|

According to a study by the Rand Corporation, drivers over the age of 65 are two-thirds less likely to be in a car accident than drivers between the ages of 18-25. Further, the oldest drivers are only 16% more likely to be in an automobile accident than drivers between the ages of 26-64, which was a much smaller difference than is commonly believed.

Though older drivers have slower reflexes and deteriorating skills that woudl certainly make them more likely to be in a car accident, they compensate by avoiding riskier driving conditions, and many stop driving when their skills and senses become too impaired. However, older drivers are much more likely to die in an automobile accident than younger drivers, because they are frailer.

|

Despite a string of fatal accidents at Westchester County’s Playland Park, including two on the “Mind Scrambler” in the last three years, a safety consultant has found that conditions at the amusement park have actually improved dramatically in that time. Jerry Aldrich was hired by County Executive Andy Spano to conduct an audit of the park after the June 29, 2007 death of 21 year old park employee Gabriela Garin on the “Mind Scrambler.”

Westchester County officials have contended throughout the summer that the amusement park is safe. Although Aldrich’s report did not directly address Ms. Garin’s death or the other fatalities, he suggested that County officials were correct in their contention that the accidents were beyond park managers’ control. Previous reports by the New York State Labor Department and the Westchester County Police faulted the Mind Scrambler ride operator for starting the ride even through he knew Ms. Garin was not properly seated, and Ms. Garin herself for taking a ride while on duty and not properly seating herself.

Continue reading ›

|

The fatal auto accident this past July involving a truck driver and a speeding motorist have brought on renewed calls for stronger traffic enforcement on the New York Tappan Zee Bridge. According to the police investigation, the driver of a 1995 Mitsubishi was driving recklessly and struck the rear of a tractor trailer driven by Ricardo Riveros. The impact of the accident caused the truck to swerve across several lanes of travel, break through 270 feet of concrete barrier before flipping over and exploding into flames on the other side of the bridge, killing Mr. Riveros. This tragic accident has resulted in calls for more traffic enforcement on the Westchester County and Rockland County sides of the bridge, as well as the installation of cameras which could track the rate of speeding drivers.

Continue reading ›

|

For the last six decades, insurance companies have enjoyed immunity from federal anti-trust investigation and prosecution. On February 15th of this year, Senator Leahy (D. Vermont) announced a bipartisan bill that would give the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission the authority to apply antitrust laws to anti-competitive behavior by insurance companies. The insurance industry and its practices have come under serious scrutiny along the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, said Leahy, who has raised concerns that insurers have been denying claims and delaying payouts to residents along the Gulf Coast instead of honoring their contractual commitments to their customers and helping rebuild that region.

The concern of our legislators in introducing this bill is that by allowing the insurance industry to avoid the scrutiny of anti-trust regulation, this has led to price fixing, agreements not to pay, and market allocations. Americans rely on insurance, and they have the right to be confident that the cost of their insurance, and the decisions by their insurance carriers about which claims will be paid, reflect competitive market conditions, and not private agreements among major insurance companies to deny groups of claims.

Senator Trent Lott, not normally associated with issues such as consumer protection, noted: “One thing I learned coming out of Katrina is that the insurance industry is not subject to antitrust laws,” Senator Lott said. “I’ve looked at the history, and there’s no explanation for why that is – for why antitrust and price fixing in this industry are not covered by the federal government. In this regard, two of the area’s biggest home insurers – Allstate and State Farm – are moving out and abandoning the area. They are not moving out because the companies have hit on hard times — State Farm profits increased 65% in 2006 with earnings of $5.3 billion and Allstate’s 2006 profits rose to a record $5 billion, nearly tripling its profits from the year before.

Continue reading ›

|

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety analyzed the highest and lowest death rates for motor vehicles between 2002 and 2005. Interestingly, General Motors manufactured the automobile with the highest death rate as well as the vehicle with the lowest death rate, measured by driver deaths per million registered vehicles during the four-year span. The Chevy Blazer had the highest of any vehicle, with 232 driver deaths per million registered vehicles, followed by the Acura RSX with 202 driver deaths. The next highest death rate was found in the Nissan 350Z, with 193 deaths. The analysis was performed by dividing the reported number of driver deaths by the model’s number of registered years.

The lowest number of deaths was recorded by the Chevrolet Astro minivan, with only seven deaths per million registered vehicles. This was followed by the Infiniti G35, BMW 7 Series and the Toyota 4Runner.

In a strange twist, General Motors no longer manufactures either the Chevy Blazer or the Astro.

Continue reading ›

|

The right wing of the U.S. Congress has for years expressed concern about passing the far reaching immigration reform that President Bush has advocated. However, the irony is that there are multiple reasons why immigration reform would benefit the United States economy, the social security system, our education system, and our country’s security–which these same Republicans would be in favor of if the issue of immigration was not part of the discussion.

