Georgia Injury Law Blog

More Focus on Highway Safety Technologies, Less on Distracting Issues

Does the super-sized focus on specific highway safety problems like distracted driving and auto safety issues like the Toyota acceleration crisis detract attention away from  potential safety technologies and processes? It's an intriguing question posed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and as Atlanta auto accident lawyers, we agree with many of the Institute’s opinions.

What the Insurance Institute is basically saying in its latest report, is that when federal transportation safety agencies focus heavily on a specific highway safety problem like distracted driving, and when already limited resources are devoted to tackling this problem, it takes much attention and effort away from the development of other technologies and processes that can prevent accidents. No one is denying that distracted driving is a serious problem, but it contributes to a small percentage of auto accident fatalities every year. Similarly, we aren't saying that Toyota doesn’t have acceleration problems. In fact, in our capacity as Atlanta personal injury lawyers, we have always said that the company needs to be held accountable for its negligence. 

However, all the Toyota bashing takes attention away from the fact that a majority of the approximately 40,000 highway fatalities that occur every year in the US do not involve Toyota vehicles. For that matter, they do not involve distracted driving. In short, when federal transportation safety authorities devote extensive resources to fighting specific problems, like cell phone use while driving, they ignore the fact that more fatalities every year could be prevented by using, say, red light camera systems. We could prevent more fatal highway accidents every year by constructing roundabouts at busy intersections, or installing speed limiters on all commercial trucks. Some of the newest auto safety technologies, like lane departure warning systems can help prevent a variety of accidents that are caused by a number of factors, including distracted driving. We could be focusing on mandating these on all vehicles.

We could focus on these systems, and significantly reduce highway fatality rates. Instead, federal authorities seem to concentrate on holding distracted driving summits. Not that the distracted driving problem in Georgia isn't serious and doesn't demand attention, but while we tackle it appropriately, there are other things we could do to save more lives every year. There currently seems to be an imbalance in federal highway safety priorities, which needs to be set right.

Posted By Lisa Siegel In Traffic Fatalities | 0 Comments Permalink

Georgia Department of Transportation Settles Wrongful Death Lawsuit

The Georgia Department of Transportation has agreed to pay $600,000 dollars to settle a wrongful death lawsuit, arising from a taxi accident that killed a 51-year-old woman. Patricia Heller was killed when her taxi went out of control and crashed into a tree. She suffered fatal injuries.

Her husband filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the taxi driver, the taxi company, a former city inspector and the Georgia Department of Transportation. The lawsuit alleged that the taxi had bald tires on the day of the accident, and had passed a city inspection just one day before the crash. The lawsuit also accused the Department Of Transportation of negligent design of that section of Interstate 85, alleging that a tree should not have been allowed to grow so close to the roadway. The lawsuit also alleged that the slope was too steep, and the drainage system was poor.

Last month, a Fulton County court ruled that the tree clearance came under the jurisdiction of the city of Hapeville, and not the Department of Transportation. However, the negligent design claim was allowed to go ahead. Now, the Georgia Department of Transportation has agreed to pay $600,000 to settle the wrongful death lawsuit. It has also apologized to Heller's family, including her husband and two children.

Since the accident, the Georgia Department of Transportation has established a more expansive tree clearance program. However, the agency says it has no plans of making any changes to its drainage system or the slope design, because it doesn't believe any changes are needed

The Atlanta auto accident lawyers at the Katz Law Firm represent injured victims of auto accidents in the metro Atlanta region and around Georgia.

Posted By Lisa Siegel In Traffic Fatalities | 0 Comments Permalink

In a move that is sure to increase auto safety for Americans, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has announced that it will soon launch its new auto testing and rating program. Several 2011 models will be tested using these tougher testing standards.  The agency will begin testing about 55 models, including some American favorites like the Honda Odyssey, the Ford Fusion and Taurus, and the Chevrolet Cruze.

Under the new testing system, cars will be tested against each other, and not against a standard performance bar. In the old system, far too many cars were able to meet the standards, and obtain a five-star rating. In the new system, vehicles will have to compete with each other to get the five-star rating, and there will be far fewer vehicles that actually meet the new standards. Several cars that currently enjoy a five-star rating could find their rating drop to a two-star one, once the testing program is implemented.

The new testing program will include a pole test and a female crash test dummy in the front passenger seat. The tests will result in a single overall safety score. For the first time, the rating will also contain information about any additional safety features the car contains, like lane departure systems and forward collision warning systems. With this rating system, consumers will find it easier to buy cars that not only prevent accidents, but also protect them in the event of an accident.

