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Archive for the ‘Wrongful Death’ Category

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Study Finds Drunk Driving Is Shockingly Common

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

After years of costly public education campaigns, school drivers’ education scare-tactic videos, and reports of grisly deaths, you would think that drivers should have absorbed the message that driving while intoxicated is an unacceptable risk.  You would be wrong.  Our Chicago injury attorneys have seen far too many fatalities and catastrophic injuries from drunken driving to believe that this behavior is abating.  Now, a new study confirms that Americans are still drinking and driving – and at an alarming rate.

A newly released government study found that one in twelve drivers admitted to having driven drunk in the previous year.  The study was conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  Although the data was collected in 2008, the results were released last week.

Specifically, the study asked individuals whether they had driven when they believed that their blood alcohol level exceeded the legal limit of .08%.  This figure is particularly shocking when you consider the fact that it is likely that additional people engaged in this highly dangerous behavior but were too embarrassed to admit it.

In addition, a staggering one in five people admit to having driven within two hours of consuming alcohol.  Although this does not necessarily mean that these individuals were intoxicated when they drove, it is still dangerous behavior.  Of this group, the study also asked how many drinks they believed they could consume and still safely drive.  Forty percent of these individuals indicated that they could safely drive after consuming three drinks.  A terrifying eleven percent believed they could safely drive after consuming five drinks.  This behavior explains why injury and wrongful death from drunk driving are still so common:  apparently, at least twenty percent of American drivers simply do not understand the physiology of alcohol consumption, and are accordingly putting us all at risk.

Another facet of the study shows the profound disconnect between individuals’ logical evaluation of risk and the behavior they engage in themselves.  Four out of five people in the study stated that they believe that drunk driving is a major threat to their safety.  Indeed, this belief is well founded, as statistics compiled by the Federal Department of Transportation show that around a third of motor vehicle accidents resulting in fatalities stem from drunken driving.  Yet these individuals are still engaging in the practice themselves.  This goes far beyond negligence, to a willful disregard for the lives that will cross the paths of their paths.

Individuals seem willing to tolerate dangerous behavior in their friends, as well as themselves.  Like those who admitted to driving drunk, one in twelve people admitted to having ridden in a car with a drunk driver within the past year.  One group in particular was prone to this behavior:  young men aged 21 to 24 years.  Of this group, one in four admitted to riding with an impaired driver.

As NHTSA Administrator David Strickland eloquently stated, “We have to do more as a country to close the gap between believing that drunk driving is a threat and actively doing something about it.”  The first step is to make drunk drivers pay for their actions, and the devastating consequences.  If you or someone you love has been injured or killed by a drunk driver, it is crucial that you take action.  If this behavior is ever going to change, we must send a strong message that our society simply will not tolerate this abuse.  We urge you to speak with an experienced Chicago car accident attorney about your options.  Your courage and resolve could save lives.

Drunk driving is a particular problem over summer holiday weekends.  That’s why police nationwide will be putting on a two-week-long assault on drunk driving surrounding the upcoming labor day weekend.  Patrols and checkpoints will be greatly increased for those two weeks, in the hope of catching offenders, preventing accidents, and dissuading offenders from future drunk driving.

For a free consultation with an experienced Chicago personal injury lawyer at Passen Law Group, call us at (312) 527-4500.

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Posted in Car Accident Law, Personal Injury Law, Wrongful Death | No Comments »

Honda Recall the Latest Automotive Safety Failure

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

In the latest in a troubling series of automotive recalls, last week Honda Motor Company announced a recall affecting nearly 400,000 vehicles nationwide.  The recall covers the widely popular Accord and Civic models in the 2003 and 2004 model years, as well as the Element model.  Our Chicago personal injury attorneys urge those who own these models to get the details of the recall and ensure that their vehicles are safe.

This latest recall was issued to address a defect in the ignition switch.  These vehicles’ ignition interlock can either be worn down from use, or damaged during use.  If this occurs, the defect could allow drivers to remove their keys from the ignition even though the transmission is not shifted into park.  There is thus the risk that a car could begin to roll away if the parking brake is not engaged, causing accidents and serious injuries or wrongful death.

Honda acknowledged that it has received several complaints about the issue, and is aware of at least one resulting injury.  The NHTSA, however, states that prior to opening an investigation into this issue in January 2009, it had already received sixteen complaints about the problem – eleven of which had resulted in crashes.

This recall is particularly troubling because it is the third recall from Honda to address this same problem.  The company has issued two prior recalls regarding the same problem since 2003.  In October 2003, Honda recalled over 500,000 minivans and sedans due to the ignition interlock issue, including earlier models of the Accord (1998-99).  Then, in January 2005, the company issued a second recall, of multiple models of passenger cars, affecting nearly 500,000 vehicles.  Again, the Accord was implicated, this time certain of the 1999-2002 Accords.  The three recalls together have involved a total of nearly 1.5 million vehicles.

