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July 2018 Archives

Wrongful death lawsuit filed against duck boat operator

California residents may have read about a July 19 accident involving a World War II-era duck boat that claimed the lives of 17 people in Missouri. Relatives of two of the victims have filed a lawsuit against the tour operator involved seeking $100 million in damages and have called for the amphibious craft to be banned. The lawsuit mentions six other accidents involving duck boats, including a 1999 sinking in Arizona that claimed 13 lives, and it alleges that the National Transportation Safety Board has branded the vehicles unsafe.

Study reveals states where truck drivers are safest

California residents who drive commercial trucks for a living may be wondering which states are the safest for them and which are the most dangerous. Verizon Connect, a fleet management systems provider, has studied this very question. It analyzed the behavior of drivers from more than 6,200 of its fleet customers, including small and mid-size businesses with 2 to 200 light vans, pick-ups and big rigs, between October 2015 and September 2017.

The link between commercial truck drivers and drowsiness

Drowsy driving is a danger that many people in California are familiar with. Drowsiness can impairs judgment, reaction times, cognition and the sense of distance, and if the driver falls asleep, he or she is liable to collide with other vehicles or with pedestrians and even swerve off the road. It's estimated that over 100,000 accidents occur every year in the U.S. because of driver fatigue.

Cellphone use may be responsible for spike in pedestrian deaths

The Apple iPhone was first introduced in 2007. Since then, cellphone use in California and the rest of the U.S. has skyrocketed. Over the same period, pedestrian deaths have also sharply increased. Traffic safety experts believe the two phenomena are linked.

GHSA report reveals alarming rise in drug use by drivers

Police departments in California and around the country use breath testing equipment to reliably determine whether or not a driver is intoxicated by alcohol, but no such test currently exists to identify marijuana impairment. This is a problem because drug tests performed on motorists killed in accidents discovered traces of the drug 38 percent of the time according to a report from the Governors Highway Safety Association.