Articles Posted in Car Accidents

According to Massachusetts State Police (MSP), a motorist was killed and another was injured in a recent accident on I-93 in Boston. The accident happened near the entrance to the Tip O’Neill Tunnel.

The Boston Globe reports that a 53-year-old driver was killed in the accident. He was driving his pickup the wrong way on the highway as he entered onto Fontage Road. He crashed his pickup into an SUV. Accident reports indicate that the driver was thrown from his car in the crash. He was taken to Tufts Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. The other driver was not injured.

The car accident went down just before 6:00 a.m. Officers were forced to close the northbound lanes for a short while. They were reopened just after 8:00 a.m.

Our Boston accident lawyers understand how dangerous our roadways can be. They’re congested, they’ve got small lanes and often seem as though they are packed with irresponsible drivers. It gets even worse when you throw tunnels into the mix. We’re here to offer you some safe driving tips to help you to get safely to where you need to be, even when traveling through a tunnel is involved.

Tunnel Safety Tips:

-When you come close to a tunnel, pay close attention to your vehicle, other vehicles and traffic signs.

-Keep an eye on any height restrictions for the tunnel if you’re traveling in a large vehicle.

-Lookout for lane closures.

-Never engage in distractions while driving through a tunnel. The road always needs your full attention, but especially when driving through a tunnel.

-Make sure that your headlights are on so that you can see and so that other motorists can see you.

-Never tailgate!

-Be on the lookout for changing traffic patters and for changes in traffic speeds.

-Make sure you’re aware of the minimum speed limits, too!

-In tunnels that have two-way traffic, you should try to stay away from on-coming traffic, if you can.

-Never cross the center line.

-Never reverse or make a U-turn in a tunnel.

-Never stop unless it’s an emergency.

-If traffic starts to slow down, switch on your hazard warning lights.

-Never leave your vehicle, not even if the traffic has come to a complete stop.

-If you breakdown in a tunnel, turn on your hazard lights, pull over to the side of the road into the emergency lane and turn off your car. Get in touch with the rescue services.

It’s important to adjust your driving to accommodate the traffic conditions and the weather conditions. Driving through a tunnel is much different than driving on the regular roadway. Your vision is hindered because of the darkness and you feel like you’re in tighter quarters with other vehicles. Make sure you’re on your best driving behavior so that you can enter and exit our state’s tunnels safely!
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Safe Kids recently teamed up with officials from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) and with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to push this year’s Child Passenger Safety Week.

The goal of this year’s campaign is to make sure that parents and guardians are not only buckling in their kids during every car ride, but that they’re doing so properly. According to a recently-released survey from the NHTSA, about 20 percent of parents are using these devices incorrectly.

“The key to keeping kids safe is to make sure your child is in the right seat for their age and size – and to make sure that the seat is correctly installed in your vehicle,” said USDOT Secretary Ray LaHood.

Our Braintree injury lawyers understand the risks that children face when involved in car accidents. The risks they face increase significantly when parents neglect to buckle them in properly. You are the saving grace for these young passengers. Make sure you understand how your child car seat works, how to properly buckle your child.

The study revealed five common mistakes that parents and guardians are making when installing car seats and buckling in kids. These mistakes could wind up costing your child their life in the event of an accident.

Common Child Car Seat Mistakes:

-Oftentimes parents use the wrong harness slot. Parents are positioning these straps either too low or too high on the seat.

-Parents weren’t placing the chest clip in the right spot. It should fall across the abdomen and not the chest.

-When buckling in a child, they need to be secure. Too many parents are leaving too much slack between the harness strap and the child. There shouldn’t be any slack.

-Parents weren’t buckling in the seat tightly. There should never be more than an inch of slack when buckled in properly.

-Seat belts for kids need to fit properly. Too many parents were leaving the seat belt near the child’s neck or face.

During Child Passenger Safety Week, events will be held throughout the country to make sure that parents have the resources available to them to properly buckled in kids. Make sure you listen up and take advantage of the resources available to make sure your kid is safe during each car ride. These young passengers rely on you!

