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Senior citizens who drink alcohol have a much higher risk of experiencing brain bleeds after suffering a slip and fall. Increasing awareness among Senior Citizens is the key to preventing these slip and falls which often cause serious personal injuries.

According to a new study, even seniors who drink moderately may be at a much higher risk of suffering a brain bleed if they have been involved in a slip and fall accident. Slip and fall accidents are some of the most devastating adverse events that seniors can experience.  These  accidents can result in the kind of personal injuries that not just permanently injure or disable the senior, but also reduce his life span significantly. Slip and fall  accidents, for instance, can result in hip fractures which some studies have linked to an increased risk of fatality in the year following the personal injury.

According to the researchers, their studies find a strong correlation between regular drinking and intracranial hemorrhage after a slip and fall accident. The risk of suffering a brain bleed after a fall doubled in the case of seniors who drank weekly.  In the case of seniors who drank daily, the risks of suffering a brain bleed increased by 2.5 times.

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Minority groups, including blacks and Hispanic Americans, seem to have been disproportionately affected by the increase in fatal car accidents recorded across the country during the pandemic.

According to new studies, black and Hispanic Americans as well as people with lower educational attainment were the most likely to suffer an impact from the increase in auto accidents between 2020 and 2022.  This period of time recorded a significant increase in car accidents with new research from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety stating that as many as 114,000 people were killed in auto accidents between May 2020 and December 2022. This was a staggering 17% jump in the fatality numbers from before the pandemic.

Teens between the ages of 16 and 19 took the top spot in auto accident wrongful deaths.  Overall, young persons between the ages of 20 and 24 also recorded very high increases in car accident numbers during this time.  Male drivers were also much more likely to suffer fatal personal injuries in auto accidents between 2020 and 2022, exceeding estimates by as much as 14%.

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The use of interventions including financial incentives, goals and social competition can significantly help reduce the incidence of distracted driving on our streets.

Distracted driving causes thousands of car accidents in the metro Atlanta region every year.   A new study proves that different interventions could be used to help bring about changes in driver behaviors, resulting in motorists being less likely to reach out for their cell phones while driving.

The study was conducted by an insurance provider and divided more than 1500 participants into 5 groups.  The first group was the control group which only received information about the dangers of using a handheld cell phone while driving.  Group 2 was given a free phone mount, while group 3 was given habit formation tips over a period of several weeks.  Groups 4 and 5 were sent text messages about their performance on handheld cell phone use goals, and were given the chance to win or lose points based on their usage. Participants in group 5 were also given the chance to share in a $2000 prize if they met their goals.

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Distracted driving is now one of the biggest auto accident causes in Georgia with a new study finding that more than 50% of all car accidents in the state involve a driver who was distracted at the wheel.

That information comes from the Governors Office of Highway Safety and the Georgia Department of Public Health’s Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System, which included car accidents that occurred in 2022. The data was is  in the Georgia Traffic Safety Fact Sheet, and  according to the data,  53% of all car accidents in Georgia in that year involved a confirmed or suspected distracted driver.

The  data does not define whether these distractions involved electronic distractions like the use of cell phones while driving.  The term “distractions”  can mean different types of activities while driving including having conversations with passengers, snacking  and drinking, reaching out for things and other types of distracting activities.  Any type of distraction that is manual, physical or cognitive can take a person’s attention away from the task of driving and cause an auto accident.

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Simple design interventions like illuminated crosswalks  can make it easier for motorists  to see pedestrians at  crossings and prevent pedestrian car accidents. A pedestrian car accident often results in severe personal injuries to the pedestrian or his or her wrongful death.

The  issue of pedestrian  safety is one that has been front and center for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as it grapples with an increase in the number of people being killed in car accidents.  Several  studies have found that simple improvements to design and  infrastructure can help prevent many of these accidents.

Many  of these interventions are focused on making pedestrians more visible to drivers.  Very often, motorists fail to notice motorists with devastating consequences. A new study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety finds that something as simple as illuminated crosswalks can make motorists more visible and help reduce the chance of pedestrian car accidents.

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Spinal cord personal injuries are some of the most devastating personal injuries that can occur in a car accident.  New research finds that MRI scans which are typically used to guide surgeries in spinal cord injury patients, can also be used to make better assessments of a patient’s potential recovery.

A spinal cord injury occurs when there is a jolt or a blow to the spinal cord resulting in injury to the cord itself. The consequences are often catastrophic. Patients may be left with partial or complete paralysis, and may be unable to walk or use their limbs effectively.  Rehabilitation may be a slow process.  Often,  MRI scans are used  during treatment in order to guide surgical options as well as assess the amount of damage.  However, researchers recently found that they could very accurately predict recovery for spinal cord injury patients using these same MRI scans. They found that information from MRI scans helped to predict the recovery potential for patients based on the tissue remaining around the affected area.  The  greater the amount of tissue left, the higher the chances of recovery.

