Browsing by Subject "safety"
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Item Accessibility and Centrality Based Estimation of Pedestrian Activity and Safety in Urban Areas(2015-10) Murphy, BrendanThe following thesis investigates the feasibility of using metrics of accessibility to jobs, betweenness centrality, and automobile traffic levels to estimate pedestrian behav- ior levels and automobile-pedestrian collision risks within an urban area. Multimodal count and crash report data from Minneapolis, Minnesota are used as a test of this scal- able, translatable modeling framework; multiple stepwise linear regression is performed to compile a set of explanatory variables from which to construct a predictive model of pedestrian movement. The existence of the Safety In Numbers (SIN) phenomenon is in- vestigated within both the raw and estimated pedestrian movement data; the SIN effect is the phenomenon where pedestrians are found to be safer from collisions, on average, when there are more pedestrians present in a given intersection, street, or area - that is, that the per-pedestrian risk of injury inflicted by drivers of automobiles decreases as a function of the increasing volume of pedestrian traffic. Economic accessibility, between- ness centrality, and Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) were found to be significant predictors of pedestrian traffic at intersections in Minneapolis, and the SIN effect was observed in both the raw and estimated pedestrian movement data when combined with the aggregated crash data. This investigation shows the potential utility of such a model that is both scalable to larger geographic areas, and translatable to varying jurisdictions due to its reliance on nationally-available datasets. Policy implications and concerns surrounding use of the Safety In Numbers effect in planning and engineering, and issues of data quality and availability in urban geographic science, are discussed.Item An Assessment of the Safety and Efficiency of Log Trucks with Increased Weight Limits on Interstate Highways in Minnesota and Wisconsin(University of Minnesota, 2023) Carson, Michael T.; Blinn, Charles R.; Timothy, J. O'HaraDesign standards for the Interstate Highway System in the US are generally higher than those on other roads within most states, making it the safest road system in the US. Federal law prevents states from enforcing vehicle weight limits on interstate highways that deviate from established Federal weight limits or state-specific grandfathered weight limits or exceptions. While state gross vehicle weight (GVW) limits for trucks that haul logs exceed federal interstate highway limits in all major timber-producing states that don’t have grandfathered limits, state-legal weight log trucks are not allowed to travel fully loaded on the interstate Trucks hauling logs at legal state limits must travel on state, county, township and local roads. On these routes trucks pass through towns/cities, school zones and encounter on-coming traffic and intersections. All these encounters increase the risk of an accident. This study compared the relative importance of the transport of raw forest products by trucks to the top five non-timber commodities and the fatality rates of log trucks to other heavy trucks in the lower 48 states, compared available national road damage cost estimates for interstate and non-interstate roads and assessed the impact of relaxing interstate weight limits on hauling distance, travel time, safety, pavement damage and CO2 emissions for hauling timber along three travel corridors in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Logs are an important commodity in many states but generally represent a minor percentage of the tonnage of commodities hauled by trucks. On a per load basis, log trucks have a lower fatality rate than other heavy trucks in 83% of the lower 48 states, including in those states that have higher GVW allowances on the interstate due to grandfathering. Due to the higher design standards, pavement damage costs are lowest on interstate highways as compared to other road types. Allowing state-legal, loaded log trucks access to federal interstate highways would improve the overall safety and efficiency of timber transportation while reducing pavement damage costs and CO2 emissions along the three travel corridors. The safety benefits generally exceeded the efficiency gains. Overall, study findings suggest that allowing state-legal, loaded log trucks to operate on interstate highways would improve the safety and efficiency of timber transportation in Wisconsin and Minnesota.Item Asthma Treatment in Children: Information for Parents(2008-09-02) Chomilo, NathanParents are often worried about long-term inhaled steroid use in their children with asthma. This handout explains asthma as a disease as well as going over the risks and benefits of inhaled steroid use.Item Essays In Industrial Organization(2020-05) Golovin, SergiyThis dissertation is comprised of three essays. The first one studies the valuation of novel safety technologies such as airbags and anti-lock brake systems by consumers using real-world data on car purchases. The second essay looks at the interaction between government regulation and adoption of airbags by car manufacturers, as well as the welfare implications for the market. Finally, the third chapter utilizes the data on car sales to study the evolution of markups and concentration in the US automobile industry throughout the last 24 years. In the first chapter I study the economic value of the new safety technologies that were introduced in automobiles in the 1990's. While these features reduce the risk of death and injury in traffic accidents they are often expensive and not all consumers are willing to pay for them. I find that an average consumer values driver airbags at the level of $861, anti-lock brake system - at $1,043, and side airbags - at $1,633. Overall, the introduction of frontal airbags improved consumer welfare by an equivalent of about $1,345, however it affected the consumers differently based on their characteristics. Understanding the value that consumers place on these technologies is helpful in guiding the policy related to regulation of car safety standards. The second chapter studies the effects of technology-forcing regulation that was announced in 1991 and required all new cars to be equipped with airbags starting in 1998. This government intervention forced firms to adopt new technology earlier that they found optimal, creating a market distortion. I develop and estimate a structural model of consumer vehicle choice and dynamic