Do automatic emergency braking systems actually prevent car accidents? In other words, if you purchase a new vehicle with an automatic emergency braking system, can you simply stop worrying about paying attention to the car that is in front of you on the freeway or in your neighborhood? According to a recent news release from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, not all self-braking cars are made in the same way, and they do not all work at the same levels as one another. In other words, not all automatic braking systems have the same rates of success, and thereby the same accident-prevention abilities. The news release indicates how “new test results from AAA reveal that automatic braking systems—the safety technology that will soon be standard equipment on 99 percent of vehicles—vary widely in design and performance.”

What else should drivers in San Diego know about the recent AAA test and the future of automatic braking systems?

What Drivers Think Versus What Automatic Braking Systems Actually Do

As the news release emphasizes, all new automatic braking systems have the ability to prevent a traffic collision from happening regardless of speed, and thus AAA “urges consumers to fully understand system limitations before getting behind the wheel.” Yet consumer expectations might end up being the biggest problem of all when it comes to automatic brakes, and consumers’ failure to engage the brakes because they own a car with this safety technology could actually result in more accidents. In short, consumers think automatic emergency braking systems will do all the work, but they are mistaken.

As John Nielsen, the AAA managing director of Automotive Engineering and Repair, “AAA found that two-thirds of Americans familiar with the technology believe that automatic emergency braking systems are designed to avoid crashes without driver intervention.” However, as Nielsen clarifies, “the reality is that today’s systems vary greatly in performance, and many are not designed to stop a moving car.”

Some of these systems are designed so that the vehicle will be able to slow the car down or bring it to a complete stop in order to avoid a rear-end collision, while others are simply designed to reduce speed in order to make the crash—when it happens—less severe.

Automatic Braking Can Help to Prevent Crashes

Despite the fact that consumers do not really understand what automatic emergency braking systems do, if automobile drivers are taught how to handle these systems, they can indeed work to prevent crashes. In testing the capacities of various automatic brakes, AAA researchers came to some of the following conclusions:

• Automatic emergency braking systems that are designed to prevent crashes could reduce the speed of a car—without driver intervention—by more than double that of automatic emergency braking systems designed only to lessen crash severity;
• Automatic emergency braking systems designed for crash-prevention do in fact prevent accidents successfully about 60%t of the time; and
• Even when pushed beyond proposed limits, automatic emergency braking systems designed for crash-prevention could reduce the car’s speed by about 74% (resulting in accident avoidance in around 40% of cases), while systems designed only to lessen crash impact reduced speed only by about 9%.

If you were involved in a car accident in Southern California, you may be able to file a claim for compensation. You should discuss your case with an experienced San Diego auto accident lawyer today. Contact the Walton Law Firm to learn more about how we can help.

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Whether you are feeling tired on your drive home from work or are fatigued from having been on the highway for hours, drowsy driving can lead to serious and fatal car accidents. Many residents of San Diego get behind the wheel of an automobile when they are too sleepy to concentrate properly, and this practice can be hazardous to other drivers and passengers on the roads, as well as to cyclists and pedestrians.

According to a press release from the National Sleep Foundation, about 96% of Americans surveyed believe that “it is unacceptable for someone to drive when they are so sleepy they have trouble keeping their eyes open,” but more of us drive in such a state than you might think. Around 33% of those surveyed admitted to having driven when they were extremely fatigued at least once in the last 30 days. What else should you know about drowsy driving and how to prevent it?

Learning More About Sleep Safety

One of the keys to preventing drowsy driving, the press release emphasizes, is educating more drivers in the U.S. about “sleep safety.” While most of us likely have not heard that term used before, it is a term that underscores the importance of getting enough sleep before hitting the road. As David Cloud, the CEO of the National Sleep Foundation explains, “people know that they shouldn’t text or drink when they drive, and that’s great.”

