Greensboro Workers' Compensation And Personal Injury Blog

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems are safety features on new vehicles that are meant to help drivers avoid accidents. New car owners in North Carolina may have already seen the benefits of ADAS for themselves. According to a study from J.D. Power, more than half of new car owners were able to prevent a crash through ADAS in the first 90 days of owning the vehicle.

It turns out that 49% avoided a crash thanks to blind spot alert, while 42% could credit backup cameras and parking sensors with it. Backup cameras can be found in all new vehicles. Lastly, 35% of participants in the study said that the forward collision alert or automatic emergency braking helped them avert a crash.

According to data maintained by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, there were 37,133 motor vehicle accident fatalities in 2017. Drivers in North Carolina should be aware of which vehicles are involved in the most crashes. This information can be helpful when purchasing a car or simply driving down the road. The vehicles that were most likely to be involved in fatal accidents are all sport coupes or small cars. Smaller and lighter cars do not protect occupants as well as larger, heavier vehicles.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has a system for gathering and analyzing fatal crash data that's called the Fatality Analysis Reporting System. According to FARS, the vehicle most likely to be involved in a fatal crash from the model years 2013 to 2017 is the Mitsubishi Mirage. The Chevy Corvette was second while the Honda Fit landed at No. 3. According to the CEO of iSeeCars, subcompacts have a fatal crash rate of 4.5 cars for every billion miles traveled. This is more than double the overall rate for all cars.

OSHA safety codes are designed to prevent workplace accidents in North Carolina and throughout the country. These rules normally focus on a specific task per rule, such as the height of an electrical outlet from the floor. But a new rule takes a more comprehensive approach to the workplace.

National Fire Prevention Association Rule 70E focuses on a work zone rather than a single task. The rule was created pursuant to a request from OSHA to help eliminate electrical hazards. It is not a single rule, but a series of rules. It focuses on setting up, implementing and management of a work zone.

Employers in North Carolina should make sure that their electrical systems are working properly. If not, employees could incur catastrophic injuries, some of which could be fatal. A lack of proper grounding or bonding systems could also result in downtime concerns that could put companies at a competitive disadvantage. If the downtime occurs in a 911 call center or other emergency facility, it could put the entire community at risk. To prevent this from happening, it is important to comply with the National Electrical Code.

Ideally, businesses and emergency centers will go above and beyond those requirements. This is because it is not always the best or easiest system to employ. Therefore, it should be seen as a starting point to keep electrical damage to a minimum. It is similar to how meeting OHSA safety requirements should be a starting point as opposed to an end goal. In many cases, upgrades are relatively affordable, and they can save money in the long run as well. For example, some buildings can be made safer simply by changing out existing wires for new ones.