The Governor Highway Safety Association (GHSA) recently reported an alarming increase in motorcycle accidents in 2012. This news is especially disturbing because progress has been made in the last decade on reducing deaths in all other categories — except when it comes to motorcycle accidents.

While the death rate is on the rise, state and federal authorities continue to try various steps to educate the public on motorcycle accident dangers and to reduce the number of accidents that occur. One effort to help reduce the number of motorcycle fatalities is Motorcycle Awareness Month. Our Buffalo, NY motorcycle accident lawyers know that Motorcycle Awareness Month is part of a nationwide and local education effort each May to encourage drivers to be safer around motorcycles and to encourage motorcycle riders to make smart choices.

Buffalo Motorcycle Deaths & Motorcycle Awareness Month

According to Your News Now, there are many more motorcycle riders on the streets during the spring and summer in Buffalo than there are at other times of the year. The reason for this is obvious of course: the good weather results in more people wanting to get out on their bikes. Unfortunately, it also results in many more accidents. The May YNN article, for example, indicated that two motorcycle accidents had already occurred in the week prior to the article’s publication.

These two accidents are unfortunately only the tip of the iceberg, as Erie County has one of the highest accident fatality rates in the entire state of New York.  That Erie County is in the top five when it comes to deaths is especially frightening because the boroughs of New York City are far more populous.

Education and training of both drivers and motorcycle riders is necessary to try to curb the number of fatalities that occur in Erie County, especially as the months grow warmer and more people go out to ride. Motorcycle Awareness Month aims to provide the wake-up call that drivers and motorcyclists need in order to stay safe.

Motorcycle Awareness Month is not just a local Buffalo event either, but is part of a national effort to stop the rising number of motorcycle accident deaths. The GHSA indicates that the fatality rate among motorcyclists has gone up for fourteen years of the last fifteen years, and the preliminary data from 2012 indicates that last year was no exception.

In fact, 2012 saw a 9 percent increase in motorcycle accident deaths across the U.S., which was more than government authorities had predicted. The number of deaths was near record highs, with fatalities increasing in 34 states.

The number of deaths is not going to decline unless drivers and motorcycle riders can be better about sharing the road. Motorcycle Awareness Month has the aim of helping to encourage motorcycles and cars to both be safe,  with local troopers in Buffalo warning:

• Drivers to yield when required; to avoid tailgating and to be aware of their surroundings.
• Motorcycle riders to use safety equipment, take a safety course and avoid blind spots.

By educating both drivers and motorcyclists, hopefully the ever increasing death-toll will begin to decline and more motorcycle riders will be able to ride without injury.

If you’ve been injured in Buffalo or the surrounding area, contact the Law Offices of James Morris today for a free consultation to discuss your rights. Call 800-477-9044.

On March 28, 2013, the Buffalo News reported on a tragic car accident on Wilson-Burt Road in Niagara County that resulted in two deaths. The wreck was a three vehicle accident that occurred just prior to 4 p.m.

Our Buffalo, NY accident attorneys know that multi-car pileups are very dangerous and often result in fatalities. Multi-car accidents may also raise complicated legal questions regarding who should be blamed for causing the wreck. When a death occurs, it is important to determine who was at fault for the accident because the responsible driver may be required to pay wrongful death damages to family members of those who were killed.

Multi-Car Accident Leads to Death

The three vehicle accident occurred when a large pickup truck was traveling east on Wilson-Burt Road. The pickup reportedly rear-ended a Buick LeSabre, which caused the Buick to be pushed into the westbound lane.

The LeSabre rolled over, crossed a ditch and went off the road. The driver of the LeSabre was one of the two victims of the multi-car pileup who died. The other victim who was killed was the driver of a Saturn that had been traveling in the westbound lane at the time. The Saturn was hit by the pickup truck when it was forced into the westbound lane as a result of the force of the collision.

The other two vehicles suffered significant damage, although the property loss is insignificant compared with the tragedy of the deaths of the drivers of both vehicles.

The Buffalo News reports that the multi-car crash may have occurred as a result of the pickup truck speeding. Reports indicate that an investigation is currently underway into how the crash happened, but that it is not believed that alcohol played any role in causing the accident.

Multi-Car Pileups Often Deadly

This multi-car accident demonstrates the extreme dangers that can occur as a result of a pileup. Multi-car accidents or pile-ups often occur on highways and on crowded roads where cars are in close proximity to each other and where there is no place for a vehicle to go in order to escape a collision.

