New data suggests that SUV’s (short for “sport utility vehicle”) have become safer for other drivers to have them on the road.

The study was conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research arm of the insurance industry.  The study found that in 2000-2001, there were 44 deaths per million registered vehicles for occupants of cars or minivans weighing 3,000 to 3,499 pounds that were hit by SUVs of similar weight.  This number has now decreased by nearly 64% to 16 deaths per million registered vehicles.

SUVs became popular in the US about 20 years ago.   With their popularity, we began to see the dangers that some of these vehicles posed to other drivers and passengers, especially in rollover accidents and when colliding with smaller vehicles. Their popularity created a push by regulators, safety advocates, and consumers to improve their safety to prevent rollovers and to make them safer when they collided with other vehicles.

Why the push to improve safety?

At the time, many SUVs and pickups rode much higher off the ground than smaller cars.  Consequently, in a collision, the SUVs’ and trucks’ stiff frames collided with lower, weaker, parts of car frames.  This created a huge disparity in the ability of car occupants to survive the crash.

Joseph M. Nolan, who was a co-author of the study, found the death rates for occupants of cars are now virtually the same whether the vehicle is hit by another car, or an SUV of similar weight. He said, “it used to be, pound for pound, trucks and SUVs were more deadly than cars.”  But that appears no longer the case.

Trucks in comparison

These vehicles still could use improvement in collisions; however, the risk was narrowed significantly in 2008 -2009 compared with 2000-2001, the study found.  Nonetheless, car occupants who collide with a pick-up truck, rather than a car, are still more likely to die in a collision.

The Good News

The US Department of Transportation has said that overall, highway fatalities have declined to the lowest rate since 1949.

Make sure your vehicle is operating safely by changing your tires regularly, checking important safety recalls on the vehicle you own, and always remember to wear your seatbelt!

According to a recent study, drivers taking certain types of prescription drugs are more likely to be involved in a traffic accident.

The study, which was published in the online medical journal PLoS Medicine, was conducted in France where medical experts classify all prescription medications into one of four levels based on their risk of driving impairment.  Drugs classified as level 0 have little to no risk of driving impairment, while drugs classified as level 1, 2, or 3 have increasing risk of impairment.  Level 3 drugs carry major risk of impairment.

The study looked at all vehicle crashes between July 2005 and May 2008 that resulted in someone being injured and compared prescription drug use by those who were responsible for the accident to those who were not responsible.  The researchers found that that the risk of causing an accident resulting in injury increased by 1.24 to 1.40% for drivers who used at least one level 2 or level 3 medication.  The researchers also found that the risk of being responsible for an accident increased as the number of level 2 or 3 medications prescribed to a driver likewise increased.

Level 2 medications strongly associated with increased risk of driver culpability in injurious accidents:

• alcoholic-dependence drugs
• anti-dementia drugs
• antidepressants (most commonly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs such as PROZAC or PAXIL)
• antipsychotics (certain ones)
• anti-seizure drugs
• anxiolytics (tranquilizers, predominantly benzodiazepines)
• opioid-dependence drugs

Level 3 medications strongly associated with increased risk of driver culpability in injurious accidents:

• antipsychotics (certain ones)
• anxiolytics (certain ones)
• hypnotics/sedatives
• opioids (certain ones)

Medications can impair driving ability in different ways.  Some medications make you drowsy or impair judgment or reaction time.  In addition, some diabetes drugs can cause hypoglycemia, which may lead to seizures or loss of consciousness.

The United States does not classify drugs according to the their risk of impairment, so Americans need to make sure they are not driving while using a prescription drug that may put them at a higher risk of causing an accident.  If you are taking prescription medications, make sure to ask your doctor if the drug could affect your ability to operate a motor vehicle.  You can also ask your pharmacist for a medication guide or view one on the FDA’s website.   The U. S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was also authored a comprehensive study on the effects of prescription drug use in elderly drivers which can be accessed at NHTSA

How many people actually are wireless in 2011?

We know that in 2010, 292,800,000 people had wireless subscriptions.

We know that wireless-only households went from 2,138,400 in 2005 to 71,736,000 in 2010. An increase of over 30 times 2005.

We also know that the time people spent on wireless phones in 2005 amounted to 1,026,000,000 minutes (over 17,100,000 hours) and in 2010, increased to 2,026,000,000 minutes (over 33,700,000 hours).

