Did you already make a New Year’s Resolution? Or maybe two or three? Well, we have some resolutions that you can add to your list, or even adopt as your very own list. (We don’t mind if you steal them. Nobody will tell.)

We can feel a lot of pressure to have our lives all tidied up and re-packaged with a bow on January 1. But sometimes just making small adjustments to our ways of thinking and everyday habits can add up to a year that will be undoubtedly better than the last. We hope you will take these tips to heart and apply them throughout 2011.

New Year’s Resolutions from Peter N. Davis & Associates:

• I will always wear my seat belt when I’m in an automobile. A seat belt could save my life in a car accident.
• I will not talk on the phone while driving. Driving deserves my full attention, as do the people with whom I’m conversing.
• I will not text while driving. Taking my eyes off the road for only a second can lead to a car wreck.
• I will not eat while driving. Eating shouldn’t be done in a rush. Driving shouldn’t be done while distracted.
• I will not drink alcohol unless I have a designated driver to deliver me home safely.
• I will volunteer to be a designated driver for a friend once a month this year.

Adopt one. Adopt them all! Have a peaceful and prosperous New Year!

©2012 Ask Peter Davis | New Jersey Accident Lawyer | Paterson, NJ. All Rights Reserved.

Best wishes,
Peter N. Davis & Associates

“The Twelve Days of Christmas”

On the first day of Christmas my New Jersey accident attorney gave to me…
An accident settlement to make me happy.

On the second day of Christmas my New Jersey accident attorney gave to me…
Two helpful doctors.
And an accident settlement to make me happy.

On the third day of Christmas my New Jersey accident attorney gave to me…
Three stopped collections.
Two helpful doctors and an accident settlement to make me happy.

On the fourth day of Christmas my New Jersey accident attorney gave to me…
Four missing workers’ comp checks.
Three stopped collections, two helpful doctors and an accident settlement to make me happy.

On the fifth day of Christmas my New Jersey accident attorney gave to me…
Five covered ER bills!
Four missing workers’ comp checks, three stopped collections, two helpful doctors and an accident settlement to make me happy.

On the sixth day of Christmas my New Jersey accident attorney gave to me…
Six insurance guys quaking.
Five covered ER bills!
Four missing workers’ comp checks, three stopped collections, two helpful doctors and an accident settlement to make me happy!

On the seventh day of Christmas my New Jersey accident attorney gave to me…
Seven months of paid lost wages.
Six insurance guys quaking.
Five covered ER bills!
Four missing workers’ comp checks, three stopped collections, two helpful doctors and an accident settlement to make me happy!

On the eighth day of Christmas my New Jersey accident attorney gave to me…
Eighteen-wheel truck drivers who were really sorry.
Seven months of paid lost wages.
Six insurance guys quaking.
Five covered ER bills!
Four missing workers’ comp checks, three stopped collections, two helpful doctors and an accident settlement to make me happy!

On the ninth day of Christmas my New Jersey accident attorney gave to me…
Nine weeks of covered physical therapy.
Eighteen-wheel truck drivers who were really sorry.
Seven months of paid lost wages.
Six insurance guys quaking.
Five covered ER bills!
Four missing workers’ comp checks, three stopped collections, two helpful doctors and an accident settlement to make me happy!

On the tenth day of Christmas my New Jersey accident attorney gave to me…
Ten case progress updates.
Nine weeks of covered physical therapy.
Eighteen-wheel truck drivers who were really sorry.
Seven months of paid lost wages.
Six insurance guys quaking.
Five paid ER bills!
Four missing workers’ comp checks, three stopped collections, two helpful doctors and an accident settlement to make me happy!

On the eleventh day of Christmas my New Jersey accident attorney gave to me…
Eleven Passaic County accident reports against the other party.
Ten case progress updates.
Nine weeks of covered physical therapy.
Eighteen-wheel truck drivers who were really sorry.
Seven months of paid lost wages.
Six insurance guys quaking.
Five covered ER bills!
Four missing workers’ comp checks, three stopped collections, two helpful doctors and an accident settlement to make me happy!

