New Jersey Accident and Injury Law Blog : New Jersey Injury Lawyer & Attorney : The Grossman Law Firm : Serving Monmouth County, Bergen County

Teenagers comprise just 10 percent of the driving population, but make up 12 percent of the fatalities. These drivers are young, inexperienced, and are very often subjected to serious distractions in the car in the form of loud music, fellow passengers and cell phones.

Last year, Ford introduced the MyKey safety feature in several models of its cars, including the Taurus and Focus. The technology acts like a second parent in the car, placing speed limits and issuing warnings to buckle up, there by keeping teen motorists safer. Those features will become standard on several Ford models expected to roll out this year.

MyKey was developed by Ford safety manager Andrew Sarkisian, himself the father of two teenage girls. Sarkisian wanted a feature that could act like a second parent in the car, and control some teen driving behaviors. MyKey allows parents to set a maximum speed limit level of 80mph, and warns motorists when drivers and front seat passengers are not wearing seatbelts.  The fuel warning system is modified to show low-fuel warnings earlier than on the standard. The audio system can be set at a maximum of half volume, and parents can keep track of their children's mileage.  

Not everybody agrees that MyKey will have much impact on the high accident fatality rates involving these motorists, however. Most teenagers start out with an affordable and used car for their first ride, and may not have access to MyKey. In these difficult economic times, buying an expensive model with the MyKey feature, may not be easy.

Although Ford must be commended for the technology, and for making it available on more models as a standard feature, MyKey won’t compensate for a lack of awareness about the dangers of speeding, not buckling up and other causes of fatalities. We treat driving a car as a rite of passage for a teen driver, but fail to ensure that he is adequately informed about safe driving. The freedom to drive comes with the responsibility to drive safely, keeping the rights of other motorists in mind, and in my opinion, that’s not something that you can buy with any technology.

Scott Grossman is a Bergen County car accident lawyer, representing injured victims of auto accidents in Bergen, Monmouth, Passaic and Ocean Counties, and across New Jersey.

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Binge drinkers cause many of the thousands of drunk driving accidents that take place in New Jersey every year, but a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the risk from these drivers is far greater than we think.

According to the study, one in every ten binge drinkers has driven off within two hours of drinking heavily. Even more disturbing is the fact that half of these motorists drank at a drinking establishment, like a bar or restaurant. The study surveyed 14,000 binge drinkers (people who drank five or more alcoholic drinks on a single occasion, at least once a month) and measured the chances that a binge drinker will drive off in an intoxicated state. Twelve percent of the respondents said that they had driven a car within two hours of a heavy drinking session. More than half bought their drinks at a pub, bar or other establishment. Half of the drivers who bought the drinks from such establishments, had consumed more than seven drinks, while a quarter had consumed at least ten. The CDC researchers are calling on licensed drinking establishments to be responsible while serving their patrons. 

New Jersey’s dram shop liability laws allow victims of a drunk driving accident to sue the establishment that sold or served the motorist responsible for the accident. Victims can sue for such recklessness by establishment owners, but the laws do not require that these owners monitor the patron's alcohol consumption. Most states have some version of such laws, but enforcement has been poor, because of a resource crunch.

In the absence of aggressive enforcement of these laws, drinking establishments have a greater duty to play their part in saving lives, by exercising responsibility while serving patrons.  

Scott Grossman is a Bergen County car accident lawyer, representing injured victims of auto accidents in Bergen, Monmouth, Passaic and Ocean Counties, and across New Jersey.

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Automobile accident fatalities around the country, including in New Jersey are on their way to "significant" lows, a survey shows. In at least 40 states out of the 44 surveyed, the decline in the numbers of  accident related deaths  is up to 10.7 percent on an average.

According to the Governor's Highway Safety Association, the declines can be traced to a widespread use of seatbelts. The practice of buckling up in 2008 stood at close to 83 per cent of the driving population, and this has contributed to large number of lives being saved in automobile crashes. There has also been an increase in efforts made towards traffic safety enforcement. The state with the largest reduction in fatalities was Massachusetts with a 29 percent drop , followed by Wisconsin, Alaska, Hawaii, Virginia and the District of Columbia  where these rates dropped by 20 percent. New Jersey fared well on the list too, with an 18 percent drop in accident fatalities in 2008. Georgia was the other state that saw a double digit drop in accident fatalities with a 12 per cent decline.

