Georgia Injury Law Blog

Published on: October 29, 2024

School Bus Safety Notes on Preventing Car Accidents

With hundreds of thousands of children across the metro Atlanta region now back at school, it is important for motorists, parents and other stakeholders to focus on looking out for school buses and keeping children safe. Unfortunately, every year there are car accidents near school buses in which children are killed or injured.

As a motorist, know the rules to follow when it comes to sharing the roads with school buses. School buses are some of the most regulated vehicles on our streets, and, therefore, are subject to a number of rules and regulations. Motorists in Georgia and other states are also required to follow the rules when they share the roads with these massive vehicles and their precious cargo, in order to avoid auto accidents.

When you are following a school bus, look out for the flashing lights. Yellow lights mean that the bus is preparing to slow down, which means that you need to slow down and prepare to stop as well. A red light means that children are being picked up or dropped off. You must remain stopped while the red light is on and the Stop arm is extended. Wait till the bus actually starts moving before you start your car and move ahead too.

Published on: October 24, 2024

Infrared Therapy Promises Quicker Recovery for Spinal Cord Injury Victims

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

New research focuses on the use of infrared light therapy to help reduce the impact of a spinal injury soon after it occurs.

Spinal cord personal injuries are some of the most devastating injuries, and often occur in auto accidents, motorcycle accidents and pedestrian and bicycle accidents. There is no complete cure for a spinal injury. However, millions of dollars are being invested in research into circumventing or limiting the impact of spinal cord personal injuries. Some of this research focuses on interventions that can limit damage during the early hours after the personal injury.

Recently, researchers using a grant by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health announced that they are in the process of testing an infrared tool that can help reduce the activity of mitochondria cells after an injury. According to the researchers, a lot of the long term impact of a spinal injury can be limited if interventions are made immediately or within a few hours after the injury. As soon as a spinal injury occurs, the mitochondria cells go into overdrive, creating large amounts of free radicals, and increasing cell damage in the area. According to the researchers, it is therefore important to limit the activity of the mitochondria soon after the spinal injury.

Published on: October 22, 2024

Safety Concerns over Electric Cars and Guardrails

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Most American guardrails simply are not tested for the extra weight of electric cars. This may pose a safety risk when there is a car accident involving a electric vehicles crashing into a guardrail.

According to CBS News, these safety concerns are valid because the strength of guardrails on American roads are typically tested against vehicles that weigh approximately 5000 pounds. However, the average electric vehicle weighs approximately 30% more. This deficiency in testing standards is possibly posing a risk of serious personal injury to drivers and passengers in electric cars.

Recently, a fatal car accident involved a Tesla that crashed through a guardrail. The resulting car accident left the motorist dead and the car completely mangled. According to safety experts, these guardrails are not doing a good enough job of restraining electric vehicles compared to gasoline – powered vehicles. The guardrails are tested against gasoline -powered vehicles, and unfortunately, electric – powered vehicles that are involved in collisions against guardrails simply crash through or even crash under the guardrail. Tests involving concrete medians that were slammed into by electric power vehicles found that even in those cases where the car did not crash through the median and end up in the opposing lane, large chunks of concrete did go flying through the air and into the path of oncoming cars.

Published on: October 17, 2024

Drivers Prone to Misusing Accident Safeguards in Cars with Partial Automation

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Motorists driving cars with partial automation soon learn to adapt to the various safeguards that are present in these systems, possibly increasing their car accident risks.

According to a new study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, drivers are very quick to learn ways to circumvent the limits or safeguards set by the partial automation systems in their cars. Vehicles with partial automation systems require motorists to continue to pay attention to the task of driving and step in when there needs to be an intervention. However, an analysis of several partial automation systems in automobiles show that this is not always the case.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety researchers focused on a number of partial automation systems, including Volvo’s Pilot Assist System and Tesla’s Auto Pilot system. In the Volvo system, the researchers found that drivers were often distracted by snacking and checking their phones while the system was at work. They were also likely to get more distracted as they became use to the system and as they learned to get around the limitations imposed by the system. Drivers using Tesla’s Auto Pilot found ways to get around the warning system before it escalated into a full blown intervention. They continued to engage in distracting behaviors only stepping in to take minimum actions to stop warnings or alerts issued by the system.

Published on: October 14, 2024

Why You Should Care About Pedestrian Safety

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

At some point, in our day, we are all pedestrians. Negligence by pedestrians places them at risk of being involved in an auto accident, not just when a the person is walking on the road, but also when he or she is exiting their car, jogging, leaving an office building or engaging in other activities. There can be no safety for motorists unless there is safety for pedestrians.

Next month, the Department of Transportation celebrates National Pedestrian Safety Month, and transportation safety organizations as well as pedestrian safety advocates around the country will focus on raising awareness about the rights of pedestrians and ways of keeping them safer. The Halloween holiday towards the end of October also increases the overall risk of auto accidents for pedestrians, especially children, which makes the month of October an even better time for safety organizations to raise awareness about the car accident risks facing pedestrians.

The need to spread awareness about the rights of pedestrians has become even more dire in 2024, with a steady increase in the number of pedestrians being killed in car accidents recorded over the past 2 years. Pedestrian wrongful deaths now account for some of the highest numbers of wrongful deaths in car accidents nationwide. In 2022, according to statistics by the United States Department of Transportation, there were more than 7,500 pedestrian accident wrongful deaths. That translated into an average of 21 pedestrians dying daily in auto accidents. It also means that an average of 70 pedestrians were killed in auto accidents every minute in the United States that year. Pedestrians accounted for 18% of all traffic accident wrongful deaths in 2022.

