Specifically, the AAA has provided 10 suggestions for drivers to follow this week and to find out if their driving experience and overall safety are improved as a result:

1. Plan your route ahead of time and check traffic conditions before leaving
2. Put your electronic devices such as cell phones away
3. Make sure any pets or children are properly and safely seated before leaving
4. Eat your meals or snacks before or after your trip
5. Stow your loose possessions properly
6. Make seat and climate control adjustments on your vehicle before departing
7. Finish dressing/applying makeup/shaving before getting into your vehicle
8. Focus your brain onto the driving task at hand
9. Take some time to evaluate your own driving habits
10. Use technology intended to help you travel to your advantage, such as GPS devices

While it’s not known how much of a difference these steps will make in regards to the overall accident statistics around the United States, the hope is that enough people will realize that they are making repeated mistakes behind the wheel and take the necessary steps to correct them.  If nothing else, you could become much more aware of the dangerous tactics used by other drivers and learn to avoid them earlier than you would have if you had been distracted yourself.

However, this will obviously not prevent all accidents from occurring.  If you or someone you love has been injured in a car accident, you need to contact the car accident lawyers at the Phillips National Injury Group today to schedule a free initial consultation.

That National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) has also been involved with this issue, and its preliminary investigations revealed that these floor mats, all of which are placed on the driver’s side, are too long for the space provided, which is what the agency believes is causing accelerators to stick to the floor and to unexpectedly bring these vehicles to dangerous speeds with little to no forewarning.

The models affected by this recall include:

• Toyota Camry – 2007-10 models
• Toyota Avalon – 2005-10 models
• Toyota Prius – 2004-09 models
• Toyota Tacoma – 2005-10 models
• Toyota Tundra – 2007-10 models
• Lexus ES 350 – 2007-10 models
• Lexus IS 250 - 2006-10 models
• Lexus IS 350 - 2006-10 models

Toyota and the government have advised all drivers of these models to immediately remove the floor mats from the driver’s side, and if the driver of any of these defective vehicles finds him or herself accelerating suddenly, he or she should push down on the brake pedal with both feet until the vehicle slows down to the point where it can be placed in neutral.  There are also models that have a start/stop engine button, and if that button is pressed for at least three seconds, it should cut the power to the engine and help to bring the vehicle to a stop.

The NHTSA has received more than 100 reports of problems regarding this issue, although it declined to report how many of these incidents involved accidents.  However, there has been one tragic report of a family of four that was killed near San Diego when their vehicle’s accelerator stuck to the floor, causing it to veer off the side of the road, roll over and burst into flames.  Four people were killed in the accident.

If you or someone you love has been harmed by a defective Toyota automobile, you need to contact the Toyota recall lawyers at the Phillips National Injury Group today to schedule a free initial consultation.

According to Tri-Cities.com:

“About 10 a.m. Wednesday, three crew members working on a bridge pylon were knocked into the South Fork of the Holston River near State Route 75 and the Boone Lake Dam by a collapsing rebar frame.

Workers on the job site fished two of the workers, a man and a woman, out of the water and got them medical attention. They could not save a second man, who was pronounced dead two hours later, after county rescue divers recovered his body from the river.

Simpson Construction Co. Compliance Officer Ron Higgins told the Herald Courier’s news partner, News Channel 11 Connects, that his company’s initial investigation shows the rebar frame collapsed after its stabilizing cable snapped. The company will continue to investigate the accident today, Higgins said.”

The injured workers are expected to recover, but officials are sure to investigate the matter further to identify the cause and fault of the accident.  If you or someone you love has been injured in such an incident, you need to contact the construction accident lawyers at the Phillips National Injury Group today to schedule a free initial consultation.

The Journal-Star in Lincoln, Nebraska recently published an article that laid out a few relevant statistics, and in a word, they are troubling:

“In rural Nebraska, ATV accidents have become the leading cause of agricultural fatalities. From 2004 through 2007, one-third of ag fatalities involved ATVs, which are handy for many tasks on farms and ranches, as well as for recreation.

The Consumer Product Safety Safety Commission reported last year that serious injuries because of ATV crashes have increased for eight years in a row to a total of 150,900 in 2007. Since 2001, the number of injuries serious enough to require emergency room treatment has risen by 37 percent. Nationwide, at least 542 ATV fatalities were reported.

The Yamaha Rhino ATV, which has side-by-side seating for the driver and a passenger, has been targeted by lawsuits alleging that it is unstable and prone to rollovers. Yamaha has offered free repairs to improve safety.

Safety experts are particularly concerned about the number of ATV accidents involving children. About one-third of injuries and deaths happen to children age 16 or younger.”

At least some good could be coming from these senseless tragedies.  The University of Nebraska Extension began a program last year designed to provide training and general education for the proper operation of ATV’s.

If you own an ATV, you need to take proper precautions when driving it.  If you or someone you love has been injured or worse in an ATV accident, you need to contact the attorneys at the Phillips National Injury Group as soon as possible to schedule a free initial consultation.

According to News 4 in Jacksonville:

“A Jacksonville Port Authority employee injured while working on an 110-foot tall crane Monday night is recovering after he was lowered to the ground by Jacksonville Fire-Rescue’s Urban Search and Rescue unit using a rescue basket and ropes.

