Motor Vehicle Accidents News

New Highway Safety Survey Asks Drivers if They Drive Drunk, Speed, Use Cell Phones
State officials want to know if you drive drunk, wear your seat belt, speed or talk on your cell phone while driving - and how likely you think it is that you'll get caught doing it. PennDOT is asking drivers to voluntarily take an anonymous 17-question survey they say will help them focus their resources better. The survey is also a new, annual requirement by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the agency that directs federal highway safety dollars to states. Responses to the survey will supplement crash report data and DUI arrest data that PennDOT already uses when deciding how and where to spend its federal money to make highways safer.

Toyota Invites Outsiders to Boost Quality Control
Toyota is inviting four outside experts to help beef up quality controls at the recall-battered automaker under a program to review defect measures. Toyota said it is tackling a number of improvements, including analyzing each accident and consumer complaint more thoroughly and boosting communication with journalists and other outsiders to be better at ensuring quality. Toyota has seen its once sterling image for quality plunge since recalling more than 8.5 million vehicles around the world with defective gas peddles, faulty floor mats, software glitches and other problems. Despite vowing to improve quality, the automaker has in some cases discouraged independent scrutiny. Electronic messages show Toyota was frustrated with a professor whose research indicated that electronics might be to blame for unintended acceleration problems in Toyota cars. The messages show Toyota not only tried to cast doubt on his findings but also made clear it was displeased. One Toyota employee questioned whether he should be employed by the university, which has long been a recipient of company donations. Toyota now says it is boosting collaborations between its quality-related divisions and its legal division, beefing up training among employees to get a better grasp of customers' views on vehicle troubles and trying to obtain more input from third-party experts.

Chrysler and Ford Recalling SUVs and Vans
Chrysler is recalling about 22,000 sport utility vehicles and trucks to fix brake tubes that could lead to the loss of brake fluid. Ford, meanwhile, is recalling more than 30,000 2010 Transit Connect vans to replace pushpins holding the liners above the driver's head. The company says government testing found it failed to meet federal standards protecting the head. Chrysler's recall affects certain 2010 Dodge Nitro, Dodge Ram, Jeep Liberty and Jeep Wranglers that could have defective brake tubes. The problem could lead to the loss of brake fluid, making it difficult to brake and posing the threat of a crash.

Ruling Could Undo Motorist's Award
A state Supreme Court ruling could jeopardize a $500,000 arbitration award in a 2004 uninsured motorist case handled by a corrupt former judge. In its decision, the court said a county judge could reverse the award if the insurance company can prove it was blocked from investigating the crash because the driver waited more than eight months before filing an underinsured motorist claim. The driver drove his company's truck into a car in 2001. The driver later claimed a "phantom vehicle" caused the crash, though he failed to report it to the hospital or when filing a workers' compensation claim. The court ruled that, under state insurance law, he was only required to inform police of the crash. He claims that when he received the police report months after the crash, he noticed the omission and requested that the police department correct the report, which it refused to do. He renewed his claim at a hearing before the arbitration ruling, despite both the police and the other driver testifying that no other vehicle was involved. The former judge, however, found the truck driver to be more credible. The insurance company argued that his delay in reporting the "phantom vehicle" prevented it from investigating the crash scene, interviewing witnesses and examining evidence and said the "phantom vehicle uninsured motorist claim is fertile ground for fraud."

Toyota Knew About Lexus Problem Two Years Ago
Toyota knew two years ago about the engine problem behind its latest Lexus recall - even changing the spring part to correct it - but did not think a recall was warranted until recently. Toyota Motor Corp. started a global recall over engine defects in its Lexus luxury models sold around the world, as well as the Crown sold in Japan, moving to repair some 270,000 vehicles to replace valve springs - crucial engine components that are flawed and could cause vehicles to stall. In 2008, Toyota changed that spring part, making it thicker, to prevent the problem, which is why the latest recall does not affect vehicles produced after August 2008. Toyota previously thought the problem was caused by a foreign substance entering during manufacturing of the valve springs and beefed up checks so that won't happen. But the company had thought the issue was an isolated problem that didn't require a recall. The complaints, however, started climbing, and Toyota decided recently that they weren't isolated problems after all, but a design defect, and decided to issue the recall. Toyota has promised to recall problems cars more quickly to salvage a once pristine reputation now in tatters after recalls ballooned to more than 8.5 million vehicles around the world since last year. Toyota executives have repeatedly vowed to put customers first, but it has been criticized as lagging in its response to quality lapses and was slapped with a record $16.4 million fine in the United States for responding too slowly when the recall crisis erupted.

Beleaguered Toyota to Recall 270,000 Cars Globally
Toyota Motor Corp. will recall 270,000 Lexus and other vehicles worldwide to fix faulty engines in the latest quality lapse at the world's top automaker. Flaws in valve springs, a crucial engine component, could make the vehicle stall while it's moving. Lexus said contaminated materials had been used for valve springs during manufacturing. Toyota has received about 200 complaints over faulty engines in Japan but no accidents were reported there or abroad. Some drivers told Toyota that engines made a strange noise. The global recall affects seven luxury Lexus sedans as well as the popular Crown. Of the 270,000 recalled cars, some 180,000 were sold overseas, including the United States, and 90,000 in Japan. The automaker was already scrambling to repair its reputation after 8.5 million vehicles were recalled because of problems with sticking accelerator pedals and other issues.

Number of Child Deaths from Hot Cars On Rise
The government is joining safety groups warning parents and other adults about the dangers of children being left inside hot automobiles this summer. Deaths of infants and toddlers trapped inside hot vehicles have mounted in recent weeks. Researchers say 18 children have died of hyperthermia since the beginning of the year, eight of them since June - the largest number of fatalities through the first half of a year since the late 1990s. Many of the recent cases have involved children who climbed inside an unlocked vehicle on a hot day and then couldn't get out.

NTSB Meets On Bus Crash That Killed 7
National Transportation Safety Board officials are meeting to determine what caused last year's deadly tour bus crash near the Hoover Dam in Arizona. Board officials will also consider proposed safety recommendations at the meeting. A charter bus carrying a group of Chinese tourists to Las Vegas on a return trip from the Grand Canyon when it crashed on the main highway leading to the dam. Investigators have said the bus driver was attempting to fix a problem with his door while driving into the sun just before the bus crashed. Authorities have said the driver veered onto the right shoulder and overcorrected before losing control, crossing a desert median and overturning. Seven people died and 10 were injured.

Plaintiffs Lawyers Size Up Obstacle Course for Toyota Class Action
As plaintiffs lawyers prepare to file their consolidated class action on behalf of Toyota consumers, they face an obstacle that has prevented similar claims from advancing in the past: Class members didn't actually suffer physical injuries. The class members assert that they suffered economic injuries because their vehicles declined in value following recalls tied to sudden acceleration problems. Courts have rejected similar arguments in class actions brought under products liability laws. Those "no injury" rulings could influence how the lead plaintiffs attorneys in the multidistrict litigation against Toyota craft their first consolidated class action complaint. The Toyota cases have more than one route to explore, however. The class could press claims under consumer fraud statutes in California rather than products liability laws. More than 200 lawsuits are pending in the multidistrict litigation in California.

Campaign Making Progress in Discouraging Distracted Driving
States including Pennsylvania are making headway in a multifaceted campaign against distracted driving, according to a new national study. With technology serving up more and more lures to motorists' attention, states are combining education and enforcement in an effort to keep drivers focused on the road. Twenty-eight states have enacted bans on text-messaging while driving and seven states have banned hand-held cell phone use by drivers. Although Pennsylvania has enacted no laws to curb distracted driving, the state is "doing a lot of the right things" to raise awareness and educate drivers, claims the Governors Highway Safety Association.

Car-Sharing Company Entitled to Same Liability Shield as Rental Firms, Court Rules
In what appears to be the first reported decision on the issue, a New York judge has ruled that Zipcar, the burgeoning "car-sharing" company, may avail itself of the protections set forth by the Graves Amendment, a 2005 federal law that shields car rental agencies against liability for most accidents involving their vehicles. The judge found that although the members-only car rental company advertises itself as an alternative to "traditional rental cars," Zipcar may nonetheless claim the rental-car law's protections. The personal injury case against Zipcar and one of its members was brought for injuries a woman allegedly received when her car was rear-ended in 2009 by the Zipcar customer. She claimed Zipcar should be responsible under the Vehicle and Traffic Law, which provides that every "owner of a vehicle used or operated in this state shall be liable and responsible for death or injuries to person or property resulting from negligence in the use or operation of such vehicle." In moving for summary judgment, Zipcar argued that any such vicarious liability was precluded by a section of the Federal Transportation Equity Act of 2005, which states that car rental agencies are not liable "for harm to persons or property that results or arises out of the use, operation or possession of their vehicles during the period of the rental or lease." The judge found that, marketing aside, Zipcar is essentially another form of car rental agency, and therefore falls within the protected class for the Graves Amendment. 

Distracted Driving as a Medical Condition
Family doctors routinely ask their patients whether they smoke, watch their diet, remember to fasten their seat belt. Now, in an essay in The New England Journal of Medicine, a doctor suggests adding a question to that litany: Do you drive while texting or talking on a cell phone? In the essay, the doctor details how she often initiates the discussion by asking about texting while driving, using that as an opening to mention that talking on the phone actually causes more accidents. When patients ask why a phone conversation should be any more dangerous than talking to a passenger in the car, she talks about the difficulties of multitasking.

Teen Car Crashes Tied to Early School Starts
When high schools start too early, sleep-deprived teenagers are more likely to crash their cars, suggests new research. The study, which compared accident rates among teenagers in two schools - one that started extra early and one that started at a reasonable hour - confirms that teenagers are not designed to be morning people. The data researchers recovered showed a clear difference between the two schools. Among students who started class earlier, there were 65.4 car crashes for every 1,000 teen drivers. Among students who started class later, there were just 46.2 crashes per 1,000 teen drivers, for a 40 percent lower crash rate. The results were similar to a study performed in 2008, which found that changing start times by one hour reduced teen crash rates by more than 16 percent.

Docs Urged to Warn Against Distracted Driving
Physicians should tell patients not to send text messages or use cell phones while driving, just as they advise them against smoking or to use seat belts, a doctor has advised in the New England Journal of Medicine. And hours before the journal was published, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation approved the Distracted Driving Prevention Act, which would provide incentives to states with distracted driving regulations. The bill would offer federal grants to states that have restrictions on cell phone use and texting, and would require the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations on the use of wireless devices by commercial vehicle drivers. The warnings have been prompted by growing evidence of the dangers that cell phones pose to people on the road. The National Safety Council has estimated that 28 percent of U.S. traffic accidents - 1.6 million - involve use of cell phones. According to a 2009 study, texting is the most dangerous, with texting while driving raising the risk of an accident by 23 times.

