St. Louis Car Accident Lawyer Blog

As we are in the heart of the holiday season, Missouri will not only have to worry about hectic traffic but the dangers of winter weather conditions as well. During this time, the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) would like to remind drivers to be cautious on our roadways. Even the smallest amount of snow can cause fatal car accidents in St. Louis and elsewhere if drivers aren't careful.

"We encourage drivers to slow down and to steer and brake gently in snowy areas," said Beth Wright, MoDOT state maintenance engineer. "Be certain to allow plenty of distance between your vehicle and those ahead of you."

Our St. Louis car accident attorneys would like to remind drivers to stay at least 100 feet away from slow plows that are out and about clearing the roadways, spreading salt and performing other duties to help clear the way for better travel conditions. Workers with MoDOT will be out at the first sight of snow working to clear the busiest highways of the state. Drivers are urged to be extremely cautious when driving near hills, curves in the roadways and bridges as cars can lose traction easily in these areas.

Drivers are also asked to stay informed with the latest road condition updates throughout the state by visiting Missouri Department of Transportation's website for its Traveler Information Map.

"One click on the map and you can see what's happening on the roads and determine your plan of action," Wright said.

Being aware of weather conditions can help you to avoid a potentially fatal car accident, which is proven to be some of the most dangerous times on our roadways. According to the National Safety Council (NSC), more than 285 people are expected to die as the result of car accidents during the Christmas holiday period. This period is defined by officials as the time from 6 p.m. on December 23rd to 11:59 p.m. on December 26th. Traffic accidents during this time are expected to injure an additional 28,500 people.

The NSC also predicts that another 295 people will die as the result of car accidents during the New Year's holiday period. This period is defined by officials as the time from 6 p.m. on December 30th to 11:59 p.m. on January 2nd. Traffic accidents during this time are expected to injure an additional 29,500 people.

During the holiday season, officers throughout the state will be on the hunt for dangerous drivers on our roadways. Please be cautious, alert and responsible at the wheel to not only avoid a costly traffic citation, but to avoid a potentially fatal accident.

"It's about safety," said MoDOT's Jan Skouby. "Any steps that can be taken to reduce fatalities is something MoDOT will support in any way we can."

Continue reading "Boost in Traffic Over Holiday Week Brings Risks for Car Accidents in Missouri" »

According to the Missouri Highway Patrol, a teen driver was recently killed in a car accident in St. Louis County. The accident happened when the teen driver slammed his vehicle into the back of a tractor-trailer on Highway 67. STL Today reports that the teen collided with the trailer when it was slowing to take a left-hand turn. The young driver was taken to Alton Memorial Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Our St. Louis, MO car accident attorneys understand the risks that young drivers face. Many of these individuals are handed an unrestricted license before gaining adequate driving experience. For this reason, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has conducted an extensive study into the risks of teen drivers and released its findings just in time to coincide with National Teen Driver Safety Week. Parents are asked to review this information and share it with the young driver in their life. Supervised driving and strict driving rules may be some of the most beneficial things we can do to help save our young drivers.

Car accidents continue to be the number one cause of death for teens in the U.S. According to AAA, teens are more likely to die in an accident during their first 30 days than they are during their first year of unrestricted driving. They're also twice as likely to get into an accident during these 30 days as during their first two years of unrestricted driving.

To gather this type of information, the Foundation installed cameras into the cars of teen drivers in North Carolina and analyzed hours and hours of footage. Researchers found that nearly 70 percent of all of the accidents were caused by three common mistakes: speeding, failing to yield and driver inattention. The study illustrated that the most common accident scenario witnessed in the first few months of unrestricted driving was accidents that involved left-hand turns.

Researchers also concluded that as teens gained more driving experience, their risks for traffic accidents involving speed gradually decreased.

"We know that young drivers' crash rates decrease quickly as they gain experience," said AAA Foundation President and CEO Peter Kissinger.

