Our Detroit accident attorneys know that using a cell phone behind the wheel is really dangerous and can significantly increase the risk of a car accident. Many drivers know this as well, and, as it turns out, there is reason to believe that a lot of cell phone crashes are underreported.

Accident Reports May be Inaccurate About Cell Phone Use

According to Michigan Live, traffic crashes related to the use of cell phones appeared to be at the lowest level in a decade last year, even while there were many more reports of other kinds of distracted driving crashes. The conclusion that many are coming to when looking at this data is not that drivers have given up talking on their cell phones.

Instead, it seems clear that many drivers are not admitting the fact that they were on a cell phone at the time of an accident. When police come to the scene of a traffic collision and write accident reports, they rely on what they are told by the drivers who were involved in the crash. If the accident is a really serious one, they may not be able to talk to all drivers either, as some of those involved may have been injured or killed in the crash.

A driver who has just been in an accident and who seriously hurt or killed someone is unlikely to want to volunteer to the police that he was talking or texting on his phone. After all, it is virtually universally accepted that cell phone use behind the wheel is dangerous, and a total of 39 states have some types of bans or restrictions in place when it comes to talking, texting or both.

A driver who is scared of the consequences of a crash will know that he shouldn’t have been on his phone at the time. As such, the driver is a lot more likely to leave out the cell phone use and to tell the police that something else was the cause of the crash.

This analysis of the Michigan data is supported by a report recently released by the National Safety Council (NSC). The Washington Post reported that the NSC believes that many accident reports on cellphone related fatal crashes are not including details about the fact that there was a phone involved in the collision.

NSC came to its conclusion after reviewing 180 fatal accidents over three years where cell phone use likely played a role. Only around 52 percent of these crashes mentioned the phone, so that means that only about half of all accidents were correctly reported as related to a cell phone.

With cell phone crashes being so under-reported, NSC believes that as many as 25 percent of all car accidents are related to cell phones. This is far more than is projected by NHTSA data, which suggests that only 1.2 percent of all accidents involve cell phone use and that only 10 percent of all accidents total involve distracted drivers.

Whether NSC is correct about the 25 percent number, there does seem to be a lot of reason to believe that cell phone crashes are being underreported both in Michigan and throughout the United States.

If you’ve been injured in Detroit or the surrounding areas, contact the Law Offices of Goodman Acker for a free case consultation. Call 1-866-366-8567.

Our Detroit medical malpractice attorneys understand the ultimate goal is to drive down rates of hospital-acquired infection and errors that all too often are the result of inadequate medical staffing levels.

Whether the measure will be successful remains to be seen, as there is a fair amount of push back from hospital officials, saying the cost to do this would be prohibitive.

The proposed legislation would base minimum staffing levels based on the type of patient. So for example, hospitals would be required to staff one nurse for every critical care patient, while they would need one nurse for every four patients in a pediatric unit. The law would also ban overtime for nurses except in cases of dire emergency.

That last requirement would presumably cut down on the burnout that so many nurses report feeling just a few years into their careers – that same burnout that can contribute to critical errors with potentially life-threatening consequences.

Health care researchers at the Public Policy Institute in Lansing have found that the fewer nurses a facility has on staff, the higher the death rates. This situation is also associated with high rates of hospital-acquired pneumonia or blood stream infections – including the so-called “superbug” CRE bacteria that is resistant to last-resort antibiotics. (Interestingly, Michigan is not required to report incidents of this strain to state health officials, so we don’t actually know how many cases of this there have been in the state.)

But this same minimum staffing sentiment is echoed by the state nursing association, which represents some 2,500 nurses and health care professionals at the Lansing Sparrow Hospital. At that location, nurse-to-patient ratios became part of the employment contract three years ago – a rare example of how the concept could be implemented and upheld in practice.

This most recent push for statewide staffing level requirements is not the first. A similar measure was proposed in 2004 – and ever since then. But it’s failed to gain steam, more than likely because the hospital industry has deep pockets – something to which many legislators respond.

