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The Thanksgiving holiday weekend is one of the deadliest holidays of the year with law enforcement agencies recording thousands of car accidents during these 4 days.

Thanksgiving ranks right up there with New Year’s Eve, St. Patrick’s Day and Cinco de Mayo as one of the most alcohol -intense holidays of the year.  There is a special tradition attached to Thanksgiving which makes it even more strongly linked to alcohol – related car accidents.  The Wednesday before the Thanksgiving holiday, typically called Drinksgiving or Black Out Wednesday, ranks as the single biggest drinking day of the year.  More  alcohol is consumed on this Wednesday than on any other holiday. This means that as you set out for your Thanksgiving break, you are likely to be sharing the road with people who are highly intoxicated on alcohol after having drunk excessively the previous day.

It is not just drunk drivers that motorists need to be extra cautious of during Thanksgiving. Statistics show the incidence of all other types of dangerous driving behaviors including speeding and distracted driving also increases over this holiday weekend.  This combination of drinking, being distracted by mobile phones and other passengers in the car as well as speeding to get to their destination on time makes for an ideal combination that increases the risks of being involved a serious car accident. Bear in mind that the Thanksgiving holiday is also when emergency responders and hospital emergency rooms are stressed to their limit which means that if you are involved in a serious car accident, help might be delayed.

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Thousands of motorcyclist lives could have been saved in motorcycle accidents over several decades if universal helmet laws had been in place in all U.S. states. Unfortunately, without these laws, many people were killed or suffered brain damage unnecessarily in motorcycle accidents.

A new study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety finds that as many as 11% of all motorcyclist and rider deaths over a period of close to 5  decades could possibly have been prevented if universal motorcycle helmet laws had been place in all states. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study, more than 22,000 motorcyclist lives could have been saved between 1976 and 2022 if all states had universal helmet laws.  That means that about 11% of all motorcyclist wrongful deaths during this period of time could have been prevented.

Wearing  a helmet can significantly help reduce a person’s chances of being killed in a motorcycle accident,  just like seat belts can help save motorist lives in car  accidents. In spite of that fact, all states have laws that require motorists and passengers to wear seat belts while driving, but only 17 states and the District of Columbia have laws requiring all motorcyclists and riders to wear helmets while riding.

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The  Governors  Highway Safety Association is collaborating with  a major insurer  to make it more accessible for Americans to prevent distracted driving auto accidents.  A new website is part of this effort to help reduce the incidence of distracted driving on our streets.

The  Governors  Highway Safety Association recently announced a collaboration with State Farm Insurance. The initiative includes a website  called GenerationDistractionfree.org, and the aim of the initiative is to empower  parents and guardians to raise a new generation of motorists  who will be less addicted to technology and distractions at the wheel.

Parents have a huge role to play in molding their children’s driving skills.  Distracted driving is a major killer on American roads, and contributes to more than half of all car accidents recorded in Georgia every year.   These are alarming statistics, and it is clear that government- led initiatives and legislation have limited impact in reducing the incidence of distracted driving.   This is why the Governors Highway Safety Association Highway is bringing the topic of distracted driving into American homes.

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With  hundreds of thousands of children across the metro Atlanta region now back at school, it is important for motorists, parents and other stakeholders to focus on looking out for school buses and keeping children safe. Unfortunately, every year there are car accidents near school buses in which children are killed or injured.

As a motorist, know the rules to follow when it comes to sharing the roads with school buses.  School buses are some of the most regulated vehicles on our streets, and, therefore, are subject to a number of rules and regulations.  Motorists  in Georgia and other states are also required to follow the rules when they share the roads with these massive vehicles and their precious cargo, in order to avoid auto accidents.

When you are following a school bus, look out for the flashing lights. Yellow  lights mean that the bus is preparing to slow down, which means that you need to slow down and prepare to stop as well.  A red light means that children are being picked up or dropped off.  You must remain stopped while the red light is on and the Stop arm is extended. Wait till the bus actually starts moving before you start your car and move ahead too.

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New research focuses on the use of infrared light therapy to help reduce the impact of a spinal injury soon after it occurs.

Spinal cord personal injuries are some of the most devastating injuries, and often occur in auto accidents, motorcycle accidents and pedestrian and bicycle accidents.  There is no complete cure for a spinal injury.   However, millions of dollars are being invested in research into circumventing or limiting the impact of spinal cord personal injuries.  Some of this research focuses on interventions that can limit damage during the early hours after the personal injury.

Recently, researchers using a grant by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health announced that they are in the process of testing an infrared tool that can help reduce the activity of  mitochondria cells after an injury.  According to the researchers, a lot of the long term impact of a spinal injury can be limited if interventions are made immediately or within a few hours after the injury.  As soon as a spinal injury occurs, the mitochondria cells go into overdrive, creating large amounts of free radicals, and increasing cell damage in the area.  According to the researchers, it is therefore important to limit the activity of the mitochondria soon after the spinal injury.

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Most American guardrails simply are not tested for the extra weight of electric cars.  This may pose a safety risk when there is a car accident involving a electric vehicles crashing into a guardrail.

According to CBS News, these safety concerns are valid because the strength of guardrails on American roads are typically tested against vehicles that  weigh approximately 5000 pounds.  However,  the average electric vehicle weighs approximately 30% more.  This deficiency in testing standards is possibly posing a risk of serious personal injury to drivers and passengers in electric cars.

