Friedman et al (2007) provide an impressive study to add to the
knowledge of the dangers of speed on the road. While the emphasis is
normally on motorist casualties, let us remember that the danger is
particularly accentuated for non-motorists such as pedestrians, cyclists
and public-transport users. These environmentally-benign means of travel
are not likely to be encouraged while private motoring ha...
Friedman et al (2007) provide an impressive study to add to the
knowledge of the dangers of speed on the road. While the emphasis is
normally on motorist casualties, let us remember that the danger is
particularly accentuated for non-motorists such as pedestrians, cyclists
and public-transport users. These environmentally-benign means of travel
are not likely to be encouraged while private motoring has such a poor
reputation for excessive speed, whether legally sanctioned or not.
However, the main point of this note is to draw attention to that
necessary adjunct of speed, namely acceleration. Some years ago I noted an
unfortunate side-effect of seat-belts: because of the restraint offered,
seat-belts allow high rates of acceleration and deceleration with relative
comfort and immunity from injury and death for the driver [1]. Given the
well-known tendency to "risk homeostasis", the problem is undoubtedly
plausible.
There is a well-worn belief amongst many drivers that "high
performance" is a desirable trait in automobiles; they cite the ability to
accelarate rapidly and "escape" from dangerous situations. We have little
idea of how important acceleration is in casualty rates, but with the
prevalence of such dubious sentiments it could be substantial.
References
1. Reinhardt-Rutland, A. H. (2001). Seat-belts and behavioural
adaptation: the loss of looming as a negative reinforcer. Safety Science,
39, 145-155.
Schwebel (1) raises the issue of how auditory processing might
contribute to safe negotiation of the roads by pedestrians. In particular,
does the masking of relevant auditory information entail unnecessary
danger? Almost coincidentally, a recent review (2) has considered possible
technological developments that might provide useful supplementary
information to aid drivers in avoiding collisions: potential sources might
be...
Schwebel (1) raises the issue of how auditory processing might
contribute to safe negotiation of the roads by pedestrians. In particular,
does the masking of relevant auditory information entail unnecessary
danger? Almost coincidentally, a recent review (2) has considered possible
technological developments that might provide useful supplementary
information to aid drivers in avoiding collisions: potential sources might
be auditory in nature.
The purpose of this note is to draw attention to psychophysical
evidence for the potential of auditory information in such contexts. For
those with normal or corrected-to-normal eyesight, visual information is
almost certainly of primary importance in conveying potential collision -
specifically, visual expansion of the viewed object, or "looming". The
object - say, an automobile - may be moving towards the static observer;
alternatively, the observer may be moving towards a static object. Also,
both observer and object could be moving towards each other. In contrast,
an unthreatening receding object undergoes visual contraction.
There is strong evidence of hard-wired sensory processing of visual
motion: motion aftereffects are well-known illusions in the visual
modality, whereby the observer perceives illusory motion of a static
stimulus after viewing steady motion of that stimulus for a minute of so.
The aftereffect of visual approach is substantially stronger than the
aftereffect of visual recession: the sensory-systems of humans (and many
other species) are much more sensitive to approach, almost certainly
reflecting the survival value in avoiding damaging collisions (3,4).
An analogous asymmetry applies to the auditory modality: in this
case, approach is conveyed predominantly by increasing sound-level, while
the less critical recession is conveyed by decreasing sound-level. Growing
-louder aftereffects are stronger than growing-softer aftereffects (5).
However, there is a limitation to the effectiveness of audition in
determining collision. In vision, most objects are rigid or near-rigid:
objects varying in size - for example, inflating or deflating balloons -
are unusual, so an assumption of rigidity with regard to vision is
extremely plausible. However, in audition, analogous assumptions are
weaker and more ambiguous. For example, many sounds are percussive: after
a short rise-time, their sound-levels steadily reduce. Indeed, evidence
suggests that compensation for this characteristic is necessary in
measuring auditory aftereffects (5).
