Identification of Factors Affecting Road Traffic Injuries Incidence and Severity in Southern Thailand Based on Accident Investigation Reports

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This is an interesting paper discussing human error-related factors related to traffic accidents. The assessment methods of passenger risks, vehicular risks, and environmental risks are useful and make sense. However, the English language may need to be improved. Some long sentences are confusing. In addition, the conclusion is weak, how to use the paper results in traffic safety decision making is missing.

Author Response

Response to reviewers

Reviewer 1

1. This is an interesting paper discussing human error-related factors related to traffic accidents. The assessment methods of passenger risks, vehicular risks, and environmental risks are useful and make sense. However, the English language may need to be improved. Some long sentences are confusing.

Thank you for your comments. A native English speaker has now thoroughly edited the whole document.

 

2. In addition, the conclusion is weak, how to use the paper results in traffic safety decision making is missing.

We thank the reviewer for this suggestion. The final paragraph of the Discussion section now has a clear list of measures that can be adopted to improve road safety based on the results of this study. These can be found starting on line 330.

“There are some quite clear messages that can be applied to policies designed to improve traffic safety decision making. Recommendations include improvements in human risk behaviors, in terms of addressing drink driving, speeding, helmet and seatbelt use, and fatigue. Physical road infrastructure should be improved through a more effective separation of road users from roadside objects. Safety standards for vehicles should also be addressed through more strict registration requirements and inspection regimes. Finally, post-crash outcomes could be improved through government support for higher rates of first aid training among the general population, and better coordination of EMS services. A holistic approach to road traffic accident prevention in Thailand can both reduce the injury rate and the severity of injuries incurred.”

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

This study focuses on the identification of affecting factors for road traffic injuries in the southern of Thailand based on the investigation reports. I think the paper fits well the scope of the journal and addresses an important subject. However, a number of revisions are required before the paper can be considered for publication. There are some weak points that have to be strengthened. Below please find more specific comments:

 

*The abstract can be expanded a bit. I suggest adding a sentence or two highlighting the outcomes of this work and contributions to the state-of-the-art.

*Page 1 line 25: “At present traffic accidents cause…” should be replaced with “At present, traffic accidents cause…”.

*The authors start the introduction section with a discussion regarding traffic injury and mortality due to accidents. The authors should include some recent and relevant references to support this discussion, including the following:

• Lin, Y. and Li, R., 2020. Real-time traffic accidents post-impact prediction: Based on crowdsourcing data. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 145, p.105696.
• Ulak, M.B., Ozguven, E.E., Vanli, O.A., Dulebenets, M.A. and Spainhour, L., 2018. Multivariate random parameter Tobit modeling of crashes involving aging drivers, passengers, bicyclists, and pedestrians: Spatiotemporal variations. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 121, pp.1-13.
  Zou, Y., Zhang, Y. and Cheng, K., 2021. Exploring the impact of climate and extreme weather on fatal traffic accidents. Sustainability, 13(1), p.390.
• Pasha, J., Dulebenets, M.A., Singh, P., Moses, R., Sobanjo, J. and Ozguven, E.E., 2021. Towards improving sustainability of rail transport by reducing traffic delays at level crossings: A case study for the State of Florida. Cleaner Logistics and Supply Chain, 1, p.100001.
• Zhang, Y., Lu, H. and Qu, W., 2020. Geographical detection of traffic accidents spatial stratified heterogeneity and influence factors. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(2), p.572.

This will significantly improve the flow of section 1.

*The literature review could be more solid. A separate section that is specifically dedicated to the literature review will be helpful to the future readers.

*Please include a discussion to justify the selection of study area.

*The results section should be adequate. The only suggestion I have here is to include more detailed discussions where appropriate to make sure that the readers will understand the key findings from the conducted work.

*Page 15: The last section could be improved. I suggest listing the bullet points for the future research needs.

