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

A new group that aims to act as Mothers Against Drunk Driving does to support families of DUI crash victims, has just been launched in Washington. FocusDriven is meant to support families of persons killed in auto accidents involving a distracted driver. It’s part of the nationwide campaign against distracted driving, and it aims to a give a voice to victims of such crashes, who have not had enough attention paid to them till now.

The launch of the group was accompanied by new statistics by the National Safety Council that indicates that 28 percent of all accidents involve motorists distracted by their cell phones. Approximately 1.3 million accidents are caused by persons having a conversation on their cell phone behind the wheel, while 200,000 accidents are caused by text messaging drivers. Every year, these accidents kill more than 2,500 people.  It’s the families of these victims that FocusDriven will give a voice to.

The group also plans to pressurize states that have failed to take the texting and talking on the cell phone issues, seriously enough. Several states this year are dealing with legislations relating to bans on text messaging and the use of handheld cell phones. They might face additional pressure from groups like FocusDriven when the time comes for a vote.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving has expanded from being a victims support advocacy group to an influential voice for stronger laws against drunk driving, ignition interlock devices and other DUI issues.  I hope FocusDriven can make the same contribution in the fight against distracted driving.  Most importantly, the organization will be able to act as a mouthpiece for the silent victims of distracted driving crashes, allowing them to speak out strongly against inattentive driving. 

Scott Grossman is a Monmouth County auto accident lawyer, representing injured victims of auto accidents in Freehold, Marlboro, Aberdeen, Howell, and across Monmouth County.

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As a Monmouth County car accident lawyer, I have been very encouraged at the sharp decline in alcohol-related car crashes here, and around the state of New Jersey. Our law enforcement officers have had a lot to do with cracking down harder on impaired driving, especially during major holidays. This Christmas and New Year’s holiday too has had New Jersey police making serious efforts to keep intoxicated drivers off the road. That’s why it’s more than a little disappointing to read about a state trooper who has been charged with drunk driving after an accident in Allamuchy Township. The trooper Sergeant Steve Pelligra has been suspended while investigation continues. On the day of accident he was off duty and driving his pick up truck on route 157, when the truck crashed into another car. According to police, Pelligra left the scene of the accident, and also refused to submit to an alcohol test.

Earlier this month, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood had launched a nationwide crackdown on drunk driving over the holidays. Secretary LaHood had high praise for states like NJ that managed to enforce drunk driving rules harder, thereby keeping impaired drivers off roads, and minimizing fatalities. According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nationwide there has been a decline of 7 percent in alcohol-related car crash fatalities. This has been the result of increased statewide crackdowns. In New Jersey, we had a dramatic drop of 19 percent in alcohol related auto accident deaths from 2007 to 2008. While we lost 201 people in drunk driving crashes in 2007, that number had dropped to 154 the following year.

Those are very encouraging statistics, and we need to keep the momentum going. It would really help if our law enforcement officers set an example for the state.

Scott Grossman is a Monmouth County car accident lawyer representing injured victims of car crashes in Freehold, Marlboro, Howell, Manalapan, Aberdeen and around Monmouth County.

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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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Image Courtesy: Flickr-Timbishop01

The parents of a teenager who was killed in a car accident in Southampton Township, Burlington County are channeling their grief into effecting real change in New Jersey law. They want legislation that will make it mandatory for drivers in fatal car accidents to undergo testing for alcohol and drugs.

In July 2007, seventeen-year-old Anthony Farrace was in a Mercedes Benz driven by his girlfriend, Danielle McLaughlin. She seems to have lost control of the car as she attempted to pass a big rig, crashing the Mercedes into a tree. Farrace died almost instantly. McLaughlin suffered injuries. Over the next few months, she pleaded guilty for charges of careless driving, and ended up paying a fine of $200 dollars and having her license suspended for about six months.   Anthony’s parents John and Claudia Farrace believe that McLaughlin should have been tested for alcohol and drug use. 

Under New Jersey law, a person in an accident may be tested under two conditions:

• He or she must agree to be tested.
• Police must furnish a search warrant to test for alcohol and drugs. To obtain a search warrant, officers must have evidence or reasonable suspicion that the motorist is intoxicated.  For instance, the smell of alcohol on a person’s breath, slurred speech, or disoriented or incoherent behavior could qualify as reasonable suspicion.

The Farraces are pushing for Bill 3838 introduced by Assemblymen Nelson Albano (D Cumberland) and Paul Moriarty (D Gloucester). The bill will mandate drug and alcohol testing for motorists in all fatal accidents. The legislation also has its critics, including those who believe that the law violates the Fourth amendment. Moriarty doesn’t agree. According to him, a person could always refuse to take a drug or alcohol test, and be slapped with license suspension for at least seven months.

Motor vehicle accidents are the number one cause of death for teenagers across the country. It's an incredible waste of potential and promise when a teenager loses his or her life due to reckless or negligent driving, and we seem to be seeing more of these crashes.  I recently read a post about teen accidents in Georgia by Atlanta personal injury lawyer Lisa Seigel of the Katz Law Firm. It includes a letter written by a coroner who speaks of his sadness at the number of dead teens he has seen in his job over the last few years.

