Motorcycle Death Statistics

 Posted on May 23, 2012 in Automobile Accidents

The Governors Highway Safety Association released statistics on motorcycle accident related deaths for 2011 (Motorcyclist Traffic fatalities by State: 2011 Preliminary Data). The 2011 data goes through September, as the remainder of the year’s data is not yet finalized:

  • 2011: 3,580 motorcycle deaths (January to September)
  • 2010: 3,641 motorcycle deaths (January to September)
  • 2010: 4,502 motorcycle deaths (full year)
  • 2010: 65 motorcycle deaths in Maryland (January to September)
  • 2011: 52 motorcycle deaths in Maryland (January to September)
  • 2010: 1 motorcycle death in the District of Columbia (January to September)
  • 2011: 3 motorcycle deaths in the District of Columbia (January to September)


There are some theories about why the motorcycle fatality statistics are not decreasing with the standard auto accident fatalities, which are down 1.7% in 2011. These include:

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Pre-Impact Fright: Fear of an Impending Collision is Compensable in Maryland

 Posted on May 21, 2012 in Automobile Accidents

The 1998 Court of Appeals decision in Beynon v. Montgomery Cablevision ruled that pre-impact fright is compensable in Maryland auto accidents. We all know what pre-impact fright is–those brief moments before an impending collision when you realize that another car is going to hit you. This is the moment that causes you to freeze, to shut your eyes, to pray, to hold your breath. It’s that moment that the adrenaline shoots through your system.

The old rule was that damages could be recovered for injuries like fright only with physical impact, but that rule was done away with in 1909. For the run of the mill auto case though, a better case is made with some element physical impact or injury–a close call doesn’t usuallycut it. The Beynon case was about whether pre-impact fright was compensable in a wrongful death case where the driver was killed in the collision. In that tractor-trailer collision, a driver collided into the rear of a truck. The allegations against the truck driver were that the truck did not have proper lighting in the rear, making it difficult to see. Leading to the point of impact were over 71 feet of skid marks–a clear indication that the driver knew what was coming. He died on impact. The trial jury decided that $1,000,000.00 in pre-impact fright damages were sufficient (according to Maryland law applicable at the time, that figure was reduced to $350,000.00).

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D.C. Traffic Accident Statistics

 Posted on May 20, 2012 in Automobile Accidents

The nearly mid-year District of Columbia traffic death statistics are out (up through May 11), and D.C. is doing very well. Credit is of course going to D.C.’s safety initiatives: education, better signs, safety officers, speed cameras (Mayor Vince Gray would like one on every corner), etc…. The accident death toll is now six, compared to 14 deaths this time last year. In 2009, there were a total of 16,841 traffic collisions in the District of Columbia.
This could be the result of any number of factors, including general awareness about the dangers of distracted driving. Regardless of the cause, we’re thrilled that that drivers are somehow safer.

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AT&T Publishes Teenage Texting & Driving Statistics

 Posted on May 17, 2012 in Automobile Accidents

AT&T conducted a survey of 1,200 teenagers (ages 15-19) to learn more about driving behavior and attitudes toward texting and driving. Here are some of their conclusions:

  • 97% of teens know that texting while driving is dangerous
  • 70% of teens believe that texting while stopped at a red light is dangerous
  • 54% of Hispanic teens admit to texting while driving
  • 41% of Caucasian teens admit to texting while driving
  • 42% of African-American teens admit to texting while driving
  • 80% of Hispanic teens admit to using their phones while at red lights
  • 71% of Caucasian teens admit to using their phones while at red lights
  • 70% of African-American teens admit to using their phones while at red lights
  • 46% of teens send between 21 and 100 text messages per day

AT&T’s Infographic is pretty good–it highlights a lot of information designed to help promote their “Texting & Driving: It Can Wait” campaign. Two things that caught my eye:

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What do Doctors, Drivers, and Pedestrians Have in Common?

 Posted on May 14, 2012 in Automobile Accidents

None of them should be texting. We’ve blogged before about distracted driving and even distracted doctoring. Now, Fort Lee New Jersey is issuing tickets to pedestrians who ignore traffic signals or who jaywalk while looking down at their phones.

There were 117 tickets issued in one month, at $85.00 a pop. The question here, as with all governmental cell phone regulation, is whether the government should be taking this parental role? Opponents of regulation say that the government should just leave us alone, and that if we are stupid enough to text and walk across the street, we deserve to get run over. Proponents say that the problem does not just affect those who text–it affects the motorist who hits us, the person who hits them, and costs taxpayers money when someone isn’t insured and needs medical care.

