Drunk Driving

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“Textalyzer” Could Help Reduce Distracted Driving

Distracted driving, perhaps the biggest road safety scourge of the decade, is getting worse nationwide.

In Pennsylvania, for instance, distracted driving citations increased by 43% from 2014 to 2015; in our home of Lackawanna County, the number of distracted driving citations skyrocketed from 32 to 115, according to the Scranton Times-Tribune.

Last week, our own Dan Munley was quoted about a recent case in which a Lawrence County judge ruled that a person texting a distracted driver who then got into a crash could potentially be held accountable.

In order to combat this growing problem, some safety advocates have suggested that we begin viewing distracted driving the same way we view drunk driving.  While distracted driving does not involve the consumption of an intoxicating substance, distraction can impair your driving ability just as much as alcohol, […]

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Attention Labor Day travelers: 3 reasons fatal car accidents are up

Distracted driving proves to be largest cause of fatal car accident increases

As Labor Day approaches, holiday travelers are warned that fatal car accidents  are on the rise this year, according to the National Safety Council. Traffic fatalities are up by 14% and injuries are up by 33%.

About 19,000 people have been killed so far this year, and that’s not including July and August, historically two of the deadliest months of the year for drivers. At this rate, deadly car accidents threaten to reach over 40,000, the highest  since 2007. Why is this happening?

It seems surprising. Cars today are equipped with ever-evolving safety technology designed to make them more crash-worthy. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety continues to improve their safety rating system, developing more tests that cars must pass and higher standards they must meet in order to earn a “good” […]

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100 Deadliest Days for Teen Drivers Start Now

Memorial Day marks the start of the 100 most dangerous for teen drivers

As the school year winds down, so begins the 100 deadliest days of the year for teen drivers. The days surrounding prom and graduation see spikes in teenage driver deaths.

If you’re 18 years old, right now might be the most exciting time of the year. If you’re a parent, it might be one of the most nerve-wracking.

Prom and graduation season is supposed to be a joyous, memorable time. It’s a celebration of lives about to truly begin. Too often, however, this is when teenagers’ lives come to a sudden end.  Prom, graduation and the following summer months see a higher number of fatal teen auto accidents than any other time of the year. Teens drive more during the summer months after the school year has ended, […]

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Is Uber cutting down on drunk driving?

In February of this year, Uber officially became available to the Scranton/Wilkes Barre area.

What is Uber? Born in San Francisco and common in large cities before making its NEPA debut, Uber is a mobile app/service that allows users to connect with professional independent contract drivers hired by the company to provide a ridesharing service, similar to a taxi service. Uber is currently available in 50 countries and 250 cities.

Uber has been in the news a lot lately, particularly for questions regarding its safety. This blog and infographic from the Michigan Auto Law Blog entitle “How Safe is Uber?” does an excellent job of breaking down the safety concerns and what Uber is doing to make its service safer for both riders and drivers.

One reason we’re interested in Uber is because of its potential to reduce the number of drunk driving accidents that happen each year. […]

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Looking at the brains of bad drivers

A recent study found that the part of the brain associated with empathy and compassion is less active in bad drivers.

Is a blatant disregard for safety the result of a cognitive malfunction? According to the Association for Psychological Science, the Czech Republic conducted a study in order to better understand why some people follow the rules of the road and others don’t.

Researchers showed participants a series of video clips showing the consequences of dangerous driving behaviors like speeding and drunk driving while monitoring their brain activity using fMRI.  About half the participants had no record of traffic violations, and the other half had at least one traffic safety violation, such as speeding or driving while intoxicated, on their records. It turns out that those viewers with a clean driving record and those with a history of at least one traffic violation reacted very differently to the videos. […]