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

As a New Jersey personal injury lawyer, I am constantly monitoring how our state’s law enforcement agencies are improving their efforts to enhance motorist safety. This report on a crash analysis software made for very interesting reading. The software is called Plan4Safety and was developed at Rutgers University. The software gives law enforcement another public safety officials access to thousands of accident records dated from 2003 through 2008. There are more than 300,000 accidents records available for free access to public safety professionals who need to sign up for a user ID to access the data.

Each accident record gives you about 144 details gathered at the accident scene, including the driver’s age and gender, number of fatalities and number of occupants in the vehicle.  It allows users to filter information and narrow down their search for, say, accidents involving teenagers at a particular area or those involving drunk driving accidents at a particular intersection, and so on. Considering that each record has up to 144 pieces of information about the crash, there are any numbers of ways that you can filter and access your information.

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.

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New Jersey is one of the few states in the country to ban the use of hand-held cell phones while driving, to prevent accidents. The ban isn’t the strongest step we could take towards preventing cell phone-related accidents, but it is still better than no ban at all. Enforcement hasn’t been as aggressive as New Jersey personal injury lawyers would have liked, and I still see far too many motorists with their cell phones glued to their ears.

The Director of the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, however, believes that change will come to New Jerseyans' driving behavior, but it will take time.  

Pam Fischer has some words of encouragement for those of us who are concerned at the number of motorists who seem to see nothing wrong in using a cell phone behind the wheel. She promises to push for as many high school students as possible to be made to watch a gripping Welsh PSA video, depicting the deadly consequences of texting while driving. The video shows a teenage motorist text messaging just seconds before crashing her car into another, killing four people in all. The video does a great job of driving home the "don’t text and drive" message, and I hope high school students this year in New Jersey cities, including in Monmouth and Bergen Counties, will be made to watch the video as part of their driver education classes. 

 Fischer is also a member of the Governor's Highway Safety Association, which recently called for a nationwide ban on texting while driving for all motorists.  That call was prompted by a study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, which found that a motorist's risk of being involved in a car accident increased by 23 times if he was texting while driving.  

It's not just the GHSA that is concerned about the effects of cell phone use on traffic safety. Later this month, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will convene a special summit dedicated to discussing the dangers of distracted driving, especially distractions from cell phone use.

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The crash risks of cell phone use behind the wheel are well known, and now, one federal agency has decided to set an example for the rest of us by imposing a ban on all cell phone use behind the wheel, on its employees.

National Transportation Safety Board employees are now banned from using cell phones and other wireless devices while driving. The new chairwoman of the NTSB announced the ban under which employees are prohibited from using all kinds of cell phones, including hands-free devices, behind the wheel. The approximately 400 employees, as well as board members of the NTSB, will be prohibited from texting or talking on agency-issued phones while driving on duty, as well as during off hours. The NTSB is now the first federal agency to have such a ban in place.

As a New Jersey personal injury lawyer, I have always believed that we need stronger laws to prevent the kinds of accidents that occur because drivers are too distracted by their cell phones. While the state of New Jersey itself has a ban on handheld devices, it has been clear to personal injury lawyers and safety advocates who care passionately about auto safety, that the laws don’t go as far as they need to. We have heard from the National Safety Council that cell phone use of any kind behind the wheel is dangerous. However, no state has acted to completely ban cell phones behind the wheel. Seven states including New Jersey, ban handheld devices, while other states ban cell phones for some groups of motorists, like teen motorists or school bus drivers.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, driver distractions are a factor in approximately 30 percent of all traffic accidents. Cell phone use has quickly become the number one distraction that motorists face.

It doesn’t take super smarts to understand that you can’t be talking on the cell phone and concentrating on the road at the same time. No matter how expert a driver you are, carrying on a conversation even on a hands free set is enough of a distraction to cause an accident.  

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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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In 2003, then-Governor James E. McGreevy introduced the Social Automobile Insurance Policy that allowed low income motorists to drive with threadbare policies that barely covered their medical costs in the event of an accident. A watchdog report by Press of Atlantic City shows that it's been properly-insured motorists who have suffered.

That’s because when a motorist who is covered by SAIP causes an accident, it’s the victim of the accident and his insurance company who have to foot the bill. This means that motorists may be stuck with a huge bill for car repairs, and a bigger one for injuries in an accident because of the SAIP-insured motorist. Because the SAIP-covered motorist's policy barely covers his own expenses, the other motorist can’t expect to claim any relief. There isn't much point in filing a lawsuit against the driver’s assets, because in most cases these motorists have few, if any, assets. 

SAIP was introduced at a time when insurance companies in the state were in disarray.  Insurers were leaving the state in droves, and the SAIP program was meant to bring some calm into this state of affairs. At that point, there were about 600,000 motorists in New Jersey who had no access to car insurance. SAIP was created to fill this gap, and provide insurance for poor people who needed to get to work, and could not afford regular insurance.

Under the program, an uninsured motorist had to pay $365 per year for the plan, which covers low income New Jersey residents who are eligible for Medicaid benefits. The policy covers up to $250,000 in the treatment of serious injuries. There is also a death benefit of $10,000.  However, there is no cover for property damage or bodily injury liability.

