Safety First on July 4th!!!
Independence Day is the nation’s most important summer holiday. It’s a time for family, food and parties, which likely means more drinking and more travel. The risk of motor vehicle accidents increases dramatically over the 4th of July weekend, and so do calls to an accident lawyer.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the 4th of July holiday ushers in the highest number of road fatalities per year, with the second highest rate of alcohol related crashes, among holidays. In fact, roughly 41% of deaths over the 4th of July weekend involve high blood alcohol concentrations.
A study on federal accident data reports that, on average, there are 37% more highway fatalities on July 4th, compared to the average July day. Last year, according to The National Safety Council, an estimated 400 traffic fatalities and another 49,000 injuries occurred over the 4th of July holiday weekend.
I’m sure most of you know that there are always a lot of auto accidents and trucking accidents around the holidays. If I were to ask you why, you’d probably guess it was because there is always a lot of drinking and driving going on during the holidays. You’d be right, for the most part. However, there is another contributing factor identified in a report from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA). The report from July, 2005, called “Crash Stats”, a ten-year study from 1994 to 2003, analyzed fatal car crashes and how speeding factors into car accidents.
Yes, speeding. Speeding is a factor in about 30% of all traffic fatalities. That’s almost as high as alcohol related fatal crashes. Speed is the number two (2) cause of all motor vehicle accident fatalities according to this study. Over that ten year period, there were about 12,000 speeding related fatal car crashes on average each year. Compare that to almost 17,000 fatal crashes for drunk drivers according to another report by the NHTSA called “2005 Traffic Safety Facts”. As you can see, speeding is almost as dangerous as drunk driving. Speed kills, so slow down and drive safely, instead of having a collision and needing an accident lawyer.
Negligent drivers cause accidents, injuries and death…and they get sued by plaintiff’s personal injury lawyers. Too many people choose to drink and drive, speed, allow themselves to be distracted while driving. If you or a loved one fall victim to an accident caused by someone’s negligence, then contact a Maine accident lawyer. You must act quickly because there is a law that restricts the time within which you can take legal action. You should rely upon an experienced Maine injury lawyer to assist you in gaining maximum compensation for injuries and damages that you have suffered. Contact Marchese Injury Law, P.A. Call us toll free at (207) 775-6042. Our office is in Portland, Maine and we have convenient parking.
Please drive safely this summer. From my family to yours I wish you safe journeys, a fun July 4th and a great Maine summer.
