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Citation
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Edwards C, Abbe M, Stephens-Stidham S, Contreras MA, Williams S, Dillon C, Perez J, Rix K, Sparkman M, Williams S, Shenoi R. Texas Public Health J. 2018; 70(3): 17-21. |
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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: Distracted driving has joined alcohol and speeding as a leading factor in fatal and serious motor vehicle injury crashes. In 2016, 455 people were killed in crashes involving distracted driving on Texas roadways, a 5.4% increase from 2015. The Injury Prevention Committee of the Texas Governor's Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and Trauma Advisory Council conducted an extensive literature review to classify intervention strategies based on their effectiveness in reducing or preventing distracted driving. The goal was to provide practitioners with evidence-informed measures that are effective in counteracting distracted driving.
Methods: The literature reviewed consisted of peer-reviewed journals, government resources, injury prevention outlets, and private corporations' websites. Inclusion criteria included English language publications during 1999-2016. Only publications including distracted driving prevention measures/ countermeasures were reviewed. The authors used the Nursing Levels of Evidence from "Evidence-based Practice in Nursing & Healthcare: A Guide to Best Practice" and the "Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation" (GRADE) to determine criteria for evidencebased strategies. A color-based indicator was utilized to rank studies to signal appropriate or positive outcome interventions, interventions to be used with caution, inappropriate or harmful/negative outcome interventions, and inconclusive interventions.
Results: Twenty articles describing 16 interventions were identified. Two interventions were effective in reducing reported distracted driving. One intervention was found to not only be ineffective, but harmful. For three interventions, the evidence within these studies was inconclusive. Thirteen studies lacked well-designed evaluation and were classified as weak.
Conclusion: Effective interventions should be replicated and those interventions determined to be ineffective or potentially harmful should be discontinued. Synthesizing research into an easy to read format may be appealing to practitioners. Future assessment and research targeting intervention implementation will determine if this method of translating research is effective.
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Language: en |