Plaque on towpath in Regents Park London advising bicylists and pedestrians how to live in harmony. […]
Category: Uncategorized
The true ‘cost’ of violence against women
The enormous ‘cost’ of violence against women living in a dozen latin American and Caribbean countries has been revealed in a report produced by the Pan American Health Organization/ World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), in collaboration with the U. S. Centers for Diseease Control and Prevention (CDC), released earlier this month (see link below). The immense physical, […]
Irish county councilors support drink-driving ‘in moderation’
Brian Johnston noticed this item in a website describing a decision by county councilors in Kerry, Ireland to allow residents of their area to drive after ‘two or three’ drinks. The motion calls on the Minister for Justice to enable police “to issue permits to people in the most isolated parts of the country to […]
Why “Dreamliners” may be having nightmares
Recently one or two Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner aircrafts have had serious safety problems from batteries catching fire. An article in the Washington Post by Craig Timberg indicates that airplane model builders are entirely familiar with issues associated with the use of the lithium ion batteries that feature in this airplane. In the view of the […]
What a Quebec cartoonist sees when he looks over the border
[…]
Injury Research in LMICs Requires a Fundamental Directional Change
I want to make the point that an essential shift in injury research from burden assessment to hypothesis testing is still lagging in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) Every month hundreds of injury research publications originating from Low- and Middle-Income Countries find a place in scientific journals. Recent bibliographic analysis has revealed that the numbers […]
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 […]
When religion and safety clash, who wins?
Rafael Consunji sent me this interesting and somewhat troubling report about a recent law in Aceh, Indonesia that would prohibit women from ‘straddling’ motorcycles or bicycles. He said “this is causing an uproar in Indonesia. The driving force behind the law is not safety but concern about breaking Shari’a law when straddling. The Jakarta Globe […]
Billboard industry uses disputed research to support safety of electronic sign
A report on FairWarning calls attention to a study from Sweden revealing that drivers stare longer at electronic billboards which may, in turn, increase the risk of a crash. In response the U.S. billboard industry has cited “an unpublished U.S. government study” that purports to deny that these displays affect traffic safety. The wrinkle is […]
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 […]