Boston Car Accident Lawyer Blog

The risk of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol is well known. But what about drowsy driving? Despite the significant difference in attitudes toward these forms of dangerous driving, drowsy driving poses a comparable risk to drunk driving. In fact, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that 100,000 annual vehicle collisions are caused by drowsy drivers.

Of the 100,000 drowsy driving-related vehicle collisions that occur annually, more than 1,500 result in fatal injuries. Studies have shown that driving while tired presents similar cognitive and physical symptoms of impairment as found in drunk drivers. An Australian study revealed that the response time of a driver who hadn’t slept during the previous twenty-hour period was half that of a rested driver. Similar results occur in drivers with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .05 percent. Researchers at the Henry Ford Hospital Sleep Disorders and Research Center discovered even more startling results. According to their research, a driver with only four hours of sleep has the cognitive and physical impairment of someone with a .19 percent BAC. That’s more than twice the legal limit!

Why are Drowsy Driving Cases So Challenging?

Driving while drowsy because of lack of sleep or sleep-inducing medications can make a person legally responsible for property damage and injuries. However, proving that the accident was caused due to driving drowsy is not an easy task. No good system exists to measure the level of a person’s drowsiness or whether they were, in fact, drowsy at all. By contrast, drunk driving is very easy to prove. If someone involved in an accident is suspected of being intoxicated, for example, a simple field sobriety test or breathalyzer test can measure that person’s level of intoxication. Not so for drowsiness.

In some instances, an at-fault driver will admit to the police that he or she was drowsy, tired, or fatigued at the time of the accident. However, this is uncommon. When an admission of guilt is not recorded, other techniques must be employed to prove drowsiness. Certain factors may help point to drowsiness as a cause, such as a prescription for a medication that promotes drowsiness. Witness statements can also be helpful when it comes to drowsy driving accidents. The bottom line – it is crucial to consult with a skilled personal injury attorney who has experience specific to this type of accident. Continue reading

Since the rise of the smartphone generation, distracted driving from cell phone use among teens has been a widely discussed concern among parents, especially.  Signs urging drivers, “Don’t Text and Drive” and “It Can Wait” can be found on highways, residential roads, and bumper stickers.  But there may be another hazard rooted in teenagers’ attachments to their smartphones other than the familiar texting problem.  Liberty Mutual Insurance and Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) have recently released new research that provides evidence of the dangers mobile applications can pose to adolescent drivers.  The study found that while 27 percent of teens still report texting and driving, up to 68 percent of teens report using apps while they drive.  The teens were also asked to rank hazardous driving behaviors in regards to how dangerous they thought the behaviors were.  Researchers found that these teens perceived using social media apps while driving to be much less dangerous than texting and driving, or driving while intoxicated, for example.

In addition to the self-reported survey the teens completed, the study also included implicit association testing (IAT), a method that has been used for two decades to measure unconscious bias.  Through IAT, teens were given a variety of visual driving scenarios, including texting, using mobile apps, and receiving phone calls, and they were also given a series of words.  The test measured the speed with which the teens associated the different scenarios with the words, which then showed their instinctual feelings in regards to distracted and hazardous driving behaviors.  Examples of words that appeared in the test include, “distracting,” “safe,” and “fun”.  When researchers compared the results of the IAT with the responses the teens gave through the survey, they found several inconsistencies between what the teens said versus how they actually act when presented with the situation.  From the self-reported survey, 95 percent of teens conceded that using a mobile app while driving is dangerous.  Yet, when the same teens were given a virtual scenario of an app notification on their smartphone, a whopping 80 percent of participants linked app use while driving with the phrase, “not distracting.”  Dr. Gene Beresin, senior advisor on adolescent psychiatry with SADD and executive director of the Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital, emphasized the importance of the tests results in providing an insight to adolescent drivers.  “This research identifies teens’ underlying beliefs about key driving habits, providing insight into what teens really believe,” Beresin said.  “Teens as a whole are saying all the right things, but implicitly believe that using their phone while driving is safe and not a stressor or distraction behind the wheel.”

An inherent problem with some mobile apps is that they can be viewed as utilities.  Navigation and music playing apps may even be considered necessary by teens to get from point A to point B.  However, this perception confuses teens by disguising the hazards that are still prevalent in mobile apps.  Although 41 percent of teens surveyed thought that using navigation apps while driving is distracting, 58 percent still say they use them while driving.  Dr. William Horrey, Ph.D., principal research scientist at the Liberty Mutual Insurance Research Institute for Safety, emphasizes “It’s not the apps themselves that are dangerous, but how we, and our teens, interact with them while behind the wheel.”  If teens are constantly looking through playlists, searching for songs, changing the destination while navigating, etc, while using these apps, their driving can be significantly impaired.  However, picking one playlist and setting one destination at the beginning of a trip can allow for safe and undistracted driving. Continue reading

Aggressive driving and road rage has long been a problem on American roadways.  Screaming, obscene gestures, and sometimes violence are common on our nation’s streets.  Although many of us have succumbed to our emotions while driving and reacted poorly, there are some staggering statistics you should know before you put the pedal to the metal next time.  Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Auto Vantage auto club show that 66 percent of traffic fatalities are a result of aggressive driving.  They also report that 37 percent of aggressive driving incidents involve a firearm.  The last statistic worth noting is over a seven-year period, there were 218 murders and 12,610 injuries that were attributed to road rage.  Clearly, aggressive driving can be dangerous.  However, did you also know you may be more prone to road rage depending on where you live?

New data published in the AAA Foundation’s annual Traffic Safety Culture Index shows that northeast drivers are more likely to shout at other motorists, aggressively honk, or make offensive hand gestures than drivers from other regions of the country.  This data was collected from 2,705 licensed drivers who drove a vehicle in the past month.  According to the study, almost 80 percent of U.S. drivers have experienced “significant” frustration while driving in the past year.  The study also found that an estimated 8 million U.S. drivers participate in some form of “extreme examples of road rage,” which include honking, yelling, making angry gestures, tailgating or deliberately blocking another vehicle from changing lanes.  AAA reports that drivers from the Northeast are up to 30 percent more likely to make an angry gesture than drivers from other areas of the U.S.  A small percentage of motorists reported engaging in extremely aggressive behaviors, such as tapping or hitting another vehicle or exiting their vehicle to challenge another driver.  “Inconsiderate driving, bad traffic and the daily stresses or life can transform minor frustrations into dangerous road rage,” said Jurek Grabowski who is the director of research for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.  “Far too many drivers are losing themselves in the heat of the moment and lashing out in ways that could turn deadly.” Continue reading