• Want to Thwart Teen Texting? There’s an App for That!
• Decide to Drive
• Three Common Mistakes Made by Teen Drivers
• Young Victim Pushes for Cell Phone Ban
• NC Drivers Still Breaking Simple Laws

VIDEOS
In addition to blogs, we also create videos about important health, medical, and legal topics. To see all of our available videos, please visit our YouTube channel here:  HensonFuerst YouTube Channel.  Here are links to some of our motor vehicle and car wreck videos:

• What to Do If You Are in a Car Wreck
• How Much Car Insurance Should I Get?
• Do You Need To Hire a Lawyer after a Car Wreck?
• What to Keep in the Trunk of Your Car to Prepare for a Wreck
• Why Motorcycle Wreck Cases Are Different from Car Wreck Cases

North Carolina state law enforcement says that new laws against texting while driving and hidden tags created last year to keep the state’s roadways safer have done little to eliminate the problems. WRAL News reported yesterday that state troopers are issuing citations for as many–if not more–citations for the texting and driving than they ever have before.

A statewide ban on texting and driving went into effect in in 2009, but the state offered almost a year of leniency before beginning to strictly enforce the regulation. North Carolina State Trooper, Sgt. Jeff Gordon, stated that in the first three quarters of this year, the State Highway Patrol has written more than 650 tickets to drivers who were texting behind the wheel.

Another major problem law enforcement is still facing is the problem of hidden tags on vehicle. Gordon says that often times large plate frames obstruct the information on a tag. Since a law was enacted over a year ago banning the use of anything that may obstruct tag information, troopers have issued tickets on 130 separate occasions for the infraction.

The North Carolina Car Accident Lawyers with HensonFuerst often work with victims of accidents caused by distracted driving. If you have been hurt in an accident due to another driver not paying enough attention to the road, contact us by filling out a free initial consultation form to discuss your case with an experienced team of attorneys.

A wreck involving a car and two tractor-trailers in Rowland, North Carolina, has left one person dead. According to WRAL News, the accident happened Thursday around 5:00 AM, along the northbound lanes of I-95.

State Troopers say the driver of one of the tractor-trailers crashed after veering into the center of the road and over correcting. The truck then overturned and skid to a halt, blocking lanes in both directions. A car traveling in the same direction behind the truck did not have time to respond to the wreck and the two vehicles collided. Another tractor-trailer traveling southbound swerved to miss the overturned truck and ran over the passenger side of the wrecked car, killing the person in the font seat of the vehicle.

The crash affirms North Carolina’s number six spot on the top ten states with accidents involving tractor-trailers. Reports by the North Carolina Highway Patrol show that most of those accidents occur because of driver fatigue and safety/maintenance issues with the vehicles. Channel 11 News reports that in 2009, out of the 9.3 million trucks that passed through North Carolina weigh stations, 50 percent had maintenance issues that needed to be addressed. Of those, 12 percent were deemed inoperable and taken off the road immediately.

The North Carolina Truck Accident Lawyers with HensonFuerst understand the dangers that tractor-trailers can pose to drivers on highways and have experience helping victims that were involved in accidents with big rigs at no fault of their own. If you have been hurt, get in touch with us today so we can talk with you about your case.

From today, Friday, August 19 through Monday, September 5, the state will see checkpoints and stepped-up patrols in an effort to remove impaired drivers from the roads. How much of a force will be rallied? Well, in 2010, the Labor Day Booze It & Lose It campaign conducted more than 11,000 patrols and checkpoints.

“As summer comes to an end, law enforcement officers across the state will be removing impaired drivers from our roads,” North Carolina’s Transportation Secretary Gene Conti said. “Celebrating responsibly is simple; plan ahead and always designate a sober driver.”

According to the GHSP, in 2010, there were 500 alcohol-related crashes in North Carolina during the Labor Day campaign, resulting in 20 fatalities and 395 injuries. In addition, officers charged more than 3,200 North Carolina motorists with driving while impaired.

Enjoy summer, but please don’t drink and drive… you risk the loss of your license, at the very least.

An accident involving a tractor-trailer and numerous passenger vehicles on Interstate 40 left three people dead and the driver of the tractor-trailer behind bars. According to WRAL News, the Thursday afternoon crash happened at the Durham-Orange County line, on a stretch of the interstate where its three lanes are dropped to two.

Authorities are still investigating the cause of the accident, but currently believe the driver reacted too late to the closure of the left lane, and did not have enough road or time to stop his semi before plowing through three other vehicles. The truck initially hit a man driving a Ford F-250, embedding the smaller truck in the semi’s grill. It then proceeded to hit a woman in a Chevrolet Equinox before crashing into a third vehicle, which burst into flames and was too badly burned to identify. All three passenger vehicle drivers died at the scene of the crash.

The truck driver escaped the accident unscathed, as far as injuries, but authorities have brought numerous charges against him following the crash. He is currently being held in county jail under a $500,000 bond, and is facing charges for two counts of felony death by vehicle and one count of misdemeanor death by vehicle, in addition to charges for possession of marijuana, Methadone, and drug paraphernalia.

North Carolina Truck Accident Lawyers with HensonFuerst know that time is valuable in the aftermath of a truck accident, and that prompt investigations can make all the difference in these cases. Visit their website for essential steps and procedures to take following involvement in a truck accident.

Details are slowly being brought to light by authorities regarding a tour bus accident that killed the driver, a former North Carolina State University standout. The accident report, which was released yesterday, says that the bus was traveling five miles over the speed limit.

