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Persons who have suffered a brain injury in an auto accident may be at a higher risk of developing brain cancer later in life. This the shocking finding of a new study which could have a significant impact on personal injury claims.

A  new study that was conducted on military vets finds that a brain injury significantly increases the risk of brain cancer. The study focused on more than 1.9 million vets, and the results are disturbing.   Brain  cancer is a relatively rare cancer, and only one percent of the general population has the risk of suffering from this disease.  However, among  veterans  who have suffered a brain injury, the risk  of developing malignant cancer is as much as 90% higher than in the general population.  Additionally,  in those cases in which the injury has resulted in penetration of the skull, victims  were found to have a three times higher risk of suffering brain cancer.

The researchers take pains to point out that while the study has been conducted on veterans, and  that while the exact same results may not be seen in the  civilian population, more severe or penetrative brain injury is likely to lead to a higher risk of brain cancer among civilians as well.

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Emory University will kick off a study later this year that will focus on the rates of seatbelt use as well as distracted driving rates among motorists in Georgia. The study is extremely important because the failure use a seatbelt and distracted driving account for a significant number of the personal injuries and wrongful deaths suffered in car accidents.

The  study is courtesy state funding for the  Injury Prevention Research Center at Emory. The Georgia Governor’s Office of  Highway Safety  has announced a grant of more than $296,000 for the division.  The  money will be used to better understand the kind of factors that affect driving behaviors among motorists in Georgia. The  Injury Prevention Research Center plans to send trained observers to more than 400 sites across the state, and study factors like gender and age group that affect rash driving behaviors.

The  Emory researchers will specifically focus on seatbelt usage rates across Georgia.   This is a particular area of concern for Georgia transportation authorities. Seatbelt usage rates across the state have been on a steady decline over the last couple of years. Georgia transportation authorities recorded seatbelt usage rates of 89.3% in 2022,  and these rates had dropped  to 87.6% last year.

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In 2022, an average of 5 people died in car accidents in Georgia every single day.  The state is now making strong efforts to help reduce those numbers and keep people safe on the roads. There is not one solution to the issue, which requires a multifaceted approach.

The Georgia Department of Public Health recently received funding of approximately $2.5 million specifically to be used in road safety initiatives.  The  grant by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will be used to fund initiatives like the distribution of child car safety seats to motorists in Georgia.  The  funds will also be used to study and research factors involved in car accidents, specifically speeding and other common factors. More than $200,000 has also been earmarked for education and awareness campaigns across Georgia, as well as risk assessments of senior drivers above the age of 55.  The child car seat distribution initiative has already kicked off, and hundreds of parents across Georgia have received their safety seats.

The metro Atlanta region is a specific area of concern for Georgia transportation safety authorities.  Out of the last nine car accident deaths recorded in the state, 5 occurred in the metro Atlanta region alone.  These wrongful deaths have included fatalities in car accidents caused by drunk drivers and fatal auto accidents involving pedestrians.  Law enforcement officers in Georgia say that the biggest causes of car accident fatalities in the state remains drunk driving, speeding, distracted driving and rash driving.  Road rage is on the increase, and that has meant a spike in aggressive driving.

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Many nursing homes in the United States continue to face staffing shortages and struggle with controlling infections in their facilities. Both issues present serious health and safety concerns for residents. Unfortunately, neither challenge is easily addressed.

According  to a new report, many nursing facilities in the United States continue to have problems with retaining staff and struggle with low staffing levels. The report was released by the Inspector General’s Office at the Department of Health and Human Services and states that high levels of employee attrition rates, huge employee turnover and employee burnout are to blame for many of these staffing shortages.

Many nursing facilities now grapple with the challenges of not just losing experienced employees, but also training fresh hires to meet federal standards.  Lower numbers of staff members on roll or fewer trained staff members mean a higher risk of  abuse  and neglect at these nursing facilities. Many experienced workers fled the industry during the pandemic when nursing homes were found to have the highest levels of Covid-19 infection rates, and most nursing homes that lost large numbers of workers are still struggling to meet the shortfall.  Recruitment and staffing firms that supply workers to these nursing homes are also charging higher rates than earlier, putting more pressure on the facilities.

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A new report finds that there was a slight drop in the number of pedestrians killed in auto accidents during the first 6 months of last year. While any decrease in deaths from car accidents is welcome, the question remains what changes can be made to more greatly reduce the number of pedestrian accidents in which persons lose their lives.

The report which showed the slight drop in pedestrian wrongful deaths was released by the Governors Highway Safety Association and analyzed preliminary data from the first 6 months of 2023.   There  was some good news in the report. According  to the data, there was a slight drop of 4% in  the number of pedestrians killed in auto accidents between January and June of last year.   Many  states, including Georgia, saw significant drops in the number of car accident deaths involving pedestrians last year.

The rates of pedestrian accident deaths have shot up since the pandemic, and  especially during the worst days of 2022 when the numbers skyrocketed to their highest numbers in over 40 years.  Since  then, transportation safety experts in Georgia and around the country have struggled with bringing these numbers under control.  The challenge has been even greater now that there are more vehicles on the road as companies end their work -from -home policies and require employees to return to work.  The larger number of vehicles on the roads translates into a greater risk of being hit by a car while walking, and especially so  during challenging  times like these, when pedestrians are already at risk from a number of other factors that increase their risks of being involved in car  accidents like  poor infrastructure.

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Even as the number of adult drivers being killed in car accidents is on the rise, there has been a sharp drop in the number of teen drivers being killed in car accidents. According to new data by the Governor’s Highway Safety Association, there has been a significant drop of 44% in the number of teen drivers killed in auto accidents.

