Injury prevention

Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control show that unintentional injuries are a significant public health concern: they are by far the leading cause of death from ages 1 through 44.

[4] Some organizations and researchers have variously proposed the addition of equity, empowerment, emotion, empathy, evaluation, and economic incentives to this list.

Education efforts can be measured by changes in knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs and behaviors before and after an intervention; however, tying these changes back into reductions in morbidity and mortality is often problematic.

[citation needed] Online databases, such as the Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) allow both researchers and members of the public to measure shifts in mortality over time.

[citation needed] Injury prevention efforts began in the early 1960s when activist Ralph Nader exposed automobiles as being more dangerous than necessary in his book Unsafe at Any Speed.

CDC Injury Prevention Champion David Sleet illustrated the importance of lowering the legal blood alcohol content limit to 0.08 percent for drivers, requiring disposable lighters to be child resistant; and using evidence to demonstrate the dangers of airbags to young children riding in the front seat of vehicles.

[citation needed] Psychological pedestrian safety studies extend as far back as the mid-1980s, when researchers began examining behavioral variables in children.