Plan4Safety was developed with funds from the Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Safety Administration.  It includes data from every auto accident reported in the state. Currently, there are more than 400 users in New Jersey who depend on the program to identify accident prone intersections and areas, track dangerous driving sections of the population like teen drivers. The users include

• The Northern Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, which uses the program to identify dangerous areas in line for road safety funding programs
• The Brain Injury Association of New Jersey, which includes a Plan4Safety interactive map on its website.njteendriver.com. The map throws up teen crash data between 2005 and 2007.
• The Center for Alcohol and Drug Resources in Hackensack is using Plan4Safety to identify spots in Bergen County with the highest of rates of incidents of drunk driving by young motorists.
• New Jersey police is also using Plan4Safety to locate high accident areas. As a Bergen County auto accident lawyer, I was pleased to learn that police in Bergen County have used the software to access incredibly precise data to use in their crackdown activities.

On September 27^th 2006, Higbee was on duty racing through an Upper Township neighborhood in pursuit of a speeding car. He was driving at over 79 mph when he allegedly ran a stop sign. His car crashed into a van containing Jacqueline and Christina Becker. The teenage girls suffered massive head injuries in the car accident, and died. Robert Higbee was charged with death by auto. Higbee denied ever having been seen the stop sign that he allegedly ran. He testified that his concentration was focused on the speeding car that was pursuing. If convicted, he could have faced  five to ten years in prison. 

The verdict brought to an end an agonizing trial in which the deaths of the two girls were played out again and again. The girls' mother, Maria Caiafa has voiced her anguish at the decision. Caiafa - who had earlier this year settled for $2 million with the state - believes that the verdict sends law enforcement officers the wrong message – that it’s OK for innocent motorists and bystanders to pay when officers make a mistake.

Daniel was a former Patriots team captain, and Freehold Township honored his memory by recording a win against St. Rose seven days after his death. Buckiewicz was an example to his peers even in death – all his organs were donated. At the game, Freehold players and coaches wore green, rubber ”Donate Life” bracelets in his memory.

• People who work long hours or who work in shifts may suffer from sleep deprivation.
• Commercial drivers who spend long hours driving may not be able to sleep for the minimum required number of hours
• People who suffer from chronic insomnia may miss out on essential sleep
• People who suffer from sleep disorders like sleep apnea or narcolepsy are more likely to be fatigued and doze off at the wheel. Sleep apnea is a condition in which a person suffers from frequent periods of wakefulness during sleep at night, resulting in fatigue and drowsiness the next day. Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder in which individuals experience sudden and consistent urges to sleep.

To prevent drowsy driving

• Make sure you get a good night's sleep.
• If you feel drowsy while driving, schedule rest breaks on a long journey.
• Drive with a passenger.
• Consult a doctor for treatment of a sleep disorder, if any.

Studies indicate that driving while fatigued has the same effect on a motorist that alcohol does. Yet, we treat drunk driving with the stringency it deserves, while drowsy driving continues to be underestimated as a cause of serious accidents. Nationwide, 100,000 crashes are linked to drowsy driving every year, according to NHTSA estimates. However, the National Sleep Foundation says those estimates are very conservative. In spite of this, New Jersey is the only state that has a law against drowsy driving. However, for the law to apply, a person would have had to go 24 hours without sleep. As Bergen County personal injury lawyers, we believe it's about time we woke up to the dangers of drowsy driving.

Just under two weeks ago, Governor Jon Corzine signed the legislation that will require drivers below the age of 21 who don’t have full driving privileges yet, to display an identifying decal on their vehicles, allowing officers to distinguish them from others. The law is first of its kind to be passed in the country, and the main intent is to make these younger and inexperienced drivers easily identifiable.

Not surprisingly, teen drivers have not been too happy about a law they say is equivalent to profiling on the basis of age. One attorney in Rockaway has already filed a lawsuit to overturn the law on behalf of his teenage son and nephew. According to lawyer Gregg D Trautmann who’s suing the governor and state of New Jersey, the law would give police a free pass to pull over and harass young drivers needlessly. Besides, criminals including sex offenders, would be able to identify young drivers through the decals on their cars.

However, New Jersey’s car accident lawyers and law enforcement agencies have wholeheartedly supported the bill. It’s a fact that accidents are the number one cause of teen deaths. According to the Teen Driver Study Commission, there were 55,792 teen-related accidents in New Jersey in 2006. These left 48 teen drivers and 19 teen passengers dead. The Teen Driver Study Commission had made a set of recommendations to Governor Corzine, including the development of an identifier that could mark a vehicle driven by a new driver with a permit or probationary license, and make the vehicle easily identifiable.

We need to be making more efforts to instill safe driving practices among our teen drivers, and if an identifying system helps us monitor and correct teen driving behavior than this Monmouth County personal injury lawyer is all for it.

Image Courtesy: Flickr - streetsmarts

In March, 18 municipalities across 17 counties in New Jersey, including Bergen County undertook a special two week crackdown on motorists who use their cell phones while driving, thereby increasing their risk of being involved in an automobile accident. The two week crackdown also included the participation of Atlantic, Morris, Union,  Mercer counties and others.

