Articles Posted in Car Accidents

We’ve all been there — spending hours behind the wheel, wanting nothing more than some shuteye. While most of us make it home safely, there are others who aren’t so lucky.

According to Yahoo News, there were more than 11,000 people killed in drowsy driving car accidents from 2000 to 2010. It’s a problem that many researchers believe can be solved by tougher laws.

Our Boston car accident lawyers understand that there’s no way to determine if a driver was drowsy at the time of a collision. We have tests for drunk driving and driving under the influence of drugs, but drowsy driving is virtually undetectable. Still, many don’t even think the drowsy driving laws are helping. Researchers believe that the laws banning motor coach and commercial truck drivers from spending more than 11 hours a day behind the wheel are flawed because drivers reporters are rely upon the honor system and are too easily falsified.

According to Massachusetts Sen. Richard Moore, there was once legislation considered to ban this dangerous behavior after a constituent’s son was killed in a drowsy driving accident back in 2002. Unfortunately, there was no way to prove drowsiness of a driver. Instead, lawmakers decided to take the proactive approach and educate drivers — hoping that knowledge will help to keep drivers safe and alert behind the wheel.

Although nothing may be more effective in curing drowsy driving tendencies than sleep, officials with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) say that two cups of coffee and a 15- to 20-minute nap may be able to get the job done. While many drivers believe that loud music, getting out of the car and stretching and eating may be the cure — those will do nothing to wake you up behind the wheel.

According to a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), close to 5 percent of adult drivers in the country have nodded off or completely fell asleep behind the wheel at least once in the last 30 days.

“For some reason people in our culture think it’s OK to lose sleep and get behind the wheel,” said Mark Rosekind with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

Sleepiness can impair driving performance as much or more than alcohol, studies show. The American Automobile Association (AAA) estimates that one out of every six deadly traffic accidents, and one out of eight crashes requiring hospitalization, is due to drowsy driving.

We know it’s dangerous and it’s time to put an end to it.

Before heading out, whether you’re driving a commercial vehicle or your own personal passenger vehicle, it’s important that you get a good night’s sleep. If you start to feel drowsy behind the wheel, pull over and stop. There’s no point in keeping on and risking your life, and the lives of others. Stay safe out there this summer.
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Older drivers face some serious obstacles behind the wheel. But there could soon be a way to help them get around some of these problems. According to The Washington Post, officials with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are proposing two new safety ratings geared toward older drivers and families.

What officials are looking into is a “silver” rating. What this would do is look at how a particular vehicle can accommodate the needs of an older driver. They’re also looking at a “family” rating to see how well it’s going to protect back-seat passengers and children. These ratings would be extremely beneficial as the car we’re driving has a lot to do with how we’re going to make out in the event of an accident — and may even help us to avoid them in the first place.

Our Quincy car accident lawyers understand that these two ratings would be an excellent addition to the current five-star rating system. The truth of the matter is that we choose vehicles that can benefit and mold to our lifestyle. It’s important that this rating system grows as our needs do. Unfortunately, the addition of these two new ratings could take up to four years.

So why the “silver” rating? As we see more and more older drivers, as the baby boomer generation ages, we’re seeing more elderly drivers. This wave of drivers has been cleverly dubbed the “silver tsunami” and consists of drivers who are over the age of 64. By 2025, the AARP estimated that about 20 percent of drivers will be over the age of 54, meaning there will be more than 55 million elderly drivers on the road. That’s compared to the less than 40 million we have today.

Stereotypically speaking, elderly motorists are less likely to survive an accident compared to younger occupants. That’s why it’s important that our elderly motorists are best protected out there — and that can be done by purchasing a vehicle that can best suit their needs.

According to federal accident statistics, older drivers account for the highest fatality rate in serious crashes.

According to newly-released statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there were close to 100 people over the age of 64 who were killed in traffic accidents in the state of Massachusetts in 2011.

These older individuals made up 17 percent of all traffic fatalities and 8 percent of all people injured in traffic crashes during the year.

