Articles Posted in Car Accidents in New York

The Journal Archives of Surgery published a study on March 17th which found that a year after an injury in a car accident, slip and fall or other types of accidents, 63 percent reported that they still had substantial pain related to the injury. The over 3,000 patients studied were 18 to 84 years of age, who had survived a traumatic injury.

The people in the study suffered head injuries, broken limbs, chest or abdominal trauma and other injuries in motor vehicle crashes, slip/trip and fall accidents and other circumstances. The most common areas of pain were in the joints and limbs (44 %), the back (26 %), the head (12 %), and the neck (7 %).

The American Pain Foundation, a Baltimore-based advocacy group, said the financial cost of chronic pain in the United States, including lost income, health care expenses and lost productivity in the workplace, is estimated to be $100 billion per year. According to this foundation, back pain is the leading cause of disability in Americans under 45 years old.

Florence Cioffi, a woman who survived 9/11 and was just days from her 60th birthday, was killed in a New York City car accident on January 24 when she was run over by a vehicle driven by computer software executive George Anderson just before 11:00 PM on Water Street in Manhattan. Mr. Anderson kept driving, but returned to the scene a short time later, where he was observed by police officers to have bloodshot eyes, smell of alcohol, and have slurred speech. Mr. Anderson refused a police request to take a breathalyzer test. Police immediately administered a blood alcohol test; the results have not been announced yet.

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Global positoning devices (GPS), although a lifesaver to some, have been blamed for numerous New York car accidents over the last few years. Most recently, earlier this month, a driver from California caused a fiery car accident when he turned on to railroad tracks in Bedford Hills and his vehicle was struck by an oncoming train when the car became stuck on the tracks.

The driver, a 32 year old who works for a SIlicon Valley tech company, claims that the GPS device in his vehicle instructed him to turn right onto the train tracks leading to the January 4 New York motor vehicle accident with the oncoming train. The driver exited the vehicle before the accident and was not injured.

Since 2005, according to Dan Brucker of Metro-North railroad, a growing number of out of state drivers have informed police that they were following GPS devices instead of paying attention to signs at parkway entrances. A spokeman for Garmin, the largest GPS seller in North America, indicated that 15% of cars are now equipped with the GPS devices.

2007 continued a trend of numerous New York car accidents on suburban New York roadways dominated by aggressive, inattentive drivers causing numerous car accidents and fatalities. According to Captain John Hodges of the Westchester County Police, the main causes of these New York car crashes and auto deaths are: speeding, driving while intoxicated, following too closely, taking curves too fast and weaving in and out of traffic.

New York car accidents are also being caused by inattentive drivers who are speaking on cell phones, adjusting their global positioning devices, and listening to their IPods with earphones. Additionally, a new and shocking trend that has been observed by motorists and police patrols alike is young drivers text messaging while driving!

Fatal accidents in New York rose from 2005 to 2006 in the counties of Westchester, Rockland and Putnam. Statistics are not yet available for 2007. DWI arrests on Westchester County roadways increased from 470 to 494 in 2007 due to more aggressive enforcement, according to Capt. Hodges.

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November 2007 has been a treacherous month on the Bronx River Parkway in New York. On November 13, 2007, we did a report “Fatal Accident on the Bronx River Parkway…” describing the New York fatal car crash in which a Yonkers couple, Bernard and Phyllis Cecere, was killed when their vehicle was struck by an apparently speeding car driven by 19 year old Justin Martinez near Oak Street in Yonkers.

On November 26, 2007, an Orange County man was killed and a Peekskill woman seriously injured in a nearly head on collision on the Bronx River Parkway just north of the Virginia Road exit. On a curvy section of the roadway heading southbound, Dawn Young was driving a 2004 Jeep Liberty when she apparently crossed the double yellow line, colliding with a 2005 Mazda being driven by Gerald Wolfe, who died from his injuries at Westchester Medical Center. Ms. Young’s injuries are not considered life threatening. This was second fatal accident in the exact same location of the Parkway; back in October of 1999, three people were killed when a carjacking suspect at the wheel of a stolen Cadillac veered onto the southbound side of the Parkway near Virginia Road and struck the vehicle of a Chappaqua couple on their way home from church. Ironically, after several years of delay due to federal government regulations requiring the installation of storm water basins, construction work was scheduled to begin the same day of the most recent fatal car crash to install center barriers from Cemetery Road at exit 23 to Lafayette Avenue at Exit 27. However, work was delayed due to the inclement weather conditions.

The Westchester County Police have indicated that it is too early to determine if alcohol, drugs, the poor weather conditions, or slippery roads were factors in the fatal car accident.

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Britney Spears latest run in with the law in which she went through a red light and made an illegal left turn with her children in the car highlights two significant safety issues, one of which we wrote about in our April 8, 2007 blog. Namely, New York mothers driving while intoxicated with their children in the car. A video taken by TMZ.com videographers shows Ms. Spears going through a red light at a well known dangerous intersection in Los Angeles with her two young sons sleeping in the back and her court-appointed monitor in the front. Although on this occasion, Ms. Spears has not been charged with intoxication as part of her traffic offenses, her troubles with drugs, alcohol and vehicles are well documented.

The other issue is New York drivers disregarding traffic signals and routinely going through stop signs and red lights. More and more in this age of people in a hurry to get to their next destination, drivers treat traffic signals like inconvenient nuisances rather than part of the New York Vehicle & Traffic Law. For example, our office in White Plains is one block east of the intersection of Mamaroneck Avenue and Post Road. This intersection has a huge no left turn sign above the traffic lights, which drivers seemingly disregard at will, despite the fact that the intersection has been the site of multiple accidents over the years, and the frequent police presence from the City of White Plains Police Department.

The fatal car crash on New York’s Bronx River Parkway this past Wednesday has Westchester residents calling for stricter traffic enforcement. An elderly Yonkers couple, Ralph and Phyllis Cecere, were killed in the horrific car accident car crash when a Honda driven by 18 year old Justin Martinez collided with their Cadillac, which then burst into flames. According to the Journal News, a witness observed Martinez weaving in and out of traffic, driving on the shoulder of the roadway, and driving at an excessive rate of speed.

In response to numerous calls by Westchester County residents for increased traffic enforcement, the Westchester County Police Department has outlined the steps they are taking to curb aggressive driving, reckless driving, and reduce auto accidents. These steps include the following: aggressive driving details, in “low profile”, unmarked vehicles; spot speed enforcement checks; radar screens to inform drivers of their speed; and the placement of unmanned patrol cars, called “drones”, to cause drivers to slow down in the belief that the cars do have officers inside them.

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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.

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.

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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.