If parents were to properly learn how to use these devices, hundreds of young passenger lives could be saved. In the meantime, parents are asked to stop in at one of Massachusetts’ Child Car Seat Inspection locations to have a trained professional double check the use of your car seat and properly install it for you if necessary.
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There’s a lot of road work going on right now. We’ve got some beautiful weather for travelers and crews working to get jobs done before the onset of winter.

If you’ve hit the road in New England this summer, chances are you’ve seen work zones, you’ve seen the orange barrels and you’ve seen the roadside workers. They’re out there working to mow the grass on the side of the road, to fix pot holes and to build new bridges and new roads. They are working to make our Massachusetts family safer during their travels.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), driving dangerously through our state’s work zones not only jeopardizes the safety of roadside workers, but it also jeopardizes the safety of motorists. As a matter of fact, four out of every five people who are killed in work zone accidents are either the driver or the passenger of a passing vehicle. Some of the most common causes of these accidents is improper lane changes, driver fatigue and following too closely.

Our Massachusetts car accident lawyers are asking you to drive during off-peak hours whenever you can. This is not only to help keep you safe, but to help to keep roadside workers safe and to help to minimize traffic congestion. State workers often install concrete barrier walls during these kinds of projects to help to separate road traffic from construction crews. It’s also wise to make sure that all road work information is communicated to travelers. Roadside message boards should be used and workers should also wear highly-visible protective equipment. These areas should be policed with extra patrols and work areas should be cleaned up promptly.

When you’re driving through a work zone, it’s important to:

-Stay alert!

-Pay attention to speed limits.

-Beware of narrowing lanes.

-Be on the lookout for workers.

-Avoid tailgating other vehicles.

-Keep distractions out of the driver’s seat.

-Be ready for delays.

-Allow yourself with plenty of time to get through these areas.

-Select an alternate route whenever possible.

Keeping our work zones safe is a responsibility of everyone involved. We’re asking everyone in these areas to be safe and to use common sense when traveling through the busy fall months.

Those working in work zones are to make sure that the area has plenty of signage to alert passing motorists of the work that’s taking place and of the dangers present. There should also be barriers in these areas to help to keep workers away from passing traffic, according to MassDOT Work Zone Safety. It’s also a good idea to make sure that police are on site. This will help to address motorists who aren’t following the rules and to act as a deterrent to those who are thinking about breaking them.
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There’s a lot of money up for grabs and there’s only one simple thing each state has to do to get it. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is giving out more than $17 million to states that have comprehensive, primary laws against distracted driving during the 2013 fiscal year, according to TruckingInfo.com.

According to the most recent statistics, there were close to 3,100 people who died in distracted driving car accidents. Another 420,000 people were injured in these same incidents.

Our Boston personal injury attorneys understand that distracted driving, cell phone use and text messaging behind the wheel in particular, is a growing epidemic throughout the country. Slowly, state by state has enacted laws against this dangerous driving behavior but motorists aren’t always obeying. In the state of Massachusetts, it is illegal for a driver under the age of 18-years-old to talk on a hand-held cell phone while driving. It is also illegal for all drivers to text message behind the wheel, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

“This new grant program will provide states that have distracted driving laws with important resources to help save lives and prevent injuries,” said USDOT Secretary Ray LaHood.

The funds have been set aside under the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, which was recently passed by Congress.

For a state to qualify to get some of this money, it has to make sure that it has one of these laws in the 2013 fiscal year. It’s important that these laws are primary and not secondary, which means that an officer can pull over and cite a driver solely for disobeying this law. States that only have secondary distracted driving laws are not eligible.

In addition, congress has also freed up another $5 million for officials with the NHTSA to use to create advertising tools to support the enforcement and awareness efforts of these laws.

Enforcement and awareness efforts, whether for distracted driving, drunk driving or seat belt use, have been proven to be effective in getting drivers to listed and to help to reduce the risks of car accidents on roadways nationwide.

