Articles Posted in Car Accidents

Our Boston injury lawyers read with interest an item published recently in the Hartford Courant, which detailed results of a study that found the effectiveness of airbags and seat belts can depend on the sex and weight of the motorist.

Wearing your seat belt is required by law in Massachusetts. What authorities downplay in the quest to get motorists to buckle up (Click it or Ticket, et al.) is that there are accident scenes in which a motorist would have been better off had he or she not been wearing a seat belt. And there are circumstances where an accident impacts two motorists differently — one survives while the other is seriously injured or killed.

The University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute, which conducted the study, found that additional technology is needed to protect the largest and smallest of occupants. Of course, we already know and understand that on a most basic level; it’s why we require small children to utilize booster seats and other devices to augment their safety.

But we largely ignore the difference in a crash’s impact on a 100 pound woman or a 300 pound man.

“Based on these results, we know the current system is not optimal,” said Michael Sivak, a research professor who worked on the study.

The study looked at 297,000 crashes from 1998 to 2008, in which at least one occupant was killed. The driver was killed in about half of the crashes and survived in the other half. Researchers then used information about the size of the driver to determine body Mass Index (BMI), which is based on relationship of a driver’s weight to his or her height.

Men with a BMI of 35 to 50 are considered to be seriously obese; a 6-foot man with a BMI of 35 would weigh 258 pounds. With a BMI of 50, he would weigh 369 pounds. Researchers found that obese men wearing seat belts were about 14 percent less likely to die than men of average weight.

However, obese men who were not wearing their belts were about 5 percent more likely to die, apparently because the extra weight forced its way through the airbag, which made airbags less effective.

Researchers found no reliable trends for unbelted women, but found overweight women were more likely to be killed in a crash, as were women who were underweight.

Women lighter than 110 pounds were about 8 percent more likely to be killed in a crash.

Air bags continue to evolve, and beginning in 2007 front airbags are required to take into account the size and weight of the seat occupant under new requirements by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

So far, studies of those devices have not found them to be any safer.
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Vibrating car seats could soon warn drivers of an impending Massachusetts car accident.

MSNBC reports the seats are the latest safety feature that could begin appearing in new cars. Recent years have seen a host of new safety features, including curtain airbags, backup warning sensors and rearview cameras. While our Boston accident lawyers applaud the focus on safety, we have concerns about the extent to which such systems take the focus on safety out of the hands of drivers. For instance, drivers in cars with backup sensors are at higher risk for an accident when driving a car not equipped with the sensors. Their reliance upon a vehicle’s safety features has reduced their own awareness.

The new seats will alert drivers to cars in a vehicle’s blind spot or other hard-to-see spots around the rear of a vehicle. After wearing a seat belt, situational awareness remains the second most important safe driving virtue. However, as motorists zone out on the road, checking a car’s blind spot becomes the first safe-driving habit to go, MSNBC reports.

The vibrating, or “touch” system, has advantages over video or audio warning systems, according to the seat’s inventor, John Morrell of Yale University. Existing audio and visual warning systems just add to driver distraction while a touch cue can transmit location of the danger without requiring a driver to turn their head.

The seat’s vibration corresponds to the area of the car where the danger arises, so that a car pulling along the rear-right side will trigger sensors in the lower right seat back.

No question the increased safety of modern vehicles has helped reduce the number of serious and fatal car accidents. Fatal accidents have declined nationwide, from 41,501 in 1998 to 37,261 in 2008, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

To the extent that motorists use such safety systems to augment their awareness, we think they are welcome improvements. It’s when they become a crutch for inattention that a motorist could face the increased risk of being involved in a serious or fatal car accident.
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The texting craze has apparently captivated older generations as a study released by the Pew Research Center indicates adults are just as likely as teenagers to text while driving.

Our Boston accident attorneys frequently report on the dangers of texting while driving. As we reported earlier this month on our Boston Car Accident Lawyer Blog, lawmakers just sent a proposed law to the governor that would make it illegal to text while driving in Massachusetts.

CNN reports that the research by the Pew Center found that nearly half (47 percent) of adults admitted to sending or receiving text messages while driving.

