Abstract

Three common beliefs that are impediments to injury prevention are: (1) the optimistic belief that nothing bad is going to happen, especially to me (‘it will never happen to me’); (2) the fatalistic belief that, if something bad does happen, nothing could have been done to prevent it (‘accidents happen’); and (3) the moralistic belief that if the injury happens to someone else (eg, you), you probably deserved it—so do not blame me or expect that I should have done anything to help prevent it (‘blaming the victim’). On-line blogs and comments are used to illustrate these beliefs. Counter-arguments are discussed.