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 […]
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A new distraction? Mind wandering drivers
The online BMJ Dec 13 published a fascinating French study that Raffi Consunji brought to my attention. It suggests that drivers whose minds wander may be responsible for as many as half of all car crashes. The study was aiming to identify dangerous driving distractions in order to develop technologies that can alert drivers. When you […]
This speaks for itself
“In 2011, there were 2,015 homicides of infants, children and teenagers in the United States. Of those killed, 1,534 were male, while 478 were female. According to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation firearms were used in almost 63% of the murders.” This statement appears on a shocking graphic that is part of a piece […]
Wedding gunfire electrocutes 25 people
Celebratory gunfire brought down an electric cable at a house in a village in Saudi Arabia. This may have caused a fire that killed 23 women and children or the powerline may have fallen on a metal door electrocuting the victims. Saudi Arabia last month banned the shooting of firearms at weddings, a popular tradition […]
WHO urges Thailand to enforce traffic laws
It appears that Thailand has solid traffic injury prevention laws but as is true of far too many other countries they are not enforced. This paradox applies to speeding, seatbelt use, drunk driving and motorcycle helmet use. Editor: I found it bizarre that in response one official said, “The first thing that must be done […]
Are we being too safe?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323622904578129063506832312.html?mod=googlenews_wsj. This a link to a fairly recent Wall Street Journal article, Playing It Too Safe, which essentially argues that children should take more risks. It is a bit more nuanced than many of the ‘school of hard knocks’ rhetoric and thus worth reading. I don’t agree with the view but you might. If you […]
Physical activity promotion without injury prevention is doomed to fail
Cross Fertilising Injury Prevention (IP) and the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM) Arguably two of the most pressing health behaviours that need priority attention in today’s world are those needed to reduce the risk of injury (across different settings and contexts) and those required to ensure more people are more physically active. A long […]
The road to academic success is paved with stylish academic writing | Impact of Social Sciences
The road to academic success is paved with stylish academic writing | Impact of Social Sciences. This is sort of a post script to my last blog where I invited you to try this author’s neat little tool for analysing writing. Readers may be interested in a piece she wrote for the LSE Journal which […]
How things used to be – my first injury
When I was 7 years old I fell off a slide on which has been placed a see-saw to prevent 7-year-olds from using the slide. I broke my wrist. Here was the bill my family received. (Note the spelling error!) […]
A new Lynn Truss book on punctuation “Twenty-odd Ducks: Why, every punctuation mark counts!
For those who share my passion for good punctuation, and who enjoyed Lynn Truss’s witty, clever, useful book “Eats Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation”, I have just discovered that she has another such book out. The blurb below is from Amazon. [No, I do not get a cut of the profits.] […]