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

For many parents, it's one of the biggest dilemmas they will ever face. Buying a first car for your teenage motorist is a major decision. For a parent, the statistics are sobering. Auto accidents continue to be the number one cause of death for teenagers between 15 and 19 years of age. 44% of all teen deaths every year occur during accidents.

With facts like this, you need to make a safe, informed decision that considers your child's safety first and foremost. The best thing you could do for your child is to ignore his preferences while making a decision. Teenagers tend to like fast, high performance cars, and these are not the ideal vehicles for them. So, what should you look for while choosing a car for your teenager?

However, some experts warn that buying a new car for your teen could encourage speeding and reckless driving. They believe a used car is a better option. Still others believe that a teenager should only be allowed to use the family car. This allows you to maintain control over his driving. Ultimately, it comes down to your teenager's personality. You know your child best, and if you feel he or she would be safer in a slower, used car, by all means make that decision.

Fortunately, new cars come with enhanced auto safety features. Electronic Stability Control systems, side air bag systems and antilock brakes are just three features that can keep your child safe in an accident, and that are increasingly available on many models.

The American Automobile Association as well as Consumer Reports suggests a passenger car as a teenage motorist’s first car. These cars are easier to handle, unlike sports utility vehicles and pickup trucks which may be your child's favorite, but are at a high risk of rollovers.

Before you make a decision, check the car’s safety ratings on the websites of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety as well as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Scott Grossman is a New Jersey injury lawyer, representing injured victims of auto accidents across New Jersey.

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As a New Jersey car accident lawyer, I have been very supportive of our state’s strong GDL program for teen drivers. As a result of these laws, the state has been able to bring down its teen accident-related injury and fatality rates substantially. A study by the Texas Transportation Institute underscores the need for continued restrictions on teen motorists’ driving privileges.

According to the study, there has been an increase of 10% in the number of fatal night time teen motorist accidents between 1999 and 2008. According to the Texas researchers, this increase is very likely due to the use of cell phones by teen motorists. In 2008, federal transportation authorities recorded a total of 4,322 teen driver-related fatal accidents. Of these, 50% occurred at night. In contrast in 1999, there were 6,368 fatal teen driver-related accidents, and out of these, 45% occurred at night.

Cell phone use is rampant among American teenagers. The practice of texting has taken over the average teen’s life. In fact, it is estimated that American teenagers on an average send or receive more than 2,000 messages every month. Teenagers also tend to have a much higher opinion of their driving skills and abilities to multitask than they deserve to. A teen motorist is much more likely to think that it's safe to text and drive because he is so proficient at using cell phones. This kind of overconfidence can be deadly, as we can see from the increase in fatal teen driver accidents over the past decade.

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

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A new pedestrian law that went into effect on the 1^st April, promises to reduce accident fatalities in New Jersey. With New Jersey accounting for some of the highest numbers of pedestrian accident fatalities in the country, I hope the law will help minimize those rates.

In 2008, 27% of all traffic accident fatalities in New Jersey were pedestrians. Last year, there was a substantial drop in the number of traffic accident fatalities in New Jersey, as in the rest of the country, but the number of pedestrian deaths has actually increased. According to the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, since 2004, there have been approximately 150 pedestrian deaths annually on New Jersey streets. In 2009, 159 pedestrians died in accidents in our state.

The new law will require that motorists nearing a crosswalk stop as soon as a pedestrian enters the crosswalk. Motorists who violate the new law, will face a strict $200 fine, and will receive two points on their driver's license. The earlier law required that motorists yield to pedestrians. The word “yield” seems to have been too ambiguous for motorists in New Jersey, and this has contributed to a high number of pedestrian accident fatalities in our state.

I'm willing to bet many motorists in New Jersey are unaware of the law. In order to deal with this, law enforcement officers will be increasing enforcement over the next few weeks. Initially, motorists will be given a warning card explaining the new laws to them.

Of course, the new law does not mean that pedestrians can be blasé about their safety. I would advise all pedestrians in New Jersey to be alert at all times to their surroundings, avoid distractions like talking on the cell phone or listening to the iPod. Any activity that takes your attention away from the road can be a risk to your safety.

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

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This week, I moved my injury law firm practice in Freehold to a brand new building, under a brand new name. So as of the 1^st of February, the Law Offices of Scott D. Grossman is now The Grossman Law Firm, LLC.  

