Currently only 19 states have laws prohibiting any amount of drugs while operating a vehicle, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association. The laws in Washington State for driving under the influence (DUI) are pretty explicit. According to RCW 46.61.502:

(1) A person is guilty of driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any drug if the person drives a vehicle within this state:

(a) And the person has, within two hours after driving, an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher as shown by analysis of the person’s breath or blood made under RCW 46.61.506; or

(b) While the person is under the influence of or affected by intoxicating liquor or any drug; or

(c) While the person is under the combined influence of or affected by intoxicating liquor and any drug.

But the problem is identifying the people driving under the influence of specifically drugs. The reason for this is that each drug has a unique effect on the user and thus has a unique effect on the way they drive. Also, some prescription drug users may not even know that it is illegal to drive on the drug on which they are driving because the drug is legal. Yet, so is alcohol.

“Unlike data for drunken driving, data on drugged driving are limited,” says Robert DuPont, former head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. “There’s still an inadequate appreciation of drugged driving separate from the alcohol problem.”

Types of Drug Tests

Alcohol has many field sobriety tests that police officers can put the driver through to test their intoxication. There was period of time recently in Washington State that breathalyzer tests were not allowed due to the integrity of the state testing lab. But drugs are much harder to detect even during a routine traffic stop. Generally the only way to know if someone is under the influence of any drug other than alcohol is to test them one of three ways.

Blood Test – These types of tests are considered to be the most accurate way of telling if a person is intoxicated. Blood drug tests are not used very often because they need specialized equipment and medically trained administers. These factors make it a more costly testing method.

Hair Follicle Test – “Hair analysis” is a very accurate way to test if someone is on drugs or has taken drugs very recently. Unlike blood tests, it gives a fairly accurate timeline of when the drugs were taken.

Urinalysis – This accurate test shows how much of the substance is in person’s system at any given time. Some law enforcement agencies have begun to use a portable system that give an instantaneous reading, yet the accuracy is still in dispute.

Saliva Test – Much like the urinalysis, this test also has a field version that may not be construed as completely accurate, but enough to gauge whether a driver is under the influence of a foreign substance.

Drug Use and Fatal Crashes

In a 2011 study conducted by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Calverton, Md, co-authors Eduardo Romano and Robert Voas say drivers who die in crashes test positive for drugs 25% of the time. This is a surprising revelation that may potentially have a ripple effect on DUI legislation in Washington State.

Romano, Voas, and their colleagues examined data on more than 44,000 drivers in single-vehicle crashes who died between 1999 and 2009. They found that 24.9% tested positive for drugs and 37% had blood-alcohol levels in excess of 0.08, the legal limit. Fifty-eight percent had no alcohol in their systems; 5% had less than 0.08. The data were from a government database on traffic fatalities.

What’s unique about this study is that it is one of the first to show the prevalence of drug use among fatally injured drivers. Among drivers who tested positive for drugs, 22% were positive for marijuana, 22% for stimulants and 9% for narcotics. The study also examined interaction between alcohol and drugs in fatal crashes. Researchers found no evidence that combining drugs and alcohol produced greater impairment.

“When a driver is drunk, it doesn’t matter what drugs are in their system. The alcohol takes over,” Romano says.

Testing Positive

This is not the first time this issue has come to the forefront. In perhaps the most extensive research to date, the 2007 U.S. National Roadside Survey, researchers from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and two other institutions set out to randomly sample drivers’ sobriety.

With the aid of local law enforcement, researchers and authorities stopped drivers at 300 locations in 48 states during four periods on Friday and Saturday nights. At 60 of the locations, drivers were stopped during a day-time period. Blood samples were obtained from 3,276 drivers and saliva samples from 7,719. The samples were used to detect the presence of 75 different drugs.

For daytime drivers the numbers were lower than at night. Based on saliva tests, 11% of day-time drivers were positive for drug use and 6% tested positive for illegal substances. In contrast, 14.4% of nighttime drivers tested positive for drugs and 10% tested positive for illegal drugs. Not surprisingly, alcohol was found more than any other drug, with marijuana coming in second.

Further, anti-medical marijuana legalization advocates gained some fuel from this study by comparing another similar study conducted in California. By comparing data, it was found that states that have legalized medical marijuana showed slightly higher rates of drivers under the influence of the drug.

