Georgia Injury Law Blog
National safety organization, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, recently released its 2013 Roadmap of State Highway Safety Laws, which rates states on how they performed on the enactment of 15 basic traffic safety laws.The laws include everything from text messaging bans, to graduated driver’s licensing programs for teen drivers.While these types of reports don’t do much to help accident victims, our Atlanta car accident attorneys believe there is value in reviewing the results and how our state’s legislature is performing.
AHAS ranked all 50 states and the District of Colombia.The bad news seems to be that many states have regressed as far as passing important and effective highway safety laws are concerned.In 2011, 16 safety laws were passed by states, while 22 laws were passed in 2010.However, in 2012, states passed just 10 highway safety laws.
The report was based on whether states had enacted important traffic safety laws, including those related to seatbelts, booster seats, motorcycle helmets, driving requirements for teenage drivers, driving while impaired, and laws that ban texting while driving for all motorists.States were given 3 color-based ratings – green, yellow or red.Green denoted the best performance, and indicated that the state has significantly advanced towards adoption of all recommended highway safety laws.Yellow indicates a state that is working towards enacting many of these laws, but still has a lot of work to do.However, a classification of red indicates that a state is dangerously behind in the adoption of key traffic safety laws that can keep motorists safe.
Georgia was ranked as a green state, because the state has enacted most of the traffic safety laws recommended by the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.Georgia was one of 14 states that were rated as green.According to the report, in 2011, there were 1,223 motor vehicle accident fatalities in Georgia, and the 10-year fatality total in the state was 15,067.The annual economic cost from car accidents in Georgia is approximately $7.85 billion.
However, the organization wants Georgia to enact and implement several other laws, including stricter graduated driver’s licensing laws that would affect the minimum age for a learners permit, and nighttime driving and passenger restriction restrictions for teenage drivers.The organization also recommends that Georgia enact all-DUI offender ignition interlock laws.
These laws would help save more lives in accidents in Georgia every year, because they are aimed at reducing the number of people killed in teen driver-related and drunk driving accidents.These 2 categories account for a high proportion of fatalities in accidents every year.