On the twelfth day of Christmas my New Jersey accident attorney gave to me…
Twelve personal injuries now healed.
Eleven Passaic County accident reports against the other party.
Ten case progress updates.
Nine weeks of covered physical therapy.
Eighteen-wheel truck drivers who were really sorry.
Seven months of paid lost wages.
Six insurance guys quaking.
Five covered ER bills!
Four missing workers’ comp checks, three stopped collections, two helpful doctors and an accident settlement to make me happy!

©2012 Ask Peter Davis | New Jersey Accident Lawyer | Paterson, NJ. All Rights Reserved.

Beginning way back in 1966, the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act gave the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA) the authority to establish vehicle safety standards and recall vehicles that do not meet them. By 2006, when the “Motor Vehicles Safety Defects and Recalls: What Every Vehicle Owner Should Know” brochure was published by NHTSA and safercar.gov, nearly 400 million vehicles had been recalled. (That averages out to almost 10 million vehicles recalled each year during that 40 year period!)

Keep in mind, those numbers reflect recalls of all kinds of vehicles, not just passenger cars and trucks. Regardless, consider what could have been: 400 million vehicle accidents on the freeways and recreational areas across our nation. The injuries! The fatalities! The wreckage!

The kinds of vehicle defects that are recall-worthy (meaning they would cause accidents) are many. In a nutshell, the Safety Act which is now called The United States Code for Motor Vehicle Safety (Title 49, Chapter 301) is looking for our vehicles to do their job in such a way that “protects the public against unreasonable risk of accidents occurring because of the design, construction, or performance of a motor vehicle and against unreasonable risk of death or injury in an accident.”

Sounds like a reasonable expectation. Yet, after so much media coverage this past year on what seemed to be an extraordinarily high number of extremely dangerous and accident-causing vehicle defects, NHTSA decided to upgrade their standards and introduce stricter safety review processes. Consumers will now be able to use the new 5-Star Safety Ratings when making purchase decisions on all 2011 and future model automobiles. New vehicles will have easy to understand ratings on how they fared in frontal crashes, side crashes and rollover crashes, more thorough information about what kinds of safety features are at work in the vehicle, and provide the results of crash tests with female-sized passenger test dummies. Previously, crash tests studied only male-sized test dummies.

Take a look at the super simple new menu and click on your 2011 dream car to see how it measures up at http://www.safercar.gov/Vehicle+Shoppers/5-Star+Safety+Ratings/2011+Vehicles. Then compare the rating improvements by looking up your jalopy under the old menu.

Send your rave reviews of the new 5-Star reviews to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Unfortunately, for those who buy used vehicles, ratings for vehicles manufactured for 2010 and earlier won’t be translated into the new 5-Star terminology.

©2012 Ask Peter Davis | New Jersey Accident Lawyer | Paterson, NJ. All Rights Reserved.

In a previous blog, we reviewed winter preparedness for your car or truck. (And just because you drive a truck or an all-wheel drive vehicle, don’t think you’re exempt from needing a cold weather check-up or that you can be any less concerned about getting into car accidents.) We’ll assume you and your vehicle are healthy and in tip-top shape for the season.

Now, what happens when you actually do get caught having to traverse heavy ice and snow?

• Lower speeds (and lower gears) allow for the most traction.

• If your car starts to slide, lift your foot off of the accelerator.

• Never abandon your car if you find yourself stuck in the snow. Emergency crews can find a vehicle more easily than they can find a lone person in the snow.

• Never warm up your vehicle inside of a closed garage! Vehicle emissions are unscented and highly toxic. As soon as you notice you, or a family member, are falling victim to the fumes, it is too late to correct the situation. On a similar note, should you find yourself stuck with your car because of road conditions, or due toan accident like sliding off the road into a snow bank, be sure your tail pipe remains clear of snow and ice. It is wise to run the engine periodically to warm up the inside of the vehicle while you’re stranded, but if the tail pipe is blocked you’ll just be pumping in deadly carbon monoxide.