The clear inference to be drawn is that vision provides better
evidence for collision than does audition. No doubt the latter is useful
for the visually-impaired - and might be quite well-developed for this
group. However, for the normal-sighted the ambiguity of auditory stimuli
may be such that vision inevitably predominates in responding to motion-in
-depth. Instead, the real issue of much auditory stimulation on the road -
such as music presented over earphones, or via an automobile's sound-
system - may be one of distracted attention.
REFERENCES
(1) Schebel DC. Do our ears help us cross streets safely? Inj Prev
2012 10.1136/injuryprev-2012-040682.
(2) Spence C. Drive safely with neuroergonomics. Psychologist 2012;
18: 664-667.
(3) Scott TR. Lavender AD, McWhirt RA, Powell DA. Directional
asymmetry of motion aftereffect. J Exp Psychol 1966; 72: 806-815.
(4) Reinhardt-Rutland AH. Perception of motion-in-depth from luminous
rotating spirals: direction asymmetries during and after rotation.
Perception 1994; 23: 763-769.
I have a database for Gloucestershire, 1700-1838, consisting of some
12,000 entries, mostly inquests but some other sources, plus transcripts
of all supporting material. All this material has been sent to the
Historical Violence Database (Prof. Roth) and will be available some time
in the future. If interested, I can send extracts from the database
relating to the under 15s (about 1200 entries) plus...
I have a database for Gloucestershire, 1700-1838, consisting of some
12,000 entries, mostly inquests but some other sources, plus transcripts
of all supporting material. All this material has been sent to the
Historical Violence Database (Prof. Roth) and will be available some time
in the future. If interested, I can send extracts from the database
relating to the under 15s (about 1200 entries) plus some examples of the
documentary material. This is mostly newspaper accounts but it often
throws light on the background to the accident, particularly those in the
home or nearby.
I tried to do this online today but the e-mail address given is now
invalid.
Peter Bullock, Guangzhou, PR China.
eLetter from Editor
Bravo Alison on an extremely informative Book Review. It is further
evidence of how far we have to go. Not only is there little mention of
injury prevention as an example of the translation process... getting
research findings into practice... but the authors also take an
unwarranted position on legislation.. one that is not backed up by solid
evidence. Their neglect of injury p...
eLetter from Editor
Bravo Alison on an extremely informative Book Review. It is further
evidence of how far we have to go. Not only is there little mention of
injury prevention as an example of the translation process... getting
research findings into practice... but the authors also take an
unwarranted position on legislation.. one that is not backed up by solid
evidence. Their neglect of injury prevention is paradoxical because there
probably are few other areas of research, other than pharmaceutical
studies of course, that are so ready for implementation.
I would like to add to the
Editor's argument [1] by emphasising the uniqueness, and the
potential value, of the East York ridership dataset.
Over the past 23 years, laws
prohibiting children (or everyone) from riding bicycles, unless they
wear helmets, have been enacted in hundreds of American
municipalities, the large majority of American states, seven out of
ten Canadian provinces, all of Australia and New Zealand, and
numerous other jurisdictions around the world. In how many of these
jurisdictions was child ridership objectively documented, to see
whether the helmet requirement had any adverse effect upon it?
Irresponsibly, in almost none.
So far, only in Melbourne (Victoria law, implemented in 1990) and
New South Wales (law implemented in 1991); in Calgary, Edmonton, and
surrounding communities (Alberta law, implemented in 2002); and in
East York (Ontario law, implemented in 1995). The Australian data
were published in a scientific journal in 1996 [2], while the
Alberta data, collected in 2000 and 2006, still languish in a PhD
thesis [3]-- perhaps because they are so unfavourable to helmet
legislation. (There are other examples of relevant ridership data
that have been collected, but not disseminated, such as for British
Columbia [4], and Duval County, Florida [5, 6, 7].) Only in East
York were the surveys carried out annually or biennially over a
relatively long time span, 1990 to 2001.
