California has one of the toughest graduated driver licensing programs in the country, designed to prevent accidents involving teen drivers. However, a new study that has just been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that while there has been a drop in accidents involving 16 and 17-year-old motorists, there has actually been a spike in the number of fatal traffic accidents involving 18-year-old drivers. The study seems to indicate that most of the accidents that should have involved 16 and 17-year-old motorists, are being postponed to when these drivers turn 18 and have full driving privileges.

According to an analysis of fatal crash accident data, there has been a decline of 1,340 deadly accidents involving 16-year-old drivers after graduated driver’s licensing programs were introduced around the country. However, there has been an increase of more than 1,000 accidents involving 18-year-old motorists. The overall conclusion is that graduated driver’s licensing programs are successful, but the degree of success isn’t so clear.

The researchers believe that the spike in accidents involving 18-year-old drivers could simply be because many drivers prefer to wait until they are 18 to get a driver’s license, because of all the restrictions of a provisional driver's license.

Los Angeles car accident lawyers take this to mean that inexperienced 18-year-old drivers are taking to the streets with a full driver’s license and not enough experience to be driving unsupervised. Additionally, driver licensing programs may also be too dependent on co-drivers, possibly taking away from some of the experience that a teen driver could have. Too much dependence on a co-driver does not allow the driver to develop important skills, like looking out for pedestrians and obstacles emerging from the side of the road, judging the speed and behavior of other motorists, and other skills.

Three construction workers were seriously injured in a fall accident at a construction site in San Francisco this week.

The accident occurred in the Dogpatch neighborhood, when the men were working on a six-story building project. They were pouring concrete when they fell three stories down, sustaining serious injuries. A fourth worker also suffered minor injuries.

The construction sector is one of the most dangerous workplaces for California workers, accounting for approximately one out of three fatalities annually. Fall accidents are some of the most serious construction site accidents, and also some of the most preventable ones. Most fall accidents can be prevented through the use of safer work platforms, elevated surfaces, and guardrails. These accidents can also be avoided if workers are provided fall protection gear when they are working at certain elevations.

Construction workers in California who are injured in accidents on a worksite may be eligible for monetary compensation for their injuries under the state’s Workers’ Compensation laws. Compensation after a construction accident can include damages for medical expenses and lost wages. Workers may also be eligible to file short-term and long-term disability claims.

However, in some cases, there may be third parties that may be liable for a construction worker’s injuries. For instance, when an accident is caused due to the negligence of a subcontractor, or a party other than the employer, the victim may have grounds to file a personal injury lawsuit against the party.

There are other types of construction accidents that may involve third party liability too. For instance, when an accident or injury is caused because of defective equipment, a California construction accident lawyer can often name the manufacturer of the equipment in a third-party lawsuit, opening up another avenue for compensation recovery.

Los Angeles County will soon begin an ambitious repair program of damaged bike paths between Torrance and Playa del Rey.  The bike trails along the stretch of coastal California have been in bad shape for a while now.  For bicyclists, the damaged trails have meant an increased risk of bike accidents.

The trail covers a 22-mile stretch between Torrance and Will Rogers State Beach in Pacific Palisades.  In September, a repair program planned by Los Angeles County will begin.  Repairs will include reconstruction of parts of the bike paths with fresh concrete, and smoothing over of patches at Dockweiler State Beach. 

Authorities have already begun alerting bicyclists to the repair program by placing orange cones on the paths.  The work is officially expected to commence on September 12.  The program will continue over the next two months.  The authorities want to have the bike paths fixed and ready to use before the Labor Day traffic, when bicyclist volumes are expected to increase.  The repairs will cost $400,000 in just the first phase of the program.  The second phase will be initiated later. 

Obviously, the repairs have been welcomed by the local bicycling community and Los Angeles bicycle accident lawyers, but what would be even better would be maintenance programs that continue even after the fresh biking trails are laid out.

Bicycle safety is an important issue during the summer months, when ridership typically increases.  Most bicycle accidents occur because of the negligence of motorists, who fail to look out for bikers.  However, bike accidents can also occur because of the lack of bike paths or the unsafe condition of existing biking paths.  Cracked asphalt, potholes, and debris can greatly increase a bicyclist’s risk of an accident.

The South Bay is the one of the best areas in the country for bicycling.  Unfortunately, Los Angeles bicycle accident lawyers have frequently found that bicycling has not been a viable form of transportation here because of the risks to bicyclists, and the lack of awareness about bicyclists’ rights.  The South Bay Bicycle Coalition wants to set that situation straight. 

The group has released the South Bay Bicycle Master Plan that would increase the number of miles of bike lanes and paths across the region.  The plan would also recommend policies and programs that would bring about a change in the current auto-centric culture in the South Bay.

A number of local cities already have bicycle plans in place, but these are not comprehensive, or have not been properly implemented.  The South Bay Bicycle Coalition plan would properly define bike lanes, bicycle paths and shared streets in seven local cities.  There will be another 235 miles added to the current 79-miles of bike paths, bike lanes and shared streets in this area.

The group hopes to not only expand the current biking network to include more bicycle lanes and bike paths, but also to encourage a bicycle safety culture that promotes the idea of people bicycling, not just for leisure, but also for work.  The aim is to get more people out of their cars and on to bicycles, by ensuring that they not only have the infrastructure to do so conveniently, but also safely.  Under the South Bay Bicycle Coalition plan, bicycling should be not just convenient and inexpensive, but also safe.

The South Bay Bicycle Coalition consists of bicyclists from a number of cities.  Founded in 2009, it had its first big victory in 2009 when it received a $240,000 federal grant aimed at reducing obesity.  The funds have since been used to conduct accident prevention workshops.

A piece of legislation that would provide for increased funding to enhance the current network of truck stop and resting facilities for tractor-trailer drivers, has been reintroduced in Congress.  Los Angeles truck accident attorneys hope that this time around Congress will pass Jason’s Law, thereby addressing a long-felt need in trucking safety. The last time the bill was introduced in Congress, it died without much progress. 

Jason’s Law was named after Jason Rivenburg, a tractor-trailer driver who died when he was attacked by a robber at an abandoned gas station.  Rivenburg had arrived early for a delivery, and finding no other place to park, had parked his truck at the gas station.  His widow has spearheaded efforts to have Jason’s Law passed. 

In this new version of the bill, the law would provide $20 million in annual funding to enhance the network of rest and parking facilities for truck drivers across the country.  The funding would also be used to construct new rest and parking facilities as well as to increase the capacity of current facilities to accommodate more trucks and larger tractor-trailers.

While federal rules strictly limit the number of hours that a truck driver can drive consecutively, a truck driver needs convenient access to safe rest stops and parking facilities if he is to pull over when tired.  Unfortunately, many states around the country have closed down dozens of truck stops in an effort to contain costs.  The result has been a lack of convenient access to enough numbers of truck stop and rest facilities for tractor-trailer drivers. 

The lack of enough parking facilities means that a trucker may have no other option but to continue to drive while tired.  The other option would be to pull over on the side of highway, or park the truck in an abandoned and potentially dangerous place, like Jason Rivenburg did. 

A frightening report by the Department of Health and Human Services seems to suggest that thousands of nursing residents in 2007 may have been given heavy doses of antipsychotic medication even when there was no need for such medication.  According to the report, which analyzed more than 300,000 nursing home residents in 2007, more than 90% of residents were given powerful antipsychotic medications that are typically used to treat serious mental conditions, like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

These patients were given antipsychotic medications even though there is evidence to prove that these medications can have harmful consequences in people who suffer from dementia.  The revelations from the report came after a member of Congress began to ask questions about how many nursing home residents in the country received antipsychotic drugs.

What is really frightening to Los Angeles elder abuse lawyers is that the pharmaceutical industry may have been involved in influencing medication of elders in nursing homes.  According to the review, approximately 83% of Medicare claims filed by nursing residents were for off-label uses, which means that these medications had not been approved for the purposes for which they were administered. In California, federal data suggests that such medications are used in approximately a quarter of all nursing home residents in the state.

There is evidence to suggest that pharmaceutical companies aggressively promote the use of antipsychotic medications in hospital and nursing home facilities.  Not long ago, Eli Lilly pleaded guilty to criminal charges that it aggressively promoted the use of its antipsychotic drug Zyprexa to doctors, including those who treat nursing home patients.  Besides, other companies including Bristol- Meyers Squibb, and Pfizer have also settled allegations that they pushed the use of some of their antipsychotic medications for unapproved uses.

The improper use of these antipsychotic medications in the elderly can prove deadly.  Overmedication of elders is just one of the ways that nursing home residents may be subjected to abuse.

Los Angeles pedestrian accident lawyers, who have strongly promoted greater use of technology to prevent pedestrian accidents, will be pleased by a new study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.  The study looks at how the use of technological aids, including forward collision warning systems that include pedestrian detection, can help prevent pedestrian accident fatalities. 

The Insurance Institute researched the most common kinds of pedestrian accidents, in an effort to understand what kinds of technologies would help prevent these accidents.  Research showed that the most common kinds of accidents occurred when a person was crossing the road and a car was coming straight ahead.  In these cases, there was nothing blocking the driver's view of the pedestrian.  Most of such accidents occurred in the daytime, while the fatal ones were more common at night.  The research pinpoints the accident prevention possibilities from cars that include forward collision warning systems that come with pedestrian detection.

One such system has been introduced by Volvo in its F9 sedan that was introduced in the United States last year.  Although forward collision warning systems have been available on automobiles for a couple of years now, those that come with pedestrian detection systems are fairly new.  Forward collision warning systems can detect an object in the automobile’s path, and alert the driver to the presence of the object, preventing an accident.  Pedestrian detection systems work in the same manner, but alert the driver to the presence of a pedestrian in its path.

