The early twentieth-century intersection was a strange scene. While the world’s largest automobile manufacturer sold over 20,000 cars a month in 1914, horse-drawn wagons and carts still crowded the streets, and accidents became increasingly frequent. Intersections in major cities were congested, and traffic was directed by police officers who stood in the middle of chaotic […]
Category: Motor vehicle crashes
If you are texting you are not driving
There is increasing concern about the risk associated with distracted driving and more specifically with the manipulation of cell/smartphones while driving. Adolescents are a population at high risk given that approximately 50% of youth age 16 and older (U.S. data) admits texting/e-mailing while driving in the past-month. A recent study by Klauer et al., Distracted […]
Use area-wide traffic calming to reduce road carnage
Yesterday the Uganda was hit by news of a road traffic crash in which 13 high school students were seriously injured. This is the fourth crash to be registered on the newly-constructed Masaka highway (linking the capital city of Uganda-Kampala to Kigali, Rwanda) in a space of ten days. Just days earlier, three people including […]
Media and injury prevention
As an injury prevention researcher, I am often dismayed at the way in which injuries, risk, and injury prevention efforts are portrayed in the media. I clearly recall being disgusted as an idealistic teenager, having read a newspaper article regarding the untimely death of a peer who had been killed during a police chase. The […]
More background on our blogging team
Blog 3: So today I wanted to share some more background on our blogging team. As an applied social psychologist, I find this information very interesting indeed! What excites you about being part of the Injury Prevention social media editorial team? Sheree Bekker: The invaluable conversation that has sprung up around scholarly work through the […]
More background on our new blogging team
Today I will share more about our blogging team members. Blog 2: Explain your injury prevention research and interests. Sheree Bekker: My research investigates safety promotion and injury prevention policy and practice within community sport in Australia. I have a particular interest in dissemination and social marketing. The overall purpose of my research is to allow […]
Friday 29 May in Australia is Fatality Free Friday
Tomorrow, Friday 29 May, is Fatality Free Friday down under. As noted on the website, Road safety is a complex issue but we believe that if drivers consciously think about road safety and safe driving for just one Friday in the year, that day’s toll – statistically about 5.3 deaths – could be reduced to […]
All-terrain vehicles: How do we effectively prevent injury with incomplete injury surveillance data?
My very first blog – two years ago this month (!) – was on the topic of injuries sustained when using all-terrain vehicles. Growing up in a rural Australia, quad-bikes were a common and viable option to horses when mustering, checking fences, checking water, setting traps, etc. Since moving to the city as a young adult, and now working in […]
High school start and finish times
High school start and finish times can be a controversial topic! A quick search of school start and finish times in Queensland, Australia, my home ground, sees a range of start times generally between 8.20-9.00am, and a range of finish times generally between 2.30-3.30pm. High school start and finish times can be controversial indeed if you have […]
Pedestrian safety video worth watching
Ted Miller, editorial board member and famed for much else, kindly sent a link to an excellent youtube video that I urge you to watch. I do so because I have long cautioned that pedestrian signals can be dangerous if you assume that cars will always respect them. I plead with my friends, family, and […]