Many auto manufacturers are now incorporating brake override systems into their vehicles.  A brake override system is a software program in the onboard vehicle computer that breaks the connection to the throttle when the driver steps on the brake pedal. The override also assigns priority to braking if the driver pushes both pedals at once or if the accelerator is already engaged.

A number of incidents signaled a need for this modification. A fatal San Diego accident occurred in 2009 when a highway patrol officer and his family were driving a Lexus sedan that they borrowed from a dealership. The accelerator became caught under the floor mat and the car reached 120 miles per hour with no ability to brake because the accelerator was stuck. A fatal accident and other incidents led Toyota to recall millions of vehicles that potentially had sticky accelerators. After recalling the vehicles, Toyota incorporated brake override systems into its full lineup of vehicles and even retrofitted some earlier models. Likewise, General Motors plans to have brake override systems in all of its vehicles worldwide by the end of 2012.

According to a NY Times article the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) is proposing a rule that all vehicles must have brake override systems by 2014. This would not apply to vehicles with manual transmissions because the clutch in these vehicles can be used to disengage a stuck accelerator.

Experienced Long Island car accident lawyers routinely investigate car crashes on behalf of their clients. If a manufacturing defect resulted in injury or death, they can often hold the manufacturer accountable. Discuss your car crash with a skilled NY accident attorney.

“Personal Injury is All We Do”
Suffolk County Accident Lawyers

Whether on the news or through personal experience, we have all witnessed senior drivers with diminished driving skills. According to a recent Fox News article 28 states and the District of Columbia require drivers over age 65 to renew their licenses more frequently, pass vision tests, and some require road tests. Yet other states like Florida and New York allow elderly drivers to renew their licenses by mail or email.

Some seniors become fearful, notice their lack of confidence, and without any prompting simply quit driving. Others stop driving after a series of accidents. Some never would stop unless a relative took their keys away, a doctor advised them to no longer drive, or insurance companies were unwilling to cover them.

From a legal and safety standpoint, there is uncertainty about how and where to draw the line for elderly drivers.

Statistics often provide the necessary facts to arrive at reasonable decisions. David Snyder, Vice President and Associate General Counsel for the American Insurance Association pointed out that fatal crash rates do not increase until sometime after age 70. Furthermore, Jake Nelson, Director of Traffic Safety Advocacy and Research at the American Automobile Association, indicated that according to statistics, seniors are some of the least dangerous drivers because they wear seatbelts and usually do not speed or drive intoxicated. In fact, drivers between ages 65 and 69 have the same fatal crash rates as drivers in their 30s. Senior’s fatal crash statistics do not surpass teenager’s fatal crash statistics until they reach age 85.

If you are an elderly driver in a car crash or are injured in a car accident involving an elderly driver, seek legal help. An experienced Long Island car accident lawyer can provide you with the facts and discuss the prospects of pursuing a case.

Throughout the years, various tire companies have recalled tires, usually after their defective tires caused serious accidents. A tire blowout can be a source of auto accidents that result in serious injuries and death.

A recent tire added to the list of recalls is Goodyear’s Wrangler Silent Armor tire, which is typically used on vans, pick-up trucks, and sports utility vehicles.

A Goodyear review conducted in May 2010 sent up a red flag when it showed an increase in warranty and property damage claims in relation to the Wrangler tire. Then, in the third quarter of 2011, Goodyear received a claim for a rollover crash in Texas where two people died in a vehicle using the Wrangler tire.

This tragic event signaled the need for more in-depth scrutiny on the part of Goodyear. The company released an evaluation that the tire defect occasionally caused a partial tread separation. However, the separation only occurred in cases where the tires were subjected to extreme wear. Goodyear subsequently issued a recall of 40,915 Wrangler tires. Reuters reported that Goodyear estimates 27,000 tires are still in service out of the total produced from March 31 to May 31, 2009.

Goodyear is providing customers with free tire replacements. Customers can identify whether their tire is subject to recall by the last four digit numbers on the sidewall, which range from 0909 to 2209.

Our car accident lawyers at Rosenberg & Gluck, LLP stay apprised of automotive and other product recalls that can result in serious personal injury. If seriously injured in a Long Island car accident , rely on the extensive experience of the firm’s partners, who have both been practicing law since 1983.

Compared to car accidents, bus accidents are relatively rare, but do occur. The debate over whether buses should have seat belts has been ongoing for years. In 2010, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposed that new commercial buses be equipped with seat belts, specifically those used as charter buses and not necessarily for metropolitan transit.