In addition to talking to people, our phones have now gotten “smart” and we are able to email, text and post on the web. In fact text messaging has gone from 12,200,000 in the year 2000 to 135,200,000,000 in 2009. That accounts for over 370,410,958 text messages per day.

Let’s face it, we have become and are daily increasing our ability to be mobile; to communicate from anywhere and at anytime. But, that also suggests the question: Should we be communicating without regard for where we are and what we are doing?

I can tell you from my own recent experience that talking on a cell phone while driving a tractor is a really bad idea. Your ability to maneuver the tractor around obstacles and ditches is greatly reduced while focusing your attention on holding a cell phone and talking on it.

So what happens at 30 mph, 50 mph, or 70 mph while you are trying to drive a car and manipulate your smart phone?

Let’s break down the things you are doing just to operate a car down a road:

Visual: you are looking from one point to another in your field of vision. This includes managing a visual field that encompasses: front center, right and left; rear center, right and left; side view mirror to the right and side view mirror to the left; dash gauges including speedometer, temperature gauge, oil pressure gauge, and gas gauge.

Audible: you hear traffic road noise; you hear horns and must discern those warning you and those of an ambient nature; you hear the sound of your own vehicle and try to determine whether the noise is usual or unusual; you may hear the sirens of emergency vehicles and then must rely on additional visual responsibilities; and you are probably playing the radio or other listening device.

Physical: you are using your right foot to move between the accelerator and the brake; both hands are engaged with the steering wheel (when not changing radio stations); your eyes move from one point to another (see visual); your left hand must handle the turn signals; and your right hand may be shifting gears.

Mental: Your brain is engaged in all of the visual, auditory and physical activities; moving your eyes, taking in sounds, and moving limbs. In addition, it is processing all the input from your eyes and ears; trying to determine whether it is “business as usual” or whether that semi is going to suddenly change lanes into you.

Bottom line is your brain is functioning at its peak capacity while trying to drive a car, truck, boat or, well, a tractor.

But “I can multitask” you say? Really?

Multitasking is a myth. Human brains do not multitask, but rather they select. Your brain is engaging in a constant process of picking and choosing what it needs to focus its attention on at any given second:

• Selection – the brain tries to choose what information it will process
• Process – the actual handing out of information and instructions to the body
• Encode – the brain creates memory. You cannot process information and take ANY action without the brain storing the information in at least short term memory
• Store – the brain store the information
• Retrieve – the brain must access the information stored in memory
• Execute – the brain instructs some part of the body to act on the information and then guides the necessary neurological responses to cause the action

While the brain is going through these steps for each piece of information it is receiving and for each action it is taking, it can be placed into a state of overload. Think of your brain trying to process multiple pieces of unrelated information as a computer would. What you often see when your computer van not process is the hourglass appearing on your screen and not going away. Nothing will work and you are forced to reboot. Your brain does not reboot, it simply selects what it is going to pay attention to and in what order it will process the information before it takes action. If the process is interrupted, the execution will be flawed or compromised in one way or another.

A perfect example for the tragic outcome of trying to multitask while doing something as important as driving can be found at the National Safety Council website:

In January 2004, at 4:00 p.m., in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a 20-year-old woman ran a red light while talking on a cell phone. The driver’s vehicle slammed into another vehicle crossing with the green light directly in front of her. The vehicle she hit was not the first car through the intersection, it was the third or fourth. The police investigation deter­mined the driver never touched her brakes and was traveling 48 mph when she hit the other vehicle. The crash cost the life of a 12-year-old boy. Witnesses told investigators that the driver was not looking down, not dialing the phone, or texting. She was observed looking straight out the windshield talking on her cell phone as she sped past four cars and a school bus stopped in the other south bound lane of traffic. Researchers have called this crash a classic case of inattention blindness caused by the cognitive distraction of a cell phone conversation. The driver responsible for the above crash was on the phone with her church where she volunteered with children the age of the young boy who lost his life as the result of her phone call. She pled guilty to negligent homicide and the lives of two families were terribly and permanently altered. Countless numbers of similar crashes continue every day.

So, when driving a 3000 pound piece of metal hurling along a roadway, don’t ask more from your brain than it can reasonably deliver:

• Stay off the phone
• Don’t put on makeup or shave
• Don’t read the newspaper
• Don’t eat your breakfast, lunch or dinner
• Don’t talk on the phone
• Don’t text or email

Finally, never forget that, in 2008, 1,400,000 vehicle crashes happened as a result of cell phone use and as many as 1,000,000 crashes happened as a result of texting and driving; that is 2,400,000 unnecessarily hurt and injured people.