Monmouth County residents can locate us at our new office:

The Grossman Law Firm, LLC.  

Pinho Professional Center,  

57 Schanck Road, Suite C-13

Freehold

The telephone and fax numbers for the Freehold office remain the same.

Phone:          732-625-9494

Web: www.GrossmanJustice.com

Blog: www.NJinjuryBlog.com

Our Northern New Jersey office remains at its current address in Bergen County.  

The new expanded premises are at a convenient location, and will help Freehold, Manalapan, Marlboro, Howell, Old Bridge, New Egypt and Jackson area residents, who need to consult with an experienced injury lawyer in Monmouth County.  

Those of you who know me on a personal level, or have given me the honor of representing you over the years, know that my objective in starting my own personal injury law firm practice was to help victims of negligence fight for their rights.  Over these years, I have noticed how shattered victims of accidents and serious injuries can be. When a person walks into my office, he or she has been through one of the most traumatic experiences imaginable. He or she has often been seriously injured because of someone else’s negligence, and has been off work for several days. Medical debt will soon pile up and he or she may soon find it hard to meet rent, mortgage payments, utility and grocery expenses.

For most of these people, it is the very first time they have been seriously injured. It is also the first time they have been unable to work and support their families. The strain of dealing with physical pain and financial expenses, and worry over a future that is so uncertain - these are some of the common characteristics I see in so many of the clients who walk in for a consultation at my office.

For me, being a personal injury lawyer in New Jersey is not just about helping these people navigate their way through the complexities of the NJ insurance law, and obtain the compensation they deserve for what is often a life altering experience. It’s also about helping them find the resources they need to move forward again.

While there may be nothing I can do to make injured clients or bereaved ones feel whole again, I am committed to doing all I can to put them back on the road to physical, financial and emotional recovery, all with a very personable hands-on approach.  As I settle down at our new beautiful, state of the art, conveniently located Freehold office, it’s a commitment my staff and I will maintain.

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Tis the season of good cheer, mistletoe and unfortunately, also a heightened risk of auto accidents in New Jersey. Our state’s already congested highways and roads will play host to an increasing number of intoxicated drivers, especially as the end of the year, nears.

Law enforcement in New Jersey however, will not be waiting till the Christmas Eve to make sure that drivers are aware of the state’s zero tolerance policy toward drunk driving. The annual anti-drunk driving “Over the Limit. Under Arrest” campaign kicked off on the 7^th of December. The campaign will run through the 3^rd of January next year, with hundreds of saturation patrols and DUI checkpoints across the state.

What has always impressed me as a New Jersey drunk driving accident lawyer is that this campaign does not focus only on enforcement activities, but also combines education and awareness initiatives. Across New Jersey, there will be mobile display signs, anti drunk driving posters and banners to alert drivers to the dangers of drunk driving. According to Pam Fischer, who is the director of the New Jersey Division of Traffic Safety, drunk driving increases by nearly 10 percent during the December holiday season.

As a New Jersey personal injury lawyer, I can’t stress the following enough, as you get in to the holiday mood.

• If you intend to spend an evening out drinking, plan how you will get home ahead of time. This can include

1. Having a friend drive you home
2. Hiring a cab
3. Using mass transit to get home
4. Hiring one of the designated driver services that have been cropping up all across New Jersey. Look these up on the internet to find a designated driving service close to you.

• If you are going to be partying someone’s place, see if you can spend the night over to sleep off the alcohol before you get back home
• If you see a drunk driver on the streets, report it immediately. You just might save someone’s life.

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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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It has been a bad couple of years for New Jersey’s pedestrians with 135 people killed in 2008 alone. 2009 has not been better.  In fact, pedestrian death rates have actually been higher this year with 121 pedestrians killed in accidents so far this year. That’s a staggering increase of 33 percent over the same period of time in 2008.

New Jersey authorities seem to be picking up on the urgency of the situation. New Brunswick last year received $476, 000 in funding from the Department of Transportation, to make pedestrian safety enhancements. The city has already installed radar-activated speed limit signs, and more numbers of traffic safety signs. Crosswalks and curb enhancement projects are also on the anvil. Older slate curbing is being replaced, and repainted to prevent drivers from parking too close to the intersection.