California is the only state so far that has any mandated nurse staffing levels. A few other states, including Minnesota, are exploring similar proposals this year too.

In California, hospitals did struggle a bit to absorb the cost. However, rates of patients with hospital-acquired infections did go down.

Supporters of the Michigan law say it is the next logical regulatory step. For example, we’re not going too far in saying that a truck driver can only be on the road a certain number of hours at a time or that day care providers have to have a certain number of staffers depending on how many children are in their care. In those cases too, it costs the companies a little bit extra to make that happen, but we deem it appropriate due to the risk that is otherwise incurred.

Given that medical malpractice or hospital errors can be just as deadly, it makes sense that we would want to regulate that as well.

If you are a victim of medical malpractice in Detroit, contact the Law Offices of Goodman Acker for a free case consultation. Call 1-866-366-8567.

Our Detroit accident attorneys know that older drivers can sometimes present a significant risk to others on the roads. This tragic accident and the terrible aftermath serve as a very important reminder that elderly drives need to carefully  evaluate their health status to determine if they are still fit to drive. For those with older loved ones, it is also important to make sure to keep an eye on your elderly relatives since they may not always know when it is time to stop driving.

A Tragic Accident Leads to a Terrible Loss

The sentencing hearing described by the Detroit Free Press resulted in the 67-year-old driver being sentenced to ten months in jail. The driver, who uses a walker, had apologized in the court room to the family of the victim, including the deceased boy’s twin brother who was driving the car at the time of the accident.

The older driver had a blood alcohol content of .04 at the time of the accident, which is below the legal limit. He was traveling more than 80 miles per hour at the time of the crash, and he hit a vehicle that was stopped and waiting at a red light. This accident, which his attorney indicated occurred during a diabetic attack, resulted in the death of the young man on August 2012. The victim had only recently graduated from college at the time of his death.

Elderly Drivers Need to Know When it Is Time to Stop Driving

The older man who caused the fatal accident was suffering from a number of health problems, including the diabetes that apparently contributed to the crash. It is not uncommon for older people with failing health to lose their ability to drive safely, although many don’t necessarily like to admit it or to give up their independence.

When someone continue to drive past the point when it is safe, the outcome can be tragic, as this devastating accident shows. Seniors who are having vision problems; who are prone to seizures or attacks due to diabetes or other ailments; or who are beginning to experience memory problems, should stop driving. Those with slowed reaction times and other health issues may also want to limit or restrict their driving, depending upon the severity of their condition.

For seniors who are concerned about whether they are still fit to drive, it is advisable to speak with a physician. Family members who are worried about their older relatives should also consider talking with the senior’s doctor, since advice on stopping driving may sometimes be better received when coming from a medical professional.

If you’ve been injured in Detroit or the surrounding areas, contact the Law Offices of Goodman Acker for a free case consultation. Call 1-866-366-8567.

The fact is, it’s not just car accident victims that might suffer a brain injury. It happens every single day on playgrounds, sports fields, battle fields, construction sites and even on newly-mopped surfaces in restaurants and retail shops.

The Detroit Free Press recently published an article reporting on research completed by the Cleveland Clinic. The study found that college football players may experience significant and long-term brain damage due to repeated blows to the head – even when they haven’t suffered a concussion.

Scientists administered brain scans and took blood samples from nearly 70 college football players both before and after games throughout the 2011 season. What they found was that the 40 players who had taken the hardest hits to the heads measured elevated levels of an antibody that is closely associated with brain trauma – even though they did not have a diagnosed concussion. The brain scans of those players revealed abnormalities.

This strikes at the theory that concussions are the only cause of sports-related traumatic brain injury. It also may shed some light on the plight of others who have suffered head trauma as well.

And it underscores how much we don’t yet know about the science of the brain and how much more we have to learn about the causes of long-term damage. In many ways, our brains are remarkably resilient muscles, but in others, they are incredibly fragile and vulnerable.

