Category: Car Accidents

California is one of the few states to enact safety measures to protect passengers traveling in limousines. After a limo fire killed five women in 2013, California regulators took action by requiring limo companies to install emergency exits and provide safety briefings to their passengers. Now, a deadly limo accident in New York is raising…

California parents of teenage children may be alarmed to learn that while drivers under age 21 account for roughly 10 percent of licensed drivers, they account for significantly more fatal alcohol-related accidents. Approximately 17 percent of alcohol-related accidents that result in a fatality are attributed to drivers in this age range. Teenage drivers are also…

If you’re like most motorcyclists, you’ve probably been told to take special care at intersections, because drivers often don’t notice motorcycles when they make turns. Another hazard is following or being followed by passenger vehicles, because drivers often don’t understand how quickly bikes can stop — or they themselves stop on a dime without any…

In our post last week, we began a discussion about safety features in automobiles. Specifically, the safety features we tend to take for granted (like seat belts and air bags) were once optional add-ons for which car buyers paid a premium. Through common-sense regulatory efforts, however, truly crucial safety features have become standard in all…

Some of the vehicle safety features that we now take for granted have not been around all that long. It is difficult to imagine driving a car without seat belts or air bags. But after each was invented, there was a period of time in which they were optional “luxury” items that customers had to…

In today’s post, we’re continuing a discussion about a recent announcement by Japanese auto parts manufacturer Takata. The company, which has provided air bags to most of the major automakers around the world, just announced that its safety recall will include 34 million vehicles in the United States, which is twice as many as originally…

In a post last week, we discussed how airbags work. This safety device relies on a rather complex process that we too often take for granted – until something goes wrong. Airbags that deploy mere fractions of a second too late could result in serious injury or even death during a collision. Throughout 2014 and…

One of the biggest news stories of 2014 was the General Motors recall scandal. A congressional inquiry and independent investigation revealed that certain GM employees had known about defective ignition switches for more than a decade, but never made substantive efforts to report that knowledge or correct the problem. So far, the vehicle defect has been…

We have previously written about the dangers of distracted driving, as well as the problem that too many drivers don’t seem to understand just how dangerous it is. It is often said that experience is the best teacher. But for something like distracted driving, the lesson learned from experience could be fatal. Therefore, the challenge…

One of our posts last week focused on the fact that April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Texting, cellphone conversations and other driving distractions are increasingly becoming a problem on roads in California and across the United States. This is, in part, because those who choose to engage in distracted driving vastly overestimate their ability…