The East York dataset should be
a particularly useful complement to the others for additional
reasons. For one, unlike in Australia, and several other major and
minor jurisdictions, there has never been any police enforcement of
the law. From the beginning, police forces said they would not, or
could not, enforce it [8]. For another, bicycle helmet laws do not
spring up overnight: they are preceded by campaigns to increase the
perceived dangerousness of bicycle riding. In both Australia and
Ontario as elsewhere, these campaigns long preceded the actual
introduction of the legislation [9, 10, 11]. Yet in Australia, the
single early survey was done after the campaigns were already well
underway; and not done during the same season of the year as the
later ones-- November to January for 1987/88, but May and June of
1990, 1991, and 1992 [10]. Only in East York was there a survey done
(1990) before much, though by no means all [9, 11], of the early
campaigning; and only in East York was there also rough seasonal
consistency, the observation periods being August and September of
1990, June through October of 1991 and 1992, and what has been
described as either May to September [12] or April to October [13,
14, 15] of 1993-2001.
And therein
lies a rub, or at least a first hint of one. Unlike for Australia
and Alberta, the East York surveys have been described neither
consistently nor completely, and this not just for the dates but
crucially, for the sampling strategies, efforts, and site selections
as well [16]. Worse, the actual numbers of cyclists counted have
been reported with not just small discrepancies, but huge and
incomprehensible ones [Table 1]. Even the notice of correction [17]
appended to the original study is itself in need of a correction
notice, for-- as we can now determine, the actual corrections at
last having been published-- every statement in it is false. As
summarised by the Editor [1], "the inconsistency without
explanation diminishes the credibility of the results and diverts
attention from the central research question."
Table 1.
Counts of
Children Riding Bicycles, East York, Ontario, 1990-1997,
1999, 2001 One study, same events, as differently
reported by:
Year
Parkin et al.
1993, 1995 [18, 19]
Parkin et al.
2003 [13]
Macpherson et al.
2001 [20]; Macpherson 2003 [12] (Table 6)
Macpherson 2003
[12] (Table 7)
1990
1017
914
1991
1885
1879
1992
1861
1563
1993
984
1597
1994
1083
2355
1995
1227
763
1126
1996
1202
1371
1217
1997
916
1375
918
1999
747
1124
Table 1, continued:
Year
Report of pers.
comm. 2003 [21]
Macpherson 2005
[22]
Khambalia et al.
2005 [14]
Macpherson et
al., 2006/2012 [17]
1990
1991
1992
1993
894
1994
1040
1995
1126
1056
1996
1217
1199
1997
918
909
1999
1128
1124
1128
2001
614
All Years
At least one
year's count is 550 and at least one is 1795; total for all years
is 10,935
What then are we to make of
the East York data? With such inconsistencies, and no help from the
authors forthcoming, the natural conclusion is: little or nothing of
scientific value.
I have come to believe that,
with some clarification, this conclusion-- and the shameful waste it
would imply, of over a decade of research effort on an unrepeatable
historical circumstance-- is not inevitable, and this was one of the
motivations for my complaint to Injury Prevention. Regardless of any
data destruction, the authors should be able to tell the research
community whether there was a survey in 1989, or not; and if not, on
what basis they were able to say that the helmet use rate in that
year was 0% [11]. The authors should be able to tell us whether the
sites sampled, or their number, were the same for every year from
1990 to 2001 [15]; or not the same [14]. The authors should be able
to tell us whether, as seems the only logistical possibility, the
1990 survey was a minimal one, and therefore had all sites or areas
sampled to the same extent. They should be able to tell us if, as
seems implied by the statistical goals (to roughly double the 1990
sample size) and the time budget (again roughly double), the 1991
survey also had double the number of survey hours, and whether these
were again uniformly distributed amongst the sites or areas; or if
not, then according to what strategy. The authors should be able to
tell us what the situation was for 1992, and then again with regard
to the overall sampling strategy for 1993-2001. And the authors
should be able to tell us by what method they aggregated the
site-level cyclist counts and numbers of survey hours into overall
rates, something they have yet to clearly explain.
