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 […]
Category: Policy
Beware evidence-based evangelists
A colleague recently sent me a link to this piece in JAMA by RS Braithwaite, MD, MS that cautions against placing too much weight on some ‘evidence based’ decisions. When the term became popular (was it really 20 years ago) I often referred to many of its more vocal proponents as evangelists. I still think […]
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 […]
Anti helmet legislation revisited… and why replication is important
Another anti helmet legislation argument bites the dust When Ian Walker’s paper appeared in Accid Anal Prev in 2007 purporting to show that cars drove closer to helmeted than unhelmeted cyclists, it was quickly used as another argument against helmet legislation. But for me as a long time cyclist, something did not ring true. Jake […]
U.S. Federal Highway Administration’s new policy informed by cycle track research published in IP
The following is a guest blog post by Anne Lusk, Ph.D. Research Scientist, Harvard School of Public Health, AnneLusk@hsph.harvard.edu Editor note: The incorporation of scientific evidence into policy is a critical element in public health research benefiting populations. This guest blog post highlights one example of research, published in Injury Prevention, which has influenced policy. […]
Missouri’s Gun Bill
In about a week, the legislators in the US state of Missouri will vote to override the state governor’s veto on a sweeping state law that would nullify all US federal gun laws in Missouri. This legislation would make it a crime for US federal agents to enforce federal gun laws in the state of […]
Preventing Unintentional Ingestion of Marijuana by Children
Editor Note – The following guest blog post is by Jodi Duke, MPH. Jodi is a PhD student in the Health Systems, Management and Policy Department at the Colorado School of Public Health. Disclosure – I am a coauthor on Health Impact Assessment discussed in this post. A number of states and municipalities in the […]
Guidance for bridging the great divide between research and practice: Preventing injuries in sport
Building on from my theme in last week’s blog, I came across this interesting article this morning. Whilst injury prevention in sports is not my domain of research, nor may it be the research domain of many readers of the Injury Prevention blog, the principles and practices contained within can guide researchers trying to bridge […]
Hands-free doesn’t mean distraction-free
The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety in the United States has just published a report titled, “Measuring Cognitive Distraction in the Automobile.” https://www.aaafoundation.org/measuring-cognitive-distractions The report, based on research led by David Strayer from the University of Utah, concludes that many activities that don’t require the use of hands still pose a significant cognitive distraction that […]
Practice informed by research: Successfully crossing the divide
As injury prevention researchers, one of the eternal struggles we must overcome is how to use our research to inform both practice and policy. Needless to say that my heart was gladdened today when I read an evidence-based protocol for a study designed to reduce alcohol-related injuries in the Northern Territory of Australia. You would be hard-pressed to find someone, […]