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NHTSA: Motor Vehicle Fatalities on the Rise in 2015
There was positive news in 2014, which saw a decrease in traffic fatalities from the year before. Unfortunately, that is not a trend that appears to be taking place in 2015. Instead, national statistics are pointing to an increase in vehicle accident fatalities.
According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA), the total number of traffic accident fatalities in 2014 was 32,675. However, the number of people killed in the first six months of 2015 was 8 percent higher than the number of fatalities for the first six months of 2014. The NHTSA uses data from its Fatal Analysis Reporting System (FARS).
The NHTSA says that the majority of these fatal accidents are preventable and are caused by drivers’ deadly behaviors, such as speeding and distracted driving. For example, data from 2014 fatalities reveal that:
- Alcohol-related crashes were involved one-third of all fatal crashes, responsible for the deaths of just under 10,000 victims;
Just How Safe Is That Zipline?
The activity of ziplining has soared in popularity over the past several years. Originally utilized by scientists and researchers exploring the dense jungles of Central and South America, ziplining has become fully mainstream, with many thrill seekers seeing it as a “safe” alternative to flying activities, such as hand gliding. As the cold weather sets in across the Midwest, many traveling to warmer destinations for the holidays may have the opportunity to clip on and try ziplining for the first time.
What is Ziplining?
Ziplining works like this: a person wears a harness which is then connected to by pulley system to a cable which runs high above the ground. According to statistics, there are more than 700 ziplines worldwide, and more than 200 of those lines are right here in the United States.
With more and more people venturing onto ziplines, there have been thousands of people who have been injured while participating in the activity. On study puts the number of people injured in ziplining accidents at more than 17,000 in the past 16 years. However, the majority of those injuries occurred just in the past four years.
Illinois Number Four Nationwide in Dog Bite Insurance Claims
We Americans love our dogs. In fact, statistics say that more than half of all U.S. homes have at least one dog, and currently there are between 70 and 80 million dogs in this country. But as much as we love our dogs, there are numerous incidents that result in a person becoming the victim of a dog bite. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) puts the number of people who are bitten by dogs every year at over 8 million. Approximately 890,000 of those victims require medical treatment, and more than half of those victims are children.
And it is not just dog bites that require medical attention. People can also become injured if a dog jumps on them, or knocks them down. This can be especially dangerous to elderly victims and children.
A recent study conducted by the Insurance Information Institute (III) reveals that one-third of the total amount of homeowner insurance claim dollars which were paid in 2014 were for paid to victims who had been injured by a dog. The total amount paid to these victims was over $530 million. The study found that although the number of claims decreased from the year before, the average cost per claim increased.
New Report Addresses Frequency of Diagnostic Errors
According to a recent report from the same organization that put together the groundbreaking 1999 “To Err is Human” report, most people will deal with at least one medical diagnostic error in their lifetime– errors which can prove to be dangerous, if not fatal. These errors include either a late diagnosis or one which is totally incorrect.
The report, titled “Improving Diagnosis in Health Care,” was organized by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (IOM).
In preparing the report, researchers determined that there are approximately 12 million patients who receive an incorrect or late diagnosis each year. The report also found that the number of these errors will probably increase due to the processes that are currently in place throughout the healthcare system.
Some of the other findings of the report include:
CDC Offers Several Mobile Apps to Help Public Stay Safe and Healthy
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the federal agency that is in charge of health promotion, prevention and preparedness activities. As the U.S. public health institute, the goal of the CDC is to improve the overall health of everyone in the country. With more and more of American society relying on smartphone apps as a way to garner information - including important health information - the agency has developed several apps which can assist people in avoiding injury and illness.
The CDC Mobile App is the agency website’s companion app. It provides safety updates, as well as many important health articles, health tips, and medical journals. The app also features the “Disease of the Week.”