According to the researchers, these are very important findings because they show that MRI scans can be used to guide and inform rehabilitation and therapy options after a spinal cord personal injury.  They  can help doctors provide better counseling to patients about their lives after spinal cord injury, and how they can expect their lives to change after the injury.

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According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, car accidents caused directly by drivers who were drowsy at the wheel caused 693 wrongful deaths in 2022.

Drowsiness  due to lack of sleep could be because of overwork,  a new baby,  stress,  or a hectic social life.   Whatever  the reason, the consequence is fewer  hours of sleep.  Sleep advocacy groups,  including the National Sleep Foundation, recommend 8 hours of sleep for the average American adult.    Unfortunately,  far too many drivers are getting less sleep than the recommended amount, which means that many of them are driving at less than optimum levels of wakefulness and alertness in the morning.

Even getting one hour less sleep a night can affect a person’s ability to drive safely.  Drowsiness can mean irritability which, in turn, can affect your judgment and reasoning behind the wheel.  It can also mean an inability to pay attention to visual cues on the road, and failure to respond appropriately to stop signs.  It can mean getting lost while driving the wrong way, or driving at high speeds.

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Nationwide, the maximum legal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level is .08.    However, most motorists are not aware their auto accident risks begins to increase long before their BAC levels reach that figure.

While .08 is the maximum limit for blood alcohol concentration across the country, the fact is that many motorists, especially light or moderate drinkers, are likely to experience deterioration in their driving abilities that significantly increases their risks of being involved in an auto accident, even at .04 or even lower.  According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,  alcohol can impact driving ability even  after one drink.  The average drink in the United States can result in a blood alcohol concentration of between .02 and .04  for a light to moderate drinker.  This  is sufficient to affect the person’s vision as well as his or her ability to multitask.  Imagine a person with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.02 trying to drive as well as respond to phone calls at the same time.  His or her ability to multitask  is markedly reduced, significantly impacting his or her safety and the risks of being involved in a car accident.

When blood alcohol concentration level rises to .05, there is a significant deterioration in driving abilities.  At this point, the person is not legally drunk, but his coordination skills are impaired, and he or she might find it difficult to steer effectively. Vision is further reduced during this stage of alcohol intoxication, and he may find it difficult to track moving objects which makes it very dangerous when he is on the road and needs to observe the behaviors of drivers around him.  His or her ability to respond to emergency driving situations is also significantly lower at this point. All of these factors increase his or her chances of being involved in a car accident causing serious injuries  or even a fatal car accident.

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Senior motorists experience a range of deficiencies in their physical and mental faculties that make it difficult for them to drive safely and increase their risks of being involved in auto accidents.  Family members and caregivers have a major role to play in encouraging seniors to give up their car keys when they are no longer in a position to drive safely.

It is important to remember that seniors benefit both physically and mentally from the independence that comes from being mobile and able to drive.  However, there may come a time when your loved one is simply  unable to drive without being a risk to himself and others.  At  this point, you must step in and take away the car keys.  Remember that failing driving faculties may have more to do other issues than with the person’s age.  In other words, you must consider your loved one’s driving performances and abilities, and not just his age while deciding to curtail his driving privileges.

The best way to confirm whether your loved one’s abilities to drive safely are compromised, is to observe him when he is driving.  Look for prime indicators of decline in driving skills.  These can include failing to stop and check both ways for traffic, failure to stop at red or stop signs, or failure to stay in the lane while driving. A safe driver must be able to drive appropriately for the traffic and weather conditions, and must be able to take into consideration the driving of other motorists, motorcycles and other users of the road while driving.

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Speeding- related car accidents kill thousands of Americans every year.  Learn  how you can reduce  the chances of becoming another speeding auto accident statistic.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, car accidents caused directly by speeding drivers contributed to 12,151 fatalities in 2022.  The  federal agency has been concerned enough about   speeding to spearhead several campaigns against these behaviors, including one earlier this year called “Speeding Catches Up with You”. The campaign warned drivers that speeding accounts for one-third of all auto accident wrongful deaths every year and implored motorists to drive at safe and appropriate speeds.

It is  important to understand that there are just a few primary reasons why people end up driving at unsafe speeds, even when they know it is dangerous to do.  Number one among these causes is frustration and aggression caused by traffic conditions.  Being  stuck in traffic can be frustrating,  and can increase the risks of rash driving or speeding. Keep updated with the traffic conditions on your way to work,  so that you are prepared for bad traffic or can take alternate routes instead.

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