However, NHTSA did not include all school buses in this proposal and still considers most school buses without seat belts to be far safer than other transportation means for children going to and from school.
This NHTSA ruling bases the evaluation on statistics that indicate school bus accidents are very infrequent. NHTSA leaves the issue of seat belts on school buses up to individual states to decide.

Some states beg to differ with the NHTSA conclusion that most school buses do not need seat belts. New York was the first state to pass a law requiring seat belts on school buses. Five other states followed New York’s lead, including California, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, and Texas. While the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) required school buses weighing less than 10,000 pounds to have seat belts, the majority of the nation’s school buses, some estimate 80%, are outside this category.

Attorneys who handle accident cases have in-depth knowledge of how government regulations, traffic laws, and product liability laws apply to an accident case. If injured in a bus or some other type of motor vehicle accident, a Suffolk County accident lawyer can evaluate whether negligence was a factor and explain your rights to pursue compensation.

The New York dram shop act allows individuals injured by drunken drivers to name bars as liable parties in auto accident lawsuits. The New York statute, Title 1 – § 11-101 holds bars responsible for allowing visibly intoxicated individuals to drive when it can lead to the intoxicated person causing someone else injury or death.

Recent NY dram shop case ruling

An interesting New York case recently reported by the New York Post involved a New Jersey man who drank in a New York bar that allowed patrons to play a game called beer pong. The establishment provided game tables along with cups and alcohol for the game. The object of the game is to toss ping pong balls into a cup and losers must drink beer. After three and a half hours of playing beer pong, the 22 year old patron in this case became very inebriated and left the bar to ride a bus back to New Jersey. Upon arriving, he decided to cross a freeway and was hit by a car. His accident lawyer sued the bar on his behalf for the injuries he sustained, which according to the NY Post included a broken hip, leg and foot, tears in both his knees, and a lacerated liver. Four hours after leaving the bar, his blood alcohol content (BAC) tested at .26.

The court ruled in favor of the dram shop because the plaintiff had voluntarily participated in beer pong and while sustaining injury himself, he had not injured anyone else. The judge indicated that the dram shop law was intended for other party injuries, not intoxicated persons injuring themselves. The plaintiff’s lawyer is appealing the decision.

At Rosenberg and Gluck, our attorneys have decades of experience handling Long Island car accident and pedestrian accident cases. We thoroughly investigate and identify sources of compensation to assist clients in receiving the compensation entitled by law.

The further technology emerges and advances, the more both benefits and detriments become apparent. Smart cars are the wave of the future and ultimately may erase car accidents from every day reality. However, during the transition between complete automation and present day driving, many technological devices can also serve as driving distractions—cell phones, GPS systems, CD changers, and onboard internet access,

First ever NTHSA proposed distraction guidelines for auto manufacturers

For the first time, a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) news release indicated that NTHSA has proposed guidelines for automobile manufacturers to reduce device distractions for drivers. Guidelines included recommendations for the following:

Limiting manual inputs necessary for device operation
Reducing device operation complexity and task time
Limiting device operation to one hand only

NHTSA recommended disabling devices that involved a driver’s visual-manual operation for the following:

Text messaging
Internet browsing
Social media networking
GPS settings
10 digit phone dialing
Driving task descriptions of more than 30 characters

NHTSA is also considering guidelines for voice-activated controls and developing manufacturing guidelines for devices or systems not built into vehicles, but that are portable, brought into the vehicle and used while driving.
Legal implications

Federal regulations play a role when holding parties accountable for auto accidents. Federal guideline violations or recognized safety issues may provide grounds for negligence in certain accident cases. As attorneys, we stay current with the latest proposals and legal changes introduced by Congress and federal agencies.
If seriously injured in a Long Island car accident, seek experienced legal guidance from a law firm with a proven track record.

An ABC News broadcast reported the details of the crash caused by the steering fluid leak and interviewed the parents. The girls’ parents rejected a $3 million settlement offer and pursued a lengthy trial because they wanted to ensure no other people were subjected to similar rental car hazards. The jury found in their favor and awarded $15 million in damages.

Proposed law to stop rental of recalled cars prior to repair

However, from the mother’s perspective, the battle is not over. Rental car companies continue to have no policy that stops them from renting cars subject to safety recalls. Senator Boxer of California and Senator Schumer of New York recently proposed a law that would prevent rental car agencies from renting cars subject to federal safety recalls prior to repairs.

