Study Focuses on Countermeasures to Reduce Risks of Distracted-Driving Car Accidents in Illinois and Elsewhere

The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) recently released a summary of the affects and consequences of distracted driving. The organization is giving the information to states, which are encouraged to make changes.

The information was taken from nearly 400 papers written between 2000 and 2011 about driver distraction. According to distraction.gov, more than 5,400 people were killed in 2009 because of car accidents in Chicago and elsewhere that involved a distracted driver. Approximately 448,000 people were injured because of these incidents.

Out Chicago personal injury attorneys understand that distracting diving habits can oftentimes produce fatal consequences. Distractions affect a driver's ability to react to road hazards and could be involved in as many as 30 percent of all traffic fatalities. The new report, "Distracted Driving: What Research Shows and What States Can Do." aims to determine which countermeasures can be taken by state officials to help reduce the risks of these types of accidents.

The study was funded by a grant from State Farm. The report also illustrates exactly what distracted driving is, how a distraction can impact a driver's abilities, how often motorists are distracted behind the wheel, and what the crash risks are for these types of accidents.

“Despite all that has been written about driver distraction, there is still a lot that we do not know,” said GHSA Executive Director Barbara Harsha.

The distracted driving report made the following findings:

-Distractions significantly affect a driver's performance.

-Drivers have been found to drive while distracted about half of the time they're behind the wheel.

-Drivers have the ability to adapt. Drivers are able to focus more of their attention on driving and reduce the attention focused on a distraction in a risky driving scenario.

-Texting behind the wheel is much more dangerous that using a cell phone while driving.

States, according to the report, should consider the following countermeasures to combat the problem:

-Continue low-cost road measures, including centerline rumble strips. These strips alert drivers that a vehicle is drifting out of the lane.

-Consider enacting a texting ban for all drivers.

-Consider enacting a complete cell phone ban for all drivers. This ban is most effective when hands-free devices are included in the law.

-Keep a record of all distracted-driving accidents. This information will help officials to evaluate any current distracted driving laws or programs.

-Conduct research before enacting new distracted driving-related laws. Government officials should research areas in which the desired laws are already in effect to determine how they could potentially affect local traffic.

-Continue to enforce current distracted driving-related laws.

-Encourage all employers to create and enforce an anti-cell phone policy in the workplace. This is especially important for employees who drive on the job.

In the state of Illinois, all drivers are prohibited from using a cell phone while driving through a school zone or in a highway construction zone. All school bus drivers and those who are under the age of 19 are also prohibited from using a cell phone while behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. All drivers in the City of Chicago have been banned from using a hand held cell phone while driving. No driver is the state is allowed to text while driving.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident with a distracted driver, the personal injury attorneys and wrongful death lawyers at Abels & Annes offer you a free and confidential appointment to discuss your rights. Call (866) 99-ABELS. There is no fee unless you win.

More Blog Entries:

Windy City Drivers Among the Nation's Worst -- Chicago Car Accidents Often Result, Chicago Car Accident Lawyers Blog, September 12, 2011

As the School Year Begins, Officials Focus on Preventing Teen Car Accidents in Illinois, Chicago Car Accident Lawyers Blog, August 31, 2011

Chicago Car Accident Lawyer

New study highlights dangers of so-called No-Fault ‘reform’

The giant boondoggle to the state’s auto insurance companies, disguised as “PIP Choice” has been obvious to many insurance lawyers and consumer protection groups from the beginning.  But a recent Anderson study shows just how costly and harmful  No Fault ‘reform’ actually is.

Entitled “Impact of Proposed ‘PIP Choice’ Law in Michigan,” the study, which was commissioned by the Coalition Protecting Auto No-Fault (CPAN), reaches four  fact-based conclusions about what will happen if the Legislature enacts the proposed insurance company wish-list of  Michigan’s No-Fault insurance laws:

1. Approximately 800 seriously injured Michigan auto accident victims will be deprived of necessary medical care each year.

