Useless Surveys aka Your Tax Dollars at Work

Reading up on some of the Wizards behind the Curtains (Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators in this case)...

On their site they publish their "Road Safety Vision 2010" ("Canada's National Road Safety Plan") reports etc:
http://www.ccmta.ca/english/committees/rsrp/rsv/rsv-reports.cfm

...including their "Mid-Term Review Final Report" from July 2007:
http://www.ccmta.ca/english/pdf/rsv2010_midtermreport_final.pdf

From their report (in the section about "Vulnerable Road Users") they mention:
"Extensive analysis of collisions involving pedestrians has been undertaken in Ontario from 1988 to 2002"

...and in their 2006 Report "CCMTA ACTIVITIES IN SUPPORT OF ROAD SAFETY VISION 2010 TARGETS":
http://www.ccmta.ca/english/pdf/RSV_2010_App_B.pdf

They report:
"Ontario research shows that in traffic collisions involving pedestrians and motorists, the pedestrian is highly likely to sustain an injury"

Ya know I'm not making this stuff up right?
tks
Loc

OK, one more for my American Cousins...

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is involved with eVehicles rated at less than One Horse (since US Public Law 107-319, 116 Stat. 2776 enacted December 4, 2002) see also:
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1518&start=0
(before it is purged from ES as "dated" (sigh))

In 2000, the US Consumer Products Safety Commission studied (unpowered) kick scooters, when North America was being flooded with cheap kick scoots for kids...

From their findings:
"CPSC staff compared scooter injury rates with injury rates for similar products -- including skateboards, in-line skates, and bicycles."

"The comparison showed that:
Scooter riding had the lowest rate of emergency-room-treated injury per 1,000 participants among the four products/activities (3.09 per 1,000)."

"Bicycling had the highest rate of emergency-room-treated injuries (12.58 per 1,000)."

"Bicycle riders reported more than twice as many days of riding (61.3) on average than did scooter riders (29.9) in 2000. But the injury rate for bicycles (2.05 per 10,000 days) was still double the rate for scooters (1.03 per 10,000 days)."

"When considering the injury rates per 10,000 days of participation for these four activities, skateboarding was associated with the highest rate of injury. The
skate-boarding rate (2.51 per 10,000 days) was almost 2.5 times the rate for scooters."

"Scooters were associated with the lowest rate of injury among those four products, regardless of which exposure measure was used."

And even with the "lowest rate of injury" noted, what these quotes omit to say is that their study found that many of the injuries to scooter
riders were due only to poor design and cheap construction (sharp edges, for example.) And that of course, most of the riders they were studying
were very young and inexperienced.

So I was excited (NOT) to read what my American Cousins/the USCPSA had to say later about powered scooters...
...and here it is/was.. their report on powered kick scooters from 2005:
http://www.cpsc.gov/LIBRARY/FOIA/FOIA05/os/scooter.pdf

Once again, lots of silliness:
(A survey based on hospital reports rather than the eVehicles themselves...)

eg:
"From October of 1998, when the powered scooter code was created, through November 2004, CPSC has received reports of 49 deaths involving powered scooters (includes two cases reported through NEISS). In all of these cases, the person involved was the operator of the scooter. The ages of the deceased ranged from six to 86, and the mean and median age was 39. One quarter of the deceased were under the age of 15. Fortythree were male and six female."

But from the Summary (their own words):
"The injury narratives were reviewed and hazard patterns were coded. The scooter directly contributed to the accident/injury in 19.6% of the injuries. Examples of scenarios included in this pattern are: brake failed to engage, victim was cut on a sharp edge, front wheel wobbling prior to the accident, handlebar came loose and detached, burned from touching a hot part of the gas powered scooter, etc. This is a high proportion of injuries in which something about the product contributed to the injury."

tks
loK