SureHire Blog

The city of Edmonton, Alberta appears to be taking a pro-active effort in reducing noise pollution for its citizens.

Read the entire National Post Article: Edmonton Bylaw Aims to Reduce Motorcycle Noise

“Edmonton’s city council is believed to be the first in North America to pass a bylaw requiring the muffling of motorcycle noise. Riders will be fined $250 if their motorcycles exceed 92 decibels while idling or 96 decibels while engaged.”

Documented hearing loss can start after only an hour and half at 92dB and just under half an hour at 96dB.  Whether or not the proposed bylaw is regulating public conscious seems to be up for debate, however the health effects of lowing noise levels cannot be ignored.

If the noise levels mentioned in the bylaw were found on a workplace, the employer would be obligated under legislation to either provide satisfactory hearing protection to workers or to reduce the noise level to below 85dB.  If such methods are in place for the workplace it seems that perhaps the same restrictions should be put in place for the general public.  After all, employees can choose for whom they work, but pedestrians cannot choose what vehicle is idling beside them at a red light!

For many people noise is not seen as a viable danger or something that needs to be worried about.  In our culture personal hearing is perpetually put in danger and not only with motorcycles think about these other examples:

• Rock Concerts
• Car Stereo Systems
• Hunting
• Mowing the law
• Bars/Nightclubs
• MP3 players that utilize earbuds

For most people recreational activities are not view as dangerous.  Many people are sure to wear all the proper protective equipment when on the job site, but then go home, mow the lawn and head out to concert without giving a second thought to their health and safety.

I am interested to see what effect this newly passed bylaw will have on the rest of the country.  Even if citizens do not agree with the bylaw it will at least raise awareness that noise pollution is a real problem.

To any bikers who may be reading this and are interested in their hearing health, SureHire is offering custom moulded hearing protection.  Custom moulded ear plugs are ideal for recreational activities and offer CSA compliant hearing protection.  Call 1-866-944-4473 for more information.

If you would like more information about the effects of hearing loss and hearing protection, please call 1-866-944-4473.

Please watch this video and pass it along.  After watching this for the first time, I felt nauseous - so many lives have been destroyed by impaired driving.  STAY SAFE.

WARNING: Graphic Images, Drug and Alcohol Use.

TAC Drunk Driving Campaign Video

Please read the following article in Macleans magazine before reading the content of this blog:

http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/05/26/addiction-new-research-suggests-its-a-choice/

When I first read the title of the Macleans article, “Addiction: New research suggests it’s a choice”,  I had made up my mind that this article would either be biased, or at the very least on the fringe of modern psychology.  However, after reading the theory of Gene Heyman my thoughts may have shifted.

The premise of this article is that fully functioning individuals who make the choice to engage in drug use and then continue to use the drug are doing so in a completely voluntary manner.  Mr. Heyman suggests that the majority of drug users who exhibit addict like behaviour in their teens and twenties, are clean and sober by the time that they reach 30.

I am leery to completely acknowledge Mr. Heyman’s hypothesis as valid, but as with most theories, there does appear to be a grain of truth.  Drug use does have the tendency to have people acting in a “victim like matter”.  If society has the perception that those who use drugs cannot control their actions, it makes it easy for someone who is caught in the cycle of drug or alcohol abuse to state that they have a physical disease and therefore need not take personal action or have personal accountability.  When you think you’re beyond help, you probably won’t try or if you attempt to receive help with the underlying belief that it will not be effective, it probably won’t be.

I am a firm believer that everyone makes choices in life by free will – at least initially.  I am also a believer in the fact that certain people are more susceptible to certain ways of life, whether it be through genetics or the way in which they were raised.  There are many people who have used cocaine one time, and only one time without developing an “addiction”.  There are also many people who’s addiction began by using cocaine just the one time and it turned into a downhill spiral.  A conscious choice to use cocaine was made the first time, but I tend to think that every time thereafter becomes less and less conscious and more of a reflex.

Whether addiction is a choice or not, it is still a real problem.  Perhaps understanding how addiction works will provide more effective treatment options for those who struggle with substance abuse.  A personal choice to be self-destructive can and should be treated entirely differently than a physical disease.  I would like to see independent research done into Mr. Heyman’s theories.  If additional doctors find the same conclusion, it is time to re-evaluate current rehabilitation methods.  If more specific rehab can be offered, recurring patients may be helped much sooner into the process.

Only time will tell.

Corey Haim

80’s child star Corey Haim was pronounced dead in his mother’s California apartment on March 10^th after a long struggle with substance abuse.