Our older drivers face vision problems and hearing deterioration. They may not be as flexible as they once were and their risks for accidents are higher. This is nothing to be ashamed of. It’s all a part of growing up. But there are ways that we can help to ensure their safety. Let’s all work together to keep those older drivers safe behind the wheel. Keep an eye on them, make sure they’re doing alright and make sure they’re in the best car to suit their needs.
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AT&T is targeting teen drivers with a safety campaign to open the long summer months.

Recently, the campaign was significantly bolstered by the commitment of Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile US, Inc. and more than 200 other organizations that joined the movement. Within this campaign, there is a texting and driving simulator that will be traveling the country, working to spread the word about the dangers teen drivers face behind the wheel. This effort also comes as we approach the 100 Deadliest Days on the roads for teen drivers — the summer months between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Our Boston car accident lawyers understand that teen drivers will be closing up their books and welcoming summer break. With this comes more free time to play with, later nights to enjoy and oftentimes fewer rules to abide by. With this time approaching, we’re asking parents to step in and to remind these newly-licensed drivers about the risks they face out on our roadways.

“Awareness of the dangers of texting and driving has increased, but people are still doing it. With this expanded effort, we hope to change behavior. Together, we can help save lives,” said AT&T Chairman & CEO Randall Stephenson.

Need some help in approaching your teen about safe driving? Look over the following topics and get talking. Make sure your teen understands the risks that come along with a driver’s license and they know how to avoid these dangers out there on our roadways.

-Consider enacting a parent-teen driving contract. With this, you can enact your own household driving rules to make sure that your teen is as safe as they can be out there.

-Make sure your teen has, and abides by, a curfew. Teen drivers are more likely to get into an accident during the evening house than any other time of the day. Set a curfew and stick to it.

-Make sure they know that can call you at absolutely any time. You never want to put your teen in a predicament where they get in the vehicle with an intoxicated driver. Make sure they know they can always turn to you for a safe and sober ride.

-Remind all motorists that seat belts can save lives. Whether driving or riding along, make sure your teen is buckled in during every car ride.

-Keep distractions at bay. There is never a time when a driver should take their eyes off the road or their hands of the wheel. Teens may think they can text or make phone calls while driving, but the truth of the matter is they can’t. No one can.

As it stands now, car accidents are the leading cause of death for teens in the country. Step up, get talk today and help to change that sobering statistic tomorrow.
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We can’t rely on drivers to keep their eyes on the road, so officials with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are turning to auto manufacturers for help.

In a recent announcement from Ray LaHood, Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation, new guidelines have been released to help to minimize the possible in-car, electronic distractions for drivers. Included in these distractions are navigation, communication and entertainment devices.

“Distracted driving is a deadly epidemic that has devastating consequences on our nation’s roadways,” said Secretary LaHood.

Our Quincy car accident lawyers understand that the gadgets make the vehicle. Consumers are looking for vehicles with all the bells and whistles. Unfortunately, those bells and whistles come with some serious risks for car accidents. Today, newer vehicles come equipped with in-car phones, text messaging devices, email checking services, web browsing devices and even interactive navigation units. While that might make a vehicle more appealing to drive, it also makes it more dangerous. That’s why NHTSA officials are proposing voluntary guidelines for car manufacturers to put an end to these devices — or to at least disable them while the vehicle is in motion.

Falling under these new guidelines are the devices that require a driver to take their eyes off the road of their hands off the wheel.

As it stands now, only drivers under the age of 18 in the state of Massachusetts are prohibited from using a hand-held cell phone in the driver’s seat. All drivers in the state have been banned from text messaging at the wheel, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The Safe Driving Law signed by Governor Patrick became effective on September 30, 2010. Among other provisions, the law bans sending, typing or reading electronic messages to or from handheld devices while operating a motor vehicle. This includes use of the internet and text messaging. While that may be the law, drivers are still engaging in these activities because the services are so readily available in their vehicle.

It’s a serious problem and we need to do something about it now. According to Distraction.gov, there were close to 3,500 people killed in car accidents in the U.S. because of someone’s distracted driving habits. That’s an increase from the year before — proving the problem is only getting worse. In addition to these fatalities, there were also more than 385,000 injuries recorded throughout the year because of these same irresponsible driving habits. As a matter of fact, close to 20 percent of injury crashes in 2010 were reported as distraction-affected crashes.