The recalls do technically each address a separate issue with the ignition interlock.  In 2003, the vehicles recalled had a casting failure that could cause the ignition interlock to wear down, thus leading to the problem described above.  Then, in 2005, the recalled vehicles had an ignition interlock lever that could slip out of position, leading to the exact same problem.  This time, an interlock pin and lever must be replaced, but the possible result is the same.

Still, the fact remains that after each of the previous recalls, Honda failed to adequately correct the problem and put a correct ignition interlock in place.  Honda was clearly aware of the problems with its interlock, yet it took an additional five and a half years for the company to realize that it had still failed to fix these issues.

It seems that Honda, like Toyota and others in the automobile industry, simply cannot be trusted to prioritize public safety over its own convenience and profit – nor can the U.S. authorities force these automakers to do so.  It is thus essential that those harmed by these dangerous automotive defects bring suit for their losses.  Only through civil judgments, or at least the realistic expectation of such judgments, can we hope to see real change.  If you or someone you love has been injured, sustained serious financial loss, or even lost their life due to a defective product (whether a Honda or not), your bravery and action may help to save others from future misery.  Our Chicago product liability attorneys urge you to come forward, and make these companies reconsider their indifference to safety.

If you have not been injured, but have a vehicle that may be involved in the recall, you can visit the Honda website at http://www.recalls.honda.com or you can get information by phone by calling (800) 999-1009 and selecting option 4.

For a free consultation with an experienced Chicago car accident lawyer at Passen Law Group, call us at (312) 527-4500.

Posted in Car Accident Law, Personal Injury Law, Product Liability, Wrongful Death | 1 Comment »

Distracted Driving Common Among Teenagers

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

Drawing a conclusion that should not be shocking to the parents and friends of teenagers, a new study has found that distracted driving – perhaps the biggest danger facing motorists and pedestrians today – is rampant among American teens.  Indeed, the vast majority of American teenagers has engaged in distracted driving.  Our Chicago car accident attorneys sadly do not find this behavior surprising.  We do, however, find it troubling.

This most recent study of teens and distracted driving was conducted jointly by Seventeen Magazine and the American Automobile Association.  The two surveyed about 2,000 drivers between sixteen and nineteen years of age.  Both young men and young women were included.

The results help to explain why the number of car, truck, bus and other motor vehicle accidents caused by distracted driving is frighteningly high.  An astounding eighty-six percent of American teenagers admit to having engaged in such distracted driving practices as texting while driving, talking on a cellphone while driving, or eating while driving.  This is in spite of the fact that eighty-four percent of these teens are aware that these practices are dangerous.

According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, distracted driving caused close to 6,000 fatalities and 500,000 injuries in America in 2008.  Among American teens, automobile accidents are the single leading cause of death.

These facts, however, cannot force teen drivers to abandon distracted driving and stay safe behind the wheel.  Teenagers are more likely to take unnecessary risks, and often fail to fully evaluate risks and consequences.  That is why, of the distracted drivers surveyed, thirty-five percent believe that in spite of their distracted driving, they will not get hurt, and thirty-two percent believe that nothing bad will happen.

The notorious teenage sense of invincibility is also to blame.  A staggering thirty-four percent believed that their distracted driving was not a danger because they were used to multitasking – ignoring the basic realities and laws of physics which dictate that a driver cannot respond to a danger that he does not see because his eyes were not on the road.  Our Chicago accident attorneys, unlike these teens, have seen too many tragic distracted driving accidents to believe that anyone is capable of multitasking while driving an automobile.

The survey did provide some encouragement, however.  Although the teens surveyed attempted to defend and rationalize their own distracted driving behaviors, they were at least uncomfortable when other teens engaged in these same practices.  Nearly forty percent of the teens reported having been frightened, while a passenger in a car, by that car’s distracted driver.

We at Passen Law Group can only hope that this fear will lead teens to speak up, and complain about their friends’ distracted driving.  With teenagers, peer pressure is the single most effective means of changing behavior – if teens pressure each other to abandon distracted driving, there may be a positive change.  In the meantime, parents must closely monitor their teens’ driving practices, and step in if need be.

For a free consultation with an experienced Chicago personal injury lawyer at Passen Law Group, call us at (312) 527-4500.

Posted in Brain Injury Law, Bus Accident Law, Car Accident Law, Personal Injury Law, Truck Accident Law, Wrongful Death | No Comments »

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