BLOG VIEW | HEADLINE VIEW

CULTURE

POLITICS

MUSIC

CELEB

The Science of Bar Fights

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 19 2007 4:00 PM

Submitted by Rahodeb. Edited By Rahodeb.

Bar fights are gnarly. Broken glasses and beer bottles are often the weapon of choice, usually resulting in serious facial injuries. Testosterone and alcohol can be a lethal mix, but men aren't the only ones guilty of pub brawls. In a study from a few years back, researchers found that significantly more women attacked other women than expected.

Dr. Jonathan Shepherd has spent years developing and testing "effective strategies for reducing facial injuries in bar fights using broken glass." His work has been so effective, that he was recently awarded the Stockholm Prize in Criminology.

Rowdy bars may no longer be quite as dangerous thanks to a British professor who won a criminology prize on Wednesday for his work showing how injuries from broken glass can be reduced.

Jonathan Shepherd, a face surgeon and professor at Cardiff University, won the Stockholm Prize in Criminology with his research into bar fights and glass-related injuries.

"Professor Shepherd's crime prevention work involved the development of strategies for preventing serious injuries in connection with violence in bars and nightclubs," a statement announcing the prizes said.

His work compared drink glasses and the different ways they shatter and has "led pubs in the UK to use the glass that causes far fewer injuries," the statement said.

Tougher glassware. Makes sense. I mean--it doesn't strike me as rocket science, or groundbreaking, but good for him. For his success in showing how serious injury in barfights can be prevented, Dr. Shepherd will share a prize of about $150,000 with one other winner. Unfortunately, there's nothing the good doctor can do about the stupidity that arises from drinking outside of bars. For example, it would take a think tank to deal with
this guy.

14 Comments

All_Sewn_Up

Papua New Guinea

January 2007

SEP 19, 2007 04:05 PM

Not a think tank so much as an award.

SockPuppet

I'm lost

July 2006

SEP 19, 2007 04:13 PM

Rahodeb said:

His work compared drink glasses and the different ways they shatter and has "led pubs in the UK to use the glass that causes far fewer injuries," the statement said.

Tougher glassware. Makes sense. I mean--it doesn't strike me as rocket science, or groundbreaking, but good for him.

Quote from the Stockholm Award website:

By constructing a randomized trial testing different kinds of glass in different taverns, he showed that engineering tests of glass had failed to predict which glassware caused the most serious wounds.

My bold. "Common sense" isn't always right.

SockPuppet

I'm lost

July 2006

SEP 19, 2007 04:15 PM

Double. Could we please have a sensible quote parser on SG? kthxbye

TheCoolerKing

NEWSWIRE

Los Angeles, CA

SEP 19, 2007 04:29 PM

Nice job...

Hopefully the next step is candy glass. And breakaway chairs!

xazapdmytinu

Fort Collins, CO

July 2007

SEP 19, 2007 04:52 PM

TheCoolerKing said:
Nice job...

Hopefully the next step is candy glass. And breakaway chairs!

don't forget swinging doors for someone to be thrown through and a law that says all bartenders can...no, MUST...have a double barreled shotgun on hand.

cowboybert

West Palm Beach, FL

September 2006

SEP 19, 2007 05:04 PM

That guy who was sucking on that snake...I'm relieved he wasn't a Southerner.

reprobate

New Orleans, LA

December 2002

SEP 19, 2007 05:13 PM

I think it would be interesting to study the culture of fighting with glassware, because frankly it seems much more popular in Britain. I've seen quite a few bar fights here in the states. I've even seen a monkey fight a chihuahua but I've only ever seen someone get hit by a bottle once. Pool cues, pool balls, chairs, canes, sure. The British seem to have a predilection for carving each other up with shattered barware that seems like it it has a cultural basis, though.

LostLucy

USA

December 2006

SEP 19, 2007 06:56 PM

WOuldn't sexual jealousy and SOccer tournaments contest their role in the instigation?

Cigarette

Cleveland, OH

April 2004

SEP 19, 2007 07:07 PM

reprobate said:
I think it would be interesting to study the culture of fighting with glassware, because frankly it seems much more popular in Britain. I've seen quite a few bar fights here in the states. I've even seen a monkey fight a chihuahua but I've only ever seen someone get hit by a bottle once. Pool cues, pool balls, chairs, canes, sure. The British seem to have a predilection for carving each other up with shattered barware that seems like it it has a cultural basis, though.

They all think they're this guy:

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

ki1

Ireland

September 2007

SEP 20, 2007 02:18 AM

Hey dont forget the irish. im a doorman. i see it all the time guys. the job entails stopping this shit before it happens. either before they enter the bar, or, when they are getting to shitfaced. the old adage 'prevention is better than cure' comes to mind. hospitals over here are over-run on a weekend with very stupid drunks with cuts and broken bones. and their drunken friends making a mess in the waiting room. i like being a responsible drunk. i go to a mental hospital get put in the padded room with a bottle of jack daniels and have a great time. lol.

Rabidnid

Australia

May 2004

SEP 20, 2007 03:05 AM

Non US basically. Most countries miss out on escalating fights to the same degree that occur in the weapon oriented US. Traditional Brit police response was to stand outside and then just arrest everybody after it was over. Broken glasses and the like are very rarely seen, and just calling someone a faggot for trying to use one can make them drop it That said though, I have a friend with a V carved in his skull were he was hit with the leg off a pool table.....

lefthandright

New Zealand

September 2006

SEP 20, 2007 03:41 AM

britain has a higher percentage of glassware being used in fights than u.s...but lets look at firearms in fights...um,...look at that, the u.s out does every other country put together....the reason the brits use bottles is because they don't own firearms.

buttsweat

I'm lost

December 2005

SEP 20, 2007 09:24 AM

They should just serve all the drinks in sippy cups.

Untimely

USA

January 2007

SEP 20, 2007 09:56 AM

Maybe all drinks after the fourth should be served in Tupperware pints.
At that point, nobody's going to miss the subtle difference in taste and texture.

ki1
Hey dont forget the irish. im a doorman.

Shit. A pub doorman in Ireland. Props to you.