In the California study, 819 California drivers supplied saliva samples, which showed 8% of them were positive for marijuana. Most of the people who said they had medical-marijuana permits tested positive. More drivers with permits tested positive for marijuana than drivers without permits.

Seattle DUI Victims Lawyers

The next phase of the National Roadside Survey will look at the extent to which drug use is related to crashes. It is wise to find out the impact of drug use on driving as states adjust their marijuana policies, including Washington State. Though we neither condemn nor condone the use of medical marijuana or any other legal medication, we do not support driving under the influence of that substance.

If you or someone you know have sustained serious personal injuries as a victim of a negligent driving accident then you need experienced counsel to protect your interests with the insurance companies and health care providers. Call the Seattle car accident attorneys at Phillips Webster for a free consultation.

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• Car Accidents and Insurance Coverage
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If you read this blog regularly, you also know that there are other serious hazards such as severe weather, DUI, debris, lack of visibility, distractions, etc. It’s no wonder that one of the main causes of death in the United States is due to injuries suffered in a car accident. But there are other hazards you may not know about, most likely because they aren’t very publicized, but some of them may be far more common than you realize. Here are five of them:

1) Skin Cancer

You may be wondering how a car can cause skin cancer. Well, the scientists at our own University of Washington here in the Seattle area have found a very pointed and (frankly) disturbing connection between driving and skin cancer, according to a study they published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Using a large government database, researchers took a look at melanoma and Merkel cell carcinoma, two deadly forms of skin cancer. They were surprised to find that when these types of cancers were found on just one side of the body, it showed up predominantly on the left side. In fact, 52% of melanoma cases and 53% of Merkel cell carcinoma cases occurred on the left side, specifically on the upper arms. This is the part of the body most exposed to UV rays while driving with the window open.

“In countries where people drive on the opposite side of the road, the right arm gets more sun exposure. A 1986 study cited by the researchers found that Australian men were more likely to show precancerous growths on the right side of their bodies,” according to USA Today.

2) Deafness

Driving with the window open can be more enjoyable sometimes than having the AC dry your skin to the consistency of a shriveling leaf. Perhaps that’s why people enjoy convertibles so much. But according to a study published in the Journal of Laryngology and Otology, driving a convertible with the top down at speeds of over 55 mph can put drivers at risk for noise-induced hearing loss.

The sound level measurements in 80% of the cars, when driven at 55 mph with the top down, were all greater than 85 decibels (db). Believe it or not, but that is the maximum noise level the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommended in such industrial workplaces as assembly plants, stamping plants, and steel mills.

Also, researchers warn that driving with the top down or with the window down could also cause drivers to turn up their music to dangerous levels, which could also seriously effect their hearing.

3) Hazardous Chemicals

According to The Ecology Center, a non-profit environmental watchdog organization, more than 200 models of car on the market today have toxic chemicals throughout the interior, steering wheels to armrests. These chemical components could break down over time and become highly toxic to the driver.

“These chemicals become part of the air we breathe, contributing to ‘new car smell’ and a variety of acute and long-term health concerns,” representatives of the Ecology Center said. “Since the average American spends more than 1.5 hours in a car every day, toxic chemical exposure inside vehicles is a major source of potential indoor air pollution.”

4) Bumpers

There is a misconception that bumpers are there to protect the driver. Nothing is farther from the truth. They were originally intended to protect the car frame and easily fixed or swapped out if they are dented. That’s when they were made of steel. Now they are merely plastic bumper pads that tell you if you are parallel parking correctly.

There are two organizations that keep score when crash test ratings are tallied, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Neither heavily regulate the use of bumpers since they have essentially been taken out of the protection equation above 2.5 mph.

IIHS is the only organization that conducts low-speed bumper tests, the government does not. While these tests don’t really assess safety, they can be of interest to consumers in that ratings are assigned based on the costs to repair the vehicle. In the IIHS test, the vehicle is crashed four separate times at 5 mph, both front and rear bumpers are run into a flat barrier, the front bumper into an angle barrier and the rear bumper into a short pole. Ratings are then given on the usual “Good” to “Poor” scale based on repair costs, which often come in at over $1,000.

5) Stress

We all know that driving is stressful most of the time, but what we don’t know is that the stress is far more prevalent in our lives than we thought. According to a study called “American Community Survey” released by the US Census Bureau, workers age 16 or older who drive to work spend an average of 20.7 minutes in their commute. Double that figure to account for the drive home, apply the math to a 50-week work year and it adds up to more than a month’s worth of time spent on the road.

