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Massachusetts Teen Driver Safety Program Lauded

Posted on | July 22, 2013 | Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone

Recently, the Governors Highway Safety Association announced that five states throughout the United States have been awarded grant funding from the “Ford Driving Skills for Life” (FDSL) program. FDSL has provided a total of $100,000 in funding to programs in eligible states that are designed to prevent teen driving accidents.

Our Boston accident lawyers know that Massachusetts is one of the states that has received grant money this year. The grant money is intended to support initiatives that can make a real difference in reducing teen car accident deaths.

Teens consistently make more auto accident insurance claims due to crashes each year and car accidents have persistently remained a top cause of teen deaths.  The summer is especially deadly for teens, with the period from Memorial Day to Labor Day known as the 100 Deadliest Days. Hopefully, initiatives supported by the FDSL grant program will help to reduce these fatalities and make young people safer on the roads.

Grants Provided for Massachusetts Program to Fight Distracted Driving

Each of the grants provided by the Ford Motor Company Fund is worth $20,000 and the money is to be spent on teen driving related activities. Members may apply for the grant and a panel consisting of representatives from both Ford and GHSA review the applications to determine which programs to support.

This year, one of the programs chosen is called “No Distractions- Just Drive!” The program was launched by the Massachusetts Office of Public Safety and Security, Highway Division and first began in 2011. It is a successful program that incorporates different elements of the Ford Driving Skills for Life lesson plan.

For example, the program offers young drivers and their parents the chance to get behind the wheel with a professional driving instructor. The driving instructor will teach crash avoidance techniques and will also teach teens how to best control their vehicles while focusing on minimizing distractions. In general, when an activity in the car takes more than two seconds to complete, this activity can be a distraction that takes the teen’s attention off the road and increases the chances of a crash happening. By learning to better control their cars to avoid becoming distracted, teens can be safer behind the road.

Hopefully, these driving events will make a real difference in reducing crashes. Other projects supported by the FDSL program also aim to make the roads safer for teen drivers as well, and will hopefully be equally effective. For example, in Maine, a teen safe driving contest will be held by Maine’s top teen radio station. In Mississippi, DREAM, Inc. and the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety will host a highway safety day in October including a series of activities such as a DSFL Game Show and a Rock the Seat Belt Event. Finally, in Utah, the Highway Safety Office will use the grant money to expand its efforts to prepare teens for safe driving conditions.

While these are all different approaches to making teens safer, all have the important goal of teaching young people to make smarter driving choices and to be better equipped to handle driving situations that they may encounter on the roads.

If you’ve been hurt, call 1-800-WIN-WIN-1 for a free consultation with a personal injury lawyer at the Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone.

Boston Bicycle Advocates React to Study on Bicycle Crash Causes

Posted on | June 26, 2013 | Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone

Our Boston accident lawyers know that bicycle crashes can be very dangerous for riders and that serious injuries or fatalities are common when a crash occurs. With their health and safety at stake, Boston bike riders and bicycle safety advocates were excited at first about the news that an expansive report on bike crashes was scheduled for release.

Unfortunately, after the study came out, bike advocates turned out to be less than enthusiastic about the steps that the city might take as a result of the findings. Advocates also pointed out errors in the study, which were later acknowledged. Still, despite the problems, the report may prove to be a positive when it comes to increasing bike safety because it gives officials data they need to make targeted improvements tailored to each street and each intersection.

Boston Study on Bicycle Crashes Reveals Important Info

According to the Boston Globe, the mayor recently commissioned a study that involved the collection and analysis of data from the Boston police, Boston Bikes and  Boston Emergency Medical Services. The purpose of the study was to learn more about bike accident risks, especially in light of the fact that the number of bike crashes in Boston rose from 2010 to 2012.

The report revealed some important facts, including that ridership was on the rise and that the number of bicyclists had risen more sharply than the slight increase in bike accidents from 2010 to 2012. The report also identified top causes of bike crash incidents by looking at 891 wrecks between 2009 and 2012. According to the information revealed in the report:

  • 197 bicycle accidents occurred because the driver and bicycle riders did not see each other.
  • 197 bicycle accidents were attributed to a vehicle door opening up in the path of a bicycle rider.
  • 147 of the bike wrecks occurred when a stop sign or red light was run.
  • 108 accidents happened when the bicycle rider rode into oncoming traffic.
  • Speeding was a contributing cause in 81 crashes.
  • A failure to pay attention was cited as a cause of 58 accidents.
  • Aggressive behavior was involved in causing 57 accidents.
  • Phones and electronics were being used at the time of 16 crashes.
  • Four of the accidents may have occurred, at least in part, because there was a construction zone.

Knowing this information can help lawmakers and regulators to learn more about where to focus efforts, including educating drivers about the risks of opening the door into the path of oncoming bicycle riders.

Despite the helpful data, though, not everyone was thrilled with the report. The director of the Boston Cyclists Union and a consultant on the report commented that errors were made and that it was important that the mistakes be corrected.

Bike advocates were primarily concerned with the fact that the report largely seemed to blame the victim, focusing on a lack of helmet use among bike riders and initially blaming 28 percent of the crashes on bicycle riders going through red lights or stop signs when in reality a cyclist was responsible for colliding after running a traffic signal in only 12 percent of cases.  These percentages have been corrected.

Still, while there may be problems with the report, now that the data has been updated it can shed some light on how lawmakers and regulators can work to make Boston’s roads safer for bicyclists.

If you’ve been hurt, call 1-800-WIN-WIN-1 for a free consultation with a personal injury lawyer at the Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone.