International Union for Circumpolar Health Ministry of Public Health and Social Development of RF Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences Medical Polar Fund “Science” The Northern Forum

Abstracts

Performance and Health in Cold Climate

In the past thirty years Snomobile transport has become an important transportation means in much of the sparsely-settled Arctic. Snomobiles are also used for recreation in both Arctic and sub-Arctic areas where their paths may cross public roadways and risk serious collisions. The U.S. Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) maintains Internet-accessible records of all fatal vehicle crashes occurring on public roadways between 1994 and 2004 inclusive. The present report is an analysis based on FARS data of all crashes involving at least one snowmobile and occurring between January 1, 1994 and December 31, 2004. During this period of time there were a total of 468 crashes involving at least one snowmobile. These crashes led to a total of 588 deaths and occurred in 30 states, including the one Arctic state, Alaska.

A total of 35 crashes occurred in Alaska and resulted in 51 deaths. Crashes involving Alaska residents accounted for 9% of all U.S. snowmobile fatalities on public roadways, even though in 2000 the Alaska population was only 0.2% of the total U.S. population. The median yearly fatality rate for Alaskans during this 11 year period was 0.5/100,000, a rate 25 times higher than that for the U.S. as a whole. Because many Americans do not reside or visit in areas with significant snowfall, we calculated a population denominator based only on states with documented fatal snowmobile crashes. While this revised denominator does not account for differences among states in numbers of persons using snowmobiles and miles traveled, it results in a revised “national” rate of 0.029/100,000 – still more than ten times lower than the Alaska rate of 0.5. A further analysis of demographic and crash-related factors relevant to snowmobile crashes in both Alaska and in the other non-Arctic states is also presented.

Note. Abstracts are published in author's edition

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Last update: 06-Jul-2012 (11:52:05)