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

A controversial new law that will require New Jersey motorists driving under a permit or probationary license to display a red decal on the license plate, will go into effect on May 1^st.

The law is called Kyliegh’s Law, and is named after Kyliegh D’Alessio , a teenager who was killed in a car accident caused by a probationary driver. It will require all drivers, both new and current, holding a probationary license to place the red decals on the top left corner of the license plate. Probationary license holders will be required to purchase the decals at four dollars a pair. After a teen motorist completes the probationary term, he or she can remove the decals from the license plate. The decals are removable, so if other family members want to use the same car, they can merely remove the decal.

The law has not been without its share of controversy. Critics believe that it discriminates based on age, and filed a lawsuit which was dismissed early this month after a judge ruled that there was nothing unconstitutional about the law. With the new law, New Jersey police will be able to better enforce the state's GDL laws.

It will be a while before the dust settles around this new piece of legislation. Teen motorists are likely to continue to complain. The fact is however, that teen motorists are at a high risk of death in automobile accidents. If a law like this can encourage teen motorists to follow rules regarding the number of passengers they have in their car, or the hours they are allowed to drive, then it’s worth it.

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

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As a Monmouth County auto accident lawyer, I closely follow developments related to inattentive or distracted driving. The New York Times as part of its Driven to Distraction series has a new report focusing on dangers to pedestrians using cell phones while walking.

The New York Times report includes a survey that a research team at the Ohio State University conducted into the risks of distractions in pedestrians. The study found that in 2008, more than 1,000 pedestrians suffered injuries in accidents caused by text messaging or talking on the cell phone while walking.  The survey found that young pedestrians were more likely to be injured because of such distractions, with 50 percent of injuries resulting in emergency room visits occurring in people under the age of 30. At least 25 percent of emergency room visits from cell phone use-related accidents were pedestrians between 16 and 20 years old. However, a quarter of the pedestrians who were injured were between 41 and 60 years. This means that it’s not just young pedestrians who are more likely to run into stationary objects, fall into potholes, trip over sidewalks or suffer other accidents because of distractions. 

The Ohio State University study is believed to be the first serious one devoted to the risks from distracted driving for pedestrians. However, last year, a less formal study in Washington found that pedestrian inattentiveness while using a cell phone may be much more dramatic than we think.  The Washington study involved observing students at a college campus square. A man in a clown costume rode a unicycle around the campus, while dozens of students walked about.  The researchers found that just 25 percent of the students who were talking on a cell phone, noticed the clown. People walking in pairs were twice as likely to notice the clown, as students having a conversation on their cell phone.

This seems to indicate that merely having a conversation - as the students walking in pairs were doing - is not the main cause of inattentiveness. Talking on a cell phone likely produces mental images that are connected to the conversation the person is having, and these images likely inhibit the mind’s ability to process real life images.

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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A La Salle University student from Marlboro, Monmouth County will receive $7.5 million in damages in a football accident-related brain injury that left the student severely brain damaged. The basis of the lawsuit was that La Salle University cleared him to return to play without getting him seen by a doctor or properly tested.

On October 4^th  2005, 19-year-old Preston was injured during football practice. He was initially treated by a trainer at the scene, and then by a school nurse. He continued to complain of headaches and dizziness, and was examined at a Monmouth County hospital. After that, La Salle officials cleared him to play.

That led to the second accident and injury on the 5^th of November, 6 weeks after he suffered the first injury. The second injury was extremely serious and Preston went into a coma, and had to undergo emergency surgery.  Since then he has undergone several surgeries and treatment, requires 24 hour care, and experiences speech and walking difficulties. La Salle University has now agreed to pay Preston $7.5 million in damages.

Football players are no strangers to head and brain injuries, but this NFL season has been particularly wracked by injuries.  Several NFL players have fallen victim to head injuries, and the problem has been serious enough for the NFL to announce a special committee to find solutions to limit these injuries.

Scott Grossman is a New Jersey brain injury lawyer representing victims of Traumatic Brain Injury in Monmouth, Bergen, Passaic and Ocean Counties and across New Jersey.

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Last year, the number of fatalities in traffic accidents in New Jersey dropped to record lows, mirroring a nationwide trend in which fatality rates sank to the lowest level in decades. Much of this has to do with an increased focus on the usual suspects like drunk driving.  Automakers have also equipped cars with safety features that not just lower the risks of accidents, but also minimize the severity of injuries sustained in these crashes.

However, resting on those accomplishments might be premature, as this NPR report shows.  Americans still continue to face auto safety challenges.  It seems like with every challenge that we make progress toward eliminating, we are faced with newer problems. Drunk driving for instance, still accounts for about 30 percent of all fatalities, but death rates in these crashes have been on the decline over the past couple of years. However, cell phone use behind the wheel has presented a new safety challenge that transportation officials and law enforcement are struggling with.

