Suicide on the road network is a recognized suicide method. We conducted a systematic review with the main aim of summarizing the existing research literature on road traffic suicides covering all road users who attempt or die by suicide in road traffic. A secondary and more specific aim was to examine the consequences for possible secondary participants. Our ultimate aim was to identify prevention measures. Relevant publications (N = 48) were identified in Medline, PsycInfo, Scopus, and Web of Science databases and supplemented with three studies from a personal database. We covered and discussed the following twelve topics: Countries where the data has been collected; Publication years – a historical overview; The main purpose of the studies; Data sources; How suicide was confirmed/defined (Differences between decisions by crash investigators and those of official forensic examinations); The proportion of suicides on roads; Types of crashes; The second party; Who dies by suicide in road traffic? (Age and gender, Mental health history, and Other background factors); Why people choose this method of suicide; The prevention of road suicides; An overview of issues regarding quality of studies. We conclude that road traffic suicides are not a well-researched phenomenon, especially concerning the reasons why people choose this specific method, the consequences for the possible second party, and specific preventive measures.

In this study, we investigated whether ethnic discrimination may influence participation in a typical traffic survey. An identical five-page survey was sent to a representative sample of Finnish adults (N = 2100); however, the ethnicity (Arab, Finnish, or Russian) of the sender was different for each of the three subsamples (N = 700). The response rate for a Finnish sender was 30.47%, while the Russian and Arab senders’ response rates were 26.68% and 25.75%, respectively (Wald χ2 = 4.369, d.f. = 2, p = 0.113). Collating the last two, we found that a non-Finnish name received less responses than a Finnish name (30.47% vs. 26.21%; Wald χ2 = 4.220, d.f. = 1, p = 0.040; OR (non-Finn vs. Finn) = 0.81, 95% CI: 0.66–0.99). Given that the effect size was small and was obtained in a post-hoc analysis, we conclude that we have not found strong evidence of ethnic discrimination in this low-stakes context.

Introduction: In recent years, the way in which police and the media report on road crashes, especially those involving cyclists, has received increased attention from both researchers and the general public. They are often accused of engaging in victim blaming. The aim of this study was to analyze the perceived level of victim blaming in six hypothetical scenarios that include a preventive measure communicated by police. Our main focus was on the bicycle helmet scenario, since discussions about bicycle helmets produce a lot of emotional responses.

Methods: We collected survey data from two samples: a representative sample of Finnish residents older than 17 years (N=1207) and a convenience sample of Finnish traffic safety experts (N=61).

Results: Overall victim blaming ratings were low in both samples. Education seems to be an important predictor, in that more educated respondents gave lower ratings. In the bicycle helmet scenario, cycling exposure was positively related to the perceived victim blaming ratings.

Conclusions: We conclude that a preventive measure aimed at potential future road crash victims will not be perceived as victim blaming if it also addresses those responsible for a crash. However, it seems there will always be groups, sub-groups, and individuals who may perceive such messages as victim blaming. Thus, constructing a preventive message which will not be perceived as victim blaming represents a challenge.

Introduction: Deliberate crashes are caused by road users engaging in insurance fraud, attempting suicide, or “punishing” other road users. In this study, we investigated deliberate crashes that resulted in the deaths of “vulnerable” road users (cyclists and pedestrians).

Methods: We used in-depth road crash investigation data from the Finnish Crash Data Institute and court decisions for a selected number of cases in which the deceased had not been the main originator of the crash.

Results: In 1997–2018, 96 pedestrians and five cyclists died in 101 deliberately caused crashes involving a motor vehicle. The majority of these crashes were caused by suicides (94/96 pedestrian and 3/5 cyclist crashes). Most of suicide crashes (79%) involved a heavy vehicle. Eighty percent of the victims were male. Previous suicidal thoughts and attempts, and a history of mental disorders/illness was prevalent around two thirds of the originators of the crashes. Four cases were caused by motor vehicle drivers. According to court rulings, the drivers in two of these cases were convicted of manslaughter.

Conclusions: We provide some possible reasons for this relatively high number of road suicides in Finland and discuss the legal implications of deliberately hitting pedestrians or cyclists with a motor vehicle.

We investigated the preference between transport policies aiming at extending vs. saving lives. In a 2 × 2 experimental survey study participants randomly received one of four possible policy combinations. The saving lives policy included saving five (250 life-years saved) or ten (500 life-years saved) lives of cyclists who are about 30 years of age. The extending lives policy through the promotion of cycling and associated health benefits was set to extend lives by two ratios (10:1 or 20:1) in relation to life-years saved of the life-saving strategy. Participants were representative of Finnish-speaking residents older than 15 years (N = 1025). In total, 45.5% of the participants preferred a policy aimed at saving lives, 36% preferred an extending lives policy, and 18.2% were undecided. These figures remained essentially the same independent of the benefit-to-cost ratio of cycling (in terms of saved life years) and whether the saving life policy meant saving five or ten lives. Women and the elderly preferred a policy aimed at saving lives, while cyclists preferred an extending lives policy. The results are discussed in the context of Vision Zero and a new transport paradigm called Vision Plus.

