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Statistics  from last year show that Labor Day was the second deadliest holiday in the United States in 2022, and this year,  with the incidence of drunk driving on the rise,  the risk of alcohol – related car accidents has never been higher.

Last year, one study by a car insurance app found that the Labor Day Holiday weekend ranked second only to the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in the number of fatal car accidents recorded.  The  study  analyzed data between 2011 and 2020, and found that the Labor Day holiday was the second most dangerous holiday in the country. Over the study  period, the data showed  that more than 4000 people were killed in car accidents over Labor Day, many of them caused by drunk drivers. Approximately, 25% of deaths involved   teens   and young people in their mid 20s.  About  70% of this category of drivers were male.  The  second most at- risk category of drivers during the Labor Day holiday were drivers between the age of 26 and 35.

Drunk driving is likely fueling this increase in car accident deaths. Recent  data shows that driving under the influence of alcohol is actually on the increase across the country. Between 2020 and 2021, there was an increase of approximately 14% in fatal alcohol – related car accidents. Overall, there was an increase of approximately 10% in car accident deaths during the same period of time.  Clearly,  the role of alcohol in causing car accidents is increasing, and this is a cause of concern.

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The  federal administration is proposing a new seatbelt warning system that would apply to occupants of the back seat as well as the front seat passenger.  It is a move that could significantly help reduce the number of people killed in car accidents on America’s roads every year. It is important to keep in mind that persons in the rear seats are injured in car accidents, especially in rear-end accidents and T-bone accidents.

In  2021, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Acting Administrator, approximately 43,000 people were killed in car accidents and approximately 50% of them were not wearing seatbelts  at  the time of the auto accident.  Their chances of surviving the crash could have significantly improved had they been buckled in.  Unfortunately, the current law only    requires seat belt reminder systems for drivers, but has no such requirements for front seat passengers as well as occupants of the rear seat of the car.  These people are also at a very high risk of suffering  fatal  injuries in the event of an auto accident.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently issued a Proposed Rule which requires motor vehicles weighing up to 10,000 pounds to have seatbelt reminder systems for all passengers in the car, including front seat and backseat passengers.  The  requirement would require a visual alert that would go on for approximately 60 seconds and would alert the driver to the status of rear seatbelt usage.  It  would also require an audible alert that would alert the driver when a backseat passenger removes the seat belt while the vehicle is in operation. The rule would   also require an audio visual alert system for the right  front seat passenger  to buckle his seatbelt. Auto manufacturers would have the flexibility to decide how frequently and how loud the audible  reminder system should be.

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As we head towards the end of summer, pedestrians walking along Atlanta roads must remember to focus on the task of walking and avoid distractions from their cell phones and other devices to avoid car accidents. Unfortunately, too often pedestrians are seen walking across a street while looking at their cell phones or texting. This type of conduct prevents them from being alert to cars entering their paths, even when the pedestrian has the right of way.

A  new study in Australia finds that texting on a cell phone while walking significantly increases a person’s risk of being involved in a pedestrian accident. The researchers divided college students into 3 groups.  The first group was asked to text while sitting, while the other group was asked to walk without texting.  The third group was made to text while walking on a pathway that was specifically designed for the experiment with tiles that were out of place.  Not surprisingly, the researchers found that the group of persons who were texting while walking had their focus impacted by their distraction.

The  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that close to 10% of auto accidents in the United States every year are directly linked to motorists using cell phones  while driving. Other studies have found plenty of evidence that distractions also seem to place pedestrians at risk of pedestrian accidents.  If you are walking while talking on your cell phone, or listening to music on your headphones, you are less likely to identify an approaching car or spot any other kind of safety cues.

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A law that prohibits the use of hand cell phones while driving for Georgia motorists has possibly contributed to a drop in the number of auto accidents caused by distracted drivers in the state. Unfortunately, before the law was passed, there were a significant number of car accidents in Georgia involving persons talking and texting while driving.

According to representatives at the Georgia Governors of Highway Safety, there has been a reduction in the number of car accidents directly caused by distracted motorists since the ban was passed. The law which prohibits Georgia motorists from using a handheld cell phone to send or receive text messages or to even touch a telephone while driving was passed in 2017, and went into effect the following year.

The  Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety only has statistics for the year 2021, and the data for that year seems to  indicate that the number of people convicted for handheld cell phone use increased significantly after the stricter ban was enacted. There were more than 43,000 distracted driving convictions in 2021 for violation of the ban.  Many  of these involved people who were driving while holding their cell phones.  That was a significant four -fold increase from 2017.

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Car seats for young children are an extremely important safety device. Every parent recalls having to deal with situation of installing a car seat for the first time or when they get a new car. Unfortunately, far too many car seats are improperly installed,  exposing children in the seats to the risk of potential life – threatening personal injuries in car accidents.

Securing a child in a car seat is an absolute must before any journey.  Most  parents, fortunately, in Georgia, are aware of the need to restrain children in car seats.  Car  seats should not only be used every time for young children, but also must be appropriate to the age and weight of the child.  Many  car seats have been designed to be easy to use,  in order to make it easy for parents to install these seats.  Unfortunately,  even with these easy –to use designs, parents still make errors  in the installation of these car seats.