Jury Awards $317,000 in Yamaha Test Case
In a test for similar cases pending in Georgia, a jury awarded $217,002 to a couple to compensate them for injuries caused when the husband's leg was trapped under his Yamaha off-road vehicle. The case is the first to reach a verdict among product liability cases against Yamaha in the U.S. and Canada alleging defects in its Rhino-moel recreational-utility vehicle. The man in the first case was injured in a 2007 accident, and attorneys have referred to his case as a "middle-of-the-road" case without extreme, terrible injuries.

Study Finds 1 in 4 Drivers Don't Know Rules
This might come as no surprise, but there's a one in four chance that the person ahead of you in traffic is clueless. So suggests a study by GMAC Insurance, which administered a 20-question written test to more than 5,000 drivers nationwide, with questions pulled from actual tests administered by state motor vehicle agencies. Pennsylvania did not shower itself in glory, finishing 39th among states with an average score of 75.8 percent, below the 76.2 percent national average. Possibly more dismaying is that 25.3 percent of Pennsylvania respondents flunked the exam. With 8.7 million licensed drivers in the state, that means there could be as many as 2.2 million drivers on Pennsylvania's roads who don't know whether to yield or wind their watches.

DUI Arrests Up with Drugs a Major Culprit
State police arrested a record number of people for driving under the influence last year, and it appears drugs were a big reason why. Specially trained state and local police officers evaluated more than 1,100 drivers in 2009 for being impaired by prescription drugs such as painkillers or antidepressants, as well as illegal ones like heroin or marijuana. The 2009 total was a 61 percent increase from 2008, according to the state police, which last month announced that last year was the record year for DUI arrests with 16,900.

16 Die in Holiday Weekend Crashes
Over the four-day Memorial Day weekend, 16 people were killed and 290 were injured in 776 crashes investigated by the Pennsylvania State Police. These numbers only include crashes handled by state police, not crashes handled by local police. None of those who died was wearing a seatbelt. Out of the 776 crashes, 70 were alcohol-related, including two of the fatal crashes.

Judge Orders Toyota to Perform Document Dump
The federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation against Toyota ordered its lawyers to turn over tens of thousands of pages of internal documents that the company has already provided to Congress, which is investigating the company's vehicle recalls. The judge acknowledged the challenges Toyota faces in providing the documents, many of which could end up being privileged or including trade secrets. Some of them still need to be translated into English from Japanese. But he appeared convinced that some of the documents could be provided within a month, especially since they already are in the hands of Congress. Such a schedule, the judge said, would "advance the ball" in the litigation, which includes some 300 lawsuits against Toyota. Most of the claims seek economic losses on behalf of consumers; others are personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits. Toyota's lawyers argued for more time, calling the judge's discovery order a "fairly difficult burden" and "aggressive," given that Toyota could be forced to turn over 75,000 pages of documents.

Judge Puts California Toyota Claims On Single Track
Lawsuits filed in California's state courts against Toyota Motor Corp. over sudden unintended acceleration will be coordinated in a single proceeding, a Los Angeles judge has tentatively ruled. The proceeding was the first to address at least 21 lawsuits filed in California's state courts over a myriad of claims that include economic losses on behalf of consumers, lemon law violations and damages for those who have been injured or died in a Toyota. "The common thread is unintended acceleration that binds these cases together," the judge told a group of 30 lawyers. The state court actions are separate from nearly 300 lawsuits pending in multidistrict litigation in federal court. Lawyers on both sides of the state court cases have attempted to coordinate them into a single proceeding to expedite and streamline the discovery process, particularly as it relates to depositions.

Danger On the Roads
In 2009, 16 people were killed while riding bicycles, double the number in 2008, according to PennDOT. While not a record, the spike was enough for PennDOT to issue a reminder to share the road. There were 20 deaths in 2007 and 23 in 1998. With summer approaching and so many people heading outside, it becomes even more vital for motorists and cyclists to be aware of their surrounding and drive safely. Crash report data shows 10 of the fatal accidents were attributable to errors on the cyclists' part, such as riding on the wrong side of the road or improperly changing lanes.

Judge Agrees to Expand Plaintiffs Committees in Toyota Litigation
A federal judge in California acceded to plaintiffs' request for a robust litigation committee structure in appointing lead counsel for the multidistrict litigation against Toyota over sudden unintended acceleration defects in its vehicles. The judge appeared receptive to arguments by the attorneys that the litigation required more than a dozen lawyers behind the wheel - the original number the judge anticipated would be required. "The structure is somewhat larger than the court initially envisioned," the judge wrote, "however, the court became convinced at the initial hearing that a larger group of counsel is needed to meet the needs of the case." Nearly 70 plaintiffs' attorneys attempted to convince the judge that there should be more members on the committees in charge of the litigation. Each also argued for a leadership role in the litigation. The multidistrict litigation involves more than 200 lawsuits divided into two groups: those seeking economic losses on behalf of consumers and others who have lost value on their Toyotas, and those seeking damages for people who have been injured or killed in a Toyota.

Plaintiffs Lawyers Argue Toyota Judge Underestimating Case's Complexity
Plaintiffs lawyers told a federal judge in California that he is underestimating the number of attorneys who will be needed to steer the multidistrict litigation against Toyota over sudden unintended acceleration. Each of the 70 or so lawyers lining up to address the judge received no more than five minutes to convince him that they deserved a seat on one of at least three prominent committees in the litigation. More than 200 lawsuits in the litigation have been brought by consumers whose recalled Toyota vehicles have declined in value or on behalf of people who have been injured or died in a Toyota. One hour before the start of the hearing, more than 50 lawyers had packed the courtroom - with more spilling into an overflow room.

PennDOT Worker Killed On Road Where Resident Complained About Speed Limit
While police haven't said whether speed was a factor in the crash that killed a PennDOT worker in Lebanon County, the speed limit on the road has been a concern for a nearby resident. The man died after being struck by an SUV. Police are re-interviewing witnesses and reconstructing the accident. A resident claims to have asked PennDOT to consider lowering the speed limit from 55 to 45 mph on the section of road near his house, which is about two miles south of where the accident occurred. PennDOT, however, has said, "We feel comfortable with the 55 mph speed limit and don't see any compelling justification or warrant to reduce it."

Nearly 17,000 Arrested for DUI
Pennsylvania State Police reported that they made a record 16,900 drunken driving arrests last year, their eighth consecutive record-breaking year for DUI busts. At the same time, alcohol-related crash fatalities dropped to 141, a decline of 14 percent, and alcohol-related crashes investigated by state police declined about 1 percent to 4,625. The 16,900 arrests in 2009 represented a 4 percent increase over the 16,156 arrests in 2008. Troopers credited the increase to the expansion of a drug recognition expert program and another program called Operation Nighthawk, which trains police to spot DUI motorists.

U.S. Looking Into 2005 Toyota Steering Recall
Toyota waited nearly a year in 2005 to recall trucks and SUVs in the United States with defective steering rods, despite issuing a similar recall in Japan and receiving dozens of reports from American motorists about rods that snapped without warning. The lengthy gap between the Japanese and U.S. recalls - strikingly similar to Toyota's handling of the recent recall for sudden acceleration problems - triggered a new investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which could fine the automaker up to $164. million. That was also the amount Toyota recently paid in the acceleration case. The NHTSA has now linked 16 crashes, three deaths and seven injuries to the steering rod defect. When a steering rod snaps, the driver cannot control the vehicle because the front wheels will not turn. After its 2004 recall in Japan, Toyota claimed that it had scant evidence of steering rod problem among U.S. trucks and SUVs, but an investigation has revealed that the automaker had received at least 52 reports from U.S. drivers about the defects before vehicles were recalled in Japan.

Bus Seat Belt Laws Mostly Exclude Wheelchairs
While federal law requires buses to be equipped with straps that lock down wheelchairs, as well as seat belts and shoulder harnesses to secure passengers themselves, laws in Ohio and most states don't require that people in wheelchairs on small buses and vans actually wear the seat belts - even though they're vulnerable to injuries from being tossed around in an accident. Only five states require both wheelchairs and their users to be secured on paratransit buses that help people in wheelchairs to travel to work, doctor's offices and shopping centers. Just a handful of other states require seat belts use for wheelchairs with some exceptions. Researchers have found 52 auto crashes involving wheelchairs during the past three years. While not a comprehensive list, the accident data show that simply strapping a wheelchair to the floor of a bus or van wasn't enough protection.

State Suits Against Toyota Could Pave the Way for Federal Multidistrict Litigation
Toyota's legal problems aren't limited to the federal multidistrict litigation over unintended acceleration of its vehicles. Scores of lawsuits are working their way through state courts across the nation, and some of those cases could pave the road for the MDL. Though the first hearing in the MDL won't be for some time, some lawyers with cases pending in various state courts already have begun deposing Toyota executives. Many of the state court suits were filed more than a year ago and, having progressed farther in the court system, might provide some guidance on discovery issues and depositions of Toyota executives that could prove helpful in the MDL or in other cases.

Drunken Drivers May Sue Dram Shops That Served Them Prior to Accidents
A New Jersey appeals court has ruled that liquor establishments are not protected by a state law that bars drunken drivers involved in accidents from suing other parties for economic and noneconomic damages. It may be true that drivers who endanger highway safety by driving drunk should be penalized by losing their right to sue, but the owners of licensed premises have the expertise and statutory obligation to avoid serving intoxicated patrons and setting them loose on New Jersey's highways. Even though the plain language of the law doesn't say so, the "Legislature could not have though it could reduce the number of drunken drivers by immunizing liquor establishments from their claims and thus providing a disincentive to the licensees," the court ruled. The ruling affirmed the right of a cyclist hurt in an accident in 2006 to pursue a claim that a restaurant served him while drunk, contributing to the accident.

Toyota to Pay Record Fine
Toyota Motor Corp. has agreed to pay a record $16.4 million fine that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration imposed after finding that Toyota waited four months to report sudden acceleration defects in its vehicles. In its written statement, however, Toyota denied that it violated safety regulations. "We agreed to this settlement in order to avoid a protracted dispute and possible litigation, as well as to allow us to move forward fully-focused on the steps to strengthen our quality assurance operations," Toyota said. The payment could bolster claims that Toyota committed fraud and racketeering, both identified in numerous lawsuits. It also could aid plaintiffs attorneys in obtaining discovery in the cases. Meanwhile, a federal judge overseeing nearly 200 lawsuits filed against Toyota has appointed four lawyers as temporary lead counsel for all the cases and set a date for the first scheduling hearing.

