We all know that the dangers of texting and driving. It is obvious.  In Kentucky we now have a simulator which demonstrates the dangers of texting and driving. The simulator can be requested from the Office of Highway Safety and is free to the schools.  It has not been used in Jefferson County but I hope our schools will take advantage of the program.  This new program has been developed to demonstrate the problems and many dangers of texting and driving to high school students.  This is presented for no charge by the Kentucky office of Highway Safety. 

Individuals are strapped into an arcade-type racing game.  The simulator has a seat equipped with a seatbelt, a gas pedal and a brake pedal.  There is also a steering wheel and a gearshift. You have three screens in front of you that gives the operator an 180?degree view of a roadway. The driver is requested to operate or drive normally. They are then handed a cell phone and asked to send a text message while they can continue to drive the simulator. 

When they are handed the cell phone it usually sends the car swerving into another lane.  Drivers are allowed to watch a replay of their simulation. When students are shown the simulation replay they see themselves swerving when they thought they were actually driving okay.  Distracted driving has become the leading cause of crashes among 16 to 21 years old.  Texting and driving is a big, big part of this.  

            The US Department of Transportation has banned all federal employees from texting and driving on federal-issued or personal phones while in vehicles owned by the federal government or in vehicles being used on federal business.  This includes the military.  Although the federal government may be the most recent, the National Safety Council indicates that hundreds of private companies and organizations have banned the use of cell phones while driving to reduce accidents at work. 

This needs to be the law in Kentucky and should be the number one priority at the next Kentucky legislative session.  The word is getting out in Kentucky partly thanks to Nicole Meredith, who is a teen.  She wrecked her car on the Gene Snyder last summer when she was texting a friend.  As she was texting she went off the road and totaled her car.  Miraculously she walked away from the crash without injuries.  Meredith has told her story in Frankfort to help kickoff the Transportation Department’s distracted driving campaign.  Hopefully there will be more than just a campaign and soon no text messaging behind the wheel will be the law in Kentucky.  

The statistics are one of the many compelling reasons to make this ban the law in Kentucky.  Some of these statistics are:

·        Distraction from the use of a cell phone while driving delays driver-reaction time

·        Use of cell phone reduces brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent.

·        80 percent of all crashes are related to driver inattention.  The use of a handheld device increases the likelihood of a crash four times.

·        In 2008 nearly 6,000 people died in crashes involving an inattentive or distracted driver.

·        Research shows that the youth are the worst offenders.

Believe it or not there were 53,000 distracted driving-related crashes last year in Kentucky.  Link Kentucky kicks off campaign to cut down on distracted driving.  Governor Steve Beshear is considering a policy that would limit distracted driving for all state employees.  Do we really need to have to tell them that it’s time to make this the law?  I hope Kentucky follows suit with Colorado. Their new law dictating how you use your cell phone while driving takes effect December 1, 2009.  After this date no one under the age of 18 will be allowed to talk on a phone while driving.  Everyone will be banned from texting while driving.   

Let’s hope Kentucky is next and a ban on text messaging while driving will be law in Kentucky in the near future. This will help to precent car accidents on our Kentucky roads.

Kentucky is a PIP state for automobile accidents. PIP is short for Personal Injury Protection. You may also hear these benefits referred to as Basic Reparation Benefits or No-Fault Benefits. I am not going into great details hear as to how these benefits work. Here is the nut shell. You have $10,000.00 of benefits that will pay your first $10,000.00 of medical bills and or lost wages.

Those of you that know me have heard me say that this is simply not enough for most accidents. I urge everyone to I run into (just figuratively) to purchase additional benefits called Added Reparation Benefits. For a small increase in your premium you can dramatically increase the coverage that is available to you.

With all of the talk about health care reform I have been looking at what is going on north of the border in Canada. In Ontario government is making plans to reduce their medical rehabilitation benefit from $100,000.00 to $50,000.00 for non- catastrophically injured people.  This is part their no-fault benefits. While I am urging people to increase their benefits in Kentucky the Canadian government is forcing everyone to take a reduction in these benefits. This will significantly alter the quality of care victims of automobile accidents will receive.

Interestingly enough it will increase the attorney fee collected. I am sure that most Personal Injury lawyers in Ontario don’t care about this change because of this.

