MOTOR  VEHICLE  ACCIDENTS

Since  records of the “rate of traffic fatalities” have been kept, 2009 has recorded the lowest rate ever! “Fatality rate” involves the number of traffic fatalities combined with the number of miles traveled.

In just the last year alone, there was an 8.9% in the number of deaths reported:  37,261 in 2008 and 33,963 in 2009.  The “rate” of deaths in 2008 was 1.25 per “100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT); in 2009 it was 1.16 per VMT–again, the lowest ever recorded!

Why the decline? According t the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, it is due to a combination of factors including the increased  use of seat belts prompted  by national campaigns to promote seat belt use, and campaigns to reduce drunk driving and distracted driving (which involve the use of cell phones for calls and texting). In addition to these items indicated by David Strickland, NHTSA Administrator, we should also look  to the increased presence of collision avoidance devices appearing in automobiles.

AUTOMOBILE INJURIES: HOPEFUL SIGNS | POTENTIAL DANGER

A recent report by the Insurance Council of Texas indicated a steady seven year decline in Texas in the number of people injured or killed in automobile accidents. The decline is over 20%. The Texas Department of Transportation confirms a drop in five of the last six years. While we have not performed the research to confirm this point, scuttlebutt among the personal injury bar is that the number of automobile cases across the nation have diminished significantly over the past several years. This is reflected in caseloads involving auto accidents, and in the nature of cases appearing on court calendars. It is confirmed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety which indicated that Texas is following a nationwide trend. (“Claims Journal,“ Feb. 10, 2010)

Why is this the case? Simply because the safety features now available in cars assist the vehicle occupants to mitigate injuries when accidents do occur, and also assist a vehicle operator in avoiding an accident from occurring in the first place. Effective seat-belts, front and side airbags and head restraints fall into the mitigation of injury category. Electronic stability control, traction control, ABS brakes, and even forward collision and lane departure warnings fall into the accident avoidance category.

We remind the reader, however, that a major contributor to a potential upsurge in highway accidents lurks in mobile devices, whether handheld or otherwise, as numerous studies have indicated.

On this point, an insurance company recently settled a matter involving the death of two bicyclists in South Carolina for 5 million dollars (unusual in itself in that such a large amount of insurance was available). Why did the company settle on behalf of its inured rather than go to trial?: Their insured had pleaded guilty, criminally, to reckless driving after having been originally charged with “reckless homicide”. A basis for those charges: the driver of the vehicle was on a cell phone at the time of the crash. (Claims Journal, February 10, 2010)

If you have been injured by a driver that was on a handheld device in any manner contact our Manhattan Accident Attorneys office at Orlow Law today.