Prosecutors Want Law Changed to Charge Drivers with Homicide If Child Not in Safety Seat
Prosecutors and safety experts would like to see lawmakers change what they call a loophole in the state's child safety seat law, and a recent crash that killed three Perry County children has drawn attention to the provision. A 5-year-old boy and his two-year-old twin siblings died when a car driven by their grandmother veered off the road, flipped and struck a tree. Police are investigating the crash as a possible homicide by vehicle. An account from a witness in a separate crash the grandmother is believed to have been involved in 10 minutes earlier indicates at least one of the children was not properly restrained. Prosecutors will not be able to take that into consideration as they consider whether to file criminal homicide charges against the grandmother. The law that makes it mandatory for children under the age of 8 to be restrained contains a provision that says evidence a driver broke the restraint law cannot be used to prosecute the driver for any crime other than failing to restrain a child - a violation that carries a maximum fine of $100. The law also prevents evidence a child was not properly restrained from being used in a civil lawsuit. Insurance companies are not allowed to take a violation of the restraint law into account in charging a driver higher premiums.

A Call for More Stringent Teen Driving Laws
Pennsylvania is permitting hundreds of preventable deaths each year - especially of teenagers - by not enacting stronger traffic safety laws. That was the unflinching message delivered at a hearing for the House Transportation Committee: Pennsylvania lags behind most states on teen-driver restrictions, cell phone bans and seat belt legislation. The speakers were mostly national experts attending Lifesavers 2010, a national highway safety conference. They took a break from their program to provide lawmakers with impassioned pleas - and statistical evidence - to support more stringent laws. Starting this year, New Jersey, which already limits teen passengers, will become the first state in the nation to require all probationary drivers under age 21 to display a reflective decal on both license plates of any motor vehicle they operate. The new law also prohibits teen drivers from using any wireless communication device, hands-free or not, and makes failure to buckle up a primary offense. In other words, a violator can be cited for failing to use a seat belt.

Driving While Demented
You might hope that when the American Academy of Neurology reviews and updates its decade-old guidelines on driving and dementia, the experts would come up with clear-cut recommendations: a specific score on a specific test means someone can head for the mall without much concern, or a particular behavior means it's too risky to be on the road, so hand over the keys. You might hope that, but when an academy subcommittee presents its its report at an annual meeting, its findings demonstrated once more how complicated this question can be. The report was systematic and thorough, analyzing 422 good-quality studies in an attempt to figure out how neurologists should handle this issues with their patients. And the findings tell us a lot about what experts still can't - or won't - say with authority. Take the question of whether people with mild dementia - not just older drivers in general - should be behind the wheel at all. Yet it also noted that several studies had shown that a considerable number of those with mild dementia - 41 percent to 76 percent, depending on the study - could pass an on-road driving test. Given that, in many parts of the country, not being able to drive can lead to isolation and a host of other real problems, should those people have to give up their cars? 

Toyota Litigation Consolidated Before Judge in California
Nearly 200 lawsuits filed against Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. will be consolidated before a judge of the Central District of California. The panel appeared to have been swayed by two arguments that Toyota's lead counsel maintained during a hearing in San Diego: Toyota's U.S. headquarters is in nearby Torrance and more lawsuits have been filed against Toyota in that district than any other. The panel consolidated the personal injury suits with the class actions, which are based on economic damages. All of the suits address sudden unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles, more than 8 million of which have been recalled.

Aging Bikers at Greater Risk of Injury and Death
As the number of baby boomers taking to the road on motorbikes has risen, so has the average age of motorcyclists involved in crashes with riders aged 40 plus more likely to be injured or killed, a study says. The study of 61,689 motorcyclists aged 17 to 89 found that aging road warriors were nearly twice as likely to die as a result of a motorcycle accident compared to younger riders. Researchers found that between 1996 and 2005 the average age of motorcyclists involved in crashes increased to about 39 from 34 and the proportion of injured riders aged 40-plus rose to about 50 percent from 28 percent. The study found that of all injured riders in the study, those aged 50 to 59, represented the fastest growing group, while 20- to 29-year-olds were the most rapidly declining. The study found that for riders aged over 40, the severity of their injuries, length of stay in the hospital or intensive care unit, and mortality were higher than riders aged under 40. Researchers also found that the risk of dying was one-and-a-half to two times more likely in riders over 40 based on the severity of the original injury.

Government's $16.4 Million Fine Could Boost Lawsuits Against Toyota
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's $16.4 million civil penalty against Toyota could bolster legal claims that the automaker committed consumer fraud and racketeering. It could also assist plaintiffs attorneys in obtaining thousands of documents for use in their cases. Factually, it validates the legitimacy of our allegations that Toyota has been misleading the federal government and consumers, as far as the severity of the problems with their sticky pedals and their electronic throttle control system. In particular, the findings significantly bolster claims that Toyota committed fraud against consumers by hiding problems associated with its accelerator pedals. The fines also may assist suits alleging that Toyota violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act by conspiring to mislead consumers and the federal government about the extent of its safety problems. The fines also could boost class action filed on behalf of shareholders.

Law Firm Founder Faces Road-Rage Charges
The founder and managing partner of an international law firm faces arraignment for allegedly attacking a driver and his girlfriend in a road-rage accident. The attorney is accused of punching the pair after the motorist honked his horn when the attorney's car blocked the entrance to a supermarket parking garage last year. A personal injury suit has also been filed by the driver. The attorney contends that he was attacked, not the other way around. He claims he was defending himself and the others with him that evening, and "there are several eyewitnesses who will corroborate the facts and completely exonerate" him. The couple claims the attorney stormed out of his car, pulled open their car door and punched them several times in the face. He also is alleged to have dragged the man out of the car, slammed him against it and continued to punch him. When his girlfriend tried to stop the fight, the attorney allegedly punched her twice. The attorney was said to "emit a strong odor of alcohol" by a police officer.

Racketeering and Unfair Business Practices Claims Added Against Toyota
Plaintiffs lawyers spearheading the litigation against Toyota on behalf of consumers whose vehicles have been recalled have added racketeering claims. They allege that the Japanese automaker falsely denied for the past decade that its vehicles are subject to sudden unintended acceleration and other defects. The announcement came days after an Orange County, California district attorney filed suit accusing Toyota Motor Sales USA of engaging in deceptive business practices that have harmed the public. The suit was the first consumer protection action brought against Toyota by a government agency. The latest claims were added by a consortium of 29 law firms in more than 20 existing lawsuits and accuse Toyota of violating the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). Damages against Toyota could rise to more than $24 billion a year, given an average consumer's car payment of $300 per month multiplied by 7 million recalled vehicles, plus trebled damages and attorney fees. In the Orange County litigation, Toyota is accused of knowing about the acceleration problems but continuing to sell and lease defective vehicles.

Pennsylvania Law Doesn't Stop Many Uninsured Drivers
A recent investigation has found people in western Pennsylvania driving without insurance - even after being cited by police multiple times - and it's hitting the rest of Pennsylvania in the pocketbook. Some drivers have been cited six, seven, even eight times in just two years - but citations aren't stopping them. At least 1,183 people have been cited at least twice in western Pennsylvania for driving without insurance. Other states have tougher penalties. In Ohio, a second offense for driving without insurance means your car can be immobilized for 60 days. On a third offense, you could lose your car permanently. In Texas, the fine for a first offense is up to $1,000; on a second offense, your car can be impounded.

GM Battles to Withhold Safety Secrets
It's a potentially explosive lawsuit focusing on the safety record of a major automaker - and it has nothing to do with Toyota. A small army of defense lawyers for once-mighty General Motors is battling in Connecticut court to seal court documents that indicate that poorly designed seat backs may have led to numerous deaths and injuries. The case stems from a products liability lawsuit filed on behalf of a waitress who was severely injured in a car accident. On New Year's Eve, the woman's products liability case against Saturn took a dramatic turn when her attorney attached six memos to a motion to add four former GM safety employees as defendants. Those documents were from a Philadelphia case that involved a woman who had been killed in an accident involving a GM-made vehicle. In the documents, GM engineers and lawyers discuss product safety, costs, strategies and legal vulnerability. GM says the documents were supposed to have been sealed in the Philadelphia case, but were mistakenly filed as public documents. GM contends the court documents are its proprietary work product and exempt from disclosure under attorney-client privilege. The company claims competitors could use the information to make safer cars, arguably getting a free ride from GM research efforts.

Fight Breaks Out Over Relevance of Former In-House Lawyer's Documents in Toyota Probe
A public squabble has broken out between the chairman and the ranking Republican member of the Congressional panel investigating safety problems in Toyota vehicles over the contents of internal documents produced by a former Toyota attorney. The chairman sent a letter to Toyota's president, saying that the documents provided "evidence that Toyota deliberately withheld relevant electronic records that it was illegally required to produce" in lawsuits. The documents "shed some light on Toyota's handling of the sudden unintended acceleration problem" and "indicate a systematic disregard for the law," he wrote. However, a Republican lawmaker responded with a letter of his own. He wrote that the chairman's conclusions were based on "conjecture and altered questions" and that his letter "frequently misquotes and mischaracterizes" the documents. The dispute involves claims made by a former in-house lawyer at Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc., who asserted in a wrongful termination lawsuit that his superiors regularly ordered him to hide and destroy evidence in rollover cases. The committee subpoenaed four boxes of Toyota internal documents in the possession of the lawyer. According to the chairman, the documents indicated that Toyota had settled cases for millions of dollars to prevent plaintiffs lawyers from discovering internal documents referred to as "Books of Knowledge." "Moreover, this also raises very serious questions as to whether Toyota has also withheld substantial relevant information" from federal regulators, the chairman wrote. By contrast, the Republican lawmaker wrote that his staff spent 60 hours reviewing the documents and found information that refuted some of Towns' conclusions.

Suit Filed in Crash that Prompted First Toyota Recall
The family of the man whose death spurred the first recall of Toyota vehicles for unintended acceleration has filed a products liability and negligence lawsuit against the Japanese automaker. The 45-year-old man, a California Highway Patrol officer, was killed along with his wife, their daughter and his wife's brother after the 2009 Lexus he was driving suddenly accelerated out of control while near San Diego. The Lexus reached speeds of more than 100 miles per hour before striking another vehicle, breaking through a fence, striking a beam, flying through the air, rolling several times and then bursting into flames. The crash prompted Toyota to begin recalling 4.2 million Toyota and Lexus models. At the time, the company blamed the problem on faulty floor mats. The plaintiffs are the man's parents and the parents of his wife and brother-in-law.

Toyota Problems Unlikely to Hike Insurance
As recalls and manufacturer defects continue to raise questions about Toyota vehicle safety, owners may worry that auto-insurance premiums may be affected, too. Not necessarily, experts say. Even though insurance companies are closely monitoring the developments that led Toyota's chief global executive to testify before Congress, experts say the ongoing drama may not result in either markedly higher, or lower, insurance premiums for Toyota owners. There is still too little known about the true extent of problems afflicting the vehicles, including popular versions of the Camry, Lexus and Prius. But so far, the reported problems appear statistically too small to yield massive changes in insurance premiums.