Another recent ABC News report stated that Cathy Houck had circulated a petition and collected more than 100,000 signatures of people requesting that Enterprise Rent-A-Car cease its lobbying opposition to the new proposed law. Subsequently, a public relations person at Enterprise announced the company’s change in stance.

If you or a loved one is seriously injured in a car accident, seek experienced legal guidance and learn about your options. Rosenberg and Gluck is a long established New York personal injury law firm with extensive experience representing clients in Long Island car accidents.

V2V (vehicle to vehicle) technology provides wireless communication capabilities where vehicles can detect speeds of other oncoming vehicles, traffic signals, and other factors to warn drivers about hazards. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently conducted a pilot test of V2V technology in Alameda, California. Consumer Reports described the test where eight prototype vehicles of different makes used V2V technology warning systems that alerted drivers to the following situations:

Forward collision prevention. Detection of obstacles, such as:
A stopped vehicle obscured by other vehicles ahead of you
Sudden decreases in speed by vehicles ahead
Vehicles that slam on their brakes
Blind spots. Warning when a vehicle is in your blind spot and you attempt to change lanes
Left-turns. Warning when there is not enough time to make a left turn due to the speed of an oncoming car
Intersections. Alerting you when another car’s speed indicates it will crash the red light and you should slow or pull over even though your light is green
Passing or lane changes. Gauging the speed of oncoming cars or cars in other lanes and warning you not to pass or make lane changes

NHTSA evaluates that these smart V2V systems could help drivers avoid 80 percent of the vehicle crashes that impaired drivers regularly cause.

If you are seriously injured in a car accident, seek legal help. Rosenberg and Gluck is a personal injury law firm that has decades of experience handling Long Island car accidents . The firm helps countless people recover compensation when injured through someone else’s negligence.

“Personal Injury is All We Do”

Suffolk County Accident Lawyers

With distracted driving now a greater concern than drunk driving, many states have passed cell phone and texting bans. New York has one of the strictest laws in the nation with the texting ban it passed in July 2011 that made texting a primary offense. A primary offense allows law enforcement to pull a car over if the officer observes that the driver is texting while driving. The new law gives authorities much more power to crack down on distracted driving. However, the effectiveness of any law rests on its enforcement.

Distracted Driving Statistics

Statistics show New York’s new texting law is already making a difference. WGRZ, Channel Two News  reported that texting tickets increased from 3,248 in 2010 to 7,495 tickets in 2011. Violations of the new law add three points to the driver’s record and can result in a $150 fine.

Of all New York counties in 2011, Suffolk County issued 5,355 tickets, which were the highest number of tickets issued for talking on cell phones while driving.

In addition to preventing accidents, tighter regulation on texting and distracted driving can aid in substantiating fault in cases brought by victims of car accidents against distracted drivers.

At Rosenberg and Gluck, our attorneys have decades of experience handling Long Island car accidents . Putting strong advocacy on your side increases your chances of receiving the compensation to which you are entitled.

New York City first began keeping records of traffic fatalities in 1910. According to a New York Times article released on September 2, 1913, the 1910 statistics recorded 471 traffic fatalities: 112 automobile deaths, 148 streetcar deaths, and 211 from horse-drawn vehicles.

Mayor Bloomberg, Transportation Commissioner Sadik-Khan, and Police Commissioner Kelly recently issued a press release stating that as of December 27, 2011, there were 237 NYC traffic fatalities, which were lower than the 1910 figure and 40 percent lower than in 2001.

Significant statistics that they announced included:
 134 pedestrian fatalities in crashes with vehicles, 40% lower than 2001
 47 senior pedestrian fatalities, 27% lower than 2001
 Three child pedestrian fatalities, a record low

Improved statistics are attributed to the fact that the Department of Transportation implemented safety programs in 78 corridors and at 72 intersections within the past four years. It accomplished safety upgrades for 60 miles of streets and put in motion the Neighborhood Slow Zone in the Bronx which set speed limits at 20 mph. Electronic speed boards went into use that indicate passing motorists’ speeds and proved effective for enforcing speed limits.

DOT is setting targets for even greater improvements in 2012.

A NYC car accident lawyer perspective

The aftermath of car accidents brings untold suffering and economic stress for victims and families. While it is encouraging to see statistics improving, those victimized by accidents still need legal help to pay for physical and financial recovery. If you suffer injury in a car accident, consult an experienced Suffolk County car accident attorney to find out about your legal rights.