As a New Jersey personal injury lawyer, I am very concerned about pedestrian safety on our roads. This year, we have had a spike in pedestrian accident deaths caused by a combination of factors, including motorist negligence, poor road layouts, and bad traffic planning. Another issue of concern is the state of New Jersey’s roads which continue to be a national joke. A recent report on American roads places New Jersey’s streets at Number 50. In a state with a high density of population, we can’t afford to have roads and traffic designs that actually contribute to accidents.

Truck safety continues to be another issue. The trucking industry is lobbying for increasing weight limits on tractor trailer rigs. That means New Jersey motorists will be sharing poor roads with larger, heavier trucks that are possibly even more difficult to navigate. Truck accident fatality rates nationwide have been somewhat stable at around 4000 or so fatalities every year, but that could change if New Jersey’s already congested highways begin to see larger, heavier trucks.

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These are rough times for New Jersey’s motorists and pedestrians. As a New Jersey personal injury lawyer, I have been following the steep increase in pedestrian accident fatalities in our state, and have seen the wretched state of many of our roads and highways. Our state has some of the worst roads in the nation. This bleak state of affairs looks all set to get worse before it gets better.

The NJ.com blog reminds us that the Transportation Trust Fund which finances New Jersey’s highway development projects, will be bankrupt by 2011 by which time all its revenues will be used to repay debts. That means that there will be no more money to fund the transportation projects that we are in need of.  

NJ.com has 6 points for the new administration to deal with the situation.

• Encourage new Jerseyans to use public transportation. This can be done by maintaining transit systems better, and extending operations.
• Make enhancements for biking and pedestrian safety.
• Create more jobs near transit stations, and allow for more freight to be carried by rail. Enhance port infrastructure.
• Make sensible investments in transportation to cut down on the number of hours New Jerseyans spend driving.
• Abandon Band Aid projects and stop-gap measures. Instead, make smart decisions about where you will spend valuable and limited transportation dollars.
• Keep the public updated on how funds are spent.  The days of high spending to impress citizens is gone, and not merely because there is no more money to spend.

New Jerseyans have waited long for some basic road safety amenities. Walking to work should be encouraged.  Instead, our shortsighted policies have ensured that 20 percent of our traffic fatalities every year are pedestrians. The new administration has a golden opportunity to implement the kind of changes New Jersey is hungry for.

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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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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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According to a report in the Washington Post, you're more likely to die in an accident caused by a defect in the design or maintenance of the road, than by speeding, drunk driving or failure to wear a seatbelt.

A study commissioned by the Transportation Construction Coalition and released last week says that more than 50 percent of the automobile accidents that take place in the country are caused because of a defective or dangerous highway. According to the report, poor roadway design or maintenance was a factor in approximately 22,000 accident-related fatalities annually. These fatalities cost the economy $217.5 billion each year. In comparison, fatalities caused by speeding-related accidents cost $130 billion, speeding related accidents cost the economy $97 billon, and failure to wear seatbelts resulted in costs of $60 billion to the economy. Yet, accident fatality prevention efforts in our country seem to focus heavily on drunk drivers and speeders (which is absolutely necessary) and seatbelt enforcement, with little attention paid to the obstructive utility poles, the lack of barriers, the barely visible signs and other roadway defects that cause most of these accidents.

Much of the problem, the report says, occurs because of defects on older roads and back roads. These roads, which were built for exponentially fewer numbers of automobiles, haven’t kept pace with the rapid growth of populations, and the large number of automobiles on our roads today. The study calls for more investments in infrastructure development, including construction, repairs and maintenance of our back roads.

The Federal Highway Administration agrees that making highway improvements would save lives. With $16 billion from the federal stimulus funds currently tied up  in highway improvement projects around the country, we could see the impact in the form of a drop in accident-related fatalities in the years to come.

In New Jersey, work has already begun on massive highway development projects, involving an expenditure of $389 million. Projects that will be paid for by stimulus money include those in Bergen, Monmouth, Passaic, Essex, Hudson, Somerset Counties etc. As a New Jersey personal injury lawyer who frequently represents victims of accidents in these areas, I couldn't be happier about these investments in safer roads for all.

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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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Jersey City authorities have been outraged after a 51-year-old pedestrian was severely injured in an accident involving a pickup truck driver who then proceeded to simply travel right on as if nothing had happened. The driver has now been arrested.

Surveillance video released last week shows 51-year-old Ricardo Torres walking on a crosswalk, and being struck by a black Ford pickup truck. The truck then traveled right on, as Jersey City Mayor Jeremiah Healy put it "as if he ran over a rat or something". Torres had the right of way at the time of the crash. Now, Jersey City Police say they have arrested a suspect. Police have arrested 19-year-old Bayonne resident Anthony J. Pane, and have charged him with assault by vehicle, leaving the scene of the accident and endangering an injured victim.