Published on: October 11, 2024

Child Passengers: Car Seats Can Protect Against Car Accident Personal Injuries

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Children are some of the most vulnerable victims of car accidents. Georgia transportation safety agencies recently commemorated National Child Passenger Safety Week which this year fell between September 15 and 21.

The Georgia Governors Office of Highway Safety and the Department of Public Health were out in full force during National Child Passenger Safety Week. Certified child safety car seat technicians went around the state, checking car seats and educating parents about the need to make sure that their children are restrained in appropriate car seats whenever they are travelling in a car. Proper restraints are the best way to prevent children from suffering severe personal injuries in car accidents.

Georgia’s laws for car seat use are extremely clear. Under the law, children below the age of 8 must be safely restrained in a booster seat or a car seat depending on their height and weight. Many parents, however, fail to ensure their children are restrained appropriately for their age, height and weight with disastrous consequences. While most parents are aware of the need to make sure their children are restrained correctly, they may have their car seats installed incorrectly or they may be restraining their children in car safety seats or booster seats that are not appropriate for their child. Georgia parents can check the safety of their child car seat at www.gahighway.org, and get information about how to get their car seat checked by a certified technician.

Published on: October 8, 2024

How a Spinal Cord Injury Can Impact your Car Accident Claim

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Veterans groups and spinal cord injury organizations are marking the month of September as Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month to bring more attention and awareness to the challenges faced by the thousands of Americans who live with these debilitating personal injuries.

Spinal cord personal injuries occur when there is any kind of damage to the spinal cord as a result of a trauma to the spine such as through a car accident or fall. These personal injuries can cause a number of effects that are often not just physical, but also emotional and psychological in nature. The impact of a spinal cord injury can depend on the location of the injury as well as its severity. Depending on the location of the injury, the person may no longer be able to enjoy movement of his hands and legs. In a complete spinal cord injury, the patient may lose sensation below the location of the spinal injury, while in an incomplete spinal injury, the patient may feel some degree of sensation and enjoy some movement in the area below the site of the spinal injury. The degree of sensation and movement can differ depending on other factors.

A spinal cord injury can result in loss of movement, and loss of sensation or the ability to differentiate between hot and cold. Other effects include respiratory difficulties, frequent coughing and difficulty breathing, pain and stinging sensation in the affected areas as well spasms. The patient may experience significant loss of bladder and bowel control.

Published on: October 4, 2024

Decline in Auto Accident Wrongful Deaths During First Half of 2024

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Preliminary statistics by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show a drop in the number of people killed nationwide in auto accidents during the first 6 months of 2024. This is the 9th consecutive quarterly drop in car accident fatality numbers. It is important to better understand why this drop in auto accident wrongful deaths occurred and to continue to work to improve the numbers.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently released encouraging news in the form of car accident data for the first half of 2024. The statistics show that there was a 3% drop in the number of auto accident fatalities during the first 6 months of 2024, compared to the same period of time in 2023. The data reveals that there were 18,720 deaths in car accidents between January and July of 2024. This was a drop from the 19,330 deaths that were recorded during the first 6 months of 2023.

This drop came even as there was a slight increase in the number of vehicle miles traveled by Americans in the first half of 2024, compared to the same period of time last year. This year, Americans traveled approximately 0. 8% higher number of vehicle miles or 13.1 billion extra miles, compared to the same period of time in 2023. Overall, 32 states recorded a drop in auto accident deaths during the first half of 2024. This included the state of Georgia which recorded 696 deaths in car accidents during the first six months of 2024, in comparison with 762 deaths during the same period of time last year.

Published on: September 23, 2024

Lack of Insurance and Recovery after Spinal Cord Personal Injuries

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Uninsured or under-insured patients, who have suffered spinal cord injuries due to auto accident or other traumatic events, may be much more likely to be taken off life support.

A recent study measured the impact of insurance coverage on the survival and recovery of persons after a spinal cord injury. The study focused on more than 8,400 American adults who had suffered a spinal cord injury, and found that uninsured or under-insured patients were much more likely to be taken off life support much earlier than those with insurance.

Spinal cord injuries are often caused in auto accidents, trucking accidents and motorcycle accidents. These are not just devastating personal injuries with long-term consequences, but are also extremely expensive personal injuries to treat. The costs involved in treating spinal cord injuries can range between $95,000 to well above $1,000,000, depending on the complexity or level of the injury. Spinal cord injuries very often can result in paralysis, which in turn, can lead to a number of other effects on a person’s health.

Published on: September 20, 2024

New Bill Would Require SUVs, Trucks to Protect Pedestrians

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

A new bill that is expected to be introduced soon would require federal standards for the heights of SUVs and pick-up trucks to also consider pedestrian safety. This is an extremely important change which is likely to save lives in auto accidents involving pedestrians and bicycles.

According to Representative Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pennsylvania), who is introducing the new bill, while there is much that is currently being done to protect occupants inside the vehicle, there is much more that can also be done in order to protect vulnerable users like pedestrians and bicyclists who are outside the vehicle when auto accidents occur.

The popularity of pick-up trucks and SUVs has skyrocketed in the past few decades, and these are some of the most in-demand automobiles on the American roads. Unfortunately, while these are very popular vehicles, their presence on our roads also pose a serious danger to motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists. Their large sizes and bulk makes it much more likely that occupants of smaller vehicles will suffer serious personal injuries or wrongful deaths when they are involved in an auto accident with these large SUVs and trucks. There is immense danger to pedestrians and other vulnerable users like bicyclists who are involved in auto accidents with these vehicles.