New Jersey passed a law last year prohibiting the use of hand held cell phones behind the wheel.  However, judging by the number of people who continue to use handheld cell phones while driving, many New Jerseyans, including those in Bergen and Monmouth County, still haven’t received that particular message. 

So, what does that mean?  That people are aware of the law, but many of them support it only in theory? There could be other reasons why the law, even though it has resulted in dramatic spikes in the numbers of people ticketed for cell phone use, has still not led to people curbing that itch to reach for the phone when it rings. Law enforcement has had a problem putting enough officers on duty to enforce the law. So, the numbers of motorists who have been able to get away with cell phone use has been higher than Governor Corzine would have liked when he signed the law.

Personal Injury Lawyers Support the Ban

Cell phone use behind the wheel has grown into enough of a driving risk for states across the country to move quickly to enact laws regulating the use of these devices. No state in the country has a complete ban on the use of all cell phones while driving, but many including California and New Jersey have laws banning the use of handheld phones, which includes texting. In New Jersey, the law itself has been controversial with safety experts divided over how effective a ban on handheld devices is. Many MonmouthCounty personal injury lawyers however believe that the ban on handheld devices is a promising first step, and while it may not show the kinds of results we want immediately, it could lead to a more comprehensive ban down the road.

The problem is serious enough for the New Jersey Turnpike authority to launch an education campaign asking motorists to remain in their cars when they pull over. Both the turnpike and parkway are New Jersey's busiest highways, and approximately 2 million vehicles use these highways every day. The awareness campaign encourages drivers to stay in their cars, and not step out. It includes warning signs that have been posted on electronic message boards along the turnpike or the parkway. Over the next few weeks, authorities plan to have fliers and signs warning motorists on rest stops and toll plazas.  

MonmouthCounty accident lawyers have come across such behavior from motorists. While some get off to inspect a blown out tire or other car problem, others may be under the influence of alcohol when they get hit by a vehicle on the busy highway. In almost all cases, the collision between a pedestrian on the highway and a vehicle is either fatal, or leaves the pedestrian with very serious injuries.

Motorists may either not be aware of how dangerous getting out of your vehicle on a busy highway is, or may be under the influence of alcohol, and simply don’t' care. In some cases, the accident is the result of pure bad luck, while in others, drivers don’t realize the consequences of their actions until it’s too late. Like Barry Gilman, an East Brunswick resident who pulled his car over on the turnpike. The car it appears, was accidentally put in reverse, and drifted off onto the highway. In a panic, Gilman tried to follow his car to stop it. He never made it. He was hit by a tractor trailer, and died.

Painful as the Colilla's tragedy is, it's far from unique. While drunk driving accident rates in the rest of the population, have shown a decline in recent years because of better education and greater enforcement, those involving teen drivers have been showing an alarmingly opposing trend. Adding to the problem of teen underage drinking is a host of other factors that seem to compound the problem. For instance, teens are less likely to wear seatbelts than adult drivers, and are also more likely to indulge in other driving behaviors that may mitigate the problem, like listening to loud music, talking with friends in the car, snacking, talking on the cell phone etc. it doesn't help that members of this age group are more likely to indulge in reckless driving, like speeding and tailgating. When you add alcohol use to what is already a combination of risky driving factors, it's easy to understand why there has been such an increase in the number of accidents involving teens.

All is not without hope, however. Studies show that teens whose parents encourage discussions about the dangers of drunk driving at home are less likely to drive under the influence. Also, teens who have been exposed to strong and effective drunk driving awareness campaigns, both in school and outside have a lesser risk of driving drunk. Underage drinking not only destroys the lives and future of these young people, but costs society heavily in lives lost and expensive and long term medical treatment for the severely injured who survive these accidents.

The cameras work by taking pictures of cars that run red lights, allowing police to send tickets to the registered owners of these cars. Intersections that fall within the program have been chosen based on the number of violations, and only after the town was able to prove that ticketing motorists for violations has been unable to prevent traffic accidents. The municipalities that are part of the program are required to monitor the effectiveness of the system, and report data annually to the New Jersey Department of Transportation. Red light violations are a major problem contributing to car accidents, and it is proved by Department of Transportation statistics. At one Mercer County intersection, there were 159 red light violation-related accidents between 2005 and 2007, while another intersection in East Brunswick saw a total of 161 accidents traced to red light violations. In Jersey City, the number of collisions at one particularly troublesome intersection crossed 1500 during the same period. 

While some of these concerns may be valid, they are minor when compared to the potential benefits of these red light cameras. As far as the system eating into municipality funds goes, much of the cost will be borne through tickets issued to violators. In New York City, which has the oldest red light camera program in the country, there has been a 75% decline in the number of accidents at these intersections. In my Monmouth county, Bergen county, Passaic county , Middlesex County personal injury law firm practice I often represent victims who met with an accident just moments after another motorist ran a red light. There have to be measures implemented to prevent these violations, and the red light camera system, while it may have its imperfections, is definitely a step in the right direction. When violators break traffic rules, they risk the lives of other motorists, and that should be unacceptable to New Jersey car accident lawyers.