There has always been a troubled relationship between New Jersey motorists and pedestrians. New Jersey is the fifth most dangerous state in the U.S. for pedestrians according to recent statistics. It seems as if there is a constant struggle as to who should be doing what; drivers are unclear when they have to stop for pedestrians and pedestrians just assume they can cross the street wherever and whenever they want. Despite the law being abundantly clear, pedestrians are still getting hit by cars every year—pedestrian deaths account for 25 percent of all traffic-related deaths in the state.

The law states that drivers must yield to pedestrians when they are in a crosswalk and in turn pedestrians need to utilize the crosswalks. Then there is the grey area—someone walks out to cross the street and is not at a crosswalk, technically a car has the right of way in this situation, but in most cases the car will stop anyways. This can create very dangerous situation, if the car has to stop short, another vehicle behind them may hit them, or they may not be able to stop in time and could hit the pedestrian.

It angers many, but in the instance that a car hits a pedestrian who wasn’t in a crosswalk, there is a good chance that driver will not be facing charges from the police. A perfect example of this is the accident that occurred on January 21 in Hazlet, New Jersey. A 17-year-old man was hit by a car and was killed while attempting to cross Route 36, a busy road.

According to a report from the Asbury Park Press, Traffic Safety Lt. Stephen Schmidt explained that the young man crossed just before the intersection and not in a crosswalk.

“He had just crossed the highway at Stone Road near the intersection,” he explained. “The car had the right of way.”

Despite the fact that the boy was killed, the police have not filed charges against the driver. The case is still under investigation. This is a perfect example of the gray area when it comes to pedestrians and motorists sharing the road. If pedestrians are going to ignore crosswalks and motorists are not going to stop when someone crosses outside of one, how will New Jersey ever reduce the rate of these accidents?

New Jersey car accident lawyer Richard Console believes that everyone needs to work together to curb tragic accidents like this.

“Without cooperation from both motorists and pedestrians nothing will change,” Console said. “The laws are there to protect everyone from these types of accidents, but if they aren’t being followed and enforced there will be no improvement.”

From the American Association for Justice press release.

A Center for Disease Control and Prevention report showed just how often drivers are taking their lives and the lives of others in their hands by driving while under the influence of alcohol. The report shows that in 2010, legally drunk persons got behind the wheel 120,000,000 times. At this point, this is way more than a problem — it is an epidemic.

Far too often people are putting their own lives and the lives of everyone on the road in danger. The report also showed that some groups are more apt to drink and drive than others. Four out of five times the drunk driver was male. Men ages 21 to 34 were responsible for 32 percent of all episodes involving drunk driving.

Alcohol can severely impair someone. Even when below the legal limit the effects of alcohol are still present. These effects include:

• .02 BAC, approximately 2 beers: Loss of judgment and trouble multitasking.
• .05 BAC, approximately 3 beers: Above AND trouble steering and reduced coordination abilities.
• .08 BAC, approximately 4 beers: Above AND impaired ability to control speed and increased difficulty understanding information.
• .10 BAC, approximately 5 beers: Above AND trouble controlling vehicle and delayed reaction time.
• .15 BAC, approximately 7 beers: Above AND seriously impaired concentration and driving ability.

(Adapted from the CDC)

The best ways to combat the drunk driving epidemic is for police to continue to enforce (and possibly even increase enforcement of) drunk driving laws, strictly enforce the drinking age, and possibly utilize ignition interlocks that prevent drivers who have previous DUI convictions from operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

Drunk driving is dangerous for everyone and every year countless people die as a result. If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident caused by a drunk driver, contact a New Jersey car accident lawyer today to find out your legal rights and options.

An analysis published by the National Center for Health Statistics found that opioid painkillers like morphine, hydrocodone (sold as Vicodin and other brands) and oxycodone (Percocet and other brands) were involved in more than 40 percent of drug poisonings in 2008. These drugs were implicated in more poisoning deaths than heroin or cocaine.

Opioid analgesics accounted for 14,800 of the 36,500 fatal drug poisonings in 2008. About 12,400 people died after taking other kinds of drugs, and for 25 percent of the cases where drugs were listed as a cause of death, no specific drug was mentioned.

There were considerable variations in rates of drug poisoning by age. The rate was highest among 45- to 54-year-olds, and people under 24 had the lowest rates of any group except those over age 65.

Non-Hispanic whites had higher rates of death from drugs than Hispanics, and rates among African-Americans were lower than both.

In 30 states, poisoning is the leading cause of injury death. New Mexico, West Virginia, Alaska, Nevada and Utah have the highest rates in the country.

The lead author of the study, Margaret Warner, a statistician with the federal agency, said that a multifaceted approach to solving the problem was needed, analogous to the various steps taken to improve traffic safety. Equipment improvements and law enforcement have combined to sharply reduce the rate of car crash deaths since 1980.

“The C.D.C. is doing some prevention work,” she said. “The Food and Drug Administration is looking at different regulations they can impose, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy is not just focusing on interdiction, but using a public health approach as well.”

