The most amazing part of the Colorado crash is that a pair of people in a Honda CR-V survived with minor injuries after one of the truck's two trailers fell on their vehicle from a bridge above. The trailer was followed in rapid succession by the other trailer and then the truck cab itself, all quickly engulfed in flames, law enforcement officials said.
]]> Authorities said dental records would be required to make a positive identification of the truck driver's body, though officials said his next of kin have already been notified of the crash.A woman who was a passenger in the 18-wheeler survived the fall. She was treated and released from a nearby medical center. So too were the two people in the Honda.
They were driving along the highway when the first of the Yellow Freight truck's trailers slammed into a guardrail above, flipping over it and plummeting to the road below.
The flames from the truck and trailers were estimated to have risen 200 feet in a fireball, witnesses said.
Moments after the trailer landed on their vehicle, the two were seen walking away with minor injuries.
One man from a towing company called to help clean up the wreckage said, "I don't see how anyone could have survived."
The two people in the Honda have thus far declined to speak to the media about their harrowing experience.
Firefighters said the fire was likely ignited when one of the 18-wheeler's fuel tanks struck the railing.
Source: Aspen Times, "Police: Trucker outside cab when he died in I-70 crash," May 14, 2012
]]>It's an avoidable auto accident that painfully illustrates the dangers of distracted driving, the Charlotte Observer reports.
]]> The distracted driving accident in May that took the life of the Connecticut jogger, 44, was in Norwalk in that state. The girl has been charged with a serious crime: negligent homicide with a vehicle.The father of the jogger blames his son's death on the girl's "stupidity."
"There's no reason to use a phone while you're driving a car," the father told a media source. "There is nothing out there that important. I totally, totally have to believe that these phones can be made to shut off if they're moving."
The girl was also cited for failure to stay in her lane, though police are, because of the suspect's age, unable to release her name and reluctant to release other details, such as what, exactly, she was doing on her phone at the time of the crash. They say she was using her phone's keypad, but we don't know for sure if that means she was texting -- perhaps the most dangerous thing you can do with a handheld while you're at the wheel of a moving vehicle.
The city's police chief said the tragedy shows "how dangerous it is to be distracted while driving a 3,500-pound vehicle 35 to 40 mph."
Source: Charlotte Observer, "Conn. accident shows dangers of distracted driving," May 15, 2012
The study was by Automobile Association of America's Foundation for Traffic Safety.
]]> We also discussed North Carolina's graduated licensing system that enables teens to go from supervised driving during specific, limited hours to unsupervised driving at any time.The AAA's safety foundation's study was based on analysis of federal government data on auto accidents involving teen drivers from 2007 to 2010.
According to the study, a 16- or 17-year-old's risk of dying as they drive increases 44 percent when they're accompanied only by a passenger younger than 21. That risk doubles when there are two passengers under the age of 21 and quadruples with three or more young passengers are in the vehicle without any accompanying adult.
When the teen driver is accompanied by a passenger 35 years old or above, the risk of dying in a crash drops 62 percent, researchers said.
The president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety said the presence of other teens can be extremely dangerous distractions for young and inexperienced drivers.
The good news is that graduated licensing laws appear to be helping lower risks. Between 2000 and 2010, the total of 16-year-old and 17-year-old drivers in deadly accidents fell by more than 50 percent.
Safety advocates say the graduated licensing is helping, as are increased attention on seat belt laws, enhanced safety features in cars and campaigns to end drunk driving.
Source: Associated Press, "Study: A teenage driver's risk of dying in a crash goes up sharply with other teens in the car," May 7, 2012
]]>The new research confirms the conclusions of past studies that teens provide dangerous distractions to young drivers. Those past studies were more than a decade old and didn't reflect "graduated licensing" changes adopted by states beginning in the 1990s.
]]> Here in North Carolina, we have a three-tiered licensing system for novices, beginning with the limited learners' permit that a person can get when they're at least 15 years old but less than 18.With that license, the young driver needs a supervising driver in the vehicle. In the first six months, the novice driver can only drive between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. with the supervising driver.
After a year, the young driver can get a limited provision license, enabling them to drive unsupervised between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m.
After six months with the limited provisional license, they can move up to the full provisional license. That permit enables them to drive unsupervised at any time.
The research by the Automobile Association of America's Foundation for Traffic Safety came to a conclusion many parents have come to long ago: teens are in more danger of being in a car accident when they're driving with their friends than when they're by themselves or with an adult.
We'll have more on this new study about young drivers in our next post.
Source: Associated Press, "Study: A teenage driver's risk of dying in a crash goes up sharply with other teens in the car," May 7, 2012
]]>The 41-year-old lives across the state from us in Charlotte, living in Jacksonville. The September road rage incident was in Richmond, Virginia, however.
