After several years of considerable improvements in safety, the annual number of traffic deaths is again on the rise in California. In fact, in 2010 there were fewer California traffic fatalities than during any other year since World War II, but there has been a 13 percent increase since 2010. So why is the state seeing an uptick in fatal accidents now? And why do state officials expect the trend to continue? […]
You pay a premium — no doubt about that — for the hospital in-patient “experience,” so you certainly want things done in a timely and conscientious manner. In a medical facility, doing things right centrally encompasses hospital administrators and staff members ensuring a safe and hygienic environment. Although many people might reasonably believe that this is not much of a problem and a readily achieved goal in all instances (after all, hospitals are places where people go to rid themselves of ailments and to get better), hospital environments are actually quite problematic when it comes to germs and other nasty things. […]
It seems to be the case that a federal office tasked with broad oversight of vehicle safety issues relating to both passenger and commercial vehicles and equipment could use a bit more oversight itself. Put another way: In response to the question of what it is precisely that the so-called Office of Defects Investigation does, the answer might reasonably seem to be that the ODI does very little, and that much of what it does focus upon is not done particularly well. […]
A wrongful death personal injury case that Greyhound Lines Inc. thought it had won in a California superior court was given new life and a green light to proceed late last month when a state appellate court reversed the lower court’s ruling that had favored the national bus company. Some of our readers might well recall the tragic bus accident that killed 11 passengers and injured 21 others in October 2008, when an apparently exhausted bus driver lost control of his vehicle, which crashed in a drainage ditch. The crash occurred in northern California. […]
Automakers sometimes receive the proverbial slap on the wrist from national safety regulators, with government agencies alleging acts of negligence or wrongdoing that result in admonitory warnings, threats of safety recalls and fines and additional responses that don’t exactly inspire fear or quick industry compliance. Fiat Chrysler could do with a bit of that right now, as the recently combined motor vehicle manufacturer is contemplating a just-inked settlement with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that actually bites as well as barks. […]
It was a truly tragic bus accident, marked by a sheer dichotomy in which both nothing was learned and much was learned, respectively. Many of our readers might well remember the sad day in April of last year when a heavy commercial truck and a motorcoach carrying scores of passengers collided on an interstate in northern California. […]
How quickly things can change. Just a few short weeks ago, the future of motorcycle lane-splitting in California seemed to be well charted and eminently clear. Myriad media sources across the state reported the success of legislation explicitly authorizing the practice, noting the passage of a motorcycle lane-splitting Assembly bill through that body. […]
You probably don’t think about the total number of text messages that are sent in the United States and its territories every month, but the figure is staggering. According to a study based on data as of Dec. 2013, roughly 153.3 billion texts are sent per month. That’s an incredible number. How many of those texts are sent while someone is behind the wheel of a motor vehicle? No one knows for sure, but its a significant number, given some other figures. The crazy thing is, distracted driving isn’t just limited to texting while driving. Cellphone use, in general, is a form of distracted driving. Using [...]
It’s currently estimated that one in seven vehicles in the United States may be equipped with a faulty airbag. This statistic may be extremely shocking to those of our Los Angeles readers who have not been following the news regarding the recent recalls involving vehicles with Takata airbags. But for those who have been following the story, this statistic only further illustrates the need to hold auto manufacturers liable for their negligence. For those who do not know, a number of investigations into crashes over the last decade have uncovered a flaw in Takata’s airbags that cause them to explode violently in a driver’s face. In [...]
If you’ve been following our blog over the last year then you know we’ve talked before about Google’s self-driving car. What was once just a prototype being driven on a test track nearly a year ago has now been released on actual roads here in California and most recently near Austin, Texas. But just as it did when it was first created, the vehicle is still raising a number of questions, including the one we’re asking in today’s post title: Will Google’s self-driving cars put an end to car accidents? […]
