It is a frightening feeling any time a doctor tells you that you have any type of chronic illness. At first your mind wants to reject it, and then you gradually give into the shock of realizing that you actually do have something up with you. Even if you have been exhibiting symptoms for a long time, your problem just isn’t set in stone till the doctor tells you those fateful words: I’m sorry to tell you, but the tests came back positive.
When the diagnosis is Tardive Dyskinesia, it truly should not come as any surprise. In truth, it may be be a relief, because after you know what the issue is, there are steps you can take to reverse the condition, and you definitely need to do that. Perhaps you have been afflicted by the embarrassment of your tongue popping out of your mouth every few seconds or of making horrible grimaces that are out of your control. You could have had a lot of painful physical symptoms, such as neck seizures or involuntary twisting of joints. Do not accept anybody when they tell you that you will just have to live with the problems, because they wouldn’t want to if they were in your place. Instead, here is what you can do.
To start you can learn everything there is to know about Tardive Dyskinesia class action lawsuit. Sometimes it’s just great to have someone you can talk to about your condition who will understand and offer proposals for what you should do next. Contacting the Foundation will put you in contact with caring folk who can help. You can also visit their site at www.dystonia-foundation.org.
Another group which may be able to offer you the data and help you need is We Move which is a support group for folks with movement disorders. This organization has groups thru the planet. You’ll find the nearest group by going to their website at www.wemove.org. Folks who have developed Tardive Dyskinesia have filed successful lawsuits, and many other lawsuits are in process. If you are diagnosed with TD after taking Zyprexa [ Olanzapine ], Risperdal [ Risperidone ], Seroquel [ Quetiapine ] or plenty of other neuroleptic drugs, you may be in a position to file a lawsuit looking for compensation to help you sustain due to the losses you incur because of the condition. Lawsuits are often filed successfully against doctors prescribing medicines known to yet TD. However, it’s yet to be seen if legal actions against the giant pharmaceutical firms who produce the drugs will be settled in favor of patients.
There are many doctors who have analyzed TD and know the right kinds of treatments that may reverse the symptoms of the disorder and bring relief to patients. If your family physician isn’t able to provide you with this kind of help, you can contact a psychiatrist instead who has experience dealing with the side effects of anti-psychotic drugs. Additionally, you will find a neurologist can effectively treat your Tardive Dyskinesia Sickness.
The tips have started rolling in - (and a dose of nostalgia with them).
An unusual one from Mrs Lewis of Wiltshire. She used her old tights (legs only) for crocheting bath mats, and, whilst the crocheting bug was still with her, used up the rest of her old tights by treating the dog to a new cover for the inside of its basket. As she says - “it is simple to wash and quick to dry”. She crochets these circles along the same lines as we used to make shoulder handbags. Do you remember them ladies? We used to crochet two matching circles plus a long narrow strip and then join the circles to the strip and hey presto! a bag which was very fashionable at the time . . . And as everything comes round in circles, they will no doubt one day be fashionable again. Come to think of it, the same bag created out of old tights/stockings would make a very useful ‘peg bag’, one which you could sling over your shoulder and so leave the hands free for hanging out the washing.
Crocheting
As soon as Mrs L mentioned ‘crocheting with fabric’, my mind immediately flipped back to my childhood. I can remember my friends’ mothers and also grandmothers sitting together, chatting, and at the same time pushing strips of old woollen cloth into a sacking backing (with a special metal dibber) and then pulling the same strip towards them. The result was a closely woven ’shag style’ rug with an approx. 2″ pile, often of a beautiful and intricate design. Of course, the children weren’t allowed to be idle and they were roped in to cut up old woollen coats, skirts, etc. into 4″ x l” strips. Most families were content with the making of just a fireside rug which could be taken up, thrown over the washing line and given its once-a-week beating, but my friend’s mother had ambition and the whole family (including the six children) spent the winter evenings making a rug which when completed filled the whole of the living room. (I think she must have been the Mrs Bouquet of her day). This was the first time that I had seen a fitted carpet and Oh! what bliss! as we rolled around on it. Not very hygienic of course with six children, two dogs, cats and friends playing on it, and as it was too heavy for its weekly ‘lift’ and was therefore only moved for its ‘once-a-year’ spring clean, it probably had a few more additions to the family, living and growing in it. Well, we didn’t have vacuum cleaners, health visitors, etc, but didn’t we have fun? It was such a change from the usual cold lino with just the obligatory rug in front of the fire and often that was made of hard coconut matting, which was not exactly child friendly.
