San Diego Personal Injury Attorney Blog

February 17, 2016 By Deon

Checklist for Senior Citizen Drivers

Driving allows seniors to feel independent and maintain a flexible schedule. However, some seniors and their loved ones may have concerns about safety. If you or someone you love is a senior driver, there are a number of important precautions you can take to avoid car accidents, including maintaining your health and planning wisely.

Regular Checkups – For Seniors and Their Cars
Good vision and hearing are essential to staying safe on the road. As we age, our vision and hearing may deteriorate, especially if we have certain health conditions, such as glaucoma or tinnitus. Senior drivers should get essential health checks regularly. These include general health checkups, eye tests and hearing tests.

No one enjoys mechanical problems, but car troubles can be especially vexing for seniors. If brakes or power steering fail, we might not be able to react as quickly as we could when you were younger. Regular oil changes and preventive maintenance can help avoid a car accident, roadside breakdown or a sudden mechanical failure.

Inform Others of Plans
Before leaving on an errand, it’s a good idea for seniors to tell someone their plans, including where they plan to go and when they will likely return. Sending a text message is a good way to share plans so that loved ones won’t forget your schedule.

Take Along Important Items
Even on a short trip to the grocery store, seniors should bring along some essential items, including a phone, emergency medications and identifying information. If you need help getting to a destination, a GPS unit mounted on your dashboard can help you get there. This helps you avoid the need to fumble with maps while you’re on the road. The car should also be stocked with emergency tools, including jumper cables.

Travel Wisely
A few simple guidelines can help make a driving trip a smoother experience. Seniors should avoid driving in the dark or during inclement weather. These conditions can significantly impair the driver’s ability to see and may require the driver to make snap decisions to avoid car accidents. Timing during a clear day is important as well; completing errands in the morning allows seniors to avoid heavy crowds on the roads.

Avoid Distractions
Distracted driving is dangerous, especially if you need to put in a little extra effort to focus on the road. Avoid tasks that can hamper your concentration, including talking on the phone, eating, fiddling with the radio and changing the destination on your GPS. All drivers should do these things before taking to the road to avoid car accidents.

February 7, 2016 By Deon

A Good Passenger Can Help Avoid Car Accidents

When an experienced driver is suddenly a passenger in a car, it’s easy for them to forget the challenges of safe driving and leave all the cares to the driver. But did you know that, as a passenger, you can help your driver avoid car accidents and safely deliver you both to your destination? Here’s how.

1. Create a calm atmosphere.
Drivers need to focus on road conditions, and you can help by maintaining a calm presence. Loud conversations or arguments can distract your driver.

2. Wear your seatbelt.
California requires you to wear a seat belt unless you have a letter from a doctor that excuses you from complying with the law. Wearing a seat belt can save your life in car accidents, and failing to wear one can result in a fine if you are at least 16 years old.

3. Limit your comments.
As a passenger, you may offer helpful advice occasionally, but criticism can cause a dangerous distraction. Seeing a roadway hazard that the driver has not noted may provide a reason to alert them, but save any criticisms of a minor mistake until later.

4. Observe cell phone etiquette.
Even though you may overhear personal conversations in public, you know that they make you uncomfortable. Space inside an automobile is much too small for you to comfortably conduct a private conversation, and your driver and fellow passengers prefer not to hear it.

5. Take charge of texting.
You can help your driver maintain focus on the road and obey the law by offering to reply to important text messages. Ask your driver to let you take charge of monitoring incoming text so that nothing creates a distraction.

6. Assume co-pilot duties.
Your risk as a passenger is the same as the driver’s, and both of you can take steps to ensure your safety. Offer to adjust the sound system or the air conditioner and help the driver avoid looking at the controls, but make changes only when necessary. You can help by searching for something in the console or on the floor when the driver needs it. A few seconds of inattention to the road ahead can result in a rear end collision.

January 4, 2016 By Deon

Everyone’s New Year’s Resolution Should Be to Stay Off the Phone While Driving!

Whether it’s caused by eating, applying makeup, reading directions, or even just talking to friends, distracted driving is not a new problem. In fact, drivers in the 1930s were warned against the perils of becoming distracted by a brand new invention, the radio! However, the widespread use of cell phones in recent years has added a dangerously tempting diversion that is now one of the leading causes of injury or death in a car crash.

According to www.distraction.gov, the website launched by the U.S. Department of Transportation to educate drivers on the dangers of texting while driving, 3,154 people were killed as a result of distracted driving in 2013. While the number of fatalities represents a decrease of 6.7 percent from the previous year, the number of injuries actually increased to 424,000 people. Young drivers in their teens and twenties account for over 30 percent of that total.

Anytime you send a text, you are using both your eyes and your hands. When driving, this “visual-manual” operation makes you three times more likely to be involved in a car accident. Even answering your phone or attempting to make a call while driving can cause an accident in the split second it takes to return your attention to the road.

