Motor Vehicle Accidents

Too Little Sleep Increases Drivers’ Risks for Accidents

December 19, 2016 | The Victor Rotolo Law Firm

This time of year it is not uncommon for people to push through to accomplish everything on their to-do lists, even when that means sacrificing some sleep. But depriving yourself of the recommended amount of sleep can have serious consequences, especially for drivers.

A recent study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety revealed that missing even two or three hours of sleep in a night increases your risk of an accident by four times over a driver who has gotten the recommended amount of sleep. It’s tantamount to driving drunk, yet one out of every 25 drivers admitted to driving drowsy when surveyed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To learn more about how sleep deprivation can affect your driving, read “Driving while drowsy can be more dangerous than thought.”

Raising the Bar to Make Seat Belts Safer

December 5, 2016 | The Victor Rotolo Law Firm

There’s truth behind the slogan, ‘Seat Belts Save Lives.’ In fact, last year alone seat belts were credited with saving some 14,000 lives. At the same time, however, these safety harnesses can contribute to the injuries drivers and passengers suffer as a result of motor vehicle accidents.

Part of the problem, according to researchers, is that seat belts essentially are designed to restrain middle-aged males, and the force they use could be too strong for smaller passengers, particularly women and older people. While these researchers encourage all drivers and passengers to continue using seat belts, there is one professor at Ohio State University’s School of Medicine, on a crusade to see improvements that would allow seat belts to adjust to the individual person. To learn more, read “When seat belts pose a safety hazard.”

Is New Jersey’s Graduated Drivers’ License Program Saving Lives?

October 24, 2016 | The Victor Rotolo Law Firm

A recent report from the Governors Highway Safety Association revealed that the country has seen an almost 10 percent increase in fatal car accidents among teenage drivers this past year except in New Jersey where such accidents have actually declined. Could New Jersey’s graduated drivers’ license (GDL) program be the reason?

While all states have some sort of GDL program for teens, New Jersey’s system has some strict requirements. For one thing, any driver between the ages of 16 and 20 must first hold a learner’s permit before getting a probationary license that will last for at least one year. Elsewhere in the country, teens can opt out of their state’s GDL program by age 18. To learn more about how New Jersey’s GDL may be saving teen lives, read “More teens are dying behind the wheel – how NJ’s bucking the trend.”

When Driverless Cars Crash, Who’s at Fault?

September 26, 2016 | The Victor Rotolo Law Firm

It has been predicted that by the year 2020 there will be some 10 million driverless cars on the roads. In preparation for this, the auto industry has been including such features as park assist and crash avoidance technologies on more and more vehicles in recent years. While drivers adjust to the thought of relinquishing all navigational control to their vehicles, the government is grappling with some practical matters that the new fully-automated vehicle technology will bring.

The Department of Transportation recently released new policies aimed at balancing safety with this new technological advancement. These policies address such issues as how to assess a vehicle’s crashworthiness, how to prevent hacking of the automated systems; and how to cope with a system failure. To learn more, read “Department of Transportation Releases Policy on Driverless Vehicles.”

Meanwhile, insurers and lawyers both are dealing with the question of responsibility in the event of accidents involving driverless cars. For more on this, read “Who’s Responsible for Self-Driving Car Accidents?”

What Really Distracts Our Teens behind the Wheel?

June 20, 2016 | The Victor Rotolo Law Firm

For most people, Memorial Day marks the start of the carefree days of summer; for teen drivers, however, the 100 days following this holiday are considered the deadliest.

Once school lets out, most teens are focused on having a good time with friends. Often these good times entail travelling – to friends’ houses, the beach, a pool, or a nearby amusement park. Curfews are often extended, meaning these teens are out and about till later hours. Add all this to inexperience behind the wheel and the number of distractions teens face today and you have a recipe for potential disaster.

As a parent, you may be surprised to learn what is considered the biggest distraction for teen drivers today. Read “Summer Days Are Deadliest for Teen Drivers & Texting Isn’t the Reason;” it can give you some information to help your teen have a fun and safe summer on the road.

Drivers, Pay Attention! Police Conducting Crackdown on Distracted Driving

April 11, 2016 | The Victor Rotolo Law Firm

You may be adept at multitasking in your job or your home life, but when it comes to driving your attention needs to be focused. That message is being stressed this month as police in New Jersey crack down on distracted driving offenses.

