Highway Safety Attorney Blog

In addition to my work as a Kansas City Personal Injury Attorney, I am leading a coalition of citizens concerned about the safety of our roadways. The name of our organization is Highway Safety Midwest. We hope that we are making a difference by supporting safety legislation and educating the general public about roadway safety. Following are the factors I see most often that create serious injury and wrongful death on the roadways during the Thanksgiving through New Years’ holidays.

Traffic Volume. The deadliest highways are the interstates with the most volume of traffic. During the holidays, not only do we see spikes in passenger car volume, but also in truck volume. When more trucks are on the road the potential for collisions is much greater. Please be especially careful when sharing the road with a truck. Trucks have significant blind spots and may change lanes without recognition of passenger car traffic.

Aggressive Driving. Studies show that drivers are more aggressive as traffic becomes congested. Drivers make sudden lane changes, run red lights, and cut off other drivers. All of this leads to collisions. In many parts of the country, bad weather also heightens the risk of harm as drivers do not realize it takes much longer to stop on wet or icy roads. Slow down, be courteous, and be “fashionably late”.

Impaired Driving. It is not too surprising that the holiday season brings more people to the wheel who have been drinking. Even one drink can impair reaction time and that can be of significance when driving at night or on wet roads. From a safety standpoint, a bigger problem exists on rural roads and 2 lane highways where there is no room for error. Always designate a driver who is not consuming alcohol.

Distracted Driving. This is a major concern as people text, email, browse, and navigate using portable handheld cell phones and other devices. Safety experts believe that many forms of distracted driving are worse than drunk driving because people are taking their eyes off the road for an extended period of time while they read or manipulate their phones. Again, distracted driving presents a serious risk of harm, especially when the vehicle is traveling at highway speeds with increased traffic congestion. Please stay off your cell until you can pullover and stop and remember to use your hazard lights if you pull over on the shoulder.

Night Driving. As the daylight hours lessen, it becomes more difficult to drive. Statistics reveal that over 11,000,000 Americans are driving with un-corrected vision. This number has probably escalated because of the poor economy. Get your eyes checked and ask an optometrist what you can do to correct your night vision.

As an attorney who concentrates in representing victims of motor vehicle accidents, I have seen first-hand the devastation caused by many types of driver negligence. Because highway accidents usually involve serious injury, legal representation is necessary to recover medical expenses, lost income, and other personal loss. I offer consultations at no charge across Missouri with consultation offices in Kansas City, Independence, Columbia, Springfield, and St. Louis. After consultation, I conduct investigations in order to provide proper legal evaluations based on the facts and special circumstances.

Every day hundreds, or maybe thousands, of cars and big trucks speed past my ndependence, Missouri office on I-70. That, coupled with the fact that people are driving more aggressively, has made I-70 a highly patrolled interstate. The result has been a reduction in the amount of accidents, reducing injuries and saving lives.

Part of the success is due to the fact that local law enforcement in Independence, Missouri is using a specially equipped unmarked police car that is targeting aggressive drivers. Not only are police officers checking speed, but also pulling over drivers who are tailgating other vehicles. Highway crashes along this part of I-70 in Independence have declined 22% since the extra, more innovative highway law enforcement began in 2008.

Local police and highway patrol across the nation are turning to stealth tactics to nab dangerous and aggressive drivers. Bigger departments are now using semi-truck decoys with an officer on board who can radio ahead to patrol cars to make the stop. I have even heard of undercover officers using beat-up vehicles that appear to be stalled on the shoulder.

As an accident attorney with a primary office in Independence, I am glad that attention is being given to I-70. However, car drivers are not the only problem. Truck traffic volumes on I-70 are high and truck drivers tend to drive more aggressively when the traffic around them is trying to pass. Nationally, there is a push to put an emphasis on enforcement of trucking laws. A revised governmental report reveals that more than 28,000 trucking firms are operating over 200,000 trucks in violation of federal law. Obviously, just as with the private motorist, innovative enforcement techniques will likely make a big difference in keeping accident injuries and wrongful death to a minimum.

