Year: 2017

Decades of research have provided valuable insight into the risk factors for auto accidents. With effective planning and safe driving habits, drivers can effectively mitigate these risks to reduce their chances of being involved in a car accident.

Now, new research has uncovered a new risk factor: driving in rural areas. Learn more about how you can use this research to prevent car accidents. When accidents do occur, an experienced Wichita car accident attorney can protect your right to be compensated for your injuries and losses.

Why Rural Accidents Are More Likely To Be Fatal

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported on the findings of a study into accidents rates in rural v. urban areas. This study reported that, in 2015, only 19 percent of the population of the United States lived in rural areas, yet almost 60 percent of motor vehicle deaths reported that year occurred on rural roads. The number of crashes in urban areas was found to be higher, but rural accidents were far more likely to cause fatal injuries. This was found to be related to seat belt use, which was highest in urban counties and lowest in rural counties. Seat belt use was also higher in primary enforcement states (in which failure to use a seat belt is a separate offense for which an officer may stop and cite a driver) than secondary enforcement states (in which an officer may only cite a driver for failure to use a seat belt after another violation has been observed).

Seat belt use is a significant predictor of whether auto accident injuries will be fatal. Many studies over several decades have consistently demonstrated that seat belts save lives. An estimated 64,000 lives were saved by seat belts in the United States just between 2011 and 2015. Kansas law also requires drivers and occupants of vehicles to wear seat belts (see Kansas Statutes § 8-2503). There are very limited exceptions to this law. Keep your family safe by implementing family rules for seat belt use in the car. Teens, especially, should have driving privileges which are strictly contingent on seat belt use and other safe driving behaviors. Children should be placed in car seats and booster seats which are appropriately sized to their age and weight. Continue moving the child up to the next appropriate size as he or she grows. Until the age of twelve, children should never ride in a front seat, due to the risk of injury from the passenger airbag.

Speeding is also a significant predictor of fatal injuries, and it is more likely to occur on rural roads with few speeding enforcement mechanisms. The National Center for Biotechnology Information published a longitudinal review of studies which measured the efficacy of automated enforcement technology programs. Of twenty-eight studies reviewed, every single one reported a lower number of crashes after implementation of a speed enforcement technology program. Bloomberg reports that such technologies are widely acknowledged to be an effective deterrent to speeding, but that they are currently only used in fourteen states and the District of Columbia. Their efficacy has caused the National Transportation Safety Board to recommend that states remove laws which prohibit the use of such technologies.   

An experienced Wichita auto accident attorney will protect your legal rights after any auto accident, and hold negligent drivers responsible for their dangerous behavior so that no one else is hurt by it.

Teen drivers are more likely to be involved in car accidents than older, more experienced drivers. This simple statistic results in tragic injuries and deaths which devastate teens and their families. Luckily, following basic rules for safe driving can help mitigate the risk of being involved in a car accident. And when wrecks do occur, an experienced Wichita car accident attorney can help those who are injured get the compensation they deserve.

Teen Accident Statistics and Kansas Cases

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death for American teenagers. In 2015, a total of 2,333 teens aged sixteen to nineteen were killed in motor vehicle collisions. That means that six teens died every day as a result of motor vehicle injuries. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration further reports that teens are the largest age group of drivers who report themselves to be distracted at the time of an accident.   

These statistics are more than hypothetical theories. Kansas teens are killed in car accidents, and this devastates the lives of Western Kansas families. Such was the case for the community of Anthony, Kansas. ABC KAKE reports that two teens were involved in rollover accident outside of Anthony. The driver failed to maneuver a turn. The passenger, sixteen, was ejected from the 1995 pickup truck and killed. He was about the start his junior year of high school at Chaparral High School. KSN reports on a similar accident in Hodgeman County that claimed the life of a nineteen-year-old passenger from Dodge City. KSN reports that the driver, also nineteen, survived, but passenger Nicolas Velasques-Ortiz succumbed to his injuries.