While these devices may be here to stay in our vehicles, it doesn’t mean we have to use them — especially when driving. There’s a time and a place for everything, and behind the wheel is no time to make calls, check texts or deal with email. Make sure that you’ve come to a complete stop and your vehicle is in “park” before attending to these activities — lives depend on it.
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This summer, lots of kids will be attending camps and church functions. Often, these children are transported on field trips as part of their summer experience. Older Americans may also choose to use the summer months to go on site seeing tours or outings.

In many situations, 15-passenger vans are used by tour groups, camps, church groups and other small organizations. Unfortunately, our Boston accident lawyers know that these 15-passenger vans can be very dangerous because there is a high roll-over risk. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently released an advisory reminding drivers of the potential rollover dangers of these vehicles.

Preventing Rollover Accidents in 15 Passenger Vehicles

According to the NHTSA’s recent consumer advisory notice, 15-passenger vans are prone to becoming involved in tragic rollover accidents. A rollover crash occurs in top-heavy vehicles and often happens when drivers go around a curve too fast or when the car is involved in a crash. The vehicle rolls over onto its top with the wheels in the air, often causing passengers to suffer serious injury in the process. Other nearby cars can also be severely damaged if a large vehicle rolls on top of them.

Rollovers can happen in any car, but 15-passenger vans are especially susceptible to the risk. NHTSA indicates that 15-passenger vans present a unique rollover risk because they are particularly sensitive to overloading. An already top-heavy 15 passenger van will become much more dangerous if the vehicle is overloaded with passengers and luggage or other materials. This means when a whole church group or summer camp of kids piles in with suitcases and backpacks, the van becomes a riskier place to be and the chances of a rollover crash increase.

The increased length and increased width of 15 passenger vans also increase the chances that a rollover accident will happen, according to NHTSA.

How to Avoid Rollover Accidents

To help everyone stay safe this upcoming season, NHTSA has some key tips for drivers of 15-passenger vehicles. NHTSA reminds drivers:

• To refrain from overloading the vehicle.
• To make sure that the vehicle undergoes regular maintenance.
• To ensure that all tires are properly inflated. NHTSA surveys have indicated that 30 percent of 15-passenger vans have at least one tire that is not properly inflated. This can up the chances of a rollover occurring.
• Inspect and maintain the steering and suspension of the van in accordance with manufacturer’s instructions.

NHTSA also reiterates the importance of wearing seat belts. Some passengers in 15-passenger vans will treat these vehicles more like buses and may forget to put on a seatbelt. When this happens, the chances of an accident go way up. In fact, NHTSA indicates that a total of 88 percent of those who die in 15-passenger van accidents have no seat belt on at the time of the accident.

If passengers buckle up and if drivers follow basic safety tips, hopefully rollover accidents and other 15-passenger van wrecks can be avoided this summer even as people pile into the vans to head off and enjoy warm weather activities.
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The plight of the elderly when it comes to safe transportation has been very well documented by experts. It is clear that most elderly Americans will reach a point at some time in their lives when they are no longer able to drive safely. Unfortunately, walking often becomes out of the question at some point as well due to mental or physical infirmity. This can leave elderly individuals with no option but public transportation if they want to get around and don’t have family to rely on.

Aging in Place, Stuck Without Options, revealed that there will be 15.5 million adults ages 65 and up living in U.S. communities where there is no public transportation option available. Our Boston car accident lawyers know that the lack of public transportation, coupled with the inability to walk or to drive safely, puts many older seniors in a very bad situation. Often, these seniors will choose to take on risks when they need to get somewhere. This is inherently dangerous, but a new recent study shows just how dangerous it is for the elderly.

Elderly at Great Risk of Dying in a Car Wreck
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducts studies on many important pressing issues. One such issue recently tackled was the dangers that elderly Americans face as a result of their mobility.

As reported by USA Today, car accident fatalities from 2001 to 2010 were studied by the CDC in order to get more answers about the dangers that elderly adults face as pedestrians.

