Articles Posted in Car Accidents

For as much as you do to make sure that you are safe while you are on the road, you certainly don’t expect to be in an accident. And why should you? After all, looking in your mirrors before making lane changes and turns is second nature to you; you don’t text or use your phone while behind the wheel, and most importantly, you don’t drive drunk.

Unfortunately, this does not mean that other drivers will exercise the level of caution that you will; because of this, accidents may happen. When they do, it is helpful to know what to provide for your attorney in order to ensure that your claim is successful. This post will identify a few. 

Insurance policy number – This may seem obvious, but it is surprising how many people do not carry their proof of insurance card with them, even though it is required by law. If you don’t have your policy number, it is easy to get it.

As we get closer to the start of the new college football season, it will be only a matter of time until you begin seeing commercials regarding insurance. Whether it is for automotive coverage, motorcycle coverage or renter’s insurance, companies will be vying for consumer dollars when the games kick off because so many more eyes will be on them…the games, that is.

Nevertheless, insurance commercials are popular; and they have to be given the level of competition between carriers. But for as much as insurance providers seem to be providing great deals, there are quite a few things that they are not telling you. This post will highlight a few of them. 

Young drivers are destined to pay more – Despite what you may hear about “name your price” deals and safe driver rebates, drivers who are under 25 years old are more likely to pay more because they are more of a risk to ensure.

Part of the allure of a new school year for teens is the chance to meet new people or reconnect with people they have not seen all summer. This may include going to parties, football games and movie premieres. The new school year can be especially exciting for teens who recently received their driver’s licenses.

With that anticipation comes the potential for disaster; even with the application of graduated license rules. After all, teen drivers are more likely to be in an accident than any other group of drivers. Because of this, teen drivers and their parents have important conversations about safety that they must have. This post will highlight some of the rules that must be established.

No cell phone use while behind the wheel – As much as distracted driving is a problem in New York, teen drivers should not contribute to it. Because of this, teen drivers should not use their cell phones while driving. If a text or a call is important enough, pulling over is the right thing to do.

Labor Day weekend is known for different things depending on who you are. If you are thinking about the last summer holiday, Labor Day represents the last opportunity to get out to a vacation hotspot before fall begins. If you are a student, classes have likely started and after this holiday the only break you will get is during Thanksgiving.

If you are a car salesman, you have an incentive to sell as many 2015 models so that the 2016 models will have a place on the lot. If you are in the market for a new car, you want to take advantage of these Labor Day weekend sales. But when shopping for a new car, it is important that you know exactly what you are getting into (literally and figuratively). With that, we offer the following tips for prospective new car buyers. 

Do more than just one test drive – The first 30 seconds of the test drive probably drew you into the car, and you probably loved it. This is understandable, and the salesman wants you to be impressed. But when you are making a decision that will affect you for years to come, it is important to know what you like, beyond the initial selling points.

It is common knowledge for drivers to yield the right of way or pull over to the side of the road when an emergency vehicle approaches. This is why when police cars, ambulances and fire trucks come down the road, most cars get out of the way.

But should this rationale apply to the drivers of emergency vehicles themselves? Conventional wisdom would suggest that it would. After all, they have to follow the rules of the road just like everyone else, and they must check to see if intersections are clear and safe before passing through them. 

Nevertheless, an accident involving an ambulance and a fire truck in Florida suggests that the driver of one, or both, vehicles were not paying attention. According to an ABC News.com report, the two vehicles were responding to separate emergencies but had to cross paths at an intersection. A traffic camera video showed that the ambulance crashed into a fire truck that had just crossed into the intersection.

In a perfect world, there would be no drunk driving. Unfortunately, the world we live in is far from perfect and drunk driving is something that occurs throughout the country. How common drunk driving is varies from state to state. 

This can be seen in the results of a recent survey. The survey results show estimates of around how many drunk driving incidents different states have per every 1,000 people. Of the states for which the survey yielded data, the state with the highest rate (995 incidents for every 1,000 individuals) was Hawaii and the state with the lowest rate (217 incidents for every 1,000 individuals) was Utah.

What rate did the survey results show for New York state? The results indicate that, in the state, there are 372 drunk driving incidents for every 1,000 individuals. Thus, New York is closer to the lower end of the spectrum than the higher and has a lower rate than quite a few other states.

The next time you are in a traffic jam in downtown Syracuse, are frustrated with metering lights or are waiting for traffic to loosen up, you may wonder if the traffic signal gods simply don’t have your best interests in mind. You may also wonder if the traffic signal was invented yesterday and whether it will ever evolve.

As for when it was invented, the traffic signal is officially 100 years old this month. The very first one was installed at the intersection of Euclid Avenue and East 105^th Street in Cleveland, Ohio. The signal’s inventor, James Hoge, envisioned a device that would essentially improve his commute. At this time, Cleveland was going through an industrial renaissance, and this led to population growth. With many more people coming in and out of the city for work in cars, bicycles, horses and even streetcars, this inevitably led to traffic snarls. 

The first traffic signal featured four pairs of red and green lights that stood for “stop” and “go.” Of course, this design went through a host of changes before the traditional three color semaphore system that we see today was enacted.

The summer driving season is about to come to a climatic end in a few weeks. The Labor Day holiday weekend is traditionally the last holiday of the summer, so millions of Americans take to the road to get to their favorite destinations; especially if they did not get to do so during Memorial Day weekend or the Fourth of July.

 As we have noted in prior posts, holiday weekend travel can be treacherous. There is a higher volume of traffic, which contributes to the higher incidence of accidents.  Further, heavy traffic can wear on a person’s nerves, so it may lead to road rage incidents.

 While you may not be so concerned with road rage, it is important to understand the factors behind road rage. This post will explore a few.

If you are in the market for a new car, chances are that the salespeople you meet will tout their vehicle’s advance safety warning features. What began a few years ago as a unique perk only seen on luxury models such as Lexus and Mercedes Benz has found its way to mainstream models in Chevrolet, Ford and Honda vehicles.

While these features are growing in popularity, only a small fraction of all cars on the road have them. But this could change as more older cars are replaced by new ones. As a matter of fact, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has called for them to become standard equipment on all new cars sold in the U.S. 

The NTSB recently released a 60 page report detailing the safety benefits of advanced warning systems. Essentially, the report focused on how many lives can be saved because of all the accidents that can be avoided (no pun intended) by the alerts provided by these systems. With more than 500,000 people injured in accidents each year across the country, the NTSB proposed that nearly 80 percent of collisions could be prevented.

It appears that if a dangerous epidemic is not in the major news headlines, people tend to forget about it. An example of this could be seen in how distracted driving accidents are treated. Two summers ago, everyone from major celebrities and federal officials were bemoaning the practice of using cell phones while behind the wheel. While the drumbeat of prevention has seemingly died down, the number of distracted driving related accidents have not.

A recent HuffingtonPost.com article highlighted that nearly half of all adults admit to texting and driving, and an investigation into a Tennessee bus accident last winter revealed that it was caused by distracted driving. The driver who caused the fatal crash was later found dead in his home; but authorities have released little information about the death. 

Nevertheless, it is a harsh reminder that distracted driving is still a problem on America’s roads. In fact, there are a number of statistics that speak to this issue. This post will highlight a few.