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We hope you had a wonderful 4th of July and are getting a chance to enjoy backyard barbecues, weekend excursions, picnics and family time this summer.
This edition of our newsletter includes news on updated laws for child passenger safety and distracted driving; new concussion studies based on what is both the most and least obvious choice in nature; the debate over the efficacy of Head Start Programs; "burnout" as an official diagnosis; and more.
In honor of National Heatstroke Prevention Day, this month's meme is a reminder to Look Before You Lock with a new, rear-facing look and there are no setup charges this month on Heatstroke Items for orders of $250+ of these items.* During July, you can also get a free Pop-up Tabletop Display for orders of $1,000+ (limit of one per account).
If you are going to be at PrevCon 2019, pop by booth #51/52 and say hi. Wendy will be there and would love to see you.
-Jamie, Wendy, and the I'm Safe Team.
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NEWS
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Two more states have better child passenger safety laws on the books… The Governors of both Maine and Louisiana have signed Child Passenger Safety bills into law that will require children under the age of 2 to be secured in rear-facing car seats until they reach the weight or height limits of their car seats. Beyond that, the states' laws are fairly similar as they move through each stage, however, Louisiana's law goes one step further by stating that, "A child who because of age or weight can be placed in more than one category shall be placed in the more protective category."
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Familiarity leads to dangerous driving habits... "When we become conditioned to our driving environment, we become more comfortable and less attentive, which can lead to us taking inappropriate actions," states Dean T. Johnson, president and founder of The Sandy Johnson Foundation. Johnson examined multiple accident reports and found that the effects of being "conditioned" to one's environment contributed to nearly all car crashes. Read more here.
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What do bikes, scooters, skateboarders and runners have in common?... They are neither cars nor pedestrians. With our transportation options constantly changing, this article floats the idea that we need to ask for something bigger than just bike lanes. We also need to re-brand this more functional space – they suggest "Protected Mobility Lanes" which would function a lot like a seaside boardwalk. The re-branding is particularly important because it appeals to a much larger audience. Even for people who don't bike, walk or scoot much, there is something appealing about a downtown boardwalk that allows for people to meander, pop into shops, or just get where they are going. And they can be inspiring and beautiful places, too.
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Helmets save lives, and yet they can't keep the brain from moving around in damaging ways... but a solution to this issue may be closer than ever, thanks to studies on woodpeckers and some novel approaches to injury prevention. The resulting equipment is a collar that essentially creates an airbag for the wearer's brain. After six years of development and testing, the findings continue to return similar, significant results whether the testing was done on SWAT team members or student athletes.
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Emergency info can be more visible and available... I'm Safe is now offering the patented Medical Data Carrier which provides critical life-saving information to emergency responders. The carrier adhesive will not damage the shell of a helmet or a car seat and is designed to be tamper proof, aerodynamic and weather proof. You can see how it works here.
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New Head Start research challenges the validity of previous findings... The Head Start Impact study, authorized in 1998 by Congress, was imperfect from the beginning: "random" wasn't nearly random enough and didn't take into account parental prerogative, among other things. The new research by Chloe Gibbs and Andrew Barr found that children who participated in Head Start "saw reduced teen pregnancy and criminal engagement and increased educational attainment."
Can your Head Start or Early Childhood program use some safety education materials? Our kits come with everything you need to teach your class about personal or home safety, transportation (bus and walking) or car safety, and nutrition or dental health. Contact us for an estimate or sample.
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34 states and Washington, D.C. have legalized marijuana in some form…while Illinois is only the 11th state to legalize recreational marijuana, it reflects a growing trend of a population weary of the ramifications and inequities of marijuana being illegal. At the same time, most people (74% of people who completed the NSC survey) believe that cannabis makes users impaired and shouldn't be combined with driving, much like alcohol. Legalization and decriminalization requires lengthy safety discussions about an extremely complicated substance.
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Tennessee joins 18 other states with their new hands-free law, effective July 1st. The new law makes it illegal to hold a cellphone, read/write/send text messages (or other text based communication), use a cellphone or mobile device to watch, record or broadcast video, or to reach for a device in such a way that will require the driver to be positioned improperly in their seat and seat belt. Drivers will continue to be able to use GPS and use one-swipe or tap features on a centrally mounted or in-dash device. To check your state's distracted driving laws, follow this link.
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One school district in Colorado flipped a switch on mental health screenings in high school… and it's encouraging other districts to not shy away from the subject, even for teens in 7th and 8th grade. The message they are trying to share: "It's OK to not be OK." They asked students to self-evaluate and answer multiple emotional and behavioral questions, including how often they had self-harm inclinations/thoughts recently. One of the biggest takeaways from the survey was that mental health problems can affect any teen, whether they seem to have it all or next to nothing. Teen suicide rates have been increasing – and they increased by almost 30% after the release of the show 13 Reasons Why.
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Are we deep-diving into the world of online gaming in an effort to escape… being online? The World Health Organization (WHO) has not only taken the steps of including "gaming addiction" on its list of modern diseases, but they have also added "burnout", which they classified as an "occupational phenomenon".
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