New York drivers may be less likely to have fatal accidents on rural than urban roads, and fatal accidents are down overall across the country compared to 2015 and 2016. However, truck drivers could be at a greater accident risk than drivers of other types of vehicles.On Oct. 3, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released information from its Fatality Analysis Reporting System. After a climb in fatalities in 2015 and 2016, they dropped in 2017, and appear to be continuing that trend in the first half of 2018. This was true for all vehicle types except SUVs, tractor-trailers and large straight trucks, which all showed increases. This was particularly significant for tractor-trailers, which showed nearly a 6 percent increase, and large straight trucks, which increased more than 18 percent.The [...]

Drivers in New York, whatever generation they belong to, are as prone to distracted driving as drivers elsewhere. Volvo recently teamed up with the Harris Poll to study distracted driving among all generations of drivers in the U.S. There were 2,000 participants, and they spanned from the Silent Generation and baby boomers to Gen Xers, millennials and Generation Z, which encompasses those born between the mid-1990s and the mid-2000s.Millennials and Gen Xers were the most prone to phone use behind the wheel: 81 percent admitted to it. This was followed by 71 percent of Gen Z, 64 percent of baby boomers and 50 percent among the Silent Generation. Specifically, 60 percent admitted to texting, 35 percent to reading emails, 25 percent to surfing the web and 20 percent to posting [...]

On June 15, the Travelers Institute, the public policy division of Travelers Insurance, held an Every Second Matters symposium on Capitol Hill. Its subject, distracted driving, is one that should be of interest to any New York residents who are thinking about taking a road trip this summer.One important finding that Travelers has brought to the public's attention is how distracted driving becomes more common in summer. It referred to the conclusion of a recent study made by TrueMotion based on sensor data gathered from its free mobile app, TrueMotion Family.After analyzing more than 20,000 drivers and the trips they took between January 2017 and May 2018, researchers found that the time drivers spent distracted went up by nearly 10 percent in June, July and August. On average, drivers were [...]

Ever since Tesla debuted its Autopilot program, the company has been running into issues. Residents of New York who are concerned about the safety of Tesla's semi-autonomous vehicles may have heard about the crash that recently took place in Utah. The driver of Tesla Model S collided with a firetruck even though Autopilot was on, the reason being that the driver was looking down at her phone.Although the driver wasn't seriously injured, this accident received widespread attention from news media, prompting the Tesla CEO and supporters of the company to respond. However, rather than say that Tesla will ensure more rigorous safety standards or have federal car regulators oversee the issues, the CEO expressed amazement that such a minor accident would become front-page news when other more serious accidents receive [...]

New York residents may have heard about the recent fatal crashes involving Tesla and Uber vehicles. In the Tesla accident, which occurred when the vehicle was on Autopilot, the driver allegedly received several warnings to place his hands on the wheel prior to the collision. The Uber crash, which involved a self-driving test vehicle, resulted in the company opting not to renew its license to test autonomous cars in the state of California. While these incidents may sour people on self-driving vehicles, there is still a lot of upside to the technology.About 90 percent of all accidents each year are caused by human error. There are more than 35,000 deaths that result from car accidents, and autonomous technology tests have revealed that self-driving vehicles aren't any more dangerous. Furthermore, Uber [...]

For drivers in New York, getting behind the wheel can sometimes have unexpected consequences, especially as a result of a car accident. Auto collisions can lead to serious personal injuries and even fatalities on the roadways, and working to reduce the dangers on highways is a major priority for public officials. There are several leading causes of car crashes that play a role in severe accidents that lead to death or major injuries.Unsafe driving is one major factor in car accident injuries For example, drunk and impaired driving leads to a large number of fatalities each year. When drivers are intoxicated, their reaction times are slowed, and they may be unable to handle the split-second changes needed when driving on the highway. While drunk driving is particularly dangerous, even drowsy [...]

New York residents who have been in a car accident should know that soft tissue injuries often result from them. Even more importantly, they can be hard for physicians to detect as they do not appear on X-rays, and their symptoms can appear days after an accident, misleading some into thinking that they are unrelated.These injuries affect the muscles, tendons, ligaments and other non-bony parts of the body. Soft tissue damage is different from hard tissue injuries, which affect the bones and cartilage. The impact of a collision causes the soft tissues to stretch and become strained, sprained or torn. Victims experience pain, swelling and sometimes bleeding and a loss of motor and sensory function in the neck.In rear-end collisions, when the head snaps back and forth, the neck tissue [...]

For drivers in New York and throughout the country, highway safety is always a major concern as well as a significant public policy issue requiring action and leadership by state government. Car accidents can have a severe effect on people's lives, leading to serious personal injuries, major property damage and even death. Therefore, reducing the number of crashes on the roadways is a priority for state officials with the goal of improving safety in the state. One report authored by the National Governors Association provides suggestions to state governors to help them develop meaningful plans to address roadway dangers, especially fatal and injury crashes.In every state, there is a range of agencies whose mandates include highway safety as a part of their programs, including law enforcement agencies, regulatory departments and [...]

While there are circumstances in which a driver in New York may choose not to report a car accident, the best course in most cases is to report the crash as soon as possible. The first priority following a car accident should be to assess any harm to the people involved and seek medical care if necessary. Following that, it is important to begin the recovery process, which may include filing reports with insurers or the police. It may also include filing a lawsuit in some cases.In a case where the accident is a minor fender-bender and no one is injured, it may be in a driver's best interest not to report the accident. Many minor crashes go unreported because the cost of repair is less than the relevant insurance [...]

In 2016, more than 40,000 people died in car accidents around the country. Traffic fatalities are on the rise, so New York drivers might be more likely to be involved in a deadly motor vehicle accident than in previous years. Many crashes have a few common causes. For example, drivers drifting out of their lanes causes up to one-third of all motor vehicle accidents.Between 23 and 30 percent of accidents involve one car rear-ending another. This often happens because one driver is following another car too closely. Driving while sleepy accounts for 21 percent of deadly car accidents and 7 percent of all crashes. Experts say people do a poor job of gauging how tired they are before getting behind the wheel.About 12 percent of crashes happen because a person [...]