According to the article, more than five million Americans in 2009-10 reported using pain relievers without a prescription or only for the feeling they caused.

Being in a car or motorbike accident can be an extremely stressful and traumatic experience. You could suffer from serious injuries, such as back or neck problems, and you might even have some broken bones or fractures to contend with from the incident. Furthermore, the added emotional impact of a traffic accident can be a painful experience as well. Therefore, it is important that you be aware of your legal rights following an RTA (Road Traffic Accident).

If you were in a car accident that was not your fault, it is possible for you to sue for damages that occur as a result of this incident. In addition to your injuries, you might miss time at work and rack-up costly medical bills. If this is the case, it is advisable to talk to a qualified personal injury lawyer to discuss your options.

Immediately following the accident, you should notify the police so they can file a report about the incident. Your attorney will need this report if you do decide to sue. If you do think you might be injured, you should automatically call for medical attention or get to the hospital as soon as possible to be checked over. It is also important that you keep all the records of any medical treatment that you receive following a crash. On top of this, keep all of your receipts and document the days that you missed work due to injury. If your case is to be successful your lawyer needs this documentation, so he can put a monetary value on the lawsuit. And if you have contacted legal representation it will be to ensure you receive the right level of compensation to cover any medical expenses, as well as loss of income as a result of your injuries.

However, it is probably not a good idea to discuss the accident, other than exchanging insurance details, with the other driver until the police arrive at the scene. Do not admit that the accident was your fault because you could incriminate yourself straight away. Instead, if you have a camera or phone, take pictures of the RTA and road conditions.

If and when you win your lawsuit, your compensation should cover any financial hardships that you have faced; however, it will not cover the cost to repair your vehicle. Therefore, you will need to contact your insurance company to get your car, van or motorbike repaired.

Being involved in an RTA can have a long and lasting impact on your life. So, you should want to make sure that you get the compensation you deserve, in order to move on with your life. By contacting an attorney they can help you decide whether or not you should pursue your case in the first place.

Sometimes after starting legal proceedings in this type of case the other party might want to settle out of court, to avoid extra publicity and having to attend court. If this is the case a lawyer can also assist you with this process.

Therefore, knowing your rights can help ensure you receive the justice you deserve following an RTA.

You’ve seen this guy on the highway. Cars stacked behind him in the left lane — in Texas, the “doggone fast lane.” Creeping along, oblivious to the havoc he creates by forcing everyone to dodge around him in a shower of very bad words.

Then you see the problem. This knucklehead is yak-yak-yakking away on — You gotta be kidding me! — a cellphone. You stifle the urge to NASCAR him into the median and speed off angry.

And he’s mostly just an annoyance. What about the swervers, red-light-runners and last-second-lane-changers? These are the true-blue dangers, all because it’s more important to relate every detail of their day than keep their eyes and brains focused on the task at hand.

There oughta be a law?

Tap the brakes. We can handle quick, obviously more important phone calls while driving. It’s everyone else who’s the problem.

Well, the National Transportation Safety Board tapped into your first impulse recently in recommending that states ban all cellphone use while driving. All. No more quick honey-do calls. No more checking with the office while stuck in traffic. No more tracking down your kids.

No more anything, hand-held or hands free.

We get the “no texting” part. Any activity that demands that you take a hand or two off the wheel and stare at your iPhone is a lousy idea. We supported the Texas Legislature’s texting ban, which Gov. Rick Perry vetoed as nanny-statism run amok.

Perry was wrong, but we’re not quite ready to buy the NTSB’s total blackout, either. Some studies do show cognitive degeneration from even hands-free phoning, but others are less definitive. We can only imagine the difficulty for a patrol cop trying to deduce whether a guy passing at 45 mph was singing with the radio, talking to himself or actually carrying on a phone conversation.

Yet, this is where we’re headed, if the rest of us — you know, the responsible ones — don’t start acting that way. Perhaps what we need is a public safety campaign like “Don’t Mess with Texas” to implore Texans to stow their phones while driving and use them only when absolutely necessary.

If we don’t police ourselves, the state will do it for us. And surely that’s not the best possible outcome.

Fighting for Justice is your resource for the latest news and information about America’s civil justice system.

As the world’s largest trial bar, the American Association for Justice (formerly known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America) works to make sure people have a fair chance to receive justice through the legal system when they are injured by the negligence or misconduct of others—even when it means taking on the most powerful corporations. Learn more at www.justice.org.

People who invest in hybrid cars are significantly less likely to be injured in an accident because their heavy batteries make the vehicles safer than traditional cars, according to an insurance industry report released Thursday.

The average hybrid is 10 percent heavier than a traditional car of the same size, and the extra heft reduces the odds of being hurt in a crash by 25 percent, the report says.

“Saving at the pump no longer means you have to skimp on crash protection,” said Matt Moore, vice president of the Highway Loss Data Institute and author of the report.

The first generations of hybrids generally were smaller, lighter vehicles than those produced more recently. With manufacturers increasingly converting a portion of some traditionally powered car models to hybrids, the hybrid versions are heavier.