On December 3, 2007, 59-year-old Niven Anderson was on his way to West Palm Beach to connect with some of his business customers and had stopped his car at a traffic light in Belle Glade, Florida. Without any warning, the flatbed trailer of a passing commercial vehicle swerved from its lane and smashed its left rear tire into Mr. Anderson’s car. The truck driver did not stop. Fortunately, a local law enforcement officer was at the intersection when the collision occurred, and the truck driver was stopped and apprehended some distance down the highway. In spite of the obvious physical evidence, and eyewitness accounts of the accident, the truck driver denied having anything to do with the accident.

In March 2007, just nine months prior to this accident, Mr. Anderson had suffered severe injuries when, as a pedestrian, he was struck by a passing motorist. He spent 24 days in a hospital undergoing treatment for a badly broken right leg and a cervical fracture. Through outstanding medical treatment and his own hard work, Mr. Anderson was able to slowly put his life back together. Unfortunately, the injuries caused by this accident made Mr. Anderson’s neck and spine more susceptible to further injury should he be involved in another accident. Following the accident caused by the inattentive truck driver in Belle Glade, Mr. Anderson was set back to square one in his physical condition. Because of the damage done by the second accident, he eventually had to endure a four-level cervical fusion of his spine.

The trucking company, Gypsum Express Limited, not only refused to accept responsibility for the injuries caused by their negligent truck driver, and but even refused to acknowledge that the crash had happened. Niven Anderson and his wife, Betty, were forced to file suit in Palm Beach County and sought representation by SDSBS attorneys Jack Hill and Brian Denney. Following two years of pretrial litigation, they were able to present their case to a jury. The attorneys spent eight days fighting the truck company’s many attempts to explain why it was not responsible for Mr. Anderson’s injuries. The trucking company argued that its driver did not hit Mr. Anderson’s car, and that, even if the truck had hit the car, Mr. Anderson’s problems were the result of a combination of degenerative changes and the March 2007 injuries. The trucking company even blamed the driver of a vehicle behind Mr. Anderson’s car, who, in the face of the sudden and unexpected emergency caused by the truck slamming into the Anderson car, had rear-ended the Anderson vehicle. Ultimately, the jury rejected each of the trucking company’s excuses. The jury found the company 100% responsible for Niven Anderson’s injuries and awarded the Andersons over $720,000.

“Through their verdict, it is apparent that the jury was able to see through all of the trucking company’s laundry list of excuses, right to the heart of the case,” said Mr. Hill. Because the defendants had failed to accept the Andersons’ offer to settle the case for $425,000, attorneys Hill and Denney will now seek to recover attorney fees as well.

First, I want to warn everyone that the video to which this article is linked is a dramatization; it is particularly difficult to watch; but it demonstrates what can happen, so it is important.

This very sobering video link made its way into my in-box today, and although it is rare, this one had the desired effect and hit home for me.

It’s not like I haven’t seen the horror and toll car crashes take on families. I have spent the last 25 years in the in the insurance and legal industry and have seen it up close and personal. However, this vignette served as a wake-up call to me as a father of four children, all driving, including two 17yr old twins. I plan to watch this video with my kids tonight and give this issue a little more than the typical yada yada yada lip service I likely have used with them in the past.

Yes, I have read the stories setting forth the dangers of texting and driving.

Yes, I recall hearing it is the equivalent, or worse than, driving impaired.

Yep, I have seen the political machines try to make it a banner waiving platform agenda item.

Now, for me, this video link amongst the plethora of other links we all get and delete somehow resonated more than all those other stories and information combined. I guess I saw my daughters in this video and I felt the imaginary pain and fear. Then the sad reality hit me that for other families, the families who have suffered the loss or injury of loved ones in car wrecks caused by distracted driving, the loss, suffering and pain are all too real.

I hope this post might also resonate with others so that this issue and video breathes life into a subject that truly intends to keep the breath of life into those we love.

Finally, trust me I know this is not at all a “kid” issue. It is a reminder to all of us, professionals, and mom’s and dad’s to set the right example. I guess this is one time I am glad I slowed down and simply didn’t hit delete key, as I tried to clear my in-box at the start of a another busy day.

Here’s to wishing all of us a renewal, and remembrance, of the immeasurable value of the lessons of safe driving. It truly is a matter of life and death for the ones we love. Be careful, be cautious, take care out there.

