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

Preliminary data released by the Department of Transportation indicate that there has been a record-breaking dip in the number of highway fatalities that occurred on American roads last year. In 2009, according to the data, there were 33,960 deaths on our highways, a drop of 9% from the previous year.

As a New Jersey injury lawyer, I have been blogging about the declining accident fatality rates across the country, including in our state. This year's numbers, while not low enough by any standards, are still extremely encouraging to those of us who would like to see fewer people killed and fewer lives shattered in preventable traffic accidents. According to the Department of Translation, fewer incidences of alcohol-related car accidents, greater use of seatbelts and safer cars have contributed to these decreasing fatalities.

I have to agree. Americans are safer now on the highways than they were even a decade ago, and that's no small accomplishment. However, that isn't to say that we don't have challenges on our roads.

·         The biggest challenges come from more and more numbers of technological distractions making their way into our vehicles. These include not just cell phones and texting devices, but also dashboard computers that are beginning to appear in cars.

·         Fatalities could also be reduced if we could focus a little harder on motorcycle safety. This is one category of highway users that continues to be at a high risk for death. We still continue to have far too many deaths in motorcycle crashes, even when the motorcyclist is wearing helmets.

·         The challenges to raising a new generation of informed drivers are greater today than they were a decade ago. Teen motorists have far too many distractions to enable them to drive safely. Law enforcement agencies in New Jersey must focus harder on enforcing traffic safety rules, educating teen motorists by taking the message to high schools around the state.

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

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

As the numbers of digitized billboards on our highways has increased, the calls for limiting the use of these billboards because of the distraction risks have also become louder.

Travelers have become used to these billboards that flash advertising messages, news headlines, and sports scores. But exactly how distracting are these billboards? 

The billboard industry insists that there is no evidence to show that these billboards are any more distracting than traditional billboards. However, auto safety advocates are not as convinced. Adding to the confusion is that there have been very few studies into the distraction risks of these billboards compared to conventional ones.  Last year a Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study indicated that these billboards were an accident risk, but did not confirm just how high the risk was. The Virginia Tech study did say, however, that there was a need for more studies into these risks.

It seems to me that anything that can take a motorist’s attention away from the road on a busy highway for enough time to cause an accident, must be considered a serious risk. Some of these billboards change messages every 6 to 8 seconds. These are highly distracting messages that have the potential to cause motorists to take their eyes off the road for several seconds at a time. Motorists who are distracted by billboards are already talking on their cell phones or texting while driving. In short, these motorists can't handle any more distractions.

Efforts to ban these billboards are on, but the industry has been stubborn about its opposition to any such ban. In several states, nonprofit groups are trying to block the installation of more such billboards.

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

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

A five-year-old girl sustained serious injuries in an accident on the Garden State Parkway this week. The girl was in an SUV. According to the report, it appears that the driver of the SUV was trying to avoid a massive block of Styrofoam that was on the highway, and the SUV flipped over. There were a total of nine people in the car, including three adults and five children. All the others are also reported to have been injured. However, their injuries don’t seem to have been life threatening.

According to the Ashbury Park Press, it appears that the Styrofoam block had fallen off a vehicle belonging to Railroad Construction Co. Inc. The company is engaged in some work on the Parkway, although it’s not clear if the fallen debris was part of that work.

No one knows yet if the child was wearing a seatbelt the time of the crash. However, a SUV rollover could result in children being ejected from their seats, especially if the child was in a booster seat. My prayers are with this family, which is still recovering from their injuries.

I would wait for the investigation to be completed before commenting, but if the debris fell off a vehicle belonging to a construction company, then the company has a lot to answer for. Unsecured cargo can be a risk in more ways than one, as this tragic accident shows.