Journal editors are the main gatekeepers in scientific publishing. Yet there is a concern that they may receive preferential treatment when submitting manuscripts to their own journals. The prevalence of such self-publishing is not known, nor the consequences for reliability and trustworthiness of published research. This study aimed to systematically review the literature on the prevalence of editors publishing in their own journals and to conduct a normative ethical analysis of this practice. A systematic review was performed using the following databases: Medline, PsycInfo, Scopus and Web of Science. Articles that provided primary data about editors publishing in own journals were included. We identified 15 studies meeting inclusion criteria. There was large variability of self-publishing across fields, journals and editors, ranging from those who never published in their own journal to those publishing extensively in their own journal. Many studies suffered from serious methodological limitations. Nevertheless, our results show that there are settings where levels of self-publication are very high. We recommend that editors-in-chief and associate editors who have considerable power in journals refrain from publishing research articles in their own journals. Journals should have clear processes in place about the treatment of articles submitted by editorial board members. 

Sleepy drivers have problems with keeping the vehicle within the lines, and might often need to apply a sudden or hard corrective steering wheel movement. Such movements, if they occur while driving on a slippery road, might increase the risk of ending off road due to the unforgiving nature of slippery roads. We tested this hypothesis. Twelve young men participated in a driving simulator experiment with two counterbalanced conditions; dry versus slippery road x day (alert) versus night (sleepy) driving. The participants drove 52.5 km on a monotonous two-lane highway and rated their sleepiness seven times using the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale. Blink durations were extracted from an electrooculogram. The standard deviation of lateral position and the smoothness of steering events were measures of driving performance. Each outcome variable was analysed with mixed-effect models with road condition, time-of-day and time-on-task as predictors. The Karolinska Sleepiness Scale increased with time-on-task (p < 0.001) and was higher during night drives (p < 0.001), with a three-way interaction suggesting a small increased sleepiness with driving time at night with slippery road conditions (p = 0.012). Blink durations increased with time-on-task (p < 0.01) with an interaction between time-of-day and road condition (p = 0.040) such that physiological sleepiness was lower for sleep-deprived participants in demanding road conditions. The standard deviation of lateral position increased with time-on-task (p = 0.026); however, during night driving it was lower on a slippery road (p = 0.025). The results indicate that driving in demanding road condition (i.e. slippery road) might further exhaust already sleepy drivers, although this is not clearly reflected in driving performance.

Personal motor vehicle usage is not typically associated with health benefits in any cost-benefit analysis of different modes of transport. In this study, we explored the usage of personal cars for emergency transport to a hospital or emergency department because of a life-threatening situation. The data for the study were gathered as a part of a larger traffic safety survey. The sample was representative of Finnish-speaking residents older than 15 years (N = 1025). Every seventh (14.2%) respondent reported that someone from their household had used a personal car to transport a person requiring urgent medical attention to a hospital or emergency department. The types of life-threatening situations and reasons for using a personal car in these instances were also reported. We discuss the implications for cost-benefit analyses of this transportation mode.

Professional heavy vehicle drivers can experience a traumatic event at work when suicidal drivers deliberately crash into their vehicles or a pedestrian jumps in front of them. This study adopts a qualitative approach, aiming to gain an understanding about the psychological and other consequences that these crashes have for this occupational group. We organized a semi-structured focus group meeting with six drivers who reported experiencing a deliberate crash into their vehicle. The meeting was moderated by two psychologists. The participants reported that avoiding the crash was difficult. These events can have long-lasting effects on drivers’ well-being although individual differences in the response to the event and coping strategies do exist. Participation in our meeting was regarded as a positive experience. This encourages us to believe that organizing similar meetings that allow drivers under the supervision of professionals to share their own experiences with those who experienced similar events, could perhaps be one way of providing support to such drivers who experienced a traumatic event at work.

Train and heavy vehicle drivers can experience a traumatic event caused by people attempting suicide by crashing into their vehicles or jumping in front of them. While there are a number of studies on train drivers showing the negative consequences these events can have on their well-being, there are no studies on heavy vehicle drivers involved in these types of crashes. In the current study, we surveyed Finnish heavy vehicle drivers (N = 15) involved in a suicide crash in the year 2017 regarding their experiences and coping approximately one month (T1) and one year (T2) after the crash. Ten of these drivers reported one or various combinations of measurable consequences such as minor physical injuries, shorter or longer sickness absences, significant posttraumatic stress symptoms (measured using the Impact of Events Scale-Revised) and requiring psychological help. Posttraumatic stress symptoms decreased over time; however, three out of the four drivers who had a high IES-R score at T1 were still around the IES-R cut-off score at T2. This research raises questions whether and what kind of support heavy vehicle drivers who have been involved in a suicide crash should be given.