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Lately, there have been quite a few news stories of people driving on the roads with excessive speed.  While most people are currently under shelter-in-place orders, this means that there are fewer cars on the road and less traffic to navigate.  In fact, pictures have been circulating widely of empty roadways in the usually most traffic congested cities.  This has resulted in some drivers taking advantage of the empty streets and pushing the envelope on speed limits.

In the metro-Atlanta area, this behavior has been seen both on the local streets in town as well as the area’s highways.   Some drivers are not only engaging in excessive speeding, but there are others that are actually racing on the streets.

This driving at excessive speeds has caused deadly accidents with devastating results.  Most recently in Atlanta, an 11 year-old child was struck and killed by a speeding driver, and a police officer was also killed in a deadly high speed accident.

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A Tik Tok stunt that has recently gone viral places teens at a high risk of brain injury and spinal injury.

The “Skull Breaker” challenge on the popular platform Tik Tok involves two teens pulling the legs out from under a third person who is essentially the victim. The resulting fall can cause a serious spine injury or brain injury. In fact, hospitals around the US have reported serious neck, spine and brain injuries linked to the stunt gone horribly wrong.  And now that more children and teens are home due to schools being cancelled, the incidence of these injuries is rising.

Basically, the stunt involves tricking a third person into jumping, and sweeping their legs out from under them as they jump. When the victim falls, he is likely to sustain a severe impact to his skull, resulting in a head or brain injury. Other possible injuries include a spinal injury as the back sustains the maximum impact of the fall. These injuries have led to several hospitalizations.

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Ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft became very popular very quickly over the past few years.  Although people are not using these services as much recently due to the COVID-19 crisis, ride-sharing will most likely make a comeback once the current shelter-in-place restrictions are lifted.

Uber and Lyft have been around since 2010, and the rise of these ride-sharing services has proved very useful in helping reduce the incidence of drunk driving accidents. However, the rate of other accidents, including pedestrian accidents involving these cars, has actually increased.

Uber and Lyft became very popular among people wanting safe rides back home. These ride-sharing services have been found to be especially useful in helping curb the number of drunk drivers on our streets. Uber allows riders to hail rides if they are too drunk to drive themselves home. That translates into safer options for a person to get home and a reduced chance of being involved in a drunk driving accident. The rates of alcohol-related accidents in several cities have dropped as a direct result of intoxicated persons being encouraged to use Uber rides that are so easily available.

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A group of lawmakers has introduced a bill that addresses a pressing need of commercial truckers. The bill, which includes funding for expansion of parking areas, has been welcomed by the trucking industry in Georgia and drivers, especially during the recent times.

Access to safe parking areas is a serious safety issue in the trucking industry. According to federal trucking safety regulations, truck drivers are required to stop driving after a certain number of hours and rest. During these periods of rest, they must park their trucks in safe spaces and get the required minimum rest time before they can begin driving again.

Unfortunately, lack of access to safe parking has been a serious safety issue in the trucking sector. When a driver cannot find a safe and convenient place for him to park his truck, he is more likely to continue driving even beyond the maximum number of hours set by the federal administration. This can have serious consequences because a truck driver who is tired and fatigued, is much more likely to fall asleep at the wheel of the truck. Accidents involving drowsy or tired truckers are not uncommon. In fact, trucker fatigue is a major factor in truck accidents in Georgia and around the country.

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In the past few weeks while the country, and globe, has been dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of workers in a variety of fields have been laid-off, furloughed, or told to work from home.

However, there are still several industries and businesses that remain open during these times.  The businesses that do remain open are usually ones that have seen a surge in demand, such as grocery or other essential retain, and delivery providers.  With the sudden increase in the need for additional workers, many employers have had to forego the usual interview requirements, safety screening or training in order to meet new demands.  While having people still be able to participate in the workforce is essential during these times, will these short-cut hiring practices result on more problems, and more specifically accidents, down the road?

One of the potential problems that may result is more on-the-job injuries by employees who were not adequately trained or protected to perform their jobs.  States have laws that require most employers to have workers compensation insurance in case their employees become injured on the job.  In many states, including Georgia, filing a workers compensation claim is the exclusive remedy that an employee has against an if he or she sustains an injury at work.   The more employees are performing tasks that are unfamiliar to them, the more likelihood there is of any injury.