Pedestrian safety was the focus of a recent report released by Transportation for America, which pointed to the large numbers of pedestrian deaths across the country. The report titled Dangerous by Design, says that every year, 5000 people die while performing what should be the mundane acts of walking on a sidewalk or crossing a street. The researchers developed a Pedestrian Danger Index to denote the dangers for pedestrians. While the overall PDI across the country was 52.1, New Jersey’s PDI was slightly higher at 53.5. Atlantic city-Hammonton had a PDI of 75.5, while Trenton-Ewing had one of the lowest PDIs of 24.3.

In New Jersey, 22.1 percent of all traffic deaths were pedestrians.  That is much higher than the nationwide average of 11.8 percent. For every 100,000 people here, there were 1.67 pedestrian deaths, higher than the nationwide average of 1.53.

Between 2005 and 2008, New Jersey had access to federal transportation funds of $3 billion, of which just 0.5 percent has been spent on making pedestrian safety enhancements. That translates into a royal sum of 47 cents for every person in New Jersey. No wonder New Jersey personal injury lawyers are seeing such a spike in pedestrian deaths in the state.

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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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An intersection in Little Falls in Passaic County is generating a lot of attention because of the high numbers of auto accidents that have occurred here in recent years. Over the past 7 years, there have been 46 accidents at the Clove Road intersection, including a recent one in which a pedestrian was hit by a car and severely injured. In fact, that accident has already resulted in a personal injury lawsuit against the township. 

Even as the lawsuit progresses, there has been no consensus on safety enhancements between the township authorities on one hand, and Clove Road residents on the other. A 2006 report by Passaic County authorities found that the Clove Road intersection was dangerous, and that the road was not properly designed for the kind of traffic it sees. Little Falls mayor Michael DeFrancisci and county officials had discussed plans to make the road safer. These plans included changing the location of retraining walls, and installing a right hand turn lane. However, both these plans have been opposed by residents who believe the plans would infringe on private property.

Making Clove Road safer for all has thus far been a long process. So far, County authorities have presented 7 plans, but none of these have been approved. The few plans that residents have approved have been rejected by emergency responders, who believe that these plans would limit response times.

The route to a safe road is never easy. There are a number of factors to take into consideration. Unfortunately, many roads in New Jersey have been designed with auto safety in mind, and little regard for the safety and rights of bicyclists and pedestrians. The result is situations like this one, where the need for enhancements is clearly visible, but existing layouts don’t allow them.   

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

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The issue of cell phone use while driving is one that auto safety experts and lawmakers are constantly grappling with. As a New Jersey personal injury lawyer, I don’t believe that an outright ban will be completely effective, if it is not combined with other measures that coax motorists to take steps to prevent them from using their cell phone while driving.

The New York Times is reporting on how cell phone muzzling technologies that block calls when a person is driving, might point the way to a future where cell phone use behind the wheel is less of a risk than it is now. Cell phone manufacturers and automakers have been doing their best to make it safer for motorists to carry on a conversation while driving and still be safe. Hands-free sets are hugely popular, and are allowed in states that have banned the use of hand-held cell phones, including New Jersey. However, as a car accident lawyer I have always been leery about how effective hands-free sets can be in lowering accident risks.

After all, the risk of a crash comes because the driver is so distracted by the conversation he is having, and not so much by the use – or lack thereof – of his hands. Studies have shown that talking on the cell phone while driving makes you four times as likely to meet with an accident, regardless of whether you are using a hands-free set or a handheld phone.

As long as we’re talking of fighting technology with technology, call blocking technologies might be the way forward,. These systems use the cell phone’s own GPS sensors to determine whether the motorist is at driving speed, and then immediately disable the cell phone until the car is stopped. These services may be right for those who simply can’t bring themselves to switch off their cell phones while driving.

An added incentive - insurance companies have begun to offer discounts for customers who sign up for call blocking services. Nationwide Insurance Company has announced a discount of 5 percent for customers who sign up for the service, and State Farm Insurance is also studying the effectiveness of call muzzling technology. Currently, no insurer offers discounts for hands-free sets.

I am all for any technology that does for motorists what they may not be able to do themselves - avoid calls or texting while driving.

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Police are saying that a motorist who struck and seriously injured a bicyclist in Medford on Monday, was texting at the time of the accident. If that wasn’t bad enough, the motorist Robert Sharrer was apparently texting someone about a drug deal at the time of the collision.

