Car Accidents

Making distracted driving socially unacceptable

Published on: April 30, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Even though there are still people who will get behind the wheel while drunk, drunk driving is still seen as morally reprehensible. There are not many people willing to make excuses for people who drive drunk, but when someone is driving while distracted by a cellphone or some other kind of electronic device, some people are willing to give him or her a pass. The problem is, however, that distracted driving is incredibly dangerous and can cause the same types of injuries and death on New York’s roads that drunk driving can.

There are safety professionals across the country who are trying to cut down on the number of distracted drivers, and one of the main suggestions is to make distracted driving just as socially unacceptable as drunk driving.

One of the ways to do that is by encouraging others to remind drivers to put their electronic devices down while driving. Passengers should feel comfortable telling their drivers to not use the phone while driving. Individuals who receive calls from people driving can also tell drivers to call them back when they are done driving. Basically, the more societal pressure that is put on drivers to stop driving while distracted, hopefully the less likely they will be to use their phones while driving.

30 studies agree: hands-free is just as dangerous as handheld

Published on: April 18, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Anyone who drives in Syracuse should know that there is a complete ban in New York on texting while driving, but they might not also realize that there is a ban on using handheld cellphones behind the wheel, too. The reasoning is clear, using a handheld cellphone while driving is dangerous and it really doesn’t matter if it is being used to text, surf the Internet or to talk on the phone. So, what about hands-free cellphones?

The National Safety Council took a public poll and drivers across the country overwhelmingly agreed that hands-free devices were safer than handheld devices. In fact, 80 percent of people thought so. Of those who actually use hands-free devices, 70 percent do so because they believe they are safer. The problem? More than 30 studies have found that hands-free devices are just as dangerous as handsheld devices.

The problem is not so much the looking away from the road to dial (although that is certainly a big distraction), but trying to have a conversation while driving. When people are driving, they need to use their brains to drive, to pay attention to the road and to make the adjustments necessary to stay safe. If they are also trying to hold a conversation, even if it is on a hands-free device, a great deal of brain power is being directed away from driving.

9 people will die from texting while driving today

Published on: March 19, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Most of us in Oneida realize that distracted driving is a problem. We have seen the commercials, heard the news reports and seen celebrities plead with us not to text while driving and, fortunately, most of us have listened. Unfortunately, those that haven’t are putting people at serious risk of injury and death. Though New York has outlawed texting while driving, there are many accidents that likely can be linked to distracted driving.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nine people will die every day from distracted driving. Moreover, 1,060 people will be hurt. These statistics are nationwide and they aren’t just citing texting behind the wheel, but that doesn’t make the figures any less staggering. In 2011 alone, 3,331 people died in distracted driving accidents.

Although some of the people killed in these accidents are the distracted drivers themselves, there are a number of people who were just innocent victims in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is hardly consolation to the families, however, and many of the surviving relatives want to hold distracted drivers responsible via wrongful death lawsuits. Not only does a lawsuit give the clear message that distracted driving is wrong, but it also helps compensate the families for the financial burden that comes along with a wrongful death.

Reducing speed should reduce the number of pedestrian deaths

Published on: March 11, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Whether it is to better one’s health, to enjoy nice weather or just to reduce the cost of transportation, there are a number of people in Herkimer County and across upstate New York who are choosing to walk instead of drive. It is undeniable that there are benefits to walking, but there are also risks, too. Pedestrian accidents can be serious and sometimes fatal. Moreover, drivers don’t always pay attention to pedestrians, which puts them in even greater risk of danger.

There are a number of safety campaigns in place around the country to lower the risk of pedestrian accidents, but the number of pedestrian fatalities has actually risen since 2009. It appears, however, that the first half of 2013 actually had fewer fatal pedestrian crashes than the first six months of 2012, a first since 2009.

What is truly important when talking about pedestrian safety, however, is reducing drivers’ speed. The faster a car is traveling at the time of impact, the higher the risk of severe injury or death. According to the former chief scientist for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, when someone is hit by a car that is going faster than 20 mph, the impact is more likely to be fatal.

3 passengers injured in Oneida County accident

Published on: February 25, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Though many people in Oneida County may assume that the only way to file a personal injury lawsuit in a car accident is when there are at least two cars involved, they are wrong. Say you are riding in a car and someone else is driving. If that driver is texting, is drunk or is otherwise negligent and causes an accident, you can file a personal injury lawsuit. It does not matter how many vehicles are involved, so long as there is a negligent driver.

It is a driver’s responsibility to avoid an accident and to not cause serious injuries. Although the assumption is that he or she needs to avoid injuring other drivers, bicyclists, motorcyclists or really anyone else on the road, it actually means that he or she needs to avoid injuring anyone, including his or her own passengers. If an accident happens and it is the fault of the driver, he or she could be found liable.

Three passengers in a vehicle being driven by a 17-year-old Waterville boy may be looking into personal injury lawsuits after the teenager crashed the vehicle in which they were riding. The passengers, ranging in age from 20 to 39 years old are all from upstate New York. It is unknown how they knew the driver or why they were in the vehicle with him this weekend.