With all of the information that AAA collected, the best advice to parents is to continue to ride along with young drivers long after they've received an unrestricted license. Parents and guardians may be some of the most influential people in a teen driver's career. Keep safe driving habits as a frequent topic of conversation within your household, and consider creating and enacting your own parent-teen driving contract to help create and enforce safe driving rules.

That's the theme of this year's National Teen Driver Safety Week -- parent involvement. According to Teen Driver Source, parents should at least put in at least 50 hours of supervised driving time into the learning process of their teen to help him or her to learn how to handle dangers on our roadways. A good driver comes from a good supervising passenger. Your teen's learning process is the perfect time to instill good driving habits.

Continue reading "National Teen Driver Safety Week and AAA Work to Reduce Risks of Teen Car Accidents in Missouri, Nation" »

In Missouri, a teen can start driving on our roadways at the age of 15 with a supervising, licensed driver over the age of 21. This is all a part of the state's Graduated Drivers Licensing (GDL) program.

The GDL program aims to introduce driving scenarios to young drivers through a number of restrictive stages in an effort to reduce their risks of a car accident in Missouri. The problem with this system, according to CNN Health, is that new studies are proving that it's creating higher risks of accidents for 18-year-old, fully licensed drivers.

Our St. Louis teen car accident attorneys understand that new data, collected from 1986 to 2007, reveals that 16-year-olds face 26 percent fewer accidents in states with strict GDL programs. The problem with this is that 18-year-old drivers in these same areas experience a 12 percent increase in the number of fatal accidents compared to those with less strict programs.

"Right now, we're not getting the net effect across all teens that we're hoping for," says Scott V. Masten, Ph.D., an author of the recent study that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

In Missouri, there were nearly 200 teenagers killed in car accidents in 2009, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Researchers believe that this increase among our 18-year-old drivers has to do with the restrictions that were placed on them when they were younger drivers. These restrictions, researchers believe, kept the young drivers from obtaining a thorough and realistic driving experience.

There are GDL programs in every state, but restriction vary from one to another.

Missouri GDL program:

-Instructional Permit, 15-years-old: Under this license, a driver must complete a written driver's exam at a Missouri State Highway Patrol exam station. Once passed, a teen can then drive with a parent, a legal guardian or a certified instructor through a Federal Residential Job Training Program. Parents are to make sure that their young driver completes at least 40 hours of driving practice with at least 10 of these hours occurring during the nighttime. Seats belts must be worn by all passengers riding with this driver.

-Intermediate License, 16-years-old: To get this license, a driver must have held the instructional permit for at least 6 months. The student must have completed the supervised driving time before obtaining this license. A clean record of alcohol-related offenses must be obtained within the 12 months before this license. A clean record to traffic convictions must also be obtained for 6 months prior. A driver must pass a road sign and vision test. The teen must complete another 40 hours of supervised driving during this stage. For the first 6 months, there can be no more than 1 passenger under the age of 19 in the vehicle at a time.

-Unrestricted License, 18-years-old: The teen must have one-full year free of alcohol-related offenses before applying. All prior requirements must be met. A vision and a road sign recognition test must be passed again.

Regardless of which stage your young driver is in, it is important to keep safe driving habits and skills as a frequent topic of conversation. No driver is ever experienced enough to avoid a car accident. Reiterate the rules of the road and the importance to safe habits to your teen long after they've graduated from the GDL program.

Continue reading "State GDL Program Questioned: Reducing Risks for Car Accidents in Missouri?" »

Missouri officials are going to need more than a law on record to stop drivers from texting or from using a cell phone behind the wheel. A recent report, conducted by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), studied more than 350 scientific papers that looked into distracted driving trends and car accidents in Missouri and elsewhere over the last decade.

Our St. Louis car accident attorneys believe this report may be useful to Missouri lawmakers, who have only banned texting for drivers 21-years-old and younger. We currently don't have a state law banning cell phone use either, so if you're over the age of 21 you're allowed to text, update you facebook and even tweet behind the wheel.