According to WRAL News, the accident occurred Monday on Interstate 40 near the Highway 54 exit. The bus veered off of the highway, and traveled more than 380 feet down the shoulder of the highway and crossed the on-ramp from eastbound Chapel Hill Road. It then ran into a wooded area and struck several trees, redirecting the vehicle back towards the highway, where it came to rest. The vehicle sustained heavy damage to the front end and the driver was pronounced dead at the scene.

Thankfully, no passengers were aboard the bus at the time of the accident, and no other vehicles were involved. Although the accident report has been released, the exact cause of the accident is still under investigation.

The man who was killed in the accident is best remembered as the NCSU basketball star that made the game winning slam-dunk during the 1983 NCAA basketball tournament finals.

The North Carolina truck accident attorneys with HensonFuerst say that commercial bus drivers must undergo many of the same tests and follow many of the same regulations as drivers of semi trucks and can be held responsible if an accident occurs and is found to be their fault.

According to an article published in the News & Observer, there were 1,312 road fatalities last year in North Carolina. Dr. Garrison believes all of those deaths could have been prevented.

“In the emergency room, we see lots of hurt people from car wrecks,” Garrison, 57, told the Road Worrier. “Having fatality-free highways is not an unrealistic goal, but it’s one we need to keep working at every day.”

His provocative 5-point plan for eliminating road deaths is:

1. Make 17 the minimum driving age.
2. Create special courts for DWE cases to boost conviction rates…and alcohol interlocks mandatory for all DWI offenders.
3. Ban hand-held phone use while driving.
4. Build more bike lanes and sidewalks.
5. Add proven road design elements: more roundabouts at intersections, and make rumble strips standard on road shoulders and center lines.

Dr. Garrison also would like to see stricter enforcement of seatbelt laws and speed limits.

According to the article in the North Carolina Medical Journal:

Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, said recently that “society should treat traffic fatalities as a disease to be eliminated.”

We agree. It will take effort on all our parts, but nothing tremendously burdensome. It comes down to recognizing that the way we’ve always done things may not be the best way. It’s easy to get irritated when asked to put down the cell phone, but there is a greater good: The traffic death you prevent may be a family member or a friend. HensonFuerst applauds Dr. Garrison for publishing his insights, and we hope that North Carolina takes steps to move toward his traffic utopia.

Resources

To read the full medical journal article, click here: Is Fatality-Free Travel on North Carolina’s Streets and Highways Feasible? It’s Time to Think the Unthinkable.

To read the full newspaper article, click here:  News & Observer

And please feel free to visit our website for more information about the legal aspects of motor vehicle wrecks: HensonFuerst

A tractor trailer driver could face criminal charges following a North Carolina truck accident, goblueridge.net reports.

The passenger with the driver was killed in the North Carolina truck accident when the truck ran off the road. The truck driver could be charged with excessive speeding.

The truck driver remains hospitalized after the North Carolina truck accident.

Read more.

Do you think drivers are more likely to speed on certain roads in your area? Do you feel intimidated by trucks on the highway?

If you or someone you know has been involved in a North Carolina truck accident, the North Carolina truck accident lawyers at Henson Fuerst Attorneys can help.

According to an article in the January-February 2011 issue of AAA magazine, the problem is so pervasive that UPS teaches its drivers to complete routes without making left-hand turns!

“Basically, our longstanding policy has always been to train our drivers to plan routes in loops so they always make only right turns,” says Ronna Branch of UPS.

To make left turns less risky, AAA.com offers these recommendations:

1. Find the balance between aggressive and timid driving. Aggressive drivers often overestimate their ability to cross an intersection safely; timid drivers hesitate, linger too long in an intersection, and create a hazard for other drivers. AAA teaches that if the light is green and no other vehicle is ahead of you preparing for the same left turn, it is usually safe to enter the intersection and wait for your time to turn.
2. Keep wheels pointed straight. Even though you may want to turn your wheels to the left in preparation for the turn, this is actually dangerous. If your stopped car is hit from behind, the force of the impact along with turned wheels could push you directly in the line of oncoming traffic. If your wheels are straight, a similar impact will push your car straight.
3. Stay patient. Don’t make a turn until you are positive that it is safe—ignore impatient drivers around you.
4. Plan for right turns only. There’s no glory in a left turn. As AAA.com says, “The safest left turn is the one you don’t make.” If you are in a city or town with roads laid on a grid, it is often easier to drive one block past your intended intersection, take a right at the next street…then another right…then another right. In that case, three rights make a left! (This is less effective in the country, when roads are more likely to wind for miles.)

To read the full article, visit the website at AAA.com.

At HensonFuerst Attorneys, we represent a lot of people who have been injured in wrecks involving left turns in intersections. If you want to learn more about your legal options following a wreck, please feel free to visit our dedicated web page: Motor vehicle collisions. Or, if you prefer the personal touch, call us anytime at 1-800-4LAW-MED. If you have questions, HensonFuerst has answers.

copyright Fraunhofer IDMT

It won’t be in next year’s model cars, but there is a terrific new device that could become a built-in standard in the next few years.

According to an article in ScienceDaily, German researchers have developed a system that tracks a driver’s eye movements. If the driver’s eyes close for too long, the device emits a loud warning sound to keep the driver from nodding off to sleep.

The special feature of the Eyetracker is that it can be installed in any model of car. There is no need for a complicated calibration of the cameras…. There is also another benefit: The system does not require a PC or a laptop.

And get this: The Eyetracker is about half the size of a matchbox, and can be mounted behind the sun visor or in the dashboard. This tiny camera system could help save lives by preventing people from drifting off the road as they drift off to sleep.

To read the full article about the Eyetracker, click here: ScienceDaily