I read an interesting article recently, in which the authors explored the burden of sport- and exercise-related injury in children aged 14 years or less. The frequency, years lived with disability, bed-days, and direct hospital costs were explored for non-fatally injured, hospital-treated children treated in a private or public hospital in Victoria (Australia) over a seven-year period. Finch, […]
Category: Motor vehicle crashes
Texting laws reduce traffic fatalities
Quick post here to highlight a nice study authored by Alva O. Ferdinand and colleagues at the University of Alabama at Birmingham that examined the impact of state texting laws on motor vehicle fatalities in the United States. I came away with two important findings from the study. First, primary enforcement (which means that officers […]
Connecting, coordination and coverage is crucial: my experiences with Fatality Free Friday
Last Friday, May 28, was Fatality Free Friday (see http://www.fatalityfreefriday.com/) here in Australia. The aim of the event is Not a single road death in Australia for just one day. Just one Fatality Free Friday. The Fatality Free Friday website states: We believe that if drivers are asked to actively concentrate on road safety and safe […]
More on Driving under the influence of Marijuana
There was a fascinating article published on the issue of driving under the influence of marijuana this past Monday in the New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/18/health/driving-under-the-influence-of-marijuana.html?hpw&rref=science&_r=0 Marijuana and driving is an issue of increasing relevance as US states continue to legalize medical marijuana and Colorado and Washington State have now legalized recreational marijuana. The challenges associated […]
Proactive rather than ‘The Hindenburg’ response
I had a conversation recently with a colleague who is a tireless worker in the safety of pedestrians, and his comment regarding policy response resonated with me so much that I thought I would share it with you. He likened policy response to road safety to the Hindenburg Disaster of 1937 (see www.airships.net/hindenburge/disaster for more […]
Would you drive blindfolded?
I hope you said ‘no’ in response to that question! If you didn’t, maybe you shouldn’t be sharing the road with the rest of us sane people! To me, driving whilst distracted is just like driving blindfolded. In either scenario, you cannot and do not see the road in front, to the side, or behind […]
Guns or cars?
Mother Jones recently posted a fascinating but disturbing map of US states showing the number of deaths by cars vs deaths by guns. In light of the Newtown anniversary I wanted to share it with blog readers. The lead was the Bloomberg News study “ suggesting that by 2015, guns would kill more Americans than traffic accidents […]
Public and political perception of risk: Injury prevention implications
Unfortunately in Australia in the last week, two men have died as a result of shark bites. The media response, which by no means is unique in these cases, has been overwhelming, with responses ranging from the call to kill the offending sharks (despite protestations of the family, for example see http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-01/search-for-shark-that-killed-bodyboarder-zac-young/5127228), and increasing the range of shark netting […]
Notes from Canada on bullying and DWI
Two items that I trust will be of some interest to readers of this blog. The first is from Paul Kells, the former CEO of Safe Communities in Canada. Now that SC has been absorbed by Parachute (the new umbrella organization – no pun intended) he has launched a new career and one part of […]
A cell phone app for training road safety skills to Kenyan motorcycle-taxi drivers
Commuters in developing countries often have few choices when it comes to safe travel. The combination of high fuel costs, scarcity of standard vehicles, and inadequate road networks lead to alternative means of transport, which are not necessarily the safest. An example of this is the sprouting of the motorcycle taxis or “Borda-Borda” in Kenyan’s […]