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Auto Accidents

• Gov. McDonnell Signs Tough DUI Bill
  Apr 11, 2012

  Governor McDonnell has signed a new bill that is tough on first-time DUI offenders.  Convicted drunk drivers will now have to pass a breath test to get their cars to start, as the bill requires that an ignition interlock device be installed in every convict's car. 
  
  Virginia law previously required the ignition interlock devices after a second or subsequent DUI offense or when the offender's blood alcohol level was 0.15 or greater. 
  
  The ignition interlock device requires a breath sample to start the car and then requires samples every 10-20 minutes on the road.  Without a sample or with one that demonstrates that the driver has alcohol on their breath, the car will shut down.  The new DUI law should be another step in preventing drunk driving car accidents in Virginia.
  

• VA Senate Passes Drunk Driving Bill
  Feb 15, 2012

  Tuesday, February 14, the Virginia State Senate passed a bill that would require first time DUI offenders to install an ignition interlock system on their car.  This system would require a successful "breat test" just to get the car started.
  
  This bill comes as part of Virginia's new "no tolerance" stance against drunk drivers.  
  
  Drunk drivers cause plenty of auto accidents in Virginia and they are typically not arrested on their first time driving under the influence.  Preventing people who have been convicted of a DUI from even starting their car while intoxicated may prevent car crashes.
  

• Marjiuana Use Doubles Risk of Car Accident
  Feb 13, 2012

  A study in the British Medical Journal found that marijuana use nearly doubles the risk of being involved in a car accident.  Researchers conducted a review of nine other studies on pot smoking and car crashes to create a database with almost 50,000 participants. 
  
  What they found is that marijuana use affects our ability to drive in a different way than alcohol does.  While alcohol impairs a drivers' reaction time, cannabis affects spatial location.  Drivers who have recently smoked marijuana tend to follow cars too closely and swerve in and out of traffic.
  
  Marijuana is also widely used.  Among impaired drivers, fatally injured drivers and motor vehicle crash victims, marijuana was the most prevalent illegal drug that was detected.
  
  The other issue with marijuana use is that people have a misconception about its dangers.  According to Mark Asbridge, an associate professor in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, young people will often go to a party and allow the "designated driver" to smoke, but not drink.  This is because "people under the influence of cannabis often deny feeling impaired in any way," which creates a false sense of safety.
  
  Virginia criminal law makes it illegal to drive under the influence of marijuana, but Virginia civil law does not impose punitive damages upon marijuana users the way that it does on drunk drivers.
  

• Wrong Way Driver Killed in Leesburg Pike Crash
  Jan 27, 2012

  There's nothing scarier than a car coming towards you in your own lane.  But that's exactly what happened at about 7:30 Tuesday evening when a man driving a Hyundai Elantra got onto Leesburg Pike Tuesday.  The driver exited from the Fairfax County Parkway onto Leesburg Pike eastbound.  Problem was, he was travelling west... in the opposite direction of oncoming traffic.
  
  This action caused a car crash in Fairfax, Virginia.  After the driver had traveled the full length of the entrance ramp, he hit the median on the bridge passing over Sugarland Run Stream and swerved into oncoming traffic.
  
  The driver of the other vehicle was reportedly taken to a hospital and treated for non-life threatening injuries.
  
  Police believe that both speed and alcohol may have played a part in the crash, according to the Washington Post.
  

• NTSB Recommending Full Ban on Cell Phones While Driving
  Dec 13, 2011

  Federal auto accident investigators are calling for a nationwide ban on cell phone use in the car.  The National Transportation Safety Board has recommended a ban on both texting while driving and using a non-hands-free device while at the wheel of a car.

• Two Killed in Fairfax County Car Accident
  Nov 15, 2011

  Fairfax County police are investigating an auto accident from early Saturday morning at the intersection of Dranesville Road and Park Avenue in Herndon, Va.  Officers say the driver of a 2001 Nissan lost control of the car and struck a tree.  The driver was pronounced dead at the scene.  His passenger was airlifted to Fairfax Hospital where he later died from injuries sustained at the scene.
  
  At this time, police are saying that speed appears to have played a factor, but they are unsure whether alcohol also contributed.

• Virginia Bicyclist and Pedestrian Awareness Week
  Oct 13, 2011

  Virginia officials declared September 11 - 17 to be Virginia Bicyclist and Pedestrian Awareness Week.  This declaration comes in the wake of 88 cyclist and pedestrian deaths on Virginia roads in 2010.  In addition, 621 bikers and 1,585 pedestrians suffered injuries in crashes with cars in Virginia last year.
  
  As part of the week, officials are reminding cyclists that they should be biking with (not against) traffic, obeying traffic signals and laws and wearing bright colors and/or blinking lights. 
  
  Pedestrians, on the other hand, should walk against traffic.

• Reckless Charge Dropped in Caroline County Fatal Bus Accident Case
  Oct 07, 2011

  Commonwealth's Attorneys in Caroline County have dropped the Reckless Driving charge that had been brought against the driver of a bus that overturned when he fell asleep on May 31.  The driver told responding police officers that he had dozed off and that when he woke up, he turned the bus hard to the left, overcorrected, and ran off the right side of hte highway.  When he hit an embankment, the bus flipped and landed on it's roof.
  
  Officials say that fatigue was a factor in the crash and that the bus's speed was what made it flip over.
  
  Of the 58 passengers on the bus, 53 were taken to the hospital.  Four were found dead at the scene.
  
  Though prosecutors have dropped the reckless driving charge, the four counts of involuntary manslaughter remain.  They are scheduled for a full day trial on January 26, 2012.

• Pedestrian Hit by Car and Killed on 395
  Oct 05, 2011

  Virginia State Police have identified a man in his 60s who was struck and killed while trying to cross I-395 yesterday.  The man was hit by a car at about 4 p.m. after he had crossed the southbound, HOV and three of the northbound lanes.  He was dead at the scene and found just north of the Glebe Road exit.
  
  He was hit by a four-door sedan.  The Washington Post has more on the story.

• Drunk Driver Drives Car into Stephens City Building
  Sep 08, 2011

  A man with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.30 slammed his car into a building on Tuesday afternoon, according to Stephens City authorities.  He has been charged with DUI (his second in ten years).

  The man drove a 2006 Volkswagen GTI on Fairfax Street and began to turn on Germain Street at 4:20 p.m. He then "failed to negotiate the turn" and the vehicle slid into Mars Travel Tours and Agency at 5407 Germain St., according to police. The crash caused minor damage to the business property and approximately $2,500 to the car.

  A preliminary breath test showed Olinger had a blood-alcohol content of 0.30.