Safe Driving Tips for Teens

There are lessons to be learned from these grim statistics and tragic accidents. First, teen drivers are particularly vulnerable to distractions which divert attention from the task of driving. Second, inexperience also makes teen drivers more likely to lose control of their vehicles, and less able to regain control once it is lost. These problems can be addressed with family involvement and safe driving rules:

• Combat your teen driver’s inexperience with driver’s education courses and practical experience. The more time a parent spends observing and instructing a teen’s driving, the better he or she can teach a teen how to respond to the wide variety of scenarios all drivers must face.
• Enact and enforce clear guidelines for the use of technology in the vehicle. Teen drivers should be banned from surfing the internet or texting while driving. Emergency calls should only be placed when the vehicle is stopped. Whenever possible, teens should keep their smartphones out of arm’s reach in the vehicle, so they are not tempted to use them. Navigation systems should be programmed with the destination before the vehicle starts moving.  

The Kansas Division of Vehicles offers a detailed description of Kansas graduated driver’s license laws, as outlined in K.S.A. 8-234b.

With practical experience and good driving habits, the roads of Kansas can be made safe for all teen drivers.  

Parents work hard to protect our children every day. So it is scary to think that a child’s risk of serious injury or death is extremely high for an activity as mundane and commonplace as getting into a car.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that of the 33,000 people who die in U.S. motor vehicle collisions every year, 1,150 are children under the age of 14. In fact, car wrecks are the No. 1 cause of death for 4-year-old children and the No. 2 cause of death for 3-year-olds and children ages 5 to 14. Every single day, three children are killed and 470 injured in the U.S.

Recently three children and one adult were seriously injured in a crash near the Wichita airport. An SUV heading northbound and a passenger car heading eastbound onto a ramp collided at an intersection. The three children, ages 2, 7, and 9, were riding in the passenger car. They were rushed to a nearby hospital, two of them in critical condition. The woman and the third child were in serious condition.

Any time a child is injured in a motor vehicle collision, it’s wise to consult with a Wichita car accident attorney. Medical bills can be overwhelming, and fighting insurance companies is the last thing parents need to worry about during the traumatizing and painful aftermath of a wreck.

Child Crash Injuries are Preventable

While child car accidents are down significantly from what they used to be a few decades ago, they are still a serious problem confronting many families on U.S. roads.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) reports that 150 children are treated in emergency departments every hour. That includes children ranging in age from infants all the way up to 19.

One of the most important things you can do to keep children safe during a wreck is to ensure that they are in the appropriate type of car seat.

The CDC recommends:

• Birth-to-age-2: Rear-facing car seat.
• Age 2 to around Age 5: Forward-facing car seat.
• Age 5 until the seat belt fits properly: Booster seat.
• Once seat belt fits properly without a booster seat: Seat belt.

The proper restraints need to be used each and every time, for every trip, no matter how short the distance.

Damages for Child Car Accidents in Wichita

Damages for crash cases involving children can be quite substantial, depending on the circumstances.

When it comes to seeking compensation for children injured in car accident, it should be noted that Kansas is one of about a dozen U.S. states that follows the no-fault system.  This system means that when a Kansas driver is injured in a motor vehicle accident, his or her own insurance pays a portion of the initial medical bills and lost wages. These benefits, called “personal injury protection,” or “PIP” also extend to members of the insured driver’s household – including their children.

PIP minimums include:

• $4,500 per individual for medical expenses;
• $900 monthly for a full year for disability/ loss of income;
• $25/day for in-home services;
• $2,000 funeral or burial expenses;
• $4,500 for rehabilitative expenses.

In addition to PIP coverage, a child who is injured in a wreck also has a right to see compensation from the at-fault driver. This can include claims for past and future medical expenses, as well as pain and suffering.

If you have questions about your child’s injury in a Kansas car accident, let us help.

Families who have lost loved ones in Kansas hit-and-run accidents are pressing for tougher laws to penalize offenders, and hopefully make these incidents less common.

In 2011, Kansas adopted new laws pertaining to hit-and-run accidents. Hit-and-run became a felony with “presumptive jail-time,” which meant a hit-and-run driver found guilty would be presumed to be deserving of incarceration unless proven otherwise.

Despite this change, which made penalties stricter, many families do not believe the laws punishing hit-and-run drivers are strict enough or impose sufficient penalties on motorists who leave the scene of collisions.

If a motorist leaves a crash site, this can result in delays in victims getting help. Sometimes, the consequences of these delays are fatal or the victim suffers more permanent injury. When a motorist leaves the scene of a crash, it can also impact an investigation into the accident. For example, if police don’t find the driver until days or weeks or months later, it will no longer be possible to test the driver’s blood alcohol concentration at the time of the collision.

