The ubiquitous nature of the cell phone
has revolutionised personal communication around the world from the late
twentieth century onwards. In the same way, it has brought into sharp
relief the robust reality that the combination of the mobile phone and
fast-moving transportation on our city roads represents a real threat to
life and limb. It is not clear how much liability exists as a result of
such injuries specifically related to the use of mobile phones in the
midst of road traffic but it is thought to be significant and rising.
A few examples would perhaps bring the
extent of the malaise to light. A few years ago, a middle aged man was
walking at a leisurely pace along a road in the heart of Lagos. It is a
one-way road and he had no concerns about being on the wrong side of
traffic as he walked along in the flow of vehicles. However, he did not
take into consideration the fact that the equally ubiquitous commercial
motorcycles that ply that street often drove in both directions. As he
began to answer a call on his mobile, he paid less attention to the
traffic moving behind him: he was on that call when a motorcycle slammed
into him from behind. The force of the impact lifted him off the ground
and threw him unto the asphalt surface. He became paralysed from the
waist down. It was that dramatic and final.
Some days ago, at a busy intersection in
Lagos, yours truly was witness to an equally bizarre spectacle in which
a pedestrian already on a phone call made to cross the road. He was
attentive, or so it seemed, to the presence of surging traffic on his
side of the road as he made to cross. His hand obscured his view towards
his right which held onto the phone but his left side had what would
appear to be a clear field of view. He successfully dodged the cars on
each lane of the road but failed to see a commercial motorcycle,
popularly called okada, as it emerged from the side of a pick-up van.
The bike’s handle hit him around the hip and knocked him down with torn
clothes and a bleeding injury to the leg. The rider did not stop. It was
surreal and a quick look around showed that several drivers were
similarly holding on to their phones while driving along the same road.
Nor are the examples above limited to
Lagos or even Nigeria for that matter. Several years ago, an American
teenager who was holidaying in Italy went out in the morning to jog. She
had her iPhone in her hip pocket and ear phones in both ears when she
was knocked down and killed instantly as a car ploughed into her from
behind. The driver was to claim later that he did try to warn her by
honking several times. It would seem she did not hear the warnings.
Around the country, many young people
are unable to go outdoors without plugging ear phones on. It is always
nice to be able to listen to personalised music which would not disturb
your neighbour but the use of ear phones blots almost out all external
sounds but for the very loudest and puts the person wearing the phones
at grave risk. It would not matter in the end whether you have done so
as a pedestrian, a motorcycle rider, passenger or a car driver. It would
pay more positively if only one ear piece is worn. Wearing it in both
ears threatens outdoor survival.
The scientific evidence is clear that a
person is unable to concentrate on more than one thing at a time except
in the most extreme circumstances. As a result, driving which requires a
high level of concentration is compromised when personal communication
such as a phone call intervenes in that undertaking. It is far worse
when people drive and text or chat even when the traffic is moving
slowly. The evidence is clear that even when an individual can manage to
both drive and phone on a relatively free road, the level of
concentration to the driving itself does not return to normal levels
until several more seconds have passed after such a conversation is
terminated. Many incidents of minor to more serious collisions occurring
in traffic now result from such distractions. This is not what the
various agencies monitoring road traffic can always police effectively
but individuals have a responsibility to act safely when they are
driving. People must also act by correcting those who drive them while
violating these simple rules.
As a result, it must now be clear that
the scenario which sees so much phone use while driving or navigating
traffic represents a considerable public health hazard that is certain
to get worse as the risk to life and limb soars. Some descriptions of
the level of risk are quite apocalyptic with some ranking the danger as
one poised to overtake the risk of drink driving. This is especially
true of large swathes of the world’s population which now has access to
mobile phones but not yet to motorised transport which will be within
their reach in a few more years. Common sense, the use of hands free
devices and Bluetooth are tools which are designed to help the driver
but even these are not often within the financial reach of the average
driver. In some American states, it is an offence for you to drive
without your two hands on the steering wheel and placed at the 2 o’clock
and 10 o’clock positions. Strict enforcement of this approach to
driving ensures that drivers would be unable to handle a phone while
driving. However, this is enforceable within towns and cities. What
happens in the open country roads? And that is in a very developed
country with cameras everywhere monitoring everything. It is certain to
be a far more daunting task for a country with less resources and far
less will to apply the letter of the law even when offenders are caught.
In the end, as we have often seen on this page, prevention of injury
and death is always cheaper than the treatment instituted after
occurrence.
Everyone, therefore, has a responsibility to mitigate these problems from becoming our standard.