]]> That's where a 24-year-old man on his way to work as a financial adviser when the crash happened. The genesis of the wreck was when a red Ford pick-up driven by the North Carolina man passed the 24-year-old at approximately 90 mph, cut in front of his Honda, and then slammed on the brakes.The two drivers then apparently engaged in aggressive driving towards each other, with the drivers exchanging obscene gestures.
The North Carolina man escalated the exchange when the two vehicles were side by side, law enforcement officials said. He swerved his truck several times at the other man's car, forcing the driver into an emergency lane and then onto a hillside along the road.
The Honda hit a raised manhole cover, according to witnesses, and went airborne before slamming into a bridge abutment.
The financial adviser was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead of the blunt-force brain injury he'd sustained in the crash.
The North Carolina man reportedly fled the scene of the accident, spending time in Tennessee and Georgia in what a news outlet called an effort "to avoid detection by law enforcement."
However, he was arrested about a month after the crash when he returned to his Wake County home.
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch, "Man pleads guilty in I-195 road-rage fatality," Reed Williams, May 2, 2012
]]>The series of accidents early Monday morning in Morganton began when a 53-year-old Morganton man, traveling east on Interstate 40 in his Saturn car, ran off the road, and hit the median and guardrail. His car came to a stop facing west in an eastbound lane.
]]> The Morganton man got out of his car and stood near the back of the vehicle, a law enforcement spokesperson said.An eastbound 18-wheeler then hit the bumper of the Saturn. The Arkansas trucker pulled his tractor-trailer onto the shoulder of the interstate to check on his vehicle and the Morganton man.
Just then, a Kia minivan, also eastbound, swerved to its right to avoid hitting the Saturn in the roadway. Instead, the van hit the Morganton man who was standing in the lane.
The Morganton man was later pronounced dead at the scene of the crashes.
After striking the man, the van then ran off the road onto the shoulder and hit the parked 18-wheeler.
Several people in the van were injured, including an Asheville man, 46, who had to be airlifted to the Carolinas Medical Center here in Charlotte.
Another Asheville man, 28, also a van passenger, was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, as was another passenger, a Marion man, 23.
Two other minivan passengers, a 27-year-old man and a 26-year-old man, both of Marion, were treated at the scene of the crash for their injuries.
The driver of the minivan, 29, was not injured.
Source: McDowell News, "Accident on I-40 kills Burke County man," April 30, 2012
]]>Law enforcement officials said that at about 8:40 p.m. last Wednesday, a driver stopped a car at the light-rail crossing on Remount Road near South Boulevard. The train crossing arms were lowered at the tracks and the car's driver was simply waiting for the train to go by.
]]> That's when a Jeep apparently slammed into the back of the car, sending the car forward onto the tracks and into the light-rail trail.Police said they don't know how fast the train was moving at the moment of impact.
They said they're investigating whether or not alcohol was a factor in the collision.
Officials said none of the injuries sustained were life-threatening. Of those seven injured, three were in either the Jeep or the car.
The other four were on the train. They include three passengers who had to be hospitalized. The train's operator was also taken to a nearby medical center, but he wasn't injured; train operators are examined as part of all train accident investigations.
Law enforcement officials said 37 people were riding the train at the time of the collision.
A CATS spokesperson said accidents involving the light-rail are rare, however there have been several recent incidents involving pedestrians.
In the crash involving the Jeep and car, investigators will look at blood alcohol content, as well as the behavior of the Jeep's driver prior to the crash in order to determine what caused the collision and whether or not it was preventable.
Source: Charlotte Observer, "4 seriously hurt in light-rail collision at Remount Road near South Boulevard," April 26, 2012
]]>One North Carolina high school recently attempted to drive home the point about the dangers of drunk driving with a mock car crash last week.
]]> Raleigh's Athens Drive High School staged the two-car collision to show students just how serious driving while intoxicated can be.Before the mock crash, students gathered to listen to testimonials from people who have witnessed highway carnage firsthand. One such person was a state trooper who told the assembled students about delivering a death notification to the family of a person killed in a car wreck.
Afterwards, a judge spoke to the students about North Carolina laws requiring mandatory jail time for anyone under the age 18 caught driving while impaired.
Then a registered nurse and trauma care EMT talked about how often residents of North Carolina are killed in car accidents: our state ranks second in the nation, behind only Texas, in driving fatality rates.
After hearing the statistics and warnings, it was time for the school to let the kids see for themselves what happens in an accident. Victims were made up to appear to have serious injuries to their faces, arms and legs -- including having bones protruding from their skin.
Some students gasped when they saw accident victims covered with a sheet.
One 17-year-old girl said she had to cover her eyes because she knew the students in the vehicles.
