Boston Car Accident Lawyer Blog

It’s the Memorial Day holiday weekend and it’s time to get out of town.

Officials are estimating that about 35 million people will be traveling at least 50 miles from home over the long-holiday weekend. With that being said, we can expect some congested roadways. That’s why officials with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) are urging travelers to plan ahead before venturing out.

Our Boston car accident lawyers understand that drivers can expect the worst traffic on either Friday or on Monday afternoon and early evening. According to officials, the Transportation Department will be halting all roadway construction during the weekend to help to keep the traffic flowing. Still, you’re urged to plan ahead for smooth travels.

Before beginning your road trip, we suggest that you check out the MassDOT’s live Traffic Cameras web page. This will help you to plan a trip with fewer delays.

Another way you can help to make your trip as smooth as possible is to sign up for the 511 Traveler Information Service to get travel information sent straight to your phone, text message device or email. (That doesn’t mean you can use your phone while driving!) Your best bet is to call the 511 service before heading out. By avoiding areas with heavy congestion, and heading down the path less traveled, you can help to ensure smooth driving with less aggregation.

You can also save some time and some money be joining the E-ZPass program. This is going to help you get through our state’s toll booths with ease instead of waiting in the toll lines. When you’re approaching a toll booth, make sure you’re in the proper lane as soon as possible. You don’t want to have to make a last-minute maneuver and endanger yourself and those around you.

Officials with the DOT are here to help keep you awake, too. They’re going to be serving up coffee (for free) at 18 of the MassDOT service plazas. You can stop in and get a free cup anytime from Monday at 10:00 p.m. to Tuesday at 5:00 p.m.

If you’re staying local, or heading somewhere where you’ll be using the MBTA, remember that all subways and buses are on a Sunday schedule on the actual Memorial Day holiday.

Be safe and be alert out there, whenever you get into a vehicle. Always wear a seat belt as it’s your best defense against injury or death in the event of an accident. As a matter of fact, officials with the National Safety Council (NSC) are calculating that there are going to be more than 400 roadway fatalities to occur during this long holiday weekend. They’re predicting another 44,000 injuries from these same accidents.

Do you part to eliminate these risks and travel safely and responsibly. Happy Memorial Day!
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Car insurance companies are supposed to cover you in the event that you are involved in an accident and suffer injury or damage to property. Unfortunately, time and again it has been clearly demonstrated that car insurance companies are not on the side of insured drivers when it comes to paying claims and making sure that drivers don’t suffer serious financial loss in the wake of a collision.

Our Boston car accident lawyers know that insurance companies try many tactics to try to pay out as little as possible after a car wreck. This is true whether you are making a claim with your own auto insurer or whether you are making a claim with the auto insurance company that represents another driver responsible for your collision. Recently, however, the Boston Globe published an article indicating one specific way that insurance companies are lowballing insureds. Unfortunately, these insurance companies are doing something that could be dangerous.

Insurance Companies May be Endangering Drivers

According to the Boston Globe, many insurance companies are forcing insured drivers to use salvage parts or generic parts to repair their vehicles after an accident. This saves the insurance company a lot of money since using a salvaged part can be between 20 and 60 percent cheaper than the cost of a new part.

Unfortunately, salvaged parts and generic parts are not necessarily the same quality as new parts and many car manufacturers including Ford and General Motors discourage the use of either salvage parts or generic copies of manufacturer parts. Car companies, consumer advocates and repair shop owners all argue that replacement parts that don’t come direct from the manufacturer may not fit correctly or match the performance of new, licensed auto parts.

This means when an insurance company mandates that salvage or generic parts are used, the car may not operate as well and may be less safe for the driver and passengers in the future. The car will also lose some of its value as a result of the salvage parts, since vehicles that use salvage parts may be worth an average of 10 percent less. While the decline in the value of a car is annoying, it is the danger to the driver and passengers that is the real concern when salvaged or generic parts are used. In fact, as the Boston Globe points out, it is very clear that these parts are more likely to fail.

If the salvage parts do fail, this could cause another accident to occur, potentially endangering the driver of the car as well as others who are affected by the crash. This is an unacceptable risk just for insurance companies to save money on paying out claims, especially since insured drivers pay insurance premiums specifically to get coverage so they are protected in the event of a crash.

In Massachusetts, the law mandates that insurance companies must tell customers if salvaged parts are being used to perform repairs. Unfortunately, insurance companies tend to bury this information in stacks of papers and when they send insureds to auto body shops to get cars fixed, the shops may use salvaged parts without specifically pointing this out to drivers. A driver thus may not know that his car has sub-standard parts, despite the fact that Massachusetts laws say he has to be told.

This type of behavior by insurance companies is yet another reason why you need a legal professional on your side any time you are dealing with a car insurance claim.
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) runs a number of safety campaigns throughout the year in order to educate the public and to encourage law enforcement to take strong action in enforcing driver safety laws. This year, one of the events is the National Seat Belt Enforcement Mobilization Campaign. The Campaign will be ongoing from the two week period between May 20 and June 2nd and is an annual event that centers on Memorial Day weekend.

Our Boston car accident lawyers know that buckling up can save lives and that the risk of a car accident death significantly decreases when a driver is wearing a seat belt. Yet, far too many people — and especially young people — don’t buckle up despite seat belt laws. The NHTSA’s Seat Belt Enforcement Mobilization Campaign is one way to begin to change this fact and to encourage people to buckle up.

Click it Or Ticket Event Educates the Public and Promotes Police Enforcement

The NHTSA’s Seat Belt Enforcement Mobilization Campaign is more commonly known as the “Click it or Ticket” program and is an annual event that has been successful in the past at encouraging people to buckle up.

According to a 2011 telephone survey conducted by NHTSA, most people will begin buckling up when police start writing more traffic tickets for failure to obey seat belt laws. The survey also revealed that many people who buckle up during high enforcement periods will continue to wear their seat belts even after the special program has ended. Once a driver starts buckling up, it can become a habit and the driver is more likely to automatically buckle his seat belt when getting into the car. This simple, quick act can significantly reduce the chances of a fatality or serious injury and can save the driver’s life.

The NHTSA’s Seat Belt Enforcement Mobilization Campaign can thus have a major impact on driver safety. In fact, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood indicates that earlier enforcement efforts have had a marked impact on improving seat belt use and that more people buckle up now than ever before. In 2012, for example, seat belt use was at a record high with 86 percent of drivers indicating that they buckle up when in the car. Unfortunately, this percentage is lower among teens, who are less likely than any other age group to drive without buckling.

Still, the fact that the vast majority of all drivers buckle up is a very good thing and has come about largely because of programs like Click it or Ticket as well as tougher seat belt laws in many states.

The Focus is on Night Time Drivers

NHTSA hopes that this years Click it or Ticket program will encourage even more drivers to adopt the safe practice of buckling their seat belts when they get into the car. This year, in particular, the focus will be on nighttime drivers who tend to be less likely to buckle up.

In 2011, for example, 62 percent of people who were killed in car accidents at night were not wearing seat belts, as compared with just 43 percent of drivers during the day. As Time Magazine reports, police intend to give out double the number of tickets than they normally do during this stepped-up period of enforcement. Many of those will be given out at night when NHTSA is encouraging law enforcement officers to be especially aggressive at pulling over violators of seat belt laws.
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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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