Road injuries and relaxed licensing requirements for driving light motorcycles in Spain: a time-series analysis
OBJECTIVE: To assess differences between the risk of injury for motorcycle riders before and after the passing of a law allowing licenced car drivers to drive light motorcycles without having to take a special motorcycle driving test. METHODS: We carried out a quasi-experimental study involving comp...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The World Health Organization
2009-07-01
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| Series: | Bulletin of the World Health Organization |
| Online Access: | http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0042-96862009000700010&lng=en&tlng=en |
| _version_ | 1797288632551211008 |
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| author | Katherine Pérez Marc Marí-Dell'Olmo Carme Borrell Manel Nebot Joan R Villalbí Elena Santamariña |
| author_facet | Katherine Pérez Marc Marí-Dell'Olmo Carme Borrell Manel Nebot Joan R Villalbí Elena Santamariña |
| author_sort | Katherine Pérez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | OBJECTIVE: To assess differences between the risk of injury for motorcycle riders before and after the passing of a law allowing licenced car drivers to drive light motorcycles without having to take a special motorcycle driving test. METHODS: We carried out a quasi-experimental study involving comparison groups, and a time-series analysis from 1 January 2002 to 30 April 2008. The study group was composed of people injured while driving or riding a light motorcycle (engine capacity 51-125 cubic centimetres), while the comparison groups consisted of riders of heavy motorcycles (engine capacity > 125 cc), mopeds (engine capacity <50 cc) or cars who were injured in a collision within the city limits. The "intervention" was a law passed in October 2004 allowing car drivers to drive light motorcycles without taking a special driving test. To detect and quantify changes over time we used Poisson regression, with adjustments for trend and seasonality in road injuries and the existence of a driver's licence penalty point system. FINDINGS: The risk of injury among light motorcycle riders was greater after the law than before (relative risk, RR = 1.46; 95% confidence interval, CI: 1.34-1.60). Although less markedly, after the law the risk of injury also increased among heavy motorcycle drivers (RR = 1.15; 95% CI: 1.02-1.29) but remained unchanged among riders of mopeds (RR = 0.92; 95% CI: 0.83-1.01) and cars (RR = 1.06; 95% CI: 0.97-1.16). CONCLUSION: Allowing car drivers to drive motorcycles without passing a special test increases the number of road injuries from motorcycle accidents. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T18:52:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4ee15d6f693c4904a3a6add3365e2969 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0042-9686 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T18:52:18Z |
| publishDate | 2009-07-01 |
| publisher | The World Health Organization |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Bulletin of the World Health Organization |
| spelling | doaj.art-4ee15d6f693c4904a3a6add3365e29692024-03-02T01:08:31ZengThe World Health OrganizationBulletin of the World Health Organization0042-96862009-07-01877497504S0042-96862009000700010Road injuries and relaxed licensing requirements for driving light motorcycles in Spain: a time-series analysisKatherine Pérez0Marc Marí-Dell'Olmo1Carme Borrell Manel Nebot2Joan R Villalbí3Elena Santamariña4Agència de Salut Pública de BarcelonaCentro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Epidemiología y Salud PúblicaAgència de Salut Pública de BarcelonaAgència de Salut Pública de BarcelonaAgència de Salut Pública de BarcelonaOBJECTIVE: To assess differences between the risk of injury for motorcycle riders before and after the passing of a law allowing licenced car drivers to drive light motorcycles without having to take a special motorcycle driving test. METHODS: We carried out a quasi-experimental study involving comparison groups, and a time-series analysis from 1 January 2002 to 30 April 2008. The study group was composed of people injured while driving or riding a light motorcycle (engine capacity 51-125 cubic centimetres), while the comparison groups consisted of riders of heavy motorcycles (engine capacity > 125 cc), mopeds (engine capacity <50 cc) or cars who were injured in a collision within the city limits. The "intervention" was a law passed in October 2004 allowing car drivers to drive light motorcycles without taking a special driving test. To detect and quantify changes over time we used Poisson regression, with adjustments for trend and seasonality in road injuries and the existence of a driver's licence penalty point system. FINDINGS: The risk of injury among light motorcycle riders was greater after the law than before (relative risk, RR = 1.46; 95% confidence interval, CI: 1.34-1.60). Although less markedly, after the law the risk of injury also increased among heavy motorcycle drivers (RR = 1.15; 95% CI: 1.02-1.29) but remained unchanged among riders of mopeds (RR = 0.92; 95% CI: 0.83-1.01) and cars (RR = 1.06; 95% CI: 0.97-1.16). CONCLUSION: Allowing car drivers to drive motorcycles without passing a special test increases the number of road injuries from motorcycle accidents.http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0042-96862009000700010&lng=en&tlng=en |
| spellingShingle | Katherine Pérez Marc Marí-Dell'Olmo Carme Borrell Manel Nebot Joan R Villalbí Elena Santamariña Road injuries and relaxed licensing requirements for driving light motorcycles in Spain: a time-series analysis Bulletin of the World Health Organization |
| title | Road injuries and relaxed licensing requirements for driving light motorcycles in Spain: a time-series analysis |
| title_full | Road injuries and relaxed licensing requirements for driving light motorcycles in Spain: a time-series analysis |
| title_fullStr | Road injuries and relaxed licensing requirements for driving light motorcycles in Spain: a time-series analysis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Road injuries and relaxed licensing requirements for driving light motorcycles in Spain: a time-series analysis |
| title_short | Road injuries and relaxed licensing requirements for driving light motorcycles in Spain: a time-series analysis |
| title_sort | road injuries and relaxed licensing requirements for driving light motorcycles in spain a time series analysis |
| url | http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0042-96862009000700010&lng=en&tlng=en |
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