No Paycheck. No Motorcycle. No Accident. Coincidence?

April 28th, 2010. By AbiK

Apparently not if you go by the latest report by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) on motorcycle accident deaths. The report indicates that motorcycle fatalities for 2009 were down by at least ten percent vs. 2008. And that follows eleven straight years of increases in motorcycle accident deaths.

While, according to the GHSA, the findings are based on preliminary data for full-year 2009, most states reporting motorcycle fatalities for the year have at least nine months of fatality counts submitted to the agency. The GHSA states it is confident, therefore, in being able to make its full-year projection.

What’s interesting is that the GHSA asked its members to suggest reasons for the decline. According to the GHSA release, there were a range of possible reasons submitted: less motorcycle travel due to the economy; increased state attention to motorcycle safety programs; and poor cycling weather conditions in some areas.

GHSA Chairman Vernon Betkey states, “Clearly the economy played a large role in motorcycle deaths declining in 2009. Less disposable income translates to fewer leisure riders, and we suspect that the trend of inexperienced baby boomers buying bikes may have subsided.” (Can’t help having an image of clean-cut Jay Leno in jeans and leather jacket when I hear that last part—though Leno is, indeed, experienced).

To be fair, Betkey also notes that because there had previously been sharp increases in motorcycle accident deaths during the 1997-2008 period, many states ramped up their efforts to improve motorcycle highway safety. Additionally, Betkey cautions that the data only represents one year of data and to really consider this decrease in fatalities a positive trend, there really should be at least three to five years of data.

Still, if there has to be something positive related in part to the economic downturn, we’ll take fewer motorcycle accident deaths.

Join Oprah’s No Phone Zone Day on Friday

April 27th, 2010. By AbiK

Safe to say Oprah’s probably got more folks watching her every day than ants glomming onto a sticky lollipop, but still, I daresay there are some of you out there that are not aware of No Phone Zone Day.

And you should be.

Oprah’s channeling the Doobie Brothers and takin’ it to the streets this Friday, April 30th, to drive home the message that distracted driving—ie, driving while chatting on a cell phone or texting your BFF—causes accidents. Deadly ones.

So she’s asking all of us—you included—to take the No Phone Zone Pledge. You can fill out on online pledge at Oprah.com and join the close to 200,000 others who’ve done so as of when I’m writing this. The No Phone Zone Pledge is a pledge to make your car a No Phone Zone (intuitive, no?) and you’re given three options to choose from in order to make your pledge (there’s also a print out version—see pic at left):

• I will not text while I am driving
• I will not text while driving and will use only handsfree calling if I need to speak on the phone while I am driving.
• I will not text or use my phone while I am driving. If I need to use my phone, I will pull over to a secure location.

For the record, I went with number 2. My heart and conscience wanted to go with number 3, but I know how things’ll most likely play out in reality. So 2 it is.

While you’re at Oprah.com, you can also take the “Your Brain on Texting Quiz“—I did, and scored a 4 out of 5. (Got question #4 wrong).

No Phone Zone Day is supported by the US Department of Transportation (DOT), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), National Organization of Youth Safety (NOYS), FocusDriven, Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), RADD: the Entertainment Industry’s Voice for Road Safety, and the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA).

Fallen Workers Remembered this Workers’ Memorial Day

April 27th, 2010. By janem

Did you know that today is Workers’ Memorial Day? Not to be confused with Memorial Day in May, people worldwide will join together this April 28^th and remember those disabled, injured, made unwell or killed in the workplace. The purpose of this day is to sympathize with those who have suffered due to unsafe, negligent or unfair employment practices, and to raise awareness by encouraging and lobbying unions, lawyers and government for the fair, healthy and safe treatment of workers.

Canada first observed Workers’ Memorial Day in1984, and since that time trade unionists now mark April 28 as an International Day of Mourning:  the slogan “”Remember the dead, fight for the living,” has been adopted by the US (in 1989) and a host of nations, from Asia to Europe to Africa.

It’s important that the public play its part to keep workers safe and to keep in check the tendencies of companies and employers to choose profit over safety. Throughout the world, it is estimated that approximately 270 million accidents occur in the workplace, and that more than 150 million people acquire illnesses related to unsafe or toxic work environments.