Each state has 45 days upon publication in the Federal Register to apply for these funds.

Regardless of what our laws might be, all drivers are urged to remain safe and focused behind the wheel. There should never be a time when you take your hands off of the wheel or your eyes off of the road, especially when it’s only for a phone call or for a text message. This is a move that could potentially wind up ending your life or taking the life of someone else. Keep your phone in the glove compartment or in the back seat to avoid the temptation. You can help to make our roadways safer, and it starts by keeping your attention on the road!
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Crash ratings should be one of the key points you consider when purchasing a new car. Unfortunately, many of the midsize luxury cars, including the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, didn’t do so well in the new frontal crash test that was developed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the crash test has been developed to see what happens when a car hits another car or a fixed object. The test hits about a quarter of the vehicle’s front end by running it into a 5-foot rigid barrier at 40 miles per hour.

The results do not bode well for non-luxury models either. They’re up next for the new test.

These kind of tests and the results that they produce are highly beneficial to car manufacturers as they’re oftentimes used to make changes in vehicles’ designs and their safety features. And of course to advertise their safety and success.

Our Boston car accident lawyers understand how crucial these test results are for those who are looking into buying a new car. The result of this test and various other tests can be found on the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety‘s website.

Before setting out to get a new car, you’re going to want to know about its crashworthiness, meaning you want to know how well it’s going to be able to protect you in the event of an accident. Officials with the IIHS rate these cars with the various ratings, including good, acceptable, marginal or poor. They test how vehicles handle in a rollover test, high-speed front and side crash tests as well as evaluations of seat/head restraints for protection against neck injuries in rear impacts. Manufacturers will have to return to the drawing board to find ways to correct the flaws and make the cars safer and more appealing to consumers.

In the most recent test, officials looked at 11 cars. Of these cars, only the Infiniti G, the Volvo S60 and the Acura were marked with good or acceptable ratings.

Many other vehicles, including the Volkswagen CC, the Lincoln MKZ, the BWM 3 Series and the Acura TSX came through with only marginal ratings.

Among the vehicles with poor ratings were the Lexus ES 350, the Audi A4, the Lexus IS 250 and the Mercedes C-Class.

Officials say that the results of this new test show that these vehicles’ side airbags are OK for T-bone accidents, but not for off-center ones. They say there’s a chance the bag won’t go off until it’s too late.

In three of the cars, including the Volkswagen, the Mercedes and the BMW, the seat belts spooled out too much slack after an accident. The dummies in the vehicle were tossed around the cars because of it.

The door of the Volkswagen was sheared off during the test.

“With this new test, the institute has raised the bar again and we will respond to this challenge as we design new vehicles,” said officials with Toyota.
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A single-car accident on Interstate 195 sent a man to the hospital over the weekend. According to Massachusetts State Police (MSP), the accident happened just before 7:00 p.m. in Swansea near Exit 2. The driver of the SUV drove into the median and flipped his vehicle. Officials don’t know what exactly caused the accident yet, according to Wicked Local.

Our Swansea car accident lawyers understand that the vehicle involved in the accident was an SUV. These larger vehicles are supposed to provide drivers with more power and more protection. Unfortunately, they’re much more likely to be involved in rollover accidents, which oftentimes produce serious or fatal injuries.

About 40 percent of Americans think they’re actually safer in an SUV than in a passenger car. That’s just not true!

SUVs rollover more than any other kind of car on the market. As a matter of fact, rollover accidents account for nearly 40 percent of all fatal accidents involving an SUV. That’s high in comparison to the 15 percent rollover rate for passenger cars.

In 2006 SUVs had the highest occupant fatality rate of any kind of vehicle in rollover accidents at more than 7.75 per 100,000 registered vehicles. This is in comparison to the with 3.10 for vans, 6.98 for pickup trucks and 3.18 for passenger cars.

