Boston Personal Injury Attorney Blog

Would your airbags protect you and your family if you were involved in a car accident?

Officials with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are saying that they might not if you’ve had them replaced within the last 3 years.

Recently, safety officials announced a safety advisory alert for counterfeit airbags. There have been some problems with organized criminals selling fake airbags to various mechanics in the state. These airbags were most commonly purchased online.

Our Boston personal injury attorneys understand that the untrained eye may never be able to identify one of these airbags. They have the same insignia and the markings of major automakers. They’ve been created to mimic original, certified airbags. The NHTSA has already completed a test that has determined that these airbags run the chance of not deploying at all when needed, and some even caused explosions and shrapnel deployment.

Officials have also not been able to pinpoint which cars they can be found on. This is not a risk you should consider taking. If you’ve had your airbags replaced in the last 3 years by a shop not affiliated with a new-car dealership, you should consider getting them checked out by a professional. That’s the only way that you’re going to be able to tell if you have one of these counterfeit airbags.

If this pertains to you, then you should get in touch with the call center that has been created by each auto manufacturer to schedule an inspection of your vehicle. You can get more information about these call centers and more information on the counterfeit airbags on the SafeCar website.

“Anytime equipment that is critical to protecting drivers and passengers fails to operate properly, it is a serious safety concern,” said Ray LaHood, Transportation Secretary.

It’s important that all vehicle owners are alerted about this situation. Share this information with your friends, your family and your loved ones. It could help to save lives. It’s also important that you keep up with the latest vehicle safety recalls. Many times, vehicle owners are never informed about their vehicles and the dangers that accompany them, including problems with the tires, the internal and external devices and even the airbags.

Airbags are one of the most important lines of defense in the event of a car accident. It’s critical to make sure that these devices are working correctly — at all times.

To help to stop these airbags from being installed in our vehicles, the NHTSA is working alongside the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to make sure that none of these airbags are making their way into the country. Organized criminals are developing and selling these kinds of dangerous products. It’s clear that they have little to no regard for U.S. safety. Have your airbags checked today!
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Officials with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently announced that they would be offering close to $600,000 to both Massachusetts and Connecticut to help them to create, plan and conduct campaigns and high-visibility enforcement efforts to get drivers to stop text messaging behind the wheel.

Each state is going to receive about $300,000 to train its officers on more effective ways to hunt down and spot drivers who are text messaging behind the wheel. The money will also help to fund more campaign messages and media spots to help to spread the word about the dangers of texting and driving.

“We have come a long way in our fight against distracted driving, but there is still much work to be done,” said Ray LaHood, U.S. Transportation Secretary.

Our Quincy accident lawyers understand that the State of Massachusetts already bans all drivers from text messaging behind the wheel, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The problem is that drivers aren’t listening. One of the most effective ways to get drivers to follow road laws and to help to increase safety on our state’s streets is to up the ante. This is done by more campaigns, more awareness programs and more police enforcement. And that’s where the NHTSA is coming in.

Currently, there are only 39 states that have laws that place bans on drivers text messaging. Only 10 states have laws that are designed to stop all drivers from using a hand-held cell phone at the wheel. Even though these laws are spread out across the nation, there are still far too many drivers who are getting into distracted driving car accidents because of these devices. In many states, like in Massachusetts, drivers are banned from text messaging behind the wheel but not from using a cell phone. With the mixture of these laws, it’s tough for officers to be able to tell if a driver was text messaging or was dialing a number to call — one illegal and one not, but both looking similar.

When all of these activities are banned, it’s much easier for an officer to bust a driver.

To help to stop drivers from text messaging behind the wheel, officials in both Connecticut and in Massachusetts will be using spotters and stationary patrols on elevated roadways. They will also be able to perform more roving patrols. The funds are to help these states to judge the effectiveness of each wave of high-visibility enforcement. The study period will be two years. The results are going to be used to help to determine which efforts should be used in other states to help to get drivers to hang up the phone.

In just 2010, there were more than 3,000 people who were killed in car accidents that involved a distracted driver. Another 415,000 people were injured in these same incidents. It’s such a problem, that these accidents account for close to 20 percent of all of the injury accidents reported that year.
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According to the Boston Transportation Department, the city is now done with its Scooter and Motorcycle Parking Program in a number of areas in the Financial District.

