Washington Personal Injury Law Blog

Sometimes it feels like everyone in America drives. People will drive their cars half a mile to go to the store. They commute every day. The most time they spend outside is while walking from the house to the car.

In Washington, though, this just doesn't hold true. Roughly 25%-30% of people in the state do not drive. Even when you add in those who do, reports claim that "nearly all Washingtonians walk on a daily basis."

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, took a big step last month toward relaxing the hours of service (HOS) rules for commercial truck drivers. HOS, which were first implemented more than 80 years ago, dictate how long drivers can remain behind the wheel. They are an important safeguard against drowsy driving, which can and do lead to too many fatal crashes.

The current presidential administration has promoted the changes to the current HOS rules, which were published in mid-May. U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said they will provide "greater flexibility to keep America moving." The FMCSA's acting administrator also touted the added flexibility. He also said the updated HOS regulations "are based on the thousands of comments we received from the American people. These reforms will improve safety on America's roadways and strengthen the nation's motor carrier industry."

You want to stay in shape, but you don't own a treadmill and the gym is closed. What do you do? You have to go out and run on the sidewalks. Without a sidewalk, you can legally run on the side of the road, near the shoulder, if you're running toward traffic.

But that comes with risks. When you look at the pedestrian accident statistics, you know that many of them include joggers who get hit as they run. How can you stay safe? Here are a few tips:

• As noted above, always run toward traffic. This increases your reaction times if it looks like someone may hit you.
• Wear bright clothes. Running in gray or black just makes you blend in.
• If possible, run during the day.
• Do not wear headphones and listen to music while you run. You need to avoid distractions and listen to traffic around you.
• Run as if you're invisible. Never assume drivers can see you and act as if they never will.
• Understand where greater risks lie, such as while you come up over a hill or as you go around a sharp bend.
• Remember that many drivers coming out of parking lots or side streets never look at the sidewalk at all. They just look at the traffic on the road they're entering. Be very wary of these careless drivers when crossing in front of them.

One of the big risks with distracted driving is that the driver may drift or swerve into the oncoming lanes. They don't even know that they have done it since they're looking down at the phone. They just drive on obliviously, right toward those oncoming cars, making an accident imminent. If someone ends up in your lane, what should you do?

Start by honking your horn and slowing down. You want to reduce speed so that a potential crash is not as violent, and you want to increase the time it takes the two cars to reach one another. You can use this time to try to get the driver's attention. Hopefully, they'll look up and swerve back into the proper lane.