subject: Discrepancies And Loopholes In Licensing One Cause Of Highway Tragedy [print this page] There is a group that issued a comprehensive white paper effort, the 20,000 member American trial lawyers association and this is aims to put a stop to the nation's growing epidemic, deepening highway tragedies and they are clamoring for the federal government to start an attack through a national safety czar and other wise means. We can never end this frightful carnage until the government agencies finally decide to do something but until so, the bloodshed will even double, with millions more being maimed, these were to words in the president of the national trial lawyers group's forewarning in the white document.
He stated it straightforwardly that the federal government just didn't want to address the highway carnage. He beckoned everyone from scientists, psychiatrists, law enforcement agencies, lawyers, judges, legislators, insurance and auto industries and the advertising and news media, all sectors of society, in order to chip in and help eliminating mass apathy.
Like what had been done for airplanes, trains and ships, it was recommended in the report that minimum safety standards be espoused by the federal government to counter the lack of safety concerns of many tire and car manufacturers. The white paper sees motor vehicles slaughter problem that can only be solved with federal, state and local governments acting on it fast and together.
The core of the recommendations created by the trial lawyer is federal governance that can cure poor safety standards for motorists and eliminate this problem. Congress should, as stated in the white paper, soon create a post for a National Director of Highway safety and make sure he is allotted enough funds, staffing and authority.
To create control and uniform standards in this area, they proposed a federal bureau for driver licensing. Licensing rules and regulations were found in the report, blaming it on the local political pressures. The renewal of applications to be in the form of sworn statements and affidavits providing strict penalties for perjury to be often renewed, the photo of the driver appearing in his license, mandatory eye and physical eye examinations every three years should be undertaken and raising the minimum age limit for drivers to 18 with exemption to 16 year olds who have passed a certified drivers' education course, were the sensible things proposed when it comes to licensing.
Solutions, a series of them was given by the report once it was established that 55 percent of all the road accidents most fatal were due to driving under alcohol influence. The driver will be sanctioned by losing his license if he is deemed driving under alcohol power so it must be included that the blood alcohol level should be trimmed down to 0.1 percent. With consideration to basic rules for tires and cars safety, the proposal states that the government should be given all liberty to meddle with interstate commerce affairs.
If cars were built with only three basic changes, the white paper said, occupants could probably survive any crash up to 35 miles per hour. And it said statistics show that 87 per cent of all accidents occur at impact speeds of 35 miles or below. They called for very simple changes from collapsible steering posts, doors that would stay close in a crash as well as shoulder harnesses in all automobiles.
Safety design features such as padded head supports to prevent whiplash injuries, disc brakes on all wheels with dual braking systems, headlights and taillights visible from the side as well as the front, safety wheels, cornering lights that will illumine the area in which the car is turning, hydraulic bumpers to absorb a greater amount of impact, more use of light body colors, elimination of X frames, and permanent blinking forewarning systems, built in the car's body which is ideal for emergencies were recommended by the American trial lawyers association through their safety committee. Pointing out that there are no state boundaries for automobile travel, the association recommended the adoption of federal laws to establish minimum tire safety and performance standards and uniform labeling in understandable language.
