Category: Motor Vehicle Accidents

Children Seat Belts and Motor Vehicle Accidents in Massachusetts

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), car accidents are the number one cause of death for children aged 1-13 in the U.S. Car seats or booster seats for children are a major preventive measure that parents can use to minimize the chances for serious or fatal injuries if your child is in a car accident. Fortunately, per a study put out by SafeWise, a family safety organization, Massachusetts ranked third in the nation for the fewest children killed in car crashes at 0.63 per 100,000 population. The best state or area was Washington D.C. that had no reported child deaths in traffic accidents for the years surveyed. The national average is 1.7 per 100,000.

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How Ride Sharing Prevented Drunk Driving Deaths in Massachusetts

A new study confirmed what Uber and Lyft have been promoting for years—that use of their ride-share platform has had a noticeable impact on driving-related deaths where alcohol was involved in states like Massachusetts. According to a paper published in the Nationwide Bureau of Financial Analysis and co-written by UC Berkeley economist David Lucas, Uber directly saved 214 people who would have died in a drunk driving accident in 2019. This helped mark a 6.1% decrease in alcohol-related deaths from 2018 amidst a 4% decline in drunk driving deaths overall in the U.S.

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Massachusetts Area Companies Merge to Boost Business of Tracking Drivers Behavio For Insurance Companies

Using driving behavior to determine auto insurance rates is not necessarily a new idea, but several companies in the analytics industry have brought that factor into a new focus. Two Boston-based companies who use an app to track driver’s behavior for insurance companies recently merged when Cambridge Mobile Telematics acquired TrueMotion. The new company will provide telematic services to 21 of the 25 largest auto insurers in the nation.

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Massachusetts AG Calls for Improvements to Child Car Seat Safety Standards

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has joined with 16 other attorneys general and the District of Columbia to demand that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) draft certain safety standards for child car safety seats. In a letter sent to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, and Steve Cliff of the NHTSA, the group urged the government to take “swift action” in addressing shortfalls in safety seat regulations. 

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Massachusetts Department of Transportation and Fundacion MAPFRE Launch Look Both Ways PSA to Promote Road Safety

Are Massachusetts drivers notorious for bad behavior on our roadways? Getting honked at, yelled at, or being shown a middle digit while trying to navigate a busy intersection or traffic congested highway may be a common occurrence for many state drivers, but a state-wide campaign has been launched to hopefully change drivers’ behavior in the interest of public safety.

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Hopkinton Woman Suffers Serious Injuries

Earlier this summer, a Hopkinton, Massachusetts woman sustained serious injuries after being ejected from the sedan in which she was a passenger when it collided with a utility vehicle. The crash occurred in Wilford near 420 Fortune Boulevard around 5:30 p.m. According to witnesses, the sedan’s driver was speeding and overtaking multiple vehicles before crossing into oncoming traffic where it collided with the utility truck.

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Increase in Wrong Way Accidents in Western Massachusetts

For some reason, wrong-way accidents are on the rise in Western Massachusetts. Between 2015 and 2018, our state experienced twice the national average in wrong way accident fatalities with 500 deaths per year.  Springfield reported 315 wrong-way car collisions between 2010 and 2020, making it the second worst in the state for such accidents behind Worcester. 

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