According to news reports, the bicyclist Lisa Granert was riding responsibly, following all traffic rules and wearing a reflective vest. Sharrer’s vehicle drifted on to the shoulder and stuck Granert’s bike. The cyclist was thrown to the ground, and suffered serious injuries. She is currently in a trauma unit, where her condition is reported to be stable. Just before the accident, other motorists on route 70, where the accident took place, reported seeing a motorist driving erratically. Investigators say that Sharrer was texting at the time of the crash, and the text had to do with a drug deal.

Earlier this week, I blogged about a new survey that showed that half of Americans between 12 and 17 years of age have seen their parents texting at the wheel. We are in serious danger of raising a generation of New Jersey motorists, who think texting while driving is not a big issue, and it’s definitely cause for concern. There have been several studies into the heightened risk of accidents when motorists are texting while driving. In fact, one study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute placed that risk at 23 times greater than in case of motorists not texting while driving.

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

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As a New Jersey personal injury lawyer, I have been concerned about the growing use of cell phones while driving by teens, and the tendency to text while behind the wheel. A new Pew survey shows that the problem may be worse then we believe.

The researchers surveyed 800 teens between the ages of 12 and 17 between June and September this year. Seventy four additional teens, who were part of 9 focus groups in New York, Atlanta, Denver and Anna Arbor were also surveyed. While some of the results were not too surprising, the others were extremely worrisome.

The survey suggests that about a quarter of teens aged between 16 and17 years admit to having texted while driving. These statistics were not a shocker,  but what did concern me were the findings that approximately half of the respondents aged between 12 and 17 admitted to having been a passenger in a car with an adult driver texting at the wheel. In fact, these teens frequently saw their parents texting while driving.

Reactions to this behavior were mixed.  While in some cases, teens admitted to being nervous or scared when their parents texted while at the wheel, other teens had grown used to such parental behavior, and thought texting while driving was not a big deal. It’s the second group of teen motorists that I am concerned about. Texting while driving is extremely dangerous, and when a teen sees his or her parent addicted to text messaging while at the wheel, it only helps to develop and foster such reckless behavior in impressionable young motorists.

As a New Jersey car accident lawyer, I believe that parents have as much of a responsibility as schools and law enforcement authorities to develop safe driving practices in children. It’s alarming that so many parents seem to recklessly text at the wheel, unaware or uncaring that their children are observing and learning from them. Parents must step up and contribute to efforts to tackle the texting while driving menace.

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Last month, a law that requires New Jersey drivers to remove snow and ice accumulation from their vehicles, went into effect. The law will apply to both commercial and non-commercial drivers.  With this, New Jersey becomes the first state in the country to have such a law.

Now, New Jersey drivers must remove snow and ice from the windshield, roof and hood of the car. The law also applies to 18 wheelers - snow must be removed from the cab and the top of the trailer. Drivers in New Jersey who don’t comply with the new law may be fined between $25 and $75.

There will be many complaints about this law, but as a long time New Jersey resident and personal injury lawyer, I strongly believe it’s necessary.  I have frequently seen motorists driving vehicles completely covered with snow and ice, except for a small patch in the front windshield, through which the driver can see the road. Flying blocks of snow and ice can intrude on other drivers around you, distracting them. Large blocks of snow and ice falling from the top of a trailer can weigh more than a ton. These can smash through a car’s windshield and injure the persons inside.

Those, who take the trouble to wipe off snow and ice from their car before they drive, should not have to dodge flying snow from other vehicles while driving. It is a huge distraction to other motorists, not to mention a major injury risk. It would be great if all drivers in New Jersey would do what is necessary, so that there wouldn’t be the need for a law like this. Unfortunately, I have seen too much “peephole driving” during winters in New Jersey to feel optimistic.  

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

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The death of a man in a car accident in 2006 on the New Jersey Turnpike focused attention on the guardrail that caused his fatal injuries. However, three years after the accident, there have been no changes made to the guardrail which continues to remain an injury risk.

In August 2006, 34-year-old Patrick Sweeney was riding a car on his way to Newark airport. On the Turnpike near route 80, the driver lost control of the vehicle, and it crashed into a guardrail. Sweeney sustained fatal injuries when the guardrail pierced the passenger side of the car.

His family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the contractor involved in the road construction, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and others.   They have now settled their lawsuit for 9.7 million dollars.  Their attorney says that the guardrail was installed too close to the road, and on top of a high curb that increases the risk of injury. Three years after the fatal accident that killed Patrick Sweeney, there have been no changes made to the guardrail.