(You didn’t have to play outside to get a grazed knee you could get it by playing inside on the coconut matting.) Perhaps that is why most of the games were played at the family table, as the cold lino was not the place to play during the cold winter evenings. Isn’t it funny how times have changed? Now, the focal point of any living/family room is the TV and, then, the large family table dominated the room. In fact, it was often half the size of the living room as it had to accommodate large families (several of my friends had six or eight siblings) and of course they all sat down together for meals
Living rooms
Note that I have mentioned ‘living rooms’ - the word ‘lounge’ had not yet arrived in the family vocabulary. Lounges as far as our young ears could determine were rather dubious places in pubs and hotels, places where good girls didn’t frequent. Isn’t it funny also how actual words come in and go out of fashion. I think lounge has done the complete circle now. The working class front room/sitting room became the estate agents’ upmarket ’spacious lounge’ and now the word ‘lounge’ is considered a ‘no, no’ and we are back to the estate agents’ ‘large, airy living room/sitting room’, etc. And, can you remember when ’sofas’ suddenly went upmarket and became ’settees’, and now ’settee’ is downmarket and it’s back to ’sofa’? Which reminds me - last week I mentioned the word ‘anorak’ to my grandchildren, and they looked at me blankly and asked ‘what’s an anorak?’ I wonder if the pre-anorak word ‘windcheater’ will make a comeback. Hope so, it was such an apt name and we could certainly do with a ‘wind cheater’ at the moment!
All these memories from just one tip. Hope the above has evoked happy childhood memories for you also, but unfortunately all these meanderings means that I am out of space ….. but, watch this space and join me for the rest of the tips …. Unless, of course, you’ve been encouraged to start making a rug or two?
Visit Mabels…Maintaining Bygone Times, containing numerous articles thoughtfully researched mainly for the older person. You may access these articles by visiting http://www.mabels.org.uk/ - You will learn about the best tips, latest news & advice to improve your health, fitness, finances & retirement as well as information on nostalgic topics, places to visit, leisure & lifestyle, mobility & helpful organisations to make the most out of life and much, much more to benefit “Your Quality of Life”.
Although Alli is a non-prescription drug, it is still best to consult your doctor before you start taking it.
Alli, a fat eliminator drug, helps you to lose weight by blocking the unwanted fat that comes from our daily diet. Before using such drug, allow your doctor to give you special blood tests before and after treatment to make sure that there will be no complications on your part.
Before you purchase this drug in pharmacies, it is advisable to ask for any information material that goes with the product. Alli has a starter pack that comprises over 200 pages of free in-pack supplies. This helps lead individuals through the Alli program and helps them make healthy eating choices, supervise daily diets, set expectations for steady weight loss, and manage the results of the treatment.
Certain components of Alli may be unsafe for those with eating disorders who take it, so the person it was recommended for should only be the one to use it.
Tell your doctor if you have a history of anorexia or bulimia. Those with a history of pancreatitis and kidney stones should be disallowed to take the pills. If you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, or your thyroid is under-active, immediately inform your doctor about this. It is important to also let him know if you take any other weight-loss medications whether it may be a prescription or over-the-counter.
Healthcare professionals term a swollen prostate benign prostate hyperplasia, or BPH. In layman’s terms this actually means that the prostate gland, a gland which envelops the urethra and lies under the bladder, becomes bigger and this can impair or even block the flow of urine. As males mature, their prostatic gland grows and as a result may cause ailments such as problems passing water, weak urinary flow, and urinary retention. Nighttime frequency and even continual urinary tract infections are some further symptoms that can result from an enlarged prostate gland.