You’d be surprised by how many of these accidents are single-vehicle accidents, too. In 2006, more than 45 percent of single-vehicle rollover accidents involved an SUV. Less than 40 percent involved pickups and about 21 percent in passenger cars.

In 2006, there were nearly 8,100 SUV occupants killed in traffic accidents.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the following can increase your chances of being involved in a rollover accident:

-Riding in an SUV because they’re narrow vehicles with higher centers of gravity, making them more susceptible.

-Speeding. Exceeding the speed limit or driving too fast for the current weather conditions contributes to about 40 percent of rollover accidents.

-Alcohol. About half of all fatal rollover accidents involved a driver who was under the influence of alcohol.

Don’t forget to buckle up either! More than 70 percent of people who are killed in rollover accidents were not wearing a seat belt when the accident happened. Be careful in rural areas as well, as about three-fourths of these accidents happen in these areas.

Tips to Avoid a Rollover Accident:

-Do your homework. If you’re looking into purchasing an SUV, look at the accident stats and look for a wider vehicle that comes equipped with electronic stability control (ESC).

-Be careful behind the wheel. Avoid sudden sharp turns.

-Slow it down. Excessive speeds only increase your risks for a rollover.

-Keep an eye on your tires. Many sure they’re properly inflated and that they’re not overly worn.

-Never drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

-Adjust your driving to accommodate road conditions.
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Remember that busing accident that happened last year in Caroline County on Interstate 95? It was the accident that killed 4 bus passengers and injured another 50. Well, officials think that they’ve finally determined the cause — a drowsy bus driver.

It happened when the Sky Express was heading to New York City when it went off the road just before 5:00 a.m., according to the Richmond Times-Patch.

Federal officials conducted an investigation into the accident and say the company was at fault. The driver was only allowed 6 and a half hours to sleep before he was sent out on that trip, a trip that was scheduled for the time of day in which drowsy driving is most common. Drivers are to be scheduled with enough time to get rest between shifts. There are also hours of operation rules that prohibit a driver from spending too much time behind the wheel. Drivers need sleep and the safety of everyone involved relies on it.

Our Boston bus accident attorneys understand that commercial busing companies must allow their drivers enough rest before each trip. Allowing employees with this time is in fact a federal requirement that is used to help to reduce the risks of these kinds of accidents . The company reprimanded for not allowing the driver adequate rest time. Federal regulators were also reprimanded for allowing this company to continue to do business after it had received a number of safety violations prior to the accident.

“On the morning of May 31, it wasn’t just the bus driver asleep at the wheel,” said Deborah A.P. Hersman, NTSB Chairwoman. The company is also in big trouble for not complying with federal safety procedures.

The bus driver is now facing four counts of involuntary manslaughter. He will be in court on these charges later this year. The company had received more than 200 violations through nearly 95 roadside inspections in 2010.

The federal investigation determined that the company was at-fault for not meeting vehicle safety standards. Passengers were unrestrained, were thrown from their seats and were crushed underneath the vehicle’s collapsed roof.

Two of the bus’ passengers died from asphyxiation when they were crushed between the roof and seats. The other two died from blunt-force trauma. They were thrown through the windows on the bus and were stuck between the vehicle and the pavement.

A federal law, which went into effect last month, is working to tighten the safest standards for these kinds of buses. Officials are looking to enact even more, like ones to require seat belt usage and stronger roofs.

What’s most alarming to safety advocates is that this accident, and many others just like it, are completely preventable. Still, we continue to lose lives. In this accident, three stages of safety failed: the driver, the operator and the regulator.
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You may have heard some of the talk. The risks for car accidents in the U.S. are diminishing. WRONG!

Well, they were until we set foot in 2012. According to CNN, the number of people killed in car accidents in up close to 15 percent. Officials recently calculated the year’s first quarter numbers and it’s not looking good. During the first quarter of 2012, there were close to 8,000 people who died in motor vehicle accidents. In the first quarter of 2011, we saw about 1,000 fewer roadway fatalities.

