The 2010 Physics Ig Nobel: Physics of Preventing Winter Slips
For some of us, wintertime means braving cold temperatures and donning heavy winter clothes and boots. We seldom think of the hazards, but winter can be dangerous, leading to slips and falls on ice which may result in bad wrist fractures and even more serious hip and head injuries. The North West Public Health Observatory compiled data from UK hospitals that indicate that slips and falls on ice increase with colder-than-average wintertime temperatures.
Wearing appropriate footwear plays an integral part in wintertime safety. This means wearing shoes or boots with rough soles to provide much-needed traction. The Dunedin city council also advises residents to “ put a pair of old socks over your shoes to increase grip “ but this anecdotal advice remained scientifically untested.
Lianne Parkin, Sheila Williams, and Patricia Priest of the University of Otago, conducted randomized trials to test this hypothesis in 2008 and published their results. The group initially planned to recruit volunteers along Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records. The researchers deemed this location legally and ethically unwise and instead opted for two other sites used by university employees, students and members of the public on their way to work each morning.