I think these are the minimal
explanations that the authors owe the research community, whose
members have endeavoured to understand, or wrongly used [23], their
work; the bicycling community, whose members had to defend their way
of life against the premise of it [24, 25]; and the Canadian
taxpayer, who paid for it.
References
1.
Johnston BD. Living in the grey area: a case for data sharing in
observational epidemiology. Injury Prevention 2012;0:1–2.
doi:10.1136/injuryprev-2012-040671.
2.
Robinson DL. Head injuries and bicycle helmet laws. Accid Anal Prev
1996;28:463-475.
3. Karkhaneh M. Bicycle helmet
use and bicyclists head injuries before and after helmet legislation
in Alberta Canada. PhD thesis, University of Alberta, 2011.
4. Foss RD, Beirness DJ. Bicycle
helmet use in British Columbia: effects of the helmet use law.
Pre-and post-law bicycle helmet use in British Columbia. April 2000.
University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center; Traffic
Injury Research Foundation.
http://www.hsrc.unc.edu/safety_info/bicycle/helmet_use_bc.pdf
(accessed Feb 24 2009).
5. Bicycle helmet use laws:
lessons learned from selected sites. National Highway Transportation
Safety Authority.
http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/pedbimot/bike/bikehelmetuselawsweb/pages/7ProfileBJacksonvill.htm
(accessed Nov 18 2012).
6. Conserve by Bicycle Phase 1
Study: Report. Florida Department of Transportation.
http://www.dot.state.fl.us/safety/ped_bike/brochures/pdf/CBBphase1%20Report062907.pdf(accessed
Nov 18 2012).
7. Florida Traffic and Bicycle
Safety Education Program.
www.saferoutesinfo.org/sites/default/files/page/Pieratte.pdf
(accessed Nov 18 2012).
8. Wright L, MacKinnon DJ.
Province eyes tougher law on helmets . The Toronto Star (metro
edition). 1996;Oct 17:A2.
9. Legislative Assembly of
Ontario, committee transcripts: Standing Committee on Resources
Development, November 20, 1991 - Bill 124, Highway Traffic Amendment
Act, 1991.
<http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/committee-proceedings/committee_transcripts_details.do?locale=en&Date=1991-11-20&ParlCommID=105&BillID=&Business=Bill+124%2C+Highway+Traffic+Amendment+Act%2C+1991&DocumentID=17013>
(accessed Nov 18 2012).
10. Finch CF, Heiman L, Neiger
D. Bicycle use and helmet wearing rates in Melbourne, 1987 to 1992:
the influence of the helmet wearing law. Monash University Accident
Research Centre 1993;Report No. 45.
http://monash.edu.au/muarc/reports/muarc093.html (accessed Jul 25
2009).
11. Wesson D, Spence L, Hu X, et
al. Trends in bicycling-related head injuries in children after
implementation of a community-based bike helmet campaign. J Ped Surg
2000;35:688-689.
12. Macpherson AK. An Evaluation
of the Effectiveness of Bicycle Helmet Legislation. PhD Thesis,
Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto 2003.
13. Parkin PC, Khambalia A, Kmet
L, Macarthur C. Influence of socioeconomic status on the
effectiveness of bicycle helmet legislation for children: a
prospective observational study. Pediatrics 2003;112:e192-e196.
14. Khambalia A, MacArthur C,
Parkin PC. Peer and adult companion helmet use is associated with
bicycle helmet use by children. Pediatrics 2005;116:939-942.
15. Macpherson AK, Macarthur C,
To TM, Chipman ML, Wright JG, Parkin PC. Economic disparity in
bicycle helmet use by children six years after the introduction of
legislation. Inj Prev 2006;12:231-235.