As Atlanta auto accident lawyers, we know that safer cars have been a major factor in the drop in accident fatalities over the past decade. Cars in 2010 are much, much safer than they were back in the 1970’s. The new rigorous testing standards will help protect motorists and occupants, and minimize those fatality rates further.

Posted By Lisa Siegel In Traffic Fatalities | 0 Comments Permalink

How many highway fatalities are too many highway fatalities? That's one question that has had auto safety advocates’ and Atlanta car accident lawyers’ attention ever since the NHTSA announced that highway fatalities in the US were at an all-time low.

While 33,960 fatalities in 2009 may seem like good news, there's one group of transportation safety officials that doesn't believe so. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials is aiming for the ultimate highway accident fatality rate – zero. It is adopting an approach called Toward Zero Deaths. The program's goal is to alter the most common driving behaviors that frequently cause accidents - drunk driving, distracted driving, speeding and failing to buckle up.

The group is finding much success in its efforts towards minimizing fatality rates even further. Auto safety groups are urging Congress to set a target of halving the highway fatality rate in the next two decades. In August, AASHTO and the Transportation Research Board will convene a meeting in Washington that will be attended by auto safety experts from around the country. Several states are engaged in encouraging initiatives aimed at further reducing fatality rates.

According to traffic safety experts, more than motorist behaviors, it is advanced auto technologies that could be instrumental in reaching this goal. Atlanta car accident attorneys will agree. With the Toyota safety scandal still making headlines and new recalls being issued every second day, it is easy to believe that our vehicles are dangerous machines. The fact is however, that electronic stability control systems, side air bag systems, collision warning systems, and other advanced technologies save lives every year.

These technologies are still too new for us to understand exactly how many fatalities these prevent annually, but we’re willing to bet the number is substantial. Over the next few years, the NHTSA will mandate backup cameras in automobiles to prevent backover accidents. The agency is also looking at the possibility of requiring noise emitting systems in ultra-quiet hybrid electric cars. The noise that these systems generate will alert pedestrians to an approaching car. 

It's hard to imagine a time when no person will drive intoxicated or at dangerous speeds. It is however possible to imagine that in the near future, automobiles will evolve into protective cocoons of safety, shielding motorists and passengers from death.

Posted By Lisa Siegel In Traffic Fatalities | 0 Comments Permalink

Covington Driver Released after Fatal Pedestrian Accident

Even as the family of 6-year-old Suk Maya Monger was holding a memorial service for the refugee girl who was struck and killed in a pedestrian accident, the motorist who struck her has been released from the DeKalb County Jail.

Suk Maya was killed last week. She and her mother had just got off a MARTA bus, and had walked round in front of the bus to cross the street. As they stepped into an open lane, motorist Gregory Armwood stuck the mother and daughter pair. According to police, he had just passed a stopped car and a MARTA bus. Suk Maya suffered serious head and internal injuries. She died on Wednesday. That day, tragically enough, was to have been her first day at a local Atlanta elementary school.

The girl had been in the country for just 12 days. Her family had traveled to the US under a federal refugee program for people from countries where they face persecution. The Mongers had come from Bhutan where they faced ethnic cleansing. Suk Maya herself was born in a refuge camp in Nepal where her family lived for 10 years. There was no access to schools, and they survived on relief, along with about 200,000 Nepalese refugees. At the time of the accident, the family was still applying for social security numbers. Obviously, they have little money, and this is an unimaginably tragic time for them.

According to a Clarkston police officer who witnessed the accident, Armwood passed a vehicle and then a bus. State records show that this man has racked up several traffic offenses over the past 17 years, including drunk driving, running stop signs and speeding. In 2003, he was convicted in DeKalb County for driving at 75mph in a 55mph zone.

Armwood seems to have a history of disobeying traffic rules. Unfortunately a 6-year-old girl, who came into this country looking for a better life, has paid the price.  This was a man who, with his record history of traffic violations, should not have found it that easy to drive a car and mow down an innocent girl. We hope this time round, Armwood is prosecuted vigorously to prevent him from getting back on the streets where he could be a danger to others like little Suk Maya. 

The DeKalb County pedestrian accident attorneys at the Katz Law Firm represent victims of injured pedestrians in DeKalb County and across Georgia.

Posted By Lisa Siegel In Traffic Fatalities | 0 Comments Permalink