MAP 21 Safety Enforcement, State Incentive Grants, and Your Crash Risk

Continued from Part 1.

MAP-21 State Incentive Grants:

• For the enactment of comprehensive graduated driver’s license (GDL) regulations for teen drivers. Our Houston automobile recall attorneys note that some Texas cities and counties already have such programs, and the available data suggest that they are working to reduce the number of teen crashes in those areas.
• For the enactment of laws requiring the installation of IIDs (Ignition Interlock Devices) in the vehicles of all convicted of drunken driving, even first time offenders.
• For the enactment of laws prohibiting cell phone use by teen drivers and texting by all drivers.
• For enforcement of seatbelt usage and child booster seat laws.

Seatbelt Use and Child Passenger Safety:

• MAP-21 recommends research regarding the possible benefit of public awareness campaigns and/or technology systems that would prevent children from being left behind in vehicles.
• Establishment of testing of child safety seats in front and side impact collisions.
• Improves the child safety seat anchoring system.
• Permits the use of advanced seatbelt reminder systems in vehicles to encourage the increased use of seatbelt safety restraint systems.
• Requires reminders for rear seatbelt use.

What all of these MAP-21 provisions mean to you is:

Laws or safety recommendations that you may have casually ignored in the past will becomes more difficult to ignore and might have previously unknown legal consequences.
Your crash risk as well as your risk of injury or death in the event of a crash should be reduced.
Former U.S. DOT employees have leeway to continue their current lobbying practices for so long as the MAP-21 recommended study continues and is not acted upon.

Tougher, more high-profile law enforcement and the mandatory use of IIDs for ALL convicted drunk drivers, even first time offenders, could help reduce the persistent problem of deadly drunken driving in Texas. Our Houston automobile recall attorneys remark that drivers might begin to think twice about downing a few drinks at a friend’s gathering or at an office party before getting behind the wheel. But only if officers and judges stand behind MAP-21 laws and enforcement efforts.

Anyone truly conscious of the safety of themselves and their children already buckles up, uses proper child safety seats, and doesn’t drink and drive. It’s those drivers who disregard their own safety and others that cause the deadly crashes we read about in the news every day. The benefit of MAP-21 is that it could begin to take these heedless drivers off the road or else ensure that they will, however unwillingly, begin to take due care for road safety.

Time will tell. Our Houston automobile recall attorneys can’t help but mention that after several years of decreasing crash rates attributed to safety education campaigns, better enforcement, and improved vehicle safety, this past year saw a sharp increase again in crash rates, injuries, and fatalities. The cause of this rise is still under debate. So for now, your safety is still in your hands. Your own observation of proper safety precautions and careful attention to the road and to adequate maintenance of your vehicle remains your front line defense against crash risk.

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