Tennessee Injury Law Center
Tort law encompasses so many different areas; it is not just car and truck accidents. Essentially, if you were injured or a loved one was killed because of someone else’s mistake, that is almost certainly covered by tort law[1]. So, it includes dog bites, medical malpractice claims, construction accidents, defective products, drownings, golf cart accidents, etc. As a result, the news constantly has little tidbits that relate to our client’s cases and injuries. So, we have decided to collect these tidbits and from time to time publish a Tort Tidbits post. Today’s Tort Tidbits includes encouraging news for spinal cord injuries, a word of warning about adaptive cruise control and drowsy driving.
Spinal Cord Injuries
Spinal cord injuries are devastating and life-changing. In addition to the pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life activities, the medical bills and future medical care can be staggering. But, there has been some good news recently. Medical researchers at Yale have been investigating the use of a patient’s own bone marrow to help improve a patient’s quality of life. In a recent study, patients who had sustained non-penetrating spinal cord injuries as a result of impacts from falls and other accidents were injected with stem cells derived from their own bone marrow. Within weeks, doctors recorded significant improvement in the patient’s ability to walk, use their hands, control their bladder and bowels, etc. We love hearing this type of good news and hope this can help the clients we represent and have represented who have suffered spinal cord injuries.
Adaptive Cruise Control
Adaptive cruise control is essentially a smarter version of regular cruise control. While both control the speed of your vehicle, adaptive cruise control also controls the distance between you and other vehicles in front of you for enhanced safety. However, researchers at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety have recently concluded that drivers who use adaptive cruise control increase their chance of being in a fatal accident by 10%. The reason is that drivers using adaptive cruise control tend to set the target speed higher than they would with regular cruise control and over-rely on the technology. So if you like adaptive cruise control and use it, be mindful of its limitations and set the speed accordingly.
Drowsy Driving
If you are still adjusting to the new time as a result of springing forward, exercise increased caution while driving. Drowsy driving can be just as dangerous as driving while intoxicated, and the loss of just one to two hours of sleep from the recommended seven hours per night can almost double your chances of being in a car accident primarily as a result of decreased reaction times and poor decision-making ability.
At the Law Offices of John Day, our award-winning lawyers love tort law and love helping people after an accident. If you have been injured or a loved one has been killed in an accident and you want to know if you have a case, give us a call. We offer a free consultation. If we think you have a case and you decide to hire us, we handle all accident cases on a contingency basis so we only get paid if we recover money for you.
Nashville: 615-669-3993
Murfreesboro: 615-867-9900
Brentwood: 615-742-4880
Toll-Free: 866-812-8787
[1] If the accident occurred on the job, worker’s compensation laws may also apply.