By comparison, 34 percent of teenagers admitted to texting while driving, according to a Pew Center report released last fall.

A similar percentage of adults (27 percent) and teens (26 percent) said they had sent text messages while behind the wheel. The statistics come as a bit of a surprise, as previous studies have suggested teenagers and young adults are most at risk of being involved in an accident while texting and driving.

“Adults may be the ones sounding the alarm on the dangers of distracted driving, but they don’t always set the best example themselves,” Mary Madden, a senior research specialist at Pew, said in a statement.

Overall, the study did find that those ages 18 to 34 were more likely to text and drive than other age groups. That holds with information from the federal government, which suggests that those under 20 have the highest proportion of distracted driving accidents.

Nationwide, more than 6,000 people are killed and 500,000 are injured each year in distracted driving accidents, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
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State lawmakers have reached a tentative agreement on a new law that would ban motorists from texting while driving. The effort is aimed at reducing the number of Massachusetts car accidents caused by distracted driving.

As we reported recently on our Boston Car Accident Lawyer Blog, state leaders were taken to task in a report issued by the Governors Highway Safety Association, which found that Massachusetts lags being most of the rest of the states in the nation for efforts aimed at reducing distracted driving.

After six years of debate, the agreement would also ban young drivers under the age of 18 from using a cell phone while driving, the Boston Globe reported. Drivers over the age of 75 would be required to have their vision tested and would need to renew their license in person, rather than online.

Once passed, the Safe Driving Act will head to the governor’s office, where a spokesperson said he would review it. The effort would make Massachusetts the 29th state to ban texting while driving and the 29th to ban cell phone use for drivers under 18.

The texting ban would also cover e-mailing, Internet searches and other non-calling activities on phones, laptops and handheld devices by drivers. Texting, or phone calls by those under 18, would be allowed in an emergency or when a car is parked.

“If you’re behind the wheel and you’re texting and law enforcement sees you, you will be pulled over, you will be cited, and you will be paying a substantial fine,” said Sen. Steven Baddour.

The law would also make it easier for police officers and doctors to alert the Registry of Motor Vehicles regarding the driving fitness of older motorists. Massachusetts has more than 300,000 drivers over the age of 75 and about 170,000 drivers within five years of turning 75. Nearly 50,000 drivers are under the age of 18.

Under the proposed law, the Registry would also be required to establish an educational campaign warning of the dangers of distracted driving.
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State officials are doing a poor job of reducing the dangers of Massachusetts car accidents caused by distracted driving, the Boston Globe reported.

The Governor’s Highway Safety Association reports that 28 states have enacted bans on text messaging while driving. Georgia and Vermont enacted such laws just this month. Meanwhile, lawmakers in the Massachusetts House and Senate have passed different versions and continue to squabble over the details.

“A lot of it is common sense that people need to practice on their own,” said State Sen. Steven Baddour, who expressed optimism that lawmakers would pass legislation and send it to the governor before the session ends on July 31.

Seat belt use and not driving drunk are common sense, too.

“We’re really where we were with drunk driving 25 years ago,” said Jonathan Adkins, spokesman for the association. “You have to have a comprehensive system of approaches to address highway safety problems.”

Massachusetts also lags behind other states in the use of public education and law enforcement efforts aimed at reducing distracted driving, according to the report.

Other common forms of distracted driving includes talking to passengers, dressing, applying makeup, grooming, eating, smoking, reading or using in-car electronics like stereos and GPS devices.

Massachusetts does not record distracted driving as a cause of accidents, as 43 other states do. And it does not ask about the issue in driver exams. Nor does it enlist employers in the effort to reduce the dangers distracted drivers pose on the road.

“Massachusetts has not really focused on this issue in terms of their policy or their practice compared to other states,” said Jeff Larson, who heads a Massachusetts nonprofit that promotes safe driving. “I don’t think it has thus far been taken seriously by the state.”

While the overall number of traffic fatalities has declined, from 42,836 in 2004 to 37,261 in 2008, the number of people killed in distracted driving accidents has increased, from 4,978 in 2004 to 5,870 in 2008.
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