16. Kary M. Compendium of errors
and omissions in Canadian research group's bicycle helmet
publications. http://www.cyclehelmets.org/papers/c2031.pdf (accessed
Dec 1 2011).
17. Update to Macpherson et al.
7 (3): 228. Correction. Inj Prev 2006;12:432.
http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/12/6/432.full (accessed Nov
18 2012).
18. Parkin PC, Spence LJ, Hu X,
Kranz KE, Shortt LG, Wesson DE. Evaluation of a promotional strategy
to increase bicycle helmet use by children. Pediatrics
1993;91:772-777.
19. Parkin PC, Hu X, Spence LJ,
Kranz KE, Shortt LG, Wesson DE. Evaluation of a subsidy program to
increase bicycle helmet use by children of low-income families.
Pediatrics 1995;96:283-287.
20. Macpherson AK, Parkin PC, To
TM. Mandatory helmet legislation and children’s exposure to
cycling. Inj Prev 2001;7:228–230.
22. Macpherson AK. An Evaluation
of the Effectiveness of Bicycle Helmet Legislation.
http://www.neurosurgery.pitt.edu/circl/webinars/archive/2005/documents/macpherson_101105.pdf
(accessed Dec 15 2008).
23. Legislation for the
compulsory wearing of cycle helmets. British Medical Association
Board of Science and Education, November 2004.
http://www.helmets.org/bmareport.htm (accessed Nov 18 2012).
24. Testimonies of Neil Farrow
and of the Windsor Bicycling Committee. Legislative Assembly of
Ontario, committee transcripts: Standing Committee on Resources
Development, December 02, 1991 - Bill 124, Highway Traffic Amendment
Act, 1991.
<http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/committee-proceedings/committee_transcripts_details.do?locale=en&Date=1991-12-02&ParlCommID=105&BillID=&Business=Bill+124%2C+Highway+Traffic+Amendment+Act%2C+1991&DocumentID=16994>
(accessed Nov 18 2012).
25. Testimony of Marcia Ryan.
Legislative Assembly of Ontario, committee transcripts: Standing
Committee on Resources Development, November 25, 1991 - Bill 124,
Highway Traffic Amendment Act, 1991.
<http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/committee-proceedings/committee_transcripts_details.do?locale=en&Date=1991-11-25&ParlCommID=105&BillID=&Business=Bill+124%2C+Highway+Traffic+Amendment+Act%2C+1991&DocumentID=16980#P181_55605>
(accessed Nov 18 2012).
eLetter from Editor
In a spirit of open access I agreed to post the letter from Richard
Burton but cannot permit it to pass without comment. Though it is somewhat
difficult to do so because it is not always clear what Burton means, it is
evident that either he does not understand what peer review means or has
distorted the meaning.
The reference to the Thompson and Rivara articles on helmet...
eLetter from Editor
In a spirit of open access I agreed to post the letter from Richard
Burton but cannot permit it to pass without comment. Though it is somewhat
difficult to do so because it is not always clear what Burton means, it is
evident that either he does not understand what peer review means or has
distorted the meaning.
The reference to the Thompson and Rivara articles on helmet
effectiveness which suggest that the comparison is between helmeted
cyclists in parks and unhelmeted cyclists on busy roads is simply wrong.
Also wrong is the suggestion that the peer review process found the
results to be "worthless". If this is not what he means, I invite Burton
to write again and explain further. I also invite him to explain how the
'bias' of the authors he is attacking has been 'well proved'.
This Journal does indeed have pretensions to scientific validity and
we publish any such paper that is properly peer reviewed, no matter
whether the results please all our readers or not.
And finally, for the record, most researchers "start from a premise
... and work back"; it is called 'hypothesis testing' and is the
cornerstone of science.
In 1977 in London, Ontario, when we were only 12 years old, my
'girlfriends' and I used to play a similar game as the 'choking game' in
the school bathroom. We would each take turns helping each other 'faint'.