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Jersey City Police had earlier determined that the hit and run truck had been traveling at 35 to 40mph in a 25mph zone. Witnesses have claimed that the pickup truck had swerved either to dislodge the body or avoid running over him again before driving off.  According to police chief Thomas Comey, it was the third such hit and run accident involving pedestrians in Jersey City this year alone. In the two other cases, the pedestrians died. Torres continues to be in a critical condition and is in a medically induced coma, at a Jersey City hospital.

The accident had sparked impassioned pleas by police and city authorities to the public, asking for cooperation to nab the hit and run driver. As police chief Comey puts it, the victim here was "someone else's loved one, someone else's brother and someone else's father.

On this blog, I have discussed a number of recent New Jersey accidents involving pedestrians who had their right of way violated. To New Jersey personal injury lawyers, it appears that there is an unacceptable level of motorist impatience and callousness where the rights of these pedestrians are concerned. Jersey City police and city authorities have been rightfully outraged at the way pedestrians have been struck fatally or seriously this year, while the drivers have simply driven right on without even stopping to look at the results of their actions.

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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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There's something unspeakably sad about an elderly person dying in an accident. A 75-year-old man was killed earlier this month when he was struck by a car while trying to cross the road near the Young Israel of Aberdeen temple in Aberdeen Township. Phillip J. Shiffman had been on his way home from a synagogue.  He was rushed to the Bayshore Community Hospital in Holmdel, but died a short while later.

Now, residents are calling for the installation of a crosswalk at Lloyd Road near Idlewild Lane where the pedestrian accident took place. Aberdeen Township authorities have contacted Monmouth County authorities to look into the installation of a crosswalk and other safety precautions in the area. The area doesn’t have heavy pedestrian traffic, but it does have an elementary school.

At Shiffman’s synagogue, worshipers who attend prayer services in the evening have been advised to take precautions to prevent an accident till any safety devices are installed. Aberdeen Township Police Chief John Powers has a few tips for worshipers.

• Wear bright colored clothing while walking in dark areas.
• Cross the roads only at controlled intersections.
• Whenever available, use sidewalks.

As a Monmouth County pedestrian accident lawyer I would like to throw in my tips to the list:

• Always be aware of your surroundings, including the movement of vehicles.
• Avoid distractions, like talking on the cell phone or listening to your iPod while walking.  
• Walking home after having had too much to drink can be just as dangerous as driving home intoxicated.

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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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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. 

Since the law was passed, more than 108,000 errant motorists have been pulled over and ticketed for talking or texting on their phones. To reinforce these efforts, a special two week crackdown on drivers operating handheld cell phones resulted in hundreds of summons being issued to motorists who were in violation of the law. Disturbingly enough, after the two week crackdown ended, a survey showed that the number of motorists using cell phones after the crackdown was almost the same as those before the special enforcement. Even more disturbingly, 90% of New Jersey drivers are aware that there is a law prohibiting them from operating a handheld phone, and that they can be pulled over and fined for doing so. Also, 80% of the people seem to support it. 

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.

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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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Emergency crews responding to a Monmouth County car accident involving a child passenger will now have access to all essential medical details of the child The Sheriff's office is putting into action a new program that will make children's health information available to emergency crews in the event of a crash.

The We Have a Little Emergency or WHALE program was initiated out of Virginia caregiver Connie Day's concerns about what would happen to the children in her care in the event of an accident. Every year, thousands of children are involved in car accidents when they are traveling with parents, grandparents, caregivers and other adults.  Children are easily the most traumatized in the immediate aftermath of an accident. Even if the child suffers from minor injuries, it may not be possible for him or her to disclose important medical information to the emergency rescue teams who arrive at the scene. An unconscious adult inside the car and a terrified, screaming child hinders rescue efforts, leading to wastage of precious time. When the rescue personnel have access to the child's important information, including name of the child, contact information as well as important medical information like blood group etc., it makes their job much easier, and they can contact the family of the child, as quickly as possible.  

The information, according to the program, will be contained in five decals, one on the back of the child's safety seat and four elsewhere in the car where they can easily be found by rescue teams. The WHALE program is one of those simple, yet highly effective programs that don’t cost much, and can pay off richly in terms of making it easier for a child to receive medical treatment after a crash.

New Jersey Personal Injury Lawyers

In these days of budget deficits and slashed funding for important auto safety programs, it's nice to see Monmouth County make additional efforts for the safety of its most vulnerable and precious citizens - the children. The County is paying for the decal program with funds from its existing child safety seat programs, and some additional funding from the CentraState Medical Center of Freehold Township.  In my practice as a Monmouth. Bergen, Passaic, Middlesex, County personal injury lawyer, I have often seen the effects of an accident on little children, and anything that makes those terrifying few hours easier on the child, is worth making an extra effort for. 

