Articles Posted in Car Accidents

Icy roads are to blame, according to NBC NEWS, for a 65-car crash that injured 35 people in Worcester along Route 290. The wreck spanned nearly a half mile of roadway. Massachusetts police report that there were two trailer trucks, two six-wheel trucks and 61 passenger vehicles involved in the 7:00 a.m. accident.

Emergency response teams were delayed in getting to the crash site because the road wasn’t salted well enough yet. Officials had to bus roughly 60 people from the accident, according to Massachusetts State Police (MSP). One of the cars that was rear-ended was a state trooper’s cruiser, which had stopped at the site of one of the early crashes.

Worcester injury attorneys are frequently called to handle accidents caused by wintery road conditions. Unfortunately, this accident is a reminder of the risks as we head into the busy holiday travel season. While State Police warn residents via Twitter, “Roads are slick in central Mass, Worcester City area. If you don’t have to go out, wait” there’s nothing that can help to prevent these accidents better than safe and alert driving habits.
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The most tragic victims of many car accidents are survivors who have lost a loved one. These experiences can be especially harrowing for those who had to watch a sibling, parent, spouse, or child, suffer in an accident. In a case that has made national headlines, a 13-year old girl was awarded $150 million after she watched her family burn to death in a fiery accident on a California freeway.

Wrongful death claims are legal actions taken by a spouse, parent, or child who has lost a loved one. An experienced advocate can investigate any death and identify the individuals or entities responsible. Our Boston wrongful death attorneys are experienced in complex claims and are dedicated to maximizing compensation for our clients. We understand the gravity of any loss and are committed to protecting the rights and interests of victims.
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Boston car accident lawyers know that responsible pet owners typically use restraints to secure their dog when driving with their animal in the car. Most manufacturers of pet restraints claim to test their products to ensure safety in a car accident and to help put pet owner’s minds at ease. New research, however, suggests that most pet car restraints aren’t actually safe at all.

Pet owners need to understand the safety protocols in place for pet restraints and should do research carefully to ensure that the restraint they choose will provide the best protection for their beloved animal companion.
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Graduated drivers license programs exist to prevent teen driving accidents by slowly giving young people more privileges and more responsibilities behind the wheel. Graduated driving license laws, however, work only when they are enforced and when teens obey them. Law enforcement cannot be everywhere at all times, so parents are usually in the best position to make sure their young teen drivers are following the letter of the law and making smart driving decisions.

Unfortunately, recent studies have shown that parents may not really be aware of what their kids are doing. There are major disconnects in parental attitudes towards graduated driving license restrictions and teen views on these restrictions, and teens are obeying the law way less often than their parents think they are. Our Boston car accident lawyers know that this means many young people are in danger and many parents need to take a different approach that provides more protection for their kids and other motorists on the road.
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Massachusetts and 41 other states have banned texting and driving, and our Boston car accident lawyers know that as many as 94 percent of respondents to a federal survey have said that they support laws prohibiting texting. Yet, even as police issue citations and drivers express concern that cell phone use is dangerous, motorists continue to use their cell phones in the car every day.

The Boston Globe has recently taken a close look at why so many drivers continue to text even when they know it is risky. The answer that many experts have come up with: checking your phone is a powerful habit for many and checking the phone has become almost automatic.
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Cruise control is one of the most popular features on cars and can make long trips much more pleasant for drivers. One key question, though, is whether cruise control makes driving safer or whether it increases the risk of accidents. A French study attempted to answer this question, but as the Boston Herald reports, the results showed that the impact of cruise control on an accident risk is not clear-cut.

Our Boston car accident lawyers know that the NHTSA has listed adaptive cruise control as an important emerging crash avoidance technology that could mitigate the effects of poor driver performance. Unfortunately, adaptive cruise control technologies are still costly and out of reach for most motorists, so motorists using their standard cruise control need to understand how its use can both make driving safer and how using cruise control can create accident risks.
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Car accident fatalities are always tragic, but it can be especially devastating when a young child or infant is killed by a dangerous or reckless driver. Our auto accident attorneys in Massachusetts know that no matter how carefully a parent or guardian drives, a child’s life could be endangered by other negligent motorists on the road.

