What’s the safest car on the road? These days it’s a new SUV. In a surprising switch, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety calls new SUVs the safest cars around. The IIHS says SUV drivers are “the least likely to be killed in a crash.” The turnaround is amazing given the SUV’s reputation for fatal accidents even at low speeds because of its weight and top-heavy construction.

The IIHS turnaround comes with new anti-rollover technology called electronic stability control or ESC. It prevents the skids that lead to rollover accidents. Rollover accidents were often fatal as the SUV’s roof crushed down on passengers when it rolled, causing brain and spinal injuries.

But some SUV drivers still aren’t safe. They are driving SUVs made before 2005 without  electronic stability control. That puts millions of drivers at risk. Read the rest of this entry

A proposed law that would have banned texting while driving for all Texas drivers statewide died on Governor Rick Perry’s desk June 17 when he hit it with the veto pen.  Supporters say the law was needed. Opponents say it would take away too much freedom.They also say distracted driving accidents increase after distracted driving bills become law.

So what are the facts? How much does texting while driving contribute to injuries and fatalities on the road?

The U. S. Department of Transportation started a campaign against distracted driving last year aimed primarily at drivers who text and talk on cell phones behind the wheel. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood calls the behavior a “deadly epidemic.”

But the Highway Loss Data Institute, an affiliate of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, disagrees, saying laws that prohibit texting while driving “are not bringing down crash rates.” The Institute says its study shows an increase in distracted driving accidents when the new anti-texting laws go into effect. The HLDI drew its conclusions from accident statistics in four states with new distracted driving laws.

LaHood says the study is” misleading.” He compares it to national DOT statistics that paint a very different picture. According to the DOT, 5,500 people in the United States were killed and half a million were injured in distracted driving accidents in 2009, the last year that national figures were available. A cell phone was involved in 18 percent of those fatalities.

The trucking industry is bragging these days about a big drop in fatal and non-fatal accidents involving big rigs. It’s especially proud that happened while the number of trucks on the road was increasing.

The American Trucking Association says there was a 41 percent increase in “registered large trucks and an 84 percent increase in miles traveled by large trucks” between 1986 and 2006. Meanwhile, there was a drop of 35,948 fatal and non-fatal accidents involving big rigs between 2006 and 2009, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Administration.

Does that matter if a car is in a bad accident with a truck? No!  That’s because a major fact hasn’t changed. When there’s an accident between a car and a truck, the passengers in the car are usually the ones who die. Read the rest of this entry

Getting a driver’s license is a rite of passage for teens. Put simply, they can’t wait. But for too many, the license they covet so much is a one-way ticket in the back of a hearse to a graveyard.

Car accidents are the number one cause of death every year among American teens. And summer is the deadliest season of all. Nationwide, 422 teens die in car accidents every month during the summer. In 2009, 366 fatal collisions took the lives of Texas teens.

Put a teen in a car during the summer, at night, with a cell phone and perhaps a few drinks under his or her belt and it’s a recipe for disaster.

But it could get worse. Read the rest of this entry

Taking Jim Adler’s Internet walk around San Antonio helps trigger his $2,000 donation to that city’s chapter of MADD, or Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Anyone — no matter where they live — can take the “walk” without paying a dime out of their own pocket as they learn little known facts about some of San Antonio’s major attractions. Hands down, the city is the most popular tourist attraction in Texas.

Its world famous River Walk and Alamo attract millions each year.  Both are featured on the Jim Adler “walk,” along with a  “secret” about each site. On each page of this intriguing trip, fabulous tourist attractions are featured in gorgeous color. Every page also honors a drunk driving victim. Their pictures and stories are available throughout the “walk” as participants click from one destination to another through six web pages of interesting information about some of San Antonio’s most famous and historic sites.

The “walkathon” is free. And it’s for a good cause. Even couch potatoes can have fun with this one. So can folks in Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee or anywhere else in America. Not only that, “liking” Jim Adler on Facebook helps fight drunk driving in a city with the most DUI fatalities in Texas.

Where do you go for cheap gas when you are trying to save money and still have some fun on a road trip? And what do you need to make sure you and your family are safe?

Jim Adler’s been in the accident business for 30 years. He knows what causes accidents and how to avoid them. Follow Jim’s tips for a safe, happy trip. BONUS: After you read through the tips, you’ll learn where to get cheap gas.

How? Download Jim Adler’s free mobile app. It puts the Texas Hammer at your side with expert legal advice if you have an accident. You’ll know exactly what to do and say when you talk to police and what information to gather to protect yourself. Read the rest of this entry

As Baby Boomers press the limits of physical endurance to keep their bodies young and healthy, some are setting themselves up for hip or knee replacements as their joints succumb   to the overuse that comes with age.

In fact, some Boomers already have had surgery. Unfortunately, those who got a DePuy metal-on-metal hip replacement or a Zimmer NexGen CR-Flex artificial knee could be in for more trouble. Doctors are now saying that the phenomenally popular devices are failing in many of their patients, even poisoning them.  Doctors who believed in the devices and used them for years are now asking the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take them off the market.

Why? They say each device has a serious flaw. The metal-on-metal hip replacements release toxic chemicals into the blood and have a tendency to slip out of the socket easily, often fracturing nearby bone in the process.  As the hip replacement’s metal parts grind against each other, metal flakes off, releasing metal ions into the blood that can severely damage muscles, organs and tendons.  In the case of artificial knees, surgical cement may fail to bond the implant properly with thigh bones, allowing it to wobble.

Articles in the New York Times in 2010 and 2011 quote prominent orthopedic surgeons in England and the United States who are calling for a ban on such hip replacement devices and the Zimmer NextGen CR-Flex knee implant. Lawsuits against the manufacturers of the devices are being filed across the country. The only recourse for patients with failing hip replacements or artificial knees is surgery to replace them.