The United States is at present the World’s only military “superpower”, and there is a huge financial cost to the government in maintaining that position. With our military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, we have strained our military’s manpower and budget. Just think of it–if we were to give legal status to the approximately 20,000,000 undocumented immigrants already in the United States, many of whom are of military age and who meet the characteristics deemed desirable for soldiers, there would be a tremendous increase in the available pool of potential recruits.

Continue reading ›

|

In the last decade, the stretch of the New York State Thruway between exits 15 A and 16, a section of roadway approximately 13 miles in length, has claimed the lives of 25 people, the last three in March of this year. The irony is that the thruway in this area between Sloatsburg and Harriman, New York, which this writer travels regularly, is a pleasant, mostly straight and altogether unremarkable section of highway, looking every bit the prototypical interstate designed to take drivers quickly and safely from city to city.

After considerable analysis, state troopers and transportation officials cannot seem to find anything wrong with the roadway. “They are basically flukes,” said Sgt. James A. Whittel of the New York State Police, referring to the long string of deadly crashes. “It’s usually that the driver did something bizarre that causes the accident.”

In a March 17, 2006 automobile accident, on March 17, 2006, the driver of a minivan stopped in the middle of the right traffic lane to check a tire. A tractor-trailer slammed into the van, killing four people, including three children. It was the third of four crashes between Feb. 7, 2006, and June 18, 2006, that killed 10 people.

Continue reading ›

|

You’ve just been involved in a slip and fall accident , or you were in a bad car accident. Obviously, you must seek medical attention. However, there are several important do’s and don’ts to be aware of, and if possible, some of these must be done right away, or the opportunity is lost.

Get the names of any witnesses. This can’t be stressed enough. Especially if you are involved in a fall down accident, where the condition you fell on, be it ice, spilled liquid, or even a banana peel at the supermarket, might not be there ten minutes from now, or in an intersection accident, where you and the other driver both claim to have the green light, identifying witnesses and getting their names and phone numbers is critical. Armed with the names of objective witnesses who observed the large patch of ice, who saw the condition of spilled detergent and heard the supermarket manager say to her employee: “I thought I told you to clean that up an hour ago”, or who saw that you had the green light, your case is much stronger.

If you are physically able, and have a camera phone, or access to a camera quickly, take photographs of the condition. That icy patch could be gone in a half hour, either by the owner rushing out to place salt on an icy sidewalk or the store owner finally deciding that he will clean up that produce aisle.

Invariably, when you report your accident, an adjuster from some insurance company will call on the premise that he or she is just concerned about “how you are doing”, and they’d like to record a statement from you “with your permission.” You must, and this cannot be stressed enough, hang up the phone and refuse to do so. This adjuster has been trained in the art of asking questions designed to place the blame of the accident solely on you–i.e., so you were running really late for school, work, or your dental appointment, and you weren’t paying as much attention to the ground as you might normally do, huh?” You must hang up the phone, and let your attorney handle this call–this is what we are trained to do.

Continue reading ›

|

What is No-Fault coverage and what am I entitled to under it?

Regulation 68 requires that “in the event of an accident, written notice setting forth details sufficient to identify the eligible injured person, along with reasonably obtainable information regarding the time, place and circumstances of the accident, shall be given by, or on behalf of, each eligible injured person, to the applicable No-Fault insurer, or any of their authorized agents, as soon as reasonably practicable, but in no event more than 30 days after the date of the accident, unless the eligible injured person submits written proof providing clear and reasonable justification for the failure to comply with such time limitation.”

You should file your claim with the insurance company which covers the car in which you were an occupant (either as passenger or driver) or, if you were a pedestrian, with the car that injured you.

What do I do if my expenses exceed the $50,000 available under No-Fault?
Ans: When the basic No-Fault benefits are consumed, you may apply for Additional No-Fault (Additional PIP) benefits either from the vehicle you occupied or any auto policy of a related member of your household. Additional PIP is an optional coverage which is usually not expensive.

Continue reading ›

|

The Department of Homeland Security plans to use a private corporation chosen by the federal government to implement the REAL ID Act. The plan calls for the outsourcing of all drivers license and ID card checks to a private corporation, who would then charge the states for each check performed.

Arguments are presented on both sides of the issue regarding the necessity of a National I.D. card, although in the age of Halliburton and our Vice President, there is certainly strong public skepticism as to whether the I.D. card should be outsourced to a private corporation–i.e. the public interest certainly wasn’t well served by the outsourcing of defense contracts to Halliburton.

The arguments made in favor of a National I.D. card include:

Easy identification in banks or at national borders without a passport, making the identity card the equivalent of a passport;
In states that do not issue identity cards, private companies require such documents, such as drivers’ licenses, which are not suited for identification purposes;

All humans carry personal identification which cannot be falsified–DNA. In the near future, DNA sequencing hashes may become the preferred method of personal identification. The use of identity cards would be a lesser evil compared to the possibility of privacy risks associated with the daily use of DNA for identification purposes.

The arguments against the National ID cards include:

Cards with a centralized database could be used to track anyone’s movements and private life, Private investigators would obviously love them) endangering privacy

Continue reading ›