The  Governor’s Highway Safety Association analyzed  data from the Fatality  Analysis Reporting System over the past 2 decades, and found that during this time, there was a 38.1% drop in the number of fatal car accidents involving drivers between the age of 15  and 20. During the same period of time, there was also a 44.7% drop in the number of teenagers in this age category being killed in car accidents.  However, there was a 11% increase in the number of car accident deaths involving older drivers. The rate of fatal car accidents involving an older driver above the age of 21 also increased by 7.8% during the same period of time.

What this shows is that while the progress made in reducing the number of car accident deaths involving adult drivers has seemingly reversed, the efforts by organizations like the Governor’s Highway Safety Association to protect teenage drivers and keep them safe in car accidents seem to be showing results. In Georgia, the rate of fatal teen car accidents involving drivers below the age of 21 stood at 6.51 in 2002, and this rate dropped to 4.93 by 2021. The rate of involvement of drivers above the age of 21 in fatal car accidents stood at 2.14 in 2002, and increased to 2.15 in 2021.

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Just over a month into 2024, and road transportation authorities are already reporting record driving volumes across the United States.  As historically seen, high rates of driving typically translate into a higher rate of car accidents.

According to the Department of Transportation, in 2023, US drivers took to the roads in record numbers, traveling 3.263 trillion miles. That was a significant increase of 2.1% and a new yearly record.  Overall,  according to transportation authorities, road travel across the country last year increased by 67.5 billion miles with an increase of 2.2% in December.  Travel is back not just to pre – pandemic levels, but also higher than the levels recorded before 2020.

There have been a couple of solid reasons for the increase in vehicular traffic.  Foremost has been the return to the workplace for many American workers.  Employers are terminating  their work from home phases, and companies are     actively encouraging their employees to return to offices. In an uncertain job market, many employees have chosen to obey the call to return to the workplace, rather than insist on a work from home arrangement. That has meant more congested car traffic in Georgia and across the country.  Holiday traffic in 2023 was also at significantly high volumes, and many Americans who had been limited by their ability to travel since 2020 chose to travel during holidays to meet family and friends.  Adding to the desire to travel by road has been significantly lower gasoline prices. Low gas prices typically translate into higher road travel for Americans.

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If a group of Atlanta Council members has its way, motorists will no longer be able to make a right turn when they are at a red light.  The move is linked to concerns about the risk of car accidents involving pedestrians.

The so- called Right on Red laws were enacted across the country back in the 1970s in the midst of a fuel crisis.  The law allows motorists the right to make a right turn at a red light, provided they stop first and it is safe to turn.  However, authorities found out very quickly after the laws were passed, that while the laws did not really do much to increase fuel efficiency, they did increase the risk of car accidents involving pedestrians when drivers made  right turns at red lights.  Even back in the 1970s, officials found that there was a higher risk of auto accidents involving pedestrians in these areas.

Recently, however, there have been efforts across the country to get these laws repealed or banned.  According  to transportation safety experts, these laws do contribute to large numbers of  car accidents every year involving pedestrians,   and many of these auto accidents result in catastrophic personal injuries to the pedestrians.  Now, a group of three Atlanta Council members also has proposed a ban on such right turns at red lights in certain areas in the city.  The three Council members are proposing a ban on these actions in Midtown, Downtown and Castleberry Hill.  These are busy areas that are chock full of entertainment venues and cultural attractions, and see large   volumes of pedestrian traffic.  According  to the Council members,  it is important to keep these areas thriving,  and that  can happen only when the laws make it safe for pedestrians to walk in these neighborhoods.

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Driving while distracted is a complex phenomenon, and there are a varied number of distractions that can affect a motorist’s ability to drive safely and avoid car accidents.  However, cell phone use behind the wheel continues to remain the number one factor causing distracted driving accidents.

That information comes from a new study released by the Insurance Information Institute. The study report titled Distracted Driving: State of the Risk underscores the fact that distracted driving as a car accident factor has become even more prominent since the pandemic.  According to the report, there has been a significant 20% increase in distracted driving in the United States between February 2020 and February 2022. Even that might be a much lower figure than reality as distracted driving remains widely under- reported. It is still very challenging for law enforcement officers in many states to pull over drivers who are distracted by their cell phones, and very often, these actions go undetected. The report estimates that even a 10% increase in distracted driving kills more than 420 people, and results in more than $4 billion dollars in damages every year.

The Insurance Information Institute says it has also found a significant increase in the amount of time that motorists spend on their cell phones while actually in motion. While cell phone use and texting continue to be the primary distracted driving behaviors, many motorists are also spending a lot of their time browsing the internet while driving.  They are also reading and answering emails while at the wheel.  Other distracting activities include taking selfies while driving.

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If you are driving in a car with a driver who is texting at the wheel, then your chances of being involved in an auto accident increase significantly.  However, there is much that you can do as a passenger to avoid car accidents caused by distracted driving.

Most motorists are aware of the dangers of texting while driving, but unfortunately, that does not necessarily prevent many of them from using their texting devices while driving. Georgia has laws that ban sending or receiving text messages while driving, but there are far too many drivers who abuse cell phone privileges behind the wheel. However, passengers may have a big role to play in helping reduce the incidence of such behaviors.

Insurance provider Erie recently consulted with a psychologist, and provided tips for passengers who see the driver of the car texting while driving.  It is imperative that you speak up when you are traveling in a car and you see the driver texting while driving.  Erie’s advice is that you negotiate with the driver.  Tell him that if he or she really needs to be on his cell phone, you can take over his driving duties while he continues with his text messaging or cell phone conversation.  This makes the driver aware that you are uncomfortable with the fact that he is texting while driving, and also gives him an alternate option that allows him to continue texting  while ensuring  everyone’s safety.

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