Citation

Ren J, Chen Y, Li F, Xue C, Yin X, Peng J, Liang J, Feng Q, Wang S. Am. J. Epidemiol. 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/aje/kwaa164

PMID

32735014

Abstract

Vulnerable road users (pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists) account for an increasing proportion of traffic injuries. We used a case-crossover design to examine the association between cell phone usage and traffic injuries of pedestrians, cyclists, and electric bicycle riders during their journey. We studied 643 pedestrians, bike riders or electric bike riders aged between 10 and 35 years who were involved in a road injury, visited the emergency department in one of the three hospitals in Shanghai, China, in 2019, and were cell phone owners. Half of the participants (n = 323, 50.2%) used a cell phone within 1 minute before the injury happened. Pedestrian's or rider's use of a mobile phone up to 1 minutes before a road injury was associated with a threefold increase in the likelihood of injury (odds ratio 3.00, 95% confidence interval: 2.04, 4.42, P < 0.001), which was consistent across the groups of sex, occupation, travel reason, modes of transportation, and location of injury. Cell phone use when walking or riding was associated with an increased risk of road injury. Measures should be taken to make people aware of this detrimental impact on the risk of road injury.

Language: en

Keywords

Cyclist; Pedestrian; Distraction; Case–crossover study; Cell phone; Road injuries