Because it involves many aspects of attention, text messaging is considered the most alarming distraction a driver can engage in; however, it is not the only potentially dangerous diversion. Anything that takes a driver’s primary focus off the road, including eating, drinking and grooming, is considered a driving distraction. This month, police throughout the State are making a concerted effort to discourage this behavior. To learn more, read “N.J. Distracted Driving Crackdown In April: What Could Land You a Ticket?“

Electronic Gearshifts Take Some Adjustment, But Are They Safe?

March 27, 2016 | The Victor Rotolo Law Firm

Automakers are constantly updating technology in their cars to give drivers a better experience and to make the cars more efficient. One of their latest innovations, however, is being investigated by The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) to determine whether it is jeopardizing the safety of the vehicles and increasing the risks of accidents.

The current trend among car makers is to install electronic gear shifts, particularly in their luxury model vehicles. These gear shifts have a very different feel to them and, drivers admit, take some getting used to, mainly because they lack the tactile and visual response of traditional gear shifts. Some drivers and safety experts claim this increases the potential for drivers to inadvertently put their cars in the wrong gear.

The NHTSA is investigating reports of about 120 accidents, some of which resulted in injuries requiring hospitalization. The investigation is targeting more than 850,000 cars, most of which are Jeep Grand Cherokee 2014 and 2015 models. One of the biggest complaints is that the vehicles under investigation do not have fail-safe features that would ensure proper gear selection. To learn more about this potential problem, see “Are new electronic gearshifts putting drivers at risk?”

Are Automobile Seat Designs Putting Kids at Undue Risk?

March 14, 2016 | The Victor Rotolo Law Firm

For decades now, parents have been told the safest place for their young children when travelling in a car is the rear seat. Due to a design defect, however, that might not be the case.

According to recent reports, safety experts have uncovered a problem with the design of the back portion of the front seats in some automobiles that can cause the front seats to break, resulting in front-seat passengers colliding with backseat passengers when involved in rear-end collisions. This has been known to result in serious – and in some cases fatal – injuries for children riding in the rear seats.

One automaker was recently hit with a $124.5 million verdict awarded against it by a jury in Texas in connection with a 2012 accident in which an 11-year-old boy died as a result of injuries suffered when his father’s driver’s seat broke, causing the father to collide head-first with his son. Car makers reportedly have stated that although the cost to correct this situation would be minimal, the design is intentional so that the seats can absorb energy from an impact. Safety experts, on the other hand, feel the design is dangerous and puts children at risk. To learn more about the controversy surrounding this potential hazard, see “ “No excuse”: Safety experts say this car defect puts kids in danger.”

Driver Inattention Cited as Leading Cause of Fatal Accidents in N.J. for Fifth Consecutive Year

January 18, 2016 | The Victor Rotolo Law Firm

For a long time, safe driving campaigns focused on stopping people from drinking and driving. Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over; Don’t Drink and Drive, Arrive Alive; Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk; U Drink, U Drive, U Lose are some of the more memorable slogans used to discourage this behavior.

Although driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol has not been eliminated, it is no longer the number one factor leading to fatal collisions in New Jersey. According to State Police analysis of crash data, driver inattention, or distracted driving, was the leading cause of fatal accidents in the State in 2014. This revelation is not new. In fact, 2014 was the fifth consecutive year in which distracted driving was found to be the top factor leading to accident fatalities. To read more details about this analysis see “This kills more people on N.J. roads than anything else.”

New Regulations Could Affect Recreational Drone Operators

January 4, 2016 | The Victor Rotolo Law Firm

Did you receive a drone as a gift this holiday season or perhaps purchase one for someone on your gift list? If so, you should be aware of new regulations recently announced by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) affecting many recreational drone operators.

Officials are concerned that the increased, unregulated use of drones poses a risk of serious injury resulting from accidents with other aircraft. According to a report issued by Bard College’s Center for the Study of the Drone, there were 327 “close encounters” between drones and manned aircraft reported between December 2013 and September 2015. The majority of these incidents met the FAA’s definition of “close encounters,” which means two aircraft were flying within 500 feet of each other at some point. Additionally, most of the reported incidents took place in areas where drones are prohibited by the FAA. The Consumer Electronics Association predicted that sales of drones for 2015 would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 700,000, with a large number of sales occurring during the holiday season. With more drones in the air, the near-miss incidents can only be expected to increase.

In an effort to cut down on the dangers drones pose to manned aircraft, the FAA is now requiring that drones over a certain weight be registered with the federal government and that recreational users follow certain operating guidelines. For details on the new regulations, read US News & World Report’s story, “Toy Drones Must Be Registered With the Government.”