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Visitors' acceptance of negative ecological impacts in national parks: comparing the explanatory power of psychographic scales in a Norwegian mountain setting
Full text linkEven in protected areas, it is inevitable that any human use will produce some impact on natural resources. This study identifies visitors’ tolerance of potential negative ecological impacts from tourism activities and facilities in a Norwegian national park context, based on park visitors’ expressed degree of acceptance of negative effects on particular species of wildlife (wild reindeer and raptors) and on vegetation. Attitudes were analysed using psychographic scales, reflecting respondents’ nature orientations, their specific facility desires, their preferences in a wilderness setting and their concerns about human interaction with the natural environment. Fourteen research hypotheses were tested. Findings demonstrated that the psychographic scales explained more variation in attitudes than most social background and trip characteristics. Higher levels of education among visitors were strongly associated with increased ecological concern; age and gender were not. There was generally strong ecological awareness and eco-centrism among park visitors in general, with a small proportion of wilderness purists. Better trail conditions, signposting and interpretation were sought. But park visitors were also found to possess a complex mixture of needs and drivers. The study found significant potential for strategic alliances between tourism and conservation interests, and key value issues for park governance systems.acceptedVersio
Norwegian roadside survey of alcohol and drug use by drivers (2008-2009)
Full text linkObjective: To examine alcohol and drug use among random drivers in different regions of Norway by analyzing oral fluid, compare drivers in urban and rural areas, compare with results from the roadside survey in southeastern Norway in 2005–2006, and roughly estimate the prevalence of driving with blood drug concentrations above the new Norwegian legislative limits among random drivers. This roadside survey was part of the European DRUID (Driving Under the Influence of Drugs, Alcohol and Medicines) Project.
Methods: Drivers were selected for a voluntary and anonymous study using a stratified multistage cluster sampling procedure in collaboration with the Mobile Police Service. Samples of oral fluid were taken using the Statsure Saliva Sample (Statsure Diagnostic Systems, Framingham, MA), and the drivers’ gender, age, and nationality were recorded. Samples of oral fluid were analyzed for alcohol or drugs, for a total 28 psychoactive substances.
Results: One hundred eighty-four roadside survey sessions were conducted and 10,004 drivers were asked to participate. The refusal rate was 5.8 percent. Psychoactive substances were found in 4.8 percent of the 9410 oral fluid samples analyzed. Alcohol was detected in 0.3 percent, medicinal drugs in 3.2 percent, and illegal drugs in 1.5 percent of the samples. Illegal drugs were significantly more frequently detected in samples from southeastern Norway including the capital Oslo, whereas medicinal drugs were more frequently detected in samples from southeastern Norway excluding Oslo. Illegal drugs were significantly more frequently detected in samples from drivers in urban areas than in rural areas, though there were no significant differences for alcohol and medicinal drugs. Medicinal drugs were most commonly found in samples collected during the daytime on weekdays (3.8%), and illegal drugs were most commonly found in samples collected during late night on weekdays or weekends (2.8%–3.2%). The most commonly found substances were the sleeping agent zopiclone (1.4%), the main active substance in cannabis tetrahydrocannabinol (1.1%), and the sedative drug diazepam (0.7%). The prevalence of driving with drug concentrations above the Norwegian legislative limits for blood was estimated to be about 0.2 percent for alcohol, 0.6 percent for illegal drugs, and about 1.3 percent for medicinal drugs.
Conclusions: The incidence of drink driving was very low, though driving after using psychoactive illegal or medicinal drugs was more frequent.
Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Traffic Injury Prevention to view the supplemental file.publishedVersio
Corrigendum to: “Publication bias and time-trend bias in meta-analysis of bicycle helmet efficacy: A re-analysis of Attewell, Glase and McFadden, 2001” [Accid. Anal. Prev. 43 (2011) 1245–1251]
No full textThis paper is a corrigendum to the previously published paper: “Publication bias and time-trend bias in meta-analysis of bicycle helmet efficacy: A re-analysis of Attewell, Glase and McFadden, 2001” [Accid. Anal. Prev. (2011) 1245–1251]. This corrigendum was prepared to correct errors in data and analysis in the previously published paper. Like the previously published paper, this paper confirms that the meta-analysis of bicycle helmet efficacy reported by Attewell, Glase and McFadden (Accident Analysis and Prevention, 2001, 345–352) was influenced by publication bias and time-trend bias that was not controlled for. As a result, the analysis reported inflated estimates of the effects of bicycle helmets. This paper presents a re-analysis of the study. The re-analysis included: (1) Ensuring the inclusion of all published studies by means of continuity corrections of estimates of effect relying on zero counts; (2) detecting and adjusting for publication bias by means of the trim-and-fill method; (3) detecting and trying to account for a time-trend bias in estimates of the effects of bicycle helmets; (4) updating the study by including recently published studies evaluating the effects of bicycle helmets. The re-analysis shows smaller safety benefits associated with the use of bicycle helmets than the original study.submittedVersio
Is law enforcement of drug-impaired driving cost-efficient? An explorative study of a methodology for cost-benefit analysis
Full text linkBackground Road users driving under the influence of psychoactive substances may be at much higher relative risk (RR) in road traffic than the average driver. Legislation banning blood alcohol concentrations above certain threshold levels combined with roadside breath-testing of alcohol have been in lieu for decades in many countries, but new legislation and testing of drivers for drug use have recently been implemented in some countries. Methods In this article we present a methodology for cost–benefit analysis (CBA) of increased law enforcement of roadside drug screening. This is an analysis of the profitability for society, where costs of control are weighed against the reduction in injuries expected from fewer drugged drivers on the roads. We specify assumptions regarding costs and the effect of the specificity of the drug screening device, and quantify a deterrence effect related to sensitivity of the device yielding the benefit estimates. Results Three European countries with different current enforcement levels were studied, yielding benefit–cost ratios in the approximate range of 0.5–5 for a tripling of current levels of enforcement, with costs of about 4000 EUR per convicted and in the range of 1.5 and 13 million EUR per prevented fatality. Conclusions The applied methodology for CBA has involved a simplistic behavioural response to enforcement increase and control efficiency. Although this methodology should be developed further, it is clearly indicated that the cost-efficiency of increased law enforcement of drug driving offences is dependent on the baseline situation of drug-use in traffic and on the current level of enforcement, as well as the RR and prevalence of drugs in road traffic.acceptedVersio
A re-parameterisation of the Power Model of the relationship between the speed of traffic and the number of accidents and accident victims
Full text linkThis paper presents a re-analysis of the Power Model of the relationship between the mean speed of traffic and road safety. Past evaluations of the model, most recently in 2009, have broadly speaking supported it. However, the most recent evaluation of the model indicated that the relationship between speed and road safety depends not only on the relative change in speed, as suggested by the Power Model, but also on initial speed. This implies that the exponent describing, for example, a 25% reduction in speed will not be the same when speed changes from 100 km/h to 75 km/h as it will when speed changes from 20 km/h to 15 km/h. This paper reports an analysis leading to a re-parameterisation of the Power Model in terms of continuously varying exponents which depend on initial speed. The re-parameterisation was accomplished by fitting exponential functions to data points in which changes in speed and accidents were sorted in groups of 10 km/h according to initial speed, starting with data points referring to the highest initial speeds. The exponential functions fitted the data extremely well and imply that the effect on accidents of a given relative change in speed is largest when initial speed is highest.submittedVersio
Bruk av alkohol, narkotika og trafikkfarlege legemiddel blant bilførarar i normal trafikk: norske og europeiske resultat frå DRUID-prosjektet
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Tverrfaglig miljøforskning – en kunnskapsstatus
Full text linkTverrfaglighet blir stadig mer etterspurt, spesielt stilt overfor de komplekse miljø- og klimautfordringene. For å ivareta sitt ansvar for tverrfaglig miljøforskning har CIENS tatt initiativet til å utarbeide foreliggende kunnskapsstatus. I klassifiseringen av ulike former for faglig samarbeid skjelnes det gjerne mellom tverrfaglighet (utvikling av felles begreper og metoder), flerfaglighet (parallelle grep på samme problem), og kryssfaglighet (lån fra andre fag). En nyere term er transfaglighet som dreier seg om tverrfaglig kunnskapsutvikling i samarbeid med samfunnsaktører utenfor forskningen. En sentral driver for tverrfaglig forskning på miljøfeltet er behovet for nye problemløsninger, både akademisk og praktisk-politisk. Tverrfaglighet innebærer kunnskapsintegrasjon som ser samfunnsmessige årsaker i sammenheng med selve miljø- og klimakonsekvensene. Viktige forutsetninger er felles problemforståelse, faglig mangfold, fleksibel finansiering, felles møteplasser og forskningsinfrastruktur. En sentral barriere mot tverrfaglig miljøforskning er manglende institusjonell kapasitet. Uten fastere rammer er det vanskelig å bygge opp tverrfaglig miljøforskningskompetanse og en forskningskultur som kan satse langsiktig på samarbeid på tvers av natur- og samfunnsvitenskapene. I Norge er det for tiden stor oppmerksomhet mot tverrfaglig miljøforskning og dens insentiver, finansiering, vurderingskriterier og publiseringsmuligheter. Fra dette retoriske gjennomslaget trengs imidlertid mer kunnskap om hvordan tverrfaglighet i norsk miljøforskning faktisk blir definert, organisert og praktisert. Ikke minst for å teste populære antakelser om forskningsmessig innovasjon og policyrelevans bør norsk tverrfaglig miljøforskning studeres nærmere.publishedVersio