It started with deep breathing until we were dizzy, then with arms around
your abdomen from the rear; someone would squeeze you until the next
recollection was waking up with a tingling sensatio...
In 1977 in London, Ontario, when we were only 12 years old, my
'girlfriends' and I used to play a similar game as the 'choking game' in
the school bathroom. We would each take turns helping each other 'faint'.
It started with deep breathing until we were dizzy, then with arms around
your abdomen from the rear; someone would squeeze you until the next
recollection was waking up with a tingling sensation all over your body,
on the bathroom floor, completely disoriented. This game has evolved into
something very deadly. I was surprised that young pre-teens risk their
lives with this "secret" game and how it is now responsible for so many
deaths, mistakenly claimed to be suicides. Perhaps the school system could
help save some lives by targeting the age group most likely to engage in
this 'game' by holding a one day 'special guest' seminar to educate them
on the dangers and perhaps offer some alternative, safe activities to
occupy themselves with.
Sosa and Bhatti (1) show that death rates arising from political
violence exceed death rates from road crashes in some localities of
Afghanistan. In contrast, data from OECD countries indicate that the
former are far less common than the latter (2). An implication is that
Afghanistan is justified in devoting heavy resources to terrorism. In
contrast, OECD countries should be more relaxed regarding the terrorist
threat a...
Sosa and Bhatti (1) show that death rates arising from political
violence exceed death rates from road crashes in some localities of
Afghanistan. In contrast, data from OECD countries indicate that the
former are far less common than the latter (2). An implication is that
Afghanistan is justified in devoting heavy resources to terrorism. In
contrast, OECD countries should be more relaxed regarding the terrorist
threat and avoid being unduly swayed by public perception.
Here, I consider data from another troubled region - Northern
Ireland. These data have been extracted from yearly reports issued by
Northern Ireland's Chief Constables (3); note that there have been minor
changes in procedures for data collection over the years, which however do
not alter fundamental conclusions.
Differences regarding the backgrounds to the Northern Irish and
Afghan data should be noted. First, Northern Ireland is part of the UK, so
is relatively affluent and more able to devote resources than relatively-
impoverished Afghanistan. Second, Northern Ireland's terrorism deaths have
been recorded over a considerable period of time from the late 1960s. They
had fitfully reduced by the late 1990s - but not disappeared - around the
time of a non-belligerence pact in 1998. In contrast, Sosa and Bhatti
restrict themselves to a short period of time (2008 to 2010).
Means per year (SEs in brackets) for road-deaths in Northern Ireland
were 309.8 (7.3) for the 1970s, 198.7 (7.4) for the 1980s and 155.6 (5.0)
for the 1990s.
Means and SEs per year for terrorist deaths in Northern Ireland were
192.0 (39.7) for the 1970s, 79.3 (4.9) for the 1980s and 51.5 (9.9) for
the 1990s.
These figures indicate that the numbers for both modes of death have
steadily reduced. The road data broadly shadow what has been happening in
transport statistics in Great Britain (4). Subjecting the data to two-way
analysis-of variance reveals that cause of death and year-range are both
significant (respectively, F(1,27) = 71.76; p < 0.0005 and F (2,27) =
29.88; p < 0.0005). The interaction between the two variables is not
significant (F(1,27) = 0.89; p = 0.88).
1972 was the only year in which road-deaths (372) were less than
terrorist deaths (467). Indeed, this latter is the highest of any
individual year-total. This reflects the unpredictable nature of terrorist
incidents in both timing and resources, a point also apparent in the
predominantly higher SEs for terrorist deaths. Terrorist incidents are
more likely to be newsworthy - often overwhelmingly so - but this should
not discourage initiatives to reduce road-deaths.
2. Wilson N, Thomson G. Deaths from international terrorism compared
with road crash deaths in OECD countries. Inj Prev 2005, 11, 332-3.
