It’s National Child Passenger Safety Week: Have you Checked Your Child’s Car Seat Lately?
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on September 22nd, 2010
When you drive with children in your vehicle, you are driving with precious cargo. As a reminder about keeping our children safe when traveling in motor vehicles, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has designated this week, Sept. 19 to 25, as 2010 National Child Passenger Safety Week across the U.S. On Saturday, Sept. 25, child safety seat inspection stations will be set up at no charge in local communities to allow parents and...
Update: School district reaches settlement in lawsuit over search of teen’s cell phone in sexting case
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on September 15th, 2010
Student's case against the district attorney still being pursued Remember that teen texting incident in the Tunkhannock Area School District in Pennsylvania's Wyoming County last year, where several teens became embroiled in a legal controversy over some naked and semi-naked photos taken with a cell phone camera? In a statement today, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, which represented one of the teens in a lawsuit against the school district and the district attorney's...
The Megabus crash: Inadequate training and insufficient oversight lead to four tragic deaths
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on September 14th, 2010
The tragic Megabus accident that killed four passengers early Saturday morning just outside Syracuse, N.Y., didn't have to happen. The crash occurred when a Megabus driver became lost along his intended route and was apparently using his personal GPS unit to figure out where to go next. The bus was headed to Toronto from Philadelphia, according to a story in The Philadelphia Daily News. As the driver made his way in the dark, he followed...
On 9/11 and the madness of the threatened Koran burnings
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on September 11th, 2010
As the ninth anniversary of the horrors of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and rural Pennsylvania approached in the last several months, our attention was diverted by a small town Florida preacher who threatened to burn copies of the Muslim holy book, the Koran, on this somber American day of memorials. The pastor, Terry Jones, told the world that his plan to burn Korans on today's 9/11 anniversary was meant...
U.S. traffic accident deaths down, but there is still plenty of room for improvement
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on September 9th, 2010
For the first time in almost 60 years, fewer people died in traffic accidents on U.S. roadways last year than in any year since 1950, according to new statistics released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The death toll for 2009 was 33,308 people, which was a 9.7% decline from 2008 when 37,423 people died on U.S. roads, according to the NHTSA figures. The 2009 death toll was the lowest in our nation since...
Job responsibilities, the JetBlue flight attendant and the law
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on August 17th, 2010
Sure, we all may love to fantasize about being at work and just quitting on the spot when a boss or customer gives us a hard time. Country-western singer, Johnny Paycheck, sang a song of revenge for all of us when he belted out the song, "Take This Job and Shove It," back in 1977. But as much as it can be fun to think about, not everyone can really just quit whenever they feel...
Just say “no” to auto insurers who want to “watch” you while you are driving
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on July 20th, 2010
Do you really think insurance companies are on your side? If you do, think again. Take Progressive Insurance for example. They recently proposed a plan in Pennsylvania where they'd offer you a 30% discount on your auto insurance – if you install a wireless monitoring device in your vehicle that would let them keep track of your driving so they can be sure that you are safely operating your vehicle. [caption id="attachment_916" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Image...
Lessons from the fatal Duck Boat crash on the Delaware River
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on July 14th, 2010
In just an instant last week, a pleasure cruise on the Delaware River turned into tragedy for a group of Hungarian tourists who were seeing the sights off the Philadelphia waterfront on a recreational "duck boat" tour. The duck boat – half-boat, half-on-road-vehicle – had entered the river to take the tourists on a cruise but its engine began giving off a burning smell and was shut off, immobilizing the 30-foot-long watercraft, according to a...
Just what we need: Wine vending machines and potentially more drunk driving in PA
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on July 13th, 2010
Drunk driving was the cause of 11,773 traffic deaths across the United States in 2008, according to the latest available U.S. government statistics. Drunk drivers, on average, cause the death of another person every 45 minutes in the U.S., according to the group, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). So, of course, shouldn't we make it easier to buy alcoholic beverages so that more people can imbibe and operate a motor vehicle while they are impaired?...