A January 2021 car accident involving an Amazon van driver and a 31-year-old Milford, Massachusetts man who suffered permanent and life-altering injuries has led to a lawsuit against the delivery giant. Amazon is a major distributor of packages in the U.S. and maintains warehouses and distribution centers throughout the nation. Milford has two Amazon warehouses.
Read MoreMotor vehicle accidents are the number one cause of teen fatalities in the U.S. Even though only a small percentage of drivers are under 20, they accounted for 13% of all fatal car accidents from 2010 to 2019. There is good news, however, in that the percentage and number of fatal car crashes involving teens is decreasing, including in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Read MoreAuto accidents in Massachusetts and throughout the U.S. are a leading cause of death for children to age 18. Many of these fatalities and serious injuries can be prevented for smaller children if they are safely and appropriately restrained in the proper child safety seat.
Read MoreAccording to the state’s Highway Administrator, traffic is back on Massachusetts roadways. Whether that is a good thing or not depends on your perspective and whether you have returned to the commute you left behind over 18-months ago. If you are thinking of returning to that commute, consider that in 2020, according to a Texas A&M Transportation Institute study, Boston area drivers spent an average of about 50-hours in traffic. Boston was also ranked as the second worst in the nation for daily traffic delays.
Read MoreAnyone who has ever ridden a motorcycle is aware not only of the joys of riding but of the risks as well. Despite public service campaigns alerting motorists to be aware of motorcyclists and to respect their presence on the road, fatalities caused by other motorists continue to occur. A troubling statistic is that in Massachusetts, we have experienced an increase in the number of riders and passengers killed in motorcycle accidents over the past year.
Read MoreAccording 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.
Read MoreA 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.
Read MoreUsing 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.
Read MoreMassachusetts 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.
Read MoreIn the year and a half since the Massachusetts hands-free cellphone law went into effect, MassDOT reported that over 40,000 warnings have been issued to state drivers. This figure is part of the overall total of 53,638 citations issued for distracted driving since the law took effect in February 2020.
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