Because the cars are close together in multi-car accidents, it is common for vehicles to be pushed into a lane going the wrong way. This can cause head-on and side impact collisions, both of which tend to be among the most serious types of crashes. Head-on accidents are especially dangerous because of the combined force of the vehicles while side-impact crashes can cause serious harm because there is little cushioning from the vehicle itself to deflect the pressure from the impact of the crash.

In some instances, it can also be difficult to determine what was the ultimate cause of the accident and who is responsible for the costs. The driver of the pickup truck could potentially be liable for wrongful death damages paid to the family members of those who were killed.

If you’ve been injured in Buffalo or the surrounding area, contact the Law Offices of James Morris today for a free consultation to discuss your rights. Call 800-477-9044.

Our Buffalo, NY car accident lawyers know that texting and driving is one of the riskiest driving behaviors you can engage in. Unfortunately, it is also a behavior that teens are very likely to do on a regular basis. As the Car Connection reported, a recent survey showed that 26 percent of teenagers read or send a text message one or more times every single time they drive. Unfortunately, these teens — like all people who text and drive — have a 23 times greater chance of becoming involved in a car wreck.

To help curb teen texting and save lives, AT&T has launched an “It Can Wait” program. Recently, Biz Journals reported that Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller will be a part of the program to help educate kids and encourage them to make smart choices about texting when behind the wheel.

Sabres Goalie To Help Teach Kids About Texting Dangers

According to the March 12 Biz Journals article, Ryan Miller was scheduled to appear at Springville-Griffith Institute High School on the 14th of March to join an 11:30 a.m. presentation. The presentation is a part of outreach efforts launched by AT&T. Miller was scheduled to discuss texting dangers.

The presentation will also include other important information for teen drivers to help drive the point home that texting and driving can be deadly. For example:

• Students will watch a 10 minute documentary called “The Last Text.” The documentary shares stories told by students who were involved in accidents as a result of texting and stories told by family members who lost loved ones in deadly texting and driving crashes.
• Students will be given the opportunity to use an online simulator to experience the dangers of texting firsthand. The online simulator includes a laptop and a wheel and pedal kit to give kids a realistic experience of a texting and driving accident in a safe environment.
• Students will also be encouraged to sign a no-texting-and-driving pledge and to share their promise with other people using the social networks Twitter and Facebook. The hope is that these pledges will make texting and driving unattractive to teenage drivers by making it seem socially unacceptable.

Sabres goalie Ryan Miller will be taking the no-texting-and-driving pledge as part of the presentation.

Keeping Kids Safe

When teens text and drive, they endanger themselves, their passengers and everyone else on the road. It is very important that teens are aware of how risky this behavior is.

As Distraction.gov indicates, texting requires you to take your eyes away from the road for 4.6 seconds, which means you could drive a whole football field with your eyes on the phone if you were going 55 mph. During this time, you could veer out of your lane, strike a pedestrian, or hit another car.

Despite the clear dangers, Distraction.gov also indicated that around 40 percent of teens had been in the car with someone who behaved dangerously with his cell phone. The problem, therefore, is far too widespread with too many teens texting and driving. Hopefully, programs like the presentation with Ryan Miller will help to curb this habit and make the roads safer for everyone.

If you’ve been injured in Buffalo or the surrounding area, contact the Law Offices of James Morris today for a free consultation to discuss your rights. Call 800-477-9044.

Every year, the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety publishes a summary of safety laws across the fifty states. The purpose of the summary is to see where states stand, what types of regulations they have passed to try to make their roads safer, and what regulations the state is still missing.

Our Buffalo, NY injury attorneys urge every driver to pay attention to this summary of safety laws. Not only can you learn where our state stands as far as driver safety, but you can also learn what types of laws and regulations are recommended by the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. This way, you can follow the guidelines and suggested safety rules even if New York does not yet have a law in place regarding a specific dangerous driving behavior.

Where Does New York Stand on Safety?

New York was given a green rating by the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. This means the state has passed many of the key driving safety laws that are recommended. Although it is lacking in a few areas, New York has done a lot to keep its roads safe.

