North Carolina Injury Lawyer Blog

It’s been official for some time now. Texting while driving is dangerous. So why do many people still do it? The risks that come with this bad driving habit are the focus of this week’s Distracted Driving Summit being held by the US Department of Transportation.

At the opening of the two-day conference, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood provide attendees with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's 2008 distracted driving statistics:

• 515,000 injuries
• 5,870 deaths
• On any day, nearly 800,000 drivers used a handheld cell phone

While drivers under age 21 make up the greatest portion of distracted drivers, there are many adults who text and drive. Our Charlotte, North Carolina car accident lawyers realize that it can be difficult to fathom how texting, a seemingly harmless activity, can be so deadly. But the statistics, research findings, and the number of people whose lives have been destroyed because they were injured or lost a loved one in a cell phone crash or a text messaging accident can no longer be ignored.

Virginia Tech Transportation Institute recently reported that large truck drivers increase their crash risk by 23 times when they text and drive. Merely reaching for communication device or dialing a cell phone increased the chance of a car accident or a truck collision by six times. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety says that more than 1 million auto crashes a year that happen in North American can be linked to driver inattention.

Texting while driving becomes illegal in North Carolina beginning December 2009. There is still no law banning motorists from texting in South Carolina. Unfortunately, even with all the information and new laws, there will be still people out there who will risk their lives and the lives of others to make that cell phone call, send a text, turn the iPod dial to find the perfect song, or surf the web on their Blackberry or iPhone to stay abreast of the latest news headlines.

New Research Finds Increase in Use of Hand-Held Devices Among All Drivers, DOT.gov, September 30, 2009

Texting Trouble: Transportation Summit to Address Distracted Driving, September 30, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Distracted Driving Summit, US Department of Transportation

AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety

Continue reading "NHTSA Reports Nearly 6,000 Distracted Driving Deaths in 2008" »

Now that the North Carolina House of Representatives has made it overwhelmingly clear—by a 104 to 5 vote—that texting and emailing while driving should be banned, the bill now heads to the state Senate and then Governor Bev Perdue. If the bill becomes law, anyone caught violating the ban would b fined $100 plus court expenses. Rescue workers and police are among those who would be exempted. An amendment to the bill helps determine when negligence might have occurred if someone was texting when a North Carolina car accident happened.

There are more people texting in North Carolina than ever before. According to the 2008 “Big City Wireless Use Study,” from April 2006 to April 2008, text messaging use increased among Verizon customers by over 600%. The International Wireless Association for the Wireless Telecommunications Industry says text message sending and receiving increased from 14.4 million in 2000 to 48.1 billion in 2007. That same year, a University of Utah study reported that texting while driving is similar to driving under the influence and is 50% more dangerous than talking on the phone while driving.

Even the American Medical Association has spoken out about texting while driving, calling the habit a health hazard. Another recent study says that texting while operating a motor vehicle forces a motorist to spend 400% more time with his or her eyes off the road—a dangerous practice whenever someone is driving.

In order to send or receive texts, a driver must take one if not both hands off the steering wheel, which can lead to catastrophic North Carolina motor vehicle crashes—especially if he or she has both eyes on his or her cell phone while reading or composing a text message.

Currently, in North Carolina, only minor drivers and school bus drivers are banned from texting while driving. They are also banned from speaking on cell phones any time they are operating a motor vehicle.

Texting while driving is negligent behavior.

N.C. bill would ban texting while driving, McclatchyDC.com, April 16, 2009

Texting While Driving Dangerous To Your Health, RedOrbit, November 2008

Related Web Resources:
Cell Phone Driving Laws, Governors Highway Safety Association

National Safety Council

Continue reading " North Carolina Bill Banning Text Messaging While Driving Now Goes to Senate" »

In Lillington, a number of five high school students and a car driver were transported to a local hospital for treatment of minor injuries following a North Carolina school bus accident. The traffic collision occurred yesterday morning when the school bus was rear-ended by a vehicle at the intersection of US 101 and Lafayette Road.

The North Carolina Highway Patrol says the car, driven by Lillington driver Maureen Denise McCouat, went under the bus, seriously damaging her vehicle and causing minor damage to the school bus.

This is not the only Harnett County bus accident to happen recently. A number of week ago, another car slid under a school bus during a North Carolina traffic accident. Fortunately, no one was injured. Following the motor vehicle crash, the car driver waved to the occupants of the school bus before driving off. The motorist has yet to be apprehended. On Friday, a local elementary school bus was almost involved in an auto accident when another motorist swerved in front of it.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which defines a school transportation-related crash as a traffic accident involving an actual school bus or a vehicle being used as a school bus that takes kids to and from school or to school-related activities:

• 1,541 people have been killed in US school transportation-related crashes since 1997.
• 73% of these fatalities were riding in the other vehicles when the motor vehicle accident happened.
• 7% of the people that died were riding in the school bus when the traffic crash occurred.
• 20% of deaths involved pedestrians and pedalcyclists.
• Between 1997 and 2008, 27 school bus passengers and 16 bus drivers died in 36 single-vehicle accidents.
• 32 passengers and 34 drivers died in the 54-multiple vehicle crashes involving a school bus.

Driver Slams Under Bus: Students Go To Hospital With Minor Injuries, Dunn Daily Record, March 3, 2009

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Related Web Resources:
School bus injuries much higher than thought, MSNBC/AP, November 6, 2006

National Coalition for School Bus Safety

Continue reading "North Carolina Bus Accident Sends Students to the Hospital for Treatment of Minor Injuries After Car Goes Under the Bus" »

The National Safety Council wants US lawmakers to push for a nationwide ban of all cell phone use while driving. The NSC says that even hands-free devices are a distraction to drivers, who should be focusing all of their attention on the road and in the vehicle and not on a phone or text messaging conversation going on with someone who is elsewhere.

