Tag: suicide

Report: Mazda to pay $770k to parents of overworked employee who committed suicide

Filed under: Sedan, Etc., Japan, Mazda

Mazda wing logoThe parents of a Mazda worker who killed himself in 2007 have reached a second settlement with the company worth $770,000. The latest settlement brings the parents’ total to just over $1.3 million from Mazda.

According to The Daily Mail, the auto company was found liable in the worker’s death because he killed himself after being chronically overworked. According to the parents’ suit, the employee was ridiculed publicly by his managers for, among other accusations taking “needless” overtime.

Mazda paid the young man’s parents a separate condolence settlement in 2009. Work-related suicide is becoming a real problem in Japan, where the culture favors a workaholic mentality. In addition, many chronic overworkers suffer stress-related heart attacks and strokes.

These sorts of deaths have become common enough that the Japanese have coined a term, “karoshi,” which means “exhaustion death” to describe the phenomenon. Courts have ruled that the employer can be held liable in karoshi cases, as has apparently happened with Mazda.

[Source: The Daily Mail]

Report: Mazda to pay $770k to parents of overworked employee who committed suicide originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 02 Mar 2011 17:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Radar guns adapted to detect suicide bombers?

Filed under: Etc., Safety, Technology

Patrol

Researchers at the Naval Postgraduate School and the University of California, Santa Cruz may have found a new use for most drivers’ worst nightmare. William Fox and John Vesecky have discovered that with a little tweaking, a run-of-the-mill radar gun can become an instrument for detecting suicide bombers. The duo found that at a specific frequency, the gun can pick up on patterns of looped wire typically used in bomber suicide vests. Testing is in the beginning stages right now, but thus far, the gun has been able to accurately pick out volunteers dressed in replica suicide vests 85 percent of the time at a distance of around 33 feet.

There are some hang-ups, though. Most noticeably, the gun yields a high rate of false alarms, with things like underwire bras and jewelry yielding the similar radar cross sections as a suicide vest. Both Fox and Vesecky are hoping that the U.S. Military will invest in their research, allowing them to fine-tune the device moving forward.

[Source: New Scientist via Engadget | Image: Matt Carty/Getty]

Radar guns adapted to detect suicide bombers? originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 15:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Dodge Charger saves life of suicide jumper

Filed under: Sedan, Safety, Dodge

A 2008 Dodge Charger played the role of lifesaver on Tuesday when a man fell 400 feet and amazingly lived to see another day. The New York Post reports that 22-year-old Thomas Magill allegedly tried to commit suicide by jumping out of a 39-story New York high-rise when the aforementioned Charger broke his fall. Witnesses said that Magill flew through the air at “like 100 miles per hour” and landed on the Charger’s rear window.

The man’s impact sent glass flying everywhere and even knocked his tennis shoes clear off his feet and onto the windshield of another vehicle. After Magill hit the vehicle, witnesses claim the young man screamed that his legs hurt. Understandably.

While Magill lived through the tremendous fall, he’s not out of the woods yet. He is reportedly listed in critical condition at a local New York hospital.

[Source: The New York Post]

Report: Dodge Charger saves life of suicide jumper originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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