Category: Vehicle Accidents
August 26, 2016 / Vehicle Accidents
Back-to-School Risks That May Surprise You
It’s that time of year! Summer’s last gasp is upon us when our children to return to school. While it can be a period filled with mixed emotions, from nostalgia to elation, one thing hasn’t changed: the chance of your child becoming a pedestrian injury statistic. Changing Demographics Pedestrian injuries are the fifth most common reason for injury-related death among children from 5 to 19. But here’s a hard truth that may surprise you: teenagers are the age group with the greatest risk. They have a death rate twice as high as that for younger kids. About half of child pedestrian deaths happen to teens, and those who sustain injuries are likely to have serious ones. It didn’t used to be this way. Just a little over twenty year[...]
August 3, 2016 / Vehicle Accidents
Amish Buggy Accidents and Distracted Driving
Recently in Indiana, a rash of accidents between motor vehicles and horse-drawn buggies illustrate the dangers of distracted driving. In Elkhart County, two crashes—one on May 29, 2016, and one on June 2—have highlighted this serious problem. In the May 29 accident, a teenaged girl rear-ended a buggy that was carrying a 6-week-old baby, along with the child’s Amish parents, on Indiana State Road 13. The 17-year-old driver said, because she was distracted, she did not notice the buggy until she was unable to avoid the accident. In the June 2 accident, a buggy containing an Amish woman with her 4-year-old child was rear-ended by a distracted driver. Even though no life-threatening injuries occurred in either recent accident in Elk[...]
August 3, 2016 / Vehicle Accidents
A New Weapon to Fight DWT (Driving While Texting)
The problem of texting while driving continues to grow. It is a known cause of distracted driving, which is responsible for a large number of crashes on our roads. Some studies put the number of wrecks as high as almost 70 percent of all accidents. But we don’t have accurate statistics regarding distracted driving, partly because it is easy for a driver in an accident to lie about whether or not they were texting or otherwise on their phone. Practically all states ban texting while driving, with no exceptions; and many states ban all cell phone usage for at least some drivers, often school bus drivers and those under 18. The laws are in place, but drivers are not willing to admit that they were driving distracted in an accident. New Yor[...]
May 4, 2016 / Vehicle Accidents
Save a Life—Be Aware—Motorcycles Are Everywhere
With the return of May’s nice weather, if you’re a motorcyclist, you know it’s time to hit the road and enjoy a long, relaxing ride. It’s probably because of the lovely weather common to the month of May that it was selected for Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month. This designation, officially proclaimed by Governor Pence and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for 2016, is held both to remind riders to travel safely and responsibly and to raise awareness among those in cars and trucks so they will look out for motorcyclists. Sharing the Road Can Be Hard It can be tough to be a motorcyclist because, in reality, the other driver is often the cause of the accident. It can be downright impossible to avoid a wreck[...]
September 9, 2015 / Vehicle Accidents
Accidents Happen—and This Manufacturer Made Them Worse
Accidents that occur on major highways, or in places where drop-offs or other hazards exist, can be horrific. That’s why guardrails that stop a car’s progress are so important in mitigating such crashes. But, as it turns out, sometimes the very item meant to protect us ends up harming us. This indeed appears to be the case with Trinity Industry guardrails, which have been installed on roads around the U.S. for many years. A change in Trinity’s manufacturing process to its ET Plus product, beginning in 2005 -- a change which they kept secret -- created “end caps” on guardrails that turn into deadly spears, killing and maiming occupants of cars instead of protecting them by peeling away. What Happened? After Trinity’s guardrail de[...]
September 2, 2015 / Vehicle Accidents
But I Fastened My Seat Belt!
You’ve probably read quite a bit this year about the multi-million-vehicle Takata air bag recall. The faulty air bags have been implicated in at least eight deaths and over 100 injuries, and the automakers run the gamut from Honda to GM to Ford to Nissan. But you might not have heard as much about the seat belt recalls involving four major car manufacturers. Air bags would not be as life-saving as they are if we didn’t have seat belts in our cars. Seat belts do indeed save lives. It could even be argued that seat belts are more critical to our safety than air bags. They are the original, first line of defense when it comes to minimizing serious injury and death in automobile accidents. Seat belt use has risen over the years. Indiana[...]
August 5, 2015 / Vehicle Accidents
DWS (Driving While Sleepy)
As drivers, we’ve all felt the heaviness in our eyelids that means, “pull over,” and perhaps even scared ourselves because of an unintentional drift in our steering path. Drowsy driving is no small problem: In the U.S. every day, a quarter-million folks fall asleep at the wheel, according to the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Driving while sleepy” in the U.S factors into more than 100,000 crashes annually, with 1,500 deaths and 40,000 injuries. An astonishing 23 percent of adults have fallen asleep while driving, according to a 1998 survey. But legal drugs are making the situation worse. Asleep at the Wheel An increase in car accidents has become associated with three prescription sleeping aids: temazepa[...]
July 24, 2015 / Vehicle Accidents
GPS: Blessing and Bane
In a few short years, GPS systems and satellite navigation have changed our lives in fundamental ways. Some of us couldn’t get ten miles up the road without it. No more checking paper maps en route, or printing online maps and directions before we take a road trip. It’s a good thing to have when you are traveling in unfamiliar areas, especially when you have the step-by-step audio guidance so common these days. Theoretically, you can keep your eyes on the road and your mind on your driving. But, if that’s the case, why are we seeing accidents that have been triggered by the use of GPS? What is GPS? GPS stands for Global Positioning System, which means a group of satellites that communicate with your device to determine location. These[...]
July 20, 2015 / Vehicle Accidents
ATV: All Too Vulnerable to Injury
There’s no question that summer is the time when those who enjoy all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) are in their glory. And there’s no denying that ATVs can be a ton of fun. But when operated incorrectly, without safety equipment, or when under the influence, ATVs can be deadly. During one May weekend in 2014, three separate ATV accidents in southern Indiana’s Harrison and Washington counties left one dead and two seriously injured. So many accidents happen during the summer that the period of time between May and September is known as “crunch time.” We at Stephenson Rife want you and your loved ones to avoid getting “crunched.” Injuries: All Too Frequent The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) most recent report co[...]
July 14, 2015 / Vehicle Accidents
“Racing Experience” Questions
If you are a NASCAR or Formula 1 racing fan, or if you just love fast cars, you may have heard about “racing experiences.” They allow you to get behind the wheel of a real race car and try it out after some classroom time and safety instruction. They go by names such as the Rusty Wallace Racing Experience or the Mario Andretti Racing Experience. It’s one of a number of “fantasy experiences” that have sprung up in the last few years, and you can sometimes get a deal online to try them. It’s common to drive more than 100 mph; in fact, it’s expected that you will. To a number of us, this really sounds like fun. Certainly 30-year-old Stephen Cox from Decatur, Indiana, who participated in the Rusty Wallace Racing Experience (RWRE)[...]