However, a pedestrian detection system that warns the driver just when a pedestrian is right in front of the car may not be sufficient to prevent an accident.  The Insurance Institute report studied how countries in the European Union are dealing with this problem.  In the EU, automakers are experimenting with modifying the front of the vehicle so it causes fewer injuries to the pedestrian. 

In the U.S. however, efforts by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to push through similar requirements for automobiles in this country, have failed.  The NHTSA simply decided to stop pushing for such requirements, possibly because of a drop in pedestrian fatalities across the country.  Just because there has been a decline in pedestrian accident fatalities is no reason for the NHTSA to stop focusing on pedestrian safety, especially considering the seriousness of fatalities and debilitating injuries that occur in pedestrian accidents.

It isn't only pet or stray dogs that are involved in dog bite incidents.  A case in New Jersey involving a service dog that attacked a young girl, illustrates that people may be in danger of attack from these animals too.

In this case, the service dog in training was used by a nine-year-old child who suffers from brain cancer.  The little girl has had multiple surgeries, and frequently suffers from dizziness.  She is dependent on the dog to keep her from falling.  However, the dog was recently involved in an attack involving a six-year-old girl. 

The victim was a neighbor of the family.  According to the parents of that little girl, the dog bite left their child with serious injuries to her face.  It was a traumatic attack, and the child needed more than 100 stitches on her face.  The child was left with a huge gash that ran down the length of her nose, and required surgery.  She may need many more surgeries in the future.

Next week, a judge will decide whether the service dog is a vicious animal.  The family that uses the service dog is appealing to the judge to not to rule the dog as a vicious animal.  According to the family of the little girl, this was the first bite incident involving the dog.  However, according to the family of the victim, the dog should not be returning to the neighborhood at all.

The victims’ family’s concern over this dog is understandable.  This is one decision that will not be easy for the judge to make. 

Service dogs are used by thousands of people with disabilities.  However, it is important to remember that these are animals, and no matter how well they are trained, may react with natural instincts in some circumstances.  Los Angeles dog bite lawyers advise families of service dogs to treat their dogs as working animals, and avoid using them for rough play.

The month of April is being commemorated as National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, but few states will mark these 30 days as strongly as California will.  The country's most populous state also has some of the strongest laws against distracted driving.  It was one of the first states to enact laws banning the use of hand-held cell phones while driving and texting while driving.  Not surprisingly, there are special distracted driving awareness campaigns planned in Los Angeles over this month, including extra crackdowns. 

These laws haven't worked as well as Los Angeles car accident lawyers have hoped however.  According to the Los Angeles Police Department, despite these laws, motorists in California continue to use hand-held cell phones and text while driving.  The Los Angeles Police Department therefore has promised to focus harder on combating distracted driving this month.  The LAPD will have a zero-tolerance policy for cell phone use and texting while driving this month.  If you're texting while driving in Los Angeles, expect police officers on duty to pull you over.  Those who are pulled over can expect penalties that can exceed $250. 

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, distracted driving contributes to more than 6,000 accident fatalities every year.  While much of the focus this month will be on the distractions from cell phone use while driving, there are other distractions that can initiate a fatal or injurious accident.  These include reading, changing radio stations and performing any other activities that take attention away from the road.

This April, and the rest of the year, switch off your cell phone while driving or put it out of reach when you get into the car.  Change your voicemail to let callers know that you are unable to take their calls while you're driving.  If you need to make an emergency call or have to take an important call, do so safely.

Motorists traveling on the notorious freeways of Los Angeles have more than speeding, drunk or distracted drivers to worry about.  While Los Angeles car accident lawyers recommend defensive driving to prevent accidents caused by drunk motorists or drivers on their cell phones, it will do little to prepare you for a hammer headed towards your car at 65 mph.  Road debris in California contributes to a high number of accidents every year, although the exact number is hard to determine.  That's because in most of these accidents, the driver of the vehicle that drops the cargo, is not even aware that objects from the vehicle have fallen on the freeway.

In Los Angeles, the California Highway Patrol is kept busy removing cargo, objects and debris on highways.  The kind of objects that the CHP is called upon to remove can be varied, and range from furniture and appliances to tools.  Often, vehicles that offload objects are being driven by motorists on a move between apartments. 

The main cause for an object falling off a vehicle is improper or inadequate securing of the load.  At freeway speeds, a single rope holding a couch together can snap in an instant, causing the couch to go flying off the vehicle and onto the road, and into some other vehicles nearby.

The toll from these road debris-related accidents, is heavy.  Most times, these accidents occur when motorists are trying to avoid the debris and swerve suddenly, losing control of their vehicle and crashing into other vehicles nearby.  In other cases, serious injuries are caused when the debris flies through the windshield of nearby cars, injuring occupants.  Serious injuries can result when even a small pebble flies through a windshield at 65 mph.  Holding drivers responsible for accidents caused by debris from their vehicles can be a challenge, but not impossible.