Speed Limits on Ann Arbor's Main Roads

Ann Arbor needs to re-assess posted speed limits on it's main roads.  In 2006, the Michigan Legislature passed Public Law 85 which revised the Michigan Vehicle Code.  This law created a new method under which city officials determine the safest and most accurate speed limits along main roads.  It is based on using a sliding scale of access points (driveways and intersections).


In addition, the State of Michigan has previously adopted the State Police Uniform Traffic Code which in conjunction with Public Law 85 helps to establish how the state determines what speed limits to post and where.  This code identifies that the safest speed limit to post is one which occurs at the 85th percentile traffic speed.  This percentile establishes the majority of people (85%) as legal so that police can focus their enforcement on the small majority who are speeding.


As James C. Walker wrote in his recent op-ed at AnnArbor.com, "The Ann Arbor City Council and Project Management Department do not follow either method under state law."  Walker notes that instead the city is posting unrealistically low speed limits, not taking into account the State Police Uniform Traffic Code or Public Law 85.  Since 2006 when Public Law 85 was adopted the city has done nothing to change its main road speed limits and should be held accountable.  This non-compliance results in speed limits that can be unsafe to all drivers and cause many different types of accidents.

Ending Distracted Driving

Help EndDD.org and Commit to Ending Distracted Driving Year Long

• "One text or call could wreck it all." Four million crashes per year in North America are caused by driver distraction.

• Faces of Distracted Driving: Casey Feldman Age 21. Produced by her father, attorney Joel Feldman 
  • Casey Feldman Video

Promoting Life and Preserving Safety

• The core mission of EndDD.org (End Distracted Driving) is to preserve life and promote safety on a on a large scale through advocacy, education, and action to eliminate distracted driving.  EndDD.org is sponsored by the Casey Feldman Foundation, which was established by attorney Joel Feldman, in memory of his daughter, who was killed by a distracted driver in 2009 when she was 21 years old.

Shocking Statistics About Distracted Driving

• 80% of all collisions and 65% of near-crashes are caused by some form of driver inattention
• Cell phone use is attributed to 18% of fatalities in distraction-related crashes. Talking on a cell phone makes a driver 4 times more likely to have a crash or near-crash event. 
• Texting slows driver reaction time even more than alcohol.

 Distracted Driving Videos Demonstrate This Far Reaching Issue

• Employers: Are your employees distracted drivers?  Watch this video taken by a bus passenger using his cell phone.  STO Gatineau Bus Driver
• Not only teenagers are distracted drivers.  Lisa Mendiola Chapa describes her sister Anna, an adult texting-while-driving, who left behind adult children and a new grandchild.  Sister of Texting While Driving Victim Supports McAllen Ban

Dram Shop Lawsuits in Michigan

Michigan businesses that serve alcohol are subject to liability if they serve a minor or a visibly intoxicated person and then that person causes property damage, personal injury, or wrongful death of another.  Lawsuits for this cause of action must be brought within 2 years of when the damages, injury, or death occurs.  Both the bar and the person causing the damage must be named as Defendants in the lawsuit.  Most often these cases are brought when a drunk driver causes an accident after being over-served at a Michigan bar or restaurant.  These lawsuits are called Dram Shop cases because a "dram" is a Old English word meaning a small shot of an intoxicating liquor like brandy.

Reasons to Hire An Attorney for Your Auto Accident

Driver's Training Should Become Mandatory

State legislators in Michigan and elsewhere should revisit the concept of graduated licensing for young drivers.  The intent is to limit when, where and with whom drivers younger than 18 can drive, to ease them into the responsibilities, art and science of operating a vehicle and to keep them and the people around them safe. But a new report from the Journal of the American Medical Association shows disturbing unintended consequence.


Graduated licensing has indeed reduced fatalities for drivers in the 16 to 17 age group. But that appears due, in part, to teens in that age group putting off driver training and licensing until they turn 18 and don't need to meet all the requirements of those a year or two younger. And that, in turn, appears to be responsible for a spike in fatalities for drivers when they turn 18 and take to the road with less training and sometimes none at all.


Licensing at age 18 with no training is permitted in most states, the study's lead author said. Michigan appears to be among them. "I was actually bummed by my own findings--to find out we're offsetting the benefits" in young drivers so much, said author Scott Masten. "It was quite unexpected.


The net impact is that graduated licensing appears to be a lifesaver, with more lives saved among 16-year-olds than lost among 18-year-olds. And fatality rates for 17- and 19-year olds? Not affected. Other studies corroborate the JAMA report. In one nationwide survey, about a quarter of people who were 18 and hadn't obtained a license cited the licensing requirements as a reason.


It tells us, as it tells the study's authors, that state legislators should take a look at the statistics in their own states. Where there are no requirements for driver training for anyone getting a first license, we think they should be added.


--Courtesy of The Oakland Press

No-Fault Benefits Available in Michigan

The Michigan No-Fault Insurance Law allows injured persons in a Michigan auto accident to seek benefits from their own insurance company for the following:

(1). Medical expenses;

(2)  Incidental expenses necessary for medical care and treatment (such as private nurses, home aides, family member reimbursement for providing necessary care);

(3). Wage loss benefits for an injured claimant (for the first 3 years after);

(4)   Transportation costs (to and from treatments);

(5).  Home modifications (for example, wheelchair ramp);

(6).  Survivor’s loss benefits in cases of death;

(7).  Replacement services (cooking, cleaning, and lawn care) up to $20 per day (very often overlooked);

(8). Other benefits related to necessary and reasonable treatment (for example, food and lodging for a severely injured person requiring 24 hour care in a treatment facility).

Oftentimes, Insurance Company Adjusters don’t fully explain all the benefits that injured persons are entitled to and insurance contracts are often very confusing to read and understand.  It is important to contact an attorney after the accident to make certain you are asking for, and receiving, all the benefits that the law entitles you to collect to aid in your recovery from the accident.  

Pedestrian Safety in Traffic Circles

Michigan drivers are facing new driving challenges presented by traffic circles.  More and more Michigan communities are installing traffic circles to decrease perpendicular (T-Bone) type accidents and thereby decrease serious injuries at intersections.  While drivers adjust to where and when to yield to other cars in traffic circles they also need to be keenly aware of pedestrians trying to navigate traffic circle sidewalks.  City and State officials have been attempting to educate drivers to proceed slowly and be aware that the law requires automobiles yield to all pedestrian traffic prior to entering the traffic circle and before exiting the traffic circle.