Port officials said the man suffered a severe back injury in an industrial accident during routine maintenance on the crane used to move containerized freight on and off ships at the Talleyrand marine terminal.Channel 4 learned that something bumped his safety line while a crew of six were working on the crane. While he was injured, the safety line prevented him from falling to the ground.It took nearly 90 minutes for rescuers to get him safely to the ground.”

While no one is yet sure how the safety line was bumped, what is clear is that the man is lucky to have survived.  He will likely also need to pursue worker’s compensation benefits at the least, and depending on the facts, he could have a valid civil legal claim.  If you have been injured while on the job, contact the work injury lawyers at the Phillips National Injury Group today to schedule a free initial consultation.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

“A worker died yesterday when he fell from the roof of the Pennsylvanian apartment building Downtown, plunging 13 stories and striking the sidewalk.

The accident occurred at 11:01 a.m. as Mr. Pfoertner and a foreman were pulling cables to the roof, according to Diane Richard, a spokeswoman for the Pittsburgh Police Bureau. The foreman told police he heard a “thump” and turned to see his co-worker on a sloped ledge several feet below the roof. The momentum of the fall carried Mr. Pfoertner off the ledge and to the ground.

The men were not wearing harnesses because they were working only on the roof of the Romanesque building, the foreman, who was not identified, told police.

There have been 11 construction fatalities in southwestern Pennsylvania since October of last year. In just the last week, four workers have died after falling, according to Leni Fortson, an OSHA spokesperson in Philadelphia.”

Hopefully these tragedies will stop and safety concerns will prompt a different set of working environments on these projects.  If you or someone you love has been injured in a construction accident, you need to contact the construction accident attorneys at the Phillips National Injury Group today to schedule a free initial consultation.

Now comes word from the New York Times that there were errors committed by the air traffic controllers.  According to the article:

“The air traffic controller monitoring the plane that hit a helicopter over the Hudson River last Saturday did not warn its pilot about traffic ahead, including the helicopter, and at the time had “initiated a nonbusiness-related phone call,” the National Transportation Safety Board said on Friday.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which employs air traffic controllers, said in a statement on Thursday evening that it was suspending the air traffic controller and his supervisor, but that “we have no reason to believe at this time that these actions contributed to the accident.”

On Friday, the safety board pointedly did not concur.

“The role that air traffic control might have played in this accident will be determined by the N.T.S.B. as the investigation progresses,” the board said in a statement. “Any opinions rendered at this time are speculative and premature.”

As can be seen, different parties are not in agreement as to the causation between the failure to warn and the accident that occurred.  If you have suffered a loss as a result of an airplane accident, you need to contact the Phillips National Injury Group today to schedule a free initial consultation.

According to the Ventura County Star:

“A male employee at Burger Express in Thousand Oaks was hospitalized today with burns over 60 percent of his body after a car crashed into the front of the restaurant and hit a deep fryer, authorities said.

“An elderly female was driving her car through the parking lot and struck the gas instead of the brake,” O’Hanlon said. “The employee suffered serious burns when he was hit by hot oil from a deep-fryer vat that was knocked over by the collision.”

An investigation is ongoing and the woman could face charges because of the injury, he said.”

While the crux of the situation was an unintentional mistake, losing focus for even one second behind the wheel can lead to dramatic and tragic consequences.  Luckily, the employee survived, but he is likely in for a painful and perhaps expensive recovery process.  If you or someone you love has been injured by a vehicle, you need to contact the personal injury lawyers at the Phillips National Injury Group today to schedule a free initial consultation.

According to WIVB:

“WAVY.com was at the scene Sunday night on I-64. Police say 51-year-old William Burns of Newport News was drunk when he lost control of his 2005 Mitsubishi Raider truck and smashed into the back of Starmer’s tow truck.

In the direct path of the out of control vehicle stood Starmer. He was hooking the last chain onto the broken down van. He never knew, moments before he lost his own life, he saved someone else’s.

“Him and the driver were standing (next to the tow truck) just mere seconds before (the crash) happened and he explained to the other driver, he said, ‘Look sir, I really need you to go back on the other side of the vehicle out of harms way because you never know what happens out here, okay?’” says Clarence Patrick of Superior Towing.”

The driver has been charged with aggravated involuntary manslaughter, and he is sure to face some sort of civil liability.  If you have been drinking on any given day or night, do not drive.  If you see a tow truck driver along the side of the road, provide the person with a safe distance as you pass.  If you or someone you love has been injured or worse by a drunk driver, contact the personal injury attorneys at the Phillips National Injury Group today to schedule a free initial consultation.

Despite modern technology that allows for automatic adjustment of these side mirrors and the ability to set them so that almost every viewpoint can be seen from the driver’s seat, blind spot auto accidents are still extremely prevalent in the United States.  According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there are more than 800,000 blind spot crashes in the United States every year, and these accidents lead to approximately 300 fatalities.

Therefore, it should be clear to most how this statistic should be reversed.  We are also taught in driver’s education to look around by turning our heads before changing lanes in either direction, and many people simply skip this step.  Additionally, we are taught to either move ahead or drop off further behind a vehicle if we find ourselves just off their rear bumpers and in a spot where we may not be noticed.

If these steps are taken more often, these troubling statistics will surely drop.  If an accident occurs, it depends on the facts that led to the injuries in regards to which driver would be liable.  If you have been injured in an accident that involved a driver’s blind spot, you need to contact the auto accident attorneys at Phillips & Webster as soon as possible to schedule a free initial consultation.