2. The medical costs of providing lifetime care will be shifted to the taxpayers as these catastrophically injured accident victims are shifted to Medicare.

3. Michigan will lose between 2,500 to 5,000 jobs.

4. Profits for Michigan’s auto insurance companies (already some of the nation’s highest)  will skyrocket because, with little or no change to the amount of premium dollars collected, Michigan’s auto insurance companies will pay out nearly $100 million less per year in claims.

Currently, under Michigan’s No-Fault Law, seriously injured auto accident victims are guaranteed unlimited, lifetime medical coverage for all of their accident-related medical needs, so long as those needs are reasonably necessary for the victim’s care, recovery and/or rehabilitation.

Every year, between 850 and 1,200 car accident victims in Michigan suffer catastrophic injuries, such as a traumatic brain injury. A catastrophic injury involves medical expenses that exceed $500,000 per year.

PIP Choice will change all of this, of course.  According to the CPAN study,  it is estimated that 75 percent to 90 percent of Michigan drivers will cease to elect and pay for unlimited, lifetime medical coverage and instead, will opt for the new and cheaper medical insurance plan, which carries a $50,000 maximum coverage limit.

As an insurance attorney who helps people injured in car accidents, I see most people with serious injuries go through this in two days of emergency room care after a serious car crash.

Again, $50,000 is nowhere near enough to cover expenses associated with any serious Michigan auto accident.

The inadequacy of the $50,000 medical coverage limit is even more obvious for catastrophically injured auto accident victims.

The CPAN study estimates that with 75 percent to 90 percent of Michigan drivers opting for the minimum medical coverage, approximately 638 to 765 Michigan residents a year who suffer catastrophic injuries in car accidents will be devastated by this change.

As such, they will be forced to:

1. Go without needed medical care and treatment because of no insurance coverage.

2. Pay out-of-pocket and, ultimately, face personal ruin and bankruptcy.

3. Mistakenly rely on health insurance that does not exist (a growing number of  private health insurance plans now have specific  auto accident-related exclusions).

4. Get shifted to the taxpayers, in the form of Medicare (also problematic because Medicaid and Medicare are limited in terms of what medical services they’ll cover).

Additionally, the CPAN study reports that the funding for present and future catastrophically injured Michigan auto accident victims will be endangered, because as fewer people opt for unlimited, lifetime medical coverage, fewer people will be paying into the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association fund, which pays for victims’ injuries that exceed $500,000.

Approximately 2,500 to 5,000 jobs will be lost if so-called No Fault ‘Reform’ passes, predicts the CPAN study.

This is trickle-down economics in reverse:

As fewer people opt for unlimited, lifetime medical coverage, there will be fewer unlimited, lifetime medical claims, i.e., catastrophic injury claims, to be paid.

And, as there are fewer claims and less money being paid to the healthcare providers, demand for and the ability to pay for the same number of employees will drop, thereby resulting in terminations and lay-offs.

This is true because even though there will continue to be approximately 850 to 1,200 catastrophic claims per year, between 75 percent and 90 percent of those claims will no longer be covered by the victims’ No- Fault insurance.

As if all of that were not disturbing enough, consider how much the CPAN study estimates that Michigan’s auto insurance companies will profit from so-called No Fault “reform.”

Setting aside the fact that there are no guarantees in writing that Michigan drivers will actually save money (or how much) as a result of the dismantling of Michigan’s No Fault system, the CPAN study shows that Michigan’s auto insurance companies will experience little to no change in the amount of premium dollars they collect from Michigan drivers.

But they will experience seismic changes on the other side of the balance sheet.

According to the CPAN study, so-called No Fault “reform” will allow Michigan’s auto insurance companies to “pay out between $91 and $109 million less in claims each year …”

All of this is poetry for Michigan’s auto insurance industry.

There is only one way to avoid real harm to Michigan residents, and that is to prevent  dismantling of Michigan’s No-Fault Law in the first place.

Call your State Representative and State Senator and tell them about this important study from CPAN.

