How I Survived Breaking Up with My Car

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012 | warai03p | No Comments

Original article by Erin L. McCoy at yesmagazine.org

car-driving-byjoseelorza-555.jpg

Where I grew up, owning a car was a necessity rather than a choice, and where it’s not a choice it can quickly become an emblem of pride.

But when I moved to Seattle a few months ago, I had a choice for the first time. I decided to sell my car and try a life without it—though it shuddered to an unsurprising halt before I had the chance to sell. Considering I already couldn’t park it on hills (where it refused to roll any direction but down), it wouldn’t have survived Seattle anyway.

Continued at original site

Govt stats over-state the risks of cycling says new research (it’s pedestrians & young male drivers who have to worry)

Wednesday, December 12th, 2012 | warai03p | No Comments

Original article by Tony Farrelly at road.cc

Cycling is not as risky as official statistics suggest says new research – in fact, for young  men it is safer than driving. In an odd coincidence, the research was published at the exact moment a controversial BBC documentary portraying cycling as a high risk mode of transport finished airing last night.

According to the research by a team from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London (UCL), official statistics consistently overstate the risks involved with cycling and underestimate those associated with walking and driving –  their most eye-catching findings is that cycling is a safer than driving for young men between 17-20 years old.

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Caution! Paradigm Shift Ahead: “Adolescent mobility health”

Thursday, October 11th, 2012 | Editor | No Comments

This is a multimedia presentation by Professor Hank Weiss, delivered Tuesday, October 02, 2012 at the Safety 2012 World Conference (47 min).

Adolescents warrant special attention. From a road safety perspective, they carry the largest crash and morbidity/mortality risk of any age group. This has led to considerable research and safety programs, but these efforts have plateaued in many countries and remain fixed within a road safety perspective. From a broader perspective, little has been done about the many non-traffic health risks related to teen driving (increased drug and alcohol use, anti-social behaviour, sexually transmitted infections, inactivity and obesity). From a sustainable transport perspective, a contemporary imperative, teens are where the transition from non-driver to driver takes place; an opportune time for interventions to minimize environmental harms.

Professor Weiss introduces a new paradigm termed ‘mobility health’ to bridge the siloed domains of safety, adolescent health and sustainable mobility. In this passionate speech to an international audience, he advocates changing the current narrow paradigm of adolescent road safety to a cross-level/cross-disciplinary, more potent, timely and healthy vision of less driving through mobility modal shift from cars to active and public transport.

Reasons for Singapore’s Low Male Adolescent Mortality

Friday, September 7th, 2012 | Editor | No Comments

“Efforts to reduce motorisation by promoting public transportation, in addition to road safety legislation and improvement in trauma services, have produced low mortality rates from traffic injuries and by extension low adolescent mortality rates in Singapore. Similar efforts translated elsewhere could achieve major health benefits for adolescents.”

Boon et. al.

Full Correspondence: The Lancet, 380 (9842), P 645, 18 Aug 2012