Author Response

Response to reviewers

Reviewer 2

This study focuses on the identification of affecting factors for road traffic injuries in the southern of Thailand based on the investigation reports. I think the paper fits well the scope of the journal and addresses an important subject. However, a number of revisions are required before the paper can be considered for publication. There are some weak points that have to be strengthened. Below please find more specific comments:

Thank you to the reviewer for your comments and suggestions. We address your comments one by one below.

1. The abstract can be expanded a bit. I suggest adding a sentence or two highlighting the outcomes of this work and contributions to the state-of-the-art.

We have added some sentences to the Abstract making more clearly the contributions of this papers results.

The outcomes of this paper identify a number of preventable risk factors for traffic injury, and importantly examines them in conjunction. Road traffic safety measures need to consider how human, vehicle and environmental risks intersect to influence injury likelihood and severity. The Haddon matrix is useful in identifying these pre and post-accident risk factors. Furthermore, the sustainable preventions of road traffic injury need to be address these risks in conjunction with active law enforcement.

 

 

 

2. Page 1 line 25: “At present traffic accidents cause…” should be replaced with “At present, traffic accidents cause…”.

Thank you, we have added the needed comma.

3. The authors start the introduction section with a discussion regarding traffic injury and mortality due to accidents. The authors should include some recent and relevant references to support this discussion, including the following:

Lin, Y. and Li, R., 2020. Real-time traffic accidents post-impact prediction: Based on crowdsourcing data. Accident Analysis &Prevention, 145, p.105696.

Ulak, M.B., Ozguven, E.E., Vanli, O.A., Dulebenets, M.A. andSpainhour, L., 2018. Multivariate random parameter Tobit modelingof crashes involving aging drivers, passengers, bicyclists, andpedestrians: Spatiotemporal variations. Accident Analysis &Prevention, 121, pp.1-13. Zou, Y., Zhang, Y. and Cheng, K., 2021. Exploring the impact ofclimate and extreme weather on fatal traffic accidents.Sustainability, 13(1), p.390.

Pasha, J., Dulebenets, M.A., Singh, P., Moses, R., Sobanjo, J. andOzguven, E.E., 2021. Towards improving sustainability of railtransport by reducing traffic delays at level crossings: A case studyfor the State of Florida. Cleaner Logistics and Supply Chain, 1,p.100001.

Zhang, Y., Lu, H. and Qu, W., 2020. Geographical detection oftraffic accidents spatial stratified heterogeneity and influencefactors. International journal of environmental research and publichealth, 17(2), p.572.

This will significantly improve the flow of section 1.

Thank you to the reviewer. We have now included some of these references in our discussion.

 

4. The literature review could be more solid. A separate section that is specifically dedicated to the literature review will be helpful to the future readers.

 

Again, we thank the reviewer for this suggestion. We have now added a stand-alone Literature review section starting on line 77.

 

5. Please include a discussion to justify the selection of study area.

This study area was selected based on it being the region of Thailand where the study authors work in traffic injury investigation. It also has a high burden of traffic injury burden. We have added one sentence to the Study Design section on line 130 to explain this.

 

6. The results section should be adequate. The only suggestion I have here is to include more detailed discussions where appropriate to make sure that the readers will understand the key findings from the conducted work.

We understand that our results are a little complicated as we assess so many risk factors together. We have modified our Discussion section now to more clearly draw out the key Results. For example, see lines 299, 306, and 310.

 

7. Page 15: The last section could be improved. I suggest listing the bullet points for future research needs.

We have now added a concluding paragraph that suggests future research approaches.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors have addressed most of the comments. However, some of the previous suggestions have not been fully implemented.

 

*The abstract appears to be adequate now. No other revisions are needed.

