The word from the legal world

There is no way around it – Halloween is one seriously distracting night of the year. We all know this. There will be people in the streets, crossing the street, and wearing costumes so dark you can barely see them. While pedestrians have their own

Michigan is home to 11,000 inland lakes and about 1 million registered boaters. That’s a lot of boats, and a lot of people, not to mention their passengers. In this time of COVID, when many are seeking outdoor activities that allow them to socialize and

As April ends, so too does Distracted Driving Awareness Month, but every month and every day is an opportunity to increase awareness of distracted driving – and change your habits to be a safer Michigan driver. Distracted driving has become an epidemic that kills at

Would you read a book while driving a car? Never, right? You need your hands to hold the book, your eyes to read the page, your mind to comprehend what you’re reading. It’s just not possible. Now, would you read something on your cell phone

In Flint, Michigan, on October 18, five teenagers threw rocks off an overpass on I-75. One rock hurtled through a windshield and killed a 32-year-old man. The teens, ages 15 to 17, have been charged with second-degree murder. Their lives, and the lives of the

Do you take your dog with you when you drive? Does your dog ride unrestrained in the backseat or even on your lap? A dog in a car is like a child riding in a car without being strapped into their car seat. The level

Eleven L’Anse Creuse High School North students were involved in a three-car auto accident on June 12 in Macomb County. Why? One 16-year-old teen driver allegedly dropped his cell phone and looked away to retrieve it. It was a bad decision – when the driver

Robin was traveling on the interstate behind a car that kept weaving from side to side. It was the middle of the afternoon, but anything could have been the culprit: alcohol, exhaustion, or using a smartphone. At one point the car traveled down the left

Drowsy driving is more than just falling asleep at the wheel. “It mimics alcohol-impaired driving in many ways,” says Stephen Higgins, a researcher at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). In fact, drowsy driving has been categorized as yet another form of impaired driving,

Thank goodness for technology. Otherwise, how would we ever figure out how to drive from Point A to Point B? Unfortunately, apps that are helpful in many ways can actually be a major distraction for a driver and lead to a car crash. How do

There are plenty of apps designed to help people drive more safely: They block texts or auto reply so others will know you’re behind the wheel and stop trying to distract you. Simply enough, they are intended to keep you safe. But it’s difficult to

Parent-teen driving agreements (PTDAs) are not a new concept. States, insurers, and safety organizations have developed PTDAs, and a new report is calling on every State Highway Safety Office to create or modify an agreement that is consistent with teen driving laws and reflective of

Verizon will soon be rolling out the newest version of Hum, their aftermarket connected car add-on that gives almost any car – even your teen’s beat-up old sedan – capabilities like speakerphone, emergency service buttons, stolen vehicle tracking, and even “check engine” light remote diagnosis.

Answering a phone call while driving is common. It’s not safe, but plenty of people do it, and they have a Bluetooth mechanism available to assist them so their conversation can be hands-free. Texting is also becoming less distracting with apps that read your messages

The best way to avoid the temptation to text and drive, or use your phone at all while driving, is to put it in the trunk before you start your car. This, however, is a habit that busy people are not very likely to adopt.

Cell phones are involved in 1.6 million auto accidents annually, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Because people seem unable to put down their phones, this distracted driving epidemic results in over 6,000 deaths and 500,000 injuries every year. The University of Michigan Transportation

Shopping isn’t typically considered a risky pastime. But Black Friday and the beginning of holiday shopping can be life-threatening. There’s even a website – Black Friday Death Count – that tallies the number of fatalities and injuries that occur because of the bedlam that surrounds

Distracted driving is an epidemic. Turns out, distracted pedestrians on their mobile devices are a problem too. Researchers at Ohio State found that phone-related injuries to pedestrians doubled from 2005 to 2010. Those numbers are expected to double when the 2010-2015 data is released. What