By analyzing the crash data from 2001 to 2010, experts were able to determine that:

• Pedestrians account for 4,000 of the approximately 34,000 traffic related deaths in the U.S. annually.
• Those ages 75 and up had more than twice the traffic-related death rate in pedestrian accidents than those who were aged 34 and under. Both older men and older women are more susceptible to traffic fatalities than younger men and younger women.

Older adults, therefore, are at greater risk of car accident deaths as pedestrians. These older adults are not just in danger of getting hurt if they drive past their prime but are also in danger if they decide to walk somewhere since they have no other way to get around.

Why Are Elderly Pedestrians More Likely to Die in a Wreck?

In general, older adults and senior citizens in the U.S. have been shown to take fewer walks than those who are younger. Unfortunately, when the elderly do walk and are involved in a car wreck, they are far more likely to die than younger adults.

There are many reasons why the death rate for older adults in car wrecks is twice the death rate for younger people. Age-related physical and mental disabilities may make the elderly more likely to become involved in a crash. When they are involved in a wreck, their physical infirmities may increase the chances of death.

Unfortunately, with few options, the elderly may continue to take dangerous risks both when walking and when trying to drive after they are no longer capable. Those with older relatives should be aware of the higher risk of car accident deaths among those ages 75 and older and should try to do everything possible to make sure elderly family members have safe transportation to take them where they need to go.
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Getting involved in a motor vehicle accident with a tractor-trailer is always very dangerous. There is a strong chance that those in a motorcar will be injured when there is a crash with a semi truck. While those involved in a truck crash can be hurt in many different ways, one of the most dangerous types of accident is underride accident.

Our Boston trucking accident lawyers know that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is not doing enough to protect the public from underride injuries. A new publication from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) indicates that the risk of underride accidents may be even worse than previously believed.

NHTSA Needs to Work to Curb Underride Accidents

An underride accident happens when a car goes underneath the body of a large truck. For obvious reasons, these accidents can be extremely deadly. The car can become trapped underneath the truck; the top of the car can be badly crushed; and drivers and occupants can sustain injuries to the head or neck.

Because of the inherent risk of a car sliding under a truck, there are regulations in place designed to prevent exactly these types of accidents. The regulations require the majority of semitrailers in the United States to have special steel bars attached to the back underside of the rear trailer. If a car is pushed forward, the idea is that the car will be stopped by these bars before it slides underneath the truck and gets into an underride accident. While hitting a steel bar is going to be dangerous, it is far less risky than sliding underneath a truck. As such, these underride bars can save lives.

Unfortunately, when the bars on the semi-truck meet only the minimum guidelines set by NHSTA, there is a good chance that they won’t do their jobs very well. IIHS has pointed out some problems to NHTSA, including the fact that the bars may not be strong enough and may not be large enough. IIHS has urged that NHTSA strengthen the requirements for the bars and that NHTSA also expand the reach of the regulations so that other large trucks (including dump trucks) would be required to have underride guards.

NHTSA has not yet done this. Fortunately, however, many trucks are still up-to-par anyway despite the lack of NHTSA action because Canada has had stricter guidelines in place since 2007. Since the manufacturers who are making the trucks and underride bars have to follow Canada’s guidelines for trailers in use in North America, the guidelines are usually followed on all vehicles including those destined for the United States.

This is good news since it means lots of trucks meet higher standards than the minimum safety requirements by NHTSA . Many lives may be saved as a result. However, the fact that manufacturers just happen to make tractors with better underride protection is not enough to truly protect drivers. A new IIHS crash test has revealed that cars hitting the side rear of a truck are more likely to experience an underride accident. These cars can slide right under the truck at an angle.

In light of the new crash test findings, IIHS now believes NHTSA should both adopt the stronger Canadian standard for underride guards and should go further to institute requirements that can protect against these side angle underride incidents.
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Until recently, the idea of a driverless car may have sounded like something out of a sci-fi movie. With the many advances in computers and technology in recent years, however, a driverless car is not just within the realm of possibility. In fact, our Boston car accident lawyers know that driverless cars actually exist today and people (albeit testers) have been inside of them.

While many people may not have heard of these technological wonders since they won’t be available for a decade or more and since they cost around $100,000, driverless cars got national attention when Jeb Bush talked about them at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). PolitiFact took a look at the truth of his statement and the information they found can help to shed some light on whether driverless cars are coming soon to a road near you.