What Is A Swollen Prostate? Prostate enlargement is considered a commonplace condition of males in their 60’s. It is suggested that men over 50 are examined by their doctors on a yearly basis, regardless of the occurence of any problems, to aid in maintaining improved prostate gland wellness. Inability to micturate or the presence of blood during urination is a signal to seek immediate medical treatment. Surgical procedures and the use of drugs are common treatments for prostatic enlargement. However, erection difficulties or even loss of normal bladder function can be observed as a result of surgery. High blood pressure treatments or medicines to reduce the abnormal prostate gland may also be given for better prostate gland wellness, however, medicine will often result in undesirable side effects. So what holistic alternatives are available?
Troubled with an Enlarged Prostate Gland? Natures’s Way to a More Healthy Prostate Gland: — To aid in the relief of the frequent symptoms associated with prostatic enlargement and in addition to encourage improved prostatic fitness, a few remedies may be recommended. African pygeum inflammation, relieving many of the more annoying symptoms. The treatment African Pygeum has been extensively used for quite a few years by Europeans as a treatment to promote better prostate health, it is a product of a tree indigenous to Africa.
A decrease of dietary fat may improve symptoms, and in addition increasing exercise, frequency of ejaculations to ease the pressure in the prostate gland, it is also advisable to avoid sitting still for a long period of time. Problems are frequently exacerbated by the usage of anti-histamines or decongestant medicines purchased over-the-counter, take these medications with this in mind. Reduction of caffeine and alcoholic drink, avoid drinking within a couple of hours of going to bed to cut down nighttime visits to the lavatory.
There’s also a multitude of additional alternative treatments used for better prostate health — such as the herb saw palmetto, Borago officinalis oil capsules, the chemical element selenium, and also lycopene, a compound found in tomatoes. Before starting whichever holistic therapy please talk over your intent with a doctor.
Debt advice played an important part in the Chancellor’s Pre-Budget report, revealing just how important the Government thinks it is for people with debt problems to seek debt advice earlier, rather than later.
On direct.gov.uk, the section ‘Debt advice services’ is one of only three sections on the ‘helping people in financial difficulty’ page. The section states that: ‘The government is committed to ensuring that any family facing debts which they can’t manage can access free impartial debt advice to help them get back on track.’
It also says that ‘The Pre-Budget Report announced additional government funding of £5.85 million for an extension of telephone advice services, and £10 million to extend face-to-face advice services, to ensure everyone has access to free debt advice when they need it’.
Whatever the economic climate, debts can always be a problem if the borrower can’t keep up with the repayments. In other words, debt advice always has an important role to play, helping people learn to budget, negotiate with their lenders, plan ahead - and one day get out of debt altogether.
At a time like this, however, with the threat of deflation hanging over the economy - and the threat of unemployment hanging over many individuals - debt advice is more vital than ever. Already, borrowers everywhere are finding their budgets stretched to the limit: any decrease in their income could easily push them over the limit.
In other words, now is - for many people - the time to start really working on paying off their debts. Some people, like bankers and estate agents, were ‘hit’ by the economic troubles last year. Others are worried about their job security in the near future. Still others are working in industries which so far don’t seem to have been hit by the country’s economic problems, but which could be eventually. But whether they’re worried about coping with a lower income in six months or in two years, their debt could be much easier to deal with if they can pay off as much as possible in the meantime!
Which explains why the Government is spending over £15 million extra to ensure people can access the debt advice they need. However, the Government-funded services are by no means the only ones providing debt advice. Various companies also provide free debt advice and debt help.
Even so, it’s no substitute for the personalised, back-and-forth debt advice that can only come over the phone or face-to-face. Basically, everyone’s debt problems are different, and the best way of tackling them is to talk to someone who knows what questions to ask so they can build up a complete picture of their debt situation and advise them on the best course of action, whether that means a professional debt solution or just a few lifestyle changes.