Some of the different laws that New York has passed and some of the areas where it is lacking include the following:

• The state allows police to pull over drivers just for not wearing a seat belt, even if the driver isn’t doing anything else wrong. This type of law – a primary seat belt law – helps to ensure all drivers wear their belts.
• New York got full credit for requiring all motorcycle riders to wear helmets and for having a booster seat law in place.
• New York gets full credit for its laws requiring a minimum age of 16 for a learner’s permit, for its six-month holding period, for its rules on supervised driving and for restricting both night time driving and the number of passengers that can drive with a teen driver.
• While New York imposes a restriction on teen cell phone use when driving, the state does not get credit for its law on this issue since the law is not comprehensive enough.
• New York does not get credit on the issue of making drivers wait until they are 18 until they are awarded a full license.
• New York does get credit for all its DUI laws. These laws include mandates requiring all offenders to use an ignition interlock device; child endangement laws; mandatory BAC test laws; and open container laws.
• New York gets credit for its law imposing a restriction on texting messaging for all drivers.

In looking at the survey of the important safety laws identified by the Advocate’s report, it is clear that New York does very well in protecting its citizens from hazards on the road. In fact, the state has 13 of the 15 recommended laws. The remaining laws on limiting cell phone use for teens and on requiring drivers to wait until they are 18 to get a full license can be addressed by parents who may wish to set tough guidelines to keep their teen drivers safe.

According to WGRZ Channel 2, a multi-vehicle accident occurred on Grand Island Bridge on Friday morning, backing up traffic for all cars headed north to Niagara Falls. Only minor injuries reportedly occurred in the crash, but the accident involved a rollover vehicle, which normally makes accidents much more dangerous.

Our Buffalo, NY accident attorneys were very glad to hear that no one suffered serious injuries in this auto accident, which was believed to have been caused in part by reduced visibility and slick snow-build up that are so common in Buffalo winters. Unfortunately, the accident serves not just as a reminder that winter weather can be dangerous but also as a reminder of the risk of rollover crashes.

Rollover Accidents Put All Drivers at Risk

A rollover accident occurs in any crash situation where one or more of the vehicles rolls over at least once and generally ends up in an upside-down orientation. Rollover accidents can occur with any types of vehicles but they are most common when:

• A driver is driving a sport utility vehicle (SUV)
• A driver is operating a mini-van
• A driver is operating a truck
• A driver is operating a tractor trailer

In general, any vehicle with a high center of gravity can become unstable, especially in the event that the vehicle is going too fast on slippery pavement or around sharp turns. SUVs and trucks both have a high center of gravity, especially if they are packed with a heavy load. This makes them more prone to rolling over and endangering their passengers.

The Dangers of Rollover Accidents

Rollover accidents are far too common. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, for example, there are more than 280,000 crashes each year in which one or more vehicles rolls over. These rollover incidents cause more than 10,000 deaths every year.

In many cases, it is the passenger who rolled over who is killed in the crash. For instance, most fatal rollovers in four-wheel drive vehicles involve just a single vehicle. The car goes around a turn too fast or otherwise makes a dangerous maneuver, the driver loses control, the stability of the vehicle is affected and the car flips. Alcohol is often, but not always, involved in these single vehicle crashes, and many of the accidents involve male drivers ages 25 and under.

When passengers are in a rollover accident, they are in danger of being ejected from the vehicle. This can cause serious injury or death. Typically, those who are ejected from the car in a rollover accident are not wearing seat belts at the time of the crash. This can also put these drivers in danger of traumatic head injury from banging their head as the car rolls over.

Rollover accidents are not only risky to passengers but can also be deadly to anyone else on the road. When a large truck flips, for example, the truck can crush other vehicles and is likely to result in death.

This recent rollover accident, therefore, while it fortunately only caused minor injuries, is an important reminder of the risks presented by top heavy cars and should serve as a caution to all drivers to be careful and in control this winter.

If you’ve been injured in Buffalo or the surrounding area, contact the Law Offices of James Morris today at 800-477-9044.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that winters are cold in Buffalo, Rochester and the rest of upstate New York. Cold winter creates a lot of risks for people, but those in the greatest danger of being harmed by very cold temperatures are workers who spend the bulk of their day working outside in inclement weather. This includes people who work construction, who work in snow removal or tree trimming after storms, or any other worker who routinely spends large blocks of time outdoors.

It is an employer’s responsibility to ensure that workers are safe and to provide a safe work environment. This includes making certain that workers are properly prepared for the cold and that they do not suffer from hypothermia. Our Buffalo, NY injury attorneys urge workers to pay careful attention to the OSHA information on cold stress and hypothermia and to heed the tips provided by OSHA in order to make sure that workers stay safe.

