New Tires can be Old and Dangerous

We all know that car passenger tires need to be changed from time to time, either due to deterioration from normal wear and tear or due to some unpreventable damage from a nail or other hazard in the road.

What consumers may not know is that even before your tires show wear or damage they may already be dangerous or defective due to their age. Moreover, when you replace your tires, your new tires may be old and defective even though they haven't traveled a mile on the road. The tire industry has readily acknowledged that the older the tire the more likely it is to fail and cause serious injuries.  Accordingly it is important to protect yourself and your loved ones by researching the age of the tires that are currently on your car and those that are to be installed. 

Finding out the age of your tire is fairly simple, each tire is stamped with a Department of Transportation (DOT) number.  Tires made after the year 2000 have a four digit code that conveys this information- the first two numbers will read from 01-52 which represents the week of the year they were manufactured; the last two numbers will, for example, read 05 which means it was manufactured in the year 2005.  So a DOT number of 2005 means the tire was made in the 20th week of 2005. 

You can read about how dangerous old tires are here, and find out more information about how to read the information on your tires here. 

If you or a loved one has been hurt in a car crash you should promptly investigate whether the reason behind the crash is a defective tire.  The personal injury trial attorneys of Tekell & Atkins, L.L.P. will assist you in this investigation free of charge.    

Study Confirms Distracted Driving Higher Among Teens

  The Bridgestone tire company recently commissioned a nationwide survey on distracted driving that showed that:

• many young drivers are in denial about their distracted driving tendencies;
• girls are far more likely to engage in distracted behavior behind the wheel than boys; and
• parents often set bad examples.

A New York Times article summarizing the survey can be found here.

The survey results confirm the overwhelming amount of research proving the dangers of driving while distracted. Prior studies are discussed here, here, here, and here.

If you want to know more about the dangers of distracted driving or would like to arrange a special presentation on the dangers of distracted driving for your community, school, or civic group please contact Aaron M. Mutnick of Tekell & Atkins, L.L.P. at 254-776-5095.

Rearview Cameras Mandatory?

A recent New York Times article has reported that Federal regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are proposing a rule that would require automakers to put rearview cameras in all passenger vehicles by 2014 to help drivers see what is behind them.  As the Times reported, about two children die every week and another 50 are injured when someone accidentally backs over them in a vehicle, and more than two-thirds of the time a parent or other close relative is behind the wheel.

 

Nationwide Ban on Cell Phone Use in Cars?

A gruesome work zone collision involving two school buses, a semi-truck, and a pick-up prompted the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to recommend that all 50 states and the District of Columbia ban the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices (except GPS devices) for all drivers.

The NTSB's executive summary of the crash states that on August 5, 2010 in Gray Summit, Missouri a driver of a 2007 GMC Sierra pick-up rear-ended a stopped truck-tractor with no trailer.  Seconds later, the first bus in a convoy of two school buses ran into the pick-up and then the second bus rear-ended the first bus. The collision resulted in the deaths of the pick-up driver and a passenger in the first school bus, and 37 other people suffered minor to serious injuries.

The NTSB determined that the probable cause of this horrific crash was "distraction, likely due to a text messaging conversation being conducted by the GMC pickup driver."

The NTSB recommended that the Wireless Association and the Consumer Electronics Association encourage the development of technology features that disable the functions of portable electronic devices within reach of the driver when a vehicle is in motion again with the caveat that it may be used for emergencies.

Insurance Companies Hurting Doctors and Patients

A recent 5th Circuit opinion  exposed what is an all too familiar problem for doctors and their patients: health insurance companies refusing to pay for treatment after expressly authorizing the treatment.

According to the 5th Circuit, this scenario "is reenacted each day across the country" and usually unfolds as follows:

• A patient visits their doctor to receive treatment for a medical condition.  
• The doctor diagnoses the condition and recommends a medical treatment plan. 
• For some patients the medical treatment plan may require additional treatments, surgery, and medical devices (implants, prosthetic, other equipment.)
• The doctor then contacts the patient's insurance company to see if the requested treatment is covered under the patient's health insurance policy.
• If the patient's health insurance policy confirms that the treatment or device is covered the doctor then proceeds with the treatment.
• The doctor then sends a bill to the patient's health insurance for the services or treatment provided, but the insurance company refuses to pay what it had previously agreed was covered.
• The doctor then may seek reimbursement from the patient who is unlikely to be able to pay for this unplanned financial burden, which can uncomfortably transform the patient/doctor relationship into the debtor/creditor relationship.  

The good news for doctors and patients is that the 5th Circuit has now decided that even health insurance companies that issue group policies, or ERISA policies, which are normally regulated by a more lax federal law, can now be held liable under more stringent Texas Insurance and Consumer laws.

Therefore if you are a Texas doctor or Texas patient whose health insurance has authorized medical treatment only to deny coverage after you received treatment, you may have a claim against the health insurance company who is now denying coverage.   

Texting While Driving Doubles Reaction Time

A recent study by Texas A&M University's Texas Transportation Institute found that texting, or emailing, while driving doubles reaction time and makes drivers more likely to miss a flashing light.


The study was composed of 42 drivers between the ages of 16 and 54 who drove on an 11-mile (17 km) closed test course while sending or receiving text messages, and again while focusing completely on the road.

In the interest of safety for both participants and the research staff, researchers minimized the complexity of the driving task, using a straight-line course that contained no hills, traffic or potential conflicts other than the construction zone barrels. Consequently, the driving demands that participants encountered were considerably lower than those they would encounter under real-world conditions.

The researchers then asked the drivers to stop when they saw a flashing yellow light and recorded their reaction time.  The typical reaction time without texting was between one and two seconds, but while texting it increased to three to four seconds, regardless of whether the driver was typing or reading a text.

The researchers also found that a texting driver was 11 times more likely to miss the flashing light.

The fact that the study was conducted in an actual driving environment is important. According to research manager Christine Yager most research on texting and driving has been limited to driving simulators, whereas this study involved participants driving an actual vehicle. While the researchers believed their results are more significant since the study was in an actual driving environment they wrote that, "it's frightening to think of how much more poorly our participants may have performed if the driving conditions were more consistent with routine driving."

Perhaps this research will reach some of Texas A&M's more influential elected alums.

Metallic Hips: Dangerous Fail

A recent New York times article reported that studies involving patients with metal-on-metal artificial hips are suffering from health problems, including tissue destruction, as the hips shed tiny pieces of metallic debris.  


The article describes one particular case where the surgeons removing of one of these dangerous artificial metal hips saw, "a biological dead zone...[with] matted strands of tissue stained gray and black, [and] a large strip of muscle near the hip no longer contracted."  


More frightening than the destruction caused by the dangerous metallic debris from the artificial hips is that some patients have no obvious symptoms, like pain, to warn them that there tissue and muscle is being destroyed.