Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Federal regulatory agencies have come under fire recently for their “cozy relationships” with large corporations; the Food and Drug Administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the now-defunct Minerals Management Service have all been targeted for reform by the Obama Administration for their failure to enforce safety rules and regulations. Now the Federal Aviation Administration is being investigated for turning a blind eye on Northwest Airlines while it ignored federal safety regulations for more than a decade.

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According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 37,261 fatal crashes occurred on U.S. roads and interstates in 2008, the agency’s last complete statistical year. These accidents killed more than 42,000 people — the equivalent of more than 16 average-size passenger airplanes every month or 200 every year. Many of these crashes are the result of driver behavior (two-thirds of all traffic fatalities may be caused by aggressive driving behaviors) or a lack of awareness about various hidden dangers present on the roads every day, such as the unique and often deadly dynamic between passenger cars and heavy commercial trucks.

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating new reports of sudden unintended acceleration in three separate incidents, but not in Toyota vehicles. This time, the complaints involve acceleration incidents that have occurred in the 2010 Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan.

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A Texas jury awarded the family of a 19-year-old woman $1.8 million after finding a defective seat design contributed to her death in a July 2007 traffic accident.

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Wyoming has become the 20th state to ban texting while driving, surprising many opponents given the state’s traditional reluctance to impose restrictions on drivers. Under the new law, which takes effect on July 1 of this year, drivers caught texting behind the wheel will receive a $75.00 fine.

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At a time when the news is full of reports of cars accelerating out of control and crashing, drivers texting behind the wheel and car roofs crushed in deadly rollovers, here’s some welcome news: the number of people killed in U.S. traffic accidents is the lowest since 1954.

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has developed a legal template that will help states develop legislation banning the act of texting behind the wheel. The sample law is modeled after the Executive Order issued by President Obama in October of last year that prohibited federal employees from texting while driving.

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Toyota’s recent recall of 2.3 million cars and sport utility vehicles over “sticking” accelerator pedals follows a larger recall last October of 4.2 million vehicles for possible floor mat entrapment. The recalls have created an undercurrent of fear of confusion among Toyota owners, many of whom no longer feel their cars are safe to drive.

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Last week, Toyota announced a recall of approximately 2.3 million cars and trucks in the United States because of faulty throttle assemblies that could wear over time, causing the accelerator pedal to stick or return to idle too slowly. This week, Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper reports that Toyota is expanding that recall to include about 2 million vehicles in Europe.

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Toyota Motor Corp. will install a new brake override system in all of its newly built vehicle models in North America by the end of 2010, said the company’s highest ranking U.S. Executive Yoshimi Inaba.

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