SCHOLAR'S CORNER
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Dr. Martin lavalliere
University of Quebec at Chicoutimi
Email contact: martin_lavalliere@uqac.ca
Research Interests:
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My areas of interest are related to road safety with respect to its impact on the work of emergency responders. More specifically, the impact of work-related collisions and associated contributing factors (eg. pursuits, human-machine interfaces, and speeding). Road safety is an important issue for officer health and safety as it's one of the leading causes of death. I’m also interested in the human factors and ergonomics analysis with respect to various vehicle-human interfaces, including novel interventions (e.g. bike patrol rather than traditional police vehicles).
Current Projects:
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IMPACT 2017-2021: Evaluation of an awareness campaign focused on DUIs.
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In collaboration with the Service de police de Saguenay, we have assessed various types of interventions aimed at reducing the frequency of DUIs and educating educators on the risks associated with driving under the influence through various campaigns.
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Impact of a season of bike patrol on officers' level of fitness: a pilot study. This project is part of an intervention where we assess the impact on officers' health associated with patrolling by bike and the potential health benefits of biking.
Relevance of Current Projects:
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The work we conduct is of outmost interest for Canadian policing because it addresses the elephant in the room, road safety for police organizations. Driving is a major part of police work. Whether patrolling or responding to emergency calls, police officers at the wheel are constantly seeking information that will enable them to ensure their own safety, as well as that of the people they serve. Studies on traffic accidents at work have shown that police officers can be involved in crashes, too, and that such crashes, when they do occur, are potentially fatal. However, little has been done to document this issue and more specifically, trying to identify and develop interventions to reduce the burden of work-related collisions on police officers.
Previous Projects working with Police:
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Ecole nationale de police du Quebec and 8 police organizations from the province of Quebec: Perceptions & attitudes towards driving in a work context among serving police officers & aspiring police officers.
