16-year-old Brooklyn, New York resident Dervish Nivokazi, was charged recently with manslaughter after he killed 65-year-old Zak Stanislaw who was waiting at a bus stop.
Police say that Nivokazi was speeding in a 2005 Mazda, hit a Toyota, and then slammed into Stanislaw who was pronounced dead minutes after the 9:20pm crash.
Nivokazi had only a junior license (similar to Washington's intermediate license) which prohibits driving after 9pm. He was treated for minor injuries at Lutheran Hospital. The driver of the Toyota was not injured.
According to Wiley Norvell of Transportation Alternatives, only 29 drivers in New York State have been charged with negligent homicide from 1994 to 2008 despite thousands of pedestrians and bicyclists that have been killed.
Showing posts with label death. Show all posts
Showing posts with label death. Show all posts
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
New York Tightens Teen Driving Laws
Albany, New York is in the process of enacting new teen driving laws to bring down teen driver and passenger fatalities.
Currently, teens are able to get their license within the first 6 months of their permit with only 20 hours required of parent observation. The new bill raises that to 6 months of permit driving until even being able to schedule the road test and 50 hours or observed driving with 15 of those being night driving.
The bill would ban the use of electronic devices, handheld or other, and reduce the number of non-family drivers to one until age 21.
The bill also closes loopholes where teens were able to plea-bargain driving offenses to reduce them to non-moving violations, and thus avoiding points being added to their driving record. The only drawback to this is many parents pay for the driver's insurance so maybe having some court appointed volunteer work would actually be more appropriate.
One place the bill may falter, however, is drivers will be able to get their full license at age 17 whereas the federal bill restricts a full license until age 18.
36% of teen deaths are caused by motor vehicle accidents, and teen drivers are twice as likely to die in crashes as are adult drivers, studies show.
Thank you to Buffalo News.
Currently, teens are able to get their license within the first 6 months of their permit with only 20 hours required of parent observation. The new bill raises that to 6 months of permit driving until even being able to schedule the road test and 50 hours or observed driving with 15 of those being night driving.
The bill would ban the use of electronic devices, handheld or other, and reduce the number of non-family drivers to one until age 21.
The bill also closes loopholes where teens were able to plea-bargain driving offenses to reduce them to non-moving violations, and thus avoiding points being added to their driving record. The only drawback to this is many parents pay for the driver's insurance so maybe having some court appointed volunteer work would actually be more appropriate.
One place the bill may falter, however, is drivers will be able to get their full license at age 17 whereas the federal bill restricts a full license until age 18.
36% of teen deaths are caused by motor vehicle accidents, and teen drivers are twice as likely to die in crashes as are adult drivers, studies show.
Thank you to Buffalo News.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Teen Crashes: Highest on Saturday and Sunday Night
It's important to educate yourself-- as a parent and a teen driver. Below are 2 tables of information. Look them over carefully and you'll notice 2 things. Crash rates for teen drivers are most risky on Saturday and Sunday nights. Does this come as a surprise to you? Maybe not. But the awareness alone is imporant.
Share this with your teen driver. Do they notice a difference in the way they drive on weekends? Night driving vs. day driving, in general? Are they driving friends? Are they excited to go to a party or event? What is it about night and weekend driving for teens?
*Total includes other and/or unknowns
*Total includes other and/or unknowns
Share this with your teen driver. Do they notice a difference in the way they drive on weekends? Night driving vs. day driving, in general? Are they driving friends? Are they excited to go to a party or event? What is it about night and weekend driving for teens?
| Teenage motor vehicle crash deaths by day of week, 2007 | ||
| Day of Week | Deaths | % |
| Sunday | 953 | 19 |
| Monday | 568 | 12 |
| Tuesday | 531 | 11 |
| Wednesday | 566 | 11 |
| Thursday | 571 | 12 |
| Friday | 795 | 16 |
| Saturday | 962 | 20 |
| Total* | 4946 | 100 |
| Teenage motor vehicle crash deaths by time of day, 2007 | ||
| Time of Day | Deaths | % |
| Midnight-3am | 747 | 15 |
| 3am-6am | 470 | 10 |
| 6am-9am | 393 | 8 |
| 9am-noon | 301 | 6 |
| Noon-3pm | 498 | 10 |
| 3pm-6pm | 822 | 17 |
| 6pm-9pm | 776 | 16 |
| 9pm-midnight | 900 | 18 |
| Total* | 4,946 | 100 |
Thursday, May 7, 2009
To Drive or Not To Drive!
To Drive or not to Drive!
And that really is the question! What age is the right age for a teenager to get their drivers license?
The age and requirements vary state-to-state and have varied laws concerning all aspects of when, where and how teens may drive.
We pose the question regarding readiness to the parents.
Even if the age to get a license in your state is 16, you must ask yourself is your teen mature enough and ready for the responsibility?
No parent wants to say no to their children but feelings and emotions involving things like peer pressure and the ability to impress their friends have no place behind the wheel of a car. Being that traffic deaths are the number 1 reason for high mortality rates in teenagers.
Let's face it, driving is all about responsibility. Are your kids good with following the rules, doing the chores, handling their emotional ups and downs sensibly? Only you know how your child will measure up to these questions.
Here are some ideas from another parent.
Many parents "basically cut their kids loose the minute they get their driver's license." That was not the case with the Cox family's oldest child, Rachel, who turned 16 in January and got her license in April. The decision to allow her to drive was tied to certain rules. Among them:
She's not allowed to use a cell phone while driving. Cox checks the itemized statement to ensure the rule is followed.
She's not permitted to have passengers (except for family) for at least a year. Cox sometimes bends this rule, depending on where her daughter is going and with whom.
Rachel must continue to drive with her parents on occasion, so they can observe. And she's required to enroll in a New Driver Car Control Clinic.
There was never any room for negotiation. Donna Cox has had the rules in mind since 1997, when she helped her best friend bury her 16-year-old son in Louisville. He had been driving just four days.
"His death notice and picture have hung on my kitchen cabinet for the last nine years," Cox says, "so it's a daily reminder."
And that really is the question! What age is the right age for a teenager to get their drivers license?
The age and requirements vary state-to-state and have varied laws concerning all aspects of when, where and how teens may drive.
We pose the question regarding readiness to the parents.
Even if the age to get a license in your state is 16, you must ask yourself is your teen mature enough and ready for the responsibility?
No parent wants to say no to their children but feelings and emotions involving things like peer pressure and the ability to impress their friends have no place behind the wheel of a car. Being that traffic deaths are the number 1 reason for high mortality rates in teenagers.
Let's face it, driving is all about responsibility. Are your kids good with following the rules, doing the chores, handling their emotional ups and downs sensibly? Only you know how your child will measure up to these questions.
Here are some ideas from another parent.
Many parents "basically cut their kids loose the minute they get their driver's license." That was not the case with the Cox family's oldest child, Rachel, who turned 16 in January and got her license in April. The decision to allow her to drive was tied to certain rules. Among them:
She's not allowed to use a cell phone while driving. Cox checks the itemized statement to ensure the rule is followed.
She's not permitted to have passengers (except for family) for at least a year. Cox sometimes bends this rule, depending on where her daughter is going and with whom.
Rachel must continue to drive with her parents on occasion, so they can observe. And she's required to enroll in a New Driver Car Control Clinic.
There was never any room for negotiation. Donna Cox has had the rules in mind since 1997, when she helped her best friend bury her 16-year-old son in Louisville. He had been driving just four days.
"His death notice and picture have hung on my kitchen cabinet for the last nine years," Cox says, "so it's a daily reminder."
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