• Never use your car’s cruise control when driving on snow, ice, or if there’s a possibility of black ice on bridges and overpasses. (Black ice can occur even when the air temperature is a few degrees above 32 degrees Fahrenheit.)

• Never follow too closely when driving behind another car. Increase your normal following distance (about four seconds) to a full 10 seconds when roads are wet, snowy or icy.

• Never brake suddenly. Apply gentle pressure to the brake pedal should you need to slow down. Use emergency steering methods to direct your car away from hazards. The stopping distance required on an icy road is double that required on a dry road.

The American Automobile Association has an amazing brochure available (to non-members, too) with further winter weather specific instructions on steering your car out of danger, braking techniques and waiting for help with your broken down or stranded car.

Don’t forget to revisit the AskPeterDavis.com blog about how the law is helping New Jersey Aim for Fewer Winter Car Accidents.

©2012 Ask Peter Davis | New Jersey Accident Lawyer | Paterson, NJ. All Rights Reserved.

Now that it’s the 1st of December, our unseasonably warm temps are on the way out and office parties, progressive dinners and neighborhood potlucks are on the way in. Everyone loves a reason to eat, drink and be merry. Just remember, moderation in all these things not only saves face, it saves lives!

We have a young population here in Paterson. With our median age at 30.5, there’s no doubt Paterson loves to have fun. And we should! But there’s a valid reason The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has declared December as National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month. In one year, more than 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. That number doesn’t even total 1% of the estimated 159 million actual occurrences of drunk/drugged driving American adults admit to each year.

Let’s imagine all things tallied into that statistic are completely equal over all 12 months and all 50 states and their populations. That would mean 265,000 New Jersey adults will drive their cars intentionally while inebriated with drugs and/or alcohol during this month alone! In reality, that number is likely to be higher because of our state’s dense population and the very festive time of year.

Paterson residents will spend the entire month getting ready to celebrate, actively celebrating, enjoying time off work and then topping it all off with New Year’s Eve. Be smart. Know your limits. Plan ahead to have (or be) a designated driver when you party. And don’t let someone you know get behind the wheel if he or she is intoxicated.

This time of year is for fun and frivolity, not death and despair. If you’re going to be driving around Paterson, stick to drinking peppermint mochas and save the peppermint schnapp’s for nights when you’re just riding along or staying at home.

©2012 Ask Peter Davis | New Jersey Accident Lawyer | Paterson, NJ. All Rights Reserved.

Since our state seat belt laws changed earlier this year, take a minute to review them. That way, you can head on over the river or through the woods and back home again with more safety and less worry about a seat belt citation. 

The following rules are effective statewide:

Seat Belt Law

• Applies to all passenger vehicles including vans, pickup trucks and SUV’s, that are required to be equipped with seat belts.
• Applies to all passengers, who are at least 8 years of age but less than 18 years of age, and each driver and front seat passenger of a passenger automobile, operated on a street or a highway. All of these occupants are required to wear a properly adjusted and fastened seat belt system.
• On January 18, 2010, legislation was signed into law requiring all occupants to buckle up, regardless of their seating position in a vehicle. A secondary offense, the new law allows police to issue summonses to unbuckled back seat occupants, 18 years of age and older, when the vehicle they are riding in is stopped for another violation.
• Makes the driver responsible for proper seat belt use by all occupants who are under the age of 18.

Child Passenger Law

• Children up to age 8 (or 80 pounds) must ride in a safety or booster seat in the rear seat of the vehicle. If there is no rear seat, the child must sit in the front seat secured by a child safety seat or booster seat.
• Children under age 8 who weigh more than 80 pounds must wear a seat belt anywhere in the vehicle.
• Passengers age 8 to 18 (regardless of weight) must wear a seat belt anywhere inside a vehicle.

