New Hampshire Law Blog

Immediate License suspension saves lives.

From over in the Washington DC area from a personal injury blog there, I found this entry on a study that shows that when a driver's license is suspended right away, (that is as soon as he or she fails a breathalyser test) that this actually has an effect on other drivers.

So a regular guy fears immediate lose of a license, but does not fear lose of license only if convicted.

The fact that the lose is immediate is estimated to prevent drunk driving accidents and save at least 800 lives a year.  Wow.

Here's the abstract results section from the study.

Administrative or preconviction drivers license suspension policies have statistically significant and substantively important effects in reducing alcohol-related fatal crash involvement by 5%, representing at least 800 lives saved per year in the United States. Moreover, these laws have similar effects on drivers at all drinking levels—from lower-risk drivers below the legal alcohol limit to drivers at extreme levels of intoxication. In clear contrast, postconviction license suspension policies have no discernable effects.

Alcoholism:  Clinical and Experimental Research

Driving While Text Messaging?

Driving while talking on the phone is bad enough.  This person was text messaging while driving.  The result...Someone died and he is charged with a misdemeanor. This happened in Colorado.

A teenage driver accused of text messaging behind the wheel and hitting a cyclist was charged with a misdemeanor, authorities said.

The 17-year-old was charged with careless driving causing death, according to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office. The charge carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison.

The victim, Jim R. Price, 63, was riding his bicycle Nov. 23 when he was hit by the teen's car, said Lt. Alan Stanton, a spokesman for the sheriff's office. Price died two days after the accident.

The teen has not been identified because he is a minor. Authorities said he lost control of the car because he was sending text messages on a cell phone. He was issued a summons and ordered to appear in court, authorities said

Source:  AP via Yahoo News

Motorcycle Accident Increase

The meeting that occurred in NH a month ago has gotten the attention of USA Today.  That meeting was called to talk about the reason behind the increase in motorcycle accidents in New Hampshire.  What did they come up with as a reason?  The lack of motorcycle training.

This emergency meeting of New Hampshire's motorcycle safely task force didn't touch the hot-button helmet issue - helmets are required only until age 18 here - but did agree that more riders need training. Only one of the 27 motorcyclists killed last year had taken motorcycle training. The 27 deaths were three times the number killed in 2003, and 29 motorcyclists have already been killed this year.

Source:  USAToday.com through Yahoo

U-turns! What are people thinking...

I read in the Laconia Daily Sun this morning about an accident that occurred yesterday on Route 11A here in Gilford.  Car #1 pulled into the breakdown lane, kept driving and then when Car #2 tried to pass, Car #1 pulled a U-Turn right in front of them.

What are people thinking?  You learn in Driver's Ed that U-Turns are bad.  I wish I could post a link to the story, but the Laconia Daily Sun does not have its articles online.

Motorcycle Deaths in NH Rise

From the Nashua Telegraph today, an article about Motorcycle deaths.  They rose pretty significantly from 2003 to 2004.  In 2003, there were 9 deaths.  In 2004, there were 27. (That's a 300% increase)  So far this year (2005), there have been 21 deaths.  New Hampshire says that the increase is not due to helmet use, but to a lack of motorcycle training.

State safety officials say a rise in motorcycle fatalities in New Hampshire is not related to the lack of a mandatory helmet law, despite recent studies suggesting such a link elsewhere in the country.

Peter Thomson, the state’s highway safety coordinator, says motorcycle deaths likely are up because more people are riding, but not taking a rider safety course. The three-day course is not required to get a license.

Source:  Nashua Telegraph

My Previous Post on Motorcycle Hemlet laws

New Hampshire "Med pay" coverage

"Med Pay" is short for medical payments.  An auto insurance policy in New Hampshire will have a couple of different kinds of coverage that relate to personal injury.

• Liability
• Uninsured/underinsured coverage
• Medical Payments coverage

The liability portion protects you from a lawsuit and pays damages when you are the one responsible for the accident.  Uninsured coverage pays you when you are hit and hurt by someone who does not have insurance or does not have as much as you do.  Medpay is what I am posting about today...

Medical Payments is a set amount of money that you have purchased from your auto insurance company to cover ...you guessed it, medical payments.

It is, at a minimum, $1000 of coverage, but you can buy more and if you can afford it it is generally worth it because the premiums are not that high.  Here's what Med Pay does for you. If you are in an auto accident in New Hampshire and you go to the hospital get checked out and then have a few followup appointments then you can take those bills and have them paid by your "Med Pay" coverage.  This kind of coverage is especially helpful if you or your client does not have health insurance.

If the other driver was responsible for the accident, then med pay helps in that you can actually get some medical care and not have to wait to see if the other insurance company is going to pay your claim.  We have seen in many of our cases, a client who is reluctant to get needed medical treatment, because they had no way of paying for it, or only had $1,000 in coverage and did not want to risk waiting for settling their claim.  Med Pay solves this problem.  When you renew your car insurance policy ask about getting more coverage.  It's not that much.

Uninsured Motorist Coverage

March ruling by the NH Supreme Court on Uninsured benefits and how insurance policies are interpreted.

In this case a person was involved in an accident with another driver who had no insurance, but was delivering pizza at the time.  The pizza delivery guy had no insurance (bad idea)  BUT his employer did.  So, the other driver settled with the pizza company and got an affidavit from the pizza delivery guy which said that he did not have insurance.

Now the idea behind uninsured coverage is that you can get money from your own insurance company if you are injured by someone who did not have insurance. (In New Hampshire where car insurance is not required having your own insurance for when you get hit by some uninsured driver is one of the best reasons to have auto insurance).  In order to get the uninsured coverage you need to tell your insurance company that you are settling your claim.  This case confirmed that even when you are settling your case with the other driver's employer and not the other driver (remember he did not have insurance) that you still have to notify your own company.  If you don't then you might be giving up your uninsured coverage.

Here's the link to the Supreme Court's slip opinion