Drunk Driving

More information about Drunk Driving

Teenagers Binge Drinking Lead to Highway Crashes

ABC News Nightline uncovered a disturbing trend among teenage girls – binge drinking.  Monday night the network reported that one in every four teen girls binge drinks.  Faced with enormous pressure to fit in, Ju Ju Chang reports teenage girls are turning more and more to alcohol.

Unlike social adult drinkers who may drink a glass or two of wine to “unwind,” teenage drinkers drink to get drunk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in a study released earlier this year that 90% of the alcohol consumed by teens is consumed while binge drinking.  That means that teens are drinking four to five alcoholic drinks per occasion, two or three times per month.

While any amount of drinking by teens can be dangerous, binge drinking comes with additional dangers. Beyond the immediate effects of alcohol that can cause sickness, and more seriously, […]

More information about Drunk Driving

PA Woman Campaigns Against Texting While Driving

Even though Pennsylvania just enacted its anti-texting law, Jacy Good won’t stop spreading the word that texting and driving is a deadly combination.  The Pennsylvania woman knows firsthand the devastation a distracted driver can cause.  She is using her personal tragedy to urge Americans to put down their phones when driving.

Jacy and her parents were driving home after Jacy’s graduation ceremony at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA in May 2008, when an 18-year-old driver who was talking on his cellphone ran a red light, according to an article in the Reading Eagle.  A tractor trailer had to swerve to avoid the teen, but then slammed head-on into Good’s car.  Jacy’s parents both died instantly.  Jacy ended up in the hospital with just a 10 percent chance of surviving. Jacy did survive, and she wants to make sure no one else suffers the way she has. […]

More information about Drunk Driving

Pennsylvania Makes it Illegal to Text While Driving

You better think twice before texting when behind the wheel in Pennsylvania or you will be ticketed.  It is now a primary offense for texting while driving, thanks to the new anti-texting law that took effect on March 8.

The provisions of the law, according to a press release by the Pennsylvania State Police, are as follows:

• It is a primary offense to use an Interactive Wireless Communication Device (IWCD) to send, read or write a text-based message.
• Violators will be fined $50 for convictions.
• This law supersedes and preempts any local ordinances restricting the use of interactive wireless devices by drivers.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, distracted driving is to blame for 3,092 fatalities in 2010. In Pennsylvania, there were nearly 14,000 automobile accidents where distracted driving played a role, with 68 people dying in the accidents. […]

More information about Drunk Driving

Pennsylvania Graduated License Program Aimed at Saving Teen Lives

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports automobile accidents are the number one cause of death for teens. Last month we urged teenagers in Pennsylvania to focus on driving carefully and following the laws when taking to the local highways to help prevent other teens from becoming a statistic.  Last Thursday, the USA Today, also hoping to get the message out that teen drivers are at risk on America’s highways, published a special report entitled “Making Teen Driving Safer.”

Although the USA Today points out that nationwide deaths for 16- and 17-year-old drivers declined between 2007 and 2010, the special report hones in on the fact that every day, an average of 11 teenagers die in car crashes in the United States.  The teen driving section is, in part, sponsored by Allstate Insurance that is sponsoring the “Save11” campaign to encourage Congress to pass the STANDUP Act. […]

More information about Drunk Driving

SOUND Devices Act Closes Product Liability Loophole

Scranton, PA, February 23, 2012 – Pennsylvania product liability lawyer Caroline Munley today called for passage of a bill that would enable the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to reject medical devices that are modeled after devices already known to be flawed.

“The SOUND Devices Act closes a loophole that allows medical device manufacturers to basically skirt the FDA approval process,” said Munley, a partner in the regional law firm of Munley, Munley & Cartwright, whose Pennsylvania product liability attorneys represent consumers and patients who are harmed by defective products, including flawed medical devices.

“A process that avoids scrutiny is wrong and should be unnecessary,” Munley said. “Every new medical device submitted for approval for the American marketplace should be able to stand on its own merits.”

The Safety Of Untested and New Devices Act of 2012 (SOUND Devices Act) eliminates a loophole in the Food and Drug Administration’s device-approval process known as section 510(k), […]