Protecting Yourself from Auto Accident Injuries

When you think about auto accidents, do you think of grisly multi-car pileups? Collisions with tractor trailers? Accidents between drivers who are too intoxicated, tired, or distracted to be driving? One kind of auto accident many of us fail to consider is the single car accident. According to NHTSA, in 2006 44% of auto accident fatalities were attributed to single vehicle accidents. That means that nearly 13,500 people across the country died in auto accidents one year (872 in New York alone) because of something that went wrong with their own driving or the road they were on – no other vehicle was involved.

Single car accidents kill five New Yorkers in one day

Take for example three accidents that happened earlier this month in New York City – all on the same day. All were single car accidents, and 5 people lost their lives and two were injured. In the first accident, a Honda Accord slammed into an elevated train post on Atlantic Avenue at Buffalo Avenue, killing the two people riding in the passenger side of the car. The driver was injured and had to be treated for neck and back injuries at Kings County Hospital. The back driver's side passenger was also injured, and had to be treated for a ruptured bladder and broken pelvis.

The second accident on the same day happened when a BMW crashed into a truck parked on Avenue D between Rockaway Avenue and Rockaway Parkway. The driver was killed instantly after his car careened out of control, and his passenger later died in the hospital. Police attributed the accident to excessive speed.

The third accident that day occurred when a car driving on the Long Island Expressway rammed into a guardrail and broke through near exit 22A. The car fell into Flushing Meadow Park below, and the driver was killed instantly.

How you can protect yourself

The good news is that there are steps you can take as a responsible driver to ensure that you and your passengers don’t meet the same terrible fate as the seven people in the accidents above. To avoid becoming the next traffic fatality in New York or New Jersey, practice the following safe driving tips:

• Buckle up: While about 83% of New Yorkers already wear their seatbelt, 848 passenger vehicle occupants still lost their lives in 2006, and 399 of those were not wearing their seatbelt or other restraint. The NHTSA estimates that 172 lives would have been saved that year if everyone had been wearing their seatbelt.
• Avoid distractions: avoid using your cell-phone, sending text messages, playing with your navigation system or music player, applying make-up, eating, and above all just keep your eyes on the road.
• Share the road: aggressive driving is often linked to speed related accidents (see below). Slow down and share the road with other drivers, and give the other vehicles plenty of room.
• Drive drug & alcohol free: 558 people in New York were killed in alcohol related auto accidents, which accounted for 38% of all fatalities in 2006.
• Obey speed limits: 448 people in New York died in auto accidents attributed to excessive speed, which accounted for 32% of all fatalities in 2006. The NHTSA estimates that speed related crashes cost New York $3.164 billion each year.

Start your auto trip on the right foot

To get your trip started right – whether you are just going to the grocery store or whether you are beginning a long family driving vacation – there are pre-start checks that you can make to be sure you are ready for the road. The National Safety Council (NSC) offers a list of 7 Pre-Start Safety Guidelines that every driver should follow before getting on the road:

• Buckle seatbelts and make sure they're properly fastened. In the last 20 years, an estimated 157,500 lives have been saved by safety belts.
• Adjust mirrors. Three out of 10 survey respondents do not adjust their mirrors before short driving trips (two hours or less), when it is more likely you will get in a crash.
• Position seat and head restraints. Correctly positioned head restraints reduce whiplash injuries resulting from crashes by 28.3 percent.
• Secure loose objects. Only 34 percent of survey respondents regularly secure loose objects in their cars, even though, on average, loose items—from luggage to soda pop cans—are responsible for 13,000 injuries in accidents nationwide in just one year.
• Turn off cell phones. In the last five years alone, nearly 300,000 drivers have been involved in crashes attributed to cell phone use.
• Look for engine warning lights. Three out of four respondents said they always check to see if their check engine light is on; however, many admitted to checking the light while already driving.
• Check your fuel level. In preparing for a trip—large or small—it's necessary to ensure you have enough gasoline in your tank to get there and back. Twenty-five percent of survey respondents said they do not check their gas level.

If you or someone you love has been the victim of a serious auto accident, then Peter Panas wants to help you get the justice you deserve. Contact us today and find out how you could be eligible to receive compensation for lost wages, pain and suffering, lost future earnings, and medical expenses.

Law Office of Peter Panas, PC
11 Penn Plaza, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10001
Phone: 212-946-4748
Fax: 866-805-2522