Stronger and Healthier Because of Purity12
You may use Purity 12 in the privacy of your house, with no need to endure a shameful trip to your doctor. This colon cleansing system not only cleanses your colon. It also contains anti-parasites formula that kill parasites and worms.Not merely will your body be ready to rid itself of the pollutants, this superior formula also includes an herbal anti-parasite that permits your body to dump any unpleasant toxins and parasites that will have inhabited your abdominal tract. This colon cleansing system not only removes the harmful toxic waste build up that has been residing in your colon, but it also removes harmful parasites, worms, toxins, and chemicals, relieves bloating and constipation, burns fat (which promotes weight loss), contains Pro-Biotics (which create a hostile environment for harmful bacteria, worms, and parasites, causing them to flee from your system), lowers your susceptibility to getting chronic diseases and colon cancer, boosts your metabolism, and renews your energy and vitality. This is actually a dazzling colon cleaner.
Having a poisonous colon can be very unsafe to your well-being. This poisonous, unhealthy build up makes it much tougher for waste to make its way through your guts and out of your body. This poison accumulation takes the form of maybe 15 pounds of fecal matter. We need to remove the effects of metabolic waste, mucous build up and toxins safely and naturally in order to feel renewed. You can now purge your body of its toxic fecal matter and restore your colon to health. One cleaning system for removing poison would be Purity 12, a colon cleaning system.
Colon cleansing has been going on for ages. In fact, this act of colon cleansing has been documented as having been going on since as early as 1500 B.C. in Egypt. Although many medical practices have come and gone out of style throughout history, colon cleansing is still used today, many years, decades, centuries, even a millennium later! The benefits of colon cleansing are simply too hard to ignore! Colon cleansing truly can be a life saver, as well as a body purifier, which is why we still practice colon cleansing now, so many years, centuries, even a millennium later. Try Purity 12 Cleanse colon cleansing system today.The people of the past were not ignorant to its benefits, and neither are we.
How can anybody categorize Machiavelli Hangman into a single genre? There are those films that you watch and you immediately can tell that they will be thrown into the same box as Pulp Fiction or Memento or Usual Suspects. Others will fall into the quiet road-trip flicks like Almost Famous, Thelma and Louise, Stand by Me. Then, there are the big Hollywood flicks like War of the Worlds, Jurassic Park, Batman Begins, Superman Returns.
Before seeing the film, I had the strong sense that Machiavelli Hangman was going to be an exact replica of Pulp Fiction because all the articles referred to it as a Quentin Tarantino-esque picture. They couldn’t have been further from the truth. Originally, I thought that the filmmakers would attempt at impersonating the director of Reservoir Dogs like so many have before (a prime example was the awful Go). Usually, it either is Tarantino dialogue or it’s crap and knowing for a fact that Tarantino had nothing to do with Machiavelli Hangman (http://www.hangmanmovie.com), I went in automatically thinking it was going to be crap.
Which brings us back to what we were just discussing about how there are some films that you can’t categorize. The Raiders of the Lost Arch (beside the other Indiana Jones installments) was one of those films because it was not just an action-adventure film. It had a great deal of comedy and at the same time some very dramatic elements infused into the storyline.
These days it seems that most films stick to their genre and they go with it without trying to give their stories any additional depth. After all, movies are like people and as human beings, we not all just sad, or all just happy.
Machiavelli Hangman blew me away in that it transcended every type of categorization and it became so human in its approach that it moved me beyond words. It was the best of those comedies like Some Like It Hot while being a great drama like Crash and still managing to feed the minds of those arthouse film lovers - it is up there with Mullholland Drive and Memento without losing its audience like the previous two did.
Shervin Youssefian (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1352346/), whom many have already started calling the next Alain Resnais or Jean-Luc Goddard, takes a single event and he stretches it over a period of two days and as an audience we get to see the subtle exchanges between the characters. While a film like Armageddon doesn’t leave you enough breathing space in between the thunder-fast editing, Machiavelli Hangman understands and uses the power of silence and music to convey secrets.
In the test-screening theatre, there were viewers between the ages of 14 and all the way to their late 70’s who were equally entranced into the film, their eyes glued to the silver screen. When a film lives in this middle ground and can achieve such a universal appeal without categorization, then it is the true work of a master filmmaker and it will surely stand the test of time.
About the author:
Robert Mortenson is a movie reviewer.
