The Guardian carried a story about a ban on toy guns in the federal district of Brazil. The law was intended to help reduce violent crime. The penalties for selling such replicas are steep: from $2000 to 44,000; closed for 30 days; or loss of trading license. The rising homicide rate in Brazil is part […]
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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 […]
Cell phones and driving
I am struggling with trying to decide what the most effective preventive strategy might be to help control the epidemic of driver crashes associated with cell phone use. One possibility is more Public Service Announcements like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0LCmStIw9E Go to it and tell me what you think. […]
The festive season or the injury season?
I thought as my final blog for 2013 that I would ponder the question: the festive season or the injury season? I recall spending a Christmas Eve some 20 years ago in hospital as my then fiancée had to be treated for dreadful scalds on his stomach. Needless to say, despite the sweltering heat and ridiculously-high humidity, he […]
Children again bearing the brunt of an internal conflict: Are enough regional resources available for advocacy to prevent conflict-related injuries?
Oxford Research Group, UK claims that more than 11 000 children have died as a result of the recent internal conflict in Syria – a conflict which thus far has resulted in more than hundred thousand deaths and over 2 million people displaced. [Link to news post: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25055956]. The statistics collected by Oxford Research Group, UK […]
More on driving safety measures in Quebec
Perhaps it is because Quebec has no-fault car insurance – another of those wicked socialist ideas in the view of some of my American friends – but on many road safety matters it leads the pack in Canada. For much of Montreal, we still have no right turns on red lights or stop signs and […]
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 […]
Being king-hit: There is nothing “royal” about it
Following on from Monday’s blog re: glassing and mugging, today I would like to comment on another behaviour of concern for injury prevention: the king-hit. The king-hit has featured widely in recent Australian media, with newspaper coverage of the court trial of a young man accused of king-hitting a tourist in our nation’s capital emerging just four hours ago […]
Choking: Super scary when you are the victim
Today I am writing more of a sharing-scary-experience blog, and some of my findings after a quick stickybeak on the internet. Last night with my evening meal, I had corn as one of my 2-and-5 (for those outside Australia, a public health promotion encourages each Australian to eat two serves of fruit and five serves […]
Glassing and ‘mugging’: Sensational media or a huge problem for injury prevention?
Glassing – that is, assault with a glass implement – often involves an assailant smashing a glass into someone’s face, at which point the glass shatters and the victim is cut by the glass shards. In Australia, popular media has paid much attention to this issue, possibly in part due to the sensational nature of the […]