Toyota Executive in Hot Seat During Testimony Before Congress
A senior U.S. executive for Toyota walked a fine line as he tried to explain the company's response to recent safety problems without admitting fault that could come back to haunt it in products liability lawsuits and two federal investigations. The president of the automaker's U.S. distribution unit testified before Congress that two factors contributed to the unexpected acceleration that consumers say has caused accidents: lack of communication within the company about prior recalls, and pressure to increase production at the expense of safety. The prospect of widespread products liability lawsuits hung over the hearing, as lawmakers critical of Toyota's product safety record laid out a narrative that the company could have done more to prevent accidents but did not act in time. Toyota has issued two recalls based on problems with floor mats and with gas pedals, but it has denied that there's solid evidence of other problems related to electronics that could cause vehicles to accelerate beyond control. In one concession under questioning, Toyota acknowledged that the two recalls so far do "not totally" explain the problems.

Young Drivers Continue to Account for a Third of Unrestrained Fatalities
An analysis of federal and state statistics shows that young people all too often do not wear seat belts and become a fatality. Attributing the trend to a feeling of invincibility, risk-taking and a lack of positive reinforcement, advocates and others say the deaths should serve as a reminder of the need to encourage drivers to take safety precautions. Although the number of annual fatalities involving people who weren't wearing seat belts in passenger vehicles decreased about 8.4 percent of 15 years in Pennsylvania - from 605 in 1994 to 554 in 2008 - the percentage of those killed between age 16 and 24 increased from 25 to 32 percent during that time. The state Department of Transportation recently released statistics showing people ages 16 to 24 accounted for 27.9 percent of the 451 fatalities involving unrestrained vehicle occupants in 2009, a year in which overall fatalities dropped dramatically. It was a slight one-year dip, but young drivers still accounted for a disproportionate share of fatalities among people who did not buckle up.

House Panel Demands Toyota Documents of Former In-House Attorney
A U.S. House committee has demanded that a former in-house attorney for Toyota turn over internal documents that he claims would substantiate his allegation that Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. routinely destroyed and hid evidence in personal injury cases. The committee has been investigating Toyota's recall of 10 million vehicles because they are subject to out-of-control acceleration and other problems. The former counsel was national managing counsel in the legal services group in charge of Toyota's rollover litigation between 2003 and 2007. Toyota sued him in 2008, claiming that he violated the terms of his $3.7 million severance agreement by divulging information protected under the attorney-client privilege. He sued Toyota last year, alleging that the company's concealment of evidence constituted "criminal acts" that drove him into a mental breakdown. He has been trying to use the documents in court, but the carmaker has successfully asserted its litigation privilege thus far.

Defense Attorney in Fatal Crash Case Wants Toyota Vehicle Re-Examined
The attorney for a man imprisoned after a fatal car crash says he'll seek to have the man's Toyota re-examined in light of the automaker's recent recall over accelerator issues. the man is currently serving eight years in prison for a high-speed crash that killed three people in 2006. Accident reconstruction experts estimated he was going 72 to 91 mph when he left the highway and repeatedly pumped what he believed were the brakes before slamming into another car and killing three people. His attorney will as for a court order to re-examine the man's 1996 Camry, believed to be at a police impound lot. Toyota has recently recalled nearly 8.5 million vehicles for problems that can cause sudden acceleration.

Toyota Hit with Federal and State Claims by Stockholders and Vehicle Owners
Two law firms, one from San Diego and the other from Philadelphia, filed suit in Los Angeles on behalf of shareholders who bought Toyota stock between August 2009 and February 2010. "Defendants misled investors by failing to disclose that there was a major design defect in Toyota's acceleration system, which could cause unintended acceleration," the suit alleges. "For over a decade, Toyota has received numerous incident reports where Toyota and Lexus owners in the United States have reported that their vehicles suddenly accelerated on their own, in many cases resulting in accidents, including several fatalities." Another lawsuit was brought in Los Angeles on behalf of a nationwide class of consumers of several models of Toyota hybrids, including the Prius, Highlander and Lexus. Although Toyota has acknowledged a design defect in its 2010 Prius, the automaker has known about complaints involving other Toyota hybrids since 2006, the suit alleges. Finally, another lawsuit was brought in Los Angeles on behalf of California purchasers of the 2010 Prius and the 2010 Lexus HS250h. That suit seeks damages for breach of implied warranty, breach of express warranty, products liability, negligence, negligent misrepresentation and violations of California's Consumer Legal Remedies Act and unfair business practices law.

Study: Ban On Devices Ineffective
As state legislators across the U.S. enact laws banning phoning and texting while driving, a new Highway Loss Data Institute study no reductions in crashes in three states and the District of Columbia after hand-held phone bans take effect. Such bans have been enacted in seven states. According to AAA Mid-Atlantic, the study by the institute, which is an affiliate of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, is "significant" as Pennsylvania and numerous other states seek to implement such bans for drivers in a belief that it will make the roads safer. Research shows that hands-free phones offer no real safety advantages over hand-held phones. The distracting factor is the conversation - not the device itself. Texting bans for all drivers is supported by AAA, along with complete wireless bans for drivers under 18 and comprehensive distracted-driving legislation.

Civil Trials Against City in Crash After Chase Begins
A trial regarding a police pursuit that lasted no more than 12 seconds and ended in the death of two passing motorists is currently underway in Pittsburgh. The survivors of the two motorists are suing the city of Pittsburgh for wrongful death, alleging that three officers involved in the daylight chase failed to follow police bureau procedures when they decided to pursue a vehicle for having two burned out taillights. The city, however, argues that the officers, who were in an unmarked car on special patrol looking for guns and drugs, were assessing the situation and found the driver in question to be acting suspiciously. When the officers first noticed the broken taillights, they called in the license plate to check the vehicle's registration, but they didn't wait for a response from dispatch before initiating a traffic stop. The driver pulled over to the curb, but then quickly drove away. In a distance less than three football fields, the suspect fled and drove through a red light, slamming into the passenger side of the two victims. The city claims the driver who attempted to elude police should be held responsible, not the city.

Discovery a Go in Attempt to Obtain Sanctions Against Toyota Over Alleged Discovery Abuses
While attempts to reopen federal product liability suits against Toyota Motor Sales USA in Texas have essentially stopped, a plaintiff is charging ahead in a similar state court case with the help of a recent appellate court ruling. In its opinion in the case, Texas' 10th Court of Appeals ruled that the plaintiff can proceed with discovery in her attempt to obtain a contempt order and sanctions against the automaker. She filed her motion after a former Toyota in-house lawyer filed a complaint that includes discovery-abuse allegations against two Toyota entities, allegations Toyota denies. The case involved the rollover of a Toyota Camry that left the plaintiff a quadriplegic. The suit she filed settled confidentially nearly three years ago; it was dismissed in 2007. However, in 2009, she filed a motion seeking sanctions against the Toyota defendants after learning that the former managing counsel in charge of Toyota's National Rollover Program, had sued his former employer in 2009, alleging wrongful termination. In his complaint, the former counsel alleges that his former employer "conspired and continue to conspire, to unlawfully withhold evidence from plaintiffs" in rollover accident litigation filed against the companies. In his complaint, he mentions five cases in which evidence allegedly was withheld from those plaintiffs, including the one in the rollover case in question. Toyota denies that allegations and challenged a 2009 trial court order that said they must "preserve any and all documents, records, data, electronically stored information, and evidence" relevant to the case. The judges in Texas found that "it is not possible to tell, at this juncture, if the order rendered by the trial court is for the trial court to proceed with its investigation of whether Toyota's alleged failure to comply with a discovery order justifies a determination of, and punishment for, contempt or whether the trial court is proceeding to consider the plaintiff's request for sanctions payable to the plaintiff."

Toyota's Troubles May Have Just Begun
Toyota Motor Co.'s trouble with sticking gas pedals  is quickly growing into a crisis, with talk of a congressional investigation and that the halt of production and sales in the United States will spread around the world. Toyota recently announced that production of eight cars and trucks involved in a recall of 2.3 million vehicles would temporarily stop soon. Federal officials have also taken the first steps in initiating a production stoppage of the vehicles involved in the recall. The "reason Toyota decided to do the recall and to stop manufacturing was because we asked them to," the Department of Transportation announced. Unfortunately, the sticking throttle is now going global. There are reports that Toyota is in discussion with European governments on the best way to address a recall and suspension of production and sales, similar to what was announced recently for the United States and Canada. Industry experts say Toyota's predicament is quickly turning into a textbook lesson in how not to manage a crisis that could do major damage to a company's image and sales.

Toyota Dealers Cope with Massive Recall
After a sweeping recall of 2.3 million vehicles announced earlier this week, Toyota has now shut down the production and sale of eight models, including the popular Camry. Toyota customers and dealers are scrambling to cope while competitors pounced on the news. Compounding Toyota's problems, the carmaker said that it would recall an additional 1.09 million vehicles in the United States because of the risk of floor mats interfering with accelerator pedals. Toyota, the Japanese automaker that coasted through last year's bankruptcies of General Motors and Chrysler relatively unharmed, is now grappling with its own crisis that, some say, threatens its spot as the U.S. sales leader ahead of Ford and Chevrolet brands. But the effect on consumer views of Toyota quality - long a marketing strength - may be hard to control, at least in the short term.

Legal Attack On Toyota Widens Following Second Auto Recall
A lawyer with a pending lawsuit against Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. filed a new suit in light of the carmaker's recent recall of 2.3 million vehicles due to sticking accelerator pedals. The recall is the second in recent months for Toyota. Toyota issued a safety advisory regarding floor mats that caused accelerator pedals to get stuck. Ultimately, Toyota recalled approximately 4.2 million vehicles due to the floor mat issues. The lawyer filed a suit in federal court in Los Angeles on behalf of two Toyota owners in Southern California. One plaintiff experienced "sudden, unexpected acceleration" of his 2008 Toyota Tundra while his foot was on the brake pedal at a service station. The car accelerated a second time after he put on the brakes while approaching a left turn lane. In both cases, the acceleration stopped after he put the car in park. Both suits allege violations of California's Consumers Legal Remedies Act and California's Unfair Competition Law, as well as false advertising, breach of implied warranty and negligence. The lawyer said that the allegations address Toyota's misrepresentations to consumers. Both cases seek damages on behalf of a class of thousands of consumers nationwide and in California who own a Toyota vehicle with an electronic throttle control system.

Massive Recall the Latest Tribulation for Toyota
A massive voluntary recall has been issued by Toyota Motor Corp., the latest recall that has plagued the automaker. The recall affects 2.3 million vehicles. The recalls seek to fix accelerators that could become stuck, just months after Toyota recalled 4.2 million vehicles due to an accelerator issue that could be stuck under the floor mat, causing sudden and uncontrollable acceleration. In the latest recall, the accelerators could become stuck even without the presence of a floor mat. "Our investigation indicates that there is a possibility that certain accelerator pedal mechanisms may, in rare instances, mechanically stick in a partially depressed position or return slowly to the idle position," Toyota said in a statement.

