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Last month, a 32-year-old woman from Dedham died of injuries caused when a 71-year-old driver drove over the curb and into a private yard, hitting the woman and her 2-year-old child with her sport utility vehicle.

The child was in stable condition, the Dedham car accident victim died that night at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Police were called to the scene of the car crash on Munroe Street around 3:30pm. The name of the 71-year-old driver has not been released, though that could change if the driver is charged.

According to the Somerville police, the auto accident is being investigated.

Dedham woman dies after Somerville accident, Boston Globe, July 28, 2009 Continue reading

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According to a Gannet News Service analysis of federal accident reports, deaths from motorcycle accidents have increased since states started loosening helmet laws in the mid to late nineties. Once the federal government chose to stop withholding highway money from states without helmet laws, some states began weakening or repealing their helmet laws.

Department of Transportation (DOT) statistics show that 5.6 motorcyclists were killed for every 10,000 registered motorcycles in 1996. Ten years later, that number had risen to 7.3. That may seem like a small spike, but the annual death toll from motorcycle crashes rose from 2,160 to 4,810 during that same period. Fatality rates for all other passenger vehicles have been decreasing.

The government’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System of motorcycle deaths between 2002 and 2006 also revealed that nearly half of those riders killed were not wearing helmets. The average age of those killed was around 38, and nearly half of motorcyclists who died in 2006 were 40 and older. Nearly a quarter were 50 or older.

Only about 20 states require riders to wear helmets, and the National Transportation Safety Board has recommended that states reinstate helmet laws to reduce the risk of severe head trauma or death from motorcycle crashes.

Southern States Among Those With Highest Motorcycle Death Rates, USA Today, March 3, 2009 Continue reading

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Last Sunday afternoon, a Norwell woman was injured in a bike accident at the North Main Street grade crossing in Cohasset. According to police, it appears that the woman did not use the “jug handle” that directs bicyclists around the crossing so they can avoid crossing the tracks at a right angle.

The woman’s bike tires reportedly got stuck in the gap between the rail and the road, causing her to fall off her bike. When police arrived at the scene of the accident, they found in the middle of the northbound lane of North Main just beyond the grade crossing. The injured cyclist was on her back and complained of pain in her arm and her head. The MBTA stopped the train for a period following the bike accident.

The woman was with another cyclist and both bikes were taken to the station and held for sakekeeping until they could be picked up. There were several other bicycle accidents in the same location before changes were made at the grade crossing.

COHASSET POLICE / Bike accident at N. Main St. crossing, WickedLocal.com, August 13, 2009 Continue reading

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Last month, Massachusetts’ highest court upheld a $4.4 million award to the family of a man who died in a bus accident involving a large security gate arm that hit a bus transporting spectators between a golf tournament and Foxboro’s Gillette Stadium.

The tragic bus crash occurred in 2003 and killed a 64-year-old Yarmouth man. Five more people injured in the bus accident.

Although the judge violated a mandate not to allow jurors to discuss the case among themselves before deliberation, the state Supreme Judicial Court upheld the original ruling, saying the judge’s error did not prejudice the companies being sued.

Court upholds $4.4M award in Gillette Stadium bus accident, Sun Chronicle, July 16, 2009 Continue reading

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A study funded by the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security discovered that the number of people in Massachusetts wearing seat belts increased from 67% in 2008 to 74% this year. State officials announced this finding yesterday. Massachusetts’ director of highway safety for the executive office cites enforcement efforts by police as well as education and media campaigns on seat belt usage for the increase among Massachusetts drivers and passengers.

Currently, Massachusetts law makes failure to wear a seat belt a secondary offense, meaning police officers can only issue a ticket for not wearing a seat belt after they pull over the driver for some other reason. The exception is if the officer sees a child under the age of 12 not strapped in.

However, some legislators are pushing for tougher seat belt laws that would allow officers to stop drivers simply for not wearing a seat belt. They cite the correlation between seat belt usage and lower risk of serious injury in a car accident as the reason for stricter seat belt legislation.

