Geophysical variables and behavior: XIII. Comment on "Lunar phase and accident injuries": the dark side of the moon and lunar research.

Templer, Veleber, and Brooner in 1982 claimed that an excess number of injuries occur on nights with a full or new moon. In this note, we show that their claim is based upon trivial differences, on overlapping observations, possible violations of statistical assumptions, a failure to consider confounding between phases of the moon and days of the week when data cover short (6 mo. and 1 yr.) periods of time, and the possibility of an effect due to darkness during new moon nights.