Kansas City Injury Lawyer Blog

As a Kansas City injury lawyer who concentrates in motor vehicle accident cases, I have seen a substantial increase in distracted driving that causes serious injury. In fact, I would estimate that over 50% of our crash cases involve some form of distracted driving or inattentive driving behavior.

In my experience, the distracted driving collision usually involves a violent impact because the distracted driver has not attempted to brake or otherwise avoid the collision. Based on my experience, I agree with many who feel that taking your eyes off the road to electronic message can be just as dangerous as drunk driving.

There is little doubt that the modern day distracted driver presents a new universe of risk for all motorists.

While the dramatic rise in distracted driving is largely due to text messaging driving, the distracted driving epidemic is much more broad. With the advent of the smart phone, many motorists, both young and old, are now driving while they text, check e-mail, update social media like Facebook or Twitter, browse the web, or conduct business through their phone.

In this regard, I have started Drive By Example, a safety awareness campaign that is particularly directed at adult drivers. The focus of the campaign is that when you text or use a cell phone while driving, you are modeling dangerous driving for passengers, including children, and other motorists.

I am bringing Drive By Example, to the media spotlight, hoping to obtain a TV station partner to help encourage motorists to use the highest degree of care behind the wheel.

This week, the Governors' Highway Safety Association released its projected motorcycle accident fatalities for 2010. Overall, the news has been quite bleak, especially as far as Missouri is concerned.

The report projects an overall national decline of motorcycle accident fatalities in 2010. However, according to the report, this decline is too inconsequential to make a difference. In 2009, the drop in motorcycle accident fatalities had been a staggering 16%. Clearly, we are in danger of losing whatever ground we had covered in 2009 in motorcycle safety.

When I analyzed Missouri's motorcycle accident fatality numbers last year, I found that there was a drop of just one fatality in the first nine months of 2010, compared to 2009. In the first nine months of 2009, there had been 76 motorcycle accident fatalities in Missouri, and in the first nine months of 2010, that number declined to 75.

Even worse, the report indicates that the use of Department of Transportation-approved helmets has actually declined by 16%. That means a lot of motorcyclists are out there riding without wearing approved helmets. Whether this is the result of a false sense of security because of the sharp drop in motorcycle accidents in 2009, remains to be seen. However, Kansas City, Missouri motorcycle accident attorneys would encourage motorcyclists to ignore any data that indicates a drop in fatalities. Motorcyclists continue to be at a high risk of injuries in accidents. A helmet could be a motorcyclist's only chance of preventing serious and debilitating injury, or even death.

Missouri should also be investing more in educating drivers about the need to share the roads with motorcyclists. Too many accidents are caused because drivers failed to look out for motorcyclists, even though there are more and more numbers of motorcyclists on our roads now.

Douglas Horn, Principal Partner of Horn Law, is a highway safety advocate and a member of the Governor's Highway Safety Association.

The Insurance Institute last week published a report that Kansas City personal injury lawyers would find interesting. The report outlined how technology can be used to help reduce pedestrian accident fatalities.

The Insurance Institute study looked at the most common kinds of pedestrian accident scenarios, and found that these involved pedestrians crossing the road and a vehicle traveling straight at them. The Insurance Institute believes that accidents like this can be prevented through the use of forward collision warning systems with pedestrian detection. Forward collision warning systems can now be found on several automobiles. Last year, Volvo introduced pedestrian detection systems in the S60 sedan. According to Volvo, if the system was introduced on all vehicles, it could reduce pedestrian fatalities by approximately 24%.

Apart from pedestrian detection systems, there are other technologies that can be used to minimize the risk of serious or fatal injuries to pedestrians.

Other European automakers are looking at a change to the design of the automobile to ensure that fewer injuries are caused to a pedestrian during a collision.

Subaru has also introduced pedestrian detection systems, which include cameras and recognize pedestrians and bicyclists. Subaru's technology also allows the system to apply the brakes automatically if the driver fails to respond to a warning. Audi is also working on a pedestrian detection system using sensors. The system also automatically applies the brakes if the driver fails to stop in time to avoid a pedestrian. Mercedes and BMW have night vision features in their pedestrian detection systems that allow motorists to detect pedestrians even at night.

I, as a Kansas City personal injury attorney, will find it a little disappointing that most of the progress in pedestrian safety seems to be happening overseas. In the US, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had once considered design modifications to the front of vehicles to reduce pedestrian fatalities, but those plans were soon abandoned.

The month of April has been declared as National Distracted Driving Month, and throughout the month, motorists will face increased crackdowns, and harsher penalties as states around the country, including Missouri, make efforts to reduce the number of distracted driving accidents. As a member of the Governor's Highway Safety Association, I have been very active in efforts to contain the distracted driving menace, especially cell phone use and texting while driving in Missouri.

I see it every day as I drive on my way to my office - people texting or talking on their cell phones while driving. These people are at a much higher risk of accidents, and it's not as if they are unaware of it. Thanks to greater use of awareness campaigns, most drivers in Missouri are aware that such distracted driving could be lethal. However, the temptation to always stay in touch, especially for young drivers, simply takes over.

These drivers have added to the toll from distracted driving accidents, which according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is more than 6,000 deaths a year. Missouri has a texting while driving ban in place for motorists below the age of 21, and a new bill that will ban the practice altogether for all drivers, is still in the works.

Texting while driving represents a "new universe of risk" I, along with other Kansas City car accident lawyers, believe this is more dangerous than drunk driving. That's because texting ordinarily requires you to take your eyes off the road for an extended period of time. Moreover, while intoxicated driving is looked down upon, being constantly in touch via your cell phone even while driving, is seen as a sign of dedication to your job. The National Distracted Driving Month is a step in the right direction as public awareness is a solution. For more information about my efforts to advance highway safety, visit www.highwaysafetyattorney.com.

This is the kind of good news that Kansas City Injury Lawyers like to hear. There has been a further drop in traffic fatalities as seen in numbers released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last week. Traffic accident fatalities last year reached their lowest levels since 1949, and were a drop of 3% over 2009. There is no doubt that we are on the right track as far as highway safety is concerned, evidenced by the continuing decline in accident fatalities every year.

Last year, 32,788 people were killed in traffic accidents in the US. That is not only a decline of 3% from the previous year, but also a staggering 25% drop since 2005. All is not rosy, however. The 3% drop recorded in 2010 may not be so impressive when you consider that in 2009 and 2008, the decline was more than 9% each over the previous year. This indicates to Kansas City car accident attorneys that the progress being made towards reducing accident fatalities may have peaked.

Last year, statistics also put to rest the theory that the recession was responsible for lower numbers of traffic accident fatalities over the past three years. Last year, Americans traveled more numbers of vehicle miles, but were still involved in fewer vehicle accidents. That indicates that there are other reasons, and not just the bad economy, that are driving fatality rates down.

I strongly believe that the decline in accident fatalities rates has much to do with increased seat belt usage around the country. Seatbelt use is at record highs in many states, and even in Missouri, more people are buckling up whenever before. Besides, automobiles are much safer now, and come with enhanced safety features like electronic stability control, side-impact protection in the form of side airbags, forward collision warning systems and a range of other features that not only prevent accidents, but also increase a motorist's chances of surviving an accident.