Articles Posted in Auto Accident

“Understanding Distracted Driving” may not make it to the big screen, but the Illinois-based National Safety Council released this video campaign to make it to your screen.

This series of short videos aims to discuss the risks, dangers and consequences of distracted-driving car accidents in Chicago and elsewhere.

More specifically, the campaign focuses on the use of cell phones by drivers, which is becoming more and more common as technology continues to advance. In these videos, viewers can hear the personal story of NSC Senior Director of Transportation Initiatives David Teater whose 12-year-old son was killed in a car accident that was caused by a distracted driver.Through the videos, Teater discusses a dozen frequently asked questions pertaining to distracted driving. These explanations include how a cell phone causes a cognitive distraction, why it’s a particularly dangerous form of distraction and how companies can enact a cell phone-free policy in the workplace to help protect workers.

Our Chicago personal injury attorneys understand that while drivers in the city may be banned from using a cell phone behind the wheel, the truth is that some motorists routinely ignore the law. According to the Governors Highway Safety Administration, no driver in the state of Illinois is allowed to talk on a cell phone while driving through a construction zone or through a school zone. All school bus drivers and those under the age of 19 are banned from using a cell phone while driving in the state as well. Lastly, all drivers have been prohibited from texting while operating a motor vehicle.

This isn’t Teater’s first time addressing the dangerous driving behavior. He is a regular speaker on the topic. As a matter of fact he has proposed new legislation in front the U.S. Congress and a number of state legislatures. Each message is the same; he would like government officials to place restrictions on cell phone use by drivers in an attempt to save some lives.

“Cell phone use and driving are a dangerous, and oftentimes deadly, combination,” Teater said.

The NSC was the first organization to advocate a complete ban of cell phone use by drivers. The Council made its first such proposal back in 2009.

According to distraction.gov, approximately 5,500 people were killed in the United States in 2009 because of traffic accidents that involved a distracted driver. The use of a cell phone was the number one distraction in these accidents, accounting for approximately 20 percent of all of the reported distracted-driving accidents in 2009. The use of a cell phone, both hands-free and hand-held, by a driver gives them the same reaction ability as a driver who has a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 — the legal limit for drunk driving in Illinois. As a matter of fact, cell phone use makes a driver four times as likely to be involved in an accident.
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The Obama administration will be throwing out a bunch of regulations regarding traffic signs. Junking these regulations is aimed at helping state governments that are running low on cash. Meanwhile, Congress is being urged to provide continuity for road construction projects nationwide by not holding up funding.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood reports that the U.S. Department of Transportation is considering a rule to allow communities to replace street signs as they wear, rather than mandating a deadline for periodic replacements. The new changes could potentially toss out more than 45 federal traffic control regulations.The replacement of traffic signs and other traffic-control devices is meant to help prevent car accidents in Illinois and elsewhere throughout the country. State and local governments are held responsible for keeping roads in effective working order. Inoperable street devices and worn signs increase the risk for accidents.

Our Chicago personal injury attorneys understand there are many possible causes for an accident. Inoperable or missing street signs or signals, defective roads, missing guardrail and overgrown vegetation are just a few of the common causes. An attorney can help you to analyze all aspects of your accident to ensure that all parties are held responsible for the damages.

At the beginning of the year, Obama requested that the government reexamine the regulations that are currently in effect. The goal of the reexamination was to help point out rules and regulations that could be changed or removed because they were out-of-date, unnecessary, too costly or burdensome.

“A specific deadline for replacing street signs makes no sense and would have cost communities across America millions of dollars in unnecessary expenses,” said LaHood.

The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) came up with idea to create a deadline for the replacement of these traffic and street signs. The devices regulated under this deadline include traffic signals, streets signs and markings on roadway pavement. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has been publishing the manual since 1971. Updates are made periodically to help to accommodate new transportation needs and to address the ever-changing safety technologies, traffic management techniques and traffic control tools.

According to FHWA Administrator Victor Mendez, local governments after better judges than federal agents in determining when these devices need to be replaced. The new regulations aim to put that responsibility with the state and local governments to help them to better disperse tax dollars.

