New Haven Connecticut Legal Blog

The stereotype of a teenage girl many of us have in our head is of a chatty, giggling, phone addict who is completely lost in their own world. When that scenario translates inside of a car, it is an easy recipe for a case of distracted driving. However, it may surprise you that according to a new study, it is not young women, but young men that are more prone to distracted driving.

The findings were reported from a Norwegian study which looked at personalities and driving habits of high schoolers and adults. It is interesting to point out that very few of the study participants labeled themselves as someone who drove distracted, but patterns emerged regarding who was more likely to drive distracted.

A lot of headlines in recent months have been devoted to self-driving vehicles. Unfortunately, this has been largely due to the number of recent car accidents involving vehicles equipped with the technology - including a handful of fatal crashes. The crash that resulted in the most extensive media coverage involved an Uber vehicle that was operating in semi-autonomous mode with a safety operator in the driver's seat.

The self-driving Uber was being tested in Tempe, Arizona, when it struck and killed a pedestrian who was walking her bicycle across the street. Uber immediately halted its self-driving testing program in Tempe and in several other locations. At the same time, state and local regulators began to scrutinize self-driving vehicle testing programs in their jurisdictions.

When the weather finally turns, motorists on Connecticut's highways begin to encounter increasing numbers of motorcyclists. Even though motorcycle riding is largely seasonal in Connecticut, a high percentage of all traffic fatalities stem from motorcycle deaths. This is because motorcyclists are more exposed and have considerably less protection than the drivers and passengers in other types of vehicles. Although car accidents are more frequent, motorcycle accidents tend to be more fatal.

The Governors Highway Safety Association reported last month that nationally, 5,286 motorcyclists were killed in 2016. Examining data going back to 1994, 2016 was the second deadliest year after 2008, which saw 5,312 motorcycle deaths. In 2016, 14.1 percent of all traffic fatalities were motorcycle deaths. This is a sharp increase from 8.4 percent in 1994.

In AFL-CIO's annual "Death on the Job, The Toll of Neglect" report, 2016 data indicated that Connecticut was home to the safest workplaces in the United States. During that year, the latest for which statistics have been compiled, 28 people died on the job in Connecticut, resulting in a fatality rate of 1.6 deaths per 100,000 workers. The national rate, by comparison, was 3.6 deaths per 100,000 workers. Rhode Island had the second lowest fatality rate at 1.8 per 100,000 workers, followed by California at 2.2 per 100,000.

On the other hand, Connecticut had a rate of injury or illness resulting in days away from work and/or work restrictions that was greater than the national average. In 2016, 1.9 out of every 100 workers suffered such injury or illness on the job in Connecticut. These types of injuries and illness result in more workers' compensation claims. Nationally, the injury/illness rate was 1.6 per 100 workers.