Articles Posted in Motorcycle Accidents

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Auto accident prevention technologies like forward collision warning systems do a very good job of reducing the risk of auto accidents involving passenger vehicles, but may not be as effective in preventing motorcycle accidents and trucking accidents.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recently released the findings of two new studies which found that forward collision warning systems and automatic emergency braking systems are very beneficial in reducing the risk of car accidents involving passenger vehicles,  but not as effective in preventing accidents involving motorcycles and trucks. The studies focused on more than 160,000 auto accidents involving passenger vehicles, large trucks and motorcycles.

According to the studies, these systems can help reduce the risk of rear-ender auto accidents involving passenger vehicles by as much as 53%.  However, they were found to reduce the risk of accidents involving large commercial trucks by only 38% and motorcycle accidents by 41%. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, as many as 5,500 lives could be saved every year if auto accident prevention systems were enhanced to make them more effective in identifying and reducing the risk of colliding with large tractor trailers.  An additional 500 lives could be saved in motorcycle accidents if these technologies could be improved to help identify motorcycles that are  notoriously harder to identify for motorists.

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One  of the most devastating consequences of a brain injury after a car accident is the effect on a person’s cognitive abilities. A new study finds that a brain stimulator device can help a person recover these critical abilities after a personal injury.

The findings of the study were published in a recent issue of the Nature Medicine journal. The researchers implanted the stimulators in the brains of persons who had suffered brain injuries as a result of trauma.  The  implants were left on for about 12 hours a day and the participants spent 3 months with the implants.

The research by scientists at Stanford University found that the implantation of the deep brain stimulator helped trigger  electric activity in brain neurons that had been left damaged after trauma. While  the researchers were hoping for a 10% increase in mental processing as a result of the implantation of the device, they  were surprised to find that the improvement was as high as 32% in the patients. What is even more promising is that the device can help with impairments that have occurred as a result of old brain injuries. According to the scientists, the device offers great hope to persons who have suffered injuries that have left them with memory loss and poor thinking skills.

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Calls for the United States to mandate automatic braking systems on all motorcycles in order to prevent accidents are growing louder.  This  country remains one of the very few developed nations that do not require this technology on all motorcycles.

The  Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is petitioning the federal government to mandate automated braking systems on all motorcycles in order to prevent accidents.  This  is the second time that the organization petitioned the federal government on this matter.  The first time was more than a decade ago, and since then, according to the organization, more than 27 nations, including Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Brazil,  India and several members of the European Union, have mandated these technologies on all motorcycles.

Automatic braking technologies can help riders maintain control over the motorcycle even when they suddenly brake or brake on wet or slippery surfaces.  They  prevent the kind of motorcycle crashes that are often caused as a result of skidding.  These  are the kind of accidents that often result in the   rider falling off the motorcycle with possibly devastating consequences.  The  lack of ABS on a motorcycle is a significant factor in a large percentage of motorcycle accidents every year.

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We know a lot about the impact of brain injuries on certain areas of a person’s life, including his mental health  and cognitive functioning.  A  new study finds that  a traumatic  brain injury – like the kind that results after a motorcycle accident –  could also significantly impact a person’s cardiac health,  leaving him exposed to the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

According to researchers, there are  a number of risk factors after a  brain injury that may increase the person’s risk  of suffering heart conditions after this type of personal injury.  These factors   include neuroinflammation,  problems with the nervous system and other post -injury symptoms that  could significantly impact cardiovascular functioning.  This  could place the person at risk  of suffering conditions like heart attacks and strokes.

In fact, the researchers believe that  cardiovascular and endocrine disruption  may impact a person’s quality of life and affect his survival rates for decades after the injury.  They also believe that there has not been enough research into the long  – term cardiovascular effects after a brain injury,  with  the result that  we are likely underestimating  the impact of these  effects on survival rates.

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Victims  of car accidents, motorcycle accidents and trucking accidents  who have suffered a spinal cord injury may look forward to a day when they can walk independently again thanks to a new breakthrough in research in the field.

Scientists  recently announced a breakthrough  in their attempts to regenerate axons in  persons who have suffered  a spinal cord injury.  The  breakthrough was announced by a team of scientists that included both Swiss and American  researchers. According to the team,  they found that redirecting  regenerated axons to their target regions was more effective in helping along the healing process and aided the recovery of the patient,  compared to random regrowth of axons.

Back in 2018, the team had identified that axons which are responsible for communicating transmissions among the nerve cells could be regrown after the damage.  However,  they found that even when the axons were regrown, it did not really lead to any marked or significant functional recovery for the patient.  Now,  however,  they say that they have found a way to redirect the regenerated axons to their target region, helping  restore functional movement.  The  researchers experimented on mice with spinal cord injury, and found that the mice were actually able to walk independently after the treatment.

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Persons who have suffered a traumatic brain injury due to an auto accident or any other type of accident may suffer from long term consequences that are very similar to the symptoms suffered by persons living with a chronic condition.