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Using iPad to Wirelessly Present Your Case At Trial

 Posted on May 11, 2012 in Trial

The iPad is great–you know it, I know it. It’s slick. It’s refined. It just oozes “cool.” Lawyers are now starting to use the iPad for work. Many use it to complement their laptops. Some use it now instead of a laptop. It’s even making the rounds at depositions, used to hold thousands of pages of documents and potential exhibits.

When it comes to trial, though, most attorneys ruin the cool. They have an iPad. They have a projector. The iPad is connected to the projector, by ugly wires (an iPad to HDMI adapter, and HDMI cables). They are tethered to the projector, by ugly wires. At that point, it doesn’t look nearly as sophisticated.

Lawyers: there is one way to present your case, and to maintain the ability to walk anywhere you want in the courtroom, with your iPad in hand. The jury will marvel at your grace, and will respect your technological sophistication. Especially compared to the defense lawyer who is using a foam-core blow-up and a slide rule.

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Honda Wins Small Claims Lawsuit

 Posted on May 10, 2012 in Product Liability

The ongoing saga of one woman’s pursuit for justice against Honda is finally at an end. Heather Peters opted out of a class action lawsuit, and took her case to small claims court in California. She alleged that her Civic Hybrid did not receive anywhere near the gas mileage as claimed by Honda; and that the vehicle was harmed by software updates. She prevailed at the small claims court level, with a verdict of $9,867.19.

Honda appealed the decision to the Superior Court, where the court heard the case from the beginning (called a de novo trial). A three-day trial was held. Honda convinced the judge that Honda was permitted to advertise the EPA-approved gas mileage numbers, even though the numbers were later adjudged inflated by the EPA. Interestingly, the Court found that “[t]he majority of users report mileage very close to the EPA estimates.”

In her press release, Ms. Peters commented that:

It’s a sad day when regulations designed to protect consumers are used against them. I’m certain that the EPA and FTC never intended to shield Honda from liability for advertising claims that a court of law determined to be false.

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Self-Driving Cars: Maryland Accident Prevention?

 Posted on May 09, 2012 in Automobile Accidents

We’ve all heard about Google’s research into self-driving cars. Now the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is getting into the mix, believing that 80% of automobile accidents can be prevented if vehicles are given the ability to communicate with each other (see article, Detroit Free Press).

This “vehicle-to-vehicle” communication and related technologies can be used to implement crash-warning systems, and lane departure alerts. According to the NHTSA’s Administrator:

Our research shows that these technologies could help prevent a majority of the collisions that typically occur in the real world, such as rear-end collisions, intersection crashes, or collisions while switching lanes.

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Off-the-Job Injuries While Treating for On-the-Job Injuries

 Posted on May 02, 2012 in Automobile Accidents

If you are injured while seeking medical treatment that is required in order for you to go back to work, when the original injury was a Maryland workers’ comp injury, is the second injury a workers’ compensation claim, as well?

The Court of Special Appeals answered that question no. Here’s what happened in Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority v. Jan Williams, just decided last week.

The claimant injured his back and left knee while on-the-job on April 15, 2008. A year later, he was attending a specialized type of physical therapy known as work hardening. He had a session, and went to his truck during the lunch break. After the lunch break, he got out of his truck and walked back to his therapy. While in the parking lot, another driver backed up into him.

The Court of Special Appeals ruled that, for a second injury to qualify as compensable under Maryland Workers’ Compensation law, there must be a direct and material relationship between the two injuries. In this case, the second injury was not, strictly speaking, caused by the first injury (rather, it was caused by the circumstances surrounding the treatment of the first injury). This is an issue of proximate causation as lawyers use the phrase–a direct and material relationship.

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National Cell Phone Driving Ban on the Horizon?

 Posted on April 30, 2012 in Automobile Accidents

U.S. Secretary Ray LaHood is continuing his crusade against cell phones and upping the ante, proposing a nationwide ban talking, texting and e-mailing while driving. His latest forum (see the news story by Reuters) was a distracted driving summit in Texas last week. His main argument centers around the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s estimate of 3,000 fatal traffic accidents in 2011, caused by distracted driving. The NHTSA also states that cell phone use delays reactions just as much as a BAC of 0.08.

According to LaHood:

It used to be that if an officer pulled you over for drunk driving, he would pat you on the back, maybe call you a cab or take you home, but he wouldn’t arrest you. Now that has changed, and the same enforcement can work for people who talk on cell phones while driving.

Opponents believe that existing laws prohibiting distracted driving, whether it be because of food, make-up application, or unruly kids in the back seat, are sufficient. Certainly there may be existing laws against distracted driving, but do they really permit officers to write meaningful tickets in the absence of a car accident?

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