In Florida a car is a “dangerous instrumentality. Florida common law holds that owners of motor vehicles may be held liable for damages suffered by third parties as the result of negligent operation of their vehicles when the vehicle is driven with their knowledge and consent. The theory behind this common law is that motor vehicles are dangerous by their very use and, as such, are inherently hazardous, having the potential to cause serious personal injuries if negligently operated. See Southern Cotton Oil Co. v. Anderson, 80 Fla. 441, 469 [Fla. 1920].

With the ownership or operation of a motor vehicle comes great responsibility. There are precautions and rules that everyone behind the wheel should acknowledge and follow, in order for all of us to remain as safe as possible on public roadways.

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There are common themes that have become the mainstays of truck accident litigation for decades:

• Driving too fast for conditions.
• Logging too many hours without taking appropriate breaks.
• Shoddy vehicle maintenance.
• Inadequate training.
• Driver inattention.

While these potential root causes will always need to be thoroughly evaluated in any trucking accident case, new tools need to be employed in attempting to establish why a crash involving a big rig occurred. One thing that has not changed, however, is the need to deploy these new techniques as quickly as possible after an accident before the data is lost or destroyed, either accidentally or intentionally.

Perhaps the most critical piece of data in examining the root cause of a trucking accident that needs to be explored is a download of the involved tractor’s “black box.” The black box, or electronic data recorders (“EDR”), is essentially a computer module that monitors and records critical data points when certain circumstances occur, including a sudden and unexpected loss of the semi’s velocity. Although the universe of data that is captured by the EDR varies according to the engine’s manufacturer, typical information includes throttle, clutch, and brake application; in addition to vehicle speed; and whether or not the cruise control was engaged. Rather than just covering a few fleeting seconds before an event occurs, the EDR can capture almost two minutes of data before a crash occurs. The captured data can then be downloaded by a trained technician and can provide powerful evidence as to what a truck driver and the semi itself were doing immediately before the crash, providing the backbone for the accident’s reconstruction.

Some commercial semis are also equipped with technology that can actually help a truck driver avoid a collision. Using sensitive radars, the accident avoidance system can alert drivers to another vehicle in their blind spot or even slowing ahead. In the event of a crash, the data from the accident avoidance system can also be downloaded in an effort to recreate precisely what information was being communicated to the driver immediately before the crash occurred.

In the modern transportation age, semis are often dispatched electronically to their next destination. Electronic dispatch records are often integrated with global positioning systems which precisely track an individual tractor trailer’s location, movement, and speed.

Unfortunately, and often with tragic consequences, drivers of commercial motor vehicles sometimes make the dangerous choice of texting while driving or allowing themselves to become distracted by engaging in conversations on a cell phone. A truck drivers cell phone records, whether provided by the trucker’s employer or a personal cell, can provide powerful evidence about the possibility of driver inattention due to cell phone usage.

This data, however, will not live forever. In the days and weeks following a crash, the involved tractor can be repaired and put back into service, risking the potential for the data being written over or erased. If the crash was violent enough and the semi is incapable of being repaired, it can be sold for scrap, and in the process, destroying the critical data before it can be accessed. Digital and hardcopy files are often discarded or recycled. Similar to skid marks and witnesses’ memories, the passage of time can result in the loss of data that is critically important in performing a thorough accident investigation and recreation of a crash involving a tractor trailer.

Accordingly, if you or someone you love has been injured in a crash involving a tractor trailer, it is important that you secure legal representation as soon as possible to ensure that the available data and information is appropriately secured.

Truck vs passenger car accidents always end in a disaster in which the people in the car are the losers. The crashes are disasters, which almost always cause catastrophic death and destruction.

There was a time I remember when truck drivers were called the “knights of the road”? They had a reputation for safety and for helping those stranded on lonely roadways. In those days, the truck drivers served a romantic notion of the open road while on their long journeys; carrying the freight of America from East, West, North and South. I still remember driving by trucks and reaching out the window to give the motion of pulling down on an imaginary cord, just to hear the trucker respond with that wonderful air-horn.

Then trains began increasing competition with trucking companies for freight transfer. The piggyback system ate into the profits of the long haul truckers. Why pay a driver benefits with gas and insurance when you could simply drive your trailer to a train, load it on and deliver by having a tractor meet it at the destination for delivery. Competition quickly became, and still is, the name of the game and public safety has increasingly become its casualty.