I ran across an interview done by Brenda Hollingsworth, an Ottawa personal injury attorney, which was a breath of fresh air. Brenda is speaking out against the decrease in medical rehabilitation benefits that will be available to seriously injured car accident victims starting in the summer of 2010. In the video, Brenda talked about how injured car accident victims will run out of their Ontario rehabilitation funds long before the ten-years they are supposed to last. The 50% reductions in benefits will have catastrophic affects on many families.  

Brenda believes this change will increase the number of lawsuits required because injured people will have to sue the drivers who hit them to ensure they can pay for physiotherapy, medication and other medical needs.

I salute Brenda for standing up for the victims of auto accidents. In Kentucky we already have a low amount of PIP benefits that is required. Do yourself a favor and call your insurance agent and raise your coverage today!

Just when you think you have heard everything you read a story about the death of a two year old that just turns your stomach. It makes you think how could this happen?

The Rasansky Law Firm out of Dallas, Texas has filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the mother of a 2-year-old girl who choked to death at The Woodbridge Day School, a northeast Dallas daycare center, one year ago. The wrongful death lawsuit alleges that the daycare worker had no first aid training and the daycare owned by Neyse and Robert Hall, knew it. According to the lawsuit, employees at the Woodbridge Day School did not notice when 2-year old Isabella Estep started choking on a small rock. The child then collapsed inside the school. Despite employees being all around the unconscious child, five to 10 minutes passed before anyone noticed something was wrong. Tragically, Isabella passed away after being transported to a local hospital.

Now here is where it gets worse. It is alleged that the owners of the daycare sold the daycare a short time after the death. This was in an effort to prevent a report to the Texas licensing board according to the lawsuit. Jeff Rasansky said. “They have not been truthful about their role in this child’s death, and they have taken steps to prevent parents of other children from ever learning about their involvement.”

This is a tragedy that sounds like it could have been prevented on several levels. Those being hiring and training. Also, what procedures were in place for monitoring a two year old? Why was the child put in an area without a care giver where he had access to small rocks?  My sympathies go out to the family. I hope they get the answers they deserve. My daughters were in day cares from the time they were infants so my wife could work. You place your trust and leave our most valued possession with them. It is very sad when a daycare does not live up to the trust you put in them.

We will follow this case as it progresses with hope of preventing this sort of tragedy from happening in Kentucky.  

Driving my daughter to school this morning we saw a car cut through three lanes of traffic to make a right turn. She looked at me and said “What that car did wasn’t very safe”.  With that simple statement it hit me; she would be going to get her driving permit in less than two weeks. My youngest daughter would be let loose on the Kentucky roads and will be driving. UGH!!!! (To quote Charlie Brown).

As a father and an accident attorney I started thinking about how dangerous the roads are and that they were not a very safe place for my little girl.  All of the horrible facts concerning automobile accidents, the fatal accident scenes that I had worked as a prosecutor and the many cases I have handled started running through my mind.

• Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death among teenagers.

• Teenagers in the United States account for 10% of the population and 12% of the car accidents. It is worse for the 15-24 year old age group. This group makes up  approximately 14% of the U.S. population and for almost 30% of the cost of motor vehicle accident injuries.

• Newly licensed teen drivers have a higher crash rate their first year of driving than any  other year.

Why is this the case? Inexperience plain and simple.

• Most teen drivers will underestimate the seriousness of a dangerous situation.

• Teen driver have a hard time recognizing the presence of a hazardous situation.

• Teen drivers will break the speed limit more often than any other age group.

• Drunk drivers are bad, but teenaged drunk drivers are even more likely to cause a car  accident.

• Inexperienced drivers cause more accidents.

• The use of cell phones increase the risk of car accidents.

• Teen drivers have a much more difficult time adjusting to night driving.

What am I suppose to do? What do parents need to do to protect these new drivers? I do not want to obsess and just wait around for a late night phone call. How can we help reduce and prevent motor vehicle accident s involving teenagers? A good place to start is driver’s education and parent involvement. Sign up for a driver education class. Take the time to teach your kid how to be a safe driver. These steps may prevent injuries and even death.
injury accident

Kentucky is a state that has a Graduated Drivers License (GDL) program. These programs have been shown to reduce fatal and injury accidents involving new teenage drivers by up to 40%! GDLs delay full licensing of teens and restrict them from driving in higher risk situations. The goal of these programs is to reduce the number of car accidents involving our young drivers.