When the program was first set up, officials believed that the number of such policies sold would be too few to warrant any crises. However, the number of people who have purchased such policies has grown dramatically. In 2008, there were more than 18,500 dollar-a-day policies. Currently, there are an estimated 22,000 policies.

Accident Victims Will Continue to Suffer

There is more bad news. As more and more people choose these low cost dollar-a-day polices, experts estimate that these motorists with SAIP cover, and no bodily damage liability, may soon outnumber motorists who have some kind of basic liability coverage. 

Scott Grossman is a New Jersey personal injury lawyer representing victims in Monmouth, Bergen and Passaic Counties, and all across New Jersey.

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Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has announced plans to hold a summit of experts in September to discuss distracted driving and the risk of accidents. The summit will include transportation officials, safety advocates, law enforcement agencies as well as lawmakers, and will discuss the effects of distracted drivers on traffic safety, as well as measures to deal with the problem. Not surprisingly, cell phone use and text messaging while driving are expected to be the focus of the summit.

The summit plans come soon after several reports linking automobile accidents to cell phone use hit the news. Like I discussed earlier, the New York Times had revealed last month  that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for at least 5 years, had access to data that would have placed pressure on states to pass stronger cell phone safety laws, but failed to make these public.  Soon after, that came a study conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, which showed that text messaging while driving increased the risk of an accident by up to 23 times. Whether you believe those numbers are not, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that sending text messages when you drive is foolish driving behavior.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the summit is expected to focus on ways to enforce stricter laws banning cell phones behind the wheel. New Jersey does have a ban on handheld devices behind the wheel, but we have seen mixed results with the ban. While cell phone use by New Jersey motorists dropped in the first few months after the ban was imposed, those numbers have picked up since then. That's a troubling fact, and the time is right for New Jersey's legislators to look into why the ban is not working as effectively as it was meant to.

Meanwhile, Bergen County car accident lawyers will be watching the September summit very closely to see if it comes up with any proposals that could add more bite to our cell phone safety laws.

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You don’t have to convince New Jerseyans about the importance of wearing seatbelts to prevent life-threatening injuries and fatalities in an accident. In 2009, 92.67 percent of front seat passengers in the state buckled up, which was an increase of last year's rate of 91.7 percent. Those rates have been steadily climbing over the past 13 years. According to the New Jersey Institute of Technology which conducted the survey that revealed those high seatbelt usage rates, that is an increase of more than 79,000 people in our state who cared to buckle up this year compared to 2008.   

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that an increase of .92 percent in front seatbelt use can prevent up to 7 accident-related deaths, 206 serious injures and more than 150 minor injuries. It can also save the state close to $50 million in accident-related economic costs.

The five counties with the highest seatbelt usage rates this year are Mercer County with a rate of 94.53 percent, followed by Bergen County with 94.45 percent, Hudson County with93.87 percent, Middlesex County with 93.14 percent and Morris County 93.13 percent.  

Passaic County has increased its seatbelt usage by 4.4 percent to touch 92.66 percent this year.

Ocean County seatbelt usage rates are up by 3.9 percent this year to touch 90.05 percent.

The largest improvement has been made in Hudson County which was up by 5.9 percent to touch 93.87 percent in 2009.

Those numbers are very encouraging, and as a Passaic and Bergen County personal injury lawyer, it's gratifying to see so many motorists in these countries responsible enough to buckle up while driving. However, our state's seatbelt laws don’t make it mandatory for backseat passengers to buckle up. The New Jersey Institute of Technology survey shows that seat belt usage by backseat passengers is very low. Just about 32 percent of adults in back seats bother to buckle up.

Over the past 9 years, 259 backseat passengers who failed to wear seatbelts have died in accidents. According to Pam Fischer, the director of New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, at least 200 of these people would have survived if they were wearing seatbelts. Fischer is urging legislators to support Senate Bill S-18, which would make it mandatory for backseat passengers to buckle up.

At a news conference to bring attention to the bill, Dr Bruce Bonanno who is a doctor at the Bayshore Hospital in Holmdel, spoke about the high number of backseat accident-fatalities he sees. According to Dr Bonanno, there has been a huge decrease in the number of accident-related fatalities over the past couple of decades,  but more lives could be saved if we promote back seat belt usage through the “Click it or Ticket Campaign” that has done so much to raise seat belt usage rates in New Jersey.

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A bus accident involving a hotel shuttle bus and another bus at Newark Liberty International Airport have killed one person, and left three injured.

According to news reports, the shuttle bus which was operated by the Marriott Hotel at Newark Airport, collided with a First Transit bus that was carrying Fed-X employees on Wednesday.  The driver of the shuttle bus sustained fatal injuries. The driver of the other bus, as well as one passenger in the shuttle bus sustained serious injuries, and are receiving treatment.

Bus accidents can involve school buses, public transportation buses, charter buses, tour buses,  contract buses etc. Civil litigation arising out of a bus accident can be complex because of the number of parties who may be liable. Individuals who have been injured or lost their loved ones in an accident are required to file such claims before the statute of limitations, or the time limit to file a claim, runs out. The statute of limitation for auto accidents in our state is two years from the date of the accident.