Missouri has made very good strides in reducing roadway fatalities. I am hoping in January we can report that overall traffic deaths will be down again. Not only does Missouri highway law enforcement deserve credit, but also MoDOT officials who keep making improvements to the highway system. If you have input of any highway safety issue, please e-mail me at dhorn@hornlaw.com.

It probably comes as no surprise that a big problem has developed with distracted drivers, primarily drivers who are taking their eyes off the road to text message on a cell phone. This driving distraction, coupled with the fact that texting is very popular among teen drivers, has raised a very serious highway safety concern. In fact, many safety experts and analysts consider texting while driving to be more dangerous than drunk driving.

As an attorney who concentrates in representing victims of distracted driving, I have seen first-hand the devastation caused when a driver is distracted, particularly where a driver is attempting to multi-task with a hand-held electronic devise. Because these accidents usually involve serious injury and/or fatalities, legal representation is necessary to recover medical expenses, lost income, and other personal loss.

I am also advocating for distracted driving laws that will save lives and benefit the public at large. In this regard, I participated in the Distracted Driving Summit in Washington, D.C. earlier this month. The Summit brought together experts from around the country to find solutions to distracted driving. Following the Summit, it is clear to me that the solutions to distracted driving will be multi-dimensional involving legal, technological, and public awareness/education efforts. I hope to be contributing to the legal and public awareness solutions, especially as Missouri lawmakers consider new approaches to curbing distracted driving.

If you know of a distracted driving incident involving serious injury or loss of life, I am accepting referrals. In this regard, I offer consultations at no charge across Missouri with consultation offices in Kansas City, Independence, Columbia, Springfield, and St. Louis. After consultation, I conduct investigations in order to provide proper legal evaluations based on the facts and special circumstances.

United States Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is convening a national summit to study texting while driving and other multi-tasking behaviors that are causing car, truck, and mass transit accidents across the country. Douglas Horn, an attorney with experience in a variety of highway safety issues was invited to attend the Washington D.C. meeting and help bring forth solutions to help curb all forms of distracted driving.

The summit will focus on legislation, regulation, enforcement, and public education. Horn believes he can make an impact in advancing highway safety in the areas of comprehensive distracted driving legislation and public awareness and education.

As a trial attorney who concentrates in representing victims of car, truck, motorcycle, and train
accidents, Horn has substantial experience with distracted driving and crash investigations. His work in injury law has led him to safety advocacy. He is a frequent contributor to media covering highway safety issues.

Posted By: Nina Perry

Distracted driving, including cases where cars collide because one driver’s attention was diverted from the road because they were attempting to electronic message on their cell phone, is becoming a major problem. In response, Missouri has joined the ever-growing list of states that have enacted laws prohibiting texting while driving in an effort to curb accidents, personal injury, and death.

Missouri’s new texting ban law, effective August 28, 2009, is limited and only prohibits those drivers 21 or younger from electronic messaging. Most who are advocating highway safety, applaud the law as a step in the right direction. However, there has been plenty of opposition to texting and/or cell phone bans. Among other things, people opposed to the law point out that texting ban laws are ineffective because it is a law that is difficult for police and highway patrolmen to enforce. They argue that any sort of texting ban will not have its intended effect of reducing motor vehicle accidents.

As an injury and accident lawyer primarily practicing in Missouri, I have handled hundreds of cases involving distracted drivers. While I agree that the new law has limitations, the law will help to improve highway safety if it is coupled with a public awareness campaign to educate the motorists about the dangers of texting while driving. We have already made good strides in alerting the public to the dangers of texting or messaging while driving, although I was somewhat surprised to learn that surveys show that while most people think distracted driving is dangerous, they continue to do it without regard to the safety of themselves and other motorists.

Over the last several months I have been on a number of drive-time radio programs in Kansas City, St. Louis, and across Missouri helping to draw awareness to the risks and hazards of distracted driving in general and cell phone use in particular. I will also be working to advance some legislative alternatives as Missouri lawmakers are probably going to consider a new and improved distracted driving law. I am hopeful that my efforts will lend a little toward improved highway safety.

Our law firm has a concentration in handling commercial truck accident cases in Missouri and Kansas and a recent federal study confirms our past experience in representing injury and fatality victims. According to data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which regulates commercial trucks in the U.S., over 200,000 trucks are violating safety regulations.