With this responsibility lying in the hands of our government officials, it will be their duty to make sure that these devices are being properly maintained. Traffic accidents can be caused by a number of conditions in addition to road signs. They can also be caused by road conditions and construction. If you’ve been involved in an accident, contact an attorney to help you to assess the situation and determine who is truly at fault.
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During the next decade, our cars are expected to make quite the transition. Manufacturers are planning to equip our vehicles of the future with some pretty neat safety features, according to MSN Autos. But will they really improve roadway safety or prove to be malfunctioning distractions and increase our risks of serious car accidents in Chicago and elsewhere?Our Chicago personal injury attorneys understand that these new features come with good intentions, but as we’ve seen before, technology doesn’t always offer us a safer ride. Manufacturers and government officials reiterate that safety will always be a top concern and new features are designed with that in mind. Your car may not be able to drive all by its self, but designers hope that it will help to make your driving safer.

We’re already experiencing these changes, as many cars now have collision-mitigation systems, which use radar to identify when you’re getting too close to another object of if you’re going too fast. These systems are able to take control of your car to help you avoid an accident.

Other future technologies include:

-Rear-view cameras. These cameras have already been proposed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Rear-view cameras aim to reduce back-over accidents. They are already available in some models.

-Night-vision cameras and pedestrian-detection systems. These devices would allow you to see objects outside of your vehicle. The system would stop the vehicle if you come too close to one of the detected objects. The main focus of this technology is to avoid car-pedestrian accidents. While some high-end vehicles already come equipped with the technology, manufacturers expect these systems to be standard on new-model vehicles within the next 10 years.

-New-age cruise control. This is a cruise control that senses objects your approaching and can adjust your speed to ensure that you don’t hit them. This allows you to avoid resetting you cruise-control speed.

-Vehicle-to-vehicle communication systems. This Wi-Fi technology will allow cars to talk with one another to help avoid car accidents. Your car will be able to know where surrounding cars are before you do.

-Connected vehicles. New technology will allow you to talk to your friends, surf the web, play some music and control your vehicle all with the sound of your voice. The technology will even talk back to you helping to make your trip easier and to keep your eyes on the road.

-Wi-Fi just for your car. Despite the government’s concern with distracted driving habits, car manufacturers are going ahead with this one. Car’s will soon be equipped with common apps, such as Facebook, Twitter and Pandora. These systems will also be operated through voice command.

-Less gas-guzzle. President Obama and his Administration recently made even more fuel-economy proposals that request that the industry aim at making cars with a 62 mpg rating by 2025. We can also expect more hybrid cars, more plug-ins and more battery operated vehicles.

These expected features all come with good intentions, but it’s important to remember that nothing can replace safe and cautious driving habits. Motorists are urged to remain alert at the wheel and make their best efforts to avoid a motor-vehicle accident.
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Insurance companies have already talked about charging you rates by the mile instead of by the month. Now the government is looking into the same idea. There’s an underlying plan to this move. Since the government is gaining less revenue from fuel with the production of hybrid cars, lawmakers are predicting that billions of dollars in fuel taxes won’t be coming their way in upcoming years, and they’re looking for a way to make up the difference. One idea for making up this difference is a GPS navigation system that would track every single mile we travel and then report the findings to government, which would then include this number in our taxes.

Motorists could be required to pay a fixed rate or a varying charge depending on how many miles were traveled, according to MSN Autos.Many safe driving advocates believe it could force motorists to travel through busy routes, most populated by other drivers, and increase their risks of being involved in a car accident in Chicago or elsewhere in the United States. Overnight, the shortest distance would rule the day — regardless of congestion. Many drivers enjoy taking the longer route, whether it’s to enjoy the scenery or to avoid congested roadways. The bottom line is, the driving habits of many motorists would be altered with pay by the mile driving and that concerns many.

Our Chicago car accident attorneys feel that lawmakers need to look long and hard at this idea before making any moves. This theory sounds extremely similar to the tax that many states are proposing on private aircraft. For states with substantial budget deficits, state lawmakers make no hesitation in slapping pilots with a use tax, a property tax, an excise tax, a registration tax, a sales tax and a fuel tax. The latest plan would charge pilots by the landing. This is a prime example of politicians hatching plots without all the necessary information. Pilots often practice landings. The proposal would discourage that, and thereby increase the risk of airplane accidents.