Nationally, workers spend 200 hours commuting to and from work (about five weeks). In Washington State (across the state, not just Western Washington) we spend 49% more time in our cars commuting than other Americans. That means that a huge chunk of the local population spend more time sitting in their cars than vacationing or exercising.

This can cause a tremendous amount of stress and lead to a myriad of health problems such as high blood pressure, lowered immune system, and heart disease. These things can kill you. What is worse is that if you actually have a medical emergency while driving, you are more likely to die, especially if you are driving at highway speeds. The stress leads to medical problems that lead to car accidents.

Seattle Car Accident Attorneys

If you or someone you know has been injured in a car accident anywhere in Washington state, you need a skilled lawyer to deal with the insurance companies to assure you the best settlement. Call the Seattle car accident attorneys at Phillips Webster for a free consultation.

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• Washington Law and Car Accidents
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The accident happened at about 7:30 am this morning, according to the emergency police and fire scanner. It is unclear what caused the crash, but damage was sustained by all four vehicles.

No medical vehicles were called for leading to the assumption that there were no major personal injuries reported.

Many of the complaints about this intersection is that the speed limit on SR 500 is 60 mph and upon arrival to Stapleton the traffic has to suddenly slow to a stop. This has prompted for a call to construct an overpass there to avoid further car accidents.

If you or someone you know is in a car accident involving a confusing, badly marked, or hazardous intersection that the municipality has not yet addressed it is within your rights to seek a change and fair compensation through legal means. Call Phillips Webster for a consultation.

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• What to do in a car accident
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The 7 year-old that was ejected was one of three people in the van, including a 13-year-old boy and driver, Maria Medina, of Yakima, said Trooper Darin Foster of the Washington State Patrol. He said the boy was not wearing a seat belt and should have been using a booster seat

They were taken to Yakima hospitals to be checked, but all injuries turned out to be minor, according to the patrol.

Traffic was temporarily restricted to the exit’s left lane until a tow truck removed the van.

Medina and both of those children were extremely lucky to come out of that roll over accident with only minor wounds, especially the boy that was thrown from the car. Generally, if someone is ejected from a rolling car they can expect a serious personal injury or perhaps even a permanent brain injury.

Please wear your seatbelts, even if you are riding in the back of the car.

If you or someone you know have been injured in a car accident it is imperative that you find legal council that can walk you through the insurance and litigation process. Call Phillips Webster for a consultation.

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• What to do in a car accident
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She was not wearing a seat belt, Washington State Patrol troopers said.

The injury accident closed I-90 while a Northwest Medstar helicopter evacuated her to Providence Sacred Heart Hospital where she is listed in critical condition.

Troopers investigating the scene believe the auto accident was caused by excessive speed and that no drugs or alcohol were involved.

Our thoughts go with Derosie as she struggles in the hospital.

This highlights the absolute importance of wearing a seatbelt every time you drive no matter how far you may travel. Roads can be unpredictable, especially at high speeds, and whether it is an animal or a new pot hole, the hazards can change your life in an instant.

If you get into a car accident it is important that you find out your legal options. Call Phillips Webster for a consultation.

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• Car Accident Injuries and Wrongful Death
• Car Accidents and Insurance Coverage
• Car Accidents with Commercial Vehicles

Witnesses at the scene said that the Jeep hit a vehicle in the intersection, bounced off of it, and continued at a high velocity westbound in the eastbound lane of Mullan Avenue. This is when it had a head-on collision with a Ford Contour. The Jeep then flipped, landed on its roof, and slid to a stop.

The Jeep’s driver, John Watson, 59, of Post Falls, was said to have suffered a traumatic leg injury. Also in the passenger side of the Jeep was a 13 year-old boy who suffered injuries to the face and leg, police reported.

The Ford’s driver, James Norris, 37, also of Post Falls, suffered multiple fractures.

Police also said that freezing fog, ice, and a thin layer of snow on the roadway contributed to the accident. There has been no report as to the current state of the injured or the nature of Watson’s medical episode.

At around 2:20 a.m. on Wednesday, a sheriff’s sergeant tried to pull over a man who was driving a red 1992 Honda Accord recklessly south of Everett in the 3500 block of 132nd Street SE. What he didn’t know at the time was that the car was stolen and was being driven by Andrew Wayne Holden, 32, of Snohomish.

