Accident Prevention

Published on: June 19, 2010

Motorcycle Safety Tips for Summer – Avoiding Motorcycle Accidents

Summer also happens to be motorcycling season across Georgia.Thousands of motorcyclists will take to the highways this summer and, unfortunately, many of them will be involved in a motorcycle accident. They can accept warm weather, clear skies, and unfortunately, also plenty of hostile motorists. There are several things that motorcyclists can keep in mind to help them to avoid an accident and serious injuries.

As Atlanta motorcycle accident lawyers, we would like to stress the need for both motorists and motorcyclists to cooperate to prevent accidents this summer.One of the best things that a novice motorcyclist can do to minimize the risk of accidents and injuries is to take a safety training program before beginning motorcycling. Even if you have been an avid motorcyclist in the past and have spent a few years without riding, it’s highly recommended that you take a motorcycle training program to brush up your skills. These training courses provide excellent tips for avoiding accidents.

Wear protective gear. A helmet is an absolute must. Also wear protective leather clothing including jackets and boots.

Published on: April 28, 2010

National No Phone Zone Day for Drivers

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

The campaign against distracted driving is coming soon to a chat show near you. On April 30, the Oprah Winfrey show will broadcast a special on distracted driving, called National No Phone Zone Day, and Atlanta will play a part in the proceedings. .

According to the Oprah show website, Oprah’s special guests on that day will be representatives from the Department Of Transportation, the Governors Highway Safety Association, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and other safety agencies. Oprah will invite families of victims killed in accidents linked to cell phone use while driving. There will be live rallies in several metropolitan cities across the country, including Atlanta. These rallies will include the participation of victims’ families, safety groups, and other advocacy groups.

Viewers will be invited to join a pledge – that they will make their car a “no phone zone,” and will avoid using a cell phone while driving at all costs. Hundreds of thousands of people have already joined the pledge on the Oprah website, and more are expected to join after the show airs on April 30.

Published on: April 10, 2010

Children More Likely to Be Injured by Routines During the Holidays

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Children More Likely to Be Injured by Routine Things During Holidays

It’s no secret that children run a much higher risk of being injured during a major holiday like Christmas, than other days. However, contrary to what many parents believe, the risks to children are not so much from performing holiday-specific tasks, as from doing routine everyday things, or so, a new study says.

Researchers compared the five-day period around eight major American holidays – Labor Day, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Halloween and New Year’s. The study which used data between 1997 and 2006, revealed that most holiday injuries involve sports and recreation activities.That’s not any different from the rest of the year when children hurt themselves the most while playing.

Published on: April 9, 2010

Bicycle Safety Tips for Children

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Bicycle Safety Tips for Children

A tragic bicycle accident last week in south Fulton County killed a nine-year-old boy. The tragedy is a reminder of the risks to Atlanta’s children as summer creeps up on us.

More children can be expected to take to their bicycles as the weather gets warmer, and as Atlanta bicycle accident lawyers, we are concerned at the possibility of accidents involving kids on bicycles. There is much that parents can do to encourage safe bicycling habits in their children.

Published on: March 17, 2010

Bicycle Safety Enhanced by Google Maps

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Last week, Google rolled out its new Google bike maps feature that does for bicyclists what it already does for motorists. The feature provides bicyclists quick and safe routes to get to their destination.

Bikers have been calling for adding biking directions to Google Maps for a while now. A petition containing more than 50,000 signatures from bicyclists was sent to Google, asking the search engine giant to develop a map feature exclusively for bicyclists. That moment is here, and bicyclists couldn’t be happier about it. As bicycle accident lawyers in Atlanta, we couldn’t be more pleased at the way Google has stepped in to make biking not just quicker and more convenient for bicyclists, but also safer.

According to Google, the bike routes have been developed taking into consideration the safest way for a biker to get to his destination. The routes avoid crowded and congested streets, streets with no bike lanes, streets with a high volume of traffic, busy intersections, narrow streets and hills.

Published on: December 25, 2009

Preventing Holiday Accidents in Atlanta this Season

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Accident prevention and safety has been on the minds of Atlanta auto accident lawyers this season. Weather conditions are bound to get harsher, and motorists are also going to have to deal with millions of holiday travelers in a week’s time. The combination of bad weather and heavy traffic can be deadly. That is why when a group of elite truck drivers who have completed millions of miles of driving without accidents, doles out expert safety advice, we are all ears.

The advice comes to us via the American Truck Associations’ Share the Road program, which has professional truck drivers teaching the public about driving safely around 18 wheelers. There is no doubt driving a massive tractor trailer rig that weighs tens of thousands of pounds, requires greater skill and experience than driving a sedan. That is why we would highly recommend these truck safety tips for holiday travelers this winter.

· Always be aware of vehicles in front of you, and keep a sufficient distance between the two vehicles.