While there is nothing a parent can do to keep dangerous drivers off the road, parents can help to protect their children by making sure their kids are in a car seat or wearing a seat belt at all times. A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) news release has emphasized the importance of properly securing children in a vehicle, offering some tips to parents and caregivers to help keep kids safe in case an auto accident happens.
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According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), tire failures cause around 11,000 car accidents every year in the United States.

These car accidents occur for many different reasons, including separation of the treads of tires; tire blowouts; bald tires; and tires that are underinflated.

Our Boston defective tire attorneys know that poorly designed and badly manufactured tires are one of the primary reasons for tire-related accidents. However, there are also other causes as well, such as a failure on the part of drivers to maintain their tires properly. Now, the NHTSA is reminding car owners that the risk of tire-related accidents is higher in the summer months if tires are not properly maintained.

NHTSA Tire Warning for Summer Weather

The NHTSA advisory warns that the summer is a bad time for tire-related accidents. Unfortunately, the heat can exacerbate tire problems and the warmth of the pavement can contribute to the breakdown of tires. This is especially a problem when cars travel along highways at high speeds, with the hot roadways and the friction from the car travel making it more likely that a tire tread separation or blowout will happen.

If the tire fails as a result of a problem with the manufacturing or design of the tire, there is little that a driver can do to stay safe and the tire manufacturer should be held responsible for losses and damage that occur. However, if the tire fails as a result of a driver failing to maintain his vehicles, then the accident can be the fault of the driver.

Drivers who cause accidents through failure to maintain tires can put their lives at risk and can endanger passengers and other drivers. These motorists can also become legally liable for damage that they cause. To avoid this, drivers should follow some key safety recommendations put forth by the NHTSA. The NHTSA reminds drivers to:

• Check their vehicle manuals in order to determine the appropriate tire pressure in pounds per square inch and ensure that the tires are at the appropriate pressure.
• Keep a tire pressure gauge in their vehicles and check the PSI to ensure that the tires have not become underinflated. Tires can lose as much as one PSI each month, so checking the PSI regularly is important.
• Using the cars tire pressure monitoring system and taking action if the system issues a warning.
• Monitoring the tread of the tires on all vehicles and ensuring that the tires do not have treads worn down to 2/32 of an inch or less. A penny test can be used to make sure the tread is not too worn. If you put a penny in the tread of the tires with Lincoln’s head upside down, you shouldn’t be able to see the top of Lincoln’s head.

By following these tire maintenance and safety tips, you can reduce the chances of a serious accident occurring as a result of defective tires. You should also regularly check to ensure that your tires have not been recalled due to defects or problems.
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On their way to the Bonnaroo music festival, two Indiana natives tragically lost their lives in a massive wreck in Tennessee, which authorities now say was caused by a semi-truck driver, who has since been cited with failure to exercise due care.

Our Boston personal injury lawyers know that roadway hazards caused by fatigued or careless truckers is just one danger confronted by concert and festival-goers, many of whom travel long distances to see their favorite musicians and performers throughout the summer.

Bonnaroo, held in Tennessee, is one of the largest weekend-long festivals in the country. But there are a number of others that are still coming up and at which attendance is expected at least in the hundreds of thousands. Among those:

• Warped Tour, June 15 – Aug. 4, National Tour;
• Newport Folk Festival, July 27-28, Newport, RI;
• Lollapalooza, Aug. 2-4, Chicago, IL;
• Electric Zoo, Aug. 3 – Sept. 1, Randalls Island Park, NYC;
• Outside Lands, Aug. 9 – 11, San Francisco, CA;
• Rock the Bells, Aug. 17-19, Aug. 24-24 and Aug. 31-Sept. 1, San Bernadino, CA, Mountain View, CA and Holmdel, NJ;
• Burning Man, Aug. 26 – Sept. 2, Black Rock Desert, NV;
• Made in America, Aug. 31- Sept. 1, Philadelphia, PA;
• Austin City Limits, Oct. 4-6 and Oct. 11-13, Austin, TX.

