This week, Flaura Winston of the University of Pennsylvania shared the news post of the first ever media campaign regarding violence against women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The campaign features a veiled woman with a bruised and blackened eye, and is entitled “Some things can’t be covered.” The campaign is sponsored by […]
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Segway safety in the spotlight down under
The controversy-riddled state government in Queensland, Australia, has decided to allow segways to travel on footpaths, infrastructure which until now has been out of bounds to all but pedestrians and children bicyclists. Consistent with bicycle legislation, segway riders will be required to wear helmets. In addition, they must not exceed the soon-to-be mandated speed limit […]
Collapse of factory in Bangladesh: assigning blame fully
By now most readers will have learned about the horrific collapse of a factory in Bangladesh killing hundreds of low-paid workers and injury many others. The owner has been arrested and that seems logical. But equally logical it seems to me, is to hold the authorities responsible for workplace safety responsible. I see this as […]
Motor vehicle crash risks for pregnant women
The risk of crash is ever present for any road user, however risks specific to women when they are pregnant remain to be fully understood. A recent article in Accident Analysis and Prevention estimated the risk of being a pregnant driver in a crash for nearly 900 000 thousand pregnant women (>= 20 weeks gestation) in North […]
Canadian perspectives on the Boston Marathon bombings
By now all readers of this blog know what happened at the Boston Marathon. What perhaps none of us know in any depth is why the perpetrators took these actions. Most US commentators seem content to simply describe it as ‘terrorism’, which it certainly is. But at least one high ranking Canadian went one step […]
Distractions – a growing injury issue moving beyond the car?
Distracted driving has justifiably received a tremendous amount of attention in the injury prevention field. But the issue of distractions and the associated injury risk might be getting even bigger and becoming more relevant outside of the motor vehicle realm. There is lots of interesting speculation about an impending boom in wearable computing. Several major […]
Children at risk of thermal hazards
Readers may recall that in March I entered a post regarding hot water scalds, sharing the vivid memories I still have – 30 years later – of my cousin’s dreadful injuries. Whilst hot water remains a potential and significant source of injury to babies and small children, there are a variety of other thermal hazards which also place these vulnerable members […]
Falls – a complicated problem with wide-reaching impacts
Falls are a significant concern for older persons, and for older persons with medical conditions in particular, and as such they feature frequently in the injury prevention literature. A number of articles addressing this considerable source of injury, examining the problem from a variety of perspectives, have caught my attention. The perceptions of older community-dwelling […]
Global Progress towards Comprehensive Legislation for Road Safety
On March 14th, 2013, the World Health Organization (WHO) released the second Global Status Report on Road Safety* (GSRRS-2013). Overall, the GSRRS-2013 concludes that “the number of road traffic deaths each year has not increased (from 2007 to 2011) – but remains unacceptably high at 1.24 million per year.” The GSRRS-2013 also noted the global […]
The safety of Canadian pedestrians and cyclist fall behind
A report in the Toronto Star notes that vulnerable road users are less well protected than our politicians would have us believe. According to a new WHO report Canada is now at the “ back of the pack when it comes to policies aimed at protecting vulnerable road user”. The report states that 77 per […]