Many times, dangerous conditions for a driver are created not so much by the negligence of other motorists, as by the poor design of the highway. Highway design and construction is a complex process that must include safety of all users of the road. There could be any number of ways a highway design defect could increase the risk of accidents.

• Sharp curves
• Absence of guardrails
• Improperly installed guardrails
• Obstruction of motorist view
• Road surfaces that contribute to skidding, lack of adequate lighting, lack of warning signs.

Any one of these defects can lead to accidents.  In such cases, victims may be able to hold construction companies, contractors, agencies responsible for the highway or other local agencies, utility companies, and maintenance companies responsible for these injuries.

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

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For a third year in a row, there has been a drop in the number of teen drivers and passengers killed in auto accidents in New Jersey. This year, the number of teen motorists and passengers killed was 59.  That was a drop from 68 in 2007, and 73 in 2006. Those numbers were announced by the Teen Driver Study Commission at an event to mark National Teen Driver Safety week, which was marked in New Jersey this past week.

There is plenty of reason to be encouraged. According to Commission chairwoman Pam Fischer, four of the 14 recommendations included in the commission’s 2008 report, were enacted. Fatality rates could drop further as Kyleigh’s law goes into effect on the 1^st of May. Under the law, drivers below the age of 21, who hold provisional licenses or permits, will be required to display a decal announcing their status. When the law comes into effect, law enforcement in New Jersey will be able to identify teen motorists very easily. The decals will be displayed on both front and rear license plates. With this, New Jersey will become the first state in the country to require identification decals for teen motorists.

There is more encouraging news on the teen motorist safety front. The Brain Injury Association of New Jersey has launched a new website, which provides parents and teen motorists a wealth of resources to encourage safe driving, and prevent accidents. According to spokespersons for the Association, teen motorists between the age of 15 and 24 are at a high risk of accident-related brain injuries.

As a New Jersey personal injury lawyer, it has been my aim to focus attention on such initiatives, through this blog. I am optimistic that when all recommendations of the Commission are implemented, we will see more reductions in these fatality rates.

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Last week, Press of Atlantic City ran a watchdog report that was a follow-up to a previous report, on a low cost insurance program that has regular insured motorists at risk of heavy financial liability, if they are involved in accidents with motorists covered under the program. I was interviwed by the Press's reporter and expressed my anger at the manner in which New Jerseyans have been left at risk for liability because of these threadbare policies.

In August, I blogged about the Special Automobile Insurance Policy (SAIP) and how it has placed New Jersey motorists who are properly insured, at risk of heavy financial damage in case of collisions with SAIP-insured motorists. The SAIP program was introduced in 2003, and was meant to provide about 600,000 New Jersey motorists, who had no access to car insurance, with some form of cover. At the time, SAIP was meant to provide cover for people who could not afford regular insurance, but still needed to drive themselves around to get to work, go to school etc. 

The SAIP policies involve an annual cost of $365, and low income residents who are eligible for Medicaid cover can avail of these policies. The policies provide for death benefits of $10,000 and up to 250,000 for treatment of injuries. However, they do not include bodily injury liability or property damage.

A follow up to the report has my input on how both SAIP-insured motorists in New Jersey, as well as motorists with regular cover, have suffered because of this short sighted plan. Most customers who sign up for a dollar-a-day policy have no idea how little cover they are eligible for.  It’s only when they are involved in an accident that they realize they would have been better off with no insurance at all. According to the Press of Atlantic City report, there are 22,000 motorists in New Jersey covered under these dollar-a-day policies, and they are involved in approximately 1,100 auto accidents, causing $4.7 million in damages every year. What’s worse, the number of these SAIP drivers is growing rapidly every year

Authorities in New Jersey have been content to allow the numbers of SAIP-insured motorists to thrive, and little thought have been given to how these motorists as well as other drivers involved in accidents with them, will deal with heavy accident-related expenses.

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

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Route 80 in Bergen County is undergoing repair works that are likely to continue till the end of the year. Unfortunately, the highway has already become the scene of two serious accidents, both of which involved fatalities.

One accident involved a multi vehicle collision in Parsippany. Several cars and art least two big rigs were involved in the accident that occurred last week. One person died and several persons were injured.  One day after that accident, another motorist was killed in yet another crash in Passaic County.

