Boston Car Accident Lawyer Blog

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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Distracted driving has been a hot button issue for a long time, with lawmakers in the majority of states passing bans or restrictions on the use of electronic devices behind the wheel and with numerous public health campaigns warning the public about the risks. With so many laws and with so much news coverage, it may seem like common sense that drivers would simply refrain from doing something that significantly increases their chance of getting into a car wreck.

Unfortunately, our Boston distracted driving accident lawyers know that many people simply disregard the dangers of using electronic devices as they drive. In fact, studies have shown that people are aware of the risks but choose to talk, text or otherwise use their cell phones anyway. Recent data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), however, indicates that this problem may be far more widespread than one might believe.

There are Thousands of Distracted Drivers Right Now

According to the new NHTSA data, which includes statistics from the 2012 Distracted Driving Attitudes and Behaviors Study as well as other studies and reports from 2011, distracted driving remains a major public health problem.

In fact, the 2011 National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) demonstrated that at any given daylight minute, there are 660,000 drivers manipulating an electronic device as they are driving. These 660,000 drivers are across the entire United States, talking, texting, using an app, entering data into a GPS or otherwise playing with a device instead of focusing on the road.

The number of drivers manipulating an electronic device has not changed since 2010, despite efforts to educate the public and to encourage law enforcement to crack down on distracted, texting or taking drivers. In fact, the number has not changed even as:

• 39 states, Puerto Rico, Guam, Washington D.C. and the US Virgin Islands have a complete ban on texting and driving for every driver in the state adult or teen.
• 10 states, Puerto Rico, Guam, Washington D.C. and the US Virgin Islands also ban the use of a handheld cellular telephone while operating a vehicle.
• 74 percent of drivers surveyed in the 2012 National Survey on Distracted Driving Attitudes and Behaviors said that they supported a ban on the use of hand-held cell phones. On average, drivers who supported a ban indicated a belief that the fines should be at least $200 for an offense.
• 94 percent of drivers responding to the same 2012 survey expressed support for texting and driving with a fine of at least $200 for violators of the law.

With almost 100 percent of the population supporting a texting ban and almost ¾ of the population supporting a cell phone ban, it is shocking that there are so many thousands of people manipulating electronic devices as they drive. Yet, almost half of all drivers said they would answer a cell phone call while driving and ¼ said they’d place a call. These drivers, along with the drivers willing to text behind the wheel, make up that list of 660,000 drivers currently putting every single person on the road at risk.
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For many people, driving comes as second nature and they don’t actually stop to think about their actions. If you are one of those drivers, you may find your mind wandering as you commute to work or drive somewhere in your vehicle. In fact, your mind may take you to another place entirely as you get lost in your daydreams.

It may seem like harmless fun to spend your commuting hours daydreaming but the sad fact is that this isn’t the case. Our Boston injury attorneys know that a daydreaming driver may not be giving the road the attention that it deserves. A new study has confirmed this, showing just how many accidents each year can be attributed to dreaming drivers.

Daydreaming The Most Dangerous Distracted Driving Behavior?
According to a recent Yahoo News article, an Erie Insurance Group Survey has indicated that daydreaming while driving may be the single most dangerous behavior of all distracted driving behaviors.

The Erie Insurance Group conducted its study by looking through data on more than 65,000 car accidents that took place in 2011 and 2012. The researchers found that around 10 percent of fatal car accidents involved distracted driving. The Erie Insurance Group then looked further to try to ascertain exactly what type of distraction was keeping the driver unfocused.

The results were very surprising. While texting and driving or using a cell phone behind the wheel is widely viewed as the most dangerous of all distracted driving behaviors, the Erie Insurance Group actually suggested that something else was FIVE TIMES as dangerous as talking or texting. That something was daydreaming.

Based on the information reviewed, the researchers thus concluded that daydreaming was the cause of 62 percent of all distracted driving accidents in the U.S. as compared with just 12 percent of fatalities that occurred as a result of a driver using a cell phone.