During the permit driving phase a new driver must be certified by their parent to have at least 60 hours of practice time behind the wheel. This is the minimum. The more they practice the better driver they will ultimately be. Also, any permit driver that receives a ticket and a violation during the 180 day permit phase has to start over. It will be another 180 days before they are eligible for their license.

Maybe things aren’t as bad as I think they are. Maybe I am acting like Eyore. But then I think back to daughter number one who is now an excellent driver. During her first year of driving she totaled two cars. Thankfully she walked away both times uninjured. Can I prevent daughter number two from a similar fate? No, but I believe I can increase her odds of success.

Should I have sign a safe driving contract? I think I will. Hopefully this will help make her aware of the many dangerous there are on the road and the responsibility one has when they are behind the wheel. Kentucky had on of the highest rates of teen car accidents in the nation in 2006. Teens made up 6% of our population and caused a whopping 20% of the accidents.

GDL programs are aimed at reducing these accidents after the permit phase and these driver’s are on the road without an experienced driver in the car. Night time driving is restricted between midnight and 6:00 A.M., except in emergency situations. I may be stricter myself, but this is a great law. Also the number of unrelated passengers under the age of 20 are restricted to one. Another great idea, because statistics show that the risk of an accident increases with the number of passengers. I guess it all comes down to paying attention to what you are doing and not multi-tasking.

Wish me luck over the next months. It is an exciting and scary time. My goal is to teach my daughter responsible driving. To be someone who makes are roads safer. To be an example of a good driver. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Utah has recently upped the ante. They have passed by far the toughest law in the United States against the growing epidemic of texting and driving. Get caught texting and driving in Utah and you are looking at prison time of up to 15 years if you cause a death and a fine of up to $10,000.00. If they are merely caught texting and driving the punishment is up to 3 months jail and up to a $750.00 fine. A far cry from the absolutely nothing that is on the books in Kentucky.

I believe it is time for the Kentucky legislature to take this issue under serious consideration and pass a tough law. I have way too many clients that have been injured due to a distracted driver. Whether they are texting, dialing a number on a cell phone or picking something up off of the floor it is dangerous. The consequences are severe and can change the direction of the accident victim’s life.

Utah’s new law became affective in May of this year. The penalties for texting are comparable to those of drunk driving if someone is killed in the accident. If you are texting while driving in Utah your actions are considered reckless. Choosing to text and drive is considered to be the same thing as choosing to get behind the wheel drunk.

This law is the harshest response to multi-tasking behind the wheel and is sure to be a topic of discussion at the National Summit for Distracted Driving this fall. Some studies show that talking on a cell phone while driving is as dangerous as driving with a blood alcohol level of .08, which is the legal limit in Kentucky.

There could be some problems with proving the conduct of texting and obtaining a criminal conviction under the Utah law. How do you prove someone was texting and driving? There is no test to prove that you were texting like there is for drunk driving. A breathalyzer makes the prosecutions’ job fairly easy.  A witness could be easily discredited. They only see the action. It could be texting or it could be dialing a phone number. Maybe the best evidence will be statements of the offender. Any statements can be used if they are made spontaneously. This coupled with the phone would be sufficient proof, but how do the police get access to the phone before the text messages are erased? Maybe a warrant, but this takes time.

I wonder whether the texting activity is the same as dialing a phone. It is the same action. It takes the same level of concentration. Should the Utah law be expanded? Should a distinction be made?

The Utah law also presumes the driver knows the risk of texting and driving. This is important because it goes a step further than many other such laws where it must be proven that the driver is aware of the risks associated with the activity before engaging in that activity.

What will Kentucky do? I really don’t have a clue. I believe penalties need to be put in place to deter this very dangerous activity. It is at an epidemic level. You will see people looking to their cell phones as you drive to and from work. This inattention causes accidents. Personally I believe that criminal penalties that include prison time for causing a death are appropriate. This will save lives, prevent auotomobile accidents and make our Kentucky roads much safer.