Those  conclusions came from a new study recently published in the Neurology journal.    The  researchers analyzed data on more than 900 patients who had suffered mild traumatic brain injury like concussions  as well as 200 patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury, and compared these patients to a group of  150 patients with no history of a traumatic brain injury.  Brain injuries are frequently suffered by persons involved in car accidents, slip and fall accidents and even due to medical malpractice. As  part of the research, the persons were asked about physical symptoms like headache and  fatigue.   They were also asked about their thinking abilities, especially  the ability to  perform daily and routine tasks,  as well as their overall mental health and memory.

They  found in their analysis that 21% of the persons with a mild brain injury suffered declines overall, compared to 26% of the persons with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury.  Among  the  persons with no brain injury, the decline was just 15%.

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Researchers  have known for a while that a brain injury can result in depression, but the kind of depression that a traumatic brain injury causes is different from other forms of depression. Traumatic brain injuries often arise out of car accidents, motorcycle accidents, trucking accidents, or any other event that causes a significant impact to the head.

A  new study finds that the kind of depression that results after a brain injury may be different from   regular  depression with some unique symptoms.  In  fact, the researchers believe that  brain injury -related depression could possibly be its own distinct condition.  These  are important findings because they shed new light on the kind of consequences that a brain injury patient can suffer.

For years now, researchers have known that  depression can set in after a person has suffered a brain injury,  but there have been questions about whether the depression is a result of the injury itself or because of the trauma related to the car accident or incident that caused the personal injury.  The general consensus, however, is that the depression is caused by the personal injury.

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Spinal cord injuries are serious personal injuries that can be caused after an auto accident.  New  research finds that these injuries, in addition to permanently impacting a person’s day to day functioning, can significantly damage a person’s  immunity,  exposing the patient to the risk of life-threatening    infections.

A spinal cord injury can result from any kind of blow or serous impact to the spine.  The  impact does not have to include a fracture.  A spinal cord injury can also be caused by crushing injuries or dislocation of the spine. For example, when a person is thrown about the inside of a car during an auto accident, she or he could suffer serious personal injuries to the spine.  A  motorcycle rider who is thrown off a motorcycle  could land on the ground with force that is significant enough to  fracture his spine. In fact, spine injuries are common in motorcycle accidents when a person is separated from the motorcycle.

The risk of paralysis is very serious after a  spinal cord injury.  These  consequences of a spinal injury can also  have a long term impact on a person’s health.    A new study finds that a spinal injury may also trigger immunodeficiency syndrome.  This  condition can result in a loss of immunity, thereby exposing the person to the risk of infections. The study was conducted by researchers on 111 patients who had suffered spinal cord injury.  They found that soon after a spinal cord injury, the number of antibodies in the body dropped.  There  was also a deactivation of the monocytes or white blood cells that are responsible for staving off infections.

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Many  cities including the metro Atlanta region have seen a boom in the number of e – scooter riders, but limits on the operations of these vehicles mean that many of these riders choose to ride on sidewalks, increasing their risks of being involved in pedestrian accidents.

Around the country, there  has been an increase in the number of e – scooter  riders, and cities have welcomed the expansion of this community because that reduces the stress on motor vehicle traffic, especially in congested cities like Atlanta.  However, many cities have restricted the roads that these vehicles can be operated on.  This means riders often choose to ride on sidewalks, placing them in direct conflict with pedestrians,  and increasing their chances  of being involved in pedestrian accidents.  In fact, according to a new study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, there has been an increase in the number of e – scooter  personal injuries and accidents  involving pedestrians.

In most cities, the laws allow persons to ride e- scooters on roads where the speed limit is 35 miles per hour or less.  That  restricts the operation of ride vehicles to bike lanes and bike paths.  In areas where it is not possible to ride on bike lanes, e – scooter riders prefer to ride on sidewalks.  This  may be safe for the scooter rider, but involves  increased risks for pedestrians, especially when the e-scooter is being operated at high speeds.  Most riders do tend  to lower their speeds when they are riding on sidewalks as compared to riding in a bicycle lane.  Even  so, the  potential   risk  of personal injuries to pedestrians is very real.  Some  cities have placed greater speed restrictions on privately operated scooters that are being operated  on sidewalks in order to reduce the risk of personal injuries to pedestrians in accidents  with the scooters. Other cities are even considering a complete ban on e – scooters on sidewalks.

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There are a number of complications that are associated with suffering a head injury,  and one of these, according to a new study, is an increased chance of dying,  with the risk having doubled over a period of 3 decades.

We know of some of the more common consequences of head injury including memory loss, attention and concentration difficulties, and cognitive deficits.  Head injuries have also been linked to other long-term disabilities including Alzheimer’s disease,  Parkinson’s disease,  early onset dementia and stroke.  All of these are long term consequences can seriously impact the quality of a person’s life.

However, there is one serious consequence of a head injury that does not attract as much attention –  the effect of the brain injury on the person’s life expectancy. A new study probed the effects of a head injury on a person’s life expectancy, and found that a head injury could increase the risk of death over a period of 30 years.  In  some cases, the risk of death increased by two or even  three times the risk without a head injury.

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