Other interesting factors have been cited by the GHSA as contributing to this welcome drop in fatalities. Drivers it appears, are driving slower in an attempt to save on fuel. This means that major-impact crashes that occur at high speeds and very often result in fatalities, have been markedly reduced. Expect safety enforcement programs across various states to use this "fuel efficiency" carrot to encourage drivers to slow down.

The results of the GHSA survey seem to mirror findings from other agencies that have pointed to a drop in fatalities. The Department of Transportation has estimated that the accident death rate for 2008 has dropped substantially. . Of course, these lowered accident rates seem to be coinciding with a slow economy, as well as the gas price crisis last summer, which may explain the drop to large extent. With a meltdown in full swing,, people are less inclined to drive unless absolutely necessary, which has meant fewer people on the roads. We'll have to wait a couple of years to see if these statistics change dramatically once the economy gets back to normal, and people begin their usual driving habits again.

Bergen County Car Accident Lawyers

At the Law Offices of Scott Grossman, our Bergen county car accident lawyers constantly represent victims of automobile accidents. If you have suffered an injury in an accident, contact a Bergen County car accident lawyer at the firm to discuss your options for compensation.

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Motorists in New Jersey are most likely to die in an accident between the hours of 5 and 6 pm on a warm Saturday in August, if you go by nationwide statistics by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). This report in Forbes, offers a startling look into how people are dying in accidents in America. For instance, Saturday is the most dangerous day of the week to be out and about, and August the most dangerous month of the year. However, the worst time you could be on the road is on the Fourth of July. In 2007, the accident death toll on this one day alone touched 926. Not surprisingly, the country's biggest traveling holiday, Thanksgiving, is also its most dangerous weekend to be on the roads. At least 32 percent of those who died in accidents were speeding at the time of the crash, and 55 percent of them were not wearing seatbelts at the time.

In Monmouth County we have very busy roads and highways including Route 9, the Garden State Parkway, and the NJ turnpike.  In Bergen County we have of course route 17, route 4, route 80 and route 46 to name a few of the major traveled roadways. 

So much for the bad news. So, is there any time you are safe on the road? Sure - if you restrict all your driving to Tuesdays or Wednesdays, and only get behind the wheel between 4 and 5 am. If that's not practical, there are other ways that you can to try to ensure that you don't end up as part of accident statistics, and they are all pretty simple. 

• Buckle up. Every time.
• Switch off the cell phone.
• Stay within speed limits.
• Never, but never, drink and drive.

Thankfully, the report shows that an overwhelming number of accidents – close to 95 percent - occur because of human error, and not because of mechanical malfunction. It just proves what Monmouth County car accident lawyers knew all along – that accidents can be prevented if all motorists focus their attention on the road, and the other motorists who might be around them.

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Carrying on in the tradition of legislation named after victims, aimed at preventing repeats of the heinous actions that cost their lives, new legislation that will require drunk drivers in New Jersey to install ignition lock devices on their cars, could soon be passed.

The bill is called Ricci's Law, named after Ricci Branca, a 17-year-old boy from Egg Harbor Township, Atlantic County who was killed in a drunk driving accident. Ricci was biking to Ocean City with a bunch of friends, when Stephen Fench slammed his car into the group. The friends escaped with minor injuries. Ricci died from injuries sustained in the crash. Fench, it was revealed later was not only a repeat DUI offender, but had a blood alcohol level of .339 at the time of the crash. That's more than four times the legal limit in New Jersey of 0.08.   The police reported that  he spent the four hours before the accident drinking up to 10 glasses of wine at a nearby bar. Since, then Fench has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Since their terrible tragedy, the Branca family has pushed hard for widely supported legislation that they insist will prevent other families from going through what they did when their child was killed by a person's criminal negligence. Ricci's Law will mandate all first time DUI offenders who have a blood alcohol level of .015 or higher to have anti ignition locks installed in their cars. The devices function like breathalyzers, and prevent the car from starting if the driver is above the legal limit for blood alcohol.  Currently, New Jersey has a law that requires repeat DUI offenders to have the locks installed, but the law has been poorly enforced. The new legislation is not only tougher on first time DUI offenders, as it should be, but would also allow judges to order that first time offenders who have a blood alcohol limit of between .08 and 0.15 have the ignition locks installed in their cars. 