Machiavelli Hangman
http://www.hangmanmovie.com
(NC)Fiber is a very beneficial substance for your body. And when fiber is delivered in the delicious and sweet package of a fresh pear, it takes on a whole new level of appeal.
Pears are one of the most fiber-filled fruits around. With 4 grams of dietary fiber per serving (one medium sized pear, think the size of a baseball), pears are a good source of fiber - one pear will give you about 18% of the recommended daily intake of fiber. More information about pear nutrition can be found at www.usapears.com.
In addition to its digestive tract benefits, fiber has a load of other health benefits including:
• Fiber slows how quickly sugar goes into the bloodstream, which may reduce peaks of blood sugar levels - very important for diabetics.
• Low-fat diets rich in fruits and vegetables (foods that are low in fat and cholesterol and that contain dietary fiber and vitamins A and C) may reduce the risks of some types of cancer and coronary heart disease.
• For those on low-carb diets, the grams of fiber can be subtracted from the total carbohydrates because fiber stays undigested in the body.
For those looking to lose a few pounds, eating a high-fiber diet versus a low-fiber diet (calorie intake being equal) promotes postmeal “satiety,” meaning we feel fuller and for longer after eating a high-fiber meal. Researchers from the State University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil reported that overweight women who ate three small pears a day (about 300 grams total) lost more weight on a low-calorie diet than women who didn’t add high-fiber fruit options to their diet. In addition, the fruit eaters ate fewer calories overall, boosting their weight loss efforts.
While you’re enjoying a sweet delicious pear grown in the Pacific Northwest, remember that the compact package and ultra-sweet taste is rewarding your taste buds as well as your body.
- News Canada
About the Author
News Canada provides a wide selection of current, ready-to-use copyright free news stories and ideas for Television, Print, Radio, and the Web.
News Canada is a niche service in public relations, offering access to print, radio, television, and now the Internet media, with ready-to-use, editorial “fill” items. Monitoring and analysis are two more of our primary services. The service supplies access to the national media for marketers in the private, the public, and the not-for-profit sectors. Your corporate and product news, consumer tips and information are packaged in a variety of ready-to-use formats and are made available to every Canadian media organization including weekly and daily newspapers, cable and commercial television stations, radio stations, as well as the Web sites Canadians visit most often. Visit News Canada and learn more about the NC services.
We are fast approaching the season where love, more than simply being in the air, is positively running riot. It’s something to do with the elevated moods that warmer weather and sunshine inevitably bring. With the unseasonably hot April weather, you can expect to see more proposals and hasty weddings flying in left, right, and centre. I can’t think of a better time to celebrate a union than with the backdrop of sunny blasts, singing birds and calming breezes. Summer is nature’s own light display. It’s lucky that here at the Wish Lantern headquarters, we are prepared for all eventualities. We have designed two types of wedding package which suit every bride and grooms personal requirements. There is both a small and a large wedding package, the first comprising of 50 lantern, the second of 100. No bride needs more than 100. Both packages come with personalized inserts designed by a talented artist. On these are the names of the happy couple along with the date of the wedding and a list of instructions addressed to the couple an guests. There are also wedding lighters in each package, which can be used for other activities aside from lighting the lanterns, wish tags upon which the guests can dedicate wishes to the happy couple, and highlighters should anyone wish to write directly on the lanterns. What more could you want?
This article is designed to raise the concern about teen driving fatalities and what can be done to drastically reduce this alarming statistic. While this article may be sensitive to some readers in certain industries, we would like to raise the question as to what can be done to make our teens better drivers and how to alert others on the road that a new driver is behind the wheel.
Our previous article raised the question of whether the driving age in the country needs to be raised to age 18. With more teen fatalities on the road each year than the amount of deaths reported from 9/11, we must consider changes to our laws governing teen driving. From another perspective one could say that the number of teen deaths on the roads in the U.S. are greater than the number of deaths reported of U.S. soldiers before and after the war in Iraq! Are our roads a war zone?