Toyota May Widen Recall of 'Sticky Accelerators' to Europe
Toyota Motor's once-bulletproof reputation is taking another hit on reports that the Japanese automaker could expand a recent recall of U.S. vehicles to include some models sold in Europe. Toyota announced it would recall 2.3 million cars in the U.S. to fix problems with unintended acceleration caused by faulty parts from a specific supplier. "The company is considering whether to recall vehicles in Europe due to similar defects with the accelerators that we encountered in the United States," Toyota said. Certain models sold in Europe, such as the RAV4 and Corolla, used the same parts that have caused problems with sticking accelerators in U.S. models. The list of models includes cars from Toyota's luxury brand, Lexus, and one U.S. make, the Pontiac Vibe, which was manufactured at a plant jointly operated by General Motors and Toyota in California.

Toyota Knew of Sticky-Throttle Problem Late Last Year
Toyota says it knew there were problems with accelerator-pedal assemblies from supplier CTS late last year, but not enough to warrant a recall. The automaker says it hurriedly announced a planned recall of 2.3 million Toyotas, back to 2005 models, because the defect trend had been picked up. The recall includes an unspecified number of 2009-2010 Pontiac Vices, designed and built by Toyota for General Motors' now-discontinued Pontiac brand. Vibe is similar to the Toyota Matrix that's part of the recall. Industry insider predict it could be weeks before Toyota determines a remedy and gets it approved by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Ford Settles Explorer Suit as Jury Considers Damages
Already on the hook for the lion's share of a $17.7 million judgment and waiting for a decision from a jury that was out considering punitive damages, Ford Motor Co. decided to settle with a couple who sued following a Christmas 2005 wreck that left the woman paralyzed. The agreement came after a jury ordered Ford to pay more than $16 million of the judgment to compensate for what the plaintiffs argued were design defects in the 2002 Explorer sport utility vehicle in which the woman was a passenger. A 58-year-old woman was seated in the back seat between her two grandchildren, who were in booster seats, as her son drove to church Christmas morning. The son's wife was in the front passenger seat. A car coming the other way lost control and slammed into the Explorer. The woman in the backseat, who was only restrained by a lap belt, was slammed forward and down as the rear seat latch failed, and it collapsed on her. As a result, her head and neck were driven down and forward into the front seat and center console, catastrophically injuring her spinal cord. She remains on a ventilator and is paralyzed from the neck down. The negligence suit filed against Ford asserted that the automaker's design for both the rear seat latch and decision to install a lap belt rather than a three-point shoulder belt constituted negligence, and it also said Ford should have warned the public "of the dangers in a reasonably foreseeable collision presented by the design of the Ford Explorer rear seat, occupant restraint system and surrounding structures." Following a trial, the jury awarded a total of $17,716,000 to the family. The other driver was found liable $1,271,640 and Ford was to account for the rest: $16,444,761.

Lawyer Sees No Smoking Gun in Toyota Files
A plaintiffs attorney claims he didn't find "a shred of evidence" among 9,000 documents to support an ex-Toyota lawyer's whistleblower claims. The attorney was hoping to use the documents to reopen 17 accident injury cases against Toyota, but he claims "the documents I reviewed did not provide evidence sufficient to continue prosecuting these cases at this time." The whistleblower believes Toyota is providing plaintiffs attorneys "with some type of monetary compensation to either dismiss or not file lawsuits against Toyota based on my documents and testimony." He claimed Toyota was trying to discredit him and destroy his credibility. The whistleblower oversaw rollover litigation at Toyota from 2003 to 2007 and leveled allegations that Toyota was hiding crash safety data in rollover cases. He filed suit in federal court, accusing Toyota's in-house legal team of a giant cover-up. However, after he produced alleged evidence of Toyota's cover-up, plaintiffs attorneys did not find any evidence of concealment, destruction or pattern of discovery abuse that affected any of their cases against Toyota. The whistelblower left Toyota in 2007 and was given a $3.7 million severance payment after claiming he was pushed out. Since then, he has filed suits against Toyota as well as the Los Angeles district attorney's office, where he was briefly employed after leaving the carmaker. However, a judge has kicked his case against Toyota into arbitration after ruling that his allegations of racketeering among Toyota's in-house lawyers was "inartfully pled." In a separate case in which Toyota is accusing him of divulging confidential information in seminars put on by his consulting firm, a judge has referred him to the State Bar for investigation.

Pregnant Women Focus for Car Safety Research
Shifting the focus from infants and children in safety seats, researchers and car manufacturers are looking to prevent fetal deaths by making automobile travel safer for expectant mothers. Biomedical researchers are working with automakers to develop a computer-aided model of pregnant drivers and passengers so they can develop better crash-protection features in future vehicle designs. There are no official federal statistics kept on the number of fetal deaths in car accidents, however different groups estimate 300 to several thousand such deaths occur annually as a result of vehicle crashes - about four times the number of victims between infancy and 4 years old. Overall, about 27,000 vehicle occupants died in car crashes in 2008, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and auto accidents are the single largest cause of death for pregnant women.

Discovery of Phone and Laptop Records Permitted in Vehicle Injury Suit
A New York appeals court has ordered cell phone records and the wireless air card from a laptop computer to be examined during discovery in suits filed by two automobile passengers injured when their vehicle was hit by a driver they contend may have been distracted by his electronic communications devices. Rejecting right-to-privacy arguments, the court cited the tradition of other courts "liberally" construing discovery statutes when ordering an examination of the devices held by the driver and the company whose SUV he was driving when the accident occurred in 2006. The driver denied talking on any of the three cell phones he had in his vehicle, nor using the laptop computer, which was bolted to a computer desk near the steering wheel, at the time of the crash. A tow truck driver who arrived at the scene submitted an affidavit stating that he saw the laptop on the vehicle's computer desk, with the screen flipped up and turned on, indicating recent use. The court found that "this conflicting evidence raised questions as to whether the driver used any technological devices while driving, rendering the records relevant to the question of his negligence." The family of the victims contends that records may show that the driver was using one or more of the cell phones and the computer near or at the time of the collision. Both victims suffered serious injuries. The driver of their car was ticketed for failure to yield the right of way, though the ticket was later dismissed because sheriff's deputies cited the incorrect section of the law for the infraction.

Wrongful Death Suit Filed Against Estate Over Fatal Car Crash
The family of a man who died along with his boss in a one-vehicle accident earlier this year has filed a wrongful death suit seeking $7 million from the boss's estate and the company which owns the boss's car collection. The family alleged that wrongful death action is necessary because the boss "caused the death of the employee as a result of his grossly negligent driving of an automobile owned by the car company." The plaintiffs include the employee's four brothers, a sister and his grandson. The plaintiffs bring several causes of action against the defendants, including wrongful death, malice, negligence, gross negligence, mental anguish and physical pain. They seek $6 million in actual damages and $1 million in punitives. The vehicle driven by the boss was going between 76 and 79 mph when it struck a tree. The boss's estate has already agreed to pay $46.5 million to a group of former breast implant clients who filed a class action alleging his firm overcharged them for expenses. In 2007, an arbitration panel ordered the firm to pay a total of $41.5 million in damages to the class after finding his firm had breached a fiduciary duty.

Pennsylvania Couple Sues Two Bars Over DUI Death
A Pennsylvania couple have sued two taverns that allegedly served alcohol to the driver accused of killing their 15-year-old son in a vehicle crash after a concert earlier this year. The couple filed an amended complaint against the two taverns and the 24-year-old driver, who is accused of drunken driving in the wreck that killed their son. The civil complaint alleges that the driver was drinking at the two taverns before the accident, and that both establishments served the driver even though he was visibly intoxicated. The business operators should have stopped the driver from leaving their businesses. Police say the driver's blood-alcohol content was 0.189 percent. A driver is considered intoxicated at 0.8 percent. Police also found one empty can of beer inside the driver's truck and a half-empty bottle on the driver's side floor.

Florida Appeals Court Rules Ford Explorer Not a Public Hazard
A Florida appeals court has reversed a trial court directive labeling the Ford Explorer a public hazard. In a scathing opinion, a judge wrote for the unanimous panel that an order issued last year "departed from the essential requirements of law" and caused "irreparable harm" to Ford Motor Co. The order was sought by the mother of a man who died after a 1996 Explorer rollover.

Trucker On Cell Phone Caused Fatal Accident, Suit Alleges
A trucker distracted by talking on his cell phone negligently caused the death of a Texas woman, according to a lawsuit filed in state court. The woman was crushed in 2008 when a truck slammed into the stalled vehicle she was sitting in. The accident occurred when a car driven by the woman's daughter stalled at a stoplight. She and another man were passengers in the back seat. While her daughter activated the hazard lights and the man looked under the hood, the truck ramming into the car. The impact killed the mother and seriously injured the man. According to the complaint, the trucker was speeding and talking on his cell phone immediately before the crash.

Toyota Litigants Want to Know What's in Boxes
A judge will hold a temporary injunction hearing in a case in which the plaintiffs have accused defendants of hiding evidence in automobile products liability litigation. The judge had earlier signed a temporary restraining order instructing the defendants to issue litigation holds on any documents pertaining to vehicles, nonproduction vehicle evaluations or research pertaining to product liability or crash worthiness or documents and communications in the hands of outside counsel. But the case got interesting when a former managing counsel in charge of Toyota's National Rollover Program, has tendered four boxes of documents to the court. He has alleged in his own lawsuit that Toyota and some of its attorneys conspired to conceal, withhold and destroy evidence in cases against the company. The plaintiffs in the case want to see what information he has and have asked to be allowed to examine the four boxes.

Texting While Driving Cause for Concern
Text messaging has provoked a cause for concern as a growing number of drivers are focusing their attention on their cell phones and rather than on the road. Some government officials are working to pass legislation banning text messaging while driving while AAA is launching its own campaign to kick the habit. More than one trillion text messages were sent in the United States in 2008, which is triple the number sent in 2007. AAA's campaign, "Heads Up Driving Week: Try it for a week, do it for life," is designed to make drivers more aware of the dangers of being distracted while on the road. The AAA Foundation research states that about one in five U.S. drivers admit to texting while driving at least once in the last 30 days, but that 80 or 90 percent of people would support texting bans.

Toyota: 3.8 Million Cars with Risky Floor Mats
Toyota issued a safety warning for 3.8 million Lexus and Toyota cars because of potentially deadly floor mats. The world's largest automaker and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration warned drivers to remove the mats or risk a forced-down accelerator pedal that could lead to a fatal crash. The seven models being recalled could potentially have removable mats that would interfere with the pedal and cause it to stick. "A stuck open accelerator pedal may result in very high vehicle speeds and make it difficult to stop the vehicle, which could cause a crash, serious injury or death," said Toyota in a statement. Thought Toyota recalled accessory all-weather floor mats in 2007 for similar problems, NHTSA noted that reports of vehicles accelerating rapidly even after the release of the pedal have continued.

