Car Accident Crash is Leading Cause of Teen Death

A new government report estimates that 35% of teen deaths every year are caused by a car accident crash, making it the leading cause of teen death in the U.S. by a wide margin. Read more

Identifying Risk of Car Accident Injuries for Older Drivers

A recent study provides some new information about the potential causes of auto accidents involving older drivers and the risk of a personal injury from a car accident for drivers over 65 years old. Read more

Insurance for Maryland Auto Accidents Could See Increase If Legislation Passes

The Maryland House of Representatives is considering legislation that would raise the minimum required automobile insurance coverage in Maryland, providing much needed protection for motorists and pedestrians injured in Maryland auto accidents. Read more

Maryland Texting While Driving Ban: Designed to Prevent Maryland Accidents

A new Maryland traffic law will go into effect tomorrow, banning text messaging while driving in an effort to reduce the number of Maryland accidents caused by distracted drivers.

The new law will make it illegal to type or send text messages while operating a motor vehicle. Being caught texting while driving in Maryland will be a misdemeanor, subject to a fine of up to $500. It will also be a primary driving offense, meaning that police will be able to pull people over and fine them if they suspect them of sending text messages.

Going into effect October 1, 2009, the new Maryland law allows sending messages to contact 911, and does not ban talking on the phone while driving. Playing games and using applications are not banned by the law either, and the law does not explicitly address e-mail, using twitter or updating Facebook, but their legality is up for interpretation and engaging in such activities likely carries the same distractions as text messaging.

The law is seen as a victory for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, which seeks to have texting-while-driving bans in all 50 states by 2013. The law goes into effect just before AAA’s “Heads Up Driving Week.” from October 5 through October 11, which is designed to bring attention to driving behavior and encouraging distraction-free driving.

A recent study by Virginia Tech has found that truck accidents are 23 times more likely when a commercial driver is sending text messages while driving. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute looked at a number of different potential distractions for drivers of cars and trucks by adding cameras and instruments to the vehicles of drivers. Above any other distraction, text messaging truck drivers were putting themselves and others at the most risk.

The results were compiled from several driving studies conducted by the institute, and the collected data equaled about six million miles of driving. Heavy vehicle and truck drivers were 23.2 times more likely than a non-distracted driver to have a truck accident if they were texting, 6.7 times as likely to crash while reaching for, or using, an electronic device, and 5.9 times as likely to have an accident while dialing on a cell phone.

Drivers of light vehicles and cars were at much less risk of having a car accident, but still faced a 2.8 times greater risk of crashing while dialing a cell phone than a non-distracted driver and were 1.4 times more likely to crash while reaching for an object and 1.3 times as likely to have an auto accident while talking on the cell phone.

Researchers from the institute said that it was the tasks that drew the drivers’ eyes away from the road ahead of them that were the activities with the highest risk. Sending a text message took a driver’s eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds over a 6-second interval, which equates to driving the length of a football field at 55 mph without looking at the road. The study found that just talking on a cell phone, which does not distract a driver’s eyes from the road, made little difference in the likelihood of an accident.

National Labor Day Drunk Driving Crackdown August 21 to September 7

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will be conducting a national Labor Day drunk driving enforcement crackdown from August 21 to September 7, in an attempt to curtail an expected increase in fatal drunk driving accidents that traditionally occurs during the Labor Day weekend. Read more

Chesapeake Bay Bridge Accident Lawsuit Filed by Family of Trucker Killed in Fatal Crash Last Summer

A Maryland wrongful death lawsuit has been filed by the family of John R. Short, Sr., a truck driver who was killed in an accident that occurred when an on-coming vehicle entered his lane on the Bay Bridge last August, causing his truck to plummet into the Chesapeake Bay.

The complaint was filed against Candy Lynn Baldwin, the 19-year old woman who was driving the 1997 Chevrolet Camaro that caused the accident. However, the Baltimore Sun also reports that the family has placed the Maryland Transportation Authority on notice of their intention to file a claim under the Maryland Tort Claims Act for the failure of the bridge to prevent the truck from falling off of the bridge, as an investigation found that the metal bars holding the concrete barriers had eroded prior to the crash.

The Maryland truck accident lawsuit was filed in Queen Anne’s County Circuit Court. According to the Sun:

The suit states that Short swerved to avoid a head-on collision but was sideswiped by the Camaro and slid across the bridge and through the concrete barrier. The tractor trailer fell about 30 feet into the Chesapeake Bay, and Short drowned in the cab of his vehicle.

Short’s truck was the first vehicle to crash through one of the safety barriers in the 56-year history of the bridge.

New Laws May Help Reduce Maryland Teen Driver Accidents

An article in today’s Washington Post outlines several steps being taking by the legislatures in Maryland and Virginia to put limitations on teen drivers, which proponents claim will increase safety on the roads and decrease the risk of teen accidents. Read more

Dangers of Text Messaging While Driving

Several news reports have suggested that last weeks Los Angeles train accident could have been caused by an engineer who missed a stop signal because he was distracted by text messaging moments before the crash. At least 25 people were killed and 130 people injured in LA train wreck between a Metro Link commuter train and a Union Pacific freight train.

Investigators are looking into a report that a cell phone text message was sent by the commuter train engineer minutes before the accident. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is examining the cell phone records of the engineer and of a teenager who claims to have received the message. The engineer was killed in the accident and his phone was destroyed.

Earlier this year, the Maryland legislator rejected a bill that would have banned text messaging while driving in Maryland. The law was designed to reduce the risk of Maryland auto accidents caused by distracted drivers. Similar bans are in place in Washington State, New Jersey and Phoenix.

The Maryland legislation did not pass, as law makers indicated that text messaging does not involve a distraction of a unique nature and therefore does not necessitate a ban. In their opinion, the distractions caused by text messaging is similar to that caused while talking to people in the care, speaking on a cell phone or changing the radio.