Dalton Daily Citizen. April 5, 2023.
Editorial: When driving, give your full attention to the road
April has been designated National Distracted Driving Awareness Month by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and that’s a good reminder of the importance of putting your cell phone or anything else down while driving and concentrating on exactly where it’s going should: on the street and your surroundings.
If common sense and the fear of a fatal accident aren’t enough to convince you of the need to avoid driving while distracted, the future may only result in a speeding ticket if law enforcement sees you’re endangering yourself and others by driving not really paying attention if you drive carefully.
Georgia’s “Hands-Free Law” came into force on July 1, 2018, prohibiting drivers from holding a phone or supporting a phone with their body while driving.
The number of people killed in distraction-related accidents in Georgia has decreased since the state’s acquittal law went into effect on July 1, 2018. According to data from the NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), the number of people killed in distracted driving-related accidents in the state decreased by 25% in 2020 compared to 2017, the first full year before the hands-free law.
Nearly 32,500 people were killed in distraction-related accidents in the United States from 2011 to 2020, according to NHTSA. In 2019, 18% of people killed in distraction-related accidents in the US were pedestrians, cyclists, or others using a roadway in some way where they weren’t riding in a car.
Text messaging while driving remains a major factor in distraction-related accidents involving younger drivers. Nine percent of 15- to 19-year-old drivers involved in fatal accidents in the United States in 2019 were reported as distracted.
According to NHTSA, the number of fatal accidents caused by distracted drivers ages 15 to 20 in Georgia has decreased by 70% since the hands-free law was enacted.
The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety and NHTSA offer the following tips to help prevent distraction-related accidents:
• If you need or expect to send an important text or email, find a safe place to park your car to read or send the message.
• Give passengers access to your phone to act as a ‘dedicated texter’.
• Do not call, text, or send any type of message to someone you know is driving unless it is urgent
• Put your phone away before you start your journey. You can check it when you reach your destination or take a rest.
• Hang up your phone if your passenger asks you to. Do not endanger the lives of others.
Life is too precious.
Protect it, yours and others by staying fully alert and focused behind the wheel.
You can’t afford not to be.
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Valdosta Daily Times. April 5, 2023.
Editorial: Autism greatly misunderstood
April is Autism Awareness Month.
Autism is widely misunderstood.
Autism can be difficult to define because autism spectrum disorders describe a wide range of disorders with symptoms that vary in type and severity.
The organization Autism Speaks describes autism broadly as “a group of complex brain development disorders.”
According to Autism Speaks, the disorders can include “intellectual disability, difficulties in motor coordination and attention, and physical health problems such as sleep and gastrointestinal disorders.”
It’s not uncommon for people with different types of autism to excel in math, art, music, or other fields.
Research has shown that there appears to be no single cause of autism.
However, reports have shown that genetic research is progressing rapidly and as a result, mutations that are associated with autism disorders are being identified.
Additionally, experts have said that there are environmental factors that seem to contribute to brain development, and as scientists learn more about these factors, the disorder may one day become more preventable.
Symptoms most commonly begin to manifest between the ages of 2 and 3 years, and early intervention is critical to managing the disorders, according to health professionals.
Destigmatizing the disorder and raising awareness of how to deal with autism on a daily basis can go a long way in helping families deal with the challenges it presents.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identifies about one in 68 American children as having the autism spectrum.
According to Autism Speaks, studies also show that autism is four to five times more common in boys than in girls. In the United States, an estimated one in 42 boys and one in 189 girls will be diagnosed with autism. More than 3 million people in the United States live with some form of autism.
Autism has been called “the fastest growing major developmental disability in the United States.”
We often fear or ignore things that we don’t understand and that are outside of our comfort zone.
We may shy away from people who are different from us and close ourselves off to experiences that could enrich our lives in meaningful ways if only we took the time to learn things we don’t understand.
We are all different from each other in one way or another.
However, most of us will never face the daily living challenges that families of children with autism face. Rarely will you hear these families complain. Rather, they generally talk about milestones reached and small joys and joys in life that most of us just take for granted.
As a community, we should broaden our understanding and be more sensitive to families who are struggling to provide service to their children while being part of the community without being viewed with pity or even contempt.
While children and adults who suffer from autism may be different in many ways, in other respects they are like all children – excited, enjoying life, and loving the hugs and encouragement of close friends and family members.
Don’t close yourself off to the joys and fulfillment that can come from getting to know people just because the challenges they face in life are different from your own.
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Brunswick News. April 1, 2023.
Editorial: Lawmakers have work to do at the end of the session
The Georgian legislator is patted on the back for positive outcomes of this session of the General Assembly. You did a lot of important and necessary business before Sine Die Wednesday.
HOPE scholarships, for example, cover full tuition for those who have them, and to discourage gang activity in the Peach State and gang recruitment, prison sentences have been increased. With the explosion of this criminal element, countermeasures are needed.
Coastal College of Georgia in Brunswick will receive the $1.4 million to design the proposed Nunnally Building expansion it and its partner, the Southeast Georgia Health System, will use to improve the School of Nursing and Health Sciences was requested. There is no better time for the project than now. Hospitals across the state, including on the coast, are suffering from shortages of nurses and other healthcare workers.
But there is still work to be done, laws designed to help those who are unable to help themselves, which is withered on the vine. Another session ended again with no solution to the medical marijuana issue. Regrettably, citizens young and old who suffered from mental health issues also lost out on the Senate’s failure to pick up where lawmakers left off last year.
This year, Georgians at risk of seizures and the serious complications of chemotherapy will not receive assistance again this year. The delay is largely due to the inability of the House and Senate to reach consensus.
As previously mentioned, it is evident that few if any legislators are directly or indirectly affected by these medical issues. Otherwise, they would stop playing cat and mouse while thousands of voters continue to suffer.
Most recently, about 30,000 Georgians signed up for what could alleviate misery or prevent death. May state legislators never know in person what it’s like to need something they can’t readily acquire.
Only one word is needed to describe the inaction of those who worked on legislation that would have helped countless individuals, families and communities by increasing support for children and adults struggling with mental illness: shameful.
Improving the service would mean more than just lifting Georgia from the bottom of states with a poor record in helping people with mental health problems. It would be a sign of compassion for those around you.
The legislature can do better. They can and they must.
END
