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Are Bus Company Regulations Associated with Crash Risk? Findings from a Retrospective Survey in Four Chinese Cities

Bus crashes are common in urban China, and bus company regulations are hypothesized to be related to bus crash risk. We conducted a retrospective survey to examine the association in four large Chinese cities (Changsha, Shenzhen, Fuzhou, and Wuhan). Four types of bus crashes were considered: (a) pas...

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Autores principales: Wu, Xiaolin, Zhang, Huimin, Xiao, Wangxin, Ning, Peishan, Schwebel, David C., Hu, Guoqing
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6517911/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31013985
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16081342
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author Wu, Xiaolin
Zhang, Huimin
Xiao, Wangxin
Ning, Peishan
Schwebel, David C.
Hu, Guoqing
author_facet Wu, Xiaolin
Zhang, Huimin
Xiao, Wangxin
Ning, Peishan
Schwebel, David C.
Hu, Guoqing
author_sort Wu, Xiaolin
collection PubMed
description Bus crashes are common in urban China, and bus company regulations are hypothesized to be related to bus crash risk. We conducted a retrospective survey to examine the association in four large Chinese cities (Changsha, Shenzhen, Fuzhou, and Wuhan). Four types of bus crashes were considered: (a) passengers injured while riding the bus; (b) bus colliding with or scraping other motor vehicles; (c) bus colliding with non-motorized vehicles or pedestrians; and (d) bus damaging public facilities. Based on regulations governing the drivers’ work, complete round trips per day, and their paid salary, three categories of companies were studied: type A: ≥14 h worked/day, ≥6 round trips/day, and >70% of salary based on performance; type B: 8–13 h/day, 4 or 5 round trips/day, and 36–70% of salary; and type C: <36% of salary and no other specified requirements. Of the 926 respondents, 20.7% reported one or more crashes or related risk events in the past month. Drivers from the three types of companies reported crash incidence rates of 31.9%, 8.8%, and 6.0%, respectively, in the past month. Type A crash rates were significantly higher than type C after controlling for relevant covariates (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 7.1, 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.74–13.47). We conclude that more stringent bus company regulations, which mandate drivers to work long hours and obtain salary based on job performance in meeting demanding metrics, are associated with elevated bus-related crash risks. Local governments in China should regulate bus companies to ensure drivers work reasonable hours and are paid based on the quality of their work (e.g., safety).
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spelling pubmed-65179112019-05-31 Are Bus Company Regulations Associated with Crash Risk? Findings from a Retrospective Survey in Four Chinese Cities Wu, Xiaolin Zhang, Huimin Xiao, Wangxin Ning, Peishan Schwebel, David C. Hu, Guoqing Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Bus crashes are common in urban China, and bus company regulations are hypothesized to be related to bus crash risk. We conducted a retrospective survey to examine the association in four large Chinese cities (Changsha, Shenzhen, Fuzhou, and Wuhan). Four types of bus crashes were considered: (a) passengers injured while riding the bus; (b) bus colliding with or scraping other motor vehicles; (c) bus colliding with non-motorized vehicles or pedestrians; and (d) bus damaging public facilities. Based on regulations governing the drivers’ work, complete round trips per day, and their paid salary, three categories of companies were studied: type A: ≥14 h worked/day, ≥6 round trips/day, and >70% of salary based on performance; type B: 8–13 h/day, 4 or 5 round trips/day, and 36–70% of salary; and type C: <36% of salary and no other specified requirements. Of the 926 respondents, 20.7% reported one or more crashes or related risk events in the past month. Drivers from the three types of companies reported crash incidence rates of 31.9%, 8.8%, and 6.0%, respectively, in the past month. Type A crash rates were significantly higher than type C after controlling for relevant covariates (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 7.1, 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.74–13.47). We conclude that more stringent bus company regulations, which mandate drivers to work long hours and obtain salary based on job performance in meeting demanding metrics, are associated with elevated bus-related crash risks. Local governments in China should regulate bus companies to ensure drivers work reasonable hours and are paid based on the quality of their work (e.g., safety). MDPI 2019-04-14 2019-04 /pmc/articles/PMC6517911/ /pubmed/31013985 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16081342 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Wu, Xiaolin
Zhang, Huimin
Xiao, Wangxin
Ning, Peishan
Schwebel, David C.
Hu, Guoqing
Are Bus Company Regulations Associated with Crash Risk? Findings from a Retrospective Survey in Four Chinese Cities
title Are Bus Company Regulations Associated with Crash Risk? Findings from a Retrospective Survey in Four Chinese Cities
title_full Are Bus Company Regulations Associated with Crash Risk? Findings from a Retrospective Survey in Four Chinese Cities
title_fullStr Are Bus Company Regulations Associated with Crash Risk? Findings from a Retrospective Survey in Four Chinese Cities
title_full_unstemmed Are Bus Company Regulations Associated with Crash Risk? Findings from a Retrospective Survey in Four Chinese Cities
title_short Are Bus Company Regulations Associated with Crash Risk? Findings from a Retrospective Survey in Four Chinese Cities
title_sort are bus company regulations associated with crash risk? findings from a retrospective survey in four chinese cities
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6517911/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31013985
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16081342
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