Las Cruces Legal Blog

If you are busy between dropping your kids off from school and going to work, you might be thinking about grabbing a quick bite at a nearby fast-food restaurant. It is quick, cheap and small enough where you can snack while driving. It saves time and it's not against the law to do so, so what's the downside?

Many drivers fail to realize that eating while driving is a form of distracted driving. Whenever the term is thrown around, people tend to think about texting while driving as it is often discussed and has laws in the state against it. Since there are no laws against eating while driving, many do not feel pressured to avoid it. However, eating behind the wheel can be just as distracting as texting. Whether you have been guilty of this or not, it is crucial to know how eating can impair one's driving so your family is aware of the dangers.

Kids love bouncing on trampolines. They find it thrilling as a trampoline propels them high into the air, and allows them to perform flips and stunts they might not be able to do otherwise. The increasing popularity of trampoline parks and trampolines at homes certainly suggest that kids, and even kids-at-heart, love jumping on trampolines too.

Unfortunately, this increase in popularity also means more potential for injury. The American Academy of Pediatrics stated trampoline injuries cause nearly 100,000 trips to the emergency room each year in the U.S. The academy is so concerned about trampoline injuries that it does not recommend that children use trampolines at all.

From driver fatigue to intoxication, there are countless reasons why motor vehicle wrecks occur. However, some are caused by factors that are out of human control, such as fog and other examples of poor weather. Whether you are worried about the risk of a crash while driving during a foggy morning or you have already been involved in a collision caused by poor visibility, it is essential to keep these risks in mind. Sadly, some reckless drivers do not and they endanger other lives by ignoring common sense traffic laws and driving erratically.

Fog can make it very hard or even impossible for a driver to see in front of them, which can be especially dangerous when people are driving around turns or over a steep incline. Moreover, fog can be very problematic when roads are busy due to people driving to work in the morning, some of whom may be in a rush and not paying as much attention to the road as they should be. When a driver is unable to see the road because it is foggy, they might veer into oncoming traffic or they could be driving too fast and collide with a vehicle in front of them.

All drivers in New Mexico are at higher risk of being involved in a crash when they are overtired. Truck drivers are especially vulnerable because they drive long and irregular hours. Because crashes involving drowsiness are typically quite serious, drivers should take a number of steps to fight this fatigue and prevent accidents.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration discusses some of the risks related to fatigue-caused crashes. Loss of sleep is an obvious factor in those who are fatigued while driving. For truck drivers, driving patterns play a big role. This is because truckers tend to drive long hours without taking any type of a break, and they do this day after day. In order to meet deadlines, some drivers also drive in the middle of the night, and the hours between 12 and 6 AM are especially risky. Drivers who seem particularly susceptible to fatigue may want to get tested for sleep disorders such as narcolepsy and sleep apnea, as there are treatments to help mitigate these conditions.