A lawsuit has been filed in DuPage County, Illinois, on behalf of a 38-year-old man who sustained serious and permanent injuries after being rear-ended in an auto collision on August 27, 2013. At the time of the accident, the plaintiff’s vehicle was stopped in traffic in the westbound lanes of I-88 in York Township, when […]
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A Look at Impaired Driving from the NHTSA
A 2014 survey of U.S. drivers shows that the issue of impaired driving has changed significantly over recent years. The Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Drug Use by Drivers is conducted periodically by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The survey was first conducted in 1973. Since its inception, the survey has shown a dramatic […]
A Campaign to Increase Seat Belt Use
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched a new campaign focusing on seat belt use. The campaign specifically targets parents and children aged 8 to 14. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adult seat belt use tops the list of ways to reduce injuries and fatalities in motor vehicle accidents. […]
New Chairman of the NTSB Confirmed
In a unanimous vote, the U.S. Senate confirmed Christopher Hart as the new chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. Mr. Hart has been acting chairman of the NTSB since April, when Deborah A.P. Hersman left to become the president and CEO of the National Safety Council. The confirmation allows Christopher Hart to officially begin […]
NHTSA Changes Crash Data Policy
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does not investigate every motor vehicle crash. There are far too many crashes to review each one. Instead, the NHTSA uses a sampling of crashes to analyze overall trends. More than 20 sites have been designated for this sampling, including Chicago and Los Angeles. Since 1988, the NHTSA has […]
Transportation Safety Data Released
The National Transportation Safety Board released its preliminary data concerning 2013 transportation fatalities. According to NTSB figures, 34,678 people were killed across all modes of transportation in 2013. That represents a slight decrease from 2012, during which 35,796 died in transportation accidents. The data groups all deaths from highway accidents, aviation accidents, marine, rail and […]
Industrial Accident Lawsuit Filed following Belvidere, Illinois, Factory Worker’s Death
March 2, 2015 This morning a lawsuit was filed in Rockford by the family of a 21-year-old man who was killed as a result of an industrial accident that occurred on June 10, 2014, at the Ventra Belvidere, LLC, plant. The victim, a graduate of Harlem High School class of 2010, was employed by Ventra […]
Rise in Large Verdicts in Defective Product Cases
For 10 years, there were no jury verdicts of $1 billion or more in cases involving defective products. In 2014, that trend stopped with several verdicts exceeding that total. Some have tied the absence of large verdicts from 2004 to last year to extensive lobbying efforts by “tort reform” groups. Others suggest that the gap […]
Final Tally of Auto Recalls Announced
By June of last year, it became clear that the total number of vehicles recalled in 2014 would be an all-time record. The final tally is in and just shy of 64 million vehicles were recalled for safety defects, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The number of vehicles recalled last year was […]
New Recommendations for the FAA
The more time that passes following an accident, the harder it is to determine the cause of that accident. The National Transportation Safety Board is asking the Federal Aviation Administration to make several changes it hopes will allow plane crashes to be found faster and will aid in investigating those crashes. The eight recommendations from […]
NBTA Mid-Winter Convention Report
Last weekend attorney David Rapoport attended the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) Mid-Winter Board Meeting in Houston, Texas. Mr. Rapoport is in his second year serving as President of the NBTA. The NBTA was the first American Bar Association (ABA) accredited attorney board certification program. NBTA’s Board of Directors, which Mr. Rapoport chairs, is […]
Rapoport Sims Perry & VanOverloop, P.C., Files Lawsuit After Baby Suffers Brain Damage During Birth
Rapoport Sims Perry & VanOverloop has filed a lawsuit in Brown County, Wisconsin, after a baby boy suffered a brain injury during birth. The lawsuit alleges the baby’s mother arrived at the hospital for labor and delivery after an uncomplicated full-term pregnancy. Upon admission all signs indicated the baby was in good health, but during […]
Lawsuit Against School District 207-U and Bus Driver for Injury-Causing Collision
Rapoport Sims Perry & VanOverloop filed suit today in the Circuit Court of Will County, Illinois, on behalf of a 55-year-old woman who was seriously injured after her vehicle was struck by a school bus. The lawsuit, filed against Peotone School District 207-U and the bus driver, alleges the driver left a stop sign and […]
Officer Discusses Truck Accident That Nearly Claimed His Life
Illinois State Trooper Douglas Balder discussed the truck accident that injured him and killed a tollway worker on the one-year anniversary of the incident. When asked about the crash, he said, “I view it as a failure of the system to take care of us.” Officer Balder was not the only Illinois policeman involved in […]
Sleep Apnea in the Aviation Industry
The sleep disorder known as sleep apnea has safety implications in the transportation industry. People who suffer from sleep apnea suffer from interruptions in their breathing during sleep. These interruptions can occur frequently throughout the night, causing a victim to experience significant fatigue even after a normal-length sleep period. In addition to drowsiness, victims may […]
Distracted Driving Is About More Than Texting
Distracted driving is a massive problem that has garnered more attention since cell phone use became commonplace. Cell phones are far from the only cause of distracted driving, however. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that 2012 saw more than 3,300 deaths and 421,000 injuries caused by distracted drivers. According to Forbes, more than […]
Increased Focus on Trucking Safety Needed for 2015
The National Transportation Safety Board released its priority list of safety initiatives for 2015 this week. Trucking safety appears on the list and was the subject of some pointed remarks directed toward regulators. The NTSB pointed out that it has made more than 100 recommendations of ways to improve truck safety that have not been […]
Problematic Megabus Taken Out of Commission
December saw two Megabus crashes in Indiana and a third removed from service following an inspection. The company had another vehicle crash last October. The incidents are calling into question the fitness of the carrier and the safety of its fleet of buses. The most recent incident involved a bus declared out of service for […]
What Is Working in Reducing U.S. Auto Deaths
According to the Fatality Analysis Reporting System census numbers, the United States has seen a 25 percent drop in traffic deaths since 2004. The Secretary of the Department of Transportation has stated that the U.S. fatality rate is “at its lowest point ever.” In 2013, the country saw 1.10 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles […]
Is the United States Lagging in Auto Safety?
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has frequently repeated its goal of eliminating traffic deaths throughout the country. Vision Zero is the term used to describe this admirable goal. Several U.S. cities have adopted traffic safety measures with the stated goal of achieving zero traffic deaths. As a nation, the picture is not so rosy. […]