As a Bergen and Monmouth County car accident lawyer, I am more than aware of how limited the effect of suspended licenses as well as jail time is on people who commit the most criminally foolish negligence while driving. License suspensions are hardly the tough deterrent for drunk drivers that they are meant to be and, and while jail time is fine, it doesn't help bring back the people who have already been killed. If a single life is spared because a DUI offender was prevented from starting his car and driving off with his system pumped with alcohol, it would be worth the effort getting the law passed. As a Monmouth and Bergen County car accident lawyer we often have to step in to deliver civil justice to the victims or their families after a devastating horrific turn of events. Unfortunately, our efforts can never really make the victim or their family whole again.

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An Upper Township woman whose two daughters were killed in an accident with a state trooper car has settled with the state for two million dollars. The settlement brings to an end Maria Caiafa's civil lawsuit against Trooper Robert Higbee, as well as the New Jersey State Police.

The litigation relates to the car accident that that killed Caiafa's teenaged daughters Christina and Jacqueline, in September 2006. Higbee was allegedly driving without his lights and siren when he ran a stop sign, and crashed his car into the girls' van. Higbee has been charged with vehicular homicide, and is due to due to face trial in April. The reluctance to drag the civil litigation process out made Caiafa, she says, settle with the state even though criminal culpability for the trooper has not yet been established.

According to the state, the civil settlement is not an admission of criminal culpability, and there was no admission of wrong doing. The case has raised controversy over the criminal prosecution, with many in the state police believing that a civil settlement was appropriate, but criminal prosecution sends the wrong message to thousands of troopers who are out on the streets every day doing their duty.  A representative of the New Jersey State Police's Union commented that  there was never recklessness on the part of the trooper involved and that is why the proper way to handle the matter was through the filing and ultimate settlement of a wrongful death law suit. In the civil lawsuit the Plaintiff would have to prove negligence which is a much lower degree of culpability than the recklessness standard that would be required in the criminal court.   

Why File a Claim After an Accident?

Our civil justice system is a viable means to hold a negligent driver accountable for the pain and suffering, trauma, as well as financial losses he has caused the victim and their family. A civil lawsuit ultimately places a dollar value on a victim's losses in an accident, and takes into account not just the economic losses the victim has suffered like medical bills and lost wages, but also non-economic losses, like pain and suffering, loss of consortium, anguish, loss of companionship etc. While economic losses like medical and hospitalization expenses, lost wages, etc. can be calculated, non-economic losses like pain and suffering, are harder to quantify. 

Compensation in an accident will include both economic as well as non economic losses, and that's why it's important to talk with an experienced accident lawyer before you make a claim. Your Monmouth and Bergen County car accident lawyer will likely rely on past precedents and other factors to decide on a claim value for your losses. If you have been injured in an accident, contact a New Jersey car accident attorney at my office, to answer your questions about compensation.

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We all know that drinking and driving often results in death, serious injury or the destruction of life.  A recent local news story reported an accident in South Jersey recently sent several innocent grocery shoppers to the hospital. A car spun out of control and slammed into 3 people - two of them were in wheelchairs. The police are saying the driver was intoxicated when she crashed into pedestrians on a Shoprite sidewalk in front of the store.

 As a Monmouth County and New Jersey car accident attorney I have represented hundreds of victims that suffered critical injuries because of alcohol related car accidents.  This news story above highlights a all too common scenario whereby alcohol appears to have impaired this driver’s sense of judgment. The alleged intoxicated driver may have destroyed the lives of these innocent grocery shoppers who never would have imagined that they would fall victim to a drunk driver while going through their normal every day routine of pushing their grocery carts at their local supermarket.  Drinking and driving frequently leads to victim's extreme suffering.  I have witnessed first hand clients that have suffered at the hands of drunk drivers’ : traumatic brain injury, loss of limbs, spinal cord injuries including paralysis fractures, herniated disc injuries leading to spinal fusion or inter-body fusion surgery and a myriad of other life altering injuries and even death.  So as a seasoned New Jersey and Monmouth County accident attorney lawyer I can attest unequivocally that alcohol mixed with driving of motor vehicles, motorcycles or trucks many times equates with the total destruction of innocent life and also destroys both individuals and their families.  We can significantly reduce the number of serious injuries and fatalities in New Jersey by never ever driving while intoxicated or in any way impaired.  

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