Scott Grossman is a Monmouth County injury lawyer representing injured victims of auto and truck accidents in Holmdel, Freehold and around Monmouth County.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

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.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

At the sentencing where Sean McGuirk was sentenced to eight years in prison, for causing the drunk driving accident that killed a Perth Amboy police officer, the accused broke down and apologized. Unfortunately, his remorse comes late in the day for the widow who was pregnant when her husband was killed, and the little girl who will never know a father's love.

On August 21^st 2008, McGuirk drank at a bar and drove off. He was speeding at up to 50 miles per hour in an area with a 25mph speed limit.  McGuirk ran two red lights and broadsided a police cruiser. In the cruiser, were patrol officers Thomas Raji who was 31-years-old at the time, and Michael Mercurio. Raji died, and Mercurio, suffered severe injuries including brain injuries, and multiple broken arms and ribs.

Just before McGuirk drove off on that fateful evening, he had been drinking for four hours. He also had a stash of alcohol in his car, and swigged more before he left the bar. McGuirk pleaded guilty to charges that included vehicular homicide. A judge has sentenced McGuirk, to eight years in prison.

Raji’s wife, who is also a patrol officer, was pregnant with their daughter Mikayla at the time. She plans to retire from the service in November to look after Mikayla. She spoke at the sentencing, talking of her own personal loss, as well as the void in her daughter’s life.

Every year, federal statistics tell us about the number of people killed in drunk driving accidents the previous year. However, it’s impossible to gauge the depth of loss from these deaths. These are not mere statistics. These drunk driving accident victims leave behind mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, children, brothers, sisters, friends and colleagues. As a New Jersey wrongful death attorney, I know that for the people who've loved and lost, the loss is incalculable and irreparable.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

New Jersey’s law enforcement agencies kicked off their Labor Day crackdown on drunk driving last week.

The crackdown is part of a nationwide anti-drunk driving enforcement effort, targeted towards the high number of drunk drivers who are expected to hit the road during this period.  States everywhere have stepped up their enforcement programs, and New Jersey is no exception. More than 230 law enforcement agencies are taking part in the crackdown called “Over the Limit. Under Arrest."

The crackdown will last through September 7^th. There will be additional number of sobriety checkpoints and concentrated patrols targeting impaired drivers. 

Last year, 165 people died in alcohol-related car accidents in New Jersey, which was about 20 percent of all traffic fatalities in the state. Just last week, an elementary school teacher in Somerset County was charged with drunk driving for her involvement in a multi-vehicle crash that injured 6 people. The fourth-grade teacher is an example of a growing trend, in which women motorists are showing some of the same undesirable driving characteristics that were the prerogative of men earlier. The woman’s arrest comes just in time for an increased focus on women and impaired driving. This year, the US Transportation Department has announced that the enforcement will target female motorists. While male drivers still continue to be involved in a majority of alcohol-linked accidents, the gap between male and female impaired drivers is fast closing.

In 2008, an estimated 1,600 people were arrested for drunk driving during the Labor Day weekend. Besides, law enforcement officers also issued approximately 14,000 summonses for seatbelt and speeding violations. As a New Jersey personal injury lawyer and someone who travels during holiday season, I would advise travelers to take extra care while on the road during this time. I know that these checkpoints may not always be popular with motorists who have to stop, but these crackdowns help keep intoxicated drivers off the streets, and our roads safer.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

A new bill introduced in the Senate this week will require states to pass laws banning drivers from text messaging behind the wheel, in new efforts to combat the accident rate from such behavior. .  

The bill comes just one day after a study released by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, which showed that drivers who text message at the wheel have a risk of being involved in accident or near accident that’s about 23 times higher than a driver who is not text messaging at the wheel.

Although Freehold car accident lawyers and auto safety advocates have always known about the dangers of text messaging by motorists, the Virginia Tech study shows exactly how much we magnify our chances of being involved in an accident when we text and drive. The study used cameras installed inside vehicles, to track the movement of drivers' eyes as they performed several tasks that included text messaging. It was found that drivers who were sending text messaging while driving took their eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds. When you are behind the wheel and driving at 55mph, taking your eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds is long enough to cause a serious accident. 