April 28 is also the anniversary of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Although OSHA and EPA have made considerable strides in controlling workplace incidents, the organizations say there is a long way to go. A spokesperson for a federation of international labor unions recently said that “…job fatalities, injuries and illnesses have been reduced significantly as have exposures to toxic substances such as asbestos, lead, benzene and cotton dust.”

But asbestos in the workplace is killing people at an alarming rate; people who were exposed Read the rest of this entry »

Floatin’ in Manure, Drive-by Darts & the 911 Taxi: it’s Tortelicious

April 27th, 2010. By LucyC

Welcome to Totally Tortelicious—a review of some of the more bizarre legal stories making news. Goodness knows there’s no shortage of them. 

Talk about being in the s#!t. A man in north-eastern Indiana tried to hide from the police in a liquid manure pit—yup—neck-deep in a combination of dog and hog feces. Eewww. This is the stuff nightmares and reality TV shows are made of… 

The fellow was wanted on methamphetamine charges and was trying to lose the police. Somehow he ended up on a farm near Albion, and decided to take the plunge. Apparently he was hiding in the liquid manure pit for at least an hour. I wonder if he had to tread watery-manure to stay afloat? (ohmygod…this doesn’t bear thinking about). 

Anyway, the police hauled the 52-year old out of the crapper so to speak, arrested him and took him to hospital where he was treated for hypothermia before being taken to jail. No doubt the police would have had to hosed him down before putting him in the squad car. I guess this is the stuff they don’t tell you about when you join ‘the Force’.

This story is anything but pedestrian(s)…As a driver, I can think of several reasons why pedestrians frankly, are a pain (except when I’m on foot, of course). However, one woman in Wisconsin got a little carried away in fulfilling her anti-pedestrian fantasies. 

Forty-one year old Paula Wolf was arrested while driving her black minivan, following reports from several pedestrians that they had been hit with some sort of flying object while walking down the street. 

Paula would likely have gotten away with her random attacks, had it not been for a rather astute victim who saw the dart being shot from a pipe that was sticking out of a window in the van. That would certainly give you pause—long enough to get hit. 

Apparently, Ms. Wolf, who eventually confessed to shooting several people, none of whom were seriously injured, told the police officers that she “liked to hear people say ouch.”  Is that really the best excuse she could come up with?

Can’t find a cab? Call 911. That’s what some enterprising partier did in an effort to get home from a nightclub in New Haven, Connecticut. And this young lady was persistent. Twenty-eight year old Quandria Bailey apparently had trouble making the police understand the urgency of the situation, because she called the emergency services number six times asking for a ride home. The dispatcher must have wondered what the heck was going on. 

Presumably the police did pick her up in the end, because she was charged with six counts of misuse of the 911 system. And some poor plonker had to get out of bed at the crack of pre-dawn on a Sunday morning and pony up $1000 to get her out of jail. I don’t think so. 

All this has resulted in the New Haven police issuing a warning to the public not to follow suit—just in case there was any doubt in the public’s mind as to the real purpose of 911. Maybe they ought to define the term ’emergency’  because it seems to mean different things to different generations…

Coca-Cola Shareholders Spurred by Conscience or Profit?

April 26th, 2010. By janem

Coca-Cola shareholders know if their coke glass is half-full or half-empty. By that comment I mean they are aware of public concern regarding the safety of Bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical used in the epoxy lining of Coca-Cola’s canned beverages. Yet at the same time, if something isn’t done about it, sales could potentially drop and so would their dividends. So the shareholders voted last week on a measure that will force the company to go public on plans to rid their beverage cans of BPA.

The Coca-Cola company already eliminated BPA from their plastic bottles, but the plastic used to line aluminum cans still contains BPA. Did the company think this measure would satisfy their shareholders and the public, and they would get away with just a bit of BPA? Apparently not. Shareholders say the company has “failed to provide investors or consumers with sufficient evidence that it is taking steps to address these public health concerns”—and 22% of them voted for a resolution asking the company to publish a report on how it is responding to the “public policy challenges” related to BPA and what they’re doing to come up with alternatives for their beverage cans.

Meanwhile, as reported by Business Wire, Coca-Cola’s Board of Directors today approved the quarterly dividend of 44 cents per common share, up from 41 cents. Coca-cola returned $5.3 billion to shareowners in 2009, through $3.8 billion in dividends and $1.5 billion in share repurchases.

BPA is an endocrine disruptor that interrupts hormones and has been linked with breast cancer, Read the rest of this entry »