Our Boston car accident lawyers understand that officials haven’t pinpointed the cause, but they’ve got some suspicions. One of the most likely, officials say, is the weather. Since we had a warmer winter season than normal, drivers were more likely to be on the roads. Warmer weather brought ideal driving conditions, drivers ventured out, increased the number of vehicle miles traveled and increased the risks for accidents. The more time drivers spend behind the wheel, the more accidents we see.

“AAA agrees that warmer-than-average winter weather may have contributed to higher vehicle miles traveled, and ultimately more fatal crashes,” said Jacob Nelson, director of traffic safety advocacy with the Automobile Association of America.

This is the largest year-to-year increase that we’ve seen since these stats were first recorded back in 1975. What might be most alarming about it is that it’s only expected to get worse. Typically, the first quarter of the year is the safest.

The number of vehicle miles driven has increased by nearly 1.5 percent from last year. This is also expected to rise as the year progresses. The more time we spend on the road, the higher the risks are for an accident. It’s a trend we’ve seen for decades now. The number of accidents directly correlates with the number of vehicle miles traveled.

Since 2006, we’ve been seeing accident rates across the country decline, until now. With this turnaround, safe driving advocates are asking for more emphasis. They’re asking for stricter road laws and for tougher enforcement of them by law enforcement officers. In many cases, such as the seat belt law and enforcement, tough laws and strict enforcement have helped to decrease the number of roadway fatalities. Safe driving advocates are asking for officials to do more of the same with drunk driving, distracted driving and other dangerous driving habits. They also want more education, saying that knowledge is another key point in helping to make our roadways safer for everyone.

Talk with your friends and family members about the risks associated with dangerous driving habits. Safer streets are a group effort. Practice your most responsible driving habits during every car ride to help to stay out of a potentially fatal car accident in 2012.
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Boston was recently ranked, by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention‘s (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), as the safest city in the country in which to drive. As you know, our personal injury attorneys have been reporting about a plethora of dangers and risks that can be found on our roadways.

And Boston drivers need no introduction. So, we’re a little skeptical about these findings. Boston drivers are notorious and your risk for an accident in the city is still high.

There were nearly 20 fatal car accidents in Boston in 2009. In these accidents, nearly 30 vehicles were involved. Drunk drivers accounted for 6 of these accidents. More than 20 people were killed. Many of those who made it out alive were seriously injured. It’s not just motorists who are affected in these accidents either. Pedestrians, bicyclists and other travelers are all facing the same risks.

According to the CDC’s report, posted on the WebMD, the most dangerous city in the nation was Orlando.

Even though the number of overall traffic fatalities has decreased in recent years, car accidents continue to be the number one cause of death for Americans. Just in 2009, there were nearly 34,500 people who were killed in car accidents. Young people are highly affected by these dangers. More than 20 percent of these fatalities were residents between the ages of 15- and 24-years-old.

“Proven population-based intervention such as strong graduated-driver licensing and alcohol-impaired driving prevention polices offer the potential to reduce more vehicle crash deaths among teens and young adults,” said the CDC’s Scott Kegler, PhD.

We’re asking drivers to take a look at their driving habits and the habits of their young drivers and make the necessary changes to help to make our roadways safer. We’re in the middle of the summer travel season, which makes risks for a potentially fatal car accident even higher. Be on the lookout for road dangers, be courteous of other motorists on our streets and drive defensively.

In the state of Massachusetts, car accidents cost nearly $400 million each year. Young adults racked in nearly 50 percent of these costs.

Although the number of car accidents in recent years has been decreasing ever so slightly, the risks are making a turnaround. That’s right. Car accidents are becoming more and more common on our roadways. As a matter of fact, there have already been thousands killed in the first three months of 2012. This is one of the largest year-to-year increases that we’ve seen in decades.

Parents are asked to talk with their teens. Reiterate the importance of following road laws, wearing a seat belt and practicing safe driving habits. Your teen wants to listen! Parents are the most influential in forming a young driver’s habits behind the wheel.
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