Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
Most of us think of trains as a fairly safe form of transportation. True, we occasionally hear about a huge train wreck, but not that often right? You might be surprised to hear how often a train wreck actually happens. According to the Federal Railroad Administration Office of Safety Analysis (FRAOSA), in the State of California alone for the year 2009 there were 99 train accidents. The year before, there were 118 train accidents. Although 2009 did not see any fatalities from train accidents, in 2008 25 people died as a result of train accidents in the State of California alone.
The FRAOSA breaks down train accidents into three different categories of accident: collisions, derailments, and other accidents. By just looking at the statistics for the last two available years, it appears as though about 5% of all train accidents are collisions, 75% derailments and the remaining 20% are “other accidents”. Also by looking at the available data, it appears as though about 6% of all train accidents happen on passenger trains. Sadly, the data gets worse when we add in incidents that happen at railroad crossing. Thirty people were killed in 2009 at railroad crossings with another sixty killed by individuals trespassing on railroad tracks somewhere other than at a crossing. That’s almost 100 people that died as a result of crossing or attempting to cross railroad tracks.
These statistics are truly shocking to most people. For some reason, we rarely hear about train accidents or train track fatalities, yet they clearly happen with some regularity. The cause of the fatalities on the tracks themselves is evident, but what were the causes for the train accidents themselves? According to the research, human error accounted for almost half of all train accidents. You may remember the horrendous Metrolink train accident that happened in 2008. Attorney Emery Ledger of Ledger & Associates whose firm represents one of the victims of that accident says that the conductor of that Metrolink train was apparently sending and receiving text messages just seconds before the train collided with another train killing 25 people and injuring hundred of others. As with car accidents, human error ranks highest on the list of causes. Track and equipment defects combine to make the next biggest category of causes. Unfortunately, many of the trains and tracks that are being used today are outdated and are in separate need of repairs or replacement. When you combine all of these factors, train accidents become more likely – and more deadly – than most people think.
If you, or a loved one, have been involved in a California train accident and have suffered injuries as a result of the accident, please fell free to contact California train attorney Emery Ledger of Ledger & Associates for a free detailed evaluation of your train accident case. If someone else was responsible for the accident – whether it was the conductor or the train company –then you may be entitled to compensation for any injuries you or your loved one suffered. Attorney Ledger can be reached at 1-800-300-0001 or he can be visited online at www.ledgerlaw.com.
Tags: categories of accident, derailment, derailments, federal railroad administration, human error, juries, killed, law, Ledger, ledgerlaw.com, metrolink train, metrolink train accident, railroad administration, railroad crossings, safety, state of california, statistics, text, text message, text messages, train accident, train accident attorney, train accidents, train wreck
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Wednesday, April 21st, 2010
While it isn’t exactly brand new information that mixing texting and driving is not a good idea, however, a new study that has just been released reveals just how dangerous it really is.
Following the examination of the reaction of truck drivers who cover more than 6,000,000 miles of road, the study concluded that people who send text messages while driving are 23 times more likely to be involved in a crash than drivers who are not distracted. In order to conduct the study, researchers put cameras inside the driver’s vehicles. They studied things such as what the driver’s eyes were looking at as they did numerous things, such as reaching for an object talking on the phone, dialing the phone, and texting. To no one’s surprise, the numbers indicated that the tasks that diverted people’s eyes from the road or highway posed the greatest amount of danger.
In near crashes and crashes, texting while driving took a driver’s focus off of the road or highway for approximately 4.6 seconds, which is enough time for the vehicle to travel the length of a football field at 55 mph.
In contrast, talking on a cell phone, which allows drivers to keep their eyes on the road or highway, only increased the risk by 1.3 times over that of a driver who was not distracted.
The authors of the study also questioned the past research which indicated that talking on a cell phone while driving is as dangerous as drunk driving. While those results may have been found in driving simulations and lab tests, they say, the same was not true in situations in the real world. In addition, they also noted that contrary to popular belief, talking on a cell phone with a hands free wireless headset is not substantially safer than talking on a regular handset. The reason of this is that the factor that was the most significant as far as safety is concerned is to keep the driver’s eyes on the road.
The study also reports that any task which takes a driver’s eyes away from the road or highway should be avoided and further suggests that all cell phone activity should be banned for newly licensed teenagers since they’re more likely to use their cell phones.
Tags: attorney ledger, cell phone while driving, crashes, emery ledger, eyes on the road, ledgerlaw.com, text messages, texting, texting accident, texting crash
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Thursday, March 4th, 2010
If we are honest, most of us would have to admit that we have sent or received text messages while driving. Some of us do it regularly while some of us only occasionally -but most of us engage in text messaging while driving at some point. You may think that texting while driving concerns only apply to teenagers, but you are wrong. Statistics tell us that while teenagers do text more while driving, adults are texting as well. Nearly 50% of all teenagers admit that they frequently send and receive text messages while driving, but 20% of experienced adult drivers are texting as well.
According to personal injury attorney Emery Ledger, of Ledger & Associates, texting while driving can result in some of the most serious, and even fatal, accidents. His firm is currently representing one of the plaintiffs in the Chatsworth train accident, one of the worst train collisions in U.S. history. In that accident alone, 25 people were killed and many more seriously injured. The National Transportation Safety Board inquiry into the Chatsworth train accident showed that the engineer that was responsible for following signals on the tracks was sending and receiving text messages just seconds before his train collided head-on with another train. It appears as though he did not heed a red light that was intended to prevent the two trains from being on the same track at the same time. The nation’s highways may not be any safer. Texting while driving has been shown to be six times more likely to result in an accident than drinking and driving. We all know how dangerous drinking and driving can be, yet there is an even bigger danger out there in the form of a simple message. “Statistics tell us that we are 23% more likely to be in a car accident if we are texting while driving” according to personal injury attorney Emery Ledger.
Why is texting so dangerous? Texting is a distraction and anything that distracts us while driving creates a danger. In the seconds it takes to read or write a text message any number of things can happen on the road that require our attention. Clearly, if we are busy texting then we aren’t reacting to the changing road conditions as quickly as we need to in order to avoid an accident. Science tells us that we require at least one second to process changing road conditions. We then have to react to the condition. In total, it takes the average person about 6 seconds to be able to come to a complete stop if they are traveling at 60 m.p.h. This is a small window to react and stop in interstate traffic with virtually no margin for error. If you add in even the 2-3 seconds that your eyes were off the road reading or sending a text message, then the margin for error evaporates and an accident is inevitable.
So the next time you have the urge to communicate with someone while you are driving, use a hands-free device or pull over and send that urgent text message. And when your phone goes off telling you that you have a message, remember that waiting just a few minutes to read it may save your life.
If you have any additional questions about texting accidents or any other personal injury questions, please contact Emery Ledger online at www.ledgerlaw.com or toll-free at 1-800-300-0001.
Tags: accident, accidents, attorney, bus, car accident, cat, chatsworth, consequences, distraction, fatal accidents, highways, injury, killed, law, Ledger, Personal Injury, personal injury attorney, plaintiff, plaintiffs, red light, road condition, road conditions, safety, statistics, teenager, teenagers, text messages, text messaging, texting, texting accident, texting while driving, traffic, train accident, train collisions, transportation safety
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