OSHA Information for Employers About Winter Safety

According to OSHA, there are a number of factors that can affect when a worker will develop hypothermia. The wind chill outside is one important factor, as is whether the worker is on medication, has certain health problems or is wearing damp clothing. Because so many things can affect when a worker develops hypothermia, it is important to realize that the problem is not limited to when it is below freezing outside.

Workers, therefore, must be properly trained to recognize signs of hypothermia any time they are performing outdoor work. Employers must be aware of the dangers that their workers face and take precautions. Some of the precautions that OSHA suggests include:

• Advising workers of the signs of hypothermia. Signs include hardness of the skin, numbness and the skin becoming pale. The extremities, including the hands, feet, nose and ears, are most likely to develop hypothermia.
• Ensuring that workers take frequent breaks to get warm. Hypothermia develops when the body is not able to warm itself back to a normal temperature. Prolonged exposure to freezing weather can cause serious and permanent injury or even death.
• Provide warm beverages to workers. This can help them to maintain their body temperature as they are working outside in the cold. The beverages should not contain caffeine, so caffeinated coffees and teas should be avoided.
• Try to schedule work for warm times. When possible, schedule outdoor work to occur on days that are above freezing. You should also always make a point to schedule outdoor work on the warmest part of the day.
• Ensure that workers have proper clothing to keep warm. Layering can be very beneficial to workers in fighting off hypothermia.

These are just a few of the key tips that OSHA provides in order to help employers to make sure to keep their employees safe. During this long cold winter season, it is very important for all employers to protect their employees who are working outdoors and who are at risk.

On November 13, 2012, the American Association for Justice announced a new grassroots campaign called Take Justice Back. The purpose of the campaign is to educate the public on corporate efforts to limit the effectiveness of the civil justice system and to encourage activism.

The civil justice system gives power to people who are injured and forces corporations, employers, dangerous drivers, doctors and other negligent or careless individuals to obey the law and take responsibility for the consequences of their actions. Our Buffalo accident attorneys applaud the efforts of “Take Justice Back” to draw attention to the corporate pressure for tort reform that limits the effectiveness of civil justice.

What is Take Justice Back?

Take Justice Back is a campaign to fight for the rights of accident victims, employees and customers and to stand up against corporations that want to limit those rights. Corporations and special interest spend hundreds of millions of dollars in an attempt to limit their exposure to liability and Take Justice Back is working to help consumers understand what impact these corporations are having and to fight back.

Specifically, Take Justice Back is intended to help educate consumers on what tort reform is, what tort reform really means, and why the corporate line on tort reform doesn’t represent the whole story.

Understanding Tort Reform

Tort reform is a method of changing the civil justice system or limiting access to it. One method of doing this is by putting damage caps on the amount that a victim can recover in a lawsuit. New York currently has no cap on damages in malpractice lawsuits or other personal injury cases, although the Daily Health Report indicates that Governor Andrew M. Cuomo attempted to impose a $250,000 limit on medical malpractice lawsuits as part of efforts to restructure Medicaid. Currently, almost 30 states have such caps in place.

Those who argue for damage caps indicate that they are necessary to keep medical costs down. The reality, however, is that there is no evidence that damage caps lower the cost of insurance premiums or lower health care costs. In fact, according to WNYC.org, after Texas passed damage limits in 2003, health insurance premiums still went up 46 percent for individuals and 52 percent for families by 2010.

Most importantly, damage caps take away one measure of accountability for healthcare providers and leave innocent victims without full compensation for injuries they suffer at the hands of negligent doctors. If a patient suffers more than $250,000 in non-economic damages- which is certainly likely if a doctor causes egregious harm, or even injures or kills someone- the patient will be left uncompensated while the healthcare provider and his insurer walk away without every paying for the full consequences of a careless mistake.

The American Association for Justice reports that an Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) study showed that approximately 98,000 people die each year as a result of preventable medical mistakes. With so many injured, there may be a lot of patients who do not get the compensation they deserve.

Other Tort Reform Efforts

While medical malpractice is often a prime focus of tort reform, there are also other tort reform efforts in place as well.  For example, forced arbitration in contracts is one big issue. More and more companies are putting arbitration clauses in contracts mandating that customers and employees address their complaints in arbitration instead of in the courtroom.

A 2011 case called AT&T v. Mobility even gave corporations the right to effectively prevent class action lawsuits by requiring arbitration instead. PayPal is one company that has taken advantage of this new rule and included a clause in its contract that took effect on November 1. The clause requires that all disputes be handled in arbitration.

