The news is grim when it comes to falls and the elderly. In fact, the National Council on Aging reports that “Falls are the leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injuries for older Americans. Falls threaten seniors’ safety and independence and generate enormous economic and personal costs.”

Falls are so commonplace that if your parent falls in the nursing home, you may think this is normal. It should not be.

Nursing home versus house

A nursing home should be much safer than the house or apartment where your parent lived before. For example, one reason you hear about so many elderly people falling is that they have hazards such as rugs and cords on the floor at home. They may also try to walk up or down stairs and fall. Home hazards aside, the medications elderly people are on can result in dizziness and poor balance, dangerous conditions where there is not a lot of supervision.

Nursing homes, on the other hand, should be safe places that minimize or eliminate falling hazards such as cords and puddles. There are many medical staffers around to supervise people who are frail or on medications. Staffers can assist elderly people who cannot walk independently.

Falls in nursing homes

However, too many falls still occur in nursing homes. Many facilities do not have adequate staff, and residents lack supervision. Even those nursing homes that do have enough staff may not do fall risk assessments, and they might take only the most superficial of glances at why a resident falls. A well-done root cause analysis dives deep, looking at the many reasons why a resident fell and using that information to prevent future falls. Even a seemingly simple change such as getting a different wheelchair for a tall resident with dementia can make the difference in preventing falls.

If your parent falls in the nursing home, it is not necessarily a sign of negligence or abuse. However, there is no denying that your mother or father should be safer in a nursing home than at home.

Mississippi drivers may be texting and driving even though they think others doing so is dangerous. Progressive Insurance conducted an online survey in August of about 1,000 people who were not their customers and found that although around 34 percent said they were confident in their ability to text and drive safely, nearly two-thirds said they believed texting and driving was the main cause of traffic accidents. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that in 2015, distracted driving was a factor in motor vehicle accidents that killed 3,477 people and injured 391,000.

There was both a gender and an age divide in how drivers perceived their ability to text and drive safely. About twice as many men thought they were able to do so compared to women. Furthermore, nearly two-thirds of 18-to-35-year-olds reported being very or somewhat confident that they could drive and text safely. Just 6 percent of people 55 and older felt the same way. Among drivers of all ages, more than 80 percent said police should be able to pull over people just for texting and driving.

Drivers also listed other potentially distracting activities that they found acceptable. Among them were making a call, listening to music and reading a map.

When a distracted driver causes an accident that leads to other people being injured, that driver may not face criminal charges. However, if the driver’s insurance company does not offer enough compensation to the injured people, it still may be possible to file a successful civil lawsuit with the assistance of an attorney. The reason is that the burden of proof in a civil lawsuit is lower because it only requires a preponderance of the evidence. Another possibility is that the driver responsible might offer to settle out of court.

Mississippi motorists may have seen large trucks with spikes on their hub caps. These spikes are ornamental and make the trucks and their drivers look more aggressive. They also have the potential of causing more accidents if they extend out too far.

Almost 25 percent of pedestrians and 50 percent of bicyclists who are killed in collisions with large trucks first strike the sides of the large vehicles. If there are protruding spikes, there may be increased risks of these side impacts. Protruding tire spikes may also contact other vehicles, causing them to have accidents. Because of the safety concerns, Hawaii has enacted legislation outlawing the use of ornamental tire spikes.

In one case in Louisiana in 2012, a victim of a car and large truck collision described the truck as having spikes on its hub caps. The fact that the victim noticed these spikes points to the fact that other motorists may be distracted by them. They also tend to lead other motorists to view the trucks as more intimidating and aggressive, which could affect their driving around the trucks. Other than in Hawaii, however, ornamental wheel spikes are not prohibited. Some trucking companies have established their own policies forbidding them.

Truck accidents are often far more catastrophic than accidents involving smaller vehicles. When these accidents are caused by the negligent actions of truck drivers, the injured victims may be able to hold the drivers accountable by filing civil lawsuits against them. People are often able to also name the trucking carriers as defendants in their lawsuits because employers are considered to be vicariously liable for the wrongful and negligent actions of their employees. Experienced personal injury lawyers may investigate truck accidents and work to build the strongest cases for their clients. This may help them to recover more damages than they might otherwise receive.