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When Governor Jon Corzine signed the Red Light Camera Running program into law in January last year, New Jersey became one of 33 states to use traffic cameras to monitor the kind of red light violations that frequently result in automobile accidents. The program includes 12 municipalities who will have to get the camera systems installed. On Tuesday, the Brick Township Council awarded a contract to an Arizona-based company for the installation and operation of the cameras at two of Brick’s most troublesome intersections.

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. 

Debate over the red light camera systems, which are currently in place across 300 communities in the country, has raged. Critics have argued that this is just another way for cities to line their pockets with revenues generated from ticketing. There have also been concerns that frequent offenders will simply find a way to cheat the system. Motorists who also intend to run the red light and spot the camera at the last minute may brake suddenly, raising the risk of an accident.

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.

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A 58-year-old construction worker from Passaic County was killed in an excavator accident in Monmouth County on Monday afternoon. Juan Rivera was run over by an excavator while he was working at a house in Holmdel.  The house was being renovated after it suffered extensive damage in a fire last year.  Rivera and another worker from Teaneck, Bergen County were involved in the installation of a septic system. The Teaneck worker was in charge of operating an 11 ton hydraulic excavator. According to police, it appears that the operator was backing up the excavator when Rivera walked right behind it. Both men were employed by a Franklin Lakes, Bergen County landscaping company.

It's always unfortunate when hard working construction employees who engage in long hours of intense physical labor are the victims of  tragic accidents in their workplace. A worker should be able to report to work at his construction site every morning feeling safe in the knowledge that his work day will go off with out safety issues. Yet, all too often construction workers are at the center of some of the most preventable types of accidents. Workers falling of scaffolding, being buried under a trench collapse, and being run over or colliding with forklifts, trucks and excavators - these are all entirely preventable accidents that can be avoided simply if employers make the effort to have adequate safety measures in place.

Falls from scaffolding can be prevented by installing guardrails and equipping workers with personal fall protection systems and restraints. Being struck by falling objects or debris at a construction site can cause serious head and brain injuries. This can be avoided by having restraints for materials and tools on elevated surfaces, and providing all workers with helmets. Being struck by forklifts, excavators and other large and heavy machinery can be avoided simply if there are adequate safety procedures in place that encourage machinery operators to warn pedestrian workers in the vicinity. Very often, workers aren’t equipped with the skills needed to prevent such needless accidents because they haven't been trained sufficiently. Proving employees with sufficient training is one of OSHA's guidelines for workplace safety 

Construction Accident Help

A New Jersey  construction accident lawyer can file a worker's compensation claim and can also frequently file third party injury claims against a manufacturer if it is found that malfunctioning equipment or machinery were responsible for the accident.

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Two fatal pedestrian accidents, one in Tinton Falls in Monmouth County and the other in Point Pleasant in Ocean County, have been reported. In the Tinton Falls accident, 21-year-old Patrick Ryan was killed when he was hit by a truck in the middle of the night.  According to the driver of the box truck Charles Luckey, Ryan was wearing dark colored clothing and he saw him only when it was too late to avoid hitting him. Ryan was rushed to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, but was declared dead. In the other accident in Point Pleasant, a 53-year-old woman was hit while crossing route 88. The accident occurred on a Sunday night, and the victim Virginia Byron was rushed to Ocean Medical Center in Brick where she was declared dead. According to the driver of the car that struck Byron, she was wearing dark colored clothing and he did not see her until the pick up truck hit her. In both cases, Monmouth County and Ocean County teams are investigating each accident.

We’ve seen a series of fatal pedestrian accidents in New Jersey recently. Several of these accidents have taken place during the night time, but many have occurred in the bright day light when pedestrians were walking on the sidewalk or crossing on designated cross walks, when motorists who were driving responsibly should have been able to see the pedestrians and been able to avoid hitting them. While wearing dark colored clothing at night is undesirable behavior for a pedestrian, I’ve seen my share of accidents in my New Jersey personal injury lawyer practice where the pedestrian was entirely in the right, and still got hit anyway. According to statistics from the non profit group Tri-State Transportation Campaign, the fatality rate for pedestrian and bicyclists each year in New Jersey is 150, which is 20% more than the national average. In 2007, pedestrians made up 11% of all accident related fatalities in the country. In New Jersey, the figure was 21%.                                               

A big reason for this is may be that more people seem to be walking to work in New Jersey than in many other states in the country. According to US census statistics, 26% more New Jerseyans walked to work from 2002 to 2006 while in the rest of the country, the increase in the number of people walking to work had only risen by 7%. Rising gas prices and global warming concerns have lead to more numbers of people taking to walking as a means of getting around. It also doesn’t help that New Jersey has the highest population density among states in the US. The state has been spending more on increasing pedestrian safety, but the number of programs that need funding far outnumber the dollars available.

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