Yet, as Cloud went on to articulate, “many don’t realize that driving while drowsy is also dangerous.” If you are having trouble keeping your eyes open while you are driving, you can fall asleep “for just a few seconds and not realize it,” Cloud highlights. And if you do fall asleep for even a few seconds while you are traveling at highway speeds, you could travel hundreds of yards without having any eyes on the road. As a fact sheet from Distraction.gov explains, traveling at a speed of 55 miles per hour (a speed that is below the average speeds on the I-10, for reference) for just five seconds means that you have covered the length of an entire football field.

What does sleepiness do to our bodies? The press release notes that extreme fatigue to the point of falling asleep can result in some of the following:

• Slower reaction times behind the wheel;
• Impaired vision;
• Judgment lapses; and
• Information processing delays.

If you are awake for 20 hours or more without sleeping, studies suggest that you are impaired in a manner that is equivalent to a driver with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08%, which is the legal limit in California.

Preventing Fatigued Driving Accidents

The press release emphasizes that drivers should always do the following before getting behind the wheel:

• Get at least seven to nine hours of sleep before you drive;
• Always drive with another passenger on long car trips;
• Take a break from driving every two hours or 100 miles;
• Pull over and take a nap if you feel tired;
• Do not drink alcohol or take any medications that list drowsiness as a side effect; and
• Consume at least two cups of coffee, or the equivalent in caffeine.

If you or someone you love sustained injuries in a car accident caused by a drowsy driver, a dedicated car accident attorney in San Diego can discuss your options with you. Contact the Walton Law Firm today to learn more about filing a claim.

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Are we going to see more self-driving cars on California’s roads in the upcoming weeks and months? According to a recent article in The Washington Post, auto accident safety experts and representatives from the automotive industry expressed serious concerns about the likely link between self-driving vehicles and serious car accidents. Earlier this month the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) asked a number of different groups to provide input while it develops guidance for automated vehicles, but the federal agency quickly learned that many leaders in the field simply do not approve of the technology—and allowing it out on the roads—as it currently stands.

Self-Driving Vehicle Owners Will Need Time to Adjust What is one of the primary reasons that Californians are not yet ready to own self-driving vehicles on a large scale? According to a representative from the National Safety Council (NSC), many of the features of these automated vehicles have been named and designed for marketing purposes. In practical terms, that means that it will likely be difficult for owners—both young and old—to understand how to properly engage the technology and to avoid a severe traffic collision.

If used properly, some advocates for self-driving cars argue that they could go a long way in preventing deadly car accidents. However, until researchers and other safety advocates have more time to assess the needs of consumers, such automated technology could do more harm than good. Why do we need to address the problems of self-driving cars immediately? In short, the NHTSA wants to release new guidance in just a few months in response to requests to purchase the vehicles. Yet if this guidance comes out in the summer, it will be available much more quickly than some advocates believe regulations should be constructed. The government should take more time, some commentators argue, to think about what such guidance should really contain.

But as the NHTSA administrator Mark R. Rosekind explains, there is a risk if the government does not release guidance on the sooner side. As Rosekind articulates, there is currently a “huge gap between the technologies themselves and the kind of thinking that should be accompanying their rollout.” In other words, if we want self-driving vehicles to be safe, we need to have accessible guidance in place for potential owners.

California Roads Unsafe for Automated Technology Disputes over self-driving cars are coming at the same time as an article in the Times of San Diego reporting that Southern California’s roads are in such poor condition that they are “confusing” semi-autonomous vehicles. For instance, certain roads in San Diego do not have clear lane markings, and signage is uneven. For a self-driving car, these issues could lead to a serious traffic collision.

Can roads really be repaired quickly enough to make them safe for self-driving vehicles (if, in fact, poor road conditions are actually a problem)? According to the article, around 65% of roads in the United States are currently in “poor condition.” Such a figure indicates that a majority of our roads are not safe for self-driving vehicles.

Do you have questions about accidents involving self-driving cars? Were you recently injured in an auto accident? An aggressive San Diego car accident lawyer can discuss your options with you. Contact the Walton Law Firm for more information about filing a claim for compensation.

