Boston Accident Law Blog

Ensuring that the nation's highways and surface streets are safe for travelers of all kinds is challenging primarily because there are so many factors in play at any given time. For example, the responsibility for preventing trucking accidents rests on the truckers themselves, nearby motorists, those who maintain the roads, those who create safety guidelines for truckers and fleet managers themselves. Even when all these players are doing their utmost to promote safety, accidents can still occur.

Thankfully, diligent attention to safety can help to prevent the vast majority of accidents. A recent application will help to ensure that unsafe trucking behaviors are monitored and addressed promptly by fleet managers. By using this app and other programs like it, fleet managers and truckers can help to ensure that they are consistently following safety guidelines and doing what they can to prevent accidents.

Last month, the Obama Administration approved a proposal penned by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that would mandate installation of Event Data Recorders (EDRs) in all new passenger vehicle models beginning September of 2014. EDRs, also known as black boxes, promise to both prevent car accidents and shed light on those that occur. However, many are concerned about the privacy implications of having a box temporarily record their car's every move.

A black box records various data indicators, including seat belt usage, brake engagement, air bag deployment, vehicle speed and steering changes in momentary intervals. Previous data is continuously recorded over by the latest moment's data. That way, when an accident occurs the black box will have saved and stored the car's indicators leading just up to and during the accident but will not give anyone access to a vehicle's "behavior" over any length of time.

As any motorist can tell you, taking a wrong turn is easy to do, but in the case of a recent incident in Coolidge Corner, the explanation offered by the woman for why her car ended up on the MBTA Green Line rail tracks was surprising to say the least - her GPS told her to drive down the tracks.

According to MBTA Transit Police, the 22-year-old Massachusetts woman stated she was driving near Harvard and Beacon streets early Monday morning when her GPS told her to make a turn and drive down the tracks.

The driver further told police that another motorist passing nearby told her to just drive down the tracks until she reached the next intersection, at which point she could get off the tracks. Eventually, the driver believed she couldn't get any farther, so she stopped and tried to reverse back down the tracks, according to police. Unfortunately, as soon as she put her car in reverse, her tires started to spin, leaving her car stuck on the tracks.

The woman was cited by police, but thankfully no damage was done to the track and no one was injured. This accident could have been much worse. Not only could the woman have injured herself, but she could have easily injured T riders had there been a train on the tracks at the time of the incident.

A new law to protect the safety of dementia patients in Massachusetts was recently signed into law by Governor Deval Patrick.

The new law effectively closes a loophole that existed in Massachusetts law that permitted nursing homes to advertise specialized dementia care without having to follow any specific training or program regulations, reports the Patriot Ledger. In closing the loophole, the new law will require that minimum training and program standards be established for all in the industry.

The loophole existed because nursing homes and assisted living facilities are classified differently and fall under the regulatory authority of different Massachusetts agencies. Assisted living facilities, which are not considered to be medical facilities, are regulated by the Department of Elder Affairs and previously had to operate under minimum safety standards for dementia patients. Nursing homes, on the other hand, are considered medical facilities and fell within the purview of the Department of Public Health.