Boston Car Accident Lawyer Blog

January 25, 2016

Seniors Want Cars with Safe Driving Technology – Not Self-Driving Cars

In case you missed the countless Facebook posts and memes, last year was the year Doc Brown took Marty McFly to the future in the DeLorean. Must to the disappointment of many who saw Back to the Future, we still do not have any flying cars. There have been some claims of flying cars, but since you need a private pilot’s license and an airport, they are more akin to a drivable airplane than a flying car.

While flying cars may never happen, self-driving cars are being developed that, at some point in the not too distant future, will be driving down the roads of every neighborhood in America. One the on hand, self-driving cars can prevent accidents, since many accidents are fault of negligent drivers. However, as we have already seen with some of the self-driving cars Google is testing, when there is an accident, it is often hard to determine who is at fault. Continue reading

January 21, 2016

Safe Driving Tips in Massachusetts: Safety Issues Regarding Snow Plows

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

While It took a lot longer than usual for winter to get going in Massachusetts and across much of the Eastern United States, it seems that, at least for now, winter is finally here. We have already seen a least one snow event and are likely to see quite a bit more snow, as we typically do even in the mildest of Boston winters.

While driving on snow and ice is already dangerous enough, as discussed in a recent news feature from Danvers Patch, snow plows also present serious safety issues when out on the roads of the Commonwealth. One of the major issues is that the plows are very slow-moving vehicles, and drivers are not sure whether or not they should try to pass the plow or just accept it will take them a lot longer to get where they are headed. Continue reading

January 18, 2016

Enforcement Stepped up for Commercial Truck Driver Safety Week

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

At the end of year and the beginning of every year, the media likes to publish lists and remind us of events that took place during the past year. Some of these are lists of good things, others are just for entertainment, and some are lists of unfortunate events.

One of the events that takes place towards the end of every year in the fall is Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s Operation Safe Driver Week. This commercial vehicle safety week involves increased weight and size safety inspections for commercial motor vehicles across the country. Continue reading

January 15, 2016

A Takata Air Bag Recall Overview

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Airbags are supposed to make people riding in cars feel safer. However, when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issues a major manufacturer of airbags with systems on more than a dozen makes of cars the largest civil fine in agency history, customers may question their feeling of safety. Defectively designed products in cars, or cars themselves, can lead to a serious risk of accidents, and these accidents would the basis for negligence action, should a serious or deadly car accident occur.

As discussed by SafeCar.gov, a NHTSA project, well in excess of 30 million automobiles are being recalled over defective air bags on both the passenger and driver’s side of the vehicle. The problem is very serious, in that, when they deploy, they could do so with enough explosive force to injure or even kill a vehicle occupant. All air bags deploy with some degree of force, as propellant wafers comprised of sodium azide and potassium nitrate are ignited to produce nitrogen gas. The newly created nitrogen case expands to the fill the air bag. While this is technically an explosive chemical reaction, it is a controlled reaction with enough force to quickly inflate the air bag, and it is not supposed to cause any damage. Continue reading

January 12, 2016

Tesla Seatbelt Recalls and other Car Design Safety Issues

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Seal belts have been one of the most important safety features on all cars for decades, but that wasn’t always the case. Following the Second World War, automotive travel was becoming increasingly popular for returning GIs and their families, but the seat belt was considered a novelty at the time. People did not want them on their cars, and they are associated with only being necessary for airplane pilots.

Interestingly, it was Robert McNamara, who was in the United States Army Air Force during WWII, that realized the airplane seat belt could save lives on the road, and, as president of Ford Motor Company, pushed for safety increases in all cars. In addition to the seat belt, he also included a concave steering wheel to prevent driver head injury, better door handles to prevent occupants from being ejected, safety glass, and padded visors in what he would name the Lifeguard package available on Ford models beginning in 1956. Continue reading

January 10, 2016

MIT Helps Develop Safe Driving App

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

There is no question that smart phones have changed many aspects of our daily lives. The days of waiting to get a land line to check your messages, and having to coordinate everything ahead of time are over. We can now look up anything at the touch of a button and do a variety of other tasks we now take for granted.

However, the need to read that text and even respond to the text has led to a new series of problems. We see people walking down the sidewalk and even crossing the street with their head pointed down at the phone. As if that wasn’t dangerous enough, we see people reading and even sending texts while driving. This is one of the most dangerous things a driver can do, and it can easily lead to a serious car crash. Continue reading

January 7, 2016

Icy Weather Wreaking Havoc on Boston Area Roads

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Up until very recently, everyone was wondering if it was ever going to get cold this winter. In the past couple of weeks, it has quickly turned cold, and much of New England has been hit with some pretty bad snowstorms. With the recent snow and icy weather, it has become very dangerous out on the roads, and this has led to a lot of serious car accidents.

According to a recent news feature from the Boston Globe, there have been numerous multivehicle crashes in recent days, including a seven-car wreck in Duxbury. Fire department personnel said they were called to a massive collision that they reported as having 20 vehicles involved. This was a few hours after the seven-car pile up and a few minutes before two cars collided with each other and spun out on the same stretch of icy road. Continue reading

January 6, 2016

“Grateful Doe” Finally Identified After Death in 1995 Car Wreck

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

According to a recent report from the Boston Globe, a man who was killed in a fatal car accident in 1995 has finally been identified. This man was killed in the car accident around 20 years ago in Virginia, and his body was so badly damaged from the accident that an identification could not be made at that time and he his driver’s license or wallet was never recovered. He did however have two Grateful Dead ticket stubs in his pocket that survived the wreckage, so he was then known as Grateful Doe instead of John Doe like as unidentified victims are normally called.

The victim’s mother lost contact with her son after he left home to follow the Grateful Dead. For those that don’t remember, fans of the band would sometimes spend all of their time traveling from city to city with the band. She said that she never filed a missing persons report for several reasons. First, they did not want to believe he was actually missing or dead. His mother also said that she was not even sure where to file the missing persons report, because he was supposedly traveling all over the country, and it didn’t make sense to the family to file the report in Myrtle Beach, where he was living prior to leaving home. Continue reading

January 6, 2016

Reis v. Luckett: Multi-Car Accidents

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Reis v. Luckett, a case from the Supreme Court of the State of Montana, is an appeal dealing with the legal issue of causation in a car accident lawsuit. Essentially, there are four elements needed to prove negligence in a car accident civil action. The first element is that defendant owed plaintiff a duty of due care. The second element is defendant breached his or her duty of due care. The third element is causation, and the fourth and final element is damages.

In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one of the most heavily litigated elements in a negligence case involving a car accident is the causation element. It should be noted that legal causation is broken down into actual and proximate causation. Continue reading

January 5, 2016

New England Driver Crashes into Secret Service Vehicle in Deadly Car Accident

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

According to a recent news feature from the Boston Herald, the United States Secret Service advance team for presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton was in New England making sure everything was safe for Ms. Clinton’s upcoming visit to the area when they were involved in a deadly car accident.

Authorities said a man without a driver’s license and with what has been described as an extensive criminal history allegedly tried to pass another vehicle in an illegal manner. He was driving on a dangerous stretch of Route 16 at the time, and they were in the middle of a heavy snowstorm. While trying to pass the vehicle, he allegedly crashed head on into car traveling in the opposite direction. That other vehicle involved in the collision was the Secret Service vehicle being operated by the Clinton advance team. An advance team is responsible for coming to area before their person they are protecting and securing the area. In some cases this involves checking the backgrounds of everyone who lives or owns a business along the planned route, and, in some high profile visits, it means removing all mailboxes and welding all manhole covers closed to prevent an attack. Continue reading