Chicago, Illinois Personal Injury Blog

Reincarnation, strictly speaking, is mystical concept with roots in Hindu religion. It refers to a process of rebirth that Hindus believe involves something called the transmigration of souls.

Chicago truck accident lawyers and other safety advocates know, however, that there is also another meaning to term. Trucking companies and other motor carriers that fail to meet safety guidelines and go out of business sometimes try to reconstitute themselves as a different entity.

Such "reincarnated" companies are notorious for safety violations of many different types. These violations can range from improper handling of hazardous materials to failure to perform required license checks on truck drivers.

Last week, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration took action to confront these reincarnated carriers. FMCSA proposed a final rule that will make it more difficult for carriers that have been sanctioned for safety violations to reconstitute themselves as different entities.

In other words, reincarnation should not be allowed to let bad transportation industry actors get around the law.

So far, public safety efforts to prevent distracted driving have focused mostly on individual drivers. But now, many businesses are realizing they have a lot at stake if their employees are driving while distracted.

Chicago truck accident lawyers and other safety advocates are encouraged by this development. Carelessness and disregard for others behind the wheel of a company vehicle can be grounds for a lawsuit or other problems if a wreck occurs. And this gives businesses an incentive to design and implement policies to help their employees stay safe behind the wheel.

Businesses have even more incentive now that a federal rule banning handheld cellphone use by commercial drivers has taken effect.

To be sure, the rule isn't perfect. Hands-free devices were still allowed, and there are many company drivers who still use handheld phones, even though they're breaking the law to do so. If caught, however, a commercial driver could be fined up to $2,750 per offense. Multiple offenses could result in the loss of commercial driving privileges.

"It takes a village," it's often said, to raise a child. That includes helping teenage drivers learn how to handle vehicles safely - so that they are not dangerous both to others and themselves out on the road.

Chicago car accident lawyers and other safety advocates are therefore following with interest the efforts of a Chicago company that is working to create a GPS device to monitor teenage drivers in real time. The device could offer reports on key data elements, including location and speed.

The device is called iTeen365. It looks somewhat like a cellphone, but is designed to be implanted in a car's dashboard. The sensors it is equipped with gather driving-related information. This information can then be transmitted to computers and smartphones.

Joe McBreen, the CEO of the company that makes the iTeen365, is naturally an advocate for its advantages. "Teenagers drive a lot more cautiously when their parents are in the vehicle with them, or there is a driving instructor in the car with them," he said. "They will drive correctly, within speed limits, so once they are aware they're being monitored they tend to drive more cautiously."

Distracted driving, it's sometimes said, has been around since the Model-T. And it's true that cell-phones and texting are certainly not the only types of distracted driving that can cause accidents. Fiddling with the radio or changing a CD can be as well.

But the electronic toll on drivers' attention keeps increasing. Chicago car accident lawyers that deaths and injuries are often the result of this diminished attention.

Are automakers responding by designing cars to keep the driver from being tempted by too many technological interruptions?

The answer, unfortunately, is mostly no.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wants devices built into cars to automatically disable phone calls, texting, and other distractions unless the vehicle is parked. NHTSA believes that even inputting information into a navigation system is dangerous when the vehicle is moving.

NHTSA intends to propose limits on the use of hand-held devices. The agency also plans to issue guidelines for voice-activated devices that are built into vehicles.

In Illinois, the House of Representatives has passed a bill to require drivers to use a hands-free device when talking on a cell phone. The state already has a texting while driving ban.