In New England, regional festivals are popular draws through the summer and autumn months. While some patrons may spend the extra cash to fly in to their location, many are expected to make these trips by vehicle.

We understand that for many, the road trip is half the experience. We sincerely hope it is a memorable one – for all the right reasons.

Gearing up for long-distance travel means making safety a priority. Yes, the event may be all throwing caution to the wind, lowering your inhibitions and freely expressing yourself. But you have to make sure you and your friends get there and back safely. That takes some planning.

Consider the following before you head out:

• Have your vehicle checked out. You need to make sure your vehicle is in good shape. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends that you take your car in for a full check-up. Have the mechanic check the belts, the hoses, the cooling system, the battery and the tires. Make sure to check your tire pressure regularly throughout the trip and keep an eye on your gas levels.
• Know where you’re going. If you’re traveling far from home, you want to avoid getting lost or stranded. GPS is fine in areas with an strong signal, but you have to consider that this may not be the case, particularly if you are traveling in more isolated terrains. Take paper maps too just in case.
• Figure out the best time to travel. If you can, avoid heavy traffic times and plan for inclement weather.
• Have supplies in your vehicle in case you do get stranded. Have your car charger, extra food, water, blankets, tire repair kit, first-aid kit, flashlight and road flares.
• Make sure you get enough sleep. We know you’re excited and you want to get there. But the NHTSA warns that some 100,000 crashes annually are the result of drivers who are really too tired to be behind the wheel. If you take the risk of driving while fatigued, not only could you miss the show, you could suffer serious, life-long consequences as well.

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Protecting kids is the top priority of every parent and parents need to know what types of risks their children face. Every year since 1998, a survey of Massachusetts students has been conducted in order to provide more information to educators and parents about some of the dangers that children in the area are facing. The survey is administered both to sixth grade students as well as to high school kids in eighth through twelfth grade.

This year, the youth risk survey gave parents plenty of reason to be concerned. In addition to showing that as many as four percent of high school males and five percent of high school females had attempted suicide over the past year, the survey also showed that many kids were drinking alcohol despite being under the legal age to drink. The survey also showed that a lot of kids are using drugs. Our Boston injury attorneys know that when kids drink, they are at serious risk of sexual assault, alcohol poisoning and drunk driving accidents.

Teen Drinking And Drug-Use is a Dangerous Epidemic

The Harvard Press reported on the results of the Massachusetts Youth Risk Survey, indicating that:

• Sixty-three percent of seniors at one local area high school had consumed alcohol over the past spring.
• Thirty-five percent of all responding students in grades 9-12 indicated that they had consumed alcohol during the past spring.
• For grades 9-12 combined, 32 percent of female students and 39 percent of male students admitted to using alcohol in the month prior to the survey.
• Forty-percent of students in grade 12 indicated that they had recently used marijuana.
• Among all students in grades 9-12, 22 percent admitted that they had used marijuana in the prior month.

Students who take drugs or who use alcohol are likely not just to stay at home while drunk or on drugs but instead to attend school dances or events, to go to parties or to go places with their friends. The Harvard Press, for example, indicating that schools expressed concern about students who had recently come to school dances while intoxicated in the prior year.

When these students drank or do drugs and they go places, they get behind the wheel of a car. They put themselves in danger when they do this, but they also put every other driver who is on the road with them at risk as well. A drunk or high teen may be even more dangerous behind the wheel than an intoxicated adult since teens are already more likely to get into car wrecks because of their inexperience.

Parents Need to Take Teen Drinking Seriously

As this data shows, teen drinking is not a small problem but is something that many teenagers choose to do. Parents need to be aware of the high numbers of kids who use alcohol or drugs and every parent should be sure to stress the dangers of driving drunk or high.
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