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported 3,657 drivers aged 15 to 20 years killed in 2003. In 2002, the number killed in the same age range was 3,827. While one would never make light of 9/11, let us consider the amount of energy, government changes, money, war - to name just a few - put forth after 9/11. If only a fraction of this energy had been given to the teen driving problem, perhaps we could have reduced teen driving related deaths in 2002 and 2003 - a staggering total of 7,484.
Following is a combined statement from
- Gordon Booth, Chief Instructor of Drivetrain, Inc. in California, http://www.drivetrainusa.com, and
- Eddie Wren of Drive and Stay Alive in New York, http://www.driveandstayalive.com, regarding our teen driving problem:
“Research in several countries has shown not only that the younger people are when they start to drive the higher the chances of having a serious or fatal crash within the first year of driving, but also that a young person’s brain is not fully developed until after the teenage years have passed, and that this, in turn, also reduces a young person’s abilities as a safe driver.
Wisdom and any genuine desire to protect young people both undeniably dictate that it is better if teenagers do not start to drive until they are at least 17 or preferably 18 years old.
It is noticeable that if parents can hold back a female for 6 months, so they do not start driving until 17 or 18, then one sees them mature at least 12 months. With males a hold back of about a year equals a maturity increase of about 6 months.”
Inexperience, risk taking behavior, and immaturity are cited as primary reasons for these accidents. Increasing the driving age to 18 would not necessarily change all three primary reasons. Therefore, we must consider other possible solutions as well, such as the driving education process itself.
Driver Education Comparison
Comparing our driver education process with other countries is an important step in exploring possible solutions. Using Germany as an example, we were able to obtain the following information directly from the German driving school online at http://www.fahrschule.de
- First you must be at least 18 years of age.
- After you have completed the driver education course and school you are on probation for 2 years. During these 2 years a lesser driving violation would require you to re-take the driver education course. A more serious driving violation would call for your driver’s license to be revoked. In either case when your driver’s license has been granted once again you will be on probation for 4 years.
- The driver training course covers almost 28 hours of classroom education followed by 35 hours of driving school on the road to cover varying conditions of day, night and autobahn experience with an instructor.
The above only covers a small portion of the driving laws in Germany. It is evident, however, that the United States does not have these requirements.
How to drive a car?
Teen driver’s aside, it is reasonable to suggest that many adults who have had their driver’s license for years are not knowledgeable enough on how to drive a car. They may be traffic regulation experienced, but what about actually using the vehicle? During the driver education process we should include how to handle a car under different conditions — road conditions for rain, snow, ice, what to do if you have to slam on the brakes at higher speeds, sudden unexpected responses requiring split second decisions, how to handle the automatic and manual transmissions - to name just a few.
This type of training can be performed in driver simulation courses that are currently available from RoadSafety.Com (http://www.roadsafety.com). Larry Selditz, President of RoadSafety.Com had this to tell us:
“For the past 18 months we have been involved in a research and development project to bring effective vehicle simulation to novice drivers and others. While simulators have been around for years, the operative word here is “effective”, science-based simulation. We recently completed the Research and Development phase of this project and are now in the process of helping to develop a cost effective commercially viable simulation product. One of our Vice Presidents, Mr. Fred Craft, is forming a new company utilizing the technology we helped develop. Fred is an industry expert in advanced vehicle simulation and I believe he would be an ideal contact for input for your article. I have forwarded a copy of your email to Fred.
I have always been a strong advocate of training and believe it is a key component to developing safe driving SKILLS. That is exactly what a simulator can help achieve. Our vehicle and driver monitoring system, a “black box”, is the key to developing safe driving HABITS. As my friend Ron Thackery, Vice President of Risk and Safety for American Medical Response, once told me “what you monitor you can control - what you don’t, you won’t”. That applies to teenagers as well as paramedics. American Medical response operates the largest fleet of ambulances in the world and uses our black box to control and improve driver performance. The same principles that have reduced the number of ambulance crashes by more than 90% are used in the “black box” we developed for teenage drivers.”
Economic Implications
The primary industries affected by increasing the driving age to 18 are the automotive manufacturers, auto insurance, gas and driving education companies. This basically covers the largest firms within the auto industry.