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What can you do to help prevent a rear-end car accident? According to a recent report from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), cars that are equipped with front crash prevention technology are “much less likely to rear-end other vehicles.” Automobiles with automatic braking systems drastically lower the number of rear-end accidents that occur. The IIHS most recently indicated that this technology actually reduces rear-end crashes by about 40% on average. While other crash-prevention technologies exist and do have an impact on the rate of traffic crashes (for instance, forward collision warning systems are reported to reduce accidents by 2%), auto-brake systems appear to be the most effective at car accident prevention.

Automatic Braking Systems Shown to Reduce Accidents in California When we talk about a 40% decline in rear-end auto accidents, what do the actual numbers look like? According to the IIHS report, if all automobiles had automatic braking systems installed, we would be seeing around 700,000 fewer rear-end collisions each year, including thousands of accidents that result in serious personal injuries. David Zuby, the IIHS chief research officer, emphasized how “the success of front crash prevention represents a big step toward safer roads.”

He went on to explain that, “as this technology becomes more widespread, we can expect to see noticeably fewer rear-end crashes.” With fewer rear-end crashes comes fewer reports of whiplash injuries. Whiplash is an injury that frequently results from a rear-end collision, and it can result in lost days at work (in other words, lost wages) and extensive physical injury.

Front crash prevention technology does not currently come standard in all vehicles, but many automakers are moving in that direction. According to a recent article in Forbes Magazine, at least 10 major automakers have committed to making this technology standard in all new vehicles. Those 10 companies include Audi, BMW, Ford, General Motors, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo. Anthony Foxx, U.S. Transportation Secretary, underscored the significance of this commitment to accident-prevention technology. As Foxx explained, “if technologies such as automatic emergency braking are only available as options or on the most expensive models, too few Americans will see the benefits of this new era [of vehicle safety.”

Car Accident Statistics in California Why do we need auto-braking technology to become standard in all vehicles? If we take a look at a car accident safety report issued by the California Office of Traffic Safety, we can have a better sense of the strong need to limit the number of auto accidents and injuries that occur in our state. The report cites some of the following statistics:

• Traffic fatalities increased in California by 1.5% in 2012.
• 
  Alcohol-impaired driving accounts for just under 30% of all accident fatalities in the state, and drivers between the ages of 21-24 were at highest risk for involvement in an alcohol-related crash.
• 
  Teen driver fatalities (or drivers under the age of 20) have shown a slight decrease, but that still means that hundreds of young drivers sustain fatal injuries in car accidents every year.
• 
  
  If you or a loved one recently sustained injuries in a traffic collision, you should discuss your case with an experienced San Diego car accident attorney as soon as possible. Contact the Walton Law Firm today to learn more about how we can assist you.
  
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If you have defective tires, are you at risk of sustaining serious injuries in a car accident? According to a recent article in CBS News, a majority of defective tires simply are not being taken off the road. Drivers with defective tires continue to take their vehicles onto neighborhood roads and city highways, putting themselves and others at substantial risk of harm.

How do we know that most of these dangerous automobile products are remaining on the roads? A federal accident investigations board within the National Transportation Safety Bureau (NTSB) looked into the removal rate for recalled tires and determined that “only about 1 in 5 defective tires is being removed from the road through the safety recall process.” Given that abysmal number, the NTSB concluded that the “recall system is broken.”

Broken Recall System Failing to Alert Consumers

How is the recall system broken? According to the NTSB, manufacturers simply are not able to contact most defective tire owners. As such, those owners are not taking steps to prevent the continued use of those hazardous products. The NTSB determined that “as many as 80% of recalled tires do not get fixed, leaving danger rolling literally down American roads.” In some cases, car owners will replace their tires for other reasons, including flat tires or normal wear and tear (as many as about one quarter of drivers with defective tires). However, it looks as though part of the problem is one of registration.

Currently, tire dealers do not have to register sold tires with the tire manufacturer. Since this is not a requirement, most tire shops do not provide tire manufacturers with information about which consumers have purchased their products. Without this information, manufacturers are not able to contact many vehicle owners who could be driving around with dangerous tires on their cars. Independent tire dealers (meaning those that are not strictly owned or controlled by tire manufacturers) sell a large majority of consumer tires. CBS News indicated that these independent dealers that are not currently required to provide information about consumers sell more than 90% of consumer tires.

