Articles Posted in Auto Accidents

There’s a lot of road work going on in the area during this time of year. Officials with the Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) are taking advantage of the clear weather and are getting to work on making our streets safer and more efficient for our motorists.Our Bangor car accident lawyers are asking motorists to be safe on our roadways through all of this construction. Speeds will be altered, traffic lanes will be changing and congestion is likely. We are also asking you to keep an eye out for roadside workers and vehicles. Accidents in work zones in the state of Maine have taken the lives of too many workers, commuters and other motorists. Motorists are mostly to blame for these accidents. Nationwide, there were close to 600 roadside workers who were killed in traffic accidents in 2010.

Be on your best driving behavior throughout these areas to help keep you out of an accident and to help to keep our roadside workers safe! Sightseers will abound this autumn and crews will be racing to finish projects before the snow flies.

Roadwork Scheduled in Maine:

-Paving operations will be taking place on Interstate 95 at Stillwater Avenue (Exit 186). The work will be going on through the off-ramp of Union Street to the on-ramp of Hogan road. To help to keep workers safe in these congested areas, the Exit 196 off-ramp will be closed from 7:00 a.m. through 7:00 p.m. Drivers are asked to use Exit 187 in the meantime. Maine Police will be displaying signage and message boards to help to guide drivers through the one-lane of traffic in the area.

-MaineDOT crews are installing traffic counting sensors between mile marker 170 and 171 on Interstate 95 in Carmel. From 8:00 a.m. through 3:00 p.m. of each day until work is completed, roadways will be altered to accommodate road crews. These sensors will be used to help to monitor the number of cars that use the highway throughout the year and will help to keep an eye on the traffic patterns during this time.

-State roadside workers will be working to make repairs to the Steep Falls Bridge. This is the bridge that connects Standish and Limington. Lanes of traffic will be altered from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. until the work is completed. Flaggers will also be in the area working to ease traffic flow.

-Officials with MaineDOT will be working on the railroad crossing at the intersection of Sawyer and College roads in Greene. They’ll be working to update the railroad crossing for the traveling motorist. During this time, motorists will be taken from Sawyer Road to College and Lane road instead.

-Road workers will be replacing a culvert in Woolwich on Route 127. This work zone is about 200 feet long and officials will not be allowing any thru traffic at the time. The project should be done by mid-September. Workers are replacing a culvert in deteriorating condition and are working to upsize the culvert to reflect current standards.

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Some media reports have indicated that steadily rising gas prices and an overall economy that continues to flounder will stall Labor Day travel plans in Maine and across the country.

Not so, says the American Auto Association.

Bangor car accident lawyers understand that the reality is, travel is going to be up nearly 3 percent from what it was last year. It’s going to the highest Labor Day traffic volume since prior to the recession began churning in 2008.

Boston residents are being told to expect travel to outer New England to take twice as long as normal this weekend.

AAA reports that even though most Americans are on a tight budget, they’re making holiday travel a priority, although most people are going to be traveling by car rather than airplane. (Booked flights are down almost 4 percent from last year.)

Labor Day weekend, which begins Thursday, Aug. 30, and stretches through Monday, Sept. 3, is going to make for crowded roadways. It’s estimated that across the country, some 33 million Americans have Labor Day plans. That’s more than 10 percent.

Last year, the Maine Journal and the Bangor Daily News reported a slew of Labor Day injuries and deaths across the state, including:

• A 19-year-old driver and an 18-year-old passenger who were transported to the hospital after the driver struck a guardrail on the turnpike;

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That’s just a sampling, but it’s important to illustrate why safer driving habits must be adopted by everyone – and now is a good time to start. Labor Day essentially marks the beginning of fall, which will mean dipping temperatures, slower, sight-seeing drivers checking out the changing leaves and eventually, nasty winter weather.

Observing safer habits now could save your life.

• As you head out this weekend to join the party, some things to keep in mind:

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It was only a handful of months ago that a school bus collided with a tractor-trailer in Farmington, sending more than a dozen middle school students to the hospital with cuts and bruises.

Our Bangor personal injury lawyers know that as frightening as it was for those children, it could have been much worse.

That’s the thing with school bus accidents: They don’t happen all the time, but when they do, they’re often serious.