If this is true and daydreaming is really the top cause of distracted driving accidents, this could have a serious impact on the ability to legislate these types of issues. Lawmakers can ban cell phones but they have no way to set and enforce a ban on daydreaming as they cannot read your mind. Thus, preventing distracted driving crashes could be hard since there’d be no clear way to make drivers stop dreaming.

It is worth noting, however, that the data that this study was based on centers around reports from law enforcement that were reached either based on their own observations and/or based on what they were told.

Someone who got into an accident might not want to admit he was using his cell phone, especially when cell phone use is illegal in the state where the driver was operating his vehicle. Thus, knowing that he was obviously not paying attention to the road, the driver might try to claim to the police that he was just daydreaming and try to get away with hiding the fact that he was actually chatting away at the time.

Although it is not clear exactly how many distracted driving cases may have involved a texter/talker who went unreported, the basic fact is that any distracted driving accident no matter what the cause can be devastating. Drivers should thus make sure to commit to not doing anything- from daydreaming to driving on the phone- that would make the risks of an accident increase.
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It’s that time of year when we see a plethora of teenagers behind the wheel. Many of them are out enjoying what can be considered the best part of their lives — prom, graduation and summer break.

What parents need to keep in mind is that traffic accidents continue to be the number one cause of death for teenagers across the country. Their first year behind the wheel is the most dangerous of them all. Luckily, you’re one of the biggest influences in their driving habits and can help to shape their skills for a lifetime of safe driving.

According to the Governors Highway Safety Administration (GHSA), teenage drivers tend to emulate their parents driving habits. Our Boston car accident attorneys are urging you to be on your best behavior behind the wheel when your teen is in the car with you. You’re not going to go at it alone though. Officials with the Ford Driving Skills for Life (DSFL) program will be flooding the country with safe driving materials for teens in 2013.

“By setting a good example behind the wheel, parents can increase the chances their children will adopt safe driving practices,” said Jim Vella, the President for Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services.

Don’t believe us? Consider this: about three quarters of teenagers surveyed in a DSFL poll say that they rely heavily on their parents’ advice when they first get their driver’s license.

Luckily, officials with the DSFL are here to offer you some safe driving tips to help to make sure you’re setting the example that your young driver needs. Read the following and review these rules with the teen in your home.

Safe Driving Rules to Help Teens:

-Drive together and drive often. Make sure you offer your teenager a lot of supervised driving time. This is going to help you to make sure that they’re displaying all of the proper driving habits needed to keep them safe out there.

-Buckle up. Parents who wear a seat belt are likely to have teenagers who will wear theirs. Make sure that everyone in the vehicle is buckled in during each and every car ride.

-Obey speed limit. Speed is a factor in about a third of all traffic accidents. Make sure that you’re obeying the posted speed limit and that you’re driving to accommodate the current weather and traffic conditions.

-Halt the distractions. Make sure there’s a “no distraction” rule for the drivers in your home. Distractions include cell phones, music, GPS devices, passengers, eating and smoking. Say no to all of it.

-Scan the roads. Make sure that whoever is behind the wheel knows what’s going on around them at all times. You want to be one step ahead of the traffic around you so that you can better avoid collisions.

-Limit passengers. Under state law, during the first 6 months of a driver’s license, drivers are not allowed to have passengers younger than 18. Although this law is secondary enforcement, you should make it primary enforcement within your household.
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Officials with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently announced the launch of a new iOS app for iPod Touches and for iPhones to help to get drivers real-time information from the SaferCar.gov website.

It’s the SaferCar app.

It’s beneficial to consumers because it’s going to help to eliminate a lot of accident risks. With this app, consumers will be better alerted to recall information, car seat installation information, safety issues and will be able to subscribe to automatic notices about vehicle recalls. They’re also going to be provided with an easier way to file a vehicle safety complaint. It’s helping to put safety in the palm of your hand.

