Toms River, New Jersey, Personal Injury Blog

Parents of teen drivers in New Jersey have good reason to worry about the approach of summer because it's a dangerous season for teens on the road. In fact, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety calls the 100 days between Memorial Day and Labor Day the deadliest for teen drivers. The chances of a fatal car crash involving a teen driver go up an average of 15% during that time. Even hospitals understand the risk and accordingly prepare.

There are two reasons for this trend: lack of experience on the part of teen drivers and increased time on the road. Teens may even drive impaired by drugs or alcohol after parties, especially around the Fourth of July celebrations. To keep teens safe, parents have a responsibility to educate them on how to act behind the wheel.

Much has been made of promoting highway safety throughout New Jersey and the rest of the country. The recent focus of public awareness campaigns have been on issues such as drunk and distracted driving. 'Don't drink and drive" and 'don't text while driving" are the clear and simple messages for these widely known problems. However, these campaigns have done little to address another major threat to the roads -- drowsy driving.

Most people associate sleep deprivation and motor vehicle accidents with the trucking industry. Tight schedules and incentives for truckers who meet delivery quotas are common. However, the problem is just as bad with passenger drivers. In a recent survey, over 30% of regular passenger car drivers reported having driven at least once while extremely tired within the prior month. It has been shown that driving without sleep for a 24 hour period is equivalent to driving with a blood alcohol content of 0.10. This is well over the limit for what is considered legally drunk.

Roughly 214 million opioid prescriptions are supplied throughout the U.S. every year. This high rate of use could be making New Jersey roads more dangerous. A new study published in JAMA Network Open has discovered that the risk for a fatal two-vehicle crash doubles when drivers use these medications. Most opioid medications say on their labels that users should not drive or operate heavy machinery when taking them. However, many drivers disregard such warnings.

Using the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Fatality Analysis Reporting System as the source for fatal car crash data, researchers analyzed 18,321 fatal two-vehicle crashes occurring between 1993 and 2016. After determining which drivers were at fault and which drivers had opioids in their bloodstreams, researchers came to several conclusions.

New Jersey parents may have many fears when they take their children to the hospital, but few are likely to consider their medical records as a major area of concern. However, issues with the software and usability of electronic health records (EHRs) can sometimes lead to severe issues that can compromise patient safety. According to researchers, these risks are particularly profound for pediatric patients. Medication errors can be dangerous, especially when children are involved. Dosages must often be adjusted to account for their smaller size and younger age.

This is one place that EHRs can run into problems. The requirements for medication safety guidelines when creating EHR software do not require that manufacturers build in a distinction between adult and child patients. This means that it could be relatively easy for an adult-size dose to be recorded in a child's medical record, resulting in a potential overdose. One study examined ways in which EHRs can contribute to medication errors, including prescribing mistakes as well as problems with administering the drugs. According to researchers, staff at the hospitals involved found thousands of incidents related to EHR systems.