Published on: October 12, 2009

MARTA to Crack Down on Distracted Driving

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

MARTA to Crack Down on Distracted Driving

A series of safety incidents in the past few months that have involved MARTA drivers distracted at the wheel, has had Atlanta personal injury lawyers as well as the agency concerned about the increased risk of accidents from such behaviors. MARTA now plans to stress the safety message to encourage drivers and operators to keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel while driving.

· Recent footage revealed a MARTA bus driver reading a magazine while stopped at a red light.

Published on: March 4, 2009

Georgia – TACT Aims at Reducing Truck Accident Rates

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Law enforcement officers in Lowndes and Cook Counties launched the Georgia TACT (Targeting Aggressive Cars and Truck) program on February 23^rd. The G-TACT program is a traffic safety awareness campaign that aims at reducing the number of large truck accidents on our highways. Motorists driving passenger vehicles are taught to identify the dangers they face when they share the road with an 18-wheeler. The enforcement program continued through the week, and included I–75 and a few other areas that were chosen because of the high number of truck accidents in these. The enforcement included car and truck drivers engaging in dangerous behavior like tailgating, recklessly changing lanes, failure to signal and speeding.

A total of 365 big rig – passenger car accidents occurred in these areas over a 3-year period, resulting in 389 injuries and 20 deaths as a result. Out of the total number of highway deaths that occur in Georgia every year, 15% are caused because of commercial motor vehicles – passenger car collisions. In an overwhelming majority of these crashes, the fatalities are occupants of the smaller car.

Collisions between 18-wheelers and smaller passenger cars can have a disastrous impact on the occupants of the car. These massive commercial trucks can weigh up to 80,000 pounds, and a smaller vehicle has minimal chance of escaping damage when it is involved in an accident with a truck of this size. The rules of the road change dramatically when you’re sharing the road with an 80,000 pound machine. Speeding or other negligent behaviors like using a cell phone can be doubly dangerous when you’re anywhere close to a large truck. Always maintain enough space between the car and the truck, and keep in mind that the truck driver because of his position may not be able to see you. Be alert to any signals or signs that the truck driver, makes signifying his intent to turn etc. Avoid tailgating a large truck at all costs.

Published on: March 3, 2009

Accident, Injury Prevention Features still not Standard on all Passenger Vehicles

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Electronic stability control, side impact airbags, neck restraint systems – these are just some of the high tech, innovative, auto safety features that manufacturers have developed and improvised to near perfection in recent years, in an effort to reduce the number of car accidents and injuries caused by vehicle collisions. Although these are becoming popular with car buyers, they are far from standard on all passenger cars, which means that motorists who wish to have these features in their vehicles should be prepared to shell out extra dollars for them.

The New York Times has this story on how some of the most ballyhooed car safety features continued to be optional on several car models. Electronic stability control (ESC) systems are one of the most impressive new auto safety technologies to make it out of R&D facilities in recent years. The system makes use of computerized sensors that can tell when a car is in danger of losing grip of the road. When a potential loss of traction is detected, the system automatically applies the brakes so there is no loss of control. Cars may be especially prone to skidding or loss of control when they turn at high speeds, or accelerate or brake suddenly. Loss of control in such instances can cause the car to roll over, exposing occupants to serious injuries. With an ESC system working in your car, the risk of an accident is dramatically reduced.

ESC systems will be standard on all vehicles by 2012. They are currently very popular with buyers who will pay extra for an ESC system if it is not included as part of a standard features package. However, in times of a recession, paying extra, sometimes up to $ 2,000 extra for a package that includes an ESC system may not be in every buyer’s budget. In times of economic turmoil, it’s more important than ever that automakers design their cars with a view to minimizing accidents and injuries that take a heavy economic toll. Like David Champion who is the senior director of automotive testing at Consumer Reports says, manufacturers shouldn’t be making it more expensive for buyers to access proven safety gear like ESC systems or side impact airbags.

Published on: January 28, 2009

Seatbelt Laws, Accident Rates, and a $4 Million Grant for Georgia

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Georgia’s ongoing budget crisis may actually be a blessing in disguise for the state’s motorists – the state has an incentive for passing seatbelt laws that come in the welcome form of a $4 million federal grant, which would not only add to the state’s depleted coffers, but also reduce the number of accident-related fatalities in the state.

The state is the last one in the country that continues to allow pick up truck drivers to drive without seatbelts.All minors and adults are required to buckle up on other vehicles, however. This pick up truck exemption has come in the way of a fund of $4 million which the federal government has tied to a state’s enactment of seatbelt laws.Georgia however has stubbornly refused to make it mandatory for pick up drivers to snap on their seat belts, and has lost out on the funding, thus far.

Now however, the situation is markedly different, and cries for mandatory seat belt laws that can help save thousands of lives a year, are getting louder. One of the weapons in the armor of proponents of making seat belts mandatory on all vehicles without exception, is of course the $4 million grant that the state would receive if it passed these laws.The state currently faces a budget deficit that is set to exceed $2 billion, and with the economy in the shape it’s in, there’s no telling how deep the deficit could go.