Tribe Faces Dram Shop Suit Over Drunk Driving Crash
In what could become a first-in-the-nation test, a woman injured by a drunk driver is challenging the sovereignty of Connecticut's Mohegan American Indian tribe. She is arguing that the tribe should be liable in state courts if it lets patrons get so dangerously drunk that they then injure or kill other people. Currently, the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes are immune from being sued in state court for ordinary negligence matters, including so-called "dram shop act" violations. Those violations can cost a bar up to $250,000 if patrons are permitted to get too intoxicated and harm others. The woman was hit by a drunk driver in 2007. Her fractured pelvis punctured her bladder, and she also suffered brain injuries that include a loss of smell and taste. She contends that the tribe has no sovereign interest in liquor regulation, or immunity from lawsuits that have the effect of enforcing Connecticut liquor laws.

Employer May be Liable for Executive's Car Crash
An employer may be liable for personal injuries stemming from an executive's car crash that occurred when he was returning home from a business conference, a California appeals court has ruled. The court said the executive's attendance at an out-of-town conference may fall under a doctrine that holds an employer vicariously liable for accidents occurring while the employee is engaged in a "special errand" for the employer. In addition, where the employee intends to drive home afterward, the "errand" is not concluded, even if he drives his regular commute route. Rather, the errand is not considered completed until the employee returns home or deviates from the errand for personal reasons. A vice president attended a three-day business conference in 2006. The company had approved the trip and paid for his airfare, hotel and airport parking. On the return trip, the vice president decided to drive home from the airport instead of stopping by his office. He drove around the parking lot on his way before taking his normal route home. After driving three miles, he was involved in an accident with another care that injured three pedestrians, one of whom later died. In 2007, two of the pedestrians sued the vice president, his company and the other driver. A trial judge found that because the vice president was commuting home from work when the accident occurred, under the going and coming rule, he was not acting within the course and scope of his employment. The appellate court reversed and the panel has agreed with the plaintiff's "special errand" reasoning and rejected the company's argument that the doctrine does not apply to commercial travel.

$24 Million Deal in Chrysler Wrongful Death Case Approved by Bankruptcy Court
A bankruptcy court judge has approved a $24 million settlement by Chrysler in the death of a man who was run over by a Dodge pickup truck in 2004. The plaintiffs' lawyers said that their demand that Chrysler post an appeal bond after they won a $55.2 million verdict proved to be key once the automaker filed for bankruptcy. A California jury handed the automaker the $50 million punitive and $5.2 million compensatory verdict in 2007. The wrongful death claim accused Chrysler of failing to fix a safety defect that unexpectedly threw parked vehicles into reverse. The man suffered fatal head injuries after being run over by a 1992 Dodge Dakota pickup truck that he believed was parked.

Seniors Keep Their Car Keys
Elderly drivers in Pennsylvania have increased in number steadily over the past five years, state Department of Transportation figures show. With that data comes concern that senior citizens, generally, will have declining physical and mental abilities and become unsafe drivers. A study by the RAND Corp. two years ago showed that drivers 65 and older are one-third as likely as drivers 18 to 25 to cause auto accidents, and only slightly more likely to cause crashes than drivers 26 to 64. The issue of older drivers' ability surfaces periodically as the percentage of elderly people in the population increases. Nationally, by 2025, drivers older than 65 will represent 25 percent of the driving population, up from 14 percent in 2001. Pennsylvania is among the vast majority of states that do not require senior drivers to pass additional tests to prove they are mentally and physically able to operate a vehicle.

1 in 4 Teens with Own Car has Been in Crash
Teenagers with their own cars or free use of one are much more likely to get in crashes than those who share a car. And crashes are much less common among teens whose parents set clear driving safety rules. Researchers say the findings can help parents keep their kids from becoming a grim statistic: Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens, killing more than 5,000 each year. More than 7,000 people nationwide were killed in crashes involving teen drivers in 2007. More than 3,000 of these deaths were teen drivers, and more than 250,000 teen drivers were injured.

California Jury Awards $49 Million in Motor Vehicle Case
A California jury awarded $49 million in damages to a college student who was on his way to a camping trip when two trucks collided and one struck the car he was riding in, causing him traumatic brain injuries. The award is the biggest single-plaintiff personal injury verdict by far in the past 10 years in Santa Clara County Superior Court. The student was riding in a Toyota in 2007 when two trucks collided near the center line of a highway. He was struck by one of the trucks, and his injuries now necessitate round-the-clock medical care. The jury awarded $3.4 million in past medical expenses, $27.6 million in future medical expenses, $4.5 million for future lost wages and $13.5 million in general damages. The defendants are jointly and severally liable for the special damages and severally liable for the general damages.

Judge Refuses to Seal Record in Suit Alleging Discovery Abuses by Toyota
A federal judge in Los Angeles has refused to seal a wrongful termination suit in which a former in-house attorney for Toyota Motor Sales has asserted that the auto manufacturer hid and destroyed evidence in numerous rollover lawsuits. "Defendants argue it will suffer further harm if we do not seal the complaint," the judge wrote. "However, plaintiffs' complaint is now irreversibly in the public domain, as it is readily available on the Internet. Therefore, sealing the complaint would be futile at this point." Toyota's national managing counsel in the legal services group in charge of Toyota's rollover program sued his former employer following his resignation. His suit asserts violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, wrongful termination and intentional infliction of emotional distress. He claims that Toyota engaged in a conspiracy to destroy and hide evidence, which he said he was "ethically and legally obligated to turn over." He also accused Toyota of committing "criminal acts" in the rollover litigation. "For years, Toyota has conspired to unlawfully withhold evidence from plaintiffs and obstruct justice in lawsuits throughout the United States against Toyota. Many of the plaintiffs in these lawsuits sustained catastrophic and fatal injuries in rollover accidents involving Toyota vehicles."

Families Feud Over Dead Teen's Damages
The Georgia Supreme Court could be the next venue to decide who can recover damages from the death of a teenager in an accident with a police car: the boy's parents or the daughter whom he didn't live to see born. The legal battle has raged since 2007 when the teen died after his automobile crash with a police officer. He had been driving to apply for a job when the officer's police van veered into oncoming traffic. His parents are pursuing a wrongful death action against the office and the city police department. The problem is that another family has brought a wrongful death action against the city over his death. Five months after he died, another teenager gave birth to his daughter. Before the girl's birth, the family of the pregnant teen filed a declaratory judgment action against the teen father's parents, asking for a ruling that the daughter is his only heir and the sole potential claimant over his death. His parents initially contested that he was the father, but conceded after paternity testing was conducted. Still, they are fighting over the claim that the daughter is the sole beneficiary of any wrongful death recovery.

Husband Served Drinks to Wife Before Fatal Accidents, but Dram Shop Suit Reinstated
A man's purchase of two beers for his wife at a party the night she was run over by a patrol car did not necessarily constitute "guilty participation" in her intoxication that precludes his recovery of damages under the state's Dram Shop Act, an appeals court has decided. An appeals panel ruled that while the Dram Shop Act prohibits an intoxicated person or their estates from maintaining a cause of action for injuries they sustained from their intoxication, the law allows survivors to sue individually. The decision reinstated the husband's cause of action against a bowling alley where he and his wife attended a Halloween Party in 2002. The wife was struck and killed later that night while walking along a road. The panel determined those who serve drunken people too much alcohol can be held liable for injuries or deaths as long as an intervening third party is not responsible for the victim's condition. However, "while the act of purchasing drinks for the intoxicated person may be sufficient to preclude recovery under the Dram Shop Act, we conclude that the mere act of purchasing drinks for a companion prior to his or her visible intoxication, without more, is insufficient to constitute 'guilty participation' as a matter of law."

Study: 1 in 10 Binge Drinkers Drive While Drunk
One in 10 binge drinkers got behind the wheel the last time they drank heavily, and half of those drivers left from a bar, restaurant or nightclub after downing five or more drinks, a new study has found. The study is being called the first to try to measure the likelihood someone will drive after binge drinking. It suggests a need for stepped-up efforts to prevent bars and restaurants from serving people after they're intoxicated. The researchers focused on 14,00 "binge drinkers" - people who said that at least once a month that they had five or more drinks on a single occasion. About 12 percent said they had gone driving within two hours of their last bout of heavy drinking.

PennDOT Assured High-Occupancy Vehicle Lane Safe After Driver Causes Crash
A PennDOT official sought to reassure drivers that a high-occupancy vehicle lane in Pittsburgh is "extremely safe" after a driver circumvented barriers and traveled the wrong way, causing a head-on crash. The crash occurred shortly after 9 pm when a man entered the high-occupancy vehicle lane by driving around multiple gates before heading south. The lane is open to outbound traffic each weekday during rush hour. There are eight lanes at the entrance designed to keep inbound traffic out. Another driver struck the man head-on as the cars rounded a curve.

Class Action Proceeds Against Subaru Over Defective Odometers
A federal judge has refused to dismiss a potential class action brought by customers who claimed Subaru sold or leased them cars with defective odometers. The plaintiffs charged that the defective odometers overstated the mileage on their vehicles and thereby shortened their warranty periods, decreased resale values and, in the case of leased authorities, penalized drivers for "excessive mileage." Subaru argued the Odometer Act does not apply to original factory-installed odometers, which were performing consistently with the manner in which they were designed and made to operate. Customers claimed that when they began complaining to Subaru that their odometers were overstating mileage, the company allegedly responded falsely that the odometers were accurate within a specified range. The plaintiffs are seeking money damages in the millions and disgorgement of excessive lease fees. They also are asking Subaru to correct or replace the defective devices.

PennDOT Surveys Site of Fatal Crash
A four-way intersection is being evaluated by PennDOT after a crash that took the lives of three teens. Studying the locations of fatal crashes is a normal procedure. The teen driving had pulled out from one road onto another and into the path of an oncoming car. The investigation team analyzed signs in the area and also looked to see whether sign distance is an issue or whether or not the signs might be old or faded.

More Uninsured Motorists Hitting the Road Amid Recession
Cash-strapped Pennsylvania drivers are reducing or even eliminating car insurance coverage during the recession, putting themselves and others at risk on the road. The number of policyholders unable to pay their car premiums on time increased 25 percent from last year. While economic conditions have created a hardship for many people, having too little or no auto insurance could create an even worse situation. The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates the typical driver will have a near automobile accident one or two times per month and will be in a collision once every six years. As more people have reduced coverage, some auto insurance companies have increased premiums. The Pennsylvania Insurance Department, which regulates automobile insurance, has approved rate changes that have averaged between 2 and 3 percent during the last year. It is illegal to drive without insurance in Pennsylvania, and motorists could face a minimum of a $300 fine for driving uninsured, a three-month driver's license suspension, vehicle impoundment or restoration fees to restore their registration and driver's license.

