Articles Posted in Motor Vehicle Cases

Some people have found a way to turn a police chase case into a Sec. 1983 action.  It was always tough – and it just got tougher.

Here is the issue as stated by Justice Scalia:  "We consider whether a law enforcement official can, consistent with the Fourth Amendment, attempt to stop a fleeing motorist from continuing his public-endangering flight by ramming the motorist’s car from behind. Put another way: Can an officer take actions that place afleeing motorist at risk of serious injury or death in order to stop the motorist’s flight from endangering the lives of innocent bystanders?"

The bottom line:  "The car chase that respondent initiated in this case posed a substantial and immediate risk of serious physical injury to others; no reasonable jury could conclude otherwise. [Officer] Scott’s attempt to terminate the chase by forcing respondent off the road was reasonable, and Scott is entitled to summary judgment."

What causes truck wrecks?  According to Ron Miller, a trial lawyer in Maryland, the Federal Motor Carry Safety Administration’s 2006 report shows  there are approximately 141,000 truck crashes every year. In 77,000 of these truck accidents – more than half – fault was attributed to the truck driver.

Ron’s post at The Maryalnd Injury Lawyer Blog lists the top ten causes of the wrecks caused by truckers as follows:

1. Prescription drug use (26%)

The Truck Safety Coalition has released data showing the number of fatal truck crashes by state.  Tennessee had 156 fatal crashes in 2005 and 717 in the five-year period from 2001-2005.  By comparison, Alabama had 122 fatal crashes in 2005 (706 in  five-years), Kentucky had 124 (596), Arkansas had 116 (531), Mississippi had 91 (445) and Georgia had 229 (1162).

Tennessee had 2.62 fatal crashes per 100,000 people, the 15th highest rate in the country.  Wyoming was the worst at 6.09.  Rhode Island had the best rate at .09.   Eight states in the Southeast were amoung the twenty states with the highest death rates.

Another 114,000 persons were injured in truck crashes in 2005.

The New York Times did a great piece on the regulation of the trucking industry yesterday.

One blurb:  "In loosening the standards [applicable to the trucking industry], the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration was fulfilling President Bush’s broader pledge to free industry of what it considered cumbersome rules. In the last six years, the White House has embarked on the boldest strategy of deregulation in more than a generation. Largely unchecked by the Republican-led Congress, federal agencies, often led by former industry officials, have methodically reduced what they see as inefficient, outdated regulations and have delayed enforcement of others."

If you are involved in trucking litigation you will enjoy this five-page article.

Side airbags work.  That is the conclusion of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

A recent study reports that "Side airbags that protect people’s heads are reducing driver deaths in cars struck on the near (driver) side by an estimated 37 percent. Airbags that protect only the chest and abdomen but not the head are reducing deaths by 26 percent. "

According to the study, if every passenger vehicle would have side airbags with head protection 2000 lives would be saved a year.

The American Trucking Associations has petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to limit the maximum speed of large trucks at the time of manufacture to no more than 68 miles per hour.  ATA also petitioned the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to prohibit the tampering or adjustment of the speed limiting devices, known as speed limiters (or governors), to greater than 68 miles per hour.

Research indicates that speed is a more significant factor in crashes involving trucks than any other factor that currently receives a larger proportion of government attention and resources.

Here is a copy of the Rulemaking Petition.

Everyone knows that auto death rates are decreasing.  But why?

This study tells us that the reason is safer autos.  Issued by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the study says that "an increasingly dangerous traffic environment has been offset since 1994 only because people are driving vehicles that are more protective…."

The press release indicates that  the full report, "Trends over time in the risk of driver death: what if vehicle designs had not improved?" by C.M. Farmer and A.K. Lund will be published in the journal, Traffic Injury Prevention, later this year.

A recent study reports about the risk of lack of sleep on commercial drivers.  In an article entitled "Impaired Performance in Commercial Drivers: Role of Sleep Apnea and Short Sleep Duration" researchers from the University of Pennsylvania  "examined 406 truck drivers and found that those who routinely slept less than five hours a night were likely to fare poorly on tests designed to measure sleepiness, attention and reaction time, and steering ability. Drivers with severe sleep apnea, a medical condition that causes a poor quality of sleep, also were sleepy and had performance impairment," according to a summary of the article at Insurance Journal.

The Penn report indicates that 5600 people per year are killed in wrecks with commercial trucks and that many of them involve drivers falling asleep at the wheel.

The Penn report is published in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.  The article can be accessed here.

Motorists Beware!   A new study reports that 21% of drivers in Tennessee are uninsured.  Read about the study here.

I would love to know what percentage of the drivers that have insurance have only the minimum limits ($25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident). 

Use this information to educate your clients about the need to purchase adequate levels of uninsured / underinsured motorist coverage.  I have always thought it was an outrage that an agent could persuade a person to waive UM / UIM limits equal to that of their liability limits.  While I agree that the limits purchased should be a made of choice, I also think that the agent should be required to say, in writing, what it would cost the customer to have UM / UIM limits equal to their liability limits.   Such a rule would ensure that the consumer made an informed decision about what to purchase.  I also think that the customer should be required to waive equal limits in writing every year, not just once during the life of the relationship.