The federal government says it wants to make car tops tougher to protect your head in a rollover accident. Some watchdog agencies like Public Citizen and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety say the proposed new standards won’t prevent catastrophic brain injuries when the roof of your car mashes in your head in a rollover accident. Even if you recover, your brain may not. Picture yourself, or a loved one in a wheelchair or worse. The Washington Post says rollover accidents cause more than 10,000 fatalities a year. That’s why the struggle between the federal government and watchdog agencies for safer tops on cars to avoid “roof crush” is so important. It really heated up when the SUV increased rollover crashes. Safety groups and the insurance industry say that a roof should be able to bear three times the weight of the car to absorb the force of the crash when the car rolls over. Car manufacturers say that would cost $95 million only save 44 lives and 793 injuries a year. Insiders say Congress could back off the proposed new standard even though it’s not as tough as safety advocates want. Meanwhile, the injured have a recourse: a personal injury lawyer who can fight for a settlement after a catastrophic rollover. FYI: Remember how long it took to get air bags in cars? This fight is similar.
July 7, 2008
Cookies on Federal Recall List
Is Anything Safe Anymore? The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recalled 28 items in June. The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) recalled 12 in June, 13 in May and 8 in April. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has several web pages devoted to salmonella tainted tomatoes. Non-profit agencies trying to protect the public also have recall lists. What are they warning the public about? The lists are amazing: fake cancer cures, and oversized morphine pills! They also include Double Chocolate Chip Cakes, a “S’Morestick Kit, mouthwash, girls’ sandals with a choking hazard, ATV’s and playground swings. It’s hard to protect yourself these days from harmful drugs and defective products and devices and the accidents they can cause. www.jimadler.com is a good way to keep up.
Safety Around The Pool
In Texas’ summer heat, a swimming pool should be one of the most inviting and enjoyable places for children to play. But to keep it that way, it’s vital that kids and adults heed certain safety tips. Don’t worry: They don’t mean you can’t splash and yell. They just mean you can have more fun while being wary of risky missteps – or mis-splashes!
One area of any pool which requires great awareness is the pool drain, often on the bottom but sometimes on the sides. Drains use suction to draw water from the pool as part of a filtration system. A child has smaller hands, feet and other body parts which can become wedged into a drain, and a child often isn’t strong enough to pull free. In fact, many adults are unable to pull free from certain drains, in which hair or parts of a swimsuit also can become entangled.
Fortunately, it’s possible to apply anti-entrapment drain covers on pool drains to ensure they can’t do harm. If the pool you use is your own private pool, or a pool provided by a club to which you belong, you should be able to get such covers for its drains. If not, you could request such drain covers from the pool’s owner.The same suction problems and the same solutions also extend to hot tubs and their drains.Beyond this, be aware of the location of pool drains, and stay away from them. They can be extremely harmful in the worst circumstances.
Adults also can safeguard a swimming pool by installing a fence around it with a self-latching, self-closing gate. That way, a small child can’t wander toward the pool and fall into it. As a comparable precaution, hot tubs should be covered when not in use. Also, don’t leave toys lying around near a pool or hot tub. One of the best safeguards for pool safety, of course, is a wary adult. Adults should supervise all activities by children in pools, at all times. Ideally, adults also should know CPR, enabling them to help drowning victims. Drownings can happen silently and swiftly, so diverting your attention even for a few moments can prove fatal to a child. At all times means at all times.
As for kids, they should be taught not to run on any surface near a pool. Such surfaces can be wet and slippery, and a sudden fall on hard concrete can be dangerous. Also, children should not dive into any pool area that’s less than nine feet deep, Safe Kids USA advises.
All this doesn’t mean kids can’t have summer pool fun. It just means they can have more fun knowing that they’re following safety guidelines, and that their parents have safeguarded their pool environment.
Safety in the Sun
Play it safe! Drink plenty of water and other fluids throughout the day, especially when you’re engaged in strenuous activities, and also when temperatures hit the 90s or above. Avoid alcohol and caffeine drinks, which won’t help hydrate your body. Good old fashioned water is your best bet, along with juice. And you should drink these vital liquids regularly, whether you feel thirsty or not.
That doesn’t mean you should exercise outdoors all you want, just because you’re drinking proper fluids. You might want to scale down your exertions in the heat of the day. The best times for vigorous activities are in the early morning hours, just before and just after sunrise. Like a good breakfast, exercise is a solid way to start out a day. If your outdoor activity ensues despite the heat or time of day, at least try to take breaks. Playing organized softball with some friends? Don’t wait for the “seventh inning stretch.” Maybe call a truce after three innings and take a water break in the shade, then resume play. Playing nonstop despite the heat might be a strike-out for your body, and it’s at least a foul ball.
Of course, when possible, you can plan some of your summer activities for indoors. Then you won’t need to take a heat break.
Outside, be sure to wear protective sunscreen over your exposed body parts, and for those that you cover, pay less attention to fashion than to comfort. That means dressing lightly, both in terms of fabric (cottons are good) and colors (white and light colors reflect much of sunlight’s heat, while black and dark colors absorb it).While you’ve got a green light to gulp down more fluids, don’t apply such binging to foods. When you do eat, try to have small, light meals, such as a turkey sandwich with mustard, not mayo, and a cup of fruit. Skip the chips and fries, and avoid salt, sugar and fat. Besides, you can eat such smaller meals more often, because it helps your metabolism to space out food intake.
Do these things and you should have a healthier, happier summer. And don’t forget to take time to take it easy. The body needs rest as well as exercise, and those lazy, crazy days of summer are as good a time as any to get it.
Distracted Teen Drivers
While teens are having fun, they must not forget that certain common sense safeguards still apply. Teen drivers already have a high accident rate, and it could get even worse when they’re all abuzz about summer activities and forget to take driving seriously. The fact is, teens can be injured or killed — or injure or kill someone else – in a split second while driving. And that single second with a single mistake could be all because they engaged in something that almost always could wait: phoning, texting, eating and taking eyes and attention off the road around them.
If anything, driving deserves a teen’s complete attention. Imagine how bad it can be when a teen fixates on a cell phone, placing calls or even sending text messages instead of glancing in the rear-view mirror before changing lanes. Teens also should be especially wary of fatigue. It’s a major factor in many auto accidents. Teens need more sleep than adults. If teens drive when they are sleepy, it could be fatal.
Teens are also known to disregard seatbelts far more than adults. Speeding teens who drink and get behind the wheel also contribute to accidents. In fact, automobile accidents are the No. 1 killer of teens in America. But it doesn’t have to be that way – not with the right attitude. It may not seem cool, but what’s cool about being injured or killed? The bottom line: Driving is an enormous responsibility, not just an annoyance to be tolerated while having fun multi-tasking. Sometimes, the best way to have fun is to wait and have it at the proper time.
