Reducing maxillofacial

trauma in New York City‟s

taxi passenger student

population: a public health

initiative Melle Belloff

“This is a New York City

tragedy and public health

issue that has not

changed in almost two

decades”- Dr. Lewis Goldfrank, chairman of emergency medicine at

Bellevue Hospital and NYU Langone Medical Center

The non-use of passenger restraints in New York City taxicabs is a widely unrecognized public health epidemic.

It impacts all:

-SES classes

-ethic groups

-age groups

“We don’t have a good system to count

them, but there isn’t a week that goes by that

we don’t see at least two patients with these

terrible injuries. People have a false sense of

security in the backseat of a cab- It’s

dangerous without a seat belt.”

- Dr. Rahul Sharma

In the 1960‟s taxicabs began installing crime prevention shields

In 1994, New York City mandated that all taxicabs would have partitions in them preventing assaults on drivers

While these partitions played a large role in helping to reduce crimes, they created a false sense of security for taxicab passengers

With the introduction of

-credit card machines

-screws facing outwards

-cup holders

- even small TV screens

More items are facing toward the passengers

which in an accident can cause significant

facial damage

The most common types of trauma that occur

are debilitating facial injures

- broken jaws

- broken noses

- broken teeth

- shattering of the bones that make up the face

- deep lacerations, cuts, minor burns, and even

the face being crushed in

One of the most common injuries to back seat passengers

Public Health Project

My public health intervention model started

with the collection of data from various

health and medical related journals that

outlined the severity of non-seatbelt use

specifically by back seat passengers in

taxicabs.

Target Population

-College students in New York City

Selected from three locations:

-Columbia University

-The Julliard School

-New York University

This projects two primary health objectives:

1) Generating new sets of data regarding

seatbelt use in the target population being

studied

2) Street side presentations for students with

the primary aim being to increase their

awareness

Project Design

» Centered around the movement of students to and from their classes on each of the campuses.

» To help spread awareness of the impact that non-seat belt use has

» Large (portable) information booths set up with poster sized pictures of maxillofacial trauma and brain injuries from taxi crashes.

CULTIVATING AWARENESS

» The booths would have screen projectors

that played a PSA regarding the importance

of seatbelts for taxi passengers.

» The booths would have little plastic

bracelets that would say „protect your face‟, with mirrors on them, thus reminding

students to buckle up.

DATA COLLECTION

» Paper survey-regarding current seatbelt use

in taxicabs.

» Would have 10 questions, paired with some

background info regarding their

income, age, ethnicity etc.

» The surveys would seek to understand what

my target population‟s use rate of seatbelts

in taxi was

Seatbelts play a critical role in preventing

facial trauma for back seat taxi passengers.

New York City is working to improve the

safety conditions in taxis currently, but

much can still be accomplished in the

present.

QUESTIONS?

Seatbelts save lives, buckle up :)