...A 41 percent drop in traffic fatalities (click title to entry - thank you) had a huge impact on the numbers — crashes annually account for half or more of kids’ deaths from accidents.
The CDC didn’t analyze what caused that decline, but officials believe it was helped by measures like graduated driver’s licenses and use of child safety and booster seats.
Childhood deaths from drownings, fires and falls also plummeted.
Meanwhile, the CDC saw an alarming jump in deaths from prescription drug overdoses, a trend that reaches down into the ranks of older teenagers....
The drop of deaths in car accidents is wonderful, I can't help but wonder if there are less miles children are traveling due to the cost of gasoline or are the improvement by auto manufacturers having this incredible impact. My guess is the manufacturers are sincerely trying to engineer their cars to be safe. I congratulate them.
I do know there was a huge effort by the Obama administration to restrict the child safety seats in cars to be sure the safest designs were on the market while eliminating those that had proven to be a far more risky design. That initiative occurred at least a year ago, if I remember correctly. It may be the leadership of President Obama's administration is having an impact in the well being of the American citizen.
From the CDC:
Saving Lives and Protecting People: Prevention of Prescription Painkiller Overdoses (click here)
Overdose deaths have skyrocketed in the past decade, largely because of prescription painkillers. The stories are tragic: A father whose addiction to prescription painkillers ended in a fatal overdose. A teen who died after taking prescription painkillers stolen from a friend’s grandmother. Seven members of one community who overdosed on painkillers they got from a pain clinic.
Overdoses of prescription painkillers have more than tripled in the past 20 years, leading to 14,800 deaths in the United States in 2008....