Over the last week I have seen a lot of bicycles out on the roads in Louisville as well as the Prospect, Kentucky area. I am not talking about all of the athletes that were in town training for and competing in the iron man competition. What I saw were people riding their bicycles through downtown Louisville that either do not know the law or are ignoring it. I was probably conscious of bikes since I had interviewed three potential clients in the last few weeks that were injured while riding a bicycle and were hit by a car.

The one common thread in these bicycle/automobile accidents was the fact that the bicycles were being ridden on the sidewalk. This is against the law and very dangerous. Local Louisville regulations apply to the operation of bicycles. This is defined in the local Traffic Code chapter on Bicycles and Motorcycles. The Traffic code states that: No person 11 years of age or older shall operate a bicycle on the sidewalks located within the geographical boundary limits of Louisville Metro.

There are a lot of other interesting rules, laws and safety considerations that all bicyclists should read, but that discussion will be for another time.  What this means is unless you are a child 10 years or other your bike is to be ridden on the roadways in Louisville, Kentucky. Not on the sidewalk!

Why can’t adults ride on the sidewalk? In my opinion it is for the safety of walkers as well as the cyclists. All of the accidents that I am talking about had a variation of the fact of bicycle riding on the sidewalk and then traveling into the street crosswalk where they were struck by a car. In most situations a car has no chance of seeing a bicycle entering the street from the sidewalk. The driver is not looking for anyone other than a pedestrian.

Know the law and protect yourself. If you are 11 years of age or older ride your bike on the road obey the rules of the road and use appropriate safety equipment such as reflectors and helmets. Protect yourself. Know and obey the law. Don’t find out after an accident that you were in the wrong. This will make all of us safer and prevent accidents.

As a trial lawyer I take some flack on occasion. Many people see us generally as a group that is out for the money. They see us only as the television commercials portray us. What is not seen is how trial lawyers fight hard for their clients. What is done on a daily basis to ensure that our clients are treated fairly and not taken advantage of. Many times we are standing up for the David against Goliath.

            I have recently run across an example of this. Virginia medical malpractice and personal injury attorney Ben Glass has been fighting a case against Dilake, Inc. on behalf of his client, Juan Jiminez, who is physically disabled. I know you are thinking “so what?” This is what lawyers do all the time. Well this case is a little different. Dilake, Inc. is a charity and Virginia follows what I would call the antiquated Charitable Immunity Doctrine. This doctrine states that a charitable organization can not be sued by a beneficiary of the charity’s services while injured in the care of the charity. This means that there is no right to sue unless Glass can convince the Virginia Supreme Court to change the law.

            Most states have abolished this doctrine. Kentucky did so in 1961 in the case of Mullikin v. Jewish Hospital. This means that in Kentucky a charity can be sued if they are negligent. There is no bar based just on the status as a charity. This means if they are negligent they can not hide behind the shield of Charitable Immunity in Kentucky. An injured person can be fairly compensated.

            Glass’s case is set to be heard by the Virginia Supreme Court on August 26. I hope that Virginia does the right thing and over turns the Charitable Immunity Doctrine. When you hear the news that it has happened remember that there was a trial attorney fighting hard for his client. That justice would not have occurred for Mr. Jiminez without someone in his corner.

I recently blogged on a case were a Facebook and Myspace post of a snowboarding video cost a car accident victim $20,000.00. Chris Davis’s blog on this case has received national attention and  and has lead to Seattle Attorney Chris Davis being featured on the Legal Broadcast Network. Davis states that 30 days before trial he was notified by the insurance adjuster that they had a video of the client snowboarding and going over jumps. This post damaged the accident case and cost Davis’s client $20,000.00 in his recovery. Davis states that the problem with such a post goes to the jury perception of his client. That is whether the client is exaggerating or making up his injuries.

As a trial attorney representing accident victims I know it can be difficult to convey to a jury the gravity of the injury sustained in a car accident in a 2-3 day trial can be difficult. This job is even tougher when a video of physical activity is shown, even if it was taken a year or two after the accident. As an accident victim you do not need to make it easier for the insurance company to defeat your case.

I advise my clients of the dangers of posting on social media sites and how these post can affect their Kentucky accident case. I have previously talked about what can happen and what you should watch out for.