If personal safety isn’t enough motivation to put away the phone while you drive, consider that all but five states have strict laws on the books that forbid texting while driving. You can get a ticket, owe hefty fines, or even lose your license if caught. In March of 2015, a San Diego woman was sentenced to prison for six years for causing a deadly accident while she was texting and driving.

No matter how often you hear the grim statistics or see news stories about the consequences of distracted driving, you never really think it’s going to happen to you. That’s why so many people continue to be injured, sometimes fatally, as a result of texting or using the phone while driving. These injuries and deaths can be easily prevented with one simple New Year’s resolution – stay off the phone while driving!

December 15, 2015 By Deon

When Should a Senior Citizen Stop Driving?

A driver’s license represents a sense of personal freedom and independence, and for many young people, it’s a rite of passage. However, older adults often have difficulty knowing when it’s time to voluntarily give up their driving privileges. Losing control of a vehicle due to confusion or panic can result in a catastrophic car accident, so it’s important to address any perceived driving problems quickly. While there are no hard and fast rules relating to seniors and driving, here are some tips to consider when talking to an older adult about driving, safety and possibly giving up the keys.

Plan for the Discussion in Advance

Elderly people are constantly facing challenges that result in the loss of freedom, so they tend to be very inflexible when it comes to driving. Since it’s often taken for granted, people usually fail to recognize just how much of a factor driving plays in someone’s overall quality of life. Any discussion with a senior about driving should be planned well in advance. The process will likely include several discussions, so it’s important to maintain reasonable expectations. Try and arrange to talk during a quiet time of day, and remember that the decision is ultimately up to the person who will be relinquishing the keys.

Developing a Health Assessment

Older drivers are usually very safe, but there can be physical changes that affect driving skills as we age. When muscles weaken and joints stiffen, it can become difficult to back up, check the blind spot or brake properly. Eyesight and hearing may also be affected. Older adults often need better lighting to see at night and are more unsettled by glare. Peripheral vision narrows as we age, and vision problems from eye disease can impact driving skills. Always try and confirm that an older driver is in good health, and check to see if any prescribed medication they are taking will alter their driving skills.

Evaluating Driving Skills

Prior to any driving-related discussions, it’s important to ride with an elderly driver to quietly assess their skill level. Look for the following signs that might indicate there is some sort of impairment:

* Frequently almost having car accidents
* Getting lost on familiar roads
* A growing number of dents and scrapes on the vehicle, tire rims and garage doors
* Responding slowly to rapidly developing situations
* Difficulty seeing traffic signs and pavement markings
* Difficulty turning around when backing up
* An unusual number of tickets or warnings

Finding Other Forms of Transportation

Helping an older person transition from driving to the use of alternate forms of transportation can relieve a lot of the stress and anxiety they may be feeling. Taxi services, carpools, ridesharing services and buses can all offer viable transportation options. Civic groups and religious organizations often have volunteers willing to provide free rides. Once an elderly person realizes that they can continue to live a full life without driving, the transition will be much easier.

December 8, 2015 By Deon

Are the Gadgets in Our Vehicles Causing Car Accidents?

Smart technology – it’s all around you. If you own a smartphone, you use smart technology every day. People now set appointments, check their email and track their fitness progress on smartwatches. For years, drivers have kept up with traffic reports and navigated easily with the help of GPS in their cars. Manufacturers have now started to implement wireless Internet-ready vehicles to keep people logged on wherever they go. With all the car accidents from texting while driving, what effect will new gadgets in our cars have as we stay connected on the go? If we do not use caution, more gadgets will cause more distracted driving and will result in more car accidents.

Smart Gadgets in Today’s Vehicles

Get inside just about any new car on the market today, and check out the dashboard. It looks like a visual computer display that belongs in “Star Trek.” Even Google has pushed for Android touch-screen monitors on the dash to keep drivers connected to their music, contacts and other information. Many of these gadgets, such as advanced GPS displays, help people on the road. In fact, of 220 million vehicles in the U.S., nearly 7 percent have GPS.
Do GPS devices and other gadgets cause driver distraction and accidents on the road? Though there are no firm numbers to show how often navigation systems cause car accidents, they do happen. For example, a driver in Germany obeyed his navigational device and crashed on the Autobahn. The U.K. estimates that 300,000 accidents have occurred because of navigational systems in cars. Automotive Fleet says that nearly 40 percent of accidents in the U.S. are caused by distracted driving. With new gadgets in our cars, how do we prevent distracted driving and still use them to our advantage?

Using Smart Technology the Right Way

If you see a touch-screen display, you automatically want to interact with it. If it’s on your dashboard, you should concentrate more on driving. In reality, having a smart gadget in your car, such as a touch-screen audio player, shouldn’t be any different than having a traditional electronic device. You’ll need to use good judgment and awareness when using any device in your car.
Fortunately for drivers, many of these new gadgets have voice-activated features, allowing you to change the station, dial home or check your email without taking your hands off the wheel. Smart gadgets can enhance our driving experience, but they need to be used responsibly.

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