Don’t forget, if you’re traveling in another state, you have to abide by that state’s seat belt and traffic laws, too! Make sure you do some research before you cross the state line. Don’t give that hard-earned holiday bonus away to a police fine, accident deductible or hospital bill.

Everyone at Peter N. Davis & Associates personal injury lawyers wishes you a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

©2012 Ask Peter Davis | New Jersey Accident Lawyer | Paterson, NJ. All Rights Reserved.

Now, almost 240 years later, personal injuries, highway fatalities and wreckage are just part of the risk accepted by millions of drivers who share the roads with over-sized vehicles. And things seem to be a little out of balance for us – the guy in the smaller vehicle. According to a 2010 report by The Truck Safety Coalition, big truck crashes make up about 10% of highway fatalities every year, even though the 18-wheelers make up only 4% of all registered vehicles. Out of every 10 people killed in traffic accidents, 1 is the victim of a tractor-trailer crash.

Supply and demand has allowed regulators to increase the length of trailers hauled by big truck drivers and extend the length of time that truck drivers are allowed to operate their 18-wheelers before a rest period is required. As too many of us know from personal big truck wreck experiences (or near misses), these increases and deregulation are a recipe for disaster.

Tractor-trailers travel throughout our state, from Wyckoff, Paterson and New Brunswick to Jersey City, Hoboken and Newark on down to Trenton, Atlantic City and beyond. So how do we, the little guy, protect ourselves and our vehicles from these giant bullies that are essential for commerce along the Eastern Corridor? The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration offers some excellent tips for passenger vehicle drivers on safely sharing the road with big trucks. These tips come straight from the perspective of the tractor-trailer industry. Read them, employ them, share them with all of the drivers in your household.

The Truck Safety Coalition is a joint effort of two grass roots tractor-trailer safety organizations, Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH) and Parents Against Tired Truckers (P.A.T.T.). The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is overseen by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

©2012 Ask Peter Davis | New Jersey Accident Lawyer | Paterson, NJ. All Rights Reserved.

You don’t take drugs and drive either.

You don’t even answer your cell phone when you’re at the wheel… Most things can wait until you’ve reached your destination.

And yet, without any blatant carelessness or ill intent, you could still unknowingly be setting the stage for a serious car wreck.

Now that New Jersey has traded in Daylight Savings Time for brighter sunlight in the mornings, we’ve all got a long season of dark and dreary drives home ahead of us. It may now be a little easier to wake up in the mornings, but the earlier arrival of sunset tricks our minds into thinking our work day has been longer. Do your eyelids feel droopier on the chilly drive home from work? Are you eager just to grab dinner and hibernate for the night?

Driving while drowsy could be more dangerous than driving while intoxicated

More than half of American drivers say they don’t get enough sleep at night. The National Sleep Foundation says 28% of us admit to having fallen asleep while driving. And since more than half of us aren’t sleeping enough, it makes sense that more than half of us drive when we know we’re drowsy.

You would think that not driving while intoxicated or distracted would be enough of an effort towards driving safely, but taking control of a motor vehicle, a multi-ton machine, when sleepy is equally as deadly. The National Sleep Foundation says that sleepiness causes slowed reactions and delayed information processing. That sounds a lot like the symptoms of driving while drunk!

There’s no shame in getting plenty of rest. Not only can you consider it beauty sleep, you can consider it life-saving sleep. And here in New Jersey, it’s also law-abiding sleep. In 2003, New Jersey became the first state to enact a law criminalizing the act of driving when sleep deprived. Maggie’s Law is an amendment to the vehicular homicide statute N.J.S.2C:11-5 that forbids driving after 24 hours without sleep. Any driver involved in a fatal car accident who is found to have been driving while drowsy may be charged with vehicular homicide and fined $100,000 and given a jail sentence of up to 10 years.