The New Jersey of Department Transportation has closed down several lanes on route 80, because of road resurfacing work that is expected to continue through December. The eastbound express lane from east of the Garden State Parkway in Saddle Brick Township to the rest of route 17 in Lodi Borough has been closed, and will remain so for about three weeks. According to the Transportation Commissioner, work will continue round the clock to complete the project quicker, and reduce disruption to traffic. Hopefully, all bridge decks will be ready to use by the first week of December. It is important that work be completed before winter sets in, making projects harder to complete.

Many accidents that occur in a highway construction zone can be avoided if motorists pay attention, and slow down speeds. However, transportation authorities must make sure that zones are marked properly, and that traffic is diverted safely through lanes with minimal disruption.

As a New Jersey personal injury lawyer, I would encourage motorists driving through highway construction zones to:

• Slow down while near a construction zone.
• Be alert at all times.
• Be attentive, and switch off cell phones.
• Have patience, and accept delays while driving through a zone.
• Avoid impatience or aggression - it doesn’t make the commute any shorter.

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A two-day long conference on distracted driving wound up last week in Washington DC. There were transportation officials in attendance, along with members of Congress and auto safety advocates.  As a New Jersey personal injury lawyer, I believe that some of the strongest testimony comes from those who have lost the most from accidents involving distracted drivers. This includes victims of such accidents and survivors of those killed in a collision with a distracted driver. There were several such victims and survivors at the summit. They lost loved ones when their cars were rear ended by motorists who were too busy applying makeup, painting nails, talking on the cell phone or text messaging behind the wheel.

During the summit, attendees heard compelling new data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  According to the agency, close to 6,000 people died in accidents involving distracted drivers in 2008. These accidents left more than 500,000 people injured. That wasn’t the first that New Jersey personal injury lawyers had heard about the dangers of distracted drivers. Earlier this year, a study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute showed that a shocking 80 percent of accidents are caused by driver inattention. The study further found that drivers who use handheld cell phones and communication devices have a risk of being involved in serious accidents that is four times as high as non-distracted drivers. Motorists who are text messaging while driving have a risk of being involved in a serious crash that’s up to four times higher than for non-distracted drivers.

There are more reasons why we should fear distracted behavior behind the wheel, especially text messaging. Teen motorists today are growing up with an addiction to text messaging. In fact, data shows that the average teen text messages up to 5,000 times in a month. We are at risk of letting loose a generation of motorists, who think nothing of texting at the wheel or having a conversation on their cell phone while driving.

It’s good to see that the Transportation Secretary and lawmakers are taking the distraction threat seriously, but we need to see more concrete steps being taken to prevent these accidents.

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New Jersey personal injury lawyers and auto safety advocates have been advocating much stronger drunk driving laws to prevent the kind of accidents that are caused by repeat offenders. A motorist who hasn’t learnt his lesson after one DUI conviction, or doesn't find the punishment for DUI in our state severe enough, is too dangerous a motorist to be out freely driving on the streets without any restriction.

In an example of the kind of devastation that are caused by such motorists, a serial DUI offender caused a fatal accident in Lower Township in Cape May County over the weekend. John J. Lawless has multiple convictions for Driving While Intoxicated. His Pennsylvania driving license has been suspended out of Pennsylvania since 2001.  None of that seemed to stop this man, however. On Saturday night, Lawless was on route 9, drunk yet again. He failed to make a curve and entered the opposite lane into oncoming traffic.  His car collided with a vehicle driven by Fredrick H Shelton, who died at the scene of the accident. Shelton's wife was critically injured and the couple’s thirteen year old daughter had to be airlifted to a hospital in Camden.

Police, who responded to the scene of the crash, detected the strong smell of alcohol on Lawless’s breath. They found about his blemished driving history when they ran a computer check on him.   As Lower Township police Chief Edward Donohue later said, “This man should not have been operating a motor vehicle on any highway”. Lawless has had problems with alcohol abuse since 1996, and has spent jail time for it.

His reckless behavior, and the system’s inadequacies that allowed him to be driving when he so clearly should never have been behind the wheel, has shattered a family. 

This year, we've had several accidents that have involved serial DUI offenders. In April this year, a father and his daughter in Morris Township suffered injuries in an accident caused by a driver who had had his license suspended a total of 78 times, including 12 times for DUI offenses. State Senate president Richard J. Codey has since then called for making driving under a license suspended for DUI, a criminal offense. 

How many more lives have to be lost before we can begin treating this problem with the severity it deserves?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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.

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