TY - JOUR
T1 - Road injuries and relaxed licensing requirements for driving light motorcycles in Spain
T2 - A time-series analysis
AU - Pérez, Katherine
AU - Marí-Dell'Olmo, Marc
AU - Borrell, Carme
AU - Nebot, Manel
AU - Villalbí, Joan R.
AU - Santamariña, Elena
AU - Tobias, Aurelio
PY - 2009/7
Y1 - 2009/7
N2 - Objective: To assess differences between the risk of injury for motorcycle riders before and after the passing of a law allowing licenced car drivers to drive light motorcycles without having to take a special motorcycle driving test. Methods: We carried out a quasi-experimental study involving comparison groups, and a time-series analysis from 1 January 2002 to 30 April 2008. The study group was composed of people injured while driving or riding a light motorcycle (engine capacity 51-125 cubic centimetres), while the comparison groups consisted of riders of heavy motorcycles (engine capacity > 125 cc), mopeds (engine capacity ≤ 50 cc) or cars who were injured in a collision within the city limits. The "intervention" was a law passed in October 2004 allowing car drivers to drive light motorcycles without taking a special driving test. To detect and quantify changes over time we used Poisson regression, with adjustments for trend and seasonality in road injuries and the existence of a driver's licence penalty point system. Findings: The risk of injury among light motorcycle riders was greater after the law than before (relative risk, RR = 1.46; 95% confidence interval, CI: 1.34-1.60). Although less markedly, after the law the risk of injury also increased among heavy motorcycle drivers (RR = 1.15; 95% CI: 1.02-1.29) but remained unchanged among riders of mopeds (RR = 0.92; 95% CI: 0.83-1.01) and cars (RR = 1.06; 95% CI: 0.97-1.16). Conclusion: Allowing car drivers to drive motorcycles without passing a special test increases the number of road injuries from motorcycle accidents.
AB - Objective: To assess differences between the risk of injury for motorcycle riders before and after the passing of a law allowing licenced car drivers to drive light motorcycles without having to take a special motorcycle driving test. Methods: We carried out a quasi-experimental study involving comparison groups, and a time-series analysis from 1 January 2002 to 30 April 2008. The study group was composed of people injured while driving or riding a light motorcycle (engine capacity 51-125 cubic centimetres), while the comparison groups consisted of riders of heavy motorcycles (engine capacity > 125 cc), mopeds (engine capacity ≤ 50 cc) or cars who were injured in a collision within the city limits. The "intervention" was a law passed in October 2004 allowing car drivers to drive light motorcycles without taking a special driving test. To detect and quantify changes over time we used Poisson regression, with adjustments for trend and seasonality in road injuries and the existence of a driver's licence penalty point system. Findings: The risk of injury among light motorcycle riders was greater after the law than before (relative risk, RR = 1.46; 95% confidence interval, CI: 1.34-1.60). Although less markedly, after the law the risk of injury also increased among heavy motorcycle drivers (RR = 1.15; 95% CI: 1.02-1.29) but remained unchanged among riders of mopeds (RR = 0.92; 95% CI: 0.83-1.01) and cars (RR = 1.06; 95% CI: 0.97-1.16). Conclusion: Allowing car drivers to drive motorcycles without passing a special test increases the number of road injuries from motorcycle accidents.
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U2 - 10.2471/BLT.08.051847
DO - 10.2471/BLT.08.051847
M3 - Article
C2 - 19649363
AN - SCOPUS:67650872611
SN - 0042-9686
VL - 87
SP - 497
EP - 504
JO - Bulletin of the World Health Organization
JF - Bulletin of the World Health Organization
IS - 7
ER -