Twenty elite drivers from Kentucky are among the 1,235 newly inducted worldwide into the Circle of Honor as announced by UPS February 23, 2012. The Circle of Honor is an honorary organization for UPS drivers who have achieved 25 or more years of accident-free driving.
There are 5,842 active UPS drivers who are members of the Circle of Honor throughout the world. Kentucky is proud to have 101 active UPS drivers that are members of the Circle of Honor. Kentucky’s senior safe driver, who has 42 years of accident-free driving under his belt, is Cleveland Francis of Louisville. He is the fifth placer of best safe driving record among UPS’s 102, 000 drivers. Here is the list of Circle of Honor drivers in Kentucky.
In the company’s history, this number of new inductees is the largest increase in new members in a single year. Zachary Scott, president of UPS Ohio Valley District, is proud of these men and women. He stated, “To go at least a quarter century without an accident is a testament to the pride they take in their work and to the training they receive. My thanks go to all of them for the countless lives they’ve saved.”
UPS’s 102,000 drivers are among the safest on the roads. It records to have more than 3 billion miles a year and averaging less than one accident for every million miles driven. This is good proof that the company has given much importance to the safety and training of their drivers. UPS was founded in 1907, issued its first driver handbook in 1917 and began recognizing safe drivers in 1923. Last year, UPS invested $175 million on safety training and employs its own comprehensive driving course called “Space and Visibility” which will teach UPS drivers safe driving methods.
As a Kentucky personal injury attorney I applaud the efforts of UPS. We could all learn a lot from their efforts that have decreased the number of serious injury car accidents in Louisville and around the world. I am proud that they call Louisville home. With their stellar record our new drivers could learn something from the UPS program.
The overall number of traffic fatalities during the first six months of 2011 decreased but not for 16-and 17-year-olds! Their number went up from 190 to 211. This is an 11 percent increase. Deaths among 16-year-old drivers went up from 80 to 93 (a 16 percent rise). During that same period deaths among 17-year-olds rose from 110 to 118 (7 percent). This was reported to be the first increase in eight years according to information from the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA).
Florida, Texas and North Carolina are among the states that have the most significant increases in teen fatalities. There were 23 states that reported jumps in traffic deaths, 19 states had decreases and eight states plus the District of Columbia saw no change.
Author Allan Williams, formerly the chief scientist at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said in a GHSA statement that, “While it is not a surprise that these numbers are stabilizing or slightly increasing, states should not accept these deaths as something that cannot be prevented. More work can and should be done to save teen lives.” He speculated that the increase may be due to the leveling off of initial benefits from ‘Graduated Driving Licensing laws. The economy may also be a factor because, more teens are behind the wheel and thus increasing their risk for fatal accidents.
Barbara Harsha, GHSA executive director, believes that states need more federal help to save more teen lives. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the states should have funds to be put toward “distracted driving” campaigns directed at teen drivers who may be texting, phoning or simply carrying on with friends while driving.
As a personal injury attorney and a parent, I personally get involved in showing my teens safe driving habits. Distracted driving is 4 times more dangerous than drunk driving. I prohibit them to any type of distractions while driving, especially electronic devices. Texting and driving is an epidemic. Programs and campaigns that bring awareness to the dangerous associated with distracted driving will help. In my opinion, however it goes back to the parents. Our examples and rules prohibiting texting while driving will do more than any federally funded program.
The Chicago Automobile Trade Association (CATA) launches The 2012 Chicago Auto Show which started February 10 and will go through February 19. Vehicle manufacturers displayed their latest and high-technology vehicle creation at this show.
During the show, GMC unveiled the new 2013 GMC Acadia crossover vehicle. It has all the latest technologies. It delivers higher level of technology with its new Color Touch radio with IntelliLink, touch-activated controls and color-touch navigation. The IntelliLink adds voice control and seamless smartphone integration. A GMC engineer explained that once you plug your smartphone in, Acadia’s computer system will “read incoming texts to you…so you don’t have to take your eyes off the road.” However, Joel Cooper, a University of Utah psychologist and research assistant professor specializing in distracted driving said that, “it doesn’t look good” and that “Cognitive distraction is not trivial”. This news sounds good for some who uses cell phones while driving and those who want to make their life easier. But does this invention really ensure safety? The real question is will the distraction take our eyes off the road and cause serious car accidents?
We all that that studies have shown that hands-free devices are as dangerous as hand-held devices and it causes distraction if you are behind the wheel. Just the fact of having a conversation has been shown to distract a driver’s attention from the road. Driving with the use of hands-free devices can still cause the brain to multitask and is cognitively distracted. The use of a cell phone and even the use of hand-held or hands-free devices by drivers are banned in some States.
It has been a challenge to get people to understanding about the risks of talking on hands-free or handheld cell phones while driving. New technologies and inventions may be cool and make our lives easier in the fast lane. It allows is to conduct business during commutes as a Kentucky Personal Injury attorney I wonder whether it is worth the risk if there is even the slightest chance that this distraction would cause a serious injury car accident. What do you think?