With school back in session, there are a host of potential safety issues. You have young kids who have never ridden the bus on their own. You have older kids who may try to show off and get reckless either on or near the bus. You have bus stops along busy roadways, with children often walking to and then idling there before daybreak. You have bus drivers that are either tired or not paying attention. You have other drivers who are impatient with the buses’ incessant stops and slow pace. You have our severe Maine winter storms that blanket the roadways in snow and ice.

All of this combined creates the potential for a tragedy.

We don’t want to see that happen. Unfortunately, we can’t control the actions of every driver on the road. That’s why it’s important for parents to educate themselves – and their children – about school bus safety, even if they’ve ridden the bus before.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that some 25 million kids rely on the school bus to get them to class every day. In all, there are about 475,000 school buses on the road across America.

The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that about 17,000 children were hospitalized due to school-bus related injuries. Sometimes, it’s the driver hitting the brakes to hard, and other times, they’re turning a sharp corner.

However, the vast majority of school bus accidents happen when kids are getting on or off the bus or when they are nearby it. There’s the potential slip-and-fall of simply getting on and off, but there’s also the risk of impatient drivers trying to overtake the bus, despite the red flashing stop warning – and inadvertently striking a child.

If your child is hurt on the bus or by a vehicle while at or near the bus stop, you might be entitled to compensation for:

Medical and dental expenses;
Psychological therapy;
Any long-term recovery needs;
Any loss of future opportunities or income;

While you can’t control every driver who happens by your child on his or her way to school, you can teach your child how to be safer around the school bus:

• When the bus pulls up, take at least three huge steps away from the curb, and lineup away from the street.
• If you have to cross the street in front of the bus, make sure the driver can see you and that you can see the bus driver.
• Never walk behind a bus.
• If you drop something near the bus, don’t try to pick it up without telling the driver because they may not see you.

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You wouldn’t drive with a blindfold on. So why do motorists drive without looking at the road?sWe’re talking about texting while driving. It’s not exactly putting a blindfold over your eyes and hitting the road, but it has the same effect at times.To help to get drivers’ eyes back on the road, Randall Stephenson, CEO of AT&T, is pushing the “It Can Wait” anti-texting campaign.

Although this campaign is for drivers of all ages, it targets younger drivers as they’re most likely to engage in distractions behind the wheel. To help to get more drivers on board, the campaign recently announced its “No Text on Board — Pledge Day.”sThis day, September 19th, is being used to urge drivers to take the pledge to keep the phone out of the driver’s seat. You don’t have to wait until the 19th to take the pledge either. Drivers can take it any day up until then, according to CNN Tech.

The “It Can Wait” campaign has been going strong since 2009. AT&T has decided to push it a little harder with the release of new distracted driving stats. It’s clear that drivers aren’t getting the message and they’re continuing to jeopardize everyone’s safety on our roadways.

Our Bangor car accident attorneys understand how serious of a problem texting drivers are becoming. In just 2010, the number of drivers who admitted to texting behind the wheel increased by 50 percent. Only about 20 percent of drivers said that they engaged in this dangerous driving behavior in 2009. It’s so bad that there were more than 3,000 people killed in distracted driving car accidents in just 2010. There were also more than 415,000 people who were injured in these accidents.

Teens are the worst!sAccording to a recent study with the Pew Internet & American Life Project, more than 40 percent of teenage drivers admitted that they text messaged behind the wheel.

So how serious is it?sIf you text message while driving, you’re increasing your risks for a car accident by at least 23 times.

The AT&T campaign is asking you to join the fight against dangerous driving habits by pledging to make a change in your own. It’s not only AT&T that’s getting in on the action. Verizon and Sprint also have their own anti-texting campaigns. Stephenson says that he welcomes all of the advocacy. He adds that the more awareness that we raise, the better our chances are for getting drivers to stop texting behind the wheel.

“People are dying … we just need everyone to get after this and reverse this trend,” Stephenson said.

Text messaging takes a driver’s eyes from the street for about of 4.5 seconds. When you’re driving at 55 miles per hour, you can travel the entire length of a football field in that time without ever looking at the road.

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As we recently reported on our Maine Injury Lawyer Blog, teenage drivers are most likely to be involved in distraction-related car accidents. It’s not only that they’re most likely to be involved in these kinds of accidents, but they’re pretty much most likely to be involved in most accidents.