"This is why I want a party bus or a limo (for our prom)," she said. "I don't want to drive or ride with my friends."
Let's hope the others got the message just as clearly.
Source: newsobserver.com: "Athens Drive High mock crash brings message home to teens," April 19, 2012
]]>The sticky part comes from the passage in the bill requiring all vehicles sold in the U.S., beginning in 2015, to have data recorders that store information about car accidents.
]]> There are important North Carolina and federal elections this fall, so virtually every legislative proposal provides a political battleground. This bill is the focus of attention of some folks worried that drivers' privacy rights will be violated by a government requirement that all vehicles contain event data recorders (EDR).What kind of data do the recorders store? Well, after a car accident, investigators can download information from the EDR that shows how fast the driver was going prior to impact, whether they were wearing a seatbelt, whether they hit the brakes, how long it took for airbags to deploy, and so on.
Here's an interesting fact about this "new" requirement: over 90 percent of new vehicles already have EDRs in them as standard equipment. In fact, most vehicles sold since 1996 have had EDRs in them.
The data in the EDRs belongs to the owner of the vehicle. There are some exceptions, however, in which the owner doesn't have exclusive control of the data: under court order, to help authorities in an emergency situation and in investigations allowed by law.
Some are worried that insurance companies might be allowed access to the data, without the permission of the vehicle owner. Some privacy advocates also worry that law enforcement might routinely access the information without court orders.
Some police departments apparently access the information today as a part of accident investigations.
Many observers expect some changes to the bill, enhancing privacy rights, before it becomes law.
Source: ARS Technica: "Privacy experts warn that new car black box bill doesn't go far enough," April 21, 2012
]]>The family was headed to the Charlotte Motor Speedway in a pick-up that was pulling a classic car on a trailer. The trio was far from their destination when the crash happened, however.
]]> They were just starting out from their home in Frenchtown Township, Michigan: 600 miles north of Charlotte. That's when the son, who was driving the pick-up truck, says he saw another pick-up on the highway. The driver of the other pick-up appeared to be angry, pulling in front of the family vehicle repeatedly and hitting his brakes, the son told a local media outlet.The son told a reporter that he did all he could to stay out of the angry driver's way, but then the other driver rammed his pick-up into the trailer hauling the classic car. That sent the two trucks, the trailer and the classic car careening into the guardrail.
The 69-year-old father of the driver was thrown from the family pick-up and then trapped beneath it. Witnesses said the 54-year-old driver of the other pick-up refused to help people who stopped to try to lift the vehicle off of the older man.
Instead, the man sat in his truck and watched, they said.
The son says he's lost his father to "a terrible case of road rage."
Source: clickondetroit.com: "Son of Frenchtown Township crash victim says it was 'Horrific case of road rage'," Shawn Ley, April 18, 2012
]]>These kinds of accidents tend to involve older women driving in parking lots, the government study found.
]]> While that makes the crashes sound like mostly harmless fender-benders -- and many of them are just that -- there are also cases of devastating injuries, and even fatalities, when a person mistakes the gas for the brake pedal.Lest anyone think we, or the researchers, are piling on women drivers, let's remember that the concern over these gas/brake mistakes first gained national attention in 2003 with a horrific crash caused by an elderly man.
The 86-year-old hit the gas instead of the brakes, and then panicked as his car slammed through an open-air California market, killing 10 people and injuring 63.
This latest study of gas pedal accidents shows that while nearly two-thirds of the crashes involve women, the accidents tend to happen most often among drivers over the age of 76 and drivers under the age of 20.
The study included 2,400 gas pedal accidents in North Carolina and an additional analysis of about 900 news articles about these kinds of crashes nationwide.
In the North Carolina database, the accidents were nearly equally divided between elderly and young drivers.
Fifty-seven percent of the gas pedal accidents here are in parking lots, parking garages and in driveways, rather than on streets.
Source: Buffalonews.com: "Study links age, gender to runaway car accidents," April 14, 2012
]]>A family of seven was traveling in a van when they were unexpectedly struck by a boat and the corresponding trailer emerging from the oncoming lane. After the trailer hit this family's vehicle, it continued to hit another van. A total of nine people were injured in the three-vehicle accident, but all have been released with the exception of the young girl. She is still receiving treatment at a North Carolina medical facility.
]]> According to preliminary police reports, the boat and trailer broke loose from a vehicle traveling down the road. Authorities believe the trailer may not have been adequately "secured to the towing vehicle." Currently, the accident is still being investigated, so no charges have been filed yet.Nothing can adequately describe the anxiety the 6-year-old girl's parents and family members must be feeling while they wait for her condition to improve. The hope is that the girl will recover fully from the medical trauma.