airbag adoption decision of the firms in the presence of a deadline. I construct a detailed data set of car sales for more than 2,600 car models and 16 distinct car features over 13 years. The results show that government regulation was a major driver of airbag adoption. The mandate forced 100% of cars to have dual airbags by 1998; however, in the counterfactual, without the airbag mandate, only 60% of new cars would have dual airbags in 2002. I also find that the regulation had heterogeneous effect on consumers. When comparing the world without the airbag mandate to the world with the airbag mandate, consumers experienced an average welfare gain of 1.7% because airbags were available earlier and cheaper. However, the airbag mandate reduced welfare for consumers with high price-sensitivity and low valuation of airbags by 5.2%. Firms that adopted airbags before the regulation requirement experience 1.3% lower profits compared to the world without the mandate because the mandate limited their ability to differentiate themselves from the competition. In the third and final chapter I investigate the development of markups and firm concentration in the automobile market from 1990 to 2014. I estimate markups for all the firms active in the market in these years using a structural model of consumer car choice. The findings show that the markups have slightly decreased by during the period covered in my dataset. This confirms the findings in the literature for the markups in the automobile industry.Item Essays on Improving Quality and Safety in Highly Regulated Industries(2019-08) Kang, SehwonManaging quality and safety is critical in highly regulated industries because failing to do so can lead to serious negative consequences. One way to improve quality and safety is enhancing organizational focus, emphasis on a specific set of actions. To study various contexts of focus, I select three settings in highly regulated industries: acute-care hospitals, nursing homes, and oil pipeline operators. First, I study internally driven focus as disproportionate emphasis on a medical specialty in acute-care hospitals. I examine the effect of focus strategy and its combined effects with patient experience practices, on quality performance measured as readmission rates and patient satisfaction. Using secondary data from 3,027 hospitals, I find that focus has undesirable effects on both measures. However, patient experience mitigates the negative influence of focus on readmission rates. I also find that an imbalance between focus and patient experience results in poor performance. There is no single magic bullet to improve the two performance measures. Second, I study externally driven change in attentional focus where recurring visits are unannounced while initial visits are announced in advance at nursing homes. Drawing on the attention-based view, I examine the effects of announced and unannounced inspections on the immediate and sustained quality performance. Using a dataset from accredited nursing homes, I show that unannounced inspection visits lead to a more sustained increase in quality performance than announced visits. Thus, announcing the inspection in advance results in short-term gains but long-term disadvantages. Finally, I study externally driven focus on a safety management program in oil transportation. The program requires pipeline operators to prioritize their resources to reduce incidents in high consequence areas (HCAs). I examine the effects of pipeline system complexity and the learning experience with the program, on safety performance measured as future incident cost. Using a panel dataset of 642 pipeline operators, I find that complexity increases the cost but organizational learning reduces it. Interestingly, complexity heightens the negative relationship between the experience and future incident cost. The program is fruitful for incidents in high consequence areas (HCAs), but not in non-HCAs, which substantiates the intent of the program.Item The Experiences of Undergraduate Students with Physical, Learning, Neurodevelopmental, and Cognitive Disabilities During the Pandemic(SERU Consortium, University of California - Berkeley and University of Minnesota., 2020-10) Soria, Krista M.; Horgos, Bonnie; Chirikov, Igor; Jones-White, DanielThe COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted students with physical, learning, neurodevelopmental, and cognitive disabilities who are enrolled at large public research universities, according to the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Consortium survey administered from May to July 2020 of 30,099 undergraduate students at nine universities. Approximately 6% of respondents (n = 1,788) reported having at least one disability (physical, learning, neurodevelopmental, or cognitive). Students with physical, learning, neurodevelopmental, and cognitive disabilities were more likely than students without disabilities to experience financial hardships during the pandemic, including unexpected increases in spending for technology, unexpected increases in living expenses, and loss or reduction in income (from family members or personal wages from off-campus employment). Furthermore, students with disabilities were also more likely to experience food and housing insecurity compared to students without disabilities. Students with physical, learning, neurodevelopmental, and cognitive disabilities were less likely to believe that they feel like they belong on campus and less likely to agree that the campus supported them during the pandemic. Students with those disabilities also experienced higher rates of major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder than students without disabilities. Students with disabilities were also less likely to live in safe environments compared to students without disabilities. As institutional leaders continue to adapt to higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic, we encourage them to consider the impact different instructional modalities may have in perpetuating disparities for students with disabilities.Item Get Smart on Crime(2014-12-10) Uggen, Christopher; Castro, Leonardo; Croman, JohnItem Impact of Exempting the Recording of Low Level Speed Violations in Minnesota(Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2015-02) Douma, Frank; Tilahun, Nebiyou; Spencer, PeckThis report covers work done to respond to a request from the Minnesota State Legislature that was included in amendments to Minn. Stat. § 171.12, passed in the 2012 Legislative session. Specifically, the report examines the impacts of Minnesota Statute § 171.12, Subd. 