Rise in Seat Belt Use: Something to be Thankful For

Image Source:  blogs.cars.com

Among the many blessings that we received last year, and that was the fact that seatbelt use among Americans hit record-highs, particularly during Thanksgiving weekend. According to one of the recent reports from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), use of seatbelts has reached an all-time high of 86 percent in 2012.

Based on the NHTSA’s yearly National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS), seatbelt use has been on the rise since 1994. Just last year, the use of seatbelts in the United States was recorded at 84 percent before hitting this record-breaking milestone. In the many years of the NOPUS, the NHTSA has noticed that there has been an upward trend with the use of seat belts among vehicle occupants in the US.

Highlights of the NHTSA report

Three out of the four regions in the country saw increases in seat belt use in this latest report. Specifically, the one that enjoyed the biggest improvement is the southern region of the country, in which seat belt rose to 85 percent in 2012; a 5-percent increase from the previous year.

Meanwhile, people living in the western parts of the country still have the highest percentage of seat belt use at 94 percent, a 1-percent increase since 2011. However, the Northeast area of the United States saw no increase in the use of seat belts despite the NHTSA’s efforts in promoting them.

Additionally, seat belt use remained high in states that have primary belt laws. In these states, a law enforcement operative can issue citations to erring motorists. This is deemed more effective than requiring additional traffic violations before any form of disciplinary action can be meted to offenders.

NHTSA’s reaction

NHTSA Administrator David Strickland thanked the agency’s state and local partners for the success of its various campaigns for seat belt use. The ‘Click It or Ticket’ program has been making steady gains in belt use year after year. He added that these successes will be vital in finding more ways to come with “multi-faceted approach”; that is through the “enactment of good laws, the effective enforcement of said laws, and an effective public information drive and awareness”.

To begin with, some 32 states, as well as the District of Columbia, have passed primary laws that require the use of seat belts. On the other hand, another 17 states have come up with secondary laws. So far, the only state so far that has not enacted a primary or secondary seat belt law is New Hampshire. However, the state’s primary child passenger safety law applies to all drivers, as well as passengers under the age of 18.

So would you still risk not wearing your safety belts and be a victim of severe injuries caused by accidents? Would you still want to end up seeking the help of a Los Angeles car accident lawyers to help you seek for damages brought by these injuries? Or would you rather find something to be thankful for in the next Thanksgiving Day for staying safe by adhering to the NHTSA’s plea of simply wearing your seatbelt? Well, the choice is yours, my friend.

About Winterizing Your Car

Image Source: https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR68Vwy86mJ18DlR3_A3JWmjYcrVy4aYXV6YfWbQlJbt90xZU2Wew

Winter season may be over, but it doesn’t mean you should not keep yourself well-prepared. Regardless of the weather or the climate outside, it still pays for you to keep your car in tip-top condition.

Being prepared keeps you away from accidents, but you should know that this is not a guarantee that you’ll stay mishap-free for the rest of your driving days. There is a possibility that you may get involved in one, especially if it is due to someone else’s negligence.

If that is the case, then you may want to seek the expertise of a  Los Angeles car accident attorney.

Meanwhile, here are some tips on how you can winterize your car, helping it become safer in the coldest nights of winter.

•    Prepare and keep an emergency kit. Bring with you a spare tire, bottles of engine oil, washer fluid, coolant, and anti-freeze. Put an emergency kit inside the glove compartment. Carry an ice scraper. All of these things can help you stay away from trouble when the going gets tough.
•    Make sure your car’s working well. A car in top shape helps prevent accidents from happening.
•    Replace wipers and wiper fluid. See the road ahead clearly, all the time. Make sure that the wiper mechanism works and you’ve got enough amounts of washer fluid.
•    Check the car’s defrosting and heating units. Make sure that the car’s window defroster and cabin heater in good, working condition. These help keep the windows clear from fogs and the car’s cabin warm.
•    Gas up. Keeping your fuel tank full to the brim helps prevent condensation and water inside the tank. Water in the tank and fuel lines, more than being bad for the engine, can freeze up and clog down these vital components.
•    Load up on antifreeze. This keeps the coolant from freezing that retards coolant circulation and worse, overheating. With this in your cooling system, you’re assured of perfect engine temperature and operation during the coldest of winter.
•    Check the oil and its viscosity. The right amount of oil and viscosity helps keep the engine lubricated and running well. Winter can have the oil thicken and have problems lubricating your engine. Filling up with oil with the right viscosity helps ensure optimum engine protection.
•    Check the battery. The cold winter is tough on the engine and the battery. Make sure that it is in the best condition for worry-free winter motoring.
•    Check your tires. Does it have the right tire pressure? The cold weather can cause the tire pressure to drop. Fill it up with air if needed and deflate if the pressure’s too high. The right tire pressure ensures optimum grip to avoid accidents. Given the season, you should also consider replacing all-weather tires with special winter tires for safer drives.

On Calculating for Your Personal Injury Damages

 Image Source: http://www.find-my-personal-injury-lawyer.com/images/personal-injury-compensation-claims-calculator-21466510.jpg

No matter how good one takes care of his or herself, accidents are bound to happen. When it does, they leave him or her sustaining injuries. With these injuries, the victim may end up either physically, or mentally unable to work. How can one pay for your bills, help you survive with your daily life, as well as have yourself treated and rehabilitated well?

Given this predicament, one has no choice but to file for a personal injury claim. By doing so, he or she would be able to receive compensation for his or her injury, helping him or her get by with each day and recover from his or her injuries.

Basically, personal injury is one of the most tort claims in the United States. Every year, Americans file their claims for personal injury after being involved in different kinds of accidents.

As it is, filing a personal injury claim is not easy. You have to go through a lot of difficult steps before the ball starts rolling, and have your claims processed. But how much can you get out of these claims?

Insurance companies are compensating personal injury victims in different ways. It could be for any of the following reasons:

•    Payment of medical care and expenses;
•    The equivalent amount of income you’ve lost because of the accident;
•    Support for permanent disability or disfigurement;
•    Damages for family, social, and educational experiences;
•    Damages for the stress, embarrassment, depression, strains in your family relationship, or other emotional damages; and
•    Payment for property damage related to the injury.

But just how do they compute the amount of the damages you’d receive?

•    The company adds up the total of medical expenses including “medical special damages” and “general damages”. 
•    This amount is multiplied by the depending on the graveness of the damage. It starts from lows of 1.5 to 2, to as much as 5. For severe damages, the amount may be multiplied by as much as 10.
•    The adjuster adds on the amount of income one has lost as a result of his or her injury. Then, your lost income is added.

The methodology given doesn’t yield the final amount though. Instead, that would be the mean amount where the negotiations will begin. The most important part is the factoring in of the “percentage of fault” between the defendant and the plaintiff, which is not an exact science.

To ensure that you will receive a bigger amount as payment for the damages you suffered, you must hire the services of a reputable personal injury lawyer in Los Angeles. A legal counsel can give you good legal advice to help mount a stronger, more credible claim. This way, you can get a bigger amount that can help secure both you and your family’s future.