The study has come for a great deal of scrutiny, and now Democrats, including New York’s Senator Charles E. Schumer have proposed a bill to prevent text messaging-related accidents. The bill proposes to withhold 25 percent of annual federal funds for highway safety, from states who don’t write laws banning text messaging by drivers.

Currently, New Jersey is one among 13 states that has a ban on text messaging behind the wheel. However, there are signs that our ban may not have been as successful as our lawmakers and New Jersey personal injury lawyers would have wanted it to be. Earlier this month, a survey by the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety and Farleigh Dickinson University revealed that the number of motorists in New Jersey who admitted to text messaging while driving increased by 40 percent over last year. 21 percent of the motorists admitted to texting behind the wheel, an increase from 15 percent last year. 60 percent of drivers below 30 years of age admitted to sending text messages while behind the wheel.  

That all this is happening in New Jersey, which has been at the forefront of efforts against cell phone use by drivers, is of concern to New Jersey personal injury lawyers. Our state was the first to make texting by a motorist a primary offense, allowing police officers to pull over a driver for the mere act of text messaging, even if there were no other violations.  According to the Center for Auto Safety, the problem is actually getting worse.  Even with laws against their practice and enforcement, motorists continue to text while they drive, with potentially dangerous consequences.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

There is some good news on the accident fatality rate front, as confirmed by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration's annual report that came out earlier this month.  Accident-related fatalities across the country are at their lowest levels, in decades.

According to the report, there has been a drop of 3,998 deaths from 2007. The fatality number in 2008 is 37,261 from 41,259 in 2007. Most importantly, the decline has been seen across all categories.  Drunk driving accident deaths, deaths related to speeding, pedestrian deaths and even trucking accident fatalities, have dropped significantly. The only category that has not showed any improvement is motorcycle accidents. In fact, for the 11^th year in a row, deaths from motorcycle accidents have showed an upward trend. That’s a disturbing fact, and the NHTSA must probe the reasons for why we have been unable to achieve any success in bringing down motorcycle accident death rates.

It's not just fatality rates that are down.  Injury rates have dropped too. Last year 2.35 million people were injured in traffic accidents, compared to 2.49 million the previous year. In fact, the number of injuries is at its lowest point since the agency began collecting data in 1998. More important, 2008 was the 9^th year in a row that injury rates have dropped.                                 

New Jersey saw a total of 724 accidents in 2007, and those numbers have dropped to 590 in 2008. That’s a drop of 19 percent, and those numbers are very encouraging indeed.

While increased seatbelt usage, safer automobiles and stronger enforcement have all played their part in bringing down the accident death rate, let's not forget that there is a recession on, and that people didn’t travel as much as usual last year. The hike in gas prices last summer also contributed to fewer vehicles on the highway, and consequently, fewer accidents.

We will have to wait for when the recession eases up and gas prices begin to slide again, to see whether the fatality rates still stay the same. Already there are signs that as gas prices begin to stabilize a little, people are abandoning the public transportation and bicycles that they took to during the gas crisis, and are returning to their cars again.

H/t: Gjelblogger

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

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Image Courtesy: Flickr - Mike Dakinewavamon Kline

New Jersey has the distinction of being one of the first states to clamp down on the use of hand held cell phones, but now a national safety group is calling for a nationwide ban on cell phone use while driving to eliminate one of the biggest causes of auto accidents.

Drivers in NJ are banned from talking on a hand held phone, or text messaging on one, and teen drivers are banned from all cell phone devices behind the wheel, but the state doesn't have a complete ban on cell phone use by motorists. In fact, no state in the country has a complete ban in place. That needs to change, say the National Safety Council whose President Janet Froetcher has called for a ban on all cell phone devices, both hand held and hands free. The reason for the push for no cell phone use in a moving vehicle is the growing number of automobile crashes that are being linked to these accidents. Ever since these devices became a part of our lives, cell phone usage while driving has become the biggest distraction to motorists, ranking above turning on the radio, reaching for something, or eating in the car.  