Hit-and-run accidents not only impact criminal cases, but can also affect the rights of injured victims and families of people killed in crashes. Victims should normally be able to make a claim for compensation from a driver who caused an accident, but will be unable to do so if a driver isn’t found after a hit-and-run.

Typically, in these cases, victims’ primary avenue for compensation is uninsured motorist coverage, which they obtain from their own insurer.

KAKE recently published an article on several families who have lost loved ones due to accidents which involved hit-and-run drivers.  One such accident in 2014 was fatal. The family of the man who was killed was angry it took two years for police to arrest the driver. They were even angrier when the driver wasn’t charged with killing the crash victim, but instead only faced penalties for driving away from the scene of a crash causing injury.

The district attorney’s office didn’t charge the driver with killing someone because the DA’s office concluded they did not have sufficient evidence to make a case for homicide.  While driving away from the scene of an injury accident is a felony offense, the driver was sentenced to just 30 days in jail. He actually ended up serving only two days before he was put on work-release for the remainder of his 30-day sentence. The family of the victim was understandably outraged.

The brother of the victim said, “I feel the sentence was a slap on the wrist. I still don’t think that was necessarily a good enough sentence for hiding for two years and not coming forward.”

This family wasn’t the only one angry about the penalties imposed on a hit-and-run driver. Another mother whose son was killed while he was walking along the road was told the driver of the deadly hit-and-run would likely get probation only and serve no jail time. The mother lamented this sentence was “not fair.”

The DA’s office indicates there is nothing they can do when there is no evidence a crime was committed, because there is nothing to charge someone with except hit-and-run if the driver leaves the scene but didn’t actually do anything else wrong.  However, as KAKE indicates, families believe stricter hit-and-run penalties would be better because at least imposing a stricter sentence could be more of a deterrent.

A tragic motor vehicle accident occurred in Kansas recently when five members of a family who were traveling together in a van were killed after a tractor-trailer hit the family car head-on. KAKE.com reports that the deadly collision happened when one tractor-trailer was trying to pass another big truck.

The incident happened shortly after 8 PM on a Saturday. The tractor-trailer driver who was trying to pass reportedly crossed the center lane, killing the 29-year old van driver as well as four children who were riding in the van. The truck driver was also taken to the hospital with injuries, and KAKE indicated it was not yet clear whether or not charges would be brought against the driver.

Unfortunately, passing in an unsafe way is a leading example of aggressive driving behavior that can cause motor vehicle accidents to happen. As many as 80 percent of all drivers engage in some type of dangerous behavior behind the wheel out of anger, frustration, or rage at some time over the course of the year, according to AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. When drivers make the choice to let their anger overrule their common sense and they do something dangerous while driving, the outcome can be tragic – as this collision shows.

Passing when it’s not safe is just one of many different kinds of common aggressive driving behavior that can lead to crashes. When AAA surveyed drivers about their behaviors behind the wheel over the course of the year prior to taking the survey, AAA discovered that:

• 51 percent of drivers tailgated on purpose
• 47 percent of drivers yelled at another motorist
• 45 percent of drives honked in order to express their anger or annoyance at other motorists
• 33 percent of motorists made angry gestures
• 24 percent of drivers tried to stop other vehicles from changing lanes
• 12 percent of motorists cut off another car intentionally out of anger
• Four percent of drivers actually got out of their car to confront another motorist
• Three percent of drivers bumped into, or rammed into, another vehicle intentionally

When motorists engage in these behaviors, or unsafe passing, the risks of a collision can increase substantially. When AAA studied auto accidents from 2003 through 2007, they found close to half of all collisions that occurred involved at least one of the drivers doing a potentially aggressive action leading up to the accident.

The risk of a serious collision that could cause loss of life is not worth it. Any motorist who finds himself getting angry needs to take steps to calm down, such as taking deep breathes or counting to 10. Sure, other drivers can be annoying, but it’s important to drive defensively. Motorists should remember that it only takes one time to cause a devastating crash, and a collision can happen in a second. Don’t take the chance and give in to road rage or let aggression control your driving behavior, because your actions might change lives forever.