Why does there seem to be an increase in trucking crashes?

The obvious two factors are increasing competition and the fact that there are more truck drivers on the road and this results in the human risks to increase proportionally.

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I used to feel safe when I would see a commercial truck traveling next to me on the road. After reading some statistics comparing airline pilots to truck drivers, I am not so sure I feel that way now.

In your mind imagine a truck tractor with two trailers attached to it, sitting next to an airliner. Not a great deal of difference between the two in size. Granted the 747, for example, weighs over a whopping 735,000 pounds at take off; compared to a meager weight of around 150,000 pounds for a tractor trailer.

On the other hand, the traffic in the air has not yet gotten as congested as the roadways and 747’s do not regularly drive amongst 4000 pound passenger vehicles.

So, I was shocked when I saw the comparison between airline pilots and truck drivers when it comes to suitability:

Number of Pilots: 590,000

Number of Truck Drivers: 10,000,000

Number of commercial planes: 222,000

Number of commercial trucks: 8,000,000

Pilot age limits: 65

Trucker age limits: None

Airline Industry prohibition re: narcotics: yes

Trucking Industry prohibition re: narcotics: No

Flying hours limitations: 30/week; 100/month; 1000/year

Driving hours limitations: 77/week; 88/8 days; 330/month; 4000/year

Flying hours tracked?: yes — electronic tracking

Driving hours tracked?: yes — driver kept log

Federal Regulatory budget for airlines: $14,600,000,000

Federal Regulatory budget for trucks: $500,000,000

Sobering numbers as we drive our little 4000 pound vehicles next to those 80,000 to 140,000 pound trucks, at 70+ miles per hour; after the trucker has been driving — -how many hours?

If we add to the mix of driving distractions for truckers the following: texting, using laptops, cell phones, eating, and fatigue; we have a recipe for potential trouble. Truck operational problems further aggravate the situation: braking malfunctions and tire over wear, for example. Finally, road conditions: vehicles driven by other distracted drivers; ice, rain, Florida “black ice”; and escalating vehicle population. Taking these factors into consideration, together with the above statistics, best illustrates how dangerous it really is on our roadways.

So, don’t text; don’t speed, don’t drive after drinking; and BE CAREFUL out there!

The European and the British people are warned about aging tires. They are warned that old tires can be dangerous. The European and the British people are educated that a brand new tire, fresh from the store shelves, might not be brand new. The European and the British people are educated to check tire age and to be cognizant of the dangers associated with it.

The American public is not warned about aging tires; that old tires can be dangerous; or that “brand new” tires on the store shelves may be 2, 3, or 6 years old when they are sold and put on our car.

A recent article posted by a colleague at Injury Board, Mike Bryant, provides some very useful links to an older 20/20 report that I have to confess I had completely forgotten about.

In Florida, apparently the heat fosters more than just mosquitoes, humidity and hurricanes. Down here in Florida, the heat also causes tires to wear at a higher rate; something that tire manufacturers have known for some time.

If the higher ambient temperatures subject tires to a higher failure rate, the age of the tire also figures importantly into the failures. Again, something tire manufacturers have known and have apparently been waiting patiently for years to be regulated about, well, by someone.

When you buy a “brand new” tire from a retailer you expect, well, a “brand new” tire. You may not get what you expect. Apparently tires can sit on shelves for 2, 3, 6 or more years before being sold. All that time, the tires are being exposed to the air, drying the rubber out and aging while they sit there on the shelf. They still look brand new; they still have great tread depth; and they still smell new; but they have been degrading the whole time.

So, how can you tell the age of your tires? Not easy with many tire manufacturers. The special coding used on many tires can only be found by crawling under the car and looking at the inside of the tire. The codes will give you tire size, location of manufacture, and the date of manufacture. The date is the important part.

Everyone should pay close attention to tire health and age, but clearly, based on studies by the National Highway Safety Administration, people in states where the ambient temperatures remain warm to hot all year should pay special attention:

• When you purchase tires ask the retailer to show you the date of manufacture.
• Do not purchase tires, which are already 3 to 6 years old.
• Check tire pressure often.
• Maintain manufacturer recommended levels of tire pressure.
• Return to the tire dealer anytime you have repeated loss of pressure in tires.
• Avoid petroleum based tire “cleaners”.
• Inspect your tires, both the exterior and interior, for wear or damage.
• If you hit something while motoring down the road, inspect your tires at your next opportunity to verify any damage.