When a company commits a small wrong against many, class actions are often the only way to take action in a manner that is economically feasible and worthwhile as far as the time investment. Without the ability to form class actions and go to court, companies are essentially immune from being held responsible for small injustices.

The Efforts of Take Justice Back

Take Justice Back aims to educate the public on both the myths and misconceptions about tort reform. Take Justice back will also be sharing personal stories from plaintiffs who have been denied justice as a result of tort reform efforts. On their website, they also offer important news on the issue of tort reform and limitations that big corporations are attempting to impose on the rights of public.

Their grass roots efforts are an important step in telling the public the real truth about tort reform and in helping the public to fight against the large corporations and special interests who want to avoid legal accountability for their actions.

If you’ve been injured in Buffalo or the surrounding area, contact the Law Offices of James Morris today for a free consultation to discuss your rights. Call 800-477-9044.

Valuing Your Case, Personal Injury Law Blog, August 7, 2012

Recently, WICU Channel 12 interviewed individuals in Buffalo who were filling up their gas tanks near I90. The subject of the interview, drowsy driving, was prompted by a new study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control. The CDC study was an ambitious project, the largest study ever conducted on the subject of driver fatigue. Our Buffalo accident attorneys, like many, are concerned with what the results of the CDC study show and we were interested to hear first-hand how Buffalo residents felt about drowsy driving.

Unfortunately, according to WICU, residents seemed to accept drowsy driving as a part of the risk of being behind the wheel. One resident compared the dangers of drowsy drivers to the dangers presented by drunk drivers, indicating that you can’t ever tell when someone who is on the road is dozing off or impaired by alcohol. The comparison was an appropriate one, since studies have shown that a person who is driving after not having slept for around 20-21 hours is as severely impaired in his driving ability as someone whose blood alcohol level has reached the legal limit of .08.

Why Drivers in Buffalo are Concerned About Drowsy Driving

Drivers interviewed by WICU indicated that it was important to stay back and steer clear of drowsy drivers because these drivers may not behave in a rationale or safe way. A drowsy driver may not be paying attention to what other drivers around are doing. The drowsy driver may not be as quick to stop the car or to react to changes in traffic signals or other cars pulling out in front. In a worst-case scenario, the drowsy driver might even fall asleep entirely and put himself and others at a very serious risk of becoming involved in a car wreck.

Sleeping drivers may not be something that the average driver is too concerned about, since many people assume that no one would keep driving if they were actually falling asleep behind the wheel. The CDC survey, however, tells a different story. According to the survey, just over 4 percent of all drivers that responded to the CDC’s questions indicated that they had closed their eyes (at least for a few seconds) and fallen asleep as they drove during the 30 days immediately preceding the survey. The numbers of men engaged in drowsy driving was even higher, as was the number of drivers in the 18-44 group, who had a drowsy driving ratio of over 5 percent of drivers.

The CDC study is scary, considering the fact that there are more than 100 drivers on the road at most times of the day. It confirms earlier data about the widespread dangers of drowsy driving, but it is important because it is the largest and most comprehensive study on the subject of drowsy driving with over 147,000 survey respondents from across 19 states and D.C.   The data shows that these Buffalo residents interviewed at the gas station off of I90 are right to be concerned, and that every other driver on the road should also be concerned too.

If you’ve been injured in a drowsy driving accident in Buffalo or the surrounding area, contact the Law Offices of James Morris today for a free consultation to discuss your rights. Call 800-477-9044.

In December of 2012, ESPN anchor Hannah Storm was in the process of getting dinner ready. Like many people do, Storm was barbecuing her dinner on the backyard grill. As she cooked, she noticed that the grill had gone out. Storm attempted to relight the grill, but unfortunately disaster struck. Instead of relighting, a powerful gas explosion occurred, blowing the doors right off the grill. Storm’s shirt caught on fire and she suffered first and second degree burns on her head, neck and chest. Storm also lost some of her hair as well as her eyebrows in the explosion. Yahoo Sports had pictures of her burn injuries, released by ABC.

Storm was, fortunately, able to get the medical assistance that she needed and was back at work and on television to host the New Year’s Rose Parade. Still, her serious injuries have brought the dangers of gas grills to public attention. Gas grills are just one of the many common causes of burn injuries that send people to the ER each year and that have a life-changing impact. Our Buffalo burn injury attorneys want to make sure that everyone is aware of some of the burn injury risks and that they take responsible steps to protect themselves.

