Injury attorneys at Sacramento’s Sette Law pay particular attention to traffic accidents throughout the summer months when so many drivers are on the road in Sacramento. Car accidents, our lawyers report, dramatically increase during the vacationing season so, in this blog, we’ll discuss some of the common causes of  car accidents in Sacramento.

Our injury attorneys say that, although many vehicle accidents never make the nightly news, the summer of 2015 has already made many headlines in Sacramento. Car accidents, Sette lawyers report, have already claimed more than 10 lives since June in Greater Sacramento. And accident attorneys point out that for each death, there are often multiple victims left with serious injuries. The circumstances of these Sacramento accidents differ. Lawyers say that some occurred on local freeways, others on urban streets – from wrong way drivers to excessive speed and drunk driving, our injury lawyers say Sacramento drivers are wise to drive defensively and with awareness that other drivers may not be doing the same.

What Good Drivers Should Watch Out for in Sacramento
Accident attorneys cite recent data that shows one-third of vehicle crashes are due to excessive speed and reckless driving in Greater Sacramento. Sette accident lawyers also live here and know from observation that speed limits are frequently ignored. However, national data supports that casual observation. Referring to a 2012 AAA study, our injury and accident attorneys say that 49.3 percent of drivers admit to exceeding limits by 10 to 15 miles per hour. In regard to the rash of summertime accidents in Sacramento, our injury lawyers say that excessive speed was certainly a factor in some of the car accidents.

Attorneys at Sette Law include other driver behavior, such as road rage and driver fatigue, as catalysts for some Sacramento car accidents. Our lawyers report that one study indicates that about 37 percent of drivers admit to dozing off behind the wheel.  The dangers of encountering a fatigued driver are highest between 4 p.m. and sunrise in Sacramento. Our accident lawyers advise motorists, particularly on area freeways, to be conscious of this potential hazard and drive defensively in and around Sacramento.

Sette accident and injury lawyers, however, are particularly concerned about the prevalence of distracted driving throughout California and in Sacramento. Injury lawyers say a recent accident brings this danger close to home. In July a father was killed and his son critically injured while riding their bicycles, due to a distracted driving accident. Our lawyers say the driver of the car was allegedly reading a text message when he veered into the bike lane, killing the dad and injuring his eight-year-old son. To make a tragedy even worse, the victims were very recent immigrants – Afghan refugees who had fled ISIS to be safe in Sacramento.

And accident attorneys are Sette Law are painfully aware that distracted driving, in general, is a  major concern in California and, by extension, in Sacramento. Injury lawyers refer to the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) which reports that almost 53 percent of drivers admitted to “making a driving mistake while using a cell phone.”  In April 2013 alone, the California DMV reported 57,000 tickets had been written for distracted texting and cell phone use, and 426,000 convictions for violations were issued, our accident and injury lawyers report.  Alarmingly, the OTS reports that distracted driving is a factor in a full 80 percent of vehicle accidents. Attorneys at Sette Law believe this finding is very troubling. Distracted driving is entirely preventable – accidents and deaths that don’t have to happen in the state or in Sacramento.

Our injury lawyers are also aware that Sacramento has more than its share of motorists who run red lights, straight into an accident. Our attorneys even observe this behavior on their drive to our offices as drivers ignore the yellow lights and speed through when lights turn red. In California, the OTS says that almost two in five drivers admitted to doing so within a one-month period. In Sacramento, accident lawyers know that statistics show that most red light runners are young drivers. Nationwide, an insurance industry study indicated that running red lights was the cause of 22 percent of vehicle accidents. Lawyers point out this is a very high figure for a single source of car crashes. The NHTSA backs this opinion with stats – in 2008 the agency logged 2.3 million accidents at intersections.

Yet another danger on roads in the County of Sacramento, our accident lawyers remind us, is driving under the influence. Like distracted driving, this risk is entirely preventable but still continues to threaten drivers in Sacramento. Our accident lawyers say that in 2013 there were 214,828 DUI arrests. In 2008, DUI Drunk Driving Statistics reported a total of 2,397 traffic deaths in which at least one motorist had a blood alcohol level of 0.01 percent or above.

Our Sacramento injury attorneys are concerned about a pretty significant rise in these accidents from 2012 to 2013 in the city of Sacramento. Injury attorneys say that in 2012 there were 25 fatal car accidents – that number rose to 42 in 2013! Just as disturbing to Sette’s accident attorneys is the spike in DUI fatalities, from three in 2012 to 14 in 2013.  This is a very disturbing trend as recorded by City-Data.

At Sette Law, our personal injury attorneys represent people who have been physically and financially harmed in traffic accidents in which someone was negligent. As professional Sacramento accident lawyers, it’s our job to know as much about traffic accidents and driver behavior as possible. However, because we deal first-hand with victims who are suffering, our accident attorneys are personally aware of the profound pain that injuries and wrongful death can bring to people in our community. We feel it is our responsibility to educate drivers in Sacramento. Our injury lawyers care deeply about this community. We work with traffic statistics on a daily basis and we strive to reverse the trend our Sacramento accident attorneys have outlined in this blog.