Findings from the University of Utah and the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis support the claim that use of cell phones and their accessories, including handheld devices, can make for distracted driving. The National Transportation Safety Administration is also backing up these findings and plans to push local lawmakers to establish tougher laws on the issue.

In North Carolina, current laws ban cell phone use and text messaging by teen drivers younger than 18, as well as bus drivers. Now, North Carolina Representative Nelson Dollar says the state should consider banning text messaging while driving.

According to the National Institute of Health, 636,000 auto crashes resulting in 2,600 deaths happen every year because people were talking or texting on a cell phone or another PDA device while driving. 330,000 other victims were injured, with 12,000 of them sustaining serious injuries. The costs incurred by such accidents is over $43 billion annually.

The NSC says that in addition to pushing tougher legislation, it will offer more education and materials about the dangers of driving while using a cell phone.

Distracted Driving
The NHTSA says that driver inattention is the cause of 80% of all auto crashes. According to the NSC’s Cell Phone Use While Driving Fact Sheet:

• The chances of a motorist becoming involved in an auto accident increases by four times whenever he or she is driving while talking on a cell phone.

• Over 100 million people drive and use their cell phones at the same time.

• It is safer to talk to someone who is in your vehicle with you than it is to talk to someone on your cell phone.

N.C. lawmakers could consider texting-while-driving ban, WRAL.com, January 2, 2009

National Safety Council Calls for Nationwide Ban on Cell Phone Use While Driving, NSC.org, January 12, 2009

Cell Phone Use While Driving Fact Sheet, NSC.org

Related Web Resource:
Cellphone laws, IIHS.org

Continue reading "National Safety Council Wants All US States to Ban Cell Phone Use While Driving " »

Two people were taken to a hospital in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in critical condition and at least 48 others were transported to a Henderson hospital after a Greyhound Bus and a tractor-trailer collided near Henderson.

The bus was headed toward Raleigh on U.S. Route 1, when, according to a NC Highway Patrol Officer, it failed to slow down while the tractor-trailer attempted to turn. The bus rear-ended the truck. The bus then drove off the shoulder and down an embankment where it landed on its side.

If you are ever injured in an accident involving a bus or truck anywhere in North Carolina or South Carolina, you should speak to a personal injury lawyer right away.

Truckers and bus drivers are upheld to higher standards of motor vehicle safety than regular motorists. Injury accident cases involving buses or trucks are usually more complicated to prove than car accident or motorcycle crash cases.

An experienced truck accident attorney will be familiar with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations that truck drivers and bus drivers are required to follow. A truck crash attorney knows what to look for to determine whether the truck driver was working beyond his or her legally allowed number of hours or whether a truck malfunction was the cause of a deadly crash.

Your bus accident lawyer can also determine whether other parties, ncluding the bus company, the government, a school district, or anyone else aside from the bus driver, can be held liable for your injury accident.

The size and weight of a large motor vehicle striking a victim who has little in the way of physical protection can lead to catastrophic—even deadly—injuries. Children, especially those riding school buses, are especially prone to serious injuries if they are involved in a school bus accident.

There are specific steps that you must take to maximize your chances for recovery in North Carolina or South Carolina if you are involved in any kind of motor vehicle crash.

50 Hurt in NC Bus, Tractor-Trailer Wreck, FoxNews, January 2, 2007

Greyhound Bus, Tractor-Trailer Collide On U.S. 1 Near Henderson, WXII12, January 2, 2007

Related Web Resources:

FMCSA

Greyhound Bus Line

Continue reading "At Least 50 People Sent Hospitals After Greyhound Bus-Tractor-Trailer Accident Near Henderson, North Carolina" »

In Selma, North Carolina, approximately three dozen students sustained minor injuries on Wednesday in a bus accident on Highway 96. The school children were taken to local hospitals following the multi-bus accident.

Three school buses were involved in the motor vehicle collision, in which one bus rear-ended another. The driver of one of the buses sustained neck injuries. A parent of one of the children experienced a panic attack and also had to be taken to a hospital.

The school buses had come from Selma Middle School and Selma Elementary School.

Every day, more than 23 million elementary, middle school, and high school children ride school buses to and from school. At least 17,000 kids are injured in school bus accidents each year.

School bus drivers and the schools and bus companies that employ them are required to exert a reasonable duty of care to make sure that children who ride the buses are transported safely to and from school. If their failure to exercise this reasonable care causes a student on the bus or a student getting on/off the bus or walking near the bus to become injured, the bus driver, the school, and/or the bus company may be held liable for personal injury.

Bus accidents can result in serious injuries, including abrasions, internal injuries, burns, broken bones, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and death.

Common kinds of injury accidents involving school buses include a bus colliding with another motor vehicle, a bus striking a pedestrian, a student sustaining injuries while getting on and off the bus, and bus rollovers. Causes of driver negligence can include speeding, carelessness, not paying proper attention (including talking on the cell phone or text messaging while driving), reckless driving, and drunk driving. The school or bus company’s hiring of unqualified bus driver and improper maintenance of the bus can also lead to bus crashes.

If your child was injured or killed in a bus accident in North Carolina or South Carolina, you should speak with a personal injury attorney who is experienced in dealing with bus accident cases.

Bus wreck injures students, News & Observer, November 9, 2007

27 kids injured in school bus crash, News14.com/AP, November 7, 2007

School bus injuries much higher than thought, MSNBC.com/AP, November 6, 2006

Related Web Resource:

School Bus Fatalities and Injuries, NCSBS.com

Continue reading "Dozens of North Carolina School Kids are Injured When School Buses Collide" »