Burn Injury Dangers

As Hannah Storms’ recent accident shows, there are many household objects that you use on a regular basis that create the risk of causing a burn injury. In fact, every day, people encounter many situations at home, at work or on the road that could result in a fire or burns. Some statistics can illustrate just how many burn risks there are:

• The National Fire Protection Association attributed 6,900 house fires to gas grills between 2005 and 2009.
• The U.S. Fire Administration data reported 258,000 vehicle fires on highways from 2004 to 2006.
• The Electrical Safety Foundation International indicates that around 100,000 people scald themselves so severely each year that they must visit the emergency room.

Gas grills, auto accidents and scalding injuries are some of the most common causes of burn injuries. There are, of course, other causes of burn injuries as well. For example, people may suffer chemical or electrical burns. While it may seem like these types of burns would happen mostly in industrial settings, WebMD makes clear that a number of household cleaners and other products could potentially cause chemical burns to people in their own homes.

Unfortunately, this means that any of these types of burns, from gas grills to scalding injuries, can happen anywhere. They happen at work, where the  Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that three percent of all of the 4,609 fatal workplace injuries that occurred in 2011 were caused by burns.  They can also happen in apartments where the National Fire Protection Association reports that there were 95,500 structural fires in 2011 causing 415 deaths. Finally, they can happen at home where an estimated 8,600 home and outdoor fires prompted homeowners to seek help from the fire department from 2006 to 2010.

Knowing about the dangers of burns, whether from gas grills or from any other cause, is important so you can try to stay safe and avoid becoming one of the thousands each year who are hurt by fire. The makers of products, from gas grills to dangerous chemicals, also need to warn people of the risks and do everything possible to keep people safe or else they could be faced with a lawsuit.

If you’ve been injured in Buffalo or the surrounding area, contact the Law Offices of James Morris today for a free consultation to discuss your rights. Call 800-477-9044.

Most parents dread the day when their teenager gets his or her license, and with good reason. The simple fact is that young adults who are just starting to drive face a serious auto accident risk and a very real chance of becoming involved in a crash and hurting themselves or others. Sadly, the risk of a teen auto accident is exacerbated by teenage drivers who make unsafe decisions and take unnecessary risk.

Fortunately, as parents, there are things you can do in order to help keep your kids safe. Our Buffalo accident attorneys urge you to take the time to talk to your children about some of the dangerous driving behaviors that many teens engage in. We also urge you to take an active interest in supervising your child’s driving and in regularly going over safe driving rules and practices.

Does Talking To Your Kids About Driver Safety Matter?

When your teenager has started driving, you may wonder whether talking about safe driving and spending time going over the driving rules is really going to make a difference. After all, your teen is able to go out on his or her own and you can’t be there to supervise every minute. Fortunately, statistics show that talking to your teenager about safe driving really can make a lasting impact and can help your teenager to be safer.

According to a recent article in US News and World Report, for example, data provided by State Farm has revealed that kids whose parents are actively involved in monitoring their driving behavior are much safer than those kids whose parents do not take such an active role. In fact, kids who reported active parental involvement and discussions with their parents about safe driving were around half as likely to become involved in an auto accident.

Why it is Important to Talk About Safe Driving With Your Teen

Reducing the risk of auto accidents by half is very significant, especially in light of the frightening statistics on teen car wrecks. According to the New York State Department of Health, for example:

• Car crashes are the primary reason for teens ages 15 to 19 to be hospitalized.
• Car wrecks are the number one cause of death for teens ages 15-19.
• Each year, around 73 teens are killed in fatal wrecks.
• More than 40 teenagers ages 15 to 19 are treated in hospitals for car accident injuries each day.
• Many teen drivers do not wear seat belts, although the risk of death in an auto accident is reduced by between 50 and 83 percent with the use of proper restraints.
• The majority of crashes among those ages 16 and 17 are caused by speeding or going too fast for conditions; driver distractions including texting; tailgating; and lack of driver experience. Texting, especially, is a major problem among teenagers, as US News and World Report indicates that studies show 43 percent of teenagers text when driving.  The car accident risk is 23 times greater when texting than for those drivers actually paying attention to the road.

Because so many teen crashes are caused by behavior that teenagers engage in, parents talking to teens can make a big difference. So, this holiday season, take a few minutes to discuss driving rules with your kids. You might save not only their lives but also the lives of others who travel on the roads with them.

If you’ve been injured in Buffalo or the surrounding area, contact the Law Offices of James Morris today for a free consultation to discuss your rights. Call 800-477-9044.