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 […]
Category: Policy
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, […]
National Transportation Safety Board Recommends a move from 0.08 to 0.05 BAC laws in the U.S.
On May 14, 2013 the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the United States released a report titled, “Reaching Zero: Actions to Eliminate Alcohol-Impaired Driving.” http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/reports/2013/SR1301.pdf The National Transportation Safety Board is a legislatively mandated independent federal agency that is charged with, among other things, making recommendations related to transportation safety. The NTSB report is […]
NYPD joins in banning the A word
In 2001, the late Ron Davis (then North American editor of the BMJ) and I wrote an editorial in the BMJ announcing that the publishing group would no longer permit the use of the word ‘accident’ when the intended meaning was ‘injury’. This was greeted by a storm of criticism in letters to the editor […]
$12 million from Bloomberg to support gun control
Efforts to advance gun control legislation in the United States are stalling. Even in the state of Connecticut, where the Newtown shootings took place, legislative efforts to address gun related violence haven’t gone anywhere. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/25/nyregion/connecticut-still-working-on-gun-law-frustrating-some.html?src=xps It is amazing to see how the political will to address the issue of gun violence has lost energy so […]
Big killers overshadow injury
Lesley Day sent me this report of an opinion piece written by Rod McClure, director of the Monash Injury Research Institute and printed in The Sidney Morning Herald,one of the leading newspapers in Australia. It notes that the four top-ranked conditions that killed Australians in 2010 were heart disease, cancer, lung disease and injuries but […]
Recent French Intervention to Increase Drunk Drivers’ Self-Accountability
France has achieved remarkable road safety results in the last decade. It almost halved its road fatalities from 2002 to 2005, and the decreasing trend has continued. Most of these reductions are attributed to rigorous speed control, particularly by automated cameras and the issuance of speed tickets. Drunk driving, however, remains a major problem as […]
What do we use as an indicator of intervention success?
Earlier this week I commented on the insight into research deficits which can be highlighted in reviews of the extant literature. In particular, I commented on the need for consistent and complete data collection which is suitable for a variety of research purposes and which ultimately can inform the development and refinement of policy and […]
Reviews not only keep us informed, they highlight research deficits
Reviews such as the “Graduated Driver Licensing Research Review, 2010 – Present” released in November by the AAA Foundation of Traffic Safety (see link below) provide an excellent summary of recent research for researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers alike. Williams, Tefft and Grabowski succinctly summarise a multitude of research projects. Perhaps most importantly, however, is their […]
What the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) 2010 says about causes of injury deaths.
Over the years, the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBDS) has provided an excellent resource to support advocacy for injury prevention research. The Lancet has recently published (Dec 14, 2012) findings from the latest GBDS funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The GBDS 2010 focused on comparing estimated mortality and morbidity trends between […]