"You know, that part isn't really surprising," said Barbara Harsha, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association. "We have known all along that just passing a law by itself isn't going to make a difference."

This theory has been proven time and time again as laws enforcing seat belts and battling drunken driving were backed by highly visible enforcement. Only when enforcement efforts are increased do we see a higher rate of compliance by local drivers.

The GHSA report has been titled "Distracted Driving: What Research Shows and What States Can Do" and is meant to help state decision-makers take the best route of action when they decide to create and enforce texting or cellphone bans.

This information isn't finalized though. There aren't a ton of absolutes regarding this new epidemic.

"Despite all that has been written about driver distraction, there is still a lot that we do not know," Harsha said. "Much of the research is incomplete or contradictory. Clearly, more studies need to be done addressing both the scope of the problem and how to effectively address it."

The GHSA report encourages Missouri police to start keeping more detailed information and records regarding driver distractions.

Aside from enforcing laws that our state already follows, the report suggests that Missouri:

• Use pavement "rumble strips" to alert drivers when they start to drift out of their lane. Luckily, Missouri is one step ahead of this suggestion as we already use these strips.
• Encourage all employers to develop policies and programs that discourage distracted driving on the job and in company vehicles.
• Evaluate distracted driving laws and programs from other states. Looking over how others are doing it will help to provide us with information we can use to create effective countermeasures.
• Enact a texting ban for all drivers.
• Make it illegal for novice drivers to talk on cellphones while driving.

According to Distraction.gov, there were nearly 5,500 people killed on U.S. roadways because of traffic accidents that reported the involvement of a distracted driver in 2009. Another 448,000 people were injured in these accidents. With the proper traffic laws and effective enforcement to back them up, we can help to save lives on our Missouri roadways.

Continue reading "Governors Highway Safety Association Targets Distracted Driving Car Accidents in Missouri" »

Over half of teen drivers admit to using their cell phones while driving, causing an increased risk of Missouri car accidents. Thirty percent of those surveyed by the Department of Transportation also admitted to texting behind the wheel. New reports clearly show that teen drivers are likely to use hand-held devices behind the wheel without seeing it as dangerous.

Our St. Louis personal injury lawyers recognize the effects of irresponsible driving habits. Nearly 500,000 people were injured and 5,500 people were killed last year because of distracted driving in the United States. One in five of the distracted driving accidents involved cell phone use.

"It only takes a moment to cause a tragedy," says Jim Guest, president of Consumers Union, "No text or call is worth a life."

A recent survey by Consumer Reports shows how common distracted driving is among teens:

-63 admit to using their cell phones while driving.

-30 percent confessed to texting while driving.

-64 percent witnessed others texting while driving.

-Nearly 100 percent had seen others using their cell phone while driving.

"Distracted driving has become a deadly epidemic on America's roads and teens are especially vulnerable because of their inexperience behind the wheel and, often, peer pressure," says Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. "Behind the statistics are real families who have been devastated by these tragedies," he adds.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is teaming up with Consumer Reports to get the word out about the dangers of distracted driving.

A free brochure offered to you by the Department of Transportation recommends these tips to help educate your teen driver:

-Make rules. No talking on the phone or texting while driving.

-Set a good example. Put your phone down while driving.

-Spread the word to family and friends.

-Stress the consequences of using a hand-held device while behind the wheel.

Continue reading "Distracted teen drivers increase risk for St. Louis car accidents" »

One teenager is dead and two others injured after a Missouri car accident in Franklin County, ABC3 News reported.

St. Louis personal injury lawyers understand all too well the dangers faced by teenagers behind the wheel. And, as this case illustrates, their passengers and other motorists on the road are too often seriously injured or killed in traffic accidents involving young drivers.

Authorities report the 16-year-old lost control of his SUV and hit a utility pole on Yellow Banks Road south of Mulkeytown. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. Two other passengers, ages 17 and 13, were transported to St. Louis for treatment of their injuries.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports 195 motorists were killed in Missouri car accidents involving teenagers in 2008. Of those, 62 were passengers in a teen's car and 45 were either occupants of other vehicles or were non-occupants, such as a bicyclist or pedestrian.