Driverless Cars as a Safe Alternative
When Jeb Bush brought up the driverless car at CPAC, he indicated that such a car had already driven more than 300,000 miles on the crowded streets in California. In all of these hundreds of thousands of miles, the car had not been involved in an accident. PolitiFact looked into this claim and found that it was mostly true and that there really has been a safe and effective driverless vehicle zipping around the streets of California.

PolitiFact also reported on other driverless cars currently being developed, including one made with Google that had been successful on a reported test drive. Google’s wireless car had been able to detect cars when merging and to detect and respond appropriately to a tailgating vehicle, among other accomplishments. The Google car can’t drive in heavy rain, but this is a small drawback for a car that can effectively drive itself around and act as your personal chauffeur.

Driverless cars may attract attention because of the convenience and cool factor, but Jeb Bush brought up other important points about these vehicles when discussing them. Bush indicated that not only had the California car not been in an accident but also that driverless cars in general could essentially eliminate accidents and eliminate getting lost.

Of course, even a driverless car cannot possibly make all auto accidents in the U.S. stop. Still, the claim wasn’t that outlandish because a driverless car can resolve a lot of the inherent flaws that human drivers have. For example:

• A driverless car has more monitors processing data and can view more angles and locations at once when compared with an individual driving himself.
• A driverless car doesn’t react with emotion when making a driving choice. All decisions are made based on what is the most logical course of action given the visual the car is getting. A driverless car, for example, won’t have a conscious or unconscious tendency to speed when you’ve been late to work.
• A driverless car isn’t going to be drunk, fatigued and falling asleep, daydreaming or otherwise distracted, unlike a real driver who could be one or more of those things and whose driving could be compromised as a result.

Driverless cars, in other words, take the human error out of driving and remove the risk that a driver will cause a crash through his negligence or intentionally wrongful and misguided acts.
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With news that 660,000 people may be on an electronic device while driving at any given daylight moment, you might think that things cannot get any worse when it comes to the dangers of distracted driving. Unfortunately, as two recent stories show… you’d be wrong. The dangers of distracted driving go well beyond the fact that there are hundreds-of-thousands of people on the phone or texting at any given moment because there are people who are willing to take unreasonable and perhaps even crazy risks just to use their phones.

Our Boston distracted driving accident lawyers know that every driver who uses a cell phone or sends a text is significantly increasing the chances of hurting himself or someone else. This is why the National Safety Council (NSC) has declared April to be Distracted Driving Month and has organized activities and enforcement efforts to help educate the public about the risks of driving while distracted. Some people, however, are likely well beyond hope and distracted driving month activities would have been unlikely to change their egregious behavior.

Texting Drivers Show The Extremes of Distracted Driving
One of the two drivers who took distracted driving to an extreme paid with his life because of it. According to Boston.com, this driver wasn’t in a car at all- he was flying a medical helicopter. The National Transportation Safety Board investigated the accident since it was a commercial airline cash and NTSB found that texting had played a role.

This accident prompted federal accident investigators to approve a safety alert that should really be classified as common sense. The safety alert cautioned all pilots of aircrafts against using cell phones or other distracting devices during critical operations. Tragically, this obvious warning came too late to save the lives of the texting pilot or the four people who died in the crash through no fault of their own.

While nothing could be worse than a helicopter pilot who decides to texting while flying, an Alabama man recently came a close second in terms of bad distracted-driving decisions. According to NBC News, the man was “double texting” as he drove. This is just as risky as it sounds: he was driving the vehicle with his knees as he used both of his hands to send text messages. The man did not seem to grasp the extent of concern for his behavior, as he reportedly told deputies that he had been “double texting,” since age fifteen.

This man, like the helicopter pilot and like all other distracted drivers, put his passengers at risk. In the case of the Alabama man, these passengers included a 3-year-old child in the backseat. He put his own life and the life of everyone else on the road in danger as well, all to send a text message.

Drivers need to remember that their actions have consequences and that no distracted driving is good distracted driving, even if some types of distracted driving are worse than others. Take the NSC pledge to drive cell free this April’s distracted driving month.
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