡显著相关。
年轻驾驶员死亡率在地理和 SES 方面持续存在差异，突出了农村地区和低 SES 人群的安全不平等问题。需要采取更有针对性的干预措施，包括关注行为风险因素和车辆年龄。