Our Boston car accident lawyers understand how important it is for drivers to stay one step ahead of their vehicle. Safety precautions can save lives. It’s important that consumers are aware of all current safety recalls and all of the proper information to stay safe out there on our state’s roadways. Unfortunately, much of this information never makes it to the eyes and ears of travelers. With real-time information delivered directly to consumers’ phones, we’re going to travel safer.

As it stands now, there are millions of consumers who base their new-car purchases on the information they obtain on auto review sites. Now, consumers can access this information in real-time.

“Safety is our highest priority, and we’re always working to find new and better ways for people to access SaferCar, one of the most popular programs on our website,” said USDOT Secretary Ray LaHood.

New App Features:

-5-Star Safety Ratings: Now, before you purchase a new vehicle, you can access information regarding crash test ratings and safety ratings to make sure you choose the safest car for your and your family.

-Complaints and Recalls: If there’s a safest issue, you’re going to know. You can register the vehicles in your household and get these updates sent directly to your email. You’re also going to be able to file a safety complaint with the push of a button. This is going to help to report problems and spread to word quicker.

-Help with Children: A majority of children are improperly buckled in the vehicle during each car ride. The app is going to help to change that by providing parents, guardians and caregivers with the knowledge they need to make sure everyone’s properly buckled in during every car ride.

-Safety Headlines and Alerts: If it’s in the news, it’s in your hands. Get the latest safety headlines sent straight to your phone.

You can download this app in the Apple iTunes Store. You’re urged to download this app today and to stay up to date with safety information like this. Staying in the know and staying informed is going to help to keep you and your family safe.

Don’t worry Andriod users. Officials are working on a version just for you, too.
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As we recently reported on our Boston Car Accident Lawyer Blog, the entire month of April is being using by safe driving advocates to raise awareness of the dangers of distracted driving.

Recently, officials with Focus Driven have announced that they’ve teamed up with Team One to spread the message about the risk associated with this dangerous driving habit. The two have developed a number of powerful visuals.

Our Boston car accident lawyers are urging you to visit Traction, the official blog of Focus Driven Advocates of cell-free driving. On this website, you can access a number of text message-relate campaign posters to share with your loved one and your community. LOL, OMG & 🙂 are the three campaign tools they’re using to illustrate that there’s nothing entertaining or funny about distracted driving and text messaging behind the wheel.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), only drivers under the age of 18 are prohibited from using a cell phone behind the wheel. On the other hand, drivers of all ages are prohibited from text messaging behind the wheel. There’s a problem with this though.

Unfortunately, officers are having a tough time differentiating texts from phone calls. An officer isn’t always able to prove if you were dialing a phone number to call (legal) or composing a text message to send (illegal). When these laws are tough to enforce, they prove to be not very effective.

In the state of Massachusetts, officers wrote about 1,700 tickets to drivers for text messaging behind the wheel in 2012. According to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), that’s a number that’s up from roughly 1,150 in 2011 — the first full year the law was in effect.

Current Prohibitions in the State of Massachusetts:

-Drivers who are busted text messaging or participating in other Internet-related activities will be fined $100 for their first offense. The second offense runs about $250 and $500 for the third offense.

-School bus operators and other public transit drivers are also banned from using cell phones while driving. The fine for breaking this law is $500 for a first-time offense.

We’re especially talking to the young drivers out there as they’re the most likely to engage in these kinds of distractions. Distracted driving is one of the top reasons why car accidents continue to be the number one cause of death for teens in Massachusetts and elsewhere around the country.

“Today, almost all of new drivers own a cell phone, so it’s critical that we educate young people about the dangers of using it behind the wheel.”

Not because it’s illegal — but because it’s dangerous — we’re asking drivers to put down the phones and text messaging devices in the driver’s seat. We’re working to save lives here.
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