As an accident victim it is important to take listen to and follow the advise of your attorney. My tag line is “Don’t Get Hurt Twice”. Unfortunately this is what happened to Mr. Davis’s client. He didn’t follow the advise of his attorney and he got hurt not only by the car accident but by the insurance company which does what ever it takes to lower the value of his accident settlement and keep the money in their pocket. Use common sense and listen to your attorney so you don’ end up in this situation.

There is a texting while driving epidemic in America. I see it almost daily. Not a week goes by that I don’t speak with a Kentucky accident victim that was injured by a distracted driver. Someone texting on their cell phone is the most common cause of these accidents.

A “Distracted Driving Summit” was announced by the federal Secretary of Transportation on August 4, 2009. The senate recently discussed a proposal for withholding federal highway dollars from states that fail to enact laws that ban texting while driving. The meeting is slated to occur in September. Safety experts, academics, elected officials, the police and others will be given the opportunity to discuss strategies to effectively ban texting while driving, cell phone use and other driver distractions with the hope of saving lives.

            Distracted drivers (including texting drivers) were compared to drunk drivers by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Lahood feels that Americans became fed up with their children being killed by drunk drivers and are now tired of the idea that people can text and drive in some states.

Will outlawing this type of activity by drivers save lives?  The Governors Highway Association has mad recommendations that oppose texting while driving. This same group opposes the implementation of laws that have no teeth and cannot be enforced. Fourteen states have a ban on texting and driving. Kentucky currently bans texting only for drivers under 18 and school bus drivers.

Studies show that texting while driving increases the risk of a crash. I don’t need a study to tell me this, but the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute did such a study. It showed texting truck drivers were 23 times more likely to be in a crash or near crash situation.  Cell phone users’ risks increased 4 times. College students fared better in a Study by The University of Utah. The likelihood of this group being in a crash increased 8 times.

Americans are inconsistent on their views about cell phone use. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety did a survey. 58% of those surveyed feel talking on a cell phone and driving is a serious threat. This increases to 87% for texting and driving.  67% of this group also said that they had recently used their cell phone while driving. It appears we feel it is okay for me, but not for someone else.

The federal government usually does not get involved with laws about driving; it is left to each individual state. I think it is fair to say that eventually there will be pressure put on states to pass laws or forfeit funding. Kentucky will eventually join the parade of states banning texting and driving, but it will be a while.

Wise up and put the phone down. Distracted drivers cause accidents. I had another client interview yesterday where the auomobile accident was caused by a texting driver that went off the road, over corrected and caused a head on collision. The accident and injuries could have been avoided if the phone was not being used. I wonder what was so important?

Do car driver side airbags prevent injuries?  There is no doubt that they do. Do these same airbags also cause injuries? Once again there is no doubt that airbags can cause serious injuries. Just ask Louisville, Kentucky’s own William Smock, M.D. who is an emergency room doctor at University Hospital and a professor at the University of Louisville Medical School. I was fortunate enough to see Dr. William Smock speak last month at a trial lawyer’s seminar. Dr. Smock is one of the leading experts nationally who is pushing for warning labels on airbags in cars. He has a proposed warning label for cars that he hopes will prevent some of these serious injuries.

            Dr. Smock has seen injuries from airbag deployment ranging from burns, fractures, eye injuries, head and facial injuries, cervical spine injuries, abdominal injuries, broken arms and severed thumbs.   My understanding is the location of many driver side airbags on the steering wheel is a location that protects but ads danger due to that location. The most common problem comes with trying to blow your horn at the time of impact. Your thumb goes to the horn button located on the side of the air bag and the same time the air bag deploys causing the injury. There are also horns located at the center of the steering wheel. When an auto accident is about to occur the natural reaction is to blow the horn. Your hand is on the horn at the same time the air bag deploys at a rapid rate causing serious injury. As you might assume Dr. Smock recommends not using a horn just prior to an accident.

            Many people who weigh less than 120 pounds or 5 foot 2 inches or less are at risk. These individuals move their seats close to the steering wheel to be able to see to drive. Being that close to a deploying air bag can cause serious injury. As I recall the body should be at least 20 inches from the steering wheel. This will reduce the risk of injury.

            Car accidents happen daily on Kentucky roads. There are serious injuries that occur that we have no control over. Take Dr. Smock’s warning seriously and help prevent these airbag injuries. They will save your life, but they must be respected.