Las Vegas, NV Personal Injury Blog

More truckers are striking out on their own instead of working for a company, according to data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and Qualified Carriers, a risk management services company. Carrier registrations with the FMCSA increased 7.5 percent in a little over a year, from 155,000 to nearly 167,000 in April 2012.

The increase in the number of carriers may be related to concerns over CSA, the FMCSA's safety rating system. CSA ratings help shape FMCSA's supervision and enforcement actions, and can also be a useful measure of carrier safety to shippers and brokers who contract with carrier companies.

For young people in Las Vegas, peer pressure can be especially acute. It appears that peer pressure might even be a reason why young people are hesitant to alert their friends who are distracted driving.

A study conducted by the National Highway Safety Administration found that two-thirds of all people ages 18-24 would not tell a driver who was talking on a cellphone that what he or she is doing is unsafe. But at the same time nearly all of the 6,000 people surveyed said that distracted driving is unsafe.

Chameleon carriers have long posed a problem to the traveling public. A chameleon carrier is the term used to describe a bus company or other licensed carrier that is shut down by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMSCA). It then reappears under a different name, but continues in the same line of business.

Eight. That is the number of pedestrian deaths this year due to car-versus-person crashes in Las Vegas, Nevada. Compared to this time last year, the fatalities have increased fourfold. That is significant, and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (Metro) has taken notice and is taking action.

In an attempt to reduce pedestrian accidents and fatalities, the police department has introduced a new traffic safety campaign to persuade pedestrians and drivers to be more attentive. Targeting drivers, bikers and walkers, the campaign boldly asserts the slogan, "Get your face out of your phone."

Fox5vegas.com reported the sad story of the death of a child, after being struck at a school bus stop on March 16. They indicate that it was the 27^th fatal accident in Las Vegas in 2012.

The motor vehicle accident occurred as the bus was turning left of Fall Cliff, after dropping students at the busy intersection of Ann Road and Pebble Rock. According to witnesses, many of whom were parents, the bus made the left turn and struck the child.

A new program to improve the safety of our roads was implemented in 2010. This program is commonly referred to as CSA or Compliance Safety Alliance. CSA has rubrics for calculating driver and trucking company safety. When drivers check into weigh stations along their routes a computer generated program allows officials to track the pre-trip logs of the driver. These logs help officials determine things like the time the drivers are spending over the road, substance abuse, driver fitness and vehicle maintenance.

Some feel that the implementation of the program was one more regulation that the trucking industry did not need citing the steady decline in truck accidents over the last four decades. However, the fact that the system allows for tracking the maintenance of the trucks has proven to be valuable. Under the past safety program maintenance of the vehicles was an unknown.

For three months, drivers around Nevada who were caught using their cell phones while driving were merely given a warning, but now that a new state law has officially taken effect, distracted drivers will face hefty fines for using their cell phones on the roads.

The law, which took effect on January 1, prohibits Nevada drivers from using handheld cell phones - and other devices - to talk, surf the Internet, or send or read text messages. Under this legislation, using a handheld device while on the road is a primary offense, which allows police personnel to stop drivers even if they are not committing other violations. The law applies whether a driver is in a moving vehicle, idling in traffic or sitting at a stoplight, and is aimed at reducing the number of serious accidents caused by distracted drivers.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration recently announced that its long-anticipated changes to trucker hours-of-service regulations will be unveiled before the year's end. The rules are designed to protect the public against the dangers posed by fatigued drivers.

Although the changes may be viewed as an unwelcome holiday gift by many industry groups, Las Vegas truck accident attorneys and other safety advocates are praising the revisions as a leap forward for safety.

A string of pedestrian accidents have overtaken the Las Vegas area in recent months. In one particularly tragic accident, three children were hit by a car while crossing a North Las Vegas street, killing one and injuring the others.

All told, Clark County pedestrian accidents have killed 84 people and injured another 2,000 in the last three years.