Mind your head

During Brain Injury Awareness Week (September 13?19) NRMA Motoring & Services and NRMA Insurance is reminding motorists that the most important and fragile object they carry in their car is their head.
NRMA Policy Specialist, Ms Anne Morphett, said the vast majority of deaths in car crashes are caused by head and upper thoracic injuries so it is important to reinforce the safer driving message.
?Motorists should be aware that if they´re lucky enough not to be killed by head injuries in a collision ? injuries that can occur at speeds as low as 20 kilometers per hour ? many are left with acquired brain injury,? Ms Morphett said.
Mr Nick Rushworth, President of the Brain Injury Association of NSW, said that acquired brain injury was one of the nation´s leading causes of disability.
?Acquired brain injury, resulting from trauma during car crashes, is a disability of the young, mostly young men. It often produces a lifetime of disability that affects not only the individual but also their family and community as well,? Mr Rushworth said.
NRMA Insurance Road Safety Manager, Pam Leicester said that thousands of people each year in NSW are severely injured in crashes.
?Around 70,000 Australians suffer acquired brain injury every year in NSW alone and almost half of these result from vehicle collisions. Acquired brain injury, even at the least severe end of the scale, can devastate a person´s life.
?Importantly, it´s not just those inside a vehicle that are at risk of being injured in a crash, other road users such as motorcyclists and pedestrians are also vulnerable,? Ms Leicester said.
?The NRMA wants motorists this week to appreciate the implications of acquired brain injury as it relates to motor vehicle crashes, which are most commonly caused by speed, fatigue and drunk driving,? Ms Morphett said.
The NRMA has a number of fact sheets that deal with these and other issues related to safer driving which can be found on the NRMA´s Website at www.mynrma.com.au