Ask why we are dismantling the nation’s best insurance system to give an unnecessary boondoggle to insurance companies that are already making more money in Michigan than in any other state.

Ask, if lowering auto insurance premiums is truly the goal, aren’t there far better ways of achieving this rather than savaging No-Fault benefits for those who will need them most, such as regulating the amount of profits that insurance companies can make in Michigan for a product (auto  insurance) that residents are required by state law to purchase?

Ask, why is Michigan one of the only states where the insurance commissioner does not have the power to regulate insurance company profits?

- Steven Gursten is recognized as one of the nation’s insurance attorneys handling serious auto accident lawsuits. He frequently writes about Michigan No-Fault, and is available for comment.

Related information to protect yourself:

Michigan doctors and hospitals against No-Fault “reform”

No-Fault “reform” - bad for drivers, great for insurance companies

Your Michigan No-Fault insurance benefits

Michigan Auto Law is the largest law firm exclusively handling car accident, truck accident and motorcycle accident cases throughout the entire state. We have offices in Farmington Hills, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Sterling Heights to better serve you. Call (800) 777-0028 for a free consultation with one of our Michigan insurance attorneys.

Michigan Auto Lawyers

New Study Aims to Stop Car Accidents in Chicago Before They Happen

A single-vehicle car accident in Chicago left one woman dead and two others critically injured. The accident happened in the Hyde Park neighborhood on the South Side. The vehicle left the roadways and slammed into a tree near the intersection of Midway Plaisance and South Cornell Avenue, according to My Fox Chicago.

One woman was thrown 25 feet from the vehicle. She was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition. Two other vehicle occupants had to be extricated from the car. One was later pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The other passenger was taken in critical condition to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County. The police Major Accident Investigation Unit is investigating.

In an effort to reduce the number of serious and fatal car accidents nationwide, a new two-year study will be conducted to observe driver's actions and reactions to varying traffic conditions. Researchers then plan to use this information to aid the development of safety improvements in road design, cars and driver training programs. Our Chicago car accident attorneys recognize the significance of this type of study. Crash avoidance research may usher in a new wave of technology that will one day have the ability to save thousands of lives on our roadways.

“Collision prevention is the central goal of the study” said Ken Campbell, chief program officer overseeing safety for the Strategic Highway Research Program, which is part of the non-profit Transportation Research Board. “And the driver is the key to prevent collision.”

The two-year study will install special equipment into the vehicles of 3,100 participants. This equipment consists of four cameras and a data box. The four cameras will record forward and rear views along with the driver’s face and hands. This data will be held in the storage box, which will be kept in the vehicle's glove box. Researchers will be collecting the recorded data every four to six months, according to Forbes.

“You can’t just look at collisions or near collisions to know what risk factors are. It’s that comparison with what the driver is doing when there is not a safety-related event that tells you what the risk factors are,” says Campbell.

In previous studies, researchers generally focused on countermeasures that protect drivers and passengers after collisions, like seat belts, airbags and crash-worthy vehicles. This is one of the few studies that takes it a step farther and focuses on avoiding the crashes altogether. Car accidents that happen at intersections and accidents where the driver runs off the road will be initial focus areas of this study

The Transportation Research Board is looking for volunteers to participate in Buffalo, Seattle, Tampa Bay, Durham, central Pennsylvania and Bloomington. Every driver that participates in the study will be rewarded with $500 for each year.

“We are particularly interested in people under 25 and over 65” Dr. Campbell said. Both groups represent a small percentage of all drivers and have high collision rates.

To participate, you'll be required to have a valid driver’s license, proof of insurance and an approved vehicle. Participating vehicles are subject to a brief inspection. More than half of all vehicle makes are eligible.

“This study is long overdue and has the potential for providing the most comprehensive look at why highway crashes occur,” said Peter Kissinger, president and chief executive of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, a nonprofit research and educational organization that provided technical advice for the study. “It is unprecedented in its scope and approach. It will be a wonderful supplement to other ongoing and planned traffic safety research efforts. My only disappointment is that the transportation research community didn’t initiate the study several years ago.”