3. Chief Constable's Annual Reports 1970-1999. Belfast: Royal Ulster
Constabulary.
4. Reinhardt-Rutland AH. Has safety engineering worked? Comparing
mortality on road and rail. In PT McCabe (Ed.). Contemporary Ergonomics
2003. London: Taylor and Francis. Pp. 341-346.
It is reported [1] that as the rate of helmet use by English cyclists
increased by six percentage points from 16% to 22%, the proportion of
hospital cases with serious head injuries declined slightly more for
cyclists than pedestrians. This is advanced as evidence that cycle helmets
prevent 60% of serious head injuries.
It is reported [1] that as the rate of helmet use by English cyclists
increased by six percentage points from 16% to 22%, the proportion of
hospital cases with serious head injuries declined slightly more for
cyclists than pedestrians. This is advanced as evidence that cycle helmets
prevent 60% of serious head injuries.
The effectiveness of cycle helmets to prevent serious head injuries
has been more thoroughly reported. Studies of the effects of promotion and
legislation in Western Australia [2] and New Zealand [3] report no
discernible population-level “helmet effect” at wearing rates below 60%.
Both studies report small (11% - 19%), and temporary, reductions in the
percentage head-injured around the time laws were passed. In Western
Australia, the improvement actually occurred in the year before the helmet
law, while in New Zealand scalp lacerations were included in the
definition of serious head injury. In neither case was any sustained
benefit observed. The New Zealand study has been further analysed in terms
of the 37% decline in cycling levels between 1989 and 1997 [4].
Contrary to the impression created by cycle helmet legislation,
cycling on public roads is a low-risk activity. One hour’s use of a
bicycle in Britain is not more likely to result in road death than one
hour of driving, and is most probably less likely [5], because the risks
imposed on third parties by cyclists are trivial. An increase in cycling
at the expense of driving would almost certainly reduce road deaths.
Cycling ought to be treated as a means to address the worst road injuries,
not a major cause of them.
The salient issues are that a) cycling levels are too low, and b)
cycling is misperceived as dangerous when it is not. Practitioners should
address these problems to achieve a favourable public health outcome.
References
(1) Cook A, Sheikh A. Trends in serious head injuries amongst English
cyclists and pedestrians. Injury Prevention 2003; 9:266-7.
(2) Hendrie D et al. An economic evaluation of the mandatory helmet
legislation in Western Australia. Department of Public Health, University
of Western Australia.
www.officeofroadsafety.wa.gov.au/Facts/papers/bicycle_helmet_legislation.html
(3) Scuffham P et al. Head injuries to bicyclists and the New Zealand
helmet law. Accident Analysis and Prevention 2000;32(4):565-73.
(4) Perry N. Bicycle helmet legislation; curse or cure? Paper to
Cycling 2001 Conference held at University of Canterbury, New Zealand.
www.mondrian-script.org/cycling2001/
(5) Wardlaw M. Assessing the actual risks faced by cyclists. Traffic
Engineering and Control (Dec) 2002;43:420-5.
Perel et al (2007) outline some issues relating to research and its
application - up to now largely restricted to high-income countries -
which might inform and moderate the heavy casualty rates among vulnerable
road users that too often follow motorisation in developing economies.
One possible issue - both within the driving community and those
professions charged with reducing casualty rate...
Perel et al (2007) outline some issues relating to research and its
application - up to now largely restricted to high-income countries -
which might inform and moderate the heavy casualty rates among vulnerable
road users that too often follow motorisation in developing economies.
One possible issue - both within the driving community and those
professions charged with reducing casualty rates - concerns the history of
safety-related attitudes in high-income countries. Motoring requires
considerable resources, so in its early phases in a given jurisdiction it
must be the province of those with the greatest wealth - and hence those
likely to have most social influence.