The CDC indicates there are approximately 1.7 traumatic brain injuries every year, though that is likely a low estimate as not all incidents are reported.

The severity of a brain injury can range from mild to severe. On the low end of the spectrum, one would experience a brief change in either their level of consciousness or mental status. On the high end of the spectrum, there would be extended periods of unconsciousness, amnesia, loss of function or other long-lasting side effects.

Specifically, a traumatic brain injury could result in significant damage to your ability to think, taste, touch, smell, communicate, express and understand. It may also significantly impact your emotions, and many sufferers of TBI also report increased rates of depression, anxiety, aggression, social inappropriateness and personality changes.

It can also cause epilepsy and sufferers are at increased risk of early-onset Alzhemier’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Part of the reason TBIs are so concerning is many people don’t recognize when they have suffered one. For example, you could be in a car accident one day and walk away feeling generally fine, only to days later find yourself suffering from dizziness, confusion and severe headaches that are indicative of a TBI.

That’s why anytime you have suffered a blow to the head for any reason, it’s best to get it checked out by a doctor.

If you have suffered a traumatic brain injury in Detroit, contact the Law Offices of Goodman Acker for a free case consultation. Call 1-866-366-8567.

Each state has its own driver safety regulations, with some states taking more stringent positions and passing more laws than others. Each year, the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety provide a report on how the states stand as far as what laws they’ve passed. Our Detroit, MI personal injury attorneys have taken a look at this report, and Michigan is missing some important driver safety laws.

Michigan’s Driver Safety Laws

The Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety identified fifteen recommended laws that they believe every state should have in order to protect the safety of their drivers. Of these fifteen laws, the state of Michigan has eleven. This earned Michigan a “Yellow” rating, which means that the state has made important progress on the passage of driver safety legislation but that there are still some important laws missing.

The laws that Michigan has passed and received credit for according to the Advocates include:

• A primary seat belt law.
• A booster seat law.
• A law imposing a six-month holding period for teenage drivers.
• A mandated 30-50 hours of supervised practice time for teen drivers before a license is obtained.
• Night driving restrictions for teenage drivers.
• Passenger restrictions for teenage drivers.
• Cell phone restrictions for teenage drivers.
• A child endangerment law for those with a child in the vehicle when driving drunk.
• An open container law.
• A mandatory BAC law.
• A ban on texting (sending or receiving) for all drivers when operating vehicles.

The laws that the state has not yet passed that the Advocates recommend include:

• A mandatory helmet requirement for all motorcyclists.
• A law limiting learner’s permits to potential drivers ages 16 and up.
• A law limiting the grant of a full driver’s license to those 18 and up.
• A law mandating that every DUI offender have an ignition interlock device installed into his vehicle

Michigan, therefore, has passed many of the essential recommended laws to protect drivers. While the streets could be safer if Michigan passed the other recommended laws, drivers can also make their own efforts to comply with the recommendations. For example, parents can monitor their children’s behavior to determine if they have reached a level of maturity where it is appropriate to obtain a learner’s permit and a license to drive. If parents do not believe a teen can be responsible behind the wheel, parents can require the child to wait until he or she is older before getting a license. Likewise, motorcycle riders and passengers can make the decision to wear helmets when they ride even if the law does not expressly require that they do so. Drivers can thus make Michigan even safer.

If you’ve been injured in Detroit or the surrounding areas, contact the Law Offices of Goodman Acker for a free case consultation. Call 1-566-366-8567.

Our Detroit, MI accident attorneys are very glad to hear that there will be continuing efforts to discourage distracted driving. The risk of an auto accident increases significantly when a driver is focused on anything other than the road and the cars around him, and we believe that NHTSA has an important role to play in educating the public about the grave dangers of distracted driving.

