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May is a hectic time for many young drivers, as schools host proms, graduations, and other spring events to mark the end of the year. For new drivers, these events can mean hazards that can lead to a Miami car accident. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that summer is the deadliest season for teenage drivers, and car accidents are still the leading cause of fatalities for the age groups. According to NHTSA, over 5000 teenagers across the country die in car accidents each year. Each month in the summer, an average of 422 teens are killed in car accidents, compared with an average of 363 teens killed in months during the other seasons.

There are many reasons why summer can be an especially dangerous time of year for teen drivers. One is that events such as prom, summer road trips, and graduation mean that teens are likely to drive with passengers at this time of year. However, according to the the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, teen drivers are more likely to be in car accidents when they have multiple car passengers. Passengers are also at risk, according to the organization, since two out of three teens killed in car crashes involving a teen driver were passengers in the car at the time of the crash.

There are other reasons why summertime driving can be dangerous for teens. With school winding down, teens may spend more time on the road. In addition, many summertime events include alcohol. Even though teen drivers in Florida need to maintain a zero blood alcohol level, Miami drunk driving accidents are still a major problem for the age group, with some teens making poor choices about drinking and driving.

In addition, new drivers may not have developed the good driving habits – such as checking blind spots – that help prevent Miami truck accidents and car accidents. Some studies suggest that new drivers and teen drivers are more likely than older drivers to engage in risky behaviors such as texting and driving.

There are many things that parents and families can do to help their teen drivers stay safe during the summer. Perhaps the most important thing to do is to sit down with a teen driver and set some ground rules about driving. Parents may wish to set rules about texting and driving or driving with too many passengers. Parents can also help by ensuring that their teens have adequate driver training (and additional training, if needed) to stay safe on the roads.

Florida Car Accident Lawyer Blog

A Manitoba judge has recommended the province consider strengthening its laws allowing potentially dangerous mental health patients to be forced into treatment facilities against their will.
Manitoba stories

Two stories in today’s newspapers say a lot about where the focus is for saving lives on the highways:

Random Tests Go Too Far

Winnipeg, Canada.  Oct. 18 — Police powers to check for impaired driving have encroached relentlessly upon civil liberties, such that innocent motorists are randomly, routinely pulled over and questioned, absent of cause. If an officer suspects any drinking has occurred, drivers must take a test. The penalties for refusing are equal to failing the test...

Now the Harper government wants to eliminate the need for any suspicion of drinking, allowing police to randomly demand a roadside test.

Advocacy group Mothers Against Drunk Driving is celebrating, saying this should make the glass of wine with dinner a thing of the past…

MADD, however, has been strangely silent about the proven greater dangers to human life of talking or texting on cell phones while driving.

Texting and Driving a Costly Business Risk

Miami, FL.  Oct 18 — Cellphones and driving don’t mix.

According to the National Safety Council, an estimated 200,000 crashes a year are caused by drivers who are texting. And that doesn’t include the near-misses. Added to that, a recent Car & Driver Magazine study found that texting and driving was more hazardous than drinking and driving, with texting drivers three to four times slower in their response rates than drunk drivers...

Perhaps Candy Lightner, the founder and first president of MADD, was right when she quit the organization, claiming that it its focus had shifted from saving lives to prohibition. 
 

DUI BLOG

A man whose dangerous driving led to the death of an elderly man is going to jail.

Winnipeg Sun – Manitoba

Last weekend, Central Washington University students learned first-hand the danger of caffeinated “alcopops,” when several were hospitalized after consuming the beverage Four Loko.  Four Loko, sometimes referred to as “blackout in a can,” contains the alcohol and caffeine equivalent of six beers and two cups of coffee, respectively. It is marketed and purchased for the sole purpose of acute intoxication.

We view products such as Four Loko as unwelcome contributors to the culture of dangerous drinking that is pervasive among young people, both on and off college campuses.

Choose Responsibility Blog