6, better known as the “Dimler Amendment,” which calls for certain low-level violations of certain speed limits to not be entered on the violator’s driving record. The statute called for a report from the Commissioners of Transportation, Public Safety and Health on the impacts of increasing the Dimler qualifying range from 5 mph to 10 mph in 60 mph speed zones on travel reliability, travel efficiency, safety, and privacy. Based on the findings of these analyses, the impacts of the 2012 changes were negligible. More significantly, however, in the course of this project, the researchers came upon findings that led them to question the efficacy of the law itself. The public appears to not be aware of the law’s existence, which may be compounded by the fact that the law lays on top of Minnesota’s already complex speed laws and regulations. Further, the exemptions may be benefiting a small, but significant number of repeat offenders, and complicating regulation of commercial vehicle drivers.Item Moving Forward Together: U of M Minneapolis Area Neighborhood Impact Report(University of Minnesota: Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, 2006) Cornejo, DanItem Proactive Traffic Safety Improvements(2023) Christianson, Mark; Coll, Sebastian; Hoge, Jenna; Miller, EliasThe City of Minneapolis has adopted a Vision Zero goal, committing to eliminate traffic deaths and severe injuries on streets in Minneapolis by 2027. City officials have focused on seven specific street modifications that can encourage motorists to drive more slowly and increase their ability to see pedestrians, thus reducing the likelihood of a crash. These treatments are safe lane conversions, pedestrian safety islands, curb extensions, curb protected bike lanes, bikeway medians, raised crossings, and hardened centerlines. Using criteria from the City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, and Minnesota’s Department of Transportation, the Proactive Traffic Safety Treatments Tool (“the tool”) identifies which treatments are feasible across intersections and streets on Minneapolis’s most crash-prone streets. The tool assigns relevant criteria to each treatment and then imports existing street data to nearly automatically assess the feasibility of each treatment in each location (1,940 target segments total). While some data points - such as the presence of buildings or businesses that generate pedestrian traffic (e.g. schools) - require human judgment to identify, and final design decisions require engineering and planning expertise, the tool automatizes portions of the planning process. In addition to making the decision-making process more efficient, the tool also reduces potential friction between staff, residents, and other agencies. This report details the benefits of and criteria for each of the proposed traffic safety treatments; the tool’s development, characteristics, use, and limitations; and models the tool’s use for a sample of Minneapolis streets.Item The Safest Path: Analyzing the Effects of Crash Costs on Route Choice and Accessibility(2016-08-01) Cui, Mengying; Levinson, David MThe "safest path" is proposed to optimize the on-road safety of individuals and minimize the cost of crashes. In this study, the framework of a link-based crash cost analysis is built and applied to assess the crash cost of each link segment on the road network of the Minneapolis - St. Paul area based on Safety Performance Functions from the perspective of travelers. The safest path is then found for all OD pairs to compare flow patterns and accessibility distributions with those based on the traditional shortest travel time path. While, the safest path does not coincide with the shortest path, the accessibility distributions have similar patterns.Item Safety First: Making It a Reality for Biotechnology Products(Institute for Social, Economic and Ecological Sustainability, 2002-04-22) Institute for Social, Economic & Ecological SustainabilityThe Initiative is proposing a model for pro-active, industry-wide biosafety standards. This pro-active approach uses science and representative public deliberation to: anticipate and resolve biosafety issues as far upstream of commercialization as possible before developers seek regulatory approval of a product; stress public-private partnerships beyond government regulation; and produce biosafety policies that are financially and administratively feasible. Towards this end, the Initiative proposes moving forward to establish the standards and framework for an industry-wide safety program for genetic engineering (and other biotechnology) products, using a process that utilizes the principles of safety engineering that have been successful in other industries.Item Safety on the Streets(2009) Gun, YaelItem Undergraduates’ Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Disparities by Race and Ethnicity(SERU Consortium, University of California - Berkeley and University of Minnesota., 2020) Soria, Krista M.; Roberts, Brayden J.; Horgos, Bonnie; Hallahan, KatieThe COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted students who identify as Black, Indigenous, or people of color (BIPOC students). The Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Consortium survey was administered from May to July 2020 to 31,687 undergraduate students enrolled at nine large public research universities. Among the respondents, 0.1% were American Indian or Alaska Native (n = 36), 19.9% were Asian (n = 6,301), 4.2% were Black (n = 1,336), 3.7% were Latinx (n = 1,171), 0.1% were Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (n = 42), 53.4% were White (n = 16,917), 13.1% were multiracial (n = 4,152), and 5.5% had an unknown or unreported race or ethnicity (n = 1,732). According to the results, BIPOC students were more likely to experience academic obstacles in the transition to remote instruction, including lacking access to technology, not being able to attend online class sessions, and lacking access to appropriate study spaces. BIPOC students were also more likely than White students to experience financial hardships, including the loss or reduction of wages from on-campus employment, unexpected increases for living expenses and technology, and loss or reduction of income of family. BIPOC students also experienced higher rates of food and housing insecurity, and were more likely to experience symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder. Finally, BIPOC students were less likely than White students to live in places free from emotional or physical abuse, where they felt their identities were respected, and where they felt safe and respected.