Alcohol as a risk factor for unintentional rail injury fatalities during daylight hours

Railway fatalities account for approximately 10% of transport fatalities in Cape Town. The objective of this study was to examine alcohol intoxication as a risk factor during daylight hours by conducting a case - control study to compare rail passenger and pedestrian fatalities (cases) with motor vehicle passenger and pedestrian fatalities (controls). Rail passenger and rail pedestrian fatalities were defined as cases with motor vehicle passenger and pedestrian fatalities as the respective controls. Data were collected from post-mortem reports at two mortuaries from 1994 to 1996. Blood alcohol concentration was the dependent variable. The independent variables were age, gender, date of death, day of week, time of injury and external cause of death. The late afternoon and early evening period from 1600 hours to 1900 hours had the highest frequency of fatalities for all case and control groups. Of the 56 predominately male (89%) railway passenger cases with an average age of 34.5 (SD 12.5) years, Friday (27%) was the most frequent day of death. Railway pedestrian cases (89% male, average age 36.8 years (SD 13.3)) were more likely to be killed on a Monday (11% of cases). Among the controls, motor vehicle passengers (63% male, average age 39.9 (SD 15.5)) were more likely to die on a Sunday (25%) and pedestrians (82% male, average age 41 (SD 14.7)) on a Saturday (21%). The study showed that alcohol consumption is an important risk factor for rail fatalities during daylight hours, with rail passenger fatalities being 4.71 (1.72 - 12.88) and rail pedestrian fatalities 1.62 (0.98 - 2.69) times more likely to be intoxicated than the respective controls. The results provide more evidence for public health campaigners to tackle endemic alcohol abuse and to develop diverse interventions that do not exclusively target motor vehicle drivers.     

Country Resources,Country Image,and Exports: Country Branding and International Marketing Implications

ABSTRACT

A country's economic, political, and socio-cultural institutions have always been regarded as important determinants of a company's exports and international marketing strategies. With the recent thinking about countries becoming more like a brand, these factors should impact a country's marketing and branding strategies. There has been a call for more research on how countries can use their institutions and resources to enhance their globalization efforts. This study intends to fill this gap by examining the relationships between country institutions and resources, country image, and exports based on institution theory and resource advantage theory. Both archival and primary data for 24 countries over 12 years (1995–2006) were used to assess a random-effects panel data model. The results reveal the significance of economic development and communication infrastructure on exports. In addition, country image was found to indirectly affect exports. The theoretical and practical implications on country branding and international marketing conclude the article.     

Merging National Insurance Contributions and Income Tax: Lessons of History

This paper is a response to the British Chancellor of the Exchequer's consultation on closer integration of the operation of National Insurance contributions and income tax. Our historical research on proposals for a complete merger of the two systems enables people interested in tax reform to draw on experience and ideas of officials who grappled with issues similar to those facing us today. We show that officials identified the problem of maintaining increasing numbers of elderly people as long ago as 1950, and identify when and why the British government adopted a pay‐as‐you‐go basis for the National Insurance Fund. We conclude that the advantages of National Insurance contributions separate from income tax are not negligible, but that a merger would be fairer than the present system. Our principal concern is that the contributory principle may raise unrealistic expectations regarding state pensions as it encourages a mistaken belief that these are paid from contributions made by pensioners in the past. We therefore recommend that the government should produce an annual statement showing how state pension liabilities are to be met.     

Estimating the South African trauma caseload

A survey of medical superintendents revealed that an estimated 1.5 million trauma cases presented to South Africa's 356 secondary and tertiary level hospitals in 1999. Injury rates for traffic, violence and other injuries showed considerable inter-provincial variation, with violence accounting for more than half of the trauma caseload. This type of survey is a simple low cost alternative for monitoring injury patterns and supplementing burden of disease and injury costing studies.     

Farmers' Market consumers: a Scottish perspective

Farmers' Markets in Scotland have gradually developed since 1999 as an alternative retail outlet for consumers. Throughout the UK, shoppers have become increasingly concerned about the quality and safety of their food and as a result seek healthier, locally grown organic and non‐organic produce. Thus, the growth of Farmers' Markets is directly related to consumer demand for fresh foods, direct from source, with the high quality of products being a primary reason for shopping. Farmers' Markets are not only seen as a place to buy ‘good food’ but also as a means to express consumer values associated with food choices. Scottish Government efforts to revitalize rural economies through local enterprise initiatives is evidenced by funding the initial establishment of the Scottish Association of Farmers' Market (SAFM), formed in 2000 by market organizers to further their development. The benefits of fresh local produce for Scottish consumers, the revival of a sense of community and the concept of ‘new consumption spaces’ tied to locality means the rural economy benefits from the increase in activity and profits through direct sales. This research investigates consumption habits at farmers' markets through the use of attitudinal theories along with food behaviours and motivations for purchasing. The results demonstrate that a positive attitude is important but the influence of others and barriers are not. Consumers are particularly motivated towards resource conservation and there are distinct differences in attitude between urban and rural shoppers. This research provides a unique insight into the attitudes that influence and motivate Farmers' Market consumers in Scotland.     

Panel LM Unit‐root Tests with Level Shifts*

This paper proposes a new panel unit‐root test based on the Lagrangian multiplier (LM) principle. We show that the asymptotic distribution of the new panel LM test is not affected by the presence of structural shifts. This result holds under a mild condition that N/T→k, where k is any finite constant. Our simulation study shows that the panel LM unit‐root test is not only robust to the presence of structural shifts, but is more powerful than the popular Im, Pesaran and Shin (IPS) test. We apply our new test to the purchasing power parity (PPP) hypothesis and find strong evidence for PPP.     

Global collaboration on road traffic injury prevention

Worldwide, nearly 1.2 million people are killed in road traffic crashes every year and 20 million to 50 million more are injured or disabled. These injuries account for 2.1% of global mortality and 2.6% of all disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost. Low- and middle-income countries account for about 85% of the deaths and 90% of the DALYs lost annually. Without appropriate action, by 2020, road traffic injuries are predicted to be the third leading contributor to the global burden of disease. The economic cost of road traffic crashes is enormous. Globally it is estimated that US$518 billion is spent on road traffic crashes with low- and middle-income countries accounting for US$65 billion--more than these countries receive in development assistance. But these costs are just the tip of the iceberg. For everyone killed, injured or disabled by a road traffic crash there are countless others deeply affected. Many families are driven into poverty by the expenses of prolonged medical care, loss of a family breadwinner or the added burden of caring for the disabled. There is an urgent need for global collaboration on road traffic injury prevention. Since 2000, WHO has stepped up its response to the road safety crisis by firstly developing a 5-year strategy for road traffic injury prevention and following this by dedicating World Health Day 2004 to road safety and launching the WHO/World Bank World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention at the global World Health Day event in Paris, France. This short article highlights the main messages from the World Report and the six recommendations for action on road safety at a national and international level. It goes on to briefly discuss other international achievements since World Health Day and calls for countries to take up the challenge of implementing the recommendations of the World Report.