Santa Monica Personal Injury Law Blog

Distracted driving is an increasing issue on California roadways. As technology has made life easier in many respects, it has also led to individuals devoting more and more time to handheld devices. As motorists avert their eyes from the road to check text messages or adjust an in-dash console, the risk for causing an accident goes up dramatically.

While the most obvious solution to this problem would seem to be simply putting the phone down, some have put forward alternative ideas for curbing distracted driving. One company, in fact, has introduced a rather unconventional solution: an app.

The Los Angeles Police Department has reported that eight people were injured and one killed when a vehicle struck a minivan, causing it to overturn. The fatal crash happened in North Hills shortly before midnight on April 17. According to the report, the accident occurred just after an SUV driver was fleeing from a previous collision on Sepulveda Boulevard. As the SUV was traveling westbound on Parthenia Street, it struck a minivan that was heading north on Haskell Avenue and carrying a large group of people. The force of the impact caused the minivan to roll over, ejecting many of its occupants, some of whom were children.

When paramedics arrived at the scene, there were a number of individuals who were severely injured as a result of being thrown from their vehicle. An ambulance took nine people to local hospitals for treatment, eight of whom were critically injured. One of the victims later died.

College sports fans in California may be interested in a case filed against the NCAA, the manufacturer of a helmet and three sports officials at Frostburg State University, including the head coach, the trainer and the running back coach. The wrongful death lawsuit was filed in 2013 by the parents of a Division III player at the university who died during practice in 2011.

According to court documents, the plaintiffs allege that the young man died after suffering a second brain injury before a previous concussion had completely healed. The plaintiffs allege that he died because of second-impact syndrome, which is brain swelling that happens when a person receives a second traumatic brain injury following an earlier one.

On March 17, several car manufacturers agreed that nearly all of their vehicles will have automatic emergency braking systems as of September 2022. California drivers may not be aware that, in September 2015, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced an agreement with 10 car makers to add this technology as a crash prevention measure.

In 2012, approximately 547,000 people were injured and 1,705 were killed in rear-end collisions. Of the recorded injuries and deaths, 87 percent could have been lessened or prevented if there were accident avoidance systems in the vehicles. This is because driver distraction or inattention was a contributing factor in these crashes, according to researchers.