Tire Defects are Not Always Visible

Some people might suggest that consumers can examine their tires themselves to ensure that they do not contain hazards. However, it is important to keep in mind that many tire defects simply are not readily visible. For example, the article cited a car accident involving a 15-passenger van. When the driver felt the vehicle vibrating, he pulled over to check the tires but did not see a problem. Assuming that, because he could not see an issue with the tires, the vehicle was safe to drive, the van got back on the road. However, one of the tires failed, “causing the van with nine passengers to careen off the road and roll over.” The accident resulted in two fatalities and eight passengers with serious injuries. The defect, as it turned out, was on the inside of the tire.

What can consumers do? You can register your tires yourself with the manufacturer. By doing so, the manufacturer will be able to contact you as soon as there is a recall that could affect you. Between 2009 and 2013, 55 tire recall campaigns occurred that resulted in the recall of about 3.2 million tires. Every year, tire-related accidents lead to about 500 fatalities and 19,000 personal injuries.

If you or someone you love suffered an injury in a car accident that resulted from a product defect, you should discuss your case with an experienced San Diego product liability lawyer as soon as possible. Contact the Walton Law Firm to learn more about how we can help.

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Deadly car accident rates are climbing across the country, according to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times. California is among the states with the highest fatality rates. Why are so many more fatal traffic collisions occurring? According to the article, the growing economy may be to blame.

Economic Factors Result in More Traffic Collisions

Now that the recession has ended, more Americans are working again. Even more of us can afford to buy cars. Gas prices have declined, making it more affordable for us to make daily commutes. What all of these factors add up to, however, is more vehicles on the road at any given time. Indeed, experts emphasize that “deadly automobile crashes have surged dramatically in the first half of 2015 as Americans hit the roads in record numbers, in part due to a stronger economy and more affordable fuel.” Gas prices are about $1 cheaper than this same time last year, meaning more families can afford to fuel up.

According to Ken Kolosh, the manager of statistics at the National Safety Council (NSC), “we’re not even into the more dangerous parts of the year” for car accidents. Yet the numbers are already troubling. For instance, traffic-related fatalities have climbed by 14% from the same period a year ago and nearly 33,000 people have died. As Kolosh explained, if this rate of fatal crashes continues, the U.S. could see more than 40,000 traffic-related deaths in 2015—a number that we have not seen in nearly a decade.

The rise in auto accidents comes as a surprise to many, given the trend toward fewer serious auto accidents over the last ten years. “Cars have become safer and traffic laws stricter.” Generally speaking, those two factors have helped to limit the number of deadly collisions. However, the sheer number of drivers on the roads in the first part of 2015 has resulted in more crashes. The Federal Highway Administration (FHA) estimates that Americans drove about 1.54 trillion miles already this year—an all-time record.

When so many more miles are being traveled, there is a higher risk of encountering a negligent driver, such as a:

• Drunk driver
• Distracted driver
• Drowsy driver

California Hit Hardest by Rise in Auto Fatalities

Why are such a large number of these crashes happening in California? Statistics show that accidents in our state have climbed by 20% from the same period in 2014, meaning that 1,566 people have suffered fatal injuries in California in 2015 alone. Texas was the only state in the country with more deadly crashes. Experts indicate that “the increase in miles driven doesn’t totally explain the increase in crashes in California.”

While it is still too early for experts to speculate on specific reasons for the rise in accident deaths California, some commentators suspect that distracted driving may be a significant factor. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) continues to analyze data, hoping to pinpoint a reason for the upward trend in auto fatalities.

In the meantime, if you or someone you love suffered a serious injury in an auto accident, you should get in touch with an experienced San Diego car accident attorney as soon as possible to learn more about filing a claim for compensation. Contact the Walton Law Firm today to learn more about how we can assist with your case.

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