We live in Kentucky and know what a pothole can do to a car. Potholes come in all sizes. They might be a foot deep. Most potholes are formed due to wear-and-tear and the weathering of roads. Heavy traffic can aggravate the cracks and potholes in the road, making them more severe. This can go to the point that they are a danger that can cause car accidents, motorcycle accidents, bicycle accidents, and pedestrian accidents.
The size and depth of a pothole can vary substantially. Even shallow potholes may cause an accident. Tire blowouts, damage to the undercarriage of the car, loss of control due to the jarring, whiplash, muscle strains, or dental damage caused by severe jarring are some consequences of driving over a pothole. Under some circumstances the municipality or property owner in charge of maintaining the pavement may be responsible for the injuries.
A case in point is a fatal accident that happened March 15, 2010, where a young wife and mother of two was killed by hitting a simple pothole. The Fisher family was traveling home to South Carolina when their pickup truck neared the Georgia state line. They were traveling on a rough section of I-20. A car traveling in front of their truck hit a pothole, sending a piece of concrete through the truck’s windshield on the passenger side, where Jo Maureen Fisher was sitting. The chunk struck her in the head. She tragically died the next day. Today, the husband, John Fisher is a single dad trying to balance work with child care. Almost a year after the accident, the family was paid by the state of Alabama $1 million. This is even though they had not sued the state.
This was indeed a tragic incident. There would have been no life lost and a young family left without a mother if those potholes were repaired. This was a preventable accident. We are hoping that local and state government will continually maintain the road in order to avoid such fatal pothole accidents.
Road Rage as is “an aggressive or angry behavior by a driver of an automobile or other motor vehicle.” We can encounter road rage anytime on the roadway.
We are all guilty of road rage at one time or another. Examples of road rage include:
rude gestures (you know – flipping the bird)
honking the horn
unsafe or a threatening manner of driving
making threats
These aggressive behaviors can lead to disputes with drivers, assaults and even car accidents which can a cause injury or death.
How can we avoid road rage accidents? Here are some tips that may help:
Be a responsible driver – It is vital to drive safely and courteously. Never block the passing lane, follow traffic rules, refrain from speeding and use your turn signals when needed.
Check local traffic conditions – road rage accidents can take place as traffic gets worse. If possible, allow enough time to get to your destination. It would be better to travel ahead in order to avoid rush hours on the road.
Do not drive if you are under the influence of alcohol or drugs – you are prone to accidents and you are more likely to cause trouble if you are not in your proper behavior.
Never drive when you are angry or depressed – conflicts like threat, yelling or assault may occur when an angry driver is triggered.
Respect other drivers on the road – Use your horn in an appropriate manner and if you have high beams on headlights, turn it off when there is oncoming traffic. Avoid distracting other drivers.
Focus on the road ahead and be aware of other drivers around you – if you see an aggressive driver, get out of his way as much as possible.
Avoid eye contact with aggressive drivers – exercise extreme caution when dealing with angry drivers. When dealing with an angry and at-fault road rage driver, it is important to be calm and contact the police.
Being involved in a road rage accident can be risky and even deadly. Always remember that it is better to avoid irritating another driver. You don’t know how badly their day has been. If you know someone who is a victim of road rage accident in Kentucky, tell them to contact a personal injury attorney for them to know and protect their legal rights against at-fault aggressive drivers.
The following is a question I was asked on WAVE Listens about being hit by a cars that presented invalid insurance cards at the accident scene. I explain the ways you can go about recovering your out of pocket expense for fixing the damage to your carfrom a Kentucky car accident.
Q. In the span of about 11 months, I was hit by two different people and they presented fake insurance cards or invalid insurance cards at the scene and come to find out I had my insurance company both times take care of my car, paid my deductible through them, and now I find out that the insurance was not valid at the time of the wreck so I am out two deductibles.
A. There are several things that you can do, Mindy. It depends on whether or not these accidents have been within the last year. There is a one-year statute of limitations on a criminal charge of no insurance where you can go down to the courthouse and take out a warrant for a no-insurance charge. Once that warrant is issued the police will pick up or they will notify the individual of the court date. When the individual comes to court they’ll bring you in, you bring in proof that you were in the accident, things such as the accident report, you bring in proof that your car was fixed and that you were out the deductible and any other out-of-pocket expenses. When that individual is convicted or pleads guilty to that, one of the things the court will do is order restitution to be paid which is the money that you are out. It will not be something that would pay, be paid immediately. Usually it’s $100.00 a month or something like that, but that is the best way for you to get your money back. It would be a separate charge on each one of these individuals.
Another way to do that would be to take a civil small claims action out against each one of those individuals but, in this case you’re going to have a filing fee. Once you get the judgment against them, then you have to worry about collecting which often, is often more difficult than getting the judgment because tracking down bank accounts, where they work, and that sort of thing is extremely difficult. I found that it’s a very big hammer to know that you’re, you could go to jail for 90 days if you don’t pay back the individuals so, I would take out these no insurance warrants.