*In my original review, I suggested that the first paragraph of the introduction section will benefit from including more recent and relevant studies related to traffic safety to support the discussion, including the following:

• Lin, Y. and Li, R., 2020. Real-time traffic accidents post-impact prediction: Based on crowdsourcing data. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 145, p.105696.
• Ulak, M.B., Ozguven, E.E., Vanli, O.A., Dulebenets, M.A. and Spainhour, L., 2018. Multivariate random parameter Tobit modeling of crashes involving aging drivers, passengers, bicyclists, and pedestrians: Spatiotemporal variations. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 121, pp.1-13.
  Zou, Y., Zhang, Y. and Cheng, K., 2021. Exploring the impact of climate and extreme weather on fatal traffic accidents. Sustainability, 13(1), p.390.
• Pasha, J., Dulebenets, M.A., Singh, P., Moses, R., Sobanjo, J. and Ozguven, E.E., 2021. Towards improving sustainability of rail transport by reducing traffic delays at level crossings: A case study for the State of Florida. Cleaner Logistics and Supply Chain, 1, p.100001.
• Zhang, Y., Lu, H. and Qu, W., 2020. Geographical detection of traffic accidents spatial stratified heterogeneity and influence factors. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(2), p.572.

I do not see that the authors have incorporated this suggestion. The first paragraph of the introduction section still has only two references, which may not seem convincing enough to the readers.

*I see that the authors have a separate section which is specifically dedicated to the literature review. This is good. However, the section seems be very short (i.e., less than one page). Please try to make the description of studies in the literature review more thorough.

Author Response

Response to reviewers

Reviewer 2

*The abstract appears to be adequate now. No other revisions are needed.

     Thank you to the reviewer for your comments and suggestions.

 

*In my original review, I suggested that the first paragraph of the introduction section will benefit from including more recent and relevant studies related to traffic safety to support the discussion, including the following:

Lin, Y. and Li, R., 2020. Real-time traffic accidents post-impact prediction: Based on crowdsourcing data. Accident Analysis &Prevention, 145, p.105696.

Ulak, M.B., Ozguven, E.E., Vanli, O.A., Dulebenets, M.A. andSpainhour, L., 2018. Multivariate random parameter Tobit modelingof crashes involving aging drivers, passengers, bicyclists, andpedestrians: Spatiotemporal variations. Accident Analysis &Prevention, 121, pp.1-13. Zou, Y., Zhang, Y. and Cheng, K., 2021. Exploring the impact ofclimate and extreme weather on fatal traffic accidents.Sustainability, 13(1), p.390.

Pasha, J., Dulebenets, M.A., Singh, P., Moses, R., Sobanjo, J. andOzguven, E.E., 2021. Towards improving sustainability of railtransport by reducing traffic delays at level crossings: A case studyfor the State of Florida. Cleaner Logistics and Supply Chain, 1,p.100001.

Zhang, Y., Lu, H. and Qu, W., 2020. Geographical detection oftraffic accidents spatial stratified heterogeneity and influencefactors. International journal of environmental research and publichealth, 17(2), p.572.

I do not see that the authors have incorporated this suggestion. The first paragraph of the introduction section still has only two references, which may not seem convincing enough to the readers.

    Thank you to the reviewer for your comments and suggestions. We apologized for our miss understanding. Now, we have added some sentences and all references to the introduction on Line 59-64.

Each road traffic incident has its own set of, generally preventable, drivers, impacts in terms of fatalities and injuries, and primary causes such as excess speed, overloading, and type of vehicles [9]. Moreover, climate change and extreme weather are leading to changing risks for severe road traffic accidents and injuries [10], as well as spatial, temporal, and community aspects [11]. Finally, the number of cars per day, crosswalks, road types, highway speed limits, and the real-time post-impact traffic accident management system should be taken into account [12, 13].

*I see that the authors have a separate section which is specifically dedicated to the literature review. This is good. However, the section seems be very short (i.e., less than one page). Please try to make the description of studies in the literature review more thorough.

   Again, we thank the reviewer for this suggestion. We have now added some sentences to the literature making more clearly the contents.

Author Response File: Author Response.doc