As the post points, our law enforcement officers and Monmouth County personal injury lawyers can only do so much to grapple with the problem of teen car accidents. Parents must play a bigger role in promoting safe driving practices in their teenagers.

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On January 13^th, a new bill that seeks to establish a Task Force on Underage Drinking in Higher Education was introduced in the New Jersey Senate. If passed, the bill will set up a task force consisting of 20 members who will be responsible for recommendations for effective ways of combating underage drinking in colleges. These 20 members will be sourced from several New Jersey colleges as well as representative of alcohol retailers. The task force will include the chairman of New Jersey Commission on Higher Education and the director of the Division of Highway Traffic Safety, law enforcement agencies, college representatives as well as representatives from Mothers Against Drunk Driving. All members will be appointed by Governor Jon Corzine.

Among other things, the task force will study practices in other states, relating to the kind of collaboration that exists between law enforcement, colleges and other groups to determine the best policies that are helping cub the problem of underage drinking. The legislature will then introduce these most effective policies to state colleges and universities, and put these into practice. There may be additional laws necessary to introduce new bills for the updating of college practices, so that they reflect more effective regulations.

Underage Drinking as a Leading Cause of Teen Car Accidents

Underage drinking continues to be a problem plaguing colleges and universities not just in New Jersey, but around the country. The problem has been brought in the spotlight even more acutely in recent months after a group of chancellors and presidents of colleges around the country launched the Amethyst Initiative. These chancellors and presidents were signatories to a petition calling for a debate on the minimum drinking age law. According to the Initiative, there is a need for informed debate on revising the minimum drinking age which is currently 21 years. The signatories insist that the debate is needed because the minimum age failed to cut down on underage drinking rates, and binge drinking continues to be a serious in colleges in US. More than a hundred presidents of colleges have signed to the petition, and it has fulfilled its purpose in that there has been strong debate on whether lowering the drinking age is really the way to combat the problem.

New Jersey Personal Injury Attorneys

New Jersey personal injury lawyers, a vast majority of college and university presidents, as well as parents had been strongly united in their conviction that lowering the age for drinking legally is not a solution to this complex problem. For instance, the signatories to the Amethyst Initiative have not specified owe they plan to tackle the problem of a lowered drinking age affecting high school students. The minimum age drinking law has been responsible for several lives saved in car accidents every year. Besides, there are other crimes associated with alcohol intake like assaults and rapes that have been kept under control precisely because only adults above the age of 21 can walk into a bar or a retailer and purchase alcoholic beverages. Lowering the age could open a Pandora's Box of new and even more complex problems that we may not be able to deal with.

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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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New Jersey car accidents have always been a problem and a local dealership is doing its part to improve motor vehicle safety. According to a Sunbeam article the Pointe Pontiac Buick GMC is offering scholarships to attendees of a driver safety class offered by the AARP at Merion Gardens Assisted Living June 10 and 11. A two day course is being offered which could help lower insurance rates and reduce penalty points on your driver’s license. The AARP requires a $10 cover fee for class materials but the owner of Pointe Pontiac Buick GMC is willing to pay the cost of the entire class. Larry Davis, owner of Pointe Pontiac-Buick-GMC says "We are committed to giving back to our community and this seemed like an ideal fit. We provide transportation and this course helps raise safety awareness which can only benefit our customers and neighbors." The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) does not require for you to be a member or senior citizen to attend classes or qualify for an insurance discount. This program is a great way to improve driving skills and could refresh a lot of driving techniques that may have been forgotten over the years.
 

New Jersey has very busy roads during the summer months especially in Monmouth County. As an attorney representing many motor vehicle accident clients throughout the New Jersey and the Monmouth County area, I ask you to be extra careful driving this summer because the roads will get busy as people travel towards the shore to beat the summer heat. According to AARP, the likelihood of attendees being involved in an auto accident or receiving a traffic ticket should decrease by 15 percent following the completion of the two sessions. Being a Monmouth County and New Jersey injury lawyer I would recommend completing some of these courses to help improve driving safety and to help reduce those outrageously over priced New Jersey auto insurance rates.

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New Jersey traffic accident related fatalities have statistically decreased by 17 percent over the past 12 months however, the actual number of deaths remains at an unacceptable horrifying 207 between January 1st and May 17 of this year. These statistics were reported in a recent Today’s Sunbeam article that interviewed New Jersey State Police Colonel Rick Fuentes. Fuentes stated…“ As alcohol related crashes make up a large percentage of fatalities, the focus of our communities must be first devoted to both deterrence of drinking and driving and secondly to the enforcement of DWI related offenses. 

State Police Deputy Superintendent of Operations Juan Mattos said, "Four of the seven fatal motor vehicle accidents on Memorial Day 2007 were alcohol related. This is a pointless waste of lives we will attempt to avoid by relentlessly pursuing intoxicated drivers." Superintendent Fuentes added "We can only do so much to encourage safe behavior. In the end, New Jersey's drivers must decide to act responsibly."

As a Monmouth County and New Jersey auto accident lawyer attorney, I have witnessed over the past decade the horrific shattering of lives far too often as the direct result of alcohol consumption while driving cars, trucks and motorcycles. Obviously, we should never ever drink and drive. More safety tips can be found at The American Society of Civil Engineers link and I hope this information will be useful and if applied may even help to reduce the number of traffic related fatalities and severe injuries.

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