According  to a new study,   too many seats are being improperly installed, exposing the children in the seats to the risk of potentially catastrophic or even life- threatening  personal injuries in the event of an auto accident.  The researchers looked at seat check data from  between 2015 and 2019, and found that approximately 70% or an overwhelming majority of all the errors involved car seats installed with seat belts. Other errors involved recline angles. About half of the errors involved top tether on forward – facing car seats.  The  tether is an important component of the car seat and is meant to be attached to the vehicle, and according to the study, many parents either fail to secure it or secure it incorrectly.

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Children, the elderly and -surprisingly enough – young adults seem to be at the highest risk of being involved in slip and fall accidents on stairs. Among young adults, women seem to be at a higher risk of personal injuries in such accidents.

These findings come from a new study, and while the fact that young children and the elderly are at a greater risk of falling should not come as a surprise, the inclusion of young adults in their twenties definitely raises  eyebrows. According to the researchers, children below the age of 3 and elderly people above the age of 85 have the highest risk of suffering personal injuries in a fall on stairs.  However, young adults in their twenties also have a significantly higher risk of being involved in slip and fall accidents.

Among young adults in their twenties, young women seem to have a higher slip and fall risk compared to males.  The  researchers  analyzed  the results of the study to understand the reasons for the higher fall risks involving females.  They  believe that inappropriate footwear could probably be a reason why young women are more likely to fall down stairs compared to males. The researchers specifically identify  flip flops, sandals and heels as being inappropriate footwear that  increase the  risks of a fall down the stairs. They also believe that women are more likely to be walking with someone which means they are more likely to be talking and, therefore, distracted.

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A vast percentage of seniors who have age-related cognitive declines continue to operate motor vehicles, seriously increasing their risks of being involved in an auto accident. Senior are especially susceptible to serious personal injuries when involved in a car accident which makes preventing these accidents a high priority.

According to a new study, far too many seniors who have impaired cognitive abilities or thinking declines as per a cognitive assessment score continue to operate motor vehicles without hesitation.  The  study found that more than 600 adults in a particular county suffered from thinking declines as per the cognitive assessment test,  and that more than 61% of these persons who suffered cognitive declines continued to drive.

Suffering a cognitive decline does  not automatically mean that a person may be unable to drive.  In  fact, not all of the caregivers who were involved in the study believed that  the senior drivers in the  study had their driving skills   affected by their  cognitive difficulties.  About   one -third of the  caregivers  admitted to having concerns about  the driver’s ability to safely operate a car. However, there are  safety issues involved when a person with cognitive issues takes to the road.

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Persons who have suffered a traumatic brain injury due to an auto accident or any other type of accident may suffer from long term consequences that are very similar to the symptoms suffered by persons living with a chronic condition.

Those  conclusions came from a new study recently published in the Neurology journal.    The  researchers analyzed data on more than 900 patients who had suffered mild traumatic brain injury like concussions  as well as 200 patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury, and compared these patients to a group of  150 patients with no history of a traumatic brain injury.  Brain injuries are frequently suffered by persons involved in car accidents, slip and fall accidents and even due to medical malpractice. As  part of the research, the persons were asked about physical symptoms like headache and  fatigue.   They were also asked about their thinking abilities, especially  the ability to  perform daily and routine tasks,  as well as their overall mental health and memory.

They  found in their analysis that 21% of the persons with a mild brain injury suffered declines overall, compared to 26% of the persons with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury.  Among  the  persons with no brain injury, the decline was just 15%.

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Even  though the elderly are at risk of major complications from Covid- 19,  most  nursing homes around the country used alarmingly  low levels of antiviral drugs that are proven to fight symptoms of the deadly disease on their residents, during the pandemic. The failure to use appropriate medications could lead to a larger number of malpractice claims.

While the Covid- 19 pandemic ravaged large portions of the metro Atlanta region, especially in the above-65 age category,  efforts were made to deliver more life- saving antiviral medications to these sections of the population.  Use  of the antiviral drugs was  higher in nursing homes than in the general community.  However,  a new study finds that a large number of nursing homes administered very low levels of the drugs.

In fact, shockingly, the study found that  as many as 40% of nursing homes did not use antiviral drugs as of the end of 2022.  The use of antiviral drugs in these facilities was low even as the pandemic gathered steam, and continued to remain low even after the medications were approved as oral drugs.  In  fact, according to the researchers, residents  with Covid- 19 in  only about 18% of the nursing homes were treated with antiviral medications.

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Summer  is when there is an increase in dog bite attacks across Georgia,  possibly due to the fact that more people are out during this time and in contact with   dogs.  However, the  weather may   play a much bigger role in the increase in dog bites  during the summer months than earlier believed. Unfortunately, dog bites often result in serious personal injuries.

According  to the results of a new study that was published recently, hot weather may cause aggression in dogs just the same way as it does in humans.  When temperatures are higher, human beings are likely to become  irritable and aggressive. They may suffer from disturbed sleep during hot days which causes increased irritability  and discomfort.  Incidents of road rage, for instance, are likely to peak during summer months. Several  studies have underlined this fact.  However,  there have not been enough studies done to understand the impact of higher temperatures on animals like dogs.

The  researchers focused on 8 metropolitan American cities, and extracted data on dog bite attacks that occurred in these cities over  a 10 – year period.  They found  more than 69,000 bites occurred in these cities over the time period.   When the researchers  drilled down further into the data, they found that dog bites were more likely to occur not only when temperatures were   higher, but also when there were higher  UV levels.  In  short, they found a link between higher temperatures, ozone and higher levels of air pollution and increased attacks by dogs.

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