Visit www.drowsydriving.org for tips on getting a better night’s sleep here at home in New Jersey or when you’re out on the road.

©2012 Ask Peter Davis | New Jersey Accident Lawyer | Paterson, NJ. All Rights Reserved.

Just the thought of driving to work after an overnight snow can raise our blood pressure. Motor vehicles are probably one of the greatest causes of wintertime stress, especially since most of us aren’t comfortable poking around under the hood ourselves. So before you hit black ice with your bald tires or need a jump start in the freezing morning air, make friends with a local mechanic. He or she will be well-versed in wintertime car prep. Don’t be afraid to ask for tips on what will make winter driving the safest for you. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management have already put together a list of things for you to review. Take this with you to the car shop to discuss.

• Is my car battery charged and are the connections good and clean?
• Are my windshield wipers in good condition? Should I get winter blades?
• Are my coolant/antifreeze, motor oil, and wiper fluid fresh and full? Are there any leaks?
• What grade oil is best for my car in winter?
• Are my tires in good condition? Do I need snow tires?
• How’s my ignition system?
• Is my car’s thermostat working?
• Do I need to replace any headlamps? Do the bright, fog and brake lights all work? Do my hazard lights flash?
• Is the exhaust system functioning properly?
• Do I need to replace my brakes or brake pads?
• Is the defroster working well enough to clear ice from the windshield?
• Do I have all the proper tools for de-icing my car?
• Is my emergency kit stocked in case I get stranded?

Once you’ve got the mechanical prep done, don’t forget about New Jersey’s newly amended snow and ice law. No more scraping just enough frost off your windshield so you can kind of see the car ahead of you. The New Jersey law now requires that all snow and ice be removed from your vehicle before you drive it. Previously, you would be fined only if snow and ice from your car caused a road incident or car accident in New Jersey. Now, with the amended law in place, you don’t have to cause a car accident before New Jersey police can hand you an expensive citation. Winter car accidents are deadly. New Jersey encourages drivers to be proactive when it comes to winter readiness and the roads.

For more information on preventing winter weather car accidents and what kind of emergency kits you should keep with you on your travels, the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management offers a page-full of information about  “Winter Weather Preparedness.”

©2012 Ask Peter Davis | New Jersey Accident Lawyer | Paterson, NJ. All Rights Reserved.

The surge of child pedestrians and adult partiers on Halloween night makes for a scary combination. Nationwide statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration showed that 58 percent of highway fatalities on this particular night in 2008 involved someone driving drunk or riding a motorcycle with a Blood Alcohol Content over the legal limit.

To call that unacceptable is an understatement. Simply by exercising a little foresight, drunk-driving-related deaths can be cut to zero. In fact, you could be a true superhero this Halloween; no need for a cape and mask! Think of it this way, saying “no” to alcohol for one night is like saying “no” to car accident deaths for a night.

Sure, you may feel like a third wheel as a designated driver, but knowing you could have intercepted a drunk-driving accident and you didn’t would generate guilt that far outweighs a little discomfort at the party. Wear the costume of a teetotaler and take care of your friends. If this holiday weekend includes a date night for you, dress up like Rutherford B. Hayes and his wife “Lemonade Lucy.” Crash all your friends’ parties dressed as a straight edge. Draw an “x” on the backs of your hands and wear the clean-living lifestyle as your costume.

If you’re a party host, treat your guests to a safe ride home. Arrange for non-drinking friends to give rides. Have taxi service phone numbers on hand. Hire a designated driver service to get both vehicle and owner escorted home safely. Need a list of designated driver services? Visit the National Directory of Designated Drivers and select your state.

In New Jersey, Sober Sam is one of a handful of designated driver services that accepts reservations. The service is available to Atlantic, Bergen, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Gloucester, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Salem, Somerset, Sussex, Union and Warren, NJ.

©2012 Ask Peter Davis | New Jersey Accident Lawyer | Paterson, NJ. All Rights Reserved.