New Jersey Accident and Injury Law Blog : New Jersey Injury Lawyer & Attorney : The Grossman Law Firm : Serving Monmouth County, Bergen County

 Driving under the influence of prescription medications is on the increase, and it poses a serious threat to motorist safety. The large numbers of Americans, who are on some kind of medication means more numbers of people driving under the influence of medication side effects, many of them which they are not aware of. It doesn't make it easier that there are new prescription drugs coming out every year in the US, and that doctors may not be aware of many of the side effects of using these. It means motorists driving under the influence of impaired judgment, enhanced risk taking impulses, inability to judge distances, delayed response times, drowsiness, fatigue and a whole range of other side effects.

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A new report looks at whether colleges around the country have been able to implement recommendations to minimize college drinking. The report found that many colleges have either failed to effectively implement the recommendations made by the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, or continue to be unaware of these.

The NIAAA made the recommendations back in 2002. The organization had recommended a four-tier program that went all the way from the most effective strategies contained in tier 1, to the least effective ones contained in tier 4. However, a study by the University of Minnesota School of Public Health found that about 98 % of the colleges were providing tier 4 programs, which included alcohol education and awareness programs. These are some of the least effective measures, but most of the colleges are focusing their attention on these. 

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A Florida-based company has announced plans to begin production of, what it calls, the first purpose-built wheelchair accessible car. The vehicle is called the MV-1, and is the brainchild of Miami-based Vehicle Production Group. According to the CEO of the company, the car meets all the requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and is designed to accommodate all wheelchair sizes.

As a New Jersey accident lawyer with a special interest in patients with spinal cord injury, I believe this is a great innovation. With more than 4 million Americans currently wheelchair-dependent, there's definitely a need for a vehicle that comes ready for a paralyzed patient to use. Currently, the only option these people have is to outfit their current vehicle with a wheelchair ramp. Not only does this affect the structural integrity of the car, but it can also render your car's warranty invalid, because of all the changes you’ve made. With the MV-1, patients with a spinal cord injury will be able to overcome a lot of the mobility challenges they face every day.

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If all goes well, we could soon have a simple test that allows doctors to test for a brain injury in a patient. Right now, all a doctor can do is rely on a patient's symptoms to diagnose a brain injury.  This means that often, there's a misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis of brain injury, with serious implications for the patient's recovery and consequently, his quality of life.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Department Of Defense is investing in a study to determine the presence of brain biomarkers that can allow physicians to diagnose a brain injury immediately. Cardiac biomarkers allow doctors to diagnose a heart attack quickly in a patient, simply by administering a test. The goal is to determine brain biomarkers, and develop tests that will help detect such biomarkers.

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Approximately 300 residents of an 18-torey apartment building in Hackensack, New Jersey are still unable to return to their homes after a parking garage collapse last week. On Friday, the three-story parking garage collapsed, trapping one person inside his car. Fortunately, no one was injured in this accident. 

According to the Hackensack Fire Department, two thirds of the building columns have undergone inspection by structural engineers, and no problems have been found. The columns have been determined to be safe. The safety of the entire building, Prospect Tower had been called into question, after the parking garage collapse. According to the Fire Department, they are working on getting residents back into the apartment as possible. Residents had been evacuated immediately after the garage collapse. Some of them are now staying at hotels paid for by the building management, while others are boarded up with relatives.

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Almost everyone does it. Listening to a ball-by-ball commentary of the game on the radio while driving-we've all been there. However, a new study conducted by British researchers seems to suggest that listening to sports commentary  can be just as much of an accident risk as drunk driving. 

The British researchers looked at motorists driving just around the World Cup and Wimbledon games. The found that when drivers were listening to sports commentary, their reaction times declined by as much as 20%. To put that in perspective, 20% is the drop in reaction time that's typically seen in an intoxicated driver. What that basically means is that your risk of being involved in an accident when you're engrossed in your sports commentary is as high as if you were driving under the influence.

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Motorists in New Jersey who fail to respect pedestrian rights, could find themselves coming up against a plain clothes police officer. That's because a program that uses police officers to act as pedestrians in order to crack down on motorists who fail to yield, is now underway. This is not the first time that New Jersey has had a program like this. The results of earlier programs have been successful, and police officers will be looking to cite or ticket motorists who don't yield to pedestrians.

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You don't expect the medication you take to cure your illness, to injure you, or even kill you. Yet, for tens of thousands of Americans every year, that is exactly what happens. These injuries or deaths don't occur because of tainted medications, but because of errors in reading prescriptions, or filling and administration errors.

Atlanta car accident lawyer Robert Fleming has posted a list of the top 10 most common prescription errors on his blog. As expected, the list includes wrong medications and wrong dosage close to the top. Apart from these two errors which occur most frequently, there are other errors that leave thousands of injured Americans seriously sick or dying every year.

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For many parents, it's one of the biggest dilemmas they will ever face. Buying a first car for your teenage motorist is a major decision. For a parent, the statistics are sobering. Auto accidents continue to be the number one cause of death for teenagers between 15 and 19 years of age. 44% of all teen deaths every year occur during accidents.

With facts like this, you need to make a safe, informed decision that considers your child's safety first and foremost. The best thing you could do for your child is to ignore his preferences while making a decision. Teenagers tend to like fast, high performance cars, and these are not the ideal vehicles for them. So, what should you look for while choosing a car for your teenager?

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