Climate Change and Human Health Literature Portal
BACKGROUND: A better understanding of how heat waves affect fatal traffic crashes will be useful to promote awareness of drivers' vulnerability during an extreme heat event. OBJECTIVE AND METHODS: We applied a time-stratified case-crossover design to examine associations between heat waves and fatal traffic crashes during May-September of 2001-2011 in the continental United States (US). Heat waves, defined as the daily mean temperature >95% threshold for >/=2 consecutive days, were derived using gridded 12.5 km(2) air temperatures from Phase 2 of the North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS-2). Dates and locations of fatal traffic crash records were acquired from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). RESULTS: Results show a significant positive association between fatal traffic crashes and heat waves with a 3.4% (95% CI: 0.9, 5.9%) increase in fatal traffic crashes on heat wave days versus non-heat wave days. The association was more positive for 56-65 years old drivers [8.2% (0.3, 16.7%)] and driving on rural roadways [6.1% (2.8, 9.6%)]. Moreover, a positive association was only present when the heat wave days were characterized by no precipitation [10.9% (7.3%, 14.6%)] and medium or high solar radiation [24.6% (19.9%, 29.5%) and 19.9% (15.6%, 24.4%), respectively]. CONCLUSIONS: These findings are relevant for developing targeted interventions for these driver groups and driving situations to efficiently reduce the negative effects of heat waves on fatal traffic crashes.
Resource Description
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Precipitation, Solar Radiation, Temperature
- Precipitation, Solar Radiation, Temperature: Heat
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United States
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Injury
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Research Article