The nation keeps zooming toward a tragic and preventable fatality measure: Our roads are staying as deadly as they became during the coronavirus pandemic, and 2021 is racing to be one of the most lethal vehicular years in a decade. As the Washington Post reported of data on the year’s first quarter from the National….
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Whoa, summer sneaked in! Here’s how to make it a safe, healthy, fun time
In these uncertain times, the start of summer — marked unofficially by the just-passed, long Memorial Day weekend — may have caught more than a few of us by surprise. Seasonal health and safety precautions, however, should be well considered and carefully carried out, especially by parents. All of us, for example, must step up….
Continue ReadingThough the pandemic curtailed vehicle travel, pedestrian fatalities skyrocketed
Although Americans drove far fewer miles in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the pedestrian death rate skyrocketed nationally, with blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans dying in disproportionate numbers when struck by motorists. Preliminary data from the first half of last year shows that roughly the same number of pedestrian deaths occurred — 3,000 or….
Continue ReadingBig freeze heats up need for emergency plans for individuals and institutions
The climate change deniers can holler their heads off. But for all too many people from coast-to-coast, Mother Nature’s fury is tragically clear — as is the importance of not only future thinking but also emergency planning, by individuals and institutions. This includes knowing common sense steps to safeguard one’s self and loved ones, in….
Continue ReadingHospitals profiteer on injured car wreck victims with sky-high bills and liens
Congressional investigations may be coming none too soon on revelations about predatory billing by big hospitals and hospital chains against patients for costly care they received after they were hurt in vehicle wrecks. The New York Times reported that its investigations showed that patients, especially the poor and vulnerable, too often have gotten ripped off….
Continue ReadingSpeeding, distraction, intoxication: Why U.S. roads turned so lethal in 2020
Motorists who didn’t make new year resolutions should sign on to some lifesaving, commonsense vows: They can pledge to slow down, focus on task more, and to halt the record road carnage that happened in 2020. In the year just ended, Americans drove fewer miles than they had in recent years due to public health….
Continue ReadingU.S. collars owners’ outlandish claims for flying ’emotional support’ animals
Um, no, federal regulators have decided: The nation’s skies no longer will be a sort of bad airborne set for a pop psychology version of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Instead, owners of so-called emotional support animals must keep their menagerie off commercial flights. The federal Transportation Department has issued new rules halting….
Continue ReadingAs traffic resumes its crush, look out for big and little concerns on the road
As pandemic-curtailed traffic returns to greater normality, motorists, bikers, and pedestrians may need to pay increased attention to two novel means of transportation taking to the roads: monster-sized SUVs and zippy high-tech scooters. Even as officials in the nation’s capital approved, as expected, new rules on e-scooters, Andrew Hawkins, a reviewer at the Verge news….
Continue ReadingCity Council approves package of measures to increase safety of DC streets
Officials in the nation’s capital have approved a broad-based plan to crack down on the dangers that motorized vehicles pose to pedestrians, cyclists, other drivers, and whole neighborhoods. The District of Columbia City Council acted in response to spiking fatalities and injuries — harms that have increased not only locally but nationwide, as the Washington….
Continue ReadingWith Covid-19 surge unchecked, testing, tracing, and key data teetering, too
How big and bad is the now-unchecked Covid-19 pandemic and the damage it is inflicting on this country? The United States persists as the novel coronavirus epicenter, blowing past previous record numbers of infections to more than 4.5 million. The disease has edged toward claiming the lives of roughly 155,000 Americans. Imagine if the equivalent,….
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