The Conservative government in Canada is about to abolish a long-gun registry that many, including police chiefs and myself, believe to be effective in controlling gun violence. In response to an appeal from the Coalition for Gun Control (full disclosure: I am a member), I sent an email to the Minister of Health. It is […]
Latest articles
Protecting vision: why is this controversial?
It is widely agreed that protective gear is a key to secondary prevention i.e., once a harmful force has been launched, the effect is diminished by the use of various forms of padding, shielding, etc. Such measures are especially common in sports. Thus, professional players in most contact sports now use helmets in part because […]
Canadian satirist on bullied gay teen’s suicide
Strong words from Rick Mercer: “It’s no longer good enough for us to tell kids who are different that it’s gonna get better. We have to make it better now”. The statement comes from Rick’s latest rant, which was inspired by the suicide of 15-year-old Jamie Hubley, and was broadcast on this Tuesday’s episode of […]
Traffic mimes in Caracas, Venezuela
The Huffington Post and other media recently carried stories about the use of traffic mimes in CARACAS, the capital city. The job of the mimes is “tame lawless traffic”. About 120 mimes dressed in clown-like outfits wagged their fingers at traffic violators and pedestrians who streaked across busy avenues. Apparently in Caracas motorcycles “roar down […]
Peer review and citations: Measuring research influence
I was tidying up the other day and came across an email from Caroline Finch with a link to a paper I had neglected. The paper “The Association between Four Citation Metrics and Peer Rankings of Research Influence of Australian Researchers in Six Fields of Public Health” was published in an open access journal. The […]
Sports injury prevention needs more than just organized sport
Analyses of routinely-collected injury hospitalisation data show that sport and leisure activities are a common setting for injury, despite limitations in the application current international classification of diseases (ICD) coding schemes (Finch & Boufous 2008). Currently, routine data sources that rely on ICD-9 or ICD-10 coded data are unable to separately identify injuries that occur […]
Concussion in sport: new hints about the content of concussion management messages and the timing of interventions
Perhaps the most discussed sports injury issue in the public media over that past 1-2 years has been concussion and its potential for adverse long-term effects. Commentary in this journal earlier this year called for prevention of concussion to be a public health priority. Two papers published in the Vol 45, Issue 12 (September 2011) […]
Talk about texting while driving!
Thanks to David Lawrence. But I must confess: In the old days I used to do my dictation while riding my bike to and from the hospital! […]
People in the news
María Seguí Gómez Our board member, Maria Segui, has been appointed General Director of Public Health, Drug Dependency and Consumption for the Government of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. Comment: This is a huge tribute to Maria’s extraordinary talents but a great loss to European Centre for Injury Prevention at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain […]
Lower highway speed limits get you there more quickly (from Slate)
A fascinating article in Slate provides evidence suggesting that slower highway speed limits may actually get you to your destination more quickly! This apparent paradox has some seemingly good evidence behind it. For example, some recent trials on a congested highway in Colorado had highway patrol vehicles “riding in tandem with lights ablaze” travelling at […]