Women Drinking More and DUIs Up
When a mother caused a deadly wrong-way crash while drunk and stoned, it marked became part of a disturbing trend: Women in the U.S. are drinking more, and drunken-driving arrests among women are rising rapidly while falling among men. And some of those women are getting behind the wheel with kids in the back. Men still drink more than women and are responsible for more drunken-driving cases, but the gap is narrowing, and among the reasons cited are that women are feeling greater pressures at work and home, they are driving more and they are behaving more recklessly. Nationwide, the number of women arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs was 28.8 percent higher in 2007 than it was in 1998, while the number of men arrested was 7.5 percent lower.

Distracted Driving Increasing Motorists' Worries
A recently released national poll by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety revealed that 35 percent of drivers feel less safe on the roadways than they did five years ago, and distracted driving is what makes them feel most uneasy. In fact, 80 percent of drivers on the national level deemed distracted driving a very serious threat to their safety on the road. Responses from car operators from the Philadelphia area are consistent with national numbers, as 64 percent of AAA members polled listed distracted driving in their top three safety concerns. People driving after consuming alcohol was voted the top travel threat at 90 percent, with distracted driving coming in just behind at 80 percent. Even with such a high amount indicating that distracted driving was a serious threat, a large percentage of those polled admitted contributing to the problem they consider so dangerous. Nationally, 67 percent of drivers reported talking on their cell phone while driving, including 28 percent who said they did so often or regularly. Another 21 percent of car operators said they used text messaging while behind the wheel, with 18 percent saying they did so even though they considered texting while driving as completely or somewhat unacceptable. Locally, 64 percent of those polled in the Philadelphia area said distracted driving was a top concern, with 68 percent listing text messaging as the most dangerous activity.

Appeals Court Upholds Lopsided Award Against Ford Motor Co.
An appeals court had upheld a product liability verdict against Ford Motor Co. for $8 million in compensatory damages and $42,050 in punitives, despite the plaintiff's contention that the award was lopsided because Ford's lawyer was allowed to tell jurors about the carmaker's financial straits and layoffs. The appeals panel did not discuss whether the defense attorney was wrong to mention the potential impact of punitives on Ford employees but it upheld the trial judge's decision to limit evidence about Ford's finances. A New Jersey jury found that a defective throttle on a 1997 Ford Explorer caused the rollover accident that left a 22-year-old woman with a useless right arm. She claimed her throttle jammed while she was driving in 2000, and when she pressed down hard on the gas pedal, the car lurched forward, causing her to lose control and hit other cars before rolling over. The crash nearly severed her right hand and tore out the nerves connecting her spinal cord to her arm. She had 21 operations, including multiple muscle, vein, nerve and skin grafts. The jury blamed the accident on a defective throttle, rather than a tendency to roll over and found more than $10 million in damages, including $8 million fro pain and suffering. They also found her 28 percent responsible because she wasn't wearing a seatbelt at the time. On appeal, Ford argued that they shouldn't have to pay punitive damages because they weren't rightfully awarded.

Study: Texts While Driving Even More Dangerous
Texting while driving increases the risk of a crash much more than previous studies have concluded with motorists taking their eyes off the road longer than they do when talking or listening on their cell phones, a safety research institute says. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute used cameras to continuously observe light vehicle drivers and truckers for more than 6 million miles. It found that when drivers of heavy trucks texted, their collision risk was 23 times greater than when not texting. Dialing a cell phone and using or reaching for an electronic device increased risk of collision about 6 times in cars and trucks. Recent research using driving simulators suggested that talking and listening were as dangerous as texting, but the "naturalistic driving studies clearly indicate that this is not the case." The risks of texting generally applied to all drivers, not just truckers. Right before a crash or near collision, drivers spent nearly five seconds looking at their devices, which was enough time at 55 mph to cover more than the length of a football field.

Jury Awards $3.5 Million to Family of Man Crushed by Log Trucks
A Georgia jury has awarded $3.5 million to the family of a man who was crushed to death between two logging trucks. The trucking company and its drivers were fined the amount in the wrongful death case. The 56-year-old was killed in 2008 after being struck by one of the trucks. He was stopped behind a car and another log truck at an intersection. While waiting on the first car to turn left, he was struck from behind by another logging truck that sent his van into the back of the first log truck. The driver of the logging truck was speeding and had faulty brakes, with experts testifying that he was driving more than 15 miles over the speed limit.

As Speed Limits Rise, So Do Death Tolls
The repeal of the national 55-mile-per-hour speed limit has made American highways a much deadlier place, a new study says. The "failed policy of increased speed limits" was to blame for an estimated 12,500 deaths over a 10-year period. In 1974, hoping to reduce fuel consumption, Congress set a national speed limit of 55. After easing it in 1987, lawmakers got rid of it entirely in 1995, and the speed limit has risen in every state. The study found that while road deaths went down after the speed limit was lowered in 1974, they went back up an average of about 3 percent after 1995.

Road Deaths Drop in Pennsylvania and Nation
The record-high gas prices of 2008 coincided with a drastic drop in traffic deaths, the fewest in the United States since 1961. Gas may be cheaper now, but the reduction in deaths continues. Through June, there were 97 fewer traffic deaths in Pennsylvania than during the same period in 2008. The 581 traffic deaths reported through June equals a 14 percent decline from the same period in 2008, when there were 678 deaths. Nationally, 37,313 people died as a result of traffic accidents in 2008, down 9 percent from 2007, when there were 41,059 vehicle-related deaths. In recent years, traffic deaths often topped 42,000. PennDOT has no conclusive explanation for the decline in deaths.

Plaintiff Suits Against Automakers Stall Out
As Chrysler and GM dispose of billions of dollars in assets and debts, potentially thousands of individuals with death and injury claims will either be out of luck or will face near insurmountable obstacles to success. When both auto companies emerge from bankruptcy, they are expected, as in the terms of Chrysler's sale to Fiat, to do so "free and clear" of all pending and future claims and interests in all property sold pre-bankruptcy. A group of consumer organizations and plaintiffs lawyers stepped into what one bankruptcy expert called the "murkier waters" of the law's treatment of future tort claims, or what another described as the "intersection of bankruptcy law and due process." Is it constitutional to cut off the rights of people who today have no knowledge that someday they may be injured or killed in an accident involving their Chrysler or GM vehicle? The consumer and plaintiff groups and some bankruptcy litigators and scholars answer no, but others disagree. And there is even disagreement over the law's treatment of pending tort claims.

Car Crash Victim Sues Over Lost Leg
A law firm partner is being sued over an auto accident in California that resulted in a mother losing her leg. The suit alleges that he was under the influence of OxyContin when he pulled into the handicapped space of a store, started getting out of his car without putting it in park and rammed a group of parents and girls selling Girl Scout cookies, pinning one mother against a wall. The mother who filed suit lost one of her legs above the knee after both were broken and her 8-year-old daughter's leg was also broken. The suit does not ask for punitive damages yet, but an attorney for the mother claim they are simply waiting for further evidence before determining whether to seek punitive damages.

Heavy, Drowsy Truckers Pose Risk On Road
Sleep scientists at Harvard University have renewed a call for federal rules requiring mandatory testing of obese drivers. They say research shows there's a strong link between fat drivers and sleep apnea and that screening could help prevent truck crashes that kill more than 5,200 people and injure more than 100,000 each year in the U.S. Regulators with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration have been considering for more than a year new rules that would require screening for drivers whose body mass index exceeds 30, the baseline for obesity. The FMCSA has yet to act on the January 2008 recommendation by a medical review board, which frustrates groups representing victims of trucking accidents, who say that fatigue in general and sleep apnea in particular are under-recognized threats on the road.

Class Action Certified Against Mercedes-Benz Over Emergency Response System
A federal judge in New Jersey has certified a class action alleging that Mercedes-Benz sold cars equipped with an emergency response system that the company knew would soon become obsolete. The judge ruled that the plaintiffs suffered an ascertainable loss because they bought vehicles designed to last 20 or more years, while the emergency system became useless after 2007. The plaintiffs claim that Mercedes made statements or omissions of material facts that it knew or should have known were false or misleading when promoting vehicles equipped with "Tele Aid," an emergency response system that linked subscribers to roadside assistance operators through global positioning and cellular technology through AT&T Wireless Services Inc., for a subscription fee. The system ran on analog signals, not digital, and Mercedes-Benz continued to sell vehicles so equipped from 2002 to 2007 even though it knew as early as August 2002 that a change in Federal Communications Commission regulations would allow AT&T to discontinue its analog cellular services in 2008, rendering the system inoperative.

Nationwide Class Action Reinstated Against Ford Motor Over Accelerator Pedals
The Oklahoma Supreme Court reinstated a national class action against Ford and auto parts maker Williams Controls that had been tossed by an intermediate appellate court. The class, which includes an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 members, contends that certain models of Ford Super Duty pickup trucks and Expedition sport utility vehicles contain faulty accelerator pedals, causing the trucks to idle rather than accelerate when drivers step on the gas. The case, which was first filed in 2004, alleges breach of warranty, negligence and product liability. The court certified a nationwide class in 2007, but last year the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals reversed the lower court. In reinstating the case, the Supreme Court found that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in certifying a class on the breach of warranty claims. It declined to affirm class certification on negligence or product liability claims. Depending on the ultimate size of the class, the plaintiffs will be seeking $60 million to $100 million, or about $185 for each replacement pedal.

When Should Alzheimer's Patients Stop Driving?
Scientists are creating tests to show when it's time for people with early Alzheimer's disease to stop driving. It's one of a family's most wrenching decisions, and as Alzheimer's increasingly is diagnosed in its earliest stages, it can be hard to tell when a loved one is poised to become a danger. Factor in that much of the country lacks public transportation, and quitting too soon restricts independence for someone who otherwise may function well for several years. Typically, specialists say, patients gradually scale back their driving, avoid busy freeways or night trips or left-turn intersections. Working on ways to help similar patients, a team of researchers in Iowa developed an intricate behind-the-wheel exam: A 35-mile drive through rural, residential and urban streets in a Ford Taurus able to record just about every action the driver takes, much like an airplane's "black box."

Plaintiff Gets $46 Million Result and Goes for Insurers
A California Superior Court judge recently awarded more than $46 million to a local woman almost entirely paralyzed in a 2006 car accident and her husband. The judgment came after at least one insurance company tried and failed to intervene in the case when it discovered that the defendant was not going to put up a fight. Now the couple must fight to get the insurance company to pay. The judge awarded the woman $20 million for emotional distress and pain and suffering, and gave $5 million to her husband for the loss of his wife's companionship. Among other damages, the judge also awarded the woman more than $17 million for future medical care and lost wages.

Ambulance Driver Sentenced to Jail for Drunken Fatal Crash
A western Pennsylvania ambulance driver has been sentenced for a car crash that killed two men while she was transporting a patient after she had been drinking. The 23-year-old pleaded guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter and driving while impaired. She was sentenced to serve at 11 to 23 months in the Allegheny County Jail and will be placed on probation for five years following her release. Authorities claim she ran a red light and hit a car, killing both the driver and his passenger. Her blood-alcohol level was below the legal limit more than an hour after the crash, but would have been above it at the time of the accident.