The automotive manufacturers would only see a delay in purchases by a factor of three years and only for the first three years that the driving age was raised to 18. Most 18 year olds would receive their driver’s licenses during the summer after graduating from high school.
The auto insurance companies would hopefully gain revenues by not having to pay out insurance claims due to car accidents created by the 15 - 18 old teens. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicates approximately 300,000 motor vehicle crashes resulting in injuries for this age group per year, which is above the figures for the fatalities mentioned earlier in this article. Therefore, auto insurance industry would have a gain from raising the age limit and not having to pay out 900,000 claims from car accidents over a three year period from age 15 to 18.
Gasoline companies would see a reduction in their revenues with the reduction of gasoline usage. Whether 15 - 18 year old drivers generate a significant impact upon the revenues of gasoline companies is unsubstantiated as of this writing. However, it would be safe to surmise some level of reduction would be apparent. The reduction of emissions would indeed benefit our planet.
Driving schools would see the most significant impact. Short term they would lose business for the first 3 years. Those three years could be used, however, to help provide them support by both State and Federal governments. The amount of financial effort that has been put forth after 9/11 against terrorist continues to question if only a fraction could be used in this effort to help save our teenagers. During these three years, assisting them to prepare courses should be considered. Long term the driving schools would actually fair better as they would have more hours per student to charge.
Affects upon the Family
For parents with new teen drivers with permit licenses going through a state Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) program, there will be no affect in the initial implementation of changing the driving age to 18. Parents with teens that have their operators license and who have allowed their teens to drive on their own will most likely find themselves having to continue to “chauffeur” their 16 - 18 year old teens to their various activities. While precious time would be encumbered, you can get comfort from the fact that your teen is still alive, your car is not damaged from an auto accident and your insurance has not doubled because of a teen driver on the policy.
What if we do not change the driving age?
I have a philosophy that the difference between utopia and reality is a choice. A choice by an individual or a group to make a change or move in a different direction. The statistics about teen driving require a change. If changing the driving age to 18 is too big of a leap today, then we can take smaller steps to help teens have better education and understand how to drive a car instead of blindly using a deadly weapon.
We need to review what the driving schools are asked to teach the students. The requirements need to include not only traffic safety, but car driving training under differing conditions. The number of hours required behind the wheel should equal the number of hours required for the course, which is currently around 30 hours. Parents would spend more money to achieve this, but the additional cost is insignificant compared to the lives of their loved ones.
Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) should be a requirement nationwide and include a probationary period for all new drivers to last through age 18. Traffic violations during the probationary period should require re-taking the driver education course -not with adults that are in a defensive driving course, but with other teens. Asking the teen to re-take driver education through the same school they received their initial education would be a consideration. Tracking the teens that re-take driver education and the driving schools they attend would also help understand if there is a driving school that may not be properly educating the teens.
Driving school vehicles are always well marked while students are driving on the main roads. Unfortunately, that requirement does not extend to the family vehicle for new drivers in a GDL program. All family vehicles with a new teen driver should be required to have at least one label on the back of the car while the teen is driving and through age 18.
Bumper stickers are not always practical when a teen is occasionally driving the car and stick-on vinyl to the window does not address night-time driving issues. The technology exists today to use car magnets that are thick, reflective for the night and are durable. These types of car magnets can be found at Auto Safety Magnets. http://www.autosafetymagnets.com Identifying these almost 2 million vehicles on the road should be a requirement on a national level.
In Conclusion
We hope the above information was helpful to address the problems, the need, and identify options if the driving age remained status quo or if it were raised. We hope the information was comprehensive to show the economic implications and the hindrances to raising the driving age. With these alarming statistics why have state and federal governments, as well as, the automotive industry jumped to the rescue? Have financial issues during hard economic times been put ahead of our youth? We have to “cowboy-up” to a resolution about this national problem.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Melih (may-lee) Oztalay, CEO
Auto Safety Magnets
Direct: (248) 568-2241
Web: http://www.autosafetymagnets.com
Newsletter: http://www.autosafetymagnets.com/newsletter.php
Blog: http://autosafetymagnets.blogspot.com