NHTSA Plans to Fight Distracted Driving

NHTSA chief David Strickland explained some of the possible future plans of NHTSA in the effort to curb distracted driving. According to The Detroit News, these plans include:

• Creating a national program on distracted driving similar to those that already exist for driving while impaired and for emphasizing the importance of wearing a seat belt.
• Passing a set of voluntary guidelines that will help auto makers to take steps with in-vehicle designs that can reduce the dangers of distracted driving.  These guidelines could include limiting the operation of in-car devices to one hand and making it possible for the devices to be operated with only a two-seond glance away from the road.

These efforts and other steps taken by NHTSA are important options to fight what has become a major public health problem.

How Dangerous is Distracted Driving?

Distraction.gov provides some statistics that underscore the serious dangers that distracted driving presents to people throughout the U.S. According to their facts and figures:

• There were 3,331 people killed throughout the U.S. in 2011 because of distracted drivers.
• In 2010, 18 percent of auto accidents where people got hurt involved a distracted driver.
• Of all fatal crashes involving drivers 20 or younger, 11 percent involved a distracted driver.
• 40 percentage of teenagers in the U.S. responded to a Pew poll indicating they’d feared the driver in a car they were in was doing something dangerous with his cell phone.
• A driver that is making use of a handheld device is four times more likely to get into an auto accident that results in him injuring himself.
• A driver sending a text or receiving a text must look away from the road for 4.6 seconds on average. If that driver was traveling at 55 miles per hour, an entire football field could be traveled in 4.6 seconds.
• A driver that sends a text or reads one while driving is 23 times as likely to become involved in a car accident.
• A person who is using a cellular telephone as he or she operates the vehicle devotes 37 percent less of his brain energy to the activities associated with driving the car.

Clearly, these statistics are enough to make very clear that distracted driving is risky. While using a cell phone or texting are some of the most dangerous behaviors, any kind of distraction including grooming, typing into a GPS or eating as you drive can up your chances of a crash. NHTSA needs to continue to educate about these dangers and take steps to try to stop distracted driving.

If you’ve been injured in Detroit or the surrounding areas, contact the Law Offices of Goodman Acker for a free case consultation. Call 1-566-366-8567.

Our Detroit, MI accident attorneys were sad to hear of the death of the young car accident victim in this tragic accident and of the other deaths that occurred as well. White-outs can be extremely dangerous, especially in highway settings where one accident could quickly escalate as many other cars don’t see the crash and drive directly into stopped or damaged vehicles. We urge every driver to be aware of the grave dangers of white-outs and to make smart and informed winter driving decisions during this snowy season.

Staying Safe in Winter Driving in Detroit

While bad weather always ups the chances of a crash occurring, there are some things that you can do to minimize the dangers inherent in winter driving. For example, some tips for staying safe include:

• Listening carefully for weather warnings. If there is an alert of a severe storm or a potential blizzard or white out, stay at home unless you absolutely need to go somewhere. If there is a driving ban then it is even more important to remain in your home and out of your car in all but the most dire of emergencies.
• Ensure your vehicle has been inspected and that all parts are in good working order. The tires, brakes and windshield wipers especially must be working at optimal levels during winter weather. Bad tires give you limited or no traction on slippery roads; bad brakes can make it more difficult to survive a skid; and bad windshield wipers can make visibility impossible. Be sure as well to check all fluids in the vehicle including anti-freeze.
• Don’t tailgate. If you are following very closely behind the vehicle in front of you, there is a good chance that you will hit that vehicle if it stops short or if it becomes involved in an accident that is turning into a multi-car pileup. While it is always advisable to leave plenty of space between you and the vehicle in front (usually a 3-4 second following distance), it is important to leave even larger gaps in the winter.
• Don’t speed. You need to slow your driving to account for bad weather.

If you follow these simple and basic tips, you can reduce your risk of becoming involved in a winter-weather accident in Detroit. For those who are not comfortable driving in the snow, it can also be smart to go to a deserted parking lot with someone who knows how to handle Detroit winter weather driving and to practice in a safe and empty area.

If you’ve been injured in Detroit or the surrounding areas, contact the Law Offices of Goodman Acker for a free case consultation. Call 1-566-366-8567.

