This article reviews the literature on the prevalence of sleep-related motor vehicle crashes and presents a detailed analysis of the driver and context variables associated with a sample of 1,269 sleepy-driver, fatal and injury-causing vehicle crashes that occurred over a 6-year period in Tennessee. The crash profiles and trends are discussed in terms of their implications for addressing this significant problem in highway safety. Findings suggest that younger drivers, ages 15-21, are more at-risk for sleep-related motor vehicle crashes. Also, there is some evidence for the effectiveness of rumble strips in reducing sleep-related, run-off-road, interstate crashes.

In an effort to reduce the fire incidence among the 19,000 low-income residents of the Memphis Housing Authority (MHA), a 35-minute fire-safety training program was developed and presented to every new head-of-household during his or her initial orientation session. The content of the program was determined through an analysis of nine years of MHA fire incidents and their causes, as well as discussions with residents about the context in which risky fire behaviors occur and training approaches that might be effective. The program also contained a component where trainees made a formal, written commitment to engage in self-selected fire-safety behaviors. Data on fire incidence after 15 months indicated that the 2,340 residents who received the training were almost five times less likely to experience a fire than untrained residents. (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Children under the age of 5 are 2.5 times more likely to die from fire than any other childhood age group. The work described here is an empirical evaluation of a fire-safety program for preschool children, involving 10 child-care facilities and 443 children ages 3, 4 and 5 years. Children in six centers received an 18-week fire-safety training program called Kid Safe. Children in four other centers were assigned to the delayed-treatment condition and constituted the comparison group. All children were pretested using a comprehensive measure of fire-safety knowledge before the start of the study. The same test was readministered to all children following presentation of the program to the treatment group. At each of the three ages, children in the treatment group showed significantly greater knowledge gains from pretest to post-test than did children in the comparison group. Interestingly, 3-year-olds showed the greatest change of any age group. These findings provide support for the value of training preschool children in fire safety as an important strategy for injury prevention in this age group. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.