Driving under the influence of marijuana — still a risk

Published on: February 22, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Even though marijuana is illegal in New York, there are still many people who use the drug illegally. There are some people in Syracuse who think there is no problem with marijuana use and others who believe it to be incredibly risky, yet regardless of what people think, studies have shown that marijuana in the system increases the risk of an accident. Though stoned driving may not be considered as risky as driving while intoxicated, it is still dangerous driving.

While states may have laws that punish stoned drivers, it can be hard to test for drivers who have been smoking. For one, many of them can pass the standardized road tests that many drunk people fail. Moreover, the only way to test for THC, the chemical compound in marijuana, is by administering a blood or urine test, something that is typically done hours after arrest.

Although there appears to be a lack of technology that is preventing police from nailing stoned drivers, it is important that this kind of dangerous behavior be stopped. It doesn’t matter that drunk driving increases the risk of accidents 20 times and it is only two times as high with marijuana, no one deserves to be injured on Syracuse’s streets because of a stoned driver. Fortunately, if there is an accident, a crash victim can file a lawsuit against the driver responsible.

Syracuse man suffers head injury when driver cuts him off

Published on: February 20, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

It is vitally important that anyone on the road follows all traffic regulations. These laws are in place because they keep Syracuse drivers safe. While some people may not care if they put their lives at risk, it is more than just them who are in danger. When a driver follows too closely or fails to stop at a red light, he or she is putting everyone else on the road’s lives at risk. Though it is absolutely tragic when an accident happens because one driver just wouldn’t follow the law, an injured driver can file a personal injury lawsuit against the driver responsible for the crash.

Unfortunately, if that driver cannot be found or identified, it makes filing a personal injury lawsuit much more difficult. For a 26-year-old Syracuse man who was recently involved in a car accident, knowing who the driver was that cut him and another driver off is essential if he wants to file a personal injury lawsuit.

Following the accident, he told police that he hurt his head and he was taken to Upstate University Hospital. It is not clear how serious of a head injury he has suffered. What is clear, however, is that the accident was likely caused by the unknown third driver.

Bus driver on cell phone jumps sidewalk, kills infant

Published on: August 5, 2013 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

A bus driver is being charged with death by auto in a tragic incident on July 30 that killed an eight-month-old baby on in West New York, New Jersey, just across the Hudson River from New York City. A police officer who arrived on the scene performed CPR on the infant, but ultimately was not able to save her.

Officers say the driver was talking on his cell phone when he lost control of the bus. It jumped the curb and struck a lamppost, which hit the baby carriage. In addition to the criminal offense of death by auto, which carries a prison term of five to ten years, the 48-year-old bus driver was issued summonses for reckless driving and using a cell phone while operating a motor vehicle.

According to a witness, the bus had just completed a stop to let off and pick up passengers when the chaos began. As soon as the bus started up again, the wheels began to spin and the bus seemed to go out of control. It jumped the curb and crashed into a lamppost, which struck the baby in her carriage. The bus continued moving, hitting a tree and then another lamppost. It also hit a parked car, which in turn plowed into several other parked cars. One of those cars had four people in it who suffered minor injuries.

Syracuse planner calls for stop sign at site of fatal crash

Published on: June 14, 2013 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

A Syracuse city transportation planner is calling for a stop sign at the corner of Comstock Avenue and Acorn Path, not far from Syracuse University. An 18-year-old West Hill High School senior was killed at the intersection in an auto accident this March.

The student, who was driving home not long after midnight on March 2, had just turned from Acorn Path, a one-block street between Circle Road and Comstock Avenue, onto the 900 block of Comstock Avenue when an oncoming Centro bus struck her SUV.

The planner, who says he plans to discuss the situation with one of the city’s contracted engineering firms, asserts that the intersection exceeds the federal standards for a stop sign. Those standards require three hundred vehicles to drive through the intersection every eight hours to qualify for a stop sign. According to New York state traffic data, and an average of 412 cars pass through the intersection in one hour.

Runaway trailer carrying crushed cars kills seven near Syracuse

Published on: June 5, 2013 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

A devastating car accident about 25 miles south of Syracuse, NY, claimed the lives of seven people, four of them children, just hours before the start of Memorial Day weekend. The enormity of the crash left even first responders shaken. It happened when a trailer carrying crushed cars broke away from its truck and slammed into the victims’ SUV, tearing the van apart. Some of the victims had to be removed from underneath the trailer.

The accident occurred Wednesday evening, May 29, on a two-lane stretch of Route 13 in the small rural community of Truxton, NY. The three adults killed were in their twenties. One was killed along with her two young daughters. The other two adults who died in the crash were engaged to be married. The only survivor in the SUV was the father of the other two children who died. He was reported to be in good condition. The children were all between the ages of four and seven. The two people in the truck, which belonged to Newton Salvage of Georgetown, NY, were uninjured.

Investigators have not yet determined whether mechanical failure, driver error, or some other issue caused the trailer to break away from its truck. In New York, trucks must be inspected at least once a year. They can also be pulled over for random roadside checks by the Department of Transportation (DOT) or state troopers. In addition to these precautionary measures, the DOT requires drivers to do a “walk-around” inspection of their trucks before each trip. One of the items they are supposed to check is the truck-trailer coupling. Newton Salvage has only been in business since 2012. According to the DOT, state troopers had records of one roadside inspection, where only minor violations were found. None of these was serious enough to remove the truck from service.