Personal Injury Blog

A new study by State Farm Insurance finds that seniors are bridging the gap with younger motorists as far as smart phone usage and ownership is concerned. Older consumers have been slow to catch up with smart phone technology, but as the new survey indicates, many of them are now enamored by smart phones, and prefer to use these devices to access the Internet. However, with that increased access of smart phone technology also comes the risk of distracted driving accidents involving senior drivers.

There is no denying the fact that distracted driving can be an even bigger challenge when it involves senior motorists. That's because these drivers are already struggling with a number of age-related impairments that can affect their ability to drive safely. Older motorists may have failing vision, hearing problems, slower reflexes and coordination issues that can affect their ability to drive responsibly. When you introduce smart phone use into this situation, driving skills become significantly impaired.

According to the State Farm Insurance survey, the percentage of American motorists who admitted to using the phone to access the Internet while at the wheel, has doubled from 13% in 2009, to 24% in this year's survey. What is even more distressing is that this widespread practice of using smart phones at the wheel, is not confined to a single age category. While young motorists between the age of 16 and 25 continue to be some of the biggest users of smart phones at the wheel, seniors are definitely catching up.

Already, transportation agencies are struggling to reduce the practice of distracted driving among teenage motorists and young drivers. The statistics seem to indicate that they should also begin focusing on smart phone use at the wheel by older drivers too.

When persons who are severely injured during car accidents or truck accidents have to be rushed to the hospital, they lose valuable time during which the chances of succumbing to their injuries actually increase. If they are given blood transfusions during the time that they are en route to the hospital, their chances of recovery could significantly increase.Those are the findings of a new study that was recently presented at a meeting of the American Heart Association.

According to the study, administering blood transfusions to people who are severely injured while they are on their way to the hospital could help save their lives. The research focused on 97 patients who had suffered severe injuries, and had been rushed to the hospital by ambulance. These people had received blood transfusions of either red blood cells or plasma before they arrived at the hospital. The progress of these patients and their recovery rates were compared with the progress of patients who did not receive any transfusions on the way to the hospital.

The researchers found in their analysis that persons who received blood plasma transfusions were approximately 8% less likely to succumb to their injuries within six hours after reaching the hospital, compared to the other group that did not receive the blood transfusions. The persons in the transfusion group also had a 13% higher likelihood of surviving till it was time to get discharged from the hospital. According to the researchers, trauma is a leading cause of fatality among people above the age of 44. Such trauma usually results during multivehicle accidents, severe car, truck and motorcycle accidents and other accidents where there is a potential of death.

The number of teen car accident fatalities in the country has been dropping significantly, and this has been attributed, in no small measure, to the fact that there are fewer teenagers driving than ever before. New statistics only confirm this fact. According to a new study, the number of teenage motorists on our roads has dropped significantly since 1996.

Earlier research has also indicated that many teenagers are now delaying getting a license. Many of them choose to now wait until they have crossed 18 to actually begin driving, and these are interesting trends that will have a significant impact on car accident numbers. New studies also indicate that teenagers are not just delaying getting a license, but also driving much lesser than before.

One possible reason could be that it is more expensive to drive, and with the economy in the condition it is in, many teenagers now find that they are not able to find jobs to pay for gasoline, car maintenance and other expenses. Teen unemployment rates in this country are now as high as 11%.

As a result, many teens have simply decided to use public transportation, hitch rides with their parents, and take other ways of getting around, instead of driving themselves. The Highway Loss Data Institute, which recently released new teen motorist statistics, says that there has been a drop in the number of drivers aged between 14 and 19 since 2006, and the drop is as high as 12%.

While it is clear that financial constraints have forced many teenage drivers to give up their car keys, it is also fairly evident that those numbers are likely to increase again once the economy recovers.