Ask the doctor
Dear doctor, how are you
sir? Please I do have a bit of question to ask you. What can we do about
my father who is 84 years old, is diabetic and his legs are sort of
swollen? What do you recommend sir? 07032xxxxxx
Thank you very much. I am fine. Your
question is not a bit: it is a full dose. If your father is diabetic but
not hypertensive, his swollen feet could simply be due to age and the
fact that he moves around a lot less than previously. However, if he
remains somewhat active and this is a recent development and he has had
diabetes for a long time, perhaps he would need to see a doctor and has
the possibility of a kidney complication excluded from the number of
problems that would make his legs swell.
Dear doctor, I have been
having issues of excessive sweating and high skin sensitivity to the sun
but now it is becoming unbearable. I need your advice on this. Thank
you. 08166xxxxxx
The proper way to approach this problem
is first to determine whether this excessive sweating you experience is a
recent development and therefore related to the current cycle of the
weather as we now have. If it is not so, there is therefore an
imperative to determine whether you have lost any weight, perhaps eat
more or are generally less tolerant of heat in addition of what you have
complained about. Besides all that, it is necessary to let us know what
you mean precisely when you claim to be suffering from increased skin
sensitivity to the sun. Whatever the combination of circumstances may
be, I would urge you to consult a physician who will examine you with a
view to determining the causes of your current condition. After that, I
am certain that the knowledge of such truth will set you free.
Dear doctor, I need your
help sir. Is it possible for me to know my actual age through a
scientific method? I am using my present date of birth of 1954 as a
result of oral information from my father and also from my personal
observation. I know that I started elementary school in 1962 and reached
puberty November 1968 when for the first time I discovered that sperm
was coming out of my private part when I was urinating. Thanks and God
bless sir. 08032xxxxxx
Amen. An accurate age determination for
you will not be possible sir. What can be obtained is a close enough
estimation based on certain markers within your body that includes the
cell count and certain basic blood tests. But these will not give you
the accuracy which I sense you want so much, only estimates.
Dear doctor, I want know if
it is true that people with sickle cell disease do not live beyond 18
years of age. Thank you sir. 08037xxxxx
There is no truth in that. There are
many people with various forms of sickle cell disease who have lived
active productive lives right up to their old age. Many people propagate
false information even about things of which they have no knowledge.
You must not listen to such people. Stay with your doctors and live with
the advice that they give you.
Dear doctor, I have been a
widow for nearly a decade and I have had no sexual relationship with any
man since my husband died. Recently, my periods stopped completely
(about nine months now) and I increasingly feel like having sex. Do you
think it is healthy for me to have any sex after so long? 08033xxxxxx
There is nothing wrong with your sexual
urges. If your heart is in it, you can always do it without any adverse
consequences to your health. From your description of your current
status, you are probably in your menopause now and have no need to be
afraid even of getting an unwanted pregnancy.
Dear Doctor, I am very
baffled by what my son is currently being treated for. He had BCG when
he was born in addition to other vaccines he had during childhood. I
also ensured that my other children similarly had those immunisations
and all were administered at a good hospital. Now, he is being treated
for tuberculosis. How can this be? The whole family is just devastated.
07088xxxxxx
What you are faced with is a rare
problem but there is some basis for such a problem to occur. The main
difficulty is to do with the manner in which the vaccines have been
stored prior to that particular one being administered to your son.
These vaccines are supposed to be kept in a cooling system called the
cold chain that runs from the government warehouses where the vaccines
are stored to the hospital setting where they are given. That cold
system of storage presupposes that the narrow temperature range of the
safe-keeping is strictly maintained. That depends a lot on the stability
of the power supply and you know how very deficient we are in this
country with regards to that. In the end, if that system is breached
even to a minor degree, the effectiveness of such a vaccine could be
compromised and you can then have occasional diseases occurring even
when they have been immunised against them. So it is not unusual for
something like this to happen, even though it is uncommon. Usually, this
is a treatable disease and your son can be expected to recover fully.
Dear doctor, I read your
column on hair loss in SUNDAY PUNCH. It was well drafted. I am presently
experiencing hair loss on the scalp. It seems I am going bald. My late
father was bald and also my elder brother. You said treatment is
available for it. How can one stop this? You also talked about
injection and cream. Can you prescribe a cream and where it can be
purchased? Regards. xxwe@xxxx.com
The prescriptions were also a part of
the essay. Minoxidil cream for one is available in some of the big
pharmacies around the country and can be used safely over a period of
three months with good results. The resident pharmacist in any of those
facilities can generally guide you on how to use the cream. So also is
hydrocortisone cream and injections as well but as pointed out in the
essay, these injections are not superior in effectiveness to the cream.
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