Summer Driving Safety

The summer months bring warmer weather and holidays, encouraging more people to take summer trips. However, summer vacation also brings crowded roadways and increased driving risks. Drivers should take extra caution and care of their vehicles while travelling this summer.

Every day, 36 people in the United States die, and approximately 700 more are injured, in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver.

Every day, 36 people in the United States die, and approximately 700 more are injured, in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver.

The Problem

• According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), about three in every ten Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some point in their lives.
  
  
• In 2006, 13,470 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (32%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States.
  
  
• In one year, over 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. This accounts for less than 1% of the 159 million self-reported episodes of alcohol–impaired driving among U.S. adults each year.
  
  
• Alcohol-related crashes in the United States cost about $51 billion a year.
  
  

Protect Yourself and Your Family and Friends

During the holiday season, and year-round, take steps to make sure that you and everyone you celebrate with avoids driving under the influence of alcohol. Following these tips from NHTSA can help you stay safe:

• Plan ahead. Always designate a non-drinking driver before any holiday party or celebration begins.
  
  
• Take the keys. Do not let a friend drive if they are impaired.
  
  
• Be a helpful host. If you’re hosting a party this holiday season, remind your guests to plan ahead and designate their sober driver, always offer alcohol-free beverages, and make sure all of your guests leave with a sober driver.

Know How Communities Can Help

Proven community and state-level methods for reducing alcohol-impaired driving include:

• Sobriety checkpoints. Studies found that fatal crashes thought to involve alcohol dropped by about 22% following implementation of sobriety checkpoints.
  
  
• Minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) laws. Studies found that raising the MLDA to 21 reduced crashes by about 16% among people ages 18-20 years.
  
  
• 0.08% BAC laws. Fatal alcohol-related crashes declined about 7% after 0.08% BAC laws were passed.
  
  
• "Zero tolerance" laws for young drivers. Three studies found that zero tolerance laws resulted in declines in fatal crashes among drivers ages 18.20 years of between 9% and 24%.

Resources for More Information

Web-based Resources

CDC: Impaired Driving Fact Sheet: http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/drving.htm

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Traffic Safety Facts 2006: Alcohol-Impaired Driving

Troopers ready to Arrest those who choose to Drink and Drive over the 4th

The Fourth of July holiday is cause for celebration. Many of those celebrations unfortunately end with someone drinking and driving. A new Highway Patrol DUI enforcement team aims to prevent drunk driving accidents and fatalities.

Highway Patrol based the statewide team on one being used in Horry County. Last year, Highway Patrol assigned six troopers to the DUI team in Horry County. They say it resulted in more DUI arrests and fewer DUI-related fatalities.

Officials want to see those same results in Florence and Darlington counties where DUI crashes and fatalities have increased this year. Troopers say they will fan out across those counties and hold safety checkpoints, until they see a drop in DUI accidents. (Wpde)

Fatal Car and Motorcycle wrecks are taking a toll on Myrtle Beach Area

The Sun News has a search tool available ion 7/7/09 edition that allows you to research the fatal accidents in the Myrtle Beach area for the year 2009.  The search shows that car accident deaths are taking a toll on our area. It has involved people from the age of 16 to 85.  The majority of them were not wearing seatbelts.  If you study these accidents, it shows many of them  involve individuals running off the edge of the road,  turning quick to get back on the road (over-correcting), tires getting turned sideways causing the cars to flip or lose control.  During my highschool years, my father was a coach and drivers education teacher.  While he was teaching me to drive, he made me run off the road, keep my right tires off the road as I let off the gas and until the car had slowed enough to safely ease my way back on the highway.  While I'm not advising everyone to go run off the road.  The ability to safely get back on the highwayis a learned skill that someone must have, to avoid one of the most dangerous types of wrecks that occurs.  Many personal injuries and premature deaths could be prevented if these types of wrecks were eliminated.

Bone-Growth Proteins Show Risk in New Study

Patients who received a bioengineered protein during spinal fusion procedures to correct neck pain had far more complications than patients who did not get it, according to a study released Tuesday.

The study, published Tuesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association, reinforces previous concerns about the use of the proteins in fusion procedures to treat upper spine, or cervical, pain. The substances studied, sold by either Medtronic or Stryker, are not federally approved for cervical procedures, although surgeons are free to use them for that purpose. By BARRY MEIER New York Times

Fusion surgery is a common surgery for those injured in personal injury accidents, including car and truck wrecks, motorcycle accidents and workers compensation claims.  Often an injury to the neck involves herniated disks which need to be removed and the vertebrae fused together.  Bioengineered protein used in these fusions have not been approved and are causing some additional complications.