Cell phone use is not looked at with the kind of reprehension we would reserve for, say, a drunk driver, and yet, evidence seems to suggest that using your cell phone – whether hand held or hands free devices – can negatively affect your ability to drive just as much as a few drinks can. Froetcher says the mistake is in assuming that a ban on hand held devices will suffice, when logic will tell you that the biggest distraction from using a cell phone doesn't occur because you are using your hand to hold the phone, but because your mind is miles away with your chatting partner, instead of the road ahead. In short, it's the attention deficit when you're using a cell phone that's the cause for accidents blamed on cell phone use.

In recent months, the Metrolink train crash in California has firmly turned the spotlight on cell phone use by drivers. The engineer in that accident was later found to have been exchanging text messages while he was on the ill fated journey. Dozens of messages were found to have been sent by the engineer, including one sent just a few minutes before the crash. The calls for tougher legislation to ban cell phone use have grown louder since then.

In New Jersey, it's been hard to quantify the effects of our cell phone legislation. While accident rates are down, it's still not certain whether this is due at least in part to rising gas prices.  As a personal injury lawyer who regularly represents victims of accidents in Monmouth County, I believe we will find in the days and years ahead that these laws lead to safer streets and more responsible driving which is nothing but good news, for New Jerseyans.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

A Philadelphia journalist sustained traumatic brain injuries in a hit and run car accident in Collingswood, NJ yesterday. According to this news report, Collingswood NJ police are confirming that Brian Hickey, a former editor at the City Paper, was walking at night along North Atlantic Avenue, when an unidentified motorist crashed into him.

It was only later that police officers found Hickey, with a bleeding wound in his head. He was rushed to the Cooper University Medical Center in Camden, where it has been confirmed that he has suffered a traumatic brain injury.   Witnesses at the scene reported hearing a loud bang, and the screech of tires as the motorist fled form the scene. The skid marks on the road were the first indication to police officers that this had been a hit and run accident.

For Hickey’s 32-year-old wife, Angela, the next 15 hours proved to be excruciating. She was only informed the next morning, when officers arrived at her home to tell her the devastating news. Hickey is currently in a critical, but stable condition. He remains in a medically induced coma to relieve pressure on his cranium. It’s still early to make a prognosis, doctors say, but Hickey is being described by family and friends as a “fighter” who will make it through this. 

My heart goes out to Brian Hickey and his family. Angela has been posting updates on Facebook to let their community know of her husband’s progress. To have a loved one unconscious and not in a position to respond to you because of the injuries to his brain must be devastating for Hickey’s family.

Police have yet to zero in on a suspect, and they are focusing on locals who probably knew the area well. The spot where Hickey was hit is a little known short cut, probably familiar to a local, they say. The motorist is also likely to have suffered damage to his car.

A traumatic brain injury or TBI can be caused by injury, a stroke, aneurysm, or any other kind of severe damage to the head. These injuries are especially common when there is an automobile accident involving a pedestrian or bicyclist. These two groups pf people tend to have the least amount of protection, especially pedestrians who have no way of sheltering their head from the shattering impact when they are thrown to the ground, as often happens when they are involved in an accident. The force of a car weighing close to 3000 pounds can be enough to throw a person into the air, to land on the ground with a tremendous impact. 

Immediate care is essential to reduce the long term impact of a traumatic brain injury.   Emergency care in the first hour or so after the injury can help prevent further injuries to the brain. In Hickey’s case, the motorist didn’t even stop to offer some help to his victim. If he had, maybe Hickey’s prognosis would have been markedly improved.

As a New Jersey traumatic brain injury lawyer, and NJ car accident lawyer, I have represented victims who suffer from these debilitating injuries and have seen first hand the profound impact they have on their lives, as well as their families.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

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.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks