Articles Posted in Car and Auto Accidents

Distracted driving, such as changing the radio or a CD, talking to passengers, looking outside at things other than the road, using a cell phone, or text messaging is a major cause of accidents because it prevents the driver from focusing on the complete task of driving. Interactive devices and navigational tools can also distract drivers. More and more states and localities are banning specific distractions. Yesterday, according to sfexaminer.com,a new bill aimed distracted driving was sent to Governor Jerry Brown by the Senate. If he signs the bill, fines for drivers who refuse to go hands-free while using their cell phones will increase. The base fine for texting or calling while holding a cell phone would increase from $20 to $50. Court fees would drive the cost from about $180 to $300, says the author, Democratic Sen. Joe Simitian of Palo Alto. Repeat offenders could be fined $100 or up to $528 with fees and get one point added to their driving record. Republican Sen. Ted Gaines of Roseville objected to increasing fines in a poor economy. Simitian responded by saying, “As long as you follow the law, there’s no fine.” He believes SB28 will save lives by deterring distracted driving.

The Governors’ Highway safety Association recommends that states around the country take appropriate measures to cut down on distracted driving. Actually, they are aiming at debunk the theory that hands-free is safer than using a hand-held cell phone. According to their findings there is no evidence indicating that the use of hands-free sets are any safer than handheld sets, and a Virginia Tech study indicated hands-free systems may be beneficial. Yet studies from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety at the University of Utah and Carnegie Mellon have reported that all cell phone use is distracting. They recommend several steps to combat the increasing problem of distracted driving. They recommend the federal government should do following:
• Fund research to develop effective methods for enforcing texting and cell phone bans.
• Fund research to determine the nature and scope of the distracted driving problem.
• Fund a media campaign to alert the public to dangers of distracted driving.
• Develop model policies for employers encouraging them to ban cell phone use/texting by all employees driving for business purposes.
• Provide financial incentives for states that pass comprehensive graduated licensing laws that include cell phone/texting bans for new drivers.
• Support technologies solutions that minimize driver distraction.

The success of such efforts depends on the combination of awareness and enforcement, which are the most effective means of ensuring compliance, as we still have not seen much success with anti-distracted driving laws. Even though California has laws banning handheld cell phone use and texting while driving, we have not seen a dramatic decline in such behaviors. It looks like we have a way to go before new driving behaviors become hard-wired in this state. Distracted driving laws are the begining and base for any campaigns against distraced drving to tak flight. Remember all drunk driving and seatbelt campaigns that were hammered into us before they really took effect. Such campaigns are proof that similar ones addressing distracted driving will most likely lead to substantial reductions in cell phone use while driving, and reduce the risk of accidents. Federal researchers have found that when enforcement campaign combine awareness with the threat of fees and penalties, they are much more effective in reducing distracted driving. We think the main message of any campaign should be: no text or phone call is worth you risking your life.
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52-year-old Dr. Kevin Mack died yesterday morning, and three others were injured at the intersection of Octavia and Hayes. A big rig carrying cars crashed into a UCSF shuttle transporting employees to work. UCSF still have not made officials had no immediate comment. The big-rig was headed north on Octavia at Oak Street. Mack was ejected in the crash and landed underneath the big-rig. Three other passengers, ranging in age from 58-85 years of age, were taken to San Francisco General Hospital for treatment of minor injuries. Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi aknowleged the crash underscores the sometimes dangerous conditions on Octavia Boulevard. He said: “I am acutely aware of the ongoing concerns generated by traffic and those trying to negotiate in and around Octavia…the area is especially confusing to visitors in San Francisco,” such as out-of-state drivers.”

Our research revealed that Octavia Boulevard was designed to resemble, both form and function, the multi-way boulevards found in many high-density European cities, which began in the age of horse-drawn carriages and foot traffic, and then had to find ways to accommodate cars. The urban planners of Octavia decided that such boulevards were pleasant, functional, and contrary to their reputation in America, not dangerous at all. They rejected the latter idea and made believe that the boulevards are better and less rigid than typical American streets and that they would allow pedestrians and cars to make instinctive, rather than enforced, room for one another. Well, that is nice in theory, but this is not Europe-and although Europhiles would like to believe San Francisco is like Europe-it is not. Over there, the driving situation is organized chaos, and everyone is on the same page. We have yet to catch on to that spirit. What is more, that boulevard carries many out-of-towners into the city, like this truck driver from min, who are not familiar with our hilly streets, nor our street engineering, such as that on Octavia. At the same time, there is no telling if that accident wouldn’t have happened all the same if the truck driver were familiar with our streets. We won’t know until the investigation is over, but the truck driver said he had the right of ways, and so did a witness, who said that the shuttle ran the red light. So maybe this is a straightforward case of driver inattention and has nothing to do with street engineering.
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During your commute do you ever long to finish that novel you started six months ago, or play on your iPad, or start knitting that sweater for your 6 year old nephew, or finish that report your boss asked for last week, or unwrap and take a bite out of the tuna sandwich you made for lunch? If you live in Nevada, you can. Nevada just passed a law requiring the Nevada DMV to set guidelines for a person to obtain an autonomous vehicle driver’s license. So, sometime in future, anyone in Nevada longing to unleash the rebel inside will finally get to feel the pleasure of driving and texting with a cop driving right behind them. Just think of it, it’s like giving the finger to the existing rules your driving instructor hammered into your brain, rules having to do with keeping your eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel, the very rules created to maintain order and safety on our roads. The creators and supporters of the law, and the cars, contend that the driverless car can speed up traffic times, invite greater packing of cars sharing the road, give city’s the opportunity to take in more cars, allow drivers more free time to work or enjoy their commute, and, most importantly, save lives by reducing traffic accidents caused by careless or inattentive (or even drunk) drivers. We’ll see what other amendments get tacked on to this law once the driverless cars are bought and driven. Really, how much can a driver sit back and not pay attention? What if the car malfunctions and an accident occurs? Will Google and auto manufacturers be exempt from liability when software or hardware malfunctions and causes an accident? Some economic experts suggest that a company may be not be so willing to accept legal liability associated with selling driverless cars and may not want to invest significant capital to help further the technology.

There are some other issues to consider as well. What if one these robotic cars breaks a traffic law? Who pays the fine then? How will they handle in some sort of unpredictable situation? Then who is responsible, the human or the car? Are we ready as a society to allow robots to control our live and to blindly accept they will keep us safe? More of these types of questions will present themselves down the road (pardon the pun) to be sure. How the law is interpreted and analyzed when it shows up in a courtroom, and how it morphs over time, and whether the law will be interpreted how the legislature intended will be interesting to watch. Because, like every law with its plain language, the courts will, most likely, have to decide what protections are applicable to car owners and their manufacturers and who is liable for negligence after an accident. The legal community will also have ample opportunity to examine and reexamine the language of the law. The next important question is: when will California pass its own hands free law?
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Ford has introduced an innovative solution to reduce car accidents and curb congestion-intelligent vehicles that combine technologies, like WI-FI, GPS, and radar-based safety features, to create vehicles that wirelessly “talk” to each other and warn of possible hazards. Hailed as the new frontier of collision avoidance innovations, intelligent vehicles are expected to revolutionize the driving experience and hold the potential of helping reduce many crashes. Prototypes were recently brought to Southern California to demonstrate the real-life benefits of the technology.

The auto maker believes, when combined with existing technologies already available on Ford models, advanced vehicle-to-vehicle communications will be able to automatically assist a driver in preventing a collision. They also claim, intelligent vehicles could help warn drivers of numerous potential dangers such as a car running a red light but blocked from the view of a driver properly entering the intersection. Also, the cars are expected to reduce traffic delays by providing up to date traffic information, allowing drivers to avoid congested roadways.

Ford is also partnering with other automakers and the federal government to create a common language that will ensure all vehicles have the ability to talk to each other based on a common communication standard-cars that simply rely on GPS and a wireless data connection to beam their location and speed to each other. Some predict that intelligent cars of the future could be intelligent enough to avoid pedestrians, bicyclers, and others who are not driving automobiles. But can we really trust cars to do our thinking and reacting for us, and expect they will make our lives easier and safer? Time will reveal the answer. However, as we see the need for newer safety measures and ways to decrease traffic congestion continue to grow, it is undeniable intelligent cars are one of the more innovative attempts, we have seen thus far, toward finding safer, more sustainable ways of commuting.

Be careful driving this weekend. The roads will be wet. Pay special attention when you are driving on the Golden Gate Bridge, as accidents there can cause a car to move accross into traffic traveling in the opposite direction. Last month, a man from Colma was placed under arrest for allegedly causing a drunken driving crash on the Golden Gate Bridge that injured several people and briefly shut down the bridge, according to today’s news. The man–37 year-old Syed Ali– was speeding in his 2007 Mercedes roadster and rear-ended a vehicle driven by Mara Lefkowitz in the southbound lane. The impact forced Lefkowitz to spin out of control and hit the west curb of the bridge, at which point she moved back across southbound lanes into the northbound lanes and hit the east curb of the bridge. At that moment, another vehicle driving in a northbound lane crashed into Lefkowitz’s car. Ali’s vehicle also crossed into a northbound lane and sideswiped a van, causing the driver of the van to lose control and overturn. The driver of the van and Lefkowitz were taken to the hospital with moderate injuries.

According to the CDC, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among those ages 5-34 in the U. S. More than 2.3 million adult drivers and passengers were treated in emergency departments as the result of being injured in motor vehicle crashes in 2009. The economic impact is also notable: the lifetime costs of crash related deaths and injuries among drivers and passengers were $70 billion in 2005. In addition to that, alcohol-impaired driving kills about 11,000 people and costs nearly $110 billion a year. Every day, 30 people in the United States die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver. This amounts to one death every 48 minutes, and one in 3 motor-vehicle crashes involve an alcohol-impaired driver. The following are ways all of us can prevent alcohol-impaired driving and its consequences:

• Designate a non-drinking driver in your before you go out drinking.

An 18-year-old woman from Rohnert Park named Kaitlyn Dunaway was charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter for allegedly running over a 2-year-old girl, according to sfgate.com. Dunaway was distracted by texting when she crashed her vehicle in to Cali Murray and Cali’s mothers as they walked through a cross walk holding hands on December 1st. Cali was killed and her mother was seriously injured. Dunaway has not been arrested, but she has been issued a citation letter to appear Thursday in Sonoma County Superior Court. If she is convicted, she could spend as much as a year in county jail. Dunaway is freshman at Sonoma State University and is considered a standout volleyball player who attended Petaluma High School. It is shame that she might have to suffer such heavy consequences for what, on the ground level, looks like such a small thing–the sending of a text.

Texting while driving has been banned because it has become a public health issue. The wireless communications law took effect on January 1, 2009, making it infraction to write, send, or read text-based communication on an electronic wireless communications device, such as a cell phone, while driving a motor vehicle. Some believe that making texting while driving a felony would be a good way to deter people from doing it. But what about texting while walking? Shouldn’t there be a ban on that as well? According to Ohio State University researchers, pedestrian texting accidents let to more than 1,000 emergency room visits in 2008. CTIA-The Wireless Association reported that Americans sent 1 trillion texts in 2008 and sent 2.1 trillion in 2010. That is a lot of people not paying attention to their surroundings. Whether you are driving and texting, or texting and walking, the message is clear: Texting via any means is hazardous and puts people at risk for injury.

If you or a loved one suffered an injury due to the negligence of another, please contact our firm for a free consultation. Our auto and pedestrian accident attorney is focused on helping victims receive the maximum compensation for their losses. With offices conveniently located in Oakland and San Francisco, we make it easy for Bay Area residents to meet with our experienced personal injury attorney.