More Bay State residents are buckling up, Boston Globe, August 11, 2009 Continue reading

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Over the weekend, two Massachusetts men died in tragic accidents while pursuing personal missions on their motorcycles. The first motorcycle accident occurred around 11am on Saturday morning. Lucas Haus, 21, of North Reading was a novice rider who had borrowed a bike to participate in a memorial ride for a close friend who had died in a motorcycle crash earlier this year. Haus was riding at 65 miles per hour through Danvers when his cycle went out of control and hit several trees. Emergency medical workers pronounced him dead at the scene of the motorcycle accident.

Less than one hour later, 65-year-old Paul E. West, of Brockton, was returning from a trip to Mount Washington in New Hampshire when he fell down a 10-foot embankment and hit a tree. He also died. Reaching the top of Mount Washington was a longtime goal for West. He was a lifelong motorcyclist, according to his 32-year-old daughter, who also took up her Dad’s hobby.

Our condolences go out the families of both motorcycle accident victims.

Quests end tragically for 2 motorcyclists, Boston Globe, August 10, 2009 Continue reading

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Last week, the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority’s general manager Daniel A. Grabauskas resigned under pressure from the current Democratic administration. Under Grabauskas’s leadership, the MBTA had come under fire for several reasons, including a subway accident earlier this year that over 60 people and caused $9 million in property damage. The MBTA was also being criticized for its financial woes, as the transit authority threatened to increase fares and/or cut service to make up million dollars in debt.

Despite criticism of Grabauskas’ leadership, he won a payout of $327,487, a sum that some consider to be irresponsible in light of the MBTA’s financial trouble.

In a press conference at the MBTA’s operations control center last week, State Transportation Secretary James A. Aloisi Jr. and MBTA interim general manager William Mitchell reassured MBTA customers that service and accountability would improve under new leadership. The merger of state transit agencies will be completed on November 1.

Aloisi promises a better MBTA, Boston Globe, August 8, 2009 Continue reading

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Last week, the driver of a Dufour Inc.bus reportedly suffered a heart attack, causing the bus to veer out of its lane and into a gully.

The bus was headed northbound on Route 8 around 12:40am when the bus crash occurred. It was carrying 15 passengers, who were members of MCLA’s Leadership Academy on their way home from Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts.

The bus driver, age 69, was later pronounced dead at Berkshire Medical Center. Five of the passengers were taken to the hospital to be treated for injuries. Four of the five bus accident victims were released from the hospital following treatment, and status of the fifth passenger is unknown.

The motor vehicle accident is being investigated by the Pittsfield Police Department.

Bus Driver Stricken at Wheel; Five Injured in Crash, iBerkshires.com, July 29, 2009 Continue reading

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A study released last week by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) discovered that car drivers who talk or listen to someone on a cell phone while driving increase their risk of auto crashes by 1.3 times. Truck drivers who text message up their risk of a motor vehicle crash 23.2 times as compared to a non-distracted driver.

Here in Massachusetts, there are no laws against text messaging while driving, but there is a ban against cell phones for school bus drivers. Earlier this summer, the state Senate approved a bill that would ban texting while driving, but the bill was later overridden. Since May, over a dozen bills relating to driving and cell phone use have been have introduced in the State Senate.

So far, five states have passed legislation banning handheld cell phones for all drivers. Fourteen states (and Washington, DC) have passed legislation banning text messaging for all drivers. No state has completely banned all types of cell phones for all drivers, regardless of age. However, a bill that would prohibit all car and truck drivers from text messaging or emailing while driving was introduced in the U.S. Senate last week.

Texting big risk for drivers, The Martha’s Vineyard Times, August 6, 2009 Continue reading

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On Sunday afternoon, a 43-year-old Massachusetts mother and two children, ages 10 and 12, were injured in an car collision on the Route 101 bypass in Milford. Police say the woman was driving a 1998 Volvo station wagon when she skidded into the other lane, colliding with a 2000 Volkswagen. The auto accident occurred on the western part of the bypass between Market Basket and Route 13.

The driver of the Volkswagen was not injured, while the woman driving the Volvo was taken to a Nashua hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The two children who were riding in the Volvo were also taken to the hospital with unknown injuries. The emergency response team included two ambulances from Milford, two ambulances from Amherst, and two Milford Fire Department engines.

Route 101 was closed for less than an hour following the motor vehicle crash. Police are still investigating the car accident.

Woman, 2 kids hurt in Route 101 crash, NashuaTelegraph.com, August 4, 2009 Continue reading

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