While tragic and unforgivable, many of the medical mistakes that cause injury or illness are at least understandable in the sense that you could see how such mistakes could possibly occur. A recent study, however, provides some information on the prevalence of medical mistakes that should NEVER occur. These mistakes are called “never events,” because there is absolutely no excuse for them to ever happen.

Our Detroit medical malpractice attorneys are very concerned at the new study and at the implications it has for patients undergoing medical treatment. We urge every patient going into a hospital or seeking medical assistance to review this new information and to understand the risks. We also urge hospitals to pursue some important changes to make sure that “never events,” actually get to the point where they never happen.

“Never Events” are Far Too Common

“Never events” are defined as medical errors or mistakes that should not ever, under any circumstances, occur. Researchers at John’s Hopkins recently conducted a study to determine how often “never events,” are happening and they unfortunately found that they are very common.

“Never events” were defined as:

• Surgeons leaving things inside patients (surgical sponges, towels or instruments).
• Surgeons operating on the wrong body part or at the wrong incision site.
• Surgeons operating on the wrong patient.

Looking at this definition of “never events,” it is easy to see why they should never happen. There is a very big difference in the degree of negligence involved in leaving a sponge inside of a patient, versus administering the wrong dose of medicine or forgetting to wash your hands when providing medical care.

Yet, despite the fact that “never events” are so grievously wrong, the John’s Hopkins researchers found out that they happen all the time. According to the John’s Hopkins study, which looked back at old medical malpractice data, as many as 80,000 never events happened at hospitals in the U.S. between 1990 and 2010. Based on the past data collected and the incident rates, the researchers estimated that approximately 4,044 “never events” occur to surgical patients each year. Specifically, they believe that something is left in a patient 39 times per week. The wrong procedure is performed by a surgeon an estimated 20 times per week and a surgeon operates on an incorrect body part or at the wrong surgical site 20 times a week.

This data is frightening and hospitals need to strengthen their policies to prevent these “never events.” Requiring stricter oversight and reporting information for hospitals, and making that information publicly available, may also be useful steps in helping to stop “never events” from occurring quite so often.

If you’ve been injured due to medical malpractice in Detroit or the surrounding areas, contact the Law Offices of Goodman Acker for a free case consultation. Call 1-566-366-8567.

Our Detroit accident lawyers applaud the American Association for Justice efforts to bring attention to an important legal issue. Their grassroots activism can hopefully help people to learn the truth about tort reform and to learn how to take action to protect the effectiveness of the civil court system.

American Association for Justice Launches “Take Justice Back”

In November 2012, American Association for Justice announced their new campaign to fight corporate efforts to limit justice. The campaign is called “Take Justice Back” and it includes a website featuring:

• News on tort reform
• Personal stories from people affected by tort reform
• An explanation of the myths and realities of tort reform
• State specific information on tort reform laws
• Information on how individuals can take action

This website as well as other educational materials and campaign events will help to expose the truth about what corporations and special interests are doing and will provide a real way for consumers to get educated and protect themselves.

Understanding Tort Reform

The most well-known type of tort reform involves caps on economic damages, especially in medical malpractice cases. Michigan currently has damage caps in place limiting the amount a plaintiff can recover for non-monetary losses in medical malpractice cases.

These caps mean that if a jury awards more money to a plaintiff because of the harm the plaintiff has suffered, the award can be reduced. In 2009, for example, Michigan Live reports that a plaintiff in Michigan was awarded $15 million in a dental malpractice lawsuit against an oral surgeon. The plaintiff’s damages were reduced to $619,000 because of the damage cap.

Damage caps on medical malpractice lawsuits are a big problem for consumers who are at serious risk of being injured by careless doctors. In fact, as the American Association for Justice reports, an Institute of Medicine (IOM) study revealed that as many as 98,000 people are killed each year as a result of medical mistakes that were preventable.

