Deaths from motorcycle accidents in the U.S. decreased by 7 percent in 2013, according to new data released by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA). The decline was just the second time since 1997 that the number of motorcycle crash fatalities has dropped. The decline is likely explained not by an improvement in road safety, but rather by the fact that the weather was worse in 2013, mea…Read More
About 2,000 vehicle-train collisions occur each year at rail crossings, the Federal Railroad Administration reports. These railroad accidents take about 250 lives and injure more than 900 people annually. The toll of railroad injuries and deaths includes the deaths of two people in the Baker neighborhood of Denver in the summer of 2013 when their car apparently went out of control, ran through a c…Read More
Chevy Chase’s character in the pop culture classic “Summer Vacation” gets laughs behind the wheel as he sings, falls asleep and gets lost in East St. Louis. The distracted driving scenes are funny on the big screen but not in real life. Some 3,000 deaths annually are attributed to distraction-related car wrecks, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The agency es…Read More
Legalized pot smoking in Colorado is coinciding with research suggesting that fatal crashes involving drivers using marijuana have tripled in a decade. Researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health based their study on data from 1999 to 2010 in six states that conduct toxicology tests on drivers in fatal crashes. More than 28 percent of the drivers who died in crashes test…Read More
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn’t sanctioned it yet, but a new form of treatment is making a positive impact on some Colorado veterans suffering from mild traumatic brain injuries. The veterans are spending time in a hyperbaric chamber where they inhale 100 percent oxygen for an hour at a time. The idea is to bathe injured areas of the brain with oxygen to encourage new blood vessel g…Read More
As Colorado students head off on spring break, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers is encouraging them to find the fortitude to avoid drinking and driving. MADD reports that teenage drinking kills 4,700 people annually, more than the use of all drugs combined. Students can set a foundation for themselves by staying on a “positive path” rather than traveling down a road of drug and alcohol use, MADD …Read More
Rollover accidents -- in which vehicles flip upside down, trapping their occupants -- are among the most deadly type of car crashes. And when the roads are covered with snow and ice, even the most experienced drivers can have difficulty. A patch of ice can cause a driver to lose control, sending a vehicle into a ditch or down an embankment and into a rollover. Rollover wrecks claim numerous lives …Read More
An estimated 80 percent of serious hospital medical errors stem from miscommunication. This includes poor communication among doctors and nurses when patients are handed off during staff shift changes in hospitals. Now a new study conducted by Boston Children’s Hospital shows that hospitals can reduce medical errors by adopting a standardized method for verbal and written communication during pa…Read More