Recently, a fatal car accident involved a Tesla that crashed through a guardrail.   The resulting car accident left the motorist dead and the car completely mangled. According to safety experts, these guardrails are not doing a good enough job of restraining electric vehicles compared to gasoline – powered vehicles.   The guardrails are tested against gasoline -powered vehicles, and unfortunately, electric – powered vehicles that are involved in collisions against guardrails simply crash through or even crash under the guardrail.  Tests involving concrete medians that were slammed into by electric power vehicles found that even in those cases where the car did not crash through the median and end up in the opposing lane,  large chunks of concrete did go flying through the air and into the path of oncoming cars.

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Motorists driving cars with partial automation soon learn to adapt to the various safeguards that are present in these systems, possibly increasing their car accident risks.

According to a new study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, drivers are very quick to learn ways to circumvent the limits or safeguards set by the partial automation systems in their cars. Vehicles with partial automation systems require motorists to continue to pay attention to the task of driving and step in when there needs to be an intervention.  However, an analysis of several partial automation systems in automobiles show that this is not always the case.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety researchers focused on a number of partial automation systems, including  Volvo’s  Pilot Assist System and Tesla’s Auto Pilot system.  In the Volvo system, the researchers found that drivers were often distracted by snacking and checking their phones while the system was at work. They were also likely to get more distracted as they became use to the system and as they learned to get around the limitations imposed by the system.  Drivers using Tesla’s Auto Pilot found ways to get around the warning system before it escalated into a full blown intervention. They continued to engage in distracting behaviors only stepping in to take  minimum actions to stop warnings or alerts issued by the system.

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At some point, in our day, we are all pedestrians.  Negligence by pedestrians places them at risk of being involved in an auto accident, not just when a the person is walking on the road, but also when he or she is exiting their car,  jogging,  leaving an office building or engaging in other activities.  There  can be no safety for motorists unless there is safety for pedestrians.

Next month, the Department of Transportation celebrates National Pedestrian Safety Month, and transportation safety organizations as well as pedestrian  safety advocates around the country will focus on raising awareness about the rights of pedestrians and ways of keeping them safer.  The Halloween holiday towards the end of October also increases the overall risk of auto accidents for pedestrians, especially children, which makes the month of October an even better time for  safety organizations to raise awareness about the car accident risks facing pedestrians.

The need to spread awareness about the rights of pedestrians has become even more dire in 2024,  with a steady increase in the number of pedestrians being killed in car accidents recorded over the past  2 years.  Pedestrian  wrongful deaths now account for some of the highest numbers of wrongful deaths in car accidents  nationwide. In 2022, according to statistics by the United States Department of Transportation,  there were more than 7,500 pedestrian  accident wrongful deaths.  That translated into an average of 21 pedestrians dying daily in auto accidents. It also means that an average of 70 pedestrians were killed in auto accidents every minute in the United States that year. Pedestrians accounted for 18% of all traffic accident wrongful deaths in 2022.

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Children are some of the most vulnerable victims of car accidents. Georgia transportation safety agencies recently commemorated National Child Passenger Safety Week which this year fell between September 15 and 21.

The  Georgia Governors Office of Highway Safety and the Department of Public Health were out in full force during National Child Passenger Safety Week.  Certified child safety car seat technicians went around the state, checking car seats and educating parents about the need to make sure that their children are restrained in appropriate car seats whenever they are travelling in a car. Proper restraints are the best way to prevent children from suffering severe personal injuries in car accidents.

Georgia’s laws for car seat use are extremely clear. Under the law, children below the age of 8 must be safely restrained in a booster seat or a car seat depending on their height and weight.  Many parents, however, fail to ensure their children are restrained appropriately for their age, height and weight with disastrous  consequences.  While most parents are aware of the need to make sure their children are restrained correctly, they may have their car seats installed incorrectly or they may be restraining their children in car safety seats or booster seats that are not appropriate for their child.  Georgia parents can check the safety of their child car seat at www.gahighway.org, and get information about how to get their car seat checked by a certified technician.

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Veterans groups and spinal cord injury organizations are marking the month of September as Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month to bring more attention and awareness to the challenges faced by the thousands of Americans who live with these debilitating personal injuries.

Spinal cord personal injuries occur when there is any kind of damage to the spinal cord as a result of a trauma to the spine such as through a car accident or fall. These personal injuries can cause a number of effects that are often not just physical, but also emotional and psychological  in nature. The impact  of a spinal cord injury can depend on the location of the injury as well as its severity.  Depending on the location of the injury, the person may no longer be able to enjoy movement of his hands and legs. In a complete spinal cord injury, the patient may lose sensation below the location of the spinal injury, while in an incomplete spinal injury, the patient may feel some degree of sensation and enjoy some movement in the area below the site of the spinal injury.  The degree of sensation and movement can differ depending on other factors.

A spinal cord injury can result in loss of movement, and loss of sensation or the ability to differentiate between hot and cold. Other effects include respiratory difficulties, frequent coughing and difficulty breathing, pain and stinging sensation in the affected areas as well spasms. The patient may experience significant loss of bladder and bowel control.

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