Officials say there are going to be close to 20 parking spots that will soon be established to help to provide those who ride motorcycles and scooters in the area with a place to park with a meter. These spots will mimic the close to 40 slots that were installed on Boylston and Newbury Streets in the Back Bay back in 2010.

“The Back Bay parking slots are popular, there is demand to create more of them, and the Financial District is another busy area of the City where we expect that parking slots will be utilized regularly,” said Thomas J. Tinlin, the Transportation Commissioner.

Our Boston personal injury attorneys understand that scooters and motorcycles are a popular form of transportation in the area, especially during the warmer months. These vehicles offer drivers a quick, convenient and inexpensive way to get around the city.

New Parking Slots Will be Located:

-Four spaces between Wendell and Franklin Streets on Batterymarch Street.

-Four spaces at India Street on Milk Street.

-Four spaces at Oliver Street on High Street.

-Three spaces between High Street and Purchase Street on Pearl Street.

These spaces are all a part of the Complete Streets program. This is an approach to transportation creation, planning and projects that the city started a few years ago to help to make sure that our streets are not only environmentally friendly, but that they’re accommodating to everyone.

To make room for the new spots, officials will be taking out three metered spots in each area, in addition to curb space that is unregulated. Typically, normal parking spots are about 20-feet long. Since the new spots are only 5-feet long, we can park four motorcycles and/or scooters in the same space.

To park in these new spots, it’s only a quarter an hour. Regular sports are $1.25 an hour. There’s also no time limit at these spots. Most normal spots for passenger vehicles have a 2-hour time limit.

With this program growing each passing day, the government is starting to grab on to the benefits of these kinds of alternative transportation methods in the big-city environment. These smaller vehicles produce less pollution, they help to alleviate congestion, they help to sustain the environment and they take up less space when parking.

Regardless of where they park, travelers need to be cautious when traveling with these smaller vehicles. Scooter riders and motorcyclists are more vulnerable to injury and death in the event of a traffic accident. Remember that they have rights to our roadways too, and they need to be treated with the same respect as any other driver. Help to keep them safe out there and travel courteously.
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Massachusetts State Police were forced to close down Route 3 in Plymouth between Exits 5 and 6 because of a rollover car accident.

According to Wicked Local, drivers were backed up way past Exit 5 and were forced to sit in near stand-still traffic on Route 3A as the detour was also backed up.

The car crash happened at a portion of the road identified as part of a repaving project in the area. According to Capt. John Rogers with Plymouth Police, only one vehicle was involved in this accident. The female driver was taken to Jordan Hospital and then was taken via Medflighted to Boston.

Our Plymouth car accident lawyers understand that some vehicles are more prone to rollover accidents than others. Still, everyone’s at risk. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there are close to 300,000 rollover accidents that claim about 10,000 lives each and every year. In 2003 in particular, more than 35 percent of deadly SUV accidents were the rollover accidents. Sport utility vehicles (SUV) have the highest rates for rollover accidents than any other kind of vehicle. Most commonly, the cause of these accidents is the fact that SUVs are more likely to carry heavy leads. This means that they’re more likely to topple over.

Most of these accidents are directly related not only to the load carried on a vehicle, but the vehicle’s stability when it turns. This is related to the vehicle’s center of gravity and the track width, meaning the distance between the wheels from left to right (not front and back). When a vehicle has a high center of gravity and it has a narrow track, taking fast turns greatly increases the risks for a rollover. This problem is most common on vehicles that are 4-wheel-drive. These cars have a higher ground clearance for off-road driving.

There are ways that you can reduce your risks for a rollover accident though. According to the NHTSA, these are 5 tips (listed below) that all drivers should follow.

Rollover Safety Tips:

-Avoid conditions that increase your risks for a rollover accident, including driving under the influence, speeding, driving while drowsy, driving through inclement weather and driving erratically.

-Be cautious when driving along rural roads.

-Avoid erratic steering. If you lose control of your vehicle and slide off of the road, you want to calmly steer back onto the street. Jerking the wheel into one direction only increases your risks for a rollover.

-Make sure that your tires are always in good working condition. Make sure they’re never too worn and that the tire pressure is always accurate. When your tires are worn, they’re more likely to lose traction with the pavement and cause a rollover accident.

-Make sure you’re not overloading your car. Your vehicle’s manual should have a weight limit listed inside. When loading your vehicle with additional weight, make sure that you’re driving slower and more cautiously.
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