Oregon was the latest to propose the idea of taxed mileage. Lawmakers are currently looking over a new regulation that would charge a driver about 0.85 cents for each mile through 2015. That number is expected to jump to $1.85 a mile by 2018.

As it stands now, the average car in America is getting a combined mpg of 25 and dishing out a little less than 2 cents for each mile in fuel excise taxes. Excise taxes vary from state to state.

While Oregon’s proposed tax has been postponed through debate, a number of other states are proposing the same idea, including Minnesota and Texas.

Europe is one step ahead of the United States with the proposals however. Places like the Netherlands are already testing out the idea. The Netherlands has some of the most severe traffic problems on that continent. As they were just about to post the tax, a new government set the plan aside last year.

“The trials work well, but it’s first a psychological issue and second a political choice,” Eric-Mark Huitema, a specialist with IBM that developed the system.

To no one’s surprise, American drivers oppose the new tax, fearing that the government’s eye will have access to too much information regarding their whereabouts. Advocates of the GPS devices reiterate that the systems will not be able to looking into where the vehicle is driven, but only how far it’s driven.

J.D. Power and Associates studies predict that the use of plug-in vehicles, hybrids and battery-electric vehicles will only make up, at the most, 7 percent of the country’s market by 2020. But it’s the creation of vehicles with better mpg ratings that’s worrying lawmakers, too.

Some experts believe, that by 2025, we can expect an average mpg of nearly 55. Government officials will find a way to make up the difference and that’s no doubt.

“It is an issue we will have to deal with,” said Mary D. Nichols of the California Air Resources Board.
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A teenage girl was killed in a Chicago car accident as she was rushing out to save her family dog from being put down. Her 6-year-old Doberman, named Romulus, died in the accident as well, according to Mail Online.Our Chicago personal injury attorneys understand the risks faced by teens. It is especially important for teens to stay out from behind the wheel of a motor vehicle when feeling stressed, tired or any other potentially debilitating mood. Teen drivers don’t have much experience on our roadways and for this reason they can unknowingly make dangerous driving mistakes that can result in fatalities.

The teen was removed from the car and transported to the Advocate Condell Medical Center. She was pronounced dead only an hour later. The friend survived the crash with minor injuries. The dog was thrown from the vehicle and also killed.

Many teens don’t understand the importance of safe, cautious and focused driving habits. Recently, teen drivers were placed on the Nation Transportation Safety Board‘s “most wanted” list. This is a list that includes a number of people and scenarios that are most likely to produce serious or fatal crashes. This list makes up part of the NTSB’s awareness campaign that aims to increase public awareness of these dangers and to get support for state action to adopt safety rules and regulations that can help to prevent such accidents and help to save lives.

Teen drivers account for less than 7 percent of the entire driving population in the United States, but are involved in nearly 15 percent of all fatal car accidents. According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, there were more than 5,000 drivers between the age of 15- and 20-year-old were involved in fatal traffic accidents in 2009. Of these fatal accidents, nearly 2,500 teen drivers were killed. Another 196,000 teen drivers were injured in accidents on our roadways. During that year, Illinois witnessed nearly 150 teen deaths resulting from traffic accidents that involved a teen driver.

The NTSB recommends that all states enact a graduated driver licensing (GDL) system to more effectively teach our teen drivers safe driving habits:

-Stage 1: Learner Stage. This is the stage when a teen must drive while supervised by a licensed parent or another licensed family member over the age of 21.

-Stage 2: Intermediate Stage. A teen can drive without anyone in the car. During this time period they’re under rules limited driving hours and passengers.

-Stage 3: Full Privilege Stage: This is a standard driver’s license.

A study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety concluded that states that operate with a GDL system typically experience 40 percent lower rates of injury crash involvement among 16-year-old driver.

Until all states operate with this learning program, responsibility is in the hands of the parent to teach their teen proper, safe, cautious and alert driving habits. With supervised training and positive reinforcement, parents can help to keep their teens safe on our roadways.
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