Arizona car accident
attorney:
We can help if you are involved in a car accident where you suspect the
other driver was inattentive due to use of a cell phone.
The
popularity of cell phones has grown enormously in the past couple decade, and
it is becoming quite clear how much an impact cell phone calls and texting have
on car crashes. Talking on the phone and texting while operating a vehicle
leads to distraction and driver inattention. When dialing a phone number,
engaging in intense conversation or texting, you are being inattentive by not
watching the road. Whenever you are driving a vehicle and your attention is not
on the road, you are putting yourself, your passengers, other vehicles and
pedestrians in danger. An Arizona
car accident attorney may be crucial if you or a loved one is involved
in a car accident and you suspect that the other driver may have been
inattentive due to use of a cell phone.
Statistics
on car accidents resulting from inattentive cell phone drivers:
Almost 6,000 people are killed a year and over half-million are
injured in crashes related to driver distraction such as cell phone use.
Talking on a cell phone causes nearly
28% of car accidents.
Texting while driving is about 6 times
more likely to result in an accident than driving while intoxicated.
The majority of Americans believe that
talking on the phone and texting are two of the most dangerous behaviors that
occur behind the wheel. Still, as many as 81% of drivers admit to making phone
calls while driving.
Studies have found that texting while
driving causes a 400% increase in time spent with eyes off the road.
Many
state lawmakers have begun to implement statewide bans or restrictions on cell
phone use while driving. Although Arizona has yet to pass such laws, you may
can indeed hold the responsible party at fault for using a cell phone. Drivers
who are careless, inattentive or distracted are driving illegally. If you can
prove that the other driver was using a cell phone, and use of the cell phone
caused them to become inattentive or distracted, then you have a pretty good
case to prove that driver was negligent. Establishing that the other
driver was inattentive can be especially complex, so it is highly recommended
to contact a local Arizona
car accident attorney to assist you in your case.
Whether
a driver was distracted by a phone call, text message or for another reason, if
a driver causes an accident that harms another person, that driver is to be
held responsible for his or her acts. If you have been injured in a car
accident by a driver who was using a cell phone, it is recommended that you
contact an experienced Arizona car accident attorney today. An Arizona car accident attorney will be able to help
you prove that the other driver was inattentive and distracted and thus liable
entitling you to compensation.
The use
of seat belts has been strongly promoted in the United States for many years.
Current legislation in Arizona requires that seatbelts be used in most
situations while occupying a vehicle. Studies and experience show that buckling up can significantly increase your chances of
surviving a motor vehicle accident and preventing
serious injuries. While most of us know
that putting on our seatbelt will help prevent serious
injuries in an accident, this is not always the case. Each year numerous
individuals are injured as a result of defective, outdated or inadequately made
seat belts. If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident while wearing
a seat belt, it is important to contact an
experienced Arizona personal
injury attorney, preferably one with years
of experience handling cases against manufacturers,
where defective seatbelts have led to injuries.
Current Arizona law requires that seat belts be worn while
operating a vehicle. Arizona Revised
Statutes 28-909 and
those that follow describe the requirement of seatbelts in Arizona. The
violation of not wearing a seatbelt is a secondary enforcement, meaning that a
police officer may only cite a driver for a seat belt violation if the driver
committed another primary violation that led to the
stop in the first place.
Defective seatbelts by manufacturers
can lead to serious injuries and even fatalities. According to the
Center for Auto Safety, there have been over 180 safety recalls involving seat
belts in both passenger and commercial vehicles from 2000 through 2006. There
are a range of seat belt design flaws and inadequacies:
Belt webbing being cut by another part rubbing against it
Buckles that seem to latch but don’t
Shoulder belts that might not retract
Lap belt only designs
Seat belt may not holding an occupant in place
The retractor component of a seat belt malfunction, leaving
slack in the seat belt
Other failures of a mechanical components of the seat belt
system
As a result of defective or faulty seat belts, individuals
may suffer serious injuries:
Concussions
Spinal cord injury
Paralysis
Bone
fractures
Brain
injury
Contusions
Death
Disfigurement
Head
injury
Internal
organ damage
Paraplegia
If
you or a loved one has been injured due to a faulty or defective seat belt, you
may be entitled to compensation for your injuries. Since Arizona personal injury law is fairly complicated regarding injuries caused by defective and
inadequate seat belts, you should strongly consider
contacting an experienced Arizona personal injury, who specializes in seat belt injuries.