It is well-known that safety violations are a significant factor in many highway car, truck, and
motorcycle accidents in Missouri and across the Midwest. While every truck accident case has special concerns, many cases we handle reveal a common thread of safety violations and safety oversights. Beyond the equipment violations related to defective tires, brakes, and steering, truck drivers are not being selected and trained properly to minimize collisions and other roadway hazards. Other concerns relate to truck drivers who are either tired or sick trying to meet the demands of their work.

As you might expect, trucking firms are taking opposition with this data. The fact remains truck
equipment and driver safety will continue to receive notable scrutiny whenever a major accident is responsible for multiple injury victims and families who are suffering through the loss of a loved one. As injury lawyers, Horn Law is continuing to aggressively litigate all truck accident cases. In the process, we can not only maximize recovery for our clients, but we also can advance and motivate safety as trucking companies bear the cost of large settlements and verdicts.

In nearly 20 years of law practice I have concentrated in car, truck, and motorcycle accident claims. Most of these cases have involved a disabling injury, some very serious. While my primary work and responsibilities are directly related to the injury claims of my individual clients and their families, my experience has led me to become very involved in issues of highway safety.

In the last several years, I have seen several trends that relate to highway safety. First, in the face of declining profits and a challenging economy, trucking firms and other commercial carriers are cutting corners when it comes to safety. In particular, trucking firms are looking to cut costs that relate to safety:

1. Driver selection, training, hours of service;
2. Truck maintenance, repairs, tire replacement, defective equipment.

When a truck driver is tired, impaired, speeding to make a delivery deadline, or the truck has defective equipment, the risk of a deadly collision or rollover is substantially increased. I would like to think that when we uncover areas of safety violations in crash litigation, that the trucking firm and their individual drivers would use the case as an incentive to improve their safety.

Another trend concerns distracted driving. Over the years I have handled over 1500 motor vehicle
collisions and, to my best estimation, about 75% of those were caused by an inattentive or distracted drivers. While we have made marked overall improvement in highway safety, especially in Missouri, the problem of distracted driving is increasing at an astonishing rate. It is obvious to most that cell phones are the reason for the rise in distracted driving. Talking, texting, and all forms of electronic communications and messaging are causing drivers to turn their attention from the road.

In my opinion it is going to take more than just laws against cell phone use to improve highway safety. Since July, I have been on drive-time talk radio talking about the issue of “Driving While Texting” (DWT). I have been reaching out to the media because I believe a grass roots public awareness campaign needs to be set in motion with regard to DWT.

Additionally, I plan on meeting with Missouri lawmakers to discuss model legislation that would deal with all forms of distracted driving. If you have a comment that would help, I would appreciate hearing from you.

Over the past 20 years our firm has handled hundreds of motor vehicle accident cases, involving car, truck, and motorcycle accidents. A majority of these cases have occurred on interstates, state highways, and rural roads in the counties surrounding Kansas City and St. Louis. As a result of our experience, we have encountered a number of different issues that relate to the following highway safety concerns, including,

*Distracted Driving,
*Aggressive or Reckless Driving, or
*Drunk or Drug-Impaired Driving

My primary office is near the I-70 and I-470 interchange in eastern Jackson County, Missouri. It seems like every week there is a major car or truck accident near this interchange that requires emergency first responders and lane closures. Statistics collaborate my own observations, and show that collisions are on the rise near major interchanges and on rural roads in Missouri and Kansas.

Distracted driving is responsible for a rising number of motor vehicle accidents. While inattentive drivers have always been a problem, the introduction of the “smart phone” together with the increased volume of traffic near major highway interchanges, has created a whole new universe of risk.

Missouri just enacted a new law that bans texting for those 21 and younger. While many consider this a step in the right direction, in my opinion the lawmakers in Missouri will have to enact more comprehensive electronic communications legislation in order to make our roadways safe. But new laws are only a small part of a solution. Education and raising public awareness are key elements of curbing highway deaths and life-changing injuries.

As an accident lawyer, I have first-hand experience with the horrible aftermath of a negligent driver who was trying to use a hand-held electronic device. This is why I am committed to trying to raise the public awareness of this dangerous activity.

Douglas R. Horn, Lead Attorney, Horn Law