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There is no debate the events surrounding COVID-19 are unlike any that this country, and the globe for that matter, has experienced.  The impacts of this disease on our communities will include a once unthinkable number of illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths.

Although efforts have been made to trace the source of the disease in local areas in order to notify others that may have come in contact with or been exposed to someone with the disease, many of these efforts that not been entirely successful, hence the widespread contagiousness of the disease.

One source that has been known early on in the COVID-19 outbreak are the cruise ships that had passengers with confirmed cases on board.  Recent numbers have indicated that as many as 700 people became infected with COVID-19 on cruise ships.  A number of these passengers went on to die from the illness.  As news of the outbreaks and quarantined passengers broke, some of the cruise lines, including Princess Cruises, took preemptive measures and cancelled any future cruises.

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The recent times have been unprecedented in our country.  Preparations from medical to supply chain are being made across the country to meet the needs and demands of the Covid-19 pandemic.

To aid in delivering goods and supplies, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has decided to relax some of the Hours–of–Service regulations that truck drivers are required to adhere to, in order to meet the increased shipping needs caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hand sanitizers, alcohol wipes, masks and other medical essentials are all in short supply in many states across the country. Panic buying, which has been seen across the country since it became clear that the Covid-19 virus outbreak would be more serious than we believed, has meant many empty shelves at supermarkets and stores across the country. People are running short of basic essentials, including even food items in many areas.

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In a disturbing trend, federal agencies are recording an increase in the number of people killed in fall accidents across the U.S. According to new data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and based on statistics from all states, there has been an alarming spike in fall-related fatalities.  

Between 2008 and 2017, according to the data, there was a 17 percent increase in the number of deaths that occurred as a result of slip and fall accidents and other types of falls. The rate grew from 3.86 per 100,000 in 2008 to 4.52 per 100,000 people. In 2008, 12,311 fatalities were linked to fall accidents. That number spiked to 17,408 in 2017.  

Almost all demographics recorded an increase in fall-related deaths during this period of time. However, the rise was particularly significant in certain groups such as people in rural areas and senior citizens above the age of 75.  

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Daylight Savings Time kicks in across Georgia on March 8th.  And while many people look forward to the longer daylight hours, the change in time also means disrupted sleep schedules as people lose that one hour of sleep.  This in turn means many people are getting behind a wheel and driving to work or elsewhere while drowsy.  Unfortunately, drowsy driving is a cause of many accidents across the metro Atlanta region every year

Starting March 8 and through the month of November, clocks in Georgia will be set forward by an hour. That means losing an hour of sleep in your schedule. Many Georgians are already sleeping less than the recommended 8 hours per night, and losing one more hour due to spring time change only increases the risk of drowsiness while driving to work. This spring, take steps to avoid driving while drowsy.

First, get to bed an hour earlier to make up for the loss of sleep.  Avoid staying up late at night with social media on your phone, computer, or other electronics.  Always being on social media can be a cause for loss of sleep, and while it may be tempting to check your phone for one more Instagram update or Tweet one last time before sleeping, keep in mind that it can be dangerous for your state of mind and your driving skills the next day.  Plus, the blue light exposure from electronics right before you go to bed will only prolong you being able to fall asleep.

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The widening use of technology in the health care sector has generally meant safer experiences for patients, but it also comes with a greater likelihood of errors related to these technologies.

Most of us have been to a doctor’s appointment recently where we’ve seen the doctor or nurse typing notes into a computer during the visit.  Electronic health records are now standard in American hospitals. However, staff and especially doctors have been vocal about how difficult these systems are to use. Doctors especially find that patient medical histories are sometimes not updated on the system, and this can cause any number of serious errors to occur. Oftentimes, these systems are full of unfixed bugs that fail to inform of potentially dangerous drug alerts or medication warnings.

The Institute of Safe Medication Providers recently released its most prevalent error list for 2019.  The results revealed that healthcare providers are now increasingly making mistakes by selecting the first option that pops up on their screens after typing in the first few letters of a medication’s name. This problem is even more severe on smaller screens, like those of a mobile phone or a tablet. Sometimes, the wrong medication is selected, leading to possibly grave consequences.

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