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The highways of cities such as Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Hampton, VA can be dangerous enough at the best of times.
But a new report suggests there may be another hazard on the roads. It found soldiers returning from combat zones experience difficulties adjusting to civilian traffic patterns, the Daily Press reported.
“A regional study that tracked soldiers in the upper Midwest who returned from Iraq found they were more anxious behind the wheel and displayed significantly worse driving behavior than soldiers who did not deploy. Nothing was known about their medical conditions, so researchers didn’t know whether they suffered from post traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury,” the Daily Press reported.
See this video of how American troops drive through streets in Iraq.
It’s perhaps understandable that returning soldiers get nervous and sometimes try to take evasive action when traffic backs up. In Iraq or Afghanistan such scenarios can often be the precursor to an ambush.
It’s also possible that factors such as Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) may have had an effect. “We think it’s much more likely that these behaviors are present in a general population of returning service members,” said Erica Stern, an associate professor of occupational therapy at the University of Minnesota, who was involved in the study.
As experienced Norfolk and Virginia Beach-based accident injury attorneys, we are concerned by this report. Hampton Roads has many areas of acute congestion including the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel and the Midtown and Downtown tunnels that connect Norfolk with Portsmouth, VA.
The area also has a higher than average number of military personnel while facilities such as the Veteran’s Administration in Hampton, VA bring injured war veterans into the area. The protracted wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted in a flood of veterans suffering from traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) into the area.
The Norfolk and Virginia Beach based personal injury law firm, Cooper Hurley, handles car, truck, and motorcycle injuries as well as brain injury, wrongful death, railroad workers’ injuries (FELA) mesothelioma and medical malpractice. John Cooper and Jim Hurley have over 40 years of combined experience in handling auto injury accident claims. Attorney John Cooper has been named to Virginia “Super Lawyers” since 2010 and has been a member since 2011 of the Multimillion dollar Advocates Roundtable. Cooper Hurley represents people hurt in accidents in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News and throughout VA, and always put the best interests of the our clients first. The firm is recognized by other lawyers as “AV” by Martindale-Hubbell, a national attorney rating service, for our top level of legal skill and highest ethical standards. If you need help or advice about a serious injury, please call us (757) 455 -0077. For a free consultation with a specialized Hampton Roads, Virginia personal injury lawyer contact us through this website.