According to new data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there were nearly 2,000 teenage drivers who died in motor vehicle accidents nationwide in 2010. In addition to that, there were another 180,000 teen drivers who were injured. The truth of the matter is that car accidents continue to be the leading cause of death for this young age group.In the state of Maine, there were nearly 20 teenage drivers who were killed in auto accidents in 2010. In addition to these driver fatalities, there were also 5 passengers and 6 occupants of other vehicles who were killed in accidents involving young drivers.

This age group is so dangerous behind the wheel that about 10 percent of all of the drivers who were involved in fatal car accidents in Bangor and elsewhere in 2010 were between the ages of 15- and 20-years-old. That’s alarming when you consider how small of a percentage of the driving population that this young age group makes up. Did you know that there were nearly 1,340,000 police-reported accidents from this young age group during this time?

These young drivers are just as dangerous on motorcycles, too. During 2010, there were nearly 220 teenage motorcycle drivers killed and another 5,000 injured in traffic accidents.

You might not believe it, but these young drivers are also likely to be involved in alcohol-related accidents, too!sIn 2010, 30 percent of these young drivers who were killed in car accidents were under the influence of alcohol. About 25 percent of them were legally drunk.

Officials with the Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) urge parents to talk with their teen drivers about the dangers they’re bound to face on our roadways. Be sure to enact household driving rules to help to assist the state’s Graduated Driver’s Licensing (GDL) program. Make sure you lay down the consequences for breaking these rules, too. Awareness and enforcement can help to significantly reduce the risks of accidents for this young driving population.

Teen Driver Safety Tips:

-Make sure teens drive sober. If they’re busted with any amount of alcohol in their system, they could lose their license for a year.

-Always wear a seat belt.

-Make sure that the vehicle is safe to drive. A teen learning how to drive safely does not need to be further distracted by bad brakes or a sticky clutch.

-Drive defensively. Share the road with others.

-Be home before curfew.

-Limit the number of teen passengers in the vehicle.

-Obey all road laws and posted street signs.

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To help reduce the risks of car accidents in Bangor and elsewhere, we’ll be using the entire month of April to raise awareness about National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. While this month-long campaign is used to urge drivers of all ages to curb the distractions behind the wheel, we’re going to focus this effort on teenage drivers. According to a recent study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, teenage drivers are most likely to use cell phones, text messaging devices and other electronic devices behind the wheel in Bangor and elsewhere. The study even took it a step further and determined that it’s the teenage girls who are most likely to engage in distractions, twice as likely as male teen drivers of the same age group in fact, according to Consumer Reports.Our Bangor injury attorneys understand that more than 3,000 people were killed on roadways across the U. . in 2010 because of distracted drivers. As a matter of fact, officials estimate that about a quarter of all auto accidents involve a distracted driver. These kinds of risks are much higher for teenage drivers, experts say. The recent study, conducted by AAA, looked at in-car video from more than 50 families in North Carolina and took notes on the novice drivers and their driving behaviors. Researchers noted distractions and how they affected driving behaviors. Texting and talking were the two top causes of distraction for these young drivers — found in nearly 10 percent of the video. Some of the results from these distractions included rapid acceleration, jerky braking and swerving. Unfortunately, the distractions didn’t stop at talking and texting. These young drivers were also commonly witnessed eating, drinking, grooming and adjusting controls behind the wheel. These actions were observed in nearly 20 percent of the video. All of these distractions were more common among female drivers. These drivers didn’t grow wiser with age either. Video footage determined that the older the teens got, the more likely they were to engage in dangerous distractions behind the wheel. Researchers believe that they did this because they eventually got more comfortable behind the wheel, ultimately feeling safer even as they were engaging in more dangerous driving behavior. Although girls were witnessed engaging in more kinds of distractions, it’s clear that both boys are girls are facing problems in the driver’s seat. Car accidents are a very serious threat to our teenagers. Car accidents continue to be the number one cause of death for this age group. In recognition of National Distracted Driving Awareness Month 2012, sit down with the teen driver in your family and talk to them about the dangers and the risks that are associated with this dangerous driving behavior. Your talk could help to save their life. Believe it or not, parents have been proven to be some of the most influential people in the lives of teenage drivers. Continue reading