Not only do motorists have responsibility to operate their vehicles with caution, but they also have an obligation to make sure their vehicle and any attached trailers or cargo are safe to travel the roads. Had the boat's owner done a better job checking the security of the trailer's connection to the vehicle, this accident may have been avoided. If the police investigation determines that the driver did not properly secure the boat and trailer, that individual could be held accountable in criminal and civil court for their negligence leading to the injuries.
Source: Fox 28 News, "Accident Critically Injures 6 Year Old Canton Girl," April 11, 2012
]]>Who would have guessed a North Carolina city would lead the way in trying to prevent car accidents caused by distracted driving? Chapel Hill has done exactly that, however, by becoming the first to ban (most) use of such devices by drivers.
]]> "Most"? Yes, there are a number of notable exceptions to the ban: if the driver is speaking to the police, fire department, rescue workers or a hospital, they're exempt from the law. They also won't be fined if they can prove they were talking to a doctor's office, parent, child, spouse or legal guardian.If they can prove that, they avoid the $25 fine a ticket for this secondary offense would bring. A secondary offense means police officers won't pull you over for that offense, but they will give you a ticket for it if you've been stopped for a primary offense such as speeding or running a stop sign, etc.
North Carolina already has a law banning cellphone use by drivers under the age of 18. We also ban texting while driving in the state.
But the Chapel Hill ban, even with its many exceptions, is a step forward for activists eager to see distracted driving accidents reduced.
The ban includes wireless devices that can access digital media, defined as the internet, games, a digital camera or music library.
Clearly, they're thinking of iPads and other tablets.
While this particular's merits will undoubtedly be debated, there's little doubt that it's a good idea for people to continue to think of ways to improve traffic safety.
Source: PCmag.com: "Chapel Hill Enacts Total Cell-Phone Ban on Drivers," Mark Hachman, March 29, 2012
]]>Yet the 23-year-old Good Samaritan who lost the bottom half of his left leg in the hit-and-run accident last summer defies cynicism. When he learned that a Charlotte man had been arrested for hitting him and fleeing the scene, he said the first thing he wanted to say to the hit-and-run driver was simple: "I forgive you."
]]> The Good Samaritan was fitted for a prosthetic leg two months ago, and last month he walked down the aisle for his wedding."Me and [my wife] have been praying for the guy who hit me," he told an Atlanta TV station. The hit-and-run accident was in Georgia's Gwinnett County last August.
The 40-year-old man alleged to be the driver in the accident fled the scene and eventually returned to his North Carolina home, law enforcement officials said.
He was arrested here several days ago, as were his three brothers. They were charged with helping him hide evidence of the crash.
Apparently, one of the brothers filed a report with police about 30 minutes after the accident, claiming his vehicle had been stolen.
While the Good Samaritan is obviously the type of person who forgives others their mistakes, it's very likely that he has enormous medical bills to pay as a result of the serious injuries he sustained.
Most people would say that in these kinds of cases, it's only fair that the person responsible for the accident and injuries should pay for the hospital bills, costs of surgeries, physical rehab and prosthetic devices.
The best way to ensure full and fair compensation is to speak with an experienced personal injury attorney who knows how to hold people responsible for their damaging actions.
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Hit-and-run suspect arrested in good Samaritan case," Angel K. Brooks, April 4, 2012
]]>The repetitive trauma on the football field decades ago, is leading to a variety of mental and cognitive issues for NFL football players. According to ESPN, there are 659 players who are suing the NFL for damages caused by head and brain injuries. The Associated Press reported that the number of former NFL players could reach 1,000.
]]> A neuroscientist at the University of North Carolina has been collecting data from the college's football players for about six years. The study uses accelerometers in the players' helmets. The study's research shows that depression is three times more likely if the player has had three or more concussions during an NFL career. That same player is five times more likely to have mild cognitive impairment.For one former Chicago Bears player, his depression and anger issues caused him to take his own life. According to his suicide note, he shot himself in the chest so that his brain could be studied. An autopsy revealed tissue damage and chronic traumatic encephalopathy. He was 50 years old when he died.
One of the main legal issues at stake in the pending lawsuits is what the NFL owners knew and when they knew it. In that regard, the issue is similar to lawsuits against the tobacco industry. Former NFL players are claiming that the NFL knew as early as the 1920s that there could be brain damage from the repetitive head hits.
If it can be proven that the NFL knew about the potential dangers to players, and failed to warn the players, the NFL may be considered negligent and could be held liable for damages. The players who are seeing the side-effects today are those who played in the 1960s and 1970s. One could imagine that there are many more players following in their footsteps.
Source: Kitsap Sun, "Poulsbo's Kaminski among those suing NFL over head injuries," Nathan Joyce, March 31, 2012
]]>