Category Archives: Impaired Driving

Noteworthy Items from NHTSA’s 2016 Fatal Motor Vehicle Crash Data

15 October
2017

The NHTSA recently released its 2016 fatal motor vehicle crash data.  Noteworthy among the data are the following:

Nationally, there were 37,461 fatalities during 2016, a 5.6 increase from 2015. Pedestrian fatalities increased by 492, a 9.0% increase from 2015 and the highest number since 1990. The fatality rate per 100 million Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) increased by 2.6% from 1.15 in 2015 to 1.18 in 2016. Fatalities in distraction related crashes were 9.2% of total fatalities in 2016. Approximately 28% of all fatalities were in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes (29% in California). There were 11.5 times as many un-helmeted motorcyclist fatalities in States without universal helmet laws (1,923 un-helmeted fatalities) as in States with universal helmet laws (166 un-helmeted fatalities).

Heartbreaking and Avoidable Death of 6-year-old Aniket Gadre

04 July
2016

As reported by several news agencies, Aniket Gadre, a young boy, was tragically killed while walking with his mother in the parking lot of San Jose’s Westfield Oakridge Shopping Center during the evening of June 30, 2016.  According to witnesses, a Mercedes automobile traveling at low speed, apparently looking for a parking spot, fatally struck Aniket.  As a Bay Area pedestrian accident lawyer who has handled many such cases, distracted driving is a huge factor in many fatal and severe injury incidents. While we frequently see drivers take their eyes off the path in which their vehicle is traveling, it is negligent to do so.  This comes at the same time that the NHTSA has released its crash data showing a dramatic increase in pedestrian fatalities, as I reported in my earlier blog post.

Pedestrian and Bicycling Deaths Increased Dramatically in 2015 Nationally and Statewide

04 July
2016

The NHTSA has released their preliminary analysis of 2015 crash data. Traffic deaths nationally increased 7.7% over 2014, 6% in California, with 9 out of 10 geographic regions reporting increases. Bicycling deaths nationally increased a startling 13%, while pedestrian deaths increased an equally troubling 10%. The data is still being analyzed but the NHTSA reports that human factors such as distracted driving and young drivers to be primary factors. This of course comes as no surprise to San Francisco Bay Area drivers who constantly witness distracted driving activity on our roads due to drivers’ use of smartphones. Congressional action and local strict enforcement are clearly needed.

Reporting Unsafe Drivers In Order To Prevent Accidents

15 April
2016

In my humble opinion, we have a duty as citizens to report unsafe drivers in order to prevent traffic accidents. If one knows of an incompetent or chronically impaired driver, there is action that can be taken to report that person and thereby hopefully eventually remove that person from the road, either temporarily or permanently, in order to prevent fatalities and injuries. If we are out driving and observe someone exhibiting unsafe driving behavior, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) wants us to report it while it is happening by calling 911. There is also a procedure for reporting such drivers to the DMV. The DMV has a Form (DS 699) Request For Driver Reexamination, which can be found online, by which ordinary citizens can report to the DMV unsafe drivers known to them. I recently used this form to report an extremely elderly man who I observed for several minutes exhibiting incompetent driving behavior on Highway 101. While I should have notified the CHP immediately, I later used the DS 699 to report the driver using the car plate number and vehicle and driver description.

Livermore Labs CFO Kathy Baker Killed By Elderly “Pedal Confused” Driver

23 September
2015

Tragically, another life has been taken by an elderly unfit driver purportedly suffering from so-called “pedal confusion”, i.e., hitting the gas pedal instead of the brake.  Kathy Baker, the beloved CFO of Lawrence Livermore Labs, was killed on 9/22/15 during her early morning workout at the LifeStyleRx Fitness Center in Livermore when an 80-year-old female Livermore resident (identified by ABC News as Mineko Deakin) drove her Mercedes ML350 SUV through the front of the gym and kept going, evidently mentally confused.  Five or six others were reportedly injured.

Unfortunately, this scenario of an elderly person who, due to mental or physical disabilities brought on by age or illness, injures or kills innocent victims, is all too common and too little is being done to prevent such accidents.  In my decades of practice as a car accident lawyer, I have found that drivers quite often drive long past the point at which they are competent to do so.  According to ABC News, Ms. Deakin reportedly had approximately 18 months previously jumped the same curb and nearly run into the same fitness center but no police report was made due to lack of injuries or damage.

While much can be recovered by the victim’s family from the driver’s car insurance, umbrella insurance, assets, and under certain circumstances even from the driver’s physicians or the premises owner’s insurance, nothing can fully compensate the victim’s family for their immeasurable loss.