Read the full story here:

http://www.popeater.com/2010/03/10/corey-haim-dies-38/

It continues to concern me that celebrity after celebrity (Jimi Hendrix, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Anna Nicole Smith, Heath Ledger, Britney Murphy, DJ AM, Michael Jackson, Corey Haim, etc.) have been dying prematurely due to PRESCRIPTION drug abuse.

Just because a doctor prescribes a drug to you, it does not mean that it is 100% safe. Many prescription drugs have adverse side effects, many of them are addictive and when taken more than the prescribed dosage or combining them with other prescriptions, many of them can be fatal. Prescription drugs, while used for medical purposes can be helpful, but prescriptions continue to move out of the realm of medicine and into the realm of addiction and even street drugs. Currently, some prescription medications (oxycontin for example) are being sold for $20.00 per pill on the street.

Prescription drug abuse is big business. Police, during the investigation of the death of Corey Haim discovered that several of Corey’s prescriptions were tied to an illegal prescription drug ring. A quote from People Magazine states that “The ring orders prescription pads from vendors using stolen doctor identities, the AG’s office said in a statement Friday. The pads are then either sold on the street to addicts or to people who are paid to fill the prescription and then sell the drugs on the underground market.” See the
full article below:

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20351491,00.html

It appears that the latest celebrity craze of rehab (made even more popular by shows such as Celebrity Rehab and Intervention) is on the rise. My hope is that, like most

celebrity trends, the general public will begin to realize that drugs can destroy lives and that seeking treatment is a positive step.  People are quick to point fingers when someone dies from overdose, labelling them a bad or weak person, but the truth is that most of these people have battled for years on end against an addiction that has taken over their entire life. It is not as easy as saying “Just stop taking pills.” Prescription pills are widely available, publicly accepted, affordable and can be highly addictive. The affect that they can have on the lives of those addicted is profound and tragic.

After this recent string of celebrity deaths, I hope that Hollywood makes the first step to acknowledge that prescription drug abuse is a serious problem rather than vilifying those who struggle with addiction. If Hollywood takes the first step, it may trickle down to the general public admitting that there is a serious prescription drug problem in North America.

Qualifier: I will note that toxicology reports have not yet been released in the death of Corey Haim and the rumors of prescription overdose are conjecture at this point.

Life is starting to mirror the Jetson’s more and more.  But maybe that’s not a bad thing.  I came across this article today, after hearing speculation of such advanced technology for the past few years.  It looks as if a Canadian company is going to attempt to market steering wheels that monitor alcohol directly, making traditional breathalyzer units quickly outdated.  Please read the content of the article below, or click here to visit the actual link.

A Canadian company, Sober Steering Sensors, is working on technology that makes use of chemical sensors built into steering wheels to detect the gas byproducts of alcohol through the skin of drivers. This transdermal technology, developed in conjunction with California-based Seacoast Science, has been garnering interest.

Sober Steering recently received $1.5 Million from the Ontario government’s Innovation Demonstration Fund to produce prototypes and test them later this year in about 200 fleet vehicles, such as transport trucks and buses.

Ignition interlock systems require drivers to blow into a breathalyzer before starting the car. If the breath test system registers alcohol above the legal limit, the vehicle will not start. Interlock devices have been criticized because they also require drivers to blow into the device after driving for a period of time, so drivers must be able to safely pull over and repeat the test when the machine tells them to. On the other hand, if drivers are tested through the steering wheel, all that would be needed when periodic re-testing is required is to keep their hands on the wheel.

Ignition interlock systems are also expensive, costing up to approximately $2,000 per vehicle, as opposed to an estimated $200 for the Sober Steering solution. Stay tuned for more information on this technology.

If this technology works properly, the impact that this device will have on impaired driving, and DUI convictions will be tremendous.  The current breathalyzer, that essentially “locks down” a vehicle until a sufficient breath alcohol sample is given has several flaws that this technology looks to correct.  The first is that a driver could have anyone blow into the unit for them to start the vehicle, the second, is that typically the unit has no way to detect if a person is drinking while they are driving.  This could mean that the driver would initially be able to pass the breath test to start their ignition, but if they started drinking a beer while driving, they would still be impaired and easily have found a “short cut” to their sober driving limitations.

I hope that this technology is embraced and that the cost is reduced to make this an affordable solution.  The less drunk drivers on the road is a better situation for us all.  The only question that I am left to ponder is . . . . what happens if you are wearing gloves?