Daydreaming While Driving May Be More Dangerous than Texting by Roger Rudich

April 12th, 2013

Everyone knows that texting while driving is dangerous. Texting while driving makes a crash up to 23 times more likely, making it many times more dangerous than other activities people do while driving: reaching for the cell phone, dialing a number, and talking on the phone. And surprisingly, more adults than teens text while driving. But there may be a surprising activity that may be even more dangerous than texting: daydreaming while driving.

New research conducted by an insurance company found that daydreaming while driving is five times more dangerous than texting while driving. For their research, Erie Insurance Group looked through 65,000 fatal car accidents that occurred in 2011 and 2012. Of these, around 10% were caused by distracted driving. Distracted driving is any type of activity that takes your eyes, hands, and/or mind from the focus of driving, such as using a cell phone or surfing the web while driving.

According to Erie Insurance Group, of all the accidents caused by distracted drivers, an astonishing 62% were caused by daydreaming while driving. The drivers reported being so “lost in thought” that they caused an accident or couldn’t react in time to stop an accident from happening. In comparison, 12% of distracted driving accidents involved a cell phone.

Whether it’s using a cell phone or daydreaming behind the wheel, it’s clear that distracted driving can cause fatal accidents. While driving, it is crucial that your focus remains on the road, and not on a cell phone or lost in thought over the day’s events. And of course, if you’ve been hurt in an accident, it is crucial that you contact an experienced attorney to find out what your legal options are.

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7 Things to Remember for this St. Patrick’s Day by Roger Rudich

March 15th, 2013

Chicago is a great place to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Our city is full of Irish-American history and pride, and each year we celebrate our Irish heritage by throwing one of the largest parades in the country and by dyeing the famous Chicago River green. St. Patrick’s Day is also a day for drinking with friends. And while celebrating with whisky and beer is part of this holiday’s fun, the greater levels of alcohol consumption also make it a day to be even more responsible.

Please check out my seven safety tips to help you enjoy the festivities safely:

Plan ahead by figuring out a safe way for you and your friends to get home. Whether you’re going to a pub crawl or going to a friend’s house for a party, plan ahead to make sure that you can take a cab or public transportation home.
Eat regularly so that you never drink on an empty stomach. Eating will help absorb the alcohol and keep your body from feeling the full negative effects of a long night of drinking.
Stay hydrated by drinking a glass of water for every alcoholic beverage. Drinking water frequently will help you have fun for longer and it will decrease the chances of a hangover the next day.
Please limit your drinking to only one drink every hour, which is around the time that your body takes to metabolize the alcohol.
If the party is at your house, please have all your guests turn their keys to you when they arrive. At the end of the night, be prepared to call cabs for your guests or let them sleep over.
If you are the designated driver, be careful of intoxicated pedestrians and other drivers. Just because you were being responsible doesn’t mean that other people are.
And of course, if you feel impaired, don’t get behind the wheel. In the eyes of the law, impaired driving is drunk driving. So when in doubt, don’t drive.

You can see more St. Patrick’s Day safety tips here. Also, you may be surprised by how few drinks it takes to make you too intoxicated to drive. Please use this chart as an approximation for blood alcohol percentage:

St. Patrick’s day is all about dressing in green, drinking with friends, and a healthy dose of responsibility. Please stay safe, and have a wonderful weekend!

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Man Responsible for Hit-and-Run in NY Finally Arrested by Roger Rudich

March 8th, 2013

A little good news finally came out of one of the most tragic car-crash reports I’ve ever heard in the news: the driver who was responsible for a horrific hit-and-run in Brooklyn, New York was finally apprehended after running from authorities for several days.

On Sunday night, a young orthodox Jewish couple, expecting their first child, were on their way to the hospital in a hired sedan when they were hit by a speeding BMW driven by Julio Acevedo. Acevedo was driving around 60 mph and hit the sedan with such force that the sedan’s engine ended up in the backseat. Both cars were completely mangled from the crash, and the young couple, Nathan and Raizy Glauber, died at the scene of the accident. The driver of the hired sedan was knocked unconscious, but he survived the crash. Acevedo managed to flee from the scene.

Raizy Glauber was seven months pregnant at the time of the accident. Nathan and Raizy Glauber’s son was delivered via cesarean after his parents were both killed. Sadly, the son did not live long and died the next day of extreme prematurity.

Acevedo was finally arrested in Pennsylvania after fleeing from the police for three days. Last month, he was charged with driving under the influence and that case was still pending at the time of this horrific accident. In this case, he claims that he was driving away from a gunman who was shooting at him. Police so far have had no reports of shots being fired.

While Acevedo’s arrest will certainly not erase the tragedy, hopefully the Glauber’s friends and family will find some solace that the man responsible for the tragic death of a young family will not go unpunished.

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19 Teens Arrested at a Chicago Mall by Roger Rudich

March 1st, 2013

In a bizarre story, a total of 19 teens between the ages of 13 and 18 were arrested at a Southwest side mall in Chicago. Most of the students have been charged with misdemeanor mob action.

In the middle of the afternoon at Ford City Mall, around 30 people, mostly teenagers, started causing a disturbance for no apparent reason, running and yelling through the mall. Some witnesses said that there were more than 100 teenagers running through the mall. Mall authorities quickly escorted the mall patrons and the teenagers out of the mall and then closed the doors. The chaos then spilled into the parking lot, where the teens jumped onto cars and caused other property damage. When the police arrived, they found between 100 and 200 people in the parking lot damaging vehicles. The police arrested those teenagers who didn’t disperse after they arrived.

Two people were injured and taken to the hospital, but thankfully no one seemed to be seriously injured. Most of the teens were charged with misdemeanor mob action, but a 16-year-old was charged with battery of a mall security guard.

While there was no apparent motive for the “mob action,” the disturbance began soon after members of a teen band, with the very ironic name of “Mindless Behavior,” arrived at the mall to promote their new CD. Around 1000 children and parents showed up to the event, but most of the children were young girls between the ages of 6 and 13. The police do not believe that the band’s presence at the mall had anything to do with the chaos soon afterwards. So far, police and mall officials are at a loss as to the reason behind the disturbance.

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