Tag Archives: california car accident lawyer

April Is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month

In an effort to reduce preventable car accidents due to driving while distracted, a national month-long campaign has been launched. April is National Distracted Driving Awareness month and police departments across California will be actively ticketing those caught texting or operating cell phones while behind the wheel.

Across most California cities drivers will be ticketed right away without being issued a warning, even if it is their first offense. The month-long campaign aims at reducing the danger that goes behind distracted driving.

Currently, the minimum citation is $159 for a first offender; subsequent tickets will cost at least $279.

Last year in California more than 57,000 tickets were issued statewide for texting and hand-held cell phone use. Year 2012 ended with nearly 450,000 convictions.

Authorities constantly remind the public that distracted driving is a serious traffic safety concern that puts others on the road at risk. It is simply not worth driving distracted, getting a ticket, or crashing. Reports show that in recent years, hundreds of people have been killed and thousands of people have been seriously injured in California as a result of collisions that involved at least one driver who was distracted on a cell phone.

At least 225 local California law enforcement agencies, along with the California Highway Patrol, will conduct zero tolerance enforcements this month.

Nationwide approximately 3,331 were killed in 2011. To prevent further deaths and injuries, police departments across California will increase to crack down on those who try to operate a cellphone and a vehicle at the same time.

“We all know that talking on our cell phones while driving is distracting, but that doesn’t stop some people from continuing to do it,” Foster City Police Department Chief Matt Martell told reporters.

“This effort is intended to educate our community about the dangers of cell phone use while driving. We hope that once people see the statistics and realize the danger involved, they will change their driving habits to help protect themselves, their families, and others on the road,” Martell stated.

Those who use hand-held devices while operating a vehicle are at least four times as likely to get into wreck that can cause injuries. Younger inexperienced drivers under 20-year-old have the highest proportion of distracted-related fatal crashes. Additionally, texting while driving can delay a driver’s reaction time just as severely as having a blood alcohol content of a legally drunk driver, per various studies on the subject.

Turn off your phone while driving and keep it that way until you’ve reached your destination and are no longer operating a vehicle.

If you were injured by a distracted driver, contact a California car accident lawyer today!

Brave Girl Travels Dark Rural Highway Alone after Car Accident Kills Dad

A young girl found help after she survived a single-car accident that killed her father. She had to extricate herself from the wrecked vehicle and travel a long and dangerous Southern California rural Highway on her own in the dark until she flagged down a passing vehicle. 

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New Rules in California Could Require 15 Percent of New Cars Be Electric by 2025

Sometimes all it takes is one state with a very large population to influence changes in industry.  That’s been the California story more than once, and the state added a new chapter this week. Air regulators for the state passed, by unanimous decision, new auto emission standards that call for 1.4 million electric and hybrid vehicles motoring on the state’s roads by 2025.

The rules that the California Air Resources Board enacted on Friday, January 27, 2012—requiring 1 in 7 news cars sold in 2025 be electric or no emissions vehicles—will have huge effects on the automobile industry. With such sweeping revisions to regulations by the Board, California changes the automobile market and creates greater opportunities for the sale of zero emission vehicles. Currently, the state has roughly 10,000 zero emissions vehicles on the road.

More than once, California has been on the cutting edge of air quality. The state has auto emissions standards that are stricter than federal ones, and 14 other states have followed California’s guidelines. California’s leading role in pursuing air quality have caused changes in the auto industry before. Through its ban of leaded gasoline, its requirement that vehicles have catalytic converters, and its limits on greenhouse emissions from vehicles, California has reshaped the vehicles that auto manufacturers have produced for the nation. The new air quality regulations will alter the automobile market once again.

In addition to the requirement that a greater percentage of vehicles on California’s road be electric by 2025, the state has also set new standards for gasoline and diesel vehicles. These include a dramatic reduction in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emissions, as well as greater fuel efficiency. Newer vehicles must achieve a performance with greater miles to the gallon. Faced with these stricter new requirements in a huge, auto-buying market, car manufacturers will, of necessity, have to produce far larger numbers of fuel-efficient gas vehicles.

For consumers, the Board predicts added costs to the purchase price of a new car, which could be $1,900, will be offset by a savings in gas purchases which could be as much as $5,900 over the life of the vehicle.

The benefits of the new regulations will be many. Anyone old enough to remember what it was like in California’s cities in decades past will remember the ugly, dark smog that dirtied the air and made it difficult to breathe for some. While smog is still a problem in the state, California’s groundbreaking legislation decades ago went a long way to improving the air quality. Of course, there’s always the pleasure of not having to fork over so much money to fill the tank. As the price per gallon of gasoline skyrocketed, car manufacturers learned that the public wouldn’t let new fuel-efficient cars sit on dealership lots for long.

With global pressures continuing, and the demand for gasoline rising in new markets, the price per gallon of gas is no doubt going to continue to increase. That makes fuel-efficient and all-electric vehicles more appealing to the buying public, increasing demand which will further lead to greater numbers of these vehicles on the road. In a short while, all-electric vehicles could be very commonplace in the U.S. A poll last year by the Public Policy Institute of California showed that a vast majority of Californians—84 percent—wanted the new rules that would require car manufacturers to improve gas mileage.

Improving air quality is a win for everyone. After all, we’re all breathing the same thing.

If you are in an accident, you need support. AA-Accident Attorneys provides their clients the expert legal help to win results. You can feel confident that the Los Angeles car accident lawyer who represents you knows your concerns, and the issues you face with crowded roads, freeways, and highways that can lead to automobile accidents, motorcycle accidents, bus accidents, and truck accidents. The car accident lawyer knows these issues from the inside and out—as a legal professional and as a citizen who shares the road and lives in the communities.

AA-Accident Attorneys serves clients in many locations across the United States, and has a car accident lawyer to represent you in San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange County, San Fernando Valley, Ontario, Newport Beach, Los Angeles, Fresno, San Jose, San Francisco, Sacramento, and Las Vegas.

Police Officer Kills Two People Crossing the Street

A police officer killed two pedestrians while they were walking a motorbike across the street.

The two people, a 24-year-old male and a 30-year-old woman, were walking a motorcycle across the street to get more gas when they were struck by a police car. Witnesses say that the police car was driving at twice the speed limit and did not have his sirens or headlights on, even though it was nighttime.

The police department said that they think the officer was responding to a call and had not yet turned his lights on because he was in a hurry.

The male victim leaves behind a wife and two children and the woman leaves behind three children.

No charges have been filed against the police officer.

If you are in an accident, you need support. AA-Accident Attorneys provides their clients the expert legal help to win results. You can feel confident that the Orange County car accident lawyer who represents you knows your concerns, and the issues you face with crowded roads, freeways, and highways that can lead to automobile accidents, motorcycle accidents, bus accidents, and truck accidents. The car accident lawyer knows these issues from the inside and out—as legal professionals and as citizens who share the road and live in the communities.

AA-Accident Attorneys serves clients in many locations across the United States, and has personal injury lawyer to represent you in San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange County, San Fernando Valley, Ontario, Newport Beach, Los Angeles, Fresno, San Jose, San Francisco, Sacramento, and Las Vegas.