Holden has made somewhat of a name for himself to law enforcement; not exactly the best place to be famous. He has been part of an ongoing investigation by the Snohomish County Auto Theft Task Force for multiple car thefts. On top of that he was wanted by the Department of Corrections on an escape warrant. A list he could be proud of when he sees his pals back in prison. But it was the fiasco he caused that will make him a hero in the clink.

When Holden took off the sheriff’s sergeant took off after him. He called it into dispatch and dispatch recognized the situation. They alerted Everett police who, with another sheriff’s deputy, created a road block with two squad cars and laid down a spike strip along Broadway right by Comcast Arena.

The spike strip was successful. It burst the tire of the suspect, sent the car out of control, where he proceeded to hit a telephone pole. He then jumped out and ran. The officers, who had exited their cars to chase the suspect on foot, were all of a sudden jumping for their lives.

Going southbound to on Broadway was a speeding patrol cruiser from the sheriff’s department, driven by a young but experienced deputy, 26, eager to join the chase. A representative from the Everett police department described the car as slamming into the roadblock with such force that it sent the two stationary patrol cars spinning across Broadway. Unfortunately, it gets worse.

An Everett patrol cruiser speeding northbound in the opposite direction at almost the exact moment of the wreck had to swerve suddenly to avoid the wreck and ended up wrecking their cruiser also.

The injuries were to the police officer and the sheriff’s deputy who had to leap out of the way. The officer suffered two broken wrists and a broken knee when he was hit by his own patrol car. All other officers received minor injuries.

The clean up and investigation went well into the morning commute and held up traffic on the heavily traveled Broadway while both departments sorted out the details.

The good news is that Holden was captured and booked into the Snohomish County Jail on possession of a stolen vehicle and resisting arrest.

Municipal Cash Cow

Placed outside of the intersection the city of Seattle has cruelly placed a series of DOT cameras. These camera’s dispense on average 16 tickets a day at $124 per ticket for various cars speeding or running red lights. That comes to about ¾ of a million dollars in one intersection.

Here’s the problem: the cameras have been deemed illegal, but they’re still dispensing tickets.

The Loophole

Judge Francis deVilla has deemed the cameras illegal because of the provision stated in the Washington State Legislature’s RCW 46.63.170 (b) which clearly states:

Use of automated traffic safety cameras is restricted to two-arterial intersections, railroad crossings, and school speed zones only.

Judge deVilla’s ruling could put into question all current DOT cameras and the tickets associated with them.

The Case

This ruling is based on a case brought this week before Seattle Municipal Traffic Court. The car in question was clearly shown in the camera video to be speeding through a red light, as shown in this King 5 local news report of the story.

Another traffic court judge, Adam Eisenberg, has also been known to have dismissed a ticket dispensed at the intersection. The city’s attorney’s office disagrees with the ruling and believes that the tickets are legal and vows to fight each challenge that comes through the court. Perhaps because very few people have the time or willingness to challenge the ticket.

If you feel that you have been unfairly cited or are in need of legal council for a vehicle related infraction, call Phillips Webster today to find out your legal options.

Written by Jeremy Cairns

Medics responded immediately to the scene and had to access the car through a house property on 114^th place NW. Police have not released the details of the accident or the age of the woman. Fire crews told a dispatcher that she was able to walk away from the wreck.

Traffic was backed up all the way down 3^rd Avenue NW to Carkeek Park, but resumed by 6:40.

If you are involved in an accident that involves a privately-owned vehicle, it presents the simplest scenario possible, although that is a very relative term. There are still complications and technicalities galore to be mindful of, but there are no corporate or government layers to be concerned with as a claim is being formulated. There is really only one potential adversary that presents a potential problem – the other driver’s insurance company.

If you file a claim against another driver, his or her insurance company is sure to get involved. Insurance companies of all types have teams of in-house defense attorneys on staff whose sole mission is to limit the amount of financial liability their client faces in any situation. This is not to be taken to mean that these attorneys will breach ethics. Rather, it means that most of them are very good at their jobs.

Therefore, if you are involved in an accident and you hear from the other driver’s insurance company before you retain your own auto accident attorney, you need to remember to politely decline the opportunity to speak with them. Simply state that you are in the process of retaining your own attorney and that he or she will be in touch as soon as that arrangement has been made. This will help you avoid several potentially serious problems with your case down the road.

If you need an attorney to help with your accident situation, you need to contact the Seattle auto accident attorneys at Phillips & Webster today to schedule a free initial consultation.