That this influence was important is obvious from well-documented
incidents in the early days of motorisation in high-income countries such
as the UK and US. For example, O'Connell [1] reports that early
pedestrian deaths in Britain were habitually attributed to the
"carelessness" of pedestrians, even if from hindsight such cases were
clearly due to vehicles that were not being driven within their safe
limits.
Arguably such attitudes have never been fully eradicated in these
pioneering countries, although their precise nature may have changed. For
example, the remarkable antagonism to speed-cameras in the UK has been
widely discussed [2]. Indeed, there is a continuing sense that defendants
causing pedestrian injuries and deaths in the UK and US are treated more
leniently in law than defendants causing injuries and deaths by other
means.
In summary, the history of motoring in any country may unfortunately
entail factors which actively hinder the development of an adequate safey
culture among motorists, no matter how "obvious" any interventions might
seem to be.
REFERENCES
1. O'Connell S. The car in British society: Class, gender and
motoring 1896-1939. Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1998.
2. Reinhardt-Rutland A H. Roadside speed-cameras: Arguments for
covert siting. Police J 2001; 74: 312-315.
Dear Editor
Friedman et al (2007) provide an impressive study to add to the knowledge of the dangers of speed on the road. While the emphasis is normally on motorist casualties, let us remember that the danger is particularly accentuated for non-motorists such as pedestrians, cyclists and public-transport users. These environmentally-benign means of travel are not likely to be encouraged while private motoring ha...
Schwebel (1) raises the issue of how auditory processing might contribute to safe negotiation of the roads by pedestrians. In particular, does the masking of relevant auditory information entail unnecessary danger? Almost coincidentally, a recent review (2) has considered possible technological developments that might provide useful supplementary information to aid drivers in avoiding collisions: potential sources might be...
Dear Editor
I have a database for Gloucestershire, 1700-1838, consisting of some 12,000 entries, mostly inquests but some other sources, plus transcripts of all supporting material. All this material has been sent to the Historical Violence Database (Prof. Roth) and will be available some time in the future. If interested, I can send extracts from the database relating to the under 15s (about 1200 entries) plus...
eLetter from Editor
Bravo Alison on an extremely informative Book Review. It is further evidence of how far we have to go. Not only is there little mention of injury prevention as an example of the translation process... getting research findings into practice... but the authors also take an unwarranted position on legislation.. one that is not backed up by solid evidence. Their neglect of injury p...
eLetter from Editor
In a spirit of open access I agreed to post the letter from Richard Burton but cannot permit it to pass without comment. Though it is somewhat difficult to do so because it is not always clear what Burton means, it is evident that either he does not understand what peer review means or has distorted the meaning.
The reference to the Thompson and Rivara articles on helmet...
Dear Editor
In 1977 in London, Ontario, when we were only 12 years old, my 'girlfriends' and I used to play a similar game as the 'choking game' in the school bathroom. We would each take turns helping each other 'faint'. It started with deep breathing until we were dizzy, then with arms around your abdomen from the rear; someone would squeeze you until the next recollection was waking up with a tingling sensatio...
Sosa and Bhatti (1) show that death rates arising from political violence exceed death rates from road crashes in some localities of Afghanistan. In contrast, data from OECD countries indicate that the former are far less common than the latter (2). An implication is that Afghanistan is justified in devoting heavy resources to terrorism. In contrast, OECD countries should be more relaxed regarding the terrorist threat a...
Dear Editor
“Policy must be evidence-based to succeed.”
It is reported [1] that as the rate of helmet use by English cyclists increased by six percentage points from 16% to 22%, the proportion of hospital cases with serious head injuries declined slightly more for cyclists than pedestrians. This is advanced as evidence that cycle helmets prevent 60% of serious head injuries.
The effectiveness of c...
Dear Editor
Perel et al (2007) outline some issues relating to research and its application - up to now largely restricted to high-income countries - which might inform and moderate the heavy casualty rates among vulnerable road users that too often follow motorisation in developing economies.
One possible issue - both within the driving community and those professions charged with reducing casualty rate...
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