If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident, the personal injury attorneys and wrongful death lawyers at Abels & Annes offer free and confidential appointments to discuss your rights. Call (866) 99-ABELS. There is no fee unless you win.

More Blog Entries:

16-year-old boy faces murder charges after causing deadly Chicago car crash , Chicago Car Accident Lawyers Blog, July 12, 2011

Red-Light Cameras in Chicago - Saving Lives or Stealing Money? , Chicago Car Accident Lawyers Blog, July 8, 2011

Safe Driver Act of 2011 Could Increase Distracted Driving Laws in Illinois , Chicago Car Accident Lawyers Blog, July 1, 2011

Chicago Car Accident Lawyer

Study shows Chicago drivers could benefit from reviewing the rules of the road

Over 20 percent of drivers in the United States, approximately 36.9 million of them, would fail a driving test if they had to take one today, Yahoo news is reporting. This is according to a new survey of motorists nationwide done by GMAC Insurance.

Our Chicago injury lawyers note that this statistic is actually an improvement compared to last year, when 38 million drivers were unfit to be on the road. Nationally this year the average score was 77.9%, compared to 76.2% in 2010. The results indicate that many drivers on the road could have dangerous driving habits, which could in turn lead to a higher number of Illinois traffic collisions.

Here are some of the highlights of the survey:

-85% of the drivers in the survey did not know the proper actions to take while approaching a yellow light;

-75% of motorists did not know safe following distances;

-Drivers in the Midwest scored the highest on the test, while drivers in the Northeast scored the lowest;

-The oldest group of drivers tested, ages 60 to 65, scored the highest on the test at 80.3%;

-Wyoming scored the highest of all states, where more than 95% of drivers passed the test; and

- Of major cities, Washington D.C. fared the worst on the test.

The annual GMAC drivers test was given to 5130 drivers from the 50 states. It's a 20 question exam with questions taken from state department of motor vehicles exams.

As a lawyer that has been handling auto accident claims for many years, I can tell you that the results of this test does not surprise me. Every week I deal with personal injury cases where a driver involved either 1. did not know the rules of the road or 2. failed to obey the rules of the road.

Here are some of the rules that are most often violated:

My office often receives phone calls from drivers who have been injured when they failed to yield the right-of-way to oncoming traffic while making a left turn. They usually have similar excuses, such as the other driver came out of nowhere, or the other driver must have been speeding because otherwise they would have seen them. We always decline these cases. At the same time, we often represent drivers who were injured by motorists who failed to yield while turning left.

Some of the other most common violations I come across would be driving too fast for conditions and following too closely. Usually this rule of the road violation results in the driver rear ending the vehicle in front of them.

Another violation I often deal with, which can be the most deadly, is failing to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. So often motorists in urban areas are busy looking out for the danger of other vehicles, they forget to keep a proper lookout for pedestrians who are defenseless and can be severely injured by even a light impact.

The same can be said for bicycle accidents. In my experience, drivers turning left will often yield to oncoming motor vehicle traffic and forget to pay attention to bicyclists. Or drivers forget to look for bike riders when opening car doors. Even slow speed bike accidents can result in serious trauma.

If you have been hurt in an Illinois auto accident where another driver failed to obey the rules of the road, contact the Chicago personal injury lawyers at Abels & Annes for a free case evaluation. Call 312-475-9595.

Chicago Car Accident Lawyer

Chicago car accidents a serious threat to teen safety as new study highlights dangers of distracted driving

Next » Posted On: March 15, 2011 by Dave Abels

The U.S. Department of Transportation is teaming up with Consumer Reports to warn parents and teenagers about the dangers of distracted driving.

Our Chicago personal injury lawyers urge parents to have a serious talk with their teens as spring approaches. With spring break, prom and graduation, teens will have plenty of chances to be out late on the road and may face peer pressure when it comes to underage drinking, drinking and driving and drug consumption.


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