A decade-old benchmark for determining when a driver is legally intoxicated
-- the .08 blood-alcohol content rate -- should be lowered to 0.05, reducing
the amount a motorist can imbibe before being presumed to be drunk, federal
safety officials said Tuesday. At a
meeting in Washington, the National Transportation Safety Board is recommending
that all 50 states lower the threshold to reduce the nation's drunk driving
death toll, which has plateaued at about 10,000 deaths a year. A vote on the
recommendation is expected to take place at 11:30 a.m.
Lowering the rate to 0.05 would save about 500 to 800 lives every year, NTSB
staff members said, and is a crucial part of the board's attempt to eliminate
drunken driving in the United States. Under
current law, a 180-pound male typically will hit the 0.08 threshold after
drinking four drinks in an hour, according to an online blood alcohol
calculator published by the University of Oklahoma.
That same person could reach the 0.05 threshold after two to three
drinks in an hour, according to the calculator. (Many factors besides gender
and weigh influence a person's blood alcohol content level. And many states
outlaw lower levels of inebriation when behind the wheel.)
The NTSB will also consider numerous other actions Tuesday as part of its
"Reaching Zero" plan to eliminate alcohol-related driving fatalities. The board will consider recommending that
states vastly expand laws allowing police to swiftly confiscate licenses from
drivers who exceed the blood alcohol limits. And it is pushing for laws
requiring all first-time offenders to have ignition locking devices that
prevent cars from starting until breath samples are analyzed. All NTSB recommendations are advisory and
do not carry the force of law. But the independent agency is influential on
matters of public safety, and its action could spur action from like-minded
legislators and transportation departments across the country.
Board members -- meeting Tuesday on the 25th anniversary of the deadliest
drunken driving highway tragedy in the nation's history -- said something is
needed to jolt states into continued drunken driving reforms. In the early 1980s, when grassroots safety
groups brought attention to the drunken driving crisis, many states required a
0.15 blood alcohol content rate to demonstrated intoxication. But over the next
24 years, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and other groups pushed states to adopt
the 0.08 standard, the last state falling in line in 2004. The number of alcohol-related highway
fatalities, meanwhile, dropped from 20,000 in 1980 to 9,878 in 2011, the NTSB
said. In recent years, about 31% of all fatal highway accidents are attributed
to alcohol impairment, the board said. But
most of the decline in highway deaths occurred in the first decade, the board
said.
"We're still seeing improvement but not nearly as much," said
Robert Molloy, a supervisory transportation specialist for the board.
"Things are still being done but not at the same intensity." Safety board officials say they know a
fight for a 0.05 standard will not be easy. "I
think 0.05 is going to come. How long it takes to get there, we don't know. But
it will happen," Molloy said.
Said board staff member Jana Price: "I think eventually you'll see more
and more people acknowledging that .05 is high risk. Most countries in the
world are doing it. I think it's just a matter of time, but it's not something
that will very likely happen overnight."
The NTSB said even very low levels of alcohol impair drivers. At 0.01,
drivers in simulators demonstrate attention problems and lane deviations. At
0.02, they exhibit drowsiness, and at 0.04, vigilance problems. The current 0.08, which universal among
states, is not universal among drivers. Commercial drivers are deemed to be
intoxicated if they have a 0.04, and there is zero-tolerance for drivers 20 and
younger.
The safety board is expected to recommend to the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration that it provide financial incentives to states to
implement the changes. At Tuesday's
meeting, the safety board is also expected to champion so-called administrative
license suspension or revocation, in which police confiscate a motorist's
license at the time of arrest if the driver exceeds a blood alcohol limit or
refused to take the content test. Some 40 states already use the administrative
tool, which the safety board believes is effective because it is swift and
immediate. It also will encourage more
widespread use of passive alcohol sensors, which police can use to
"sniff" the air during a traffic stop to determine the presence of
alcohol. If the sensor alerts, it is grounds for more thorough testing.
Will .05 save lives? Maybe. I guess the question is,
how many accidents occur and how many deaths occur where it is determined that
the at-fault driver is .05-.07? If not, then perhaps this change
makes sense. If no statistics, and the facts show that most or all of
these occur at .08 and above, what’s the point?
Are people still going to drink and drive? No doubt about
it. Will .05 result in even more impaired-driving arrests and
convictions? 100% likely.
In my opinion,
.08 is not the problem. People do not go out and drink with an eye on
.08. They do not have their calculator with them to compute gender, body
weight, food intake, fatigue and number and type of drinks. They go out
and choose to drink alcohol. At the end of the night, they choose
whether they are “okay to drive” or whether they are going to try to get lucky
by not getting caught. Sometimes, at .08 or higher, they guess wrong and
cause an accident or get caught.
The erroneous
decision-making process is going to increase significantly at .05. The
question is, will it make a difference?
