Personal Injury Blog

Americans love their pets, and as many as 78 million pet dogs are currently in loving homes. Very often, these pets accompany their owners on long drives. What many motorists, however may not realize is that when they are traveling with their pets in their car, they are at serious risk of distractions, possibly even an accident.

A recent survey by the AAA yielded very disturbing results. The survey found that many American motorists frequently drove with their pets in their car, and were frequently distracted by those animals. More than half admitted that they frequently drive with their pets, and pet them while driving. This takes their hands away from the wheel, and is a serious accident threat.

Approximately 23% admitted that they have held the animal while driving, while 19% admitted that they had to frequently restrain the animal and prevent it from coming into the front seat.

Motorists also admitted to engaging in other destructive behaviors, including interacting with the dog in the back seat, allowing the animal in their lap, holding the animal, giving the animal food or treats, or taking photographs of their dog. All of these are extremely distracting behaviors that can increase the risk of an accident.

It is possible to safely drive with your pet in the car. Make sure that your pet is restrained safely. 7 out of 10 of the motorists in the study often drove with an unrestrained animal and a child in the car at the same time. The level of distraction that this combination can cause boggles the mind.

Invest in a pet carrier, pet booster seat, or any other type of pet restraint system depending on the type of animal, its size and weight and ensure that your animal is able to enjoy the ride safely.

When it comes to the safety of teen drivers, experience may matter much more than the age of the motorist. According to a new study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, extending the graduated driver licensing laws to drivers beyond the age of 17 could help to reduce the number of road accidents involving teenage and young drivers.

According to the study, graduated driver licensing programs could benefit teenagers more when they start driving at a later age. For example, when a motorist begins driving at the age of 17, instead of 16, he's much more likely to be safer because of the kind of experience that he gets in driving in risky situations, like driving at night or driving with passengers, when he's older.

The practical driving experience that such a motorist gains is good for an older teenage motorist. According to the researchers, automatically assuming that a motorist of the age of 18 is capable of driving safely is a huge mistake.

The study focused on two separate studies in the states of California and North Carolina. In both of these states, motorists are allowed to begin driving at the age of 16. In these states, the researchers found that new drivers got their licenses at older ages, but were less likely to be involved in an accident during the initial months or years of driving, compared to those who got their learners permit much earlier.

Then the researchers compared those findings with the findings of another study that was conducted in the state of New Jersey, where motorists must be a minimum of 17 years of age, for unsupervised driving. In New Jersey, the graduated driver licensing program has laws, even for drivers up to the age of 21, a feature that is not in existence in the graduated driver’s licensing program in California. The researchers found that in New Jersey, older beginners had much lower accident rates and lower rates of involvement in injurious accidents, compared to younger beginners.

The proper understanding of bicycle accident causes and other factors at a bicycle accident scene can help prevent these collisions in the future. However, the current police bicycle accident reporting procedures that are in place in several major cities around the country are completely inadequate. These procedures were designed several decades ago, when there were very few numbers of bicycle commuters on our roads.

In 2015, a significant percentage of commuters in Las Vegas prefers to commute to work and elsewhere on bike. That has contributed to an increase in the number of bicycle accidents. It's important to property understand bicycle accident factors, so that we can prevent these accidents in the future. The understanding of bicycle accident data could also help us understand the kind of infrastructure that would help reduce the risk of these accidents.

Unfortunately, the police accident report forms that are currently being used are not designed, to capture all this data. For instance, the current police accident forms don't take into account whether the bicyclist was riding in a bicycle lane at a time or whether a bicycle lane was available at the time, or what type of car the motorist involved in the accident was driving. These are important questions that would probably help us better understand the main causes of bike accidents across the country.

Researchers recently suggested that many of these outdated bicycle accident reporting methods have led to useful data being lost because important data is not being collected. More detailed information about these collisions could help understand bicycle accident causes, and take measures to prevent these.

If you were injured in a bicycle accident in Las Vegas, speak to a Las Vegas bicycle accident lawyer.