For example, a Honda Accord takes on about 480 pounds when transformed into a hybrid version. A Toyota Highlander gains 330 pounds.

Hybrid car sales peaked in 2009 at just shy of 3 percent
of the market, according to
the automotive Web site Edmunds.com. Their share dropped to 2.4 percent last year and continued to decline in the first eight months of this year.

The institute, an affiliate of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, is considered one of the most reliable sources of such data because it draws on detailed insurance claim filings rather than police accident reports.

The institute gathered data on 25 models that are produced both as traditional and hybrid vehicles, all 2003-2011 models, and that had been in at least one accident that resulted in an injury claim. The Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight were excluded from the study because they are sold only as hybrids.

]]> http://www.pissd.com/2011/12/report-says-hybrids-are-safer-for-occupants-than-traditional-cars/feed/ 0 http://www.pissd.com/2011/12/ntsb-calls-for-nationwide-ban-on-phone-calls-or-texting-while-driving/ http://www.pissd.com/2011/12/ntsb-calls-for-nationwide-ban-on-phone-calls-or-texting-while-driving/#comments Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:14:35 +0000 Bob Kraft http://www.pissd.com/?p=8445 I’ve written several posts recently (including one Monday) about the dangers of texting while driving, and about Governor Perry’s baffling decision to veto a law passed by the House and Senate that would impose a statewide ban on such activity.

Yesterday, the National Transportation Safety Board issued a surprisingly strong recommendation that there be a nationwide ban on not only texting, but also telephone calls while driving. Here is the press release from the NTSB:

Following today’s Board meeting on the 2010 multi-vehicle highway accident in Gray Summit, Missouri, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) called for the first-ever nationwide ban on driver use of personal electronic devices (PEDs) while operating a motor vehicle.

The safety recommendation specifically calls for the 50 states and the District of Columbia to ban the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices (other than those designed to support the driving task) for all drivers. The safety recommendation also urges use of the NHTSA model of high-visibility enforcement to support these bans and implementation of targeted communication campaigns to inform motorists of the new law and heightened enforcement.

“According to NHTSA, more than 3,000 people lost their lives last year in distraction-related accidents”, said Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman. “It is time for all of us to stand up for safety by turning off electronic devices when driving.”

“No call, no text, no update, is worth a human life.”

On August 5, 2010, on a section of Interstate 44 in Gray Summit, Missouri, a pickup truck ran into the back of a truck-tractor that had slowed due to an active construction zone. The pickup truck, in turn, was struck from behind by a school bus. That school bus was then hit by a second school bus that had been following. As a result, two people died and 38 others were injured.

The NTSB’s investigation revealed that the pickup driver sent and received 11 text messages in the 11 minutes preceding the accident. The last text was received moments before the pickup struck the truck-tractor.

The Missouri accident is the most recent distraction accident the NTSB has investigated. However, the first investigation involving distraction from a wireless electronic device occurred in 2002, when a novice driver, distracted by a conversation on her cell phone, veered off the roadway in Largo, Maryland, crossed the median, flipped the car over, and killed five people.

Since then, the NTSB has seen the deadliness of distraction across all modes of transportation.

In 2004, an experienced motorcoach driver, distracted on his hands-free cell phone, failed to move to the center lane and struck the underside of an arched stone bridge on the George Washington Parkway in Alexandria, Virginia. Eleven of the 27 high school students were injured;

In the 2008 collision of a commuter train with a freight train in Chatsworth, California, the commuter train engineer, who had a history of using his cell phone for personal communications while on duty, ran a red signal while texting. That train collided head on with a freight train – killing 25 and injuring dozens;

In 2009, two airline pilots were out of radio communication with air traffic control for more than an hour because they were distracted by their personal laptops. They overflew their destination by more than 100 miles, only realizing their error when a flight attendant inquired about preparing for arrival.

In Philadelphia in 2010, a barge being towed by a tugboat ran over an amphibious “duck” boat in the Delaware River, killing two Hungarian tourists. The tugboat mate failed to maintain a proper lookout due to repeated use of a cell-phone and laptop computer;

In 2010, near Munfordville, Kentucky, a truck-tractor in combination with a 53-foot-long trailer, left its lane, crossed the median and collided with a 15-passenger van. The truck driver failed to maintain control of his vehicle because he was distracted by use of his cell-phone. The accident resulted in 11 fatalities

In the last two decades, there has been exponential growth in the use of cell-phone and personal electronic devices. Globally, there are 5.3 billion mobile phone subscribers or 77 percent of the world population. In the United States, that percentage is even higher – it exceeds 100 percent.

Further, a Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study of commercial drivers found that a safety-critical event is 163 times more likely if a driver is texting, e-mailing, or accessing the Internet.

“The data is clear; the time to act is now. How many more lives will be lost before we, as a society, change our attitudes about the deadliness of distractions?” Hersman said.

A synopsis of the NTSB report, including the probable cause, findings, and a complete list of the safety recommendations, will be available online after the meeting.

The NTSB’s full report will be available on the website in several weeks.