Health News Digest reports a new study by State Farm Insurance and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia found nearly one-third of those killed in teen car accidents were not even in the car driven by a teenager.

In all, about 681,000 motorists will be in a crash with a teen driver this year and an estimated 40,000 will be seriously injured. Key behaviors leading to serious or fatal injuries among teens include failure to wear seat belts, speeding, drunk driving and distracted driving.

"Reducing speeding and alcohol use, increasing seat belt use, and eliminating distractions for teen drivers are the four calls-to-action we see in this report that would have great impact on reducing injuries and fatalities for all road users," says Dr. Dennis Durbin, who is also an emergency physician and one of the study's authors. "More than half of teens who were fatally injured in crashes were speeding, 40 percent had a positive blood alcohol level, more than half were not wearing seat belts, and 16 percent of teen drivers involved in fatal crashes were reported to have been distracted while driving."

Car accidents are the leading cause of death among teenagers and claim more lives than cancer, homicide and suicide combined.

Continue reading "One Dead, Two Injured in Missouri Car Accident involving Teenagers" »

St. Louis injury attorneys urge parents to speak with their teenagers about the dangers of drunk driving, distracted driving and other poor driving decisions during National Teen Driver Safety Week Oct. 17-24.

NBC 8 reports that the Missouri Department of Transportation is debuting a new young driver's guide as part of Teen Driver Safety Week.

Our St. Louis Car Accident Lawyer Blog frequently reports on the dangers teenagers face behind the wheel. Last month, we reported on Project Safe School Year, which aims to keep teenagers safe during homecoming and prom season.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that car accidents are the number one cause of death among teenagers ages 15 to 20. In 2008, a total of 195 motorists were killed in Missouri car accidents with teenage drivers.

"Giving teenagers plenty of driving instruction and supervised practice better prepares them for the responsibilities of driving," said Leanna Depue, MoDOT's Highway Safety director. "This new guide is filled with helpful lessons and tips for the training process."

The brochure is slated to be available in classrooms next week.

Teens are at high risk for making every poor driving decision in the book, including drunk driving, distracted driving, speeding, not wearing a seat belt and riding with too many passengers in the vehicle. As the winter driving season rapidly approaches, we urge parents to spend some extra time speaking to their teenagers about the importance of making good driving decisions.

Continue reading "Help prevent St. Louis car accidents, talk to your young driver during Teen Safe Driving Week" »

The plan, called Project Safe School Year, was implemented this week across five Fort Zumwalt District high schools. The goal, a multi-layered campaign that hopes to raise safe driver awareness and track the number of teens involved in St. Louis car accidents between homecoming and prom seasons.

Aside from tracking teen crashes, police will also be monitoring seat belt use with random high school parking lot checks and reminding students to turn off their cell phones when behind the wheel. Drunk driving concerns will also be addressed, St. Louis Today reports.

Results from collected data will be analyzed before the end of the school year. Schools will be evaluated based on the number of car accidents, seat belt usage, drinking and driving data and what kids do with their cell phones. The school determined to have the safest teen drivers will receive tickets to a pro-sporting event.

October, December, November and May are the most dangerous months of the year for Missouri drivers. In 2009, there were 7,477 Missouri car accidents reported in October, 7,308 in December, 6,762 in November and 6,548 in May, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation.

Drivers aged 16-20 represent the second highest fatality group among statewide motorists, reporting 89 fatalities and 4,993 injury car accidents last year. Overall, this age group was responsible for 13.6 percent of all reported car accidents, or more than 18,000 crashes.

Project Safe School Year is the brainchild of a former St. Charles County deputy who told St. Louis Today that he started the program, which is funded by corporate donations and a state grant, because he "didn't like doing death notifications as an officer." He hopes to expand the program throughout the St. Louis-area schools.

Continue reading "New safety program aims to reduce St. Louis car accidents involving teenagers" »