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

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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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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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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New Jersey's share of the federal stimulus package funds may well end up lowering the state's accident rates. According to Senator Frank Lautenberg, the funds will be used for repairing deficient roadways highways and bridges. In fact that is probably going to the one of the biggest priorities, if not the biggest one for the administration.

The state is expecting over $1 billion worth of federal money for roadway and railway improvement projects. That’s about a 30% increase in the state's yearly budget for these facilities. Governor Jon Corzine, who has been a vocal supporter of President Obama’s plan has also confirmed that repairing roads and constructing new ones will be a priority. Rebuilding infrastructure using stimulus money is not likely to cause complaints even among opponents of the federal stimulus plan, because of the substantial job generating potential it has. In an economic downturn, as states all over the country begin to chalk out plans for what they are going to do with their stimulus funds, programs that result in job generation will obviously receive higher priority. Infrastructure projects will mean jobs for construction workers, like masonry workers, crane and heavy equipment operators, contractors and several others. 

Most importantly, from a New Jersey car accident lawyer's point of view, these new roads, highways and perhaps sidewalks and crosswalks, will mean greater safety for all citizens. I’m hoping the funds will be used to make roads and sidewalks safer for pedestrians in the state. New Jersey has one of the highest rates of pedestrian deaths in the country. Lawmakers have for too long neglected pedestrian safety concerns in favor of major infrastructure development projects that are geared towards automobile convenience. That mindset has to change. There are more people walking to work now than ever before, and making the streets safer for them must go back to being one of the key points of infrastructure planning.  Recently, a Freehold woman and her two daughters were injured when they were struck by a car as they crossed the road. In New Jersey, we are getting to comfortable with the notion that crossing the street, even on a designated crosswalk is a highly dangerous activity for the pedestrian, and fraught with risk. It shouldn’t have to be this way, and hopefully some of the money is going to trickle down to Monmouth County and Bergen County for safer roads for all.

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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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A pedestrian accident in Franklin Township, New Jersey brought home once again how much in danger pedestrians are as they use our streets. Israel D. Hernandez D. Garcia was crossing the road when he was struck by a car. By the time paramedics arrived at the scene, he had suffered massive head trauma. Paramedics were unable to revive him, and he died at the scene of the accident. Investigations into the accident, by both the Franklin Police Department as well as the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office Collision Analysis Reconstruction Team, are ongoing.

Pedestrian accidents can sometimes be at least partially the fault of the pedestrian himself, but in many cases, there is negligence and oversight on the part of motorists. In many cases, a pedestrian could be following all the rules of the road, crossing a busy intersection when the signal says Walk, or keeping to a sidewalk, and still be mowed down by a speeding motorist. In other cases, an intoxicated motorist can lose control of his vehicle, ending up on the sidewalk striking pedestrians. Other reasons include failing to slow down for pedestrians at turnings, as well as other sundry distractions like cell phone use. In short, pedestrian accidents, more often than not, are the result of motorist negligence and aggressive driving behavior. Injuries sustained by a pedestrian in a collision with a vehicle can be some of the most severe. Impact can throw a person several dozens of feet into the air, slamming him to the ground with devastating force. In too many cases, instantaneous death, or catastrophic ones like spinal cord injuries and traumatic brain injuries result.

Pursuing Pedestrian Accident Claims in New Jersey

Recovering damages for medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering in a pedestrian accident case in New Jersey involves proving that there was a clear negligence on the part of the motorist, and that this negligence resulted in injuries to the pedestrian. That's not always so simple and straightforward. Insurance companies have a vested interest in trying to limit the amount of damages by proving that the accident was the pedestrian's fault. If you've been injured in a pedestrian accident, talk to a New Jersey personal injury lawyer before you talk to anybody else, including the insurers, to ascertain your options for compensation.

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A Passiac County woman was killed in a pedestrian accident in Wayne after being struck by a car.  52-year-old Kathleen Sullivan was knocked down by a Mazda driven by Anthony S. Fusco as she walked at an intersection on the 23^rd of December at about 7 in the evening.