Corporations are also limiting access to justice by including arbitration clauses in contracts that consumers are forced to sign. A recent case called AT&T Mobility made this issue much worse for consumer because forced arbitration clauses can now deny a consumer’s right to bring a class action lawsuit.

When a company commits many minor wrongs against a lot of customers, class actions are usually the only way to get justice. In many of these cases, it isn’t worth the time or money for any individual plaintiff to bring a single claim against the corporation. Without the ability to file class actions, the customers have no means of recourse against the company. Paypal, for example, is one company that has recently changed its contract to effectively forbid class actions according to Take Justice Back.

The Dangers of Tort Reform

When consumers are limited in their access to the courts, they are limited in their ability to get justice. When a jury awards $15 million, for example, this is because the plaintiff suffered $15 million worth of damage and pain at the hands of the careless dentist. An arbitrary damage cap saying that the plaintiff doesn’t deserve this is an unfair denial of rights and allows the doctor and his insurer to avoid paying what is due.

Take Justice Back is an important campaign because it aims to inform the public about the often-misunderstood subject of tort reform. With personal stories, news and ideas for activism, the campaign can hopefully make a real difference in protecting the rights of the public. The truth of the matter is that campaign donations are the only real reason a politician votes for such limits when he hopes the voters are not looking.

If you’ve been injured in an accident in Detroit or the surrounding areas, contact the Law Offices of Goodman Acker for a free case consultation. Call 1-566-366-8567.

As you spend time with your kids this holiday season, our Detroit accident attorneys urge you to take a few minutes to discuss some safe driving rules. We also urge you to make sure your own driving behavior is safe, as a new study shows that how parents drive can have a big impact on how kids drive.

Tips for Encouraging Teen Safe Driving

According to The Detroit Bureau, a recent study conducted by the University of Michigan Transportation Issue has shed some important light on teen driving behavior. According to the study:

• Almost 1/3 of all teenage drivers reported that they routinely read text messages while they are driving their cars.
• Around one out of every four teenagers indicate that they send or read texts each and every time they are driving.
• More than one out of every ten teen drivers indicates that they check their social media profiles, such as Facebook and Twitter, and update these profiles even as they are driving.
• Only one percent of parents think that their teenagers send or receive texts when driving.

These statistics reveal some important facts. First and foremost, they show that teenagers are doing very risky things when they are driving. The chance of getting in a car crash when texting is 23 times greater than the chances if you are not texting, according to Distraction.gov.

This means that all of those teenagers who are texting are taking a big risk with their own lives, with the lives of friends and passengers, and with the life of strangers on the roads. With around 40 percent of teenage passengers reporting that they’ve been in the car with someone doing something dangerous with a cell phone, it is clear why auto accidents are the number one killer of teens.

Your Behavior Affects Your Children’s Driving

This holiday season, you may wish to sit down and have a discussion with your kids about safe driving rules and about the dangers of driving while drunk, drowsy or distracted. The most important thing you can do, however is to set a good example for your kids. The University of Michigan study revealed that parents who engage in dangerous driving behaviors are more likely to have kids who also take unnecessary risks behind the wheel. According to the preliminary study findings:

• 1/3 of teenagers report that their parents use an electronic music device while driving although only 1/10 of parents reported that they actually did.
• 71% of teens say that parents will write down directions or read directions at the time when they are operating their vehicles, although only 55 percent of parents admit to this behavior.
• Teens who believe that their parents will look for something in the car while driving are four times as likely to also look for something when they are behind the wheel.
• Kids whose parents eat or drink while they are driving are twice as likely to eat or drink themselves.

Your kids, therefore, learn by example and mimic what you do. Set a good example so that you can help them stay safe. Be sure to pay attention this holiday season to your driving behavior and make sure you are modeling the right behavior. Not only will this help your teenager to be safer, but you’ll also keep yourself and others on the road safer as well by following good driving practices.

If you’ve been injured in an accident in Detroit or the surrounding areas, contact the Law Offices of Goodman Acker for a free case consultation. Call 1-566-366-8567.