Injured persons may feel  pressured to settle with the bus owner or operator. In cases of accidents involving public transportation buses that are owned by public agencies, litigation becomes even more complex and takes a longer period of time. It’s important to consult with a New Jersey bus accident lawyer before negotiating with the parties involved.

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Denver Nuggets guard J.R Smith has been sentenced to 30 days in a jail in Monmouth County jail after he pleaded guilty earlier this week to reckless driving in a 2007 car accident that killed his friend. The judge sentenced him to 90 days in the jail, but suspended 60 days.  He has also been ordered to perform community service.

On June 9^th 2007, Smith with basketball player Carl Marshal and his friend Andre Bell were on their way to his new home in his parent's 2003 GMC Yukon Denali. Smith drove around a vehicle that was stopped at a Millstone intersection, but crashed into another vehicle coming from the other side. Both Smith and Bell were thrown from the SUV. Bell suffered serious head injuries, and died two days later. His mother Wanda Bell has told investigators that she does not want Smith to face criminal prosecution because of her family’s desire for closure. However she will proceed with civil charges in the accident. According to Bell, she is proceeding with her wrongful death lawsuit because Smith has not made efforts to stop his dangerous driving habits which were responsible for the accident in the first place.

Smith has expressed remorse for the accident, and offered his apologies to Bell’s mother. He has even vowed to stop his dangerous driving habits. However, his actions speak otherwise. Between the time of the fatal accident and March of 2008, Smith has allegedly accumulated two more speeding tickets and three more license suspensions. His license is currently suspended for two years, and he will only regain his driving rights in August 2010. At the time of the accident, he had 27 points and five suspensions on his record. Most of the violations seemed to involve speeding.

With Smith setting up temporary residence at the Monmouth County jail in Freehold, do I believe that this fatal accident and the death of his friend will make him change his rash driving ways? I wouldn't bet on it, but hopefully a civil lawsuit will be able to make him see the error of his ways.

Scott Grossman is a New Jersey personal injury lawyer, representing victims in Monmouth, Bergen, and Passaic Counties and all over New Jersey.

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As a Bergen County personal injury lawyer, I have followed the Robert Higbee case with interest, and have discussed it earlier on this blog. A jury has now cleared the New Jersey State trooper in charges resulting from a car accident in Cape May County in 2006. Higbee was accused of running a stop sign while engaged in a pursuit with his light and siren off, resulting in a fatal collision with a van.

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 decision to file charges against Higbee had generated strong protests from the police union who have held that the accident was just that - an accident. According to David Jones, head of the main state police union, if Higbee had been found guilty, it would have negatively impacted  law enforcement officers who had unintentional "bad outcomes” in the performance of their duties.

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.

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A Bergen County Student died in what appears to be a drowsy driving accident last week. Daniel Buckiewicz died when his car struck a tree as he was on his way back home to Howell. It was the last day of his semester at Ramapo College in Mahwah. Crash investigations indicate that he most likely dozed off behind the wheel. He was airlifted to the Jersey Shore University Medical Center, but died soon after.

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.

Young and underage drivers are particularly at risk for drowsy driving because of their hectic, social lives. There are several other factors that can contribute to these accidents.

• 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.

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There have been no studies to show if drivers who are on a suspended license are more likely to cause an accident than a motorist driving with a valid license. However, a study done last year in Maine revealed that motorists struck by a driver with a suspended license are six times more likely to die than those involved in a car accident with someone having a valid license. Besides, drivers with a suspended license are ten times more likely to indulge in driving under the influence and other reckless behaviors.

At least five percent of New Jersey's 6 million licensed drivers have had their license suspended or revoked at least once in their motoring lives. Far too many of these drivers, as this Star-Ledger editorial discusses, think little of getting back in their car and driving off.

Last November, an East Brunswick accident killed a father of three.  The other motorist in that accident, Steven Osadacz had been driving on a license suspended till 2030. He had a total of six prior DUI offences.  Last month, an East Rutherford resident crashed his SUV into a pick up truck in Morris Township.  That driver Shaun Campbell bill had had his license suspended a total of 78 times, including 12 suspensions for driving under the influence.

It's simply far too easy for drivers who are driving under suspended licenses to go back to their lives after they've been caught. We should be making it harder for suspended drivers to be behind the wheel of a car again. Instead these drivers are free to get back into their cars and drive off recklessly, sometimes with devastating consequences.

There are reasons for this. The state simply can't afford the kind of enforcement necessary to keep these drivers off the road. As a Monmouth county accident lawyer and a concerned citizen, it makes no sense to me that Shaun Campbell's license  had been suspended a total of 12 times for DUI, and he was still able to get back into his car again and drive into a pickup truck. Stephen Fagbewesa, the father who died in the East Brunswick crash was killed by a driver whose license was suspended till 2030. If license suspensions have not been a deterrent to drivers like these and probably hundreds of others who see nothing wrong in driving anyway, then you wonder what use are such toothless suspensions anyway. At the very least there should be more bite in New Jersey's license suspension laws.

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