If you are a frequent traveler, then the CDC’s Can I Eat This? mobile app could be one of the most important thing to take along on your trip. The app allows you to select the country you have traveled to and then enter information about the food you are considering eating. The app will tell you how safe the food is and help avoid illnesses like "Montezuma’s Revenge" and travelers’ diarrhea.
FBI Busts Illegal CDL Operation
The next time you are driving down the road and a tractor-trailer passes you by, you may wonder just how qualified the person driving that truck actually is, especially if they are driving with a Florida commercial driver's license (CDL).
The FBI and Florida state law enforcement officials recently announced they had busted a commercial driving license scheme which was based in that state. Three people have been indicted for conspiracy to aid and abet the unlawful production of Florida CDLs, as well as several other federal charges. The defendants targeted Russian-speaking immigrants from California, Illinois, New York, and Virginia. At least 600 people were given CDLs without receiving the proper training.
According to the FBI, the three were running a truck driving school, which ran an online campaign marketing to people who spoke Russian offering Florida CDLs for $2,000. Potential students would pay the fee and travel to Florida, where the defendants would then provide them with false residency documents in order for the student to obtain a regular Florida’s driver’s license – which is a requirement in order to obtain a CDL.
Will Driverless Tractor-Trailers Contribute to Safer Roads?
According to a recent study released by the trucking industry, the most popular mode of freight transportation continues to be by tractor-trailers. Although some cargo is delivered via rail, marine, and air transport, the majority of freight is transported by truck. This is evident to any commuter driving on the nation’s roads by the increasing numbers of those huge semis rolling by.
The study of the trucking industry revealed that was almost 10 billion tons of freight transported by truck last year, or approximately 70 percent of all transported cargo. Transporting that freight logged in more than 168.4 billion miles, which comes out to roughly 69,000 miles per truck. Additionally, according to the study, there were 3.4 million truck drivers driving those trucks.
The nearly 170 billion miles of transport also represent an increase in truck accidents which occur every year. National statistics put the number of annual fatal tractor-trailer accidents at almost 4,000. Another 77,000 truck accidents cause serious injuries to victims.
Preventable Complications: Who Are the Country’s Most Dangerous Surgeons?
In 1999, the medical report, “To Err is Human” was released, shining a spotlight on what was previously unknown by an unsuspecting public – the actual number of medical errors which occur every day. According to the report, which was compiled by the Institute of Medicine, there were approximately 44,000 to 98,000 lives lost every year due to mistakes made by medical personnel. Although the report is credited with exposing this deadly issue, medical errors continue to be epidemic and recent studies estimate that there are now over 200,000 people who die from medical errors each year – making it the number three cause of death in the country.
Thousands of patients who thought they were having a simple procedure done have died from injuries or other complications caused by medical mistakes.
National Traffic Safety Board Determines Cause of Truck Accident
The National Transportation Safety Board has determined the most likely cause of the truck accident which severely injured comedian Tracy Morgan and others, and killed another person.
The Federal Agency has determined that driver fatigue was the cause of the crash. The agency found that the truck driver had driven 12 hours to work before starting his 14-hour shift as a truck driver.
The crash happened when the truck rear-ended a van on the New Jersey Turnpike in June of 2014.
The official NTSB Press Release can be viewed here.
Study Offers New Hope for Female Stroke Victims
A new study has found that administering uric acid, along with the usual clot-busting medication, to women who have suffered strokes, increases their chance of recovering without suffering from disabilities as a result of the stroke.
The researchers found that the uric acid limits brain damage from the stroke. In the study, 42 percent of women who were given both the uric acid and the clot-busting medications were free of any significant disabilities just three months after suffering their stroke. Only 29 percent of female patients who were given just the clot-busting medication showed no signs of significant disabilities in the three months following their stroke.
For men who participated in the study, there was no significant difference in recovery between the patients who received the combination of the acid and medication and those who only received the medication. In all, there were more than 400 stroke patients who participated in the study.
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9631 W. 153rd St., Suite 32, Orland Park, IL 60462
708-966-2408