Taverns Raise Bar on Training in Wake of Drunk Driving Deaths
More and more bars are taking the steps to better train their servers following the involuntary manslaughter charges filed against a tavern and its owner. The charges state that management failed to properly train its employees, resulting in an intoxicated woman causing an accident that killed her and two others. State law holds bartenders responsible for underage drinking, serving visibly intoxicated patrons and allowing drinkers to drive their vehicles. The involuntary manslaughter charges alleged a series of missteps by the tavern's staff, including serving her a mixed drink even though the bartender knew she was too drunk to drink a shot that she also ordered, and a bouncer guiding her to her car and watching her get in the driver's seat. An evening after the drunk driving accident, a Liquor Control Enforcement officer went to the bar and witnessed a bartender serving a visibly intoxicate person.

When to Ground Alzheimer's Drivers?
Sooner or later, people who have Alzheimer's disease will have to give up the keys to the car. But figuring out when poses a problem for doctors and families, because the loss of driving privileges also means less freedom and mobility. Now a new study reports that a series of cognitive tests may help doctors determine which early Alzheimer's patients are likely to pose a danger behind the wheel. The researchers said their findings could prove valuable as an aging population results in more drivers with dementia on the road. Researchers asked 40 drivers with probably Alzheimer's disease and 115 elderly drivers who were healthy neurologically to undergo a battery of cognitive, visual and motor tests. They were also asked to take a 35-mile driving test with a research assistant in the car and cameras recording their performance. Over all, the Alzheimer's drivers made about 25 percent more mistakes than the other drivers, and the volunteers who did worse on the skills tests made more mistakes behind the wheel.

Nearly 100 Kids Died in 2007 Vehicle Backovers
Nearly 100 children were killed and 2,000 injured in 2007 when they were backed over by cars, typically in residential driveways. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released the data in a study evaluating backover deaths and other difficult-to-quantify "non-traffic" deaths and injuries. The agency was responding to a 2008 law requiring the tracking of data for incidents in which children are backed over, strangled by power windows or killed from being left in hot vehicles. Overall, the report found that 221 people were killed in 2007 by backing-up vehicles, and 14,000 were injured. 99 of the deaths and 2,000 of the injuries involved children age 14 and under.

Judge Tosses $247 Million in Plaintiffs' Claims Against Seat Belt Buckle Maker
In one of the last class actions pending against seat belt buckle manufacturer Takata Corp., a Los Angeles Superior Court judge has tossed out all of the plaintiffs' claims, which defense attorneys estimated involved damages of about $247 million. The suit is one of many class actions against seat belt buckle manufacturers and automobile manufacturers alleging that certain seat belts unbuckle on their own during accidents. In the California case, filed six years ago, the plaintiffs alleged that the buckles had never been properly tested as required by a section of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards to assure they would not unbuckle on their own. The buckle at issue is used on about 80 different models of vehicles. The judge rejected the case because she found that the defendants had indeed tested the buckle.

DUI Punishment Battle Heats Up in Pennsylvania
A battle is brewing in Pennsylvania over proposed DUI punishments. Alcohol-related crashes killed about 13,000 people nationwide in 2007. Mothers Against Drunk Driving wants breath-monitoring technology to be deployed in vehicles driven by all convicted DUI offenders. A beverage industry trade association wants to limit the devices to offenders who drove with exceptionally high blood-alcohol levels or committed multiple offenses.

Kids and Cell Phones: A Crosswalk Hazard?
More parents are looking to cell phones to help keep their children safe, but parents should be aware: Kids who talk on a cell phone may be more likely to step into traffic, a new study shows. Children should learn to end phone conversations before they step up to the curb and prepare to step into traffic. While research shows that older kids and more experienced users also don't navigate streets as well while on a cell phone, younger children tended to find gadgets more distracting. A third of the 20 million 8 to 12 year olds in the United States already have a cell phone, with more than half of "tweens" expected to be carrying them by the end of next year. In a recent study, researchers watched as 77 pre-teens individually navigated a virtual reality street crossing. Researchers found that children speaking on a cell phone were 43 percent more likely to be hit or to have a close call in the simulated street crossings than kids who weren't on the phone.

State's Holiday Toll on Highways: 7 Dead, 278 Hurt
Seven people were killed in crashes investigated by Pennsylvania State Police during the five-day New Year's travel period. Four of the fatal crashes were alcohol-related. Another 278 people were injured in the 984 crashes to which troopers responded. Five of those killed were not wearing seat belts. During last year's five-day holiday driving period, eight people were killed and 334 others injured in 1,250 crashes to which state police responded.

Holiday Traffic Deaths Rise in Pennsylvania
Of 12 people killed over the Christmas holiday in crashes handled by Pennsylvania state police, 10 were not wearing seat belts. Another 410 people were injured in 1,673 crashes investigated by troopers between Christmas Eve and midnight the Sunday following Christmas. This year's numbers are up strikingly from 2007, when eight people were killed and 236 were hurt in 964 crashes.

Is New Year's the Most Dangerous Time to Drive?
A national report said the number of people dropping their car insurance in these tough times is way up. Minimum liability insurance is required to register a car in Pennsylvania and if you let it lapse the registration could be suspended. Suspensions for this year have run a little over 150,000 in each of the past two fiscal years, and this year is on a pace for more than 200,000.

Teenager's 911 Call About Dad Driving Drunk Held Sufficient Cause for Stop
A teenage daughter's 911 call to police that her father was driving drunk was enough to justify a stop of his vehicle, even without evidence of erratic driving, the New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled. Reversing two lower courts, the justices said that details given by a known citizen, who would have been accountable if the report were false, gave police reasonable and articulable suspicion to stop and investigate the driver. The police had received two emergency calls from the daughter, one reporting a domestic dispute and the other to report that her father had left the house and was driving drunk. She provided a description of his car and the plate number, which led police to stop the vehicle when they saw it driving in the neighborhood. The father was subsequently charged with driving while intoxicated and refusing to submit to a breath test. After his motion challenging the legality of the stop, he entered a guilty plea.

New Trial Ordered in Ford SUV Rollover Case
An appeals court has reinstated a claim that a design defect caused a 2000 Explorer SUV to roll over and crash, seriously injuring the driver. Ford had previously won the case, claiming that the driver caused the accident by making overcorrective steering maneuvers that would have caused any vehicle to roll over. However, a three-judge appeals court ordered a retrial because the trial judge failed to inform the jury in his charge that evidence of the driver's alleged negligence was irrelevant to the threshold issue in the case: Was the vehicle's design defective?

State Police Find Majority of Child Safety Seats Improperly Installed
Pennsylvania State Police found more than two-thirds of child safety seats were improperly installed or had other problems in an inspection conducted last month. Only 92 of the 307 seats that were inspected were found to be properly installed during inspections conducted at 52 locations in Pennsylvania. 50 citations and 132 warnings issued as part of the "Click It or Ticket" campaign were for failing to properly buckle a child in a safety seat. Problems included failing to anchor the child seat to the vehicle seat, failing to use the child seat's harness to hold the child in the seat, facing the car seat in the wrong direction, and using a seat that has been recalled because of a defect.

Aging: A Law Reduces Driving Deaths, But Why?
A Florida law requiring drivers 80 and older to have their vision tested appears to have reduced the number of driving deaths among older people. Researchers found that the fatality rate for drivers in that age group went down 17 percent after the law passed, even though the overall rate in Florida rose 6 percent in the same period. The big question remains why. To begin with, fewer than 7 percent of drivers in the state were not allowed to renew their licenses because of poor vision. That alone would be unlikely to explain the drop in fatalities.

Fatal Crash Driver Has Record of 6 Citations
A York County police officer was killed when he was struck by a sport utility vehicle. The driver has not been charged, but has a history of traffic violations. She has been cited six times for offenses, which included careless driving, speeding, tailgating and disregarding traffic devices, since 2000. She was found guilty for each offense and has paid nearly $800 in fines. The officer was hit while he was setting up orange safety cones to block a lane for reconstruction of a fatal crash that occurred earlier.

New Federal Rule Pre-Empts State Tort Claims Related to Seat Belt Injuries
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration once again has launched a "pre-emptive" strike against state personal injury suits by inserting a pre-emption provision in a new rule governing seat belt safety, according to consumer and trail lawyer groups. The final rule is known as the "designated seating position" rule. It revises the definition of "designated seating position" to determine the number of seat belts that are required in a particular vehicle, and it eliminates the exclusion of auxiliary seats from the definition so that all seating locations intended to be used while a vehicle is in motion would provide the appropriate levels of crash protection.

Car Crash Risk Rises on Election Day
Could voting for president be hazardous to your health? An analysis of Election Day traffic deaths dating back to Jimmy Carter's 1976 win suggests just as much. The study found that on average, 24 more people died in car crashes during voting hours on presidential election days than on any other October or November Thursdays. That amounts to an 18 percent increased risk of death and an additional 800 people suffering disabling injuries.

Bill Would Ban Teen Drivers from Cell Phone Use
The state's licensed junior drivers would not be able to sue their cell phones while driving under terms of a bill sponsored by the House Transportation Committee. The bill, in an effort to reduce accidents involving junior licenses, would add 15 hours to the 50 hours of practical driving experience already required, restrict the number of passengers and make not wearing a seat belt a primary offense for drivers aged 16 and 17.

Police Launch Drive Against Aggressive Driving
Police in Berks County want to take the aggression out of drivers who run red lights and ignore school crossing guards. The statewide initiative to crack down on aggressive driving will continue through September 21, with state-funded enforcement activities planned.

16 People Die in Crashes Over Labor Day Break
Sixteen people, including two operators of all-terrain vehicles, were killed in crashes investigated by state police during the Labor Day holiday driving period. 412 people were injured in 789 crashes troopers investigated between 6 p.m. Friday and midnight Monday. Eleven of those killed were not wearing seat belts and four of the fatal crashes were alcohol-related.

$2 Million Awarded in DUI Death
A Dauphin County jury awarded more than $2.2 million to the estate of a man who was struck and killed by a drunken driver moments after she left a now-defunct downtown club. The woman, who had consumed more than eight drinks in less than three hours, was also sentenced to 3 to 6 years in prison.

As More Cycles Hit Road, More Riders Get Hurt
With record highs for gas prices, motorcycle ridership is growing at a brisk pace. However, new riders may not be taking safety precautions. Since 2003, the year Pennsylvania repealed helmet requirements for most riders, the number of registered motorcycles in the state has jumped 36 percent, from 265,054 to 360,287 in 2007. Statewide, crashes have gone up slightly less, with a 34 percent increase. But fatalities rose by 44 percent, from 156 to 225.

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