She sustained severe injuries in the accident, and was rushed to St. Joseph's Wayne Hospital where she died as a result of her injuries. The Passaic County Prosecutor's Office is investigating the accident, and has asked anyone with any information on what happened at the scene of the crash, to come forward. Investigations will take a while to complete and we can only then expect a clear picture of what happened at the Hamburg Turnpike and Leonard Terrace intersection where Sullivan died. 

There are many reasons why something like this accident could have happened. Unfortunately, driver error is one of the most frequent factors contributing to a pedestrian accident. A momentary lapse of attention can be enough to knock a vulnerable pedestrian down.  Drivers can be distracted while eating or drinking something, talking or text messaging on their cell phone, turning on or changing the station on the radio, reaching for things in the back seat, or because of just plain tiredness and fatigue. The most common areas where pedestrian accidents tend to occur are near intersections which is where Sullivan was killed. Motorists need to be extra careful while driving around such areas. Besides, there are the usual factors that can often be seen in accidents like speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, driving in a drowsy state or aggressive driving. Sometimes, intersections are not designed to facilitate smooth movement of pedestrians, or crosswalks are not marked properly, contributing to a crash.

Pedestrian Accident Lawsuit

Pursuing damages in a pedestrian accident lawsuit will involve proving that the motorist in question was negligent in his driving duties, and that the injuries sustained were a result of the negligent driving. Even in cases where the pedestrian was partially at fault, he can still be eligible for damages if it can be proved that his injuries were magnified because of the negligence of the driver. If you have been injured in a pedestrian accident, it helps to know that you have nights that can be protected with the help of a Passaic County pedestrian accident lawyer. Consult an experienced pedestrian accident lawyer as quickly as possible.

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In a response to the 11 deaths that occurred in pedestrian accidents in Burlington County this year, the New Jersey Department of Transportation has doled out grants worth $138,000 to the towns of Florence and Riverton to be spent on enhancing pedestrian safety.

Florence is expected to receive $115,000 to be spent on sidewalk construction, while Riverton will use its $23,000 grant to develop and implement a pedestrian safety program. Riverton's grant has come courtesy the Safe Routes to School program that aims to promote pedestrian safety by developing walkways and bikeways so children are encouraged to bike or walk to school in complete safety, as well as the conduction of pedestrian safety awareness programs for children and motorists. The focus on pedestrian safety in Burlington County is due to the 11 deaths that occurred in pedestrian accidents in 2007 last year which was a steep rise from the 6 pedestrian deaths that had occurred in the county in 2006.

Pedestrian accidents are often the result of motorists' negligence. They occur when a motorist fails to give right of way to pedestrians, runs red lights, drives recklessly or speeds. Negligent driving can include making wrong turns, or failing to signal. Sometimes, aggressive driving or road rage can leave innocent pedestrians unwitting victims. Besides motorist fault, the design and maintenance of the roads can catch unwitting pedestrian unawares. Many pedestrian accidents occur as a result of poorly designed and maintained intersections that increases the likelihood of a crash. Improper traffic signs and controls, and the lack of properly defined and adequate sidewalks can also cause accidents that leave pedestrians with severe injuries. In an overwhelming majority of pedestrian accidents involving fatalities, it's the pedestrian who sustains fatal injures, often thrown off tens of feet into the air to be tossed down onto the ground with bone shattering impact. Injuries in a pedestrian accident are almost always serious in nature, and include head injuries, traumatic brain injuries, and spinal cord injuries.

In the event of an accident, it's important to contact a New Jersey pedestrian accident attorney as quickly as possible, so independent investigations into the cause of the accident can begin immediately. Your lawyer will have to find witnesses who can help prove your account of the accident, and there will have to be studies made of the accident area to check if the design promoted pedestrian safety, if there had been previous accidents in the area etc. If you have been injured or lost a loved one in a pedestrian accident, contact a New Jersey pedestrian accident lawyer at the Law offices of Scott Grossman for a free initial evaluation of your case.

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