Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI Personal Injury Blog

It takes more than laws to change dangerous behavior such as drunk driving or texting while driving. Aggressive enforcement of those laws is also needed. And so is a change in the culture that produces the dangerous behavior in the first place.

That is why federal and state safety officials are finally trying to tackle car accidents caused by distracted driving by seeking to develop a comprehensive strategy against it. The strategy is designed to include elements of law enforcement as well as public education on the dangers of distracted driving.

Wisconsin is one of 34 states with laws against texting while driving. The law has been on the books for nearly a year now.

As important as these laws are in discouraging and punishing distracted driving, they have to be supplemented by aggressive public awareness campaign. To truly change behavior and reduce distracted driving crashes, people have to be shown how unacceptable - and how dangerous - multi-tasking behind the wheel really is.

Teen drivers need to be taught better. Passing laws against texting while driving and other dangerous behaviors is important. But so is teaching teens right - right from the start.

This means that modeling safe driving has to start with parents. It must include basics like keeping your hand on the wheel and your eyes on the road, not on an electronic device. Being sober and alert, not tipsy or fatigued, is vital as well.

Learning the importance of these things can't wait until drivers' education. And it will help prevent car accidents in Wisconsin and across the country.

Once teens do start driver training, it's important for parents to sit down with them and establish the ground rules or guidelines for driving. These guidelines should start with wearing a seat belt. They should also include such things as limits on number of passengers, a curfew, and restrictions on the use of cell phones while driving.

The Labor Day weekend offers a chance to savor the summer before the school year begins. But it's also one of the riskiest times to be on the road. The danger of drunk driving accidents is substantial.

How dangerous do the roads get on this long weekend? Data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit group supported by the insurance industry, puts September 2 as second behind only July 4 for motor vehicle deaths in a single day.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is trying to help Wisconsin and other states make driving safer on the Labor Day weekend by operating a nationwide program called Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over." The goal is simple: to get drunk drivers off the road and therefore prevent car accidents.

The program began on August 19 and runs through September 5. It involves over 10,000 law enforcement agencies around the country. The Department of Transportation is partnering with these agencies on an advertising campaign intended to deter drunk drivers by making them more aware of the possibility of arrest.

Drunk driving accidents are a life-threatening menace in Wisconsin. Reviewing the statistics is - quite frankly - a sobering experience.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, 238 people were killed in Wisconsin in 2009 in motor vehicle accidents involving alcohol. Nearly 4,000 people were injured.

This level of calamity from drunk driving accidents should scarcely be surprising, considering that the rate of drunk driving in Wisconsin is the highest in the entire United States. In a federal survey in 2009, more than 1 in every 4 Wisconsin adults who responded admitted to having driven a motor vehicle while intoxicated in the last year.

With so much drinking and driving going on, law enforcement agencies have their work cut out for them. But even with over 40,000 OWI convictions a year, it's hard for the police to keep up. Research studies have shown that people arrested for drunk driving usually drive drunk many times before they are pulled over for the first time.

Fatigued truck drivers cause terrible trouble on the road. The truck accidents that result from poor decisions by sleepy, worn-out drivers take many lives every year and cause thousands of injuries.

We don't intend to demonize these drivers. We understand they are under a lot of pressure. But they should not be violating hours-of-service limitations. And they should not be given the temptation to alter logbooks that should accurately record the hours a trucker actually works.

To remove that temptation from truckers, and improve safety on the road, federal regulators are looking to an electronic tool. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is finally getting serious about this. The agency is testing an onboard driver monitoring tool intended to gather better data than ever before on how trucker drivers really drive.

National Dog Bite Prevention Week is May 15-21. This is a good time to become more aware of the dangers of dog bites and other animal attacks.

Every year, nearly five million people suffer bites or other attacks from dogs. Many of these bites and attacks involve injuries to children. The physical injuries can be serious and result in extensive scarring, even after surgery. The emotional trauma from the attack can have long-term consequences, especially for children.

National Dog Bite Prevention Week is sponsored by the American Veterinary Medical Association. It is also supported by insurance companies. According to estimates by the Insurance Information Institute, insurers paid out over $412 million in claims in dog bite cases in 2009.

The Wisconsin legislature has passed legislation to reduce the minimum amount of automobile insurance that motorists are required to carry. Known as Assembly Bill 4, the bill passed the State Assembly in March and the State Senate earlier this month. It now awaits Governor Walker's signature.

The background to the bill was a 2009 law that substantially increased minimum liability limits on car insurance policies. The 2009 legislation increased the minimum required coverage for accidents involving bodily injury or death to $50,000 for one victim. The amount for multiple victims was raised to $100,000. The figure for property damage is $15,000.

The 2011 legislation seeks to roll back those limits significantly. AB4 would make the mandatory limits $25,000 for bodily injury or death of a single victim, $50,000 for multiple victims, and $10,000 for property damage.

Because of their lower speed and smaller size, mopeds may not seem to present the potential of serious accidents. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), however, fatalities involving mopeds doubled - from 48 to 96 - between 2005 and 2009.

What Is a Moped?

The definition of a moped can vary by state. In Wisconsin, the Department of Transportation says that a moped must have its engine as an integral part of the vehicle. Otherwise, the vehicle could be considered a motor bicycle.

Mopeds, which have an automatic transmission, are sometimes known as scooters. In contrast to motorcycles, mopeds' engines are not larger than 50 cubic centimeters (CCs). Some states outside Wisconsin, like Tennessee and Illinois, define mopeds as having engines up to 150 CCs.

To drive a moped in Wisconsin, the rider must have a valid driver's license. Although the DOT recommends helmets for moped riders, Wisconsin law does not require them. The same is true of using the moped's headlight during the day.