Posted on June 16, 2013 in Uncategorized

Constructions workers must take extreme precautions to ensure their own safety and the safety of everyone around them, but sometimes nothing can be done when the equipment they are working on fails. If you are a construction worker or if you work for a construction company, it is important to have a good personal injury attorney in the unfortunate case that an injury should occur. Recently in Bryan Texas, police officials reported that a man was pinned to the ground by two 20-feet-long, 1,500 pound shoring panels and killed. While in some cases, it is possible that construction workers’ negligence can cause accidents, the College Stations Fire Department told the Bryan-College Station Eagle that the shoring had simply “given out.”

When an employee is injured on the job, they can receive workers compensation for their injuries. Workers comp covers things from medical bills to missed wages during recovery time. Your Texas personal injury lawyer can assist you in your workers compensation case. Armando Gonzalez, 49, was pinned inside of a 30 to 40 foot hole as part of a crew that was working on a lift station for the Texas A&M Health Science Center. He was stuck underneath heavy shoring panels and had nowhere to go. He died due to injuries sustained in the accident.

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 Posted on June 12, 2013 in Uncategorized

In early June an 18-wheeler truck collided with a train in the 15-hundred block of Wald Road, according KGNB Radio News, and “one person was airlifted from the scene.” The wreck happened near the many quarries in the area on the south side of the city when the big rig was trying to cross the tracks. It was undetermined just how fast the train was going, but it was going fast enough to split “the big rig in two, knocking the rig portion of the truck off the roadway, leaving the trailer portion of the truck on the other side of the tracks,” according to KGNB. The driver was extricated from the rig and was airlifted to University Hospital. “Crews remained on the scene for about an hour cleaning up a fairly large diesel spill,” according to KGNB.

According to Operation Lifesaver and statistics from the Federal Railroad Association, there were 1,960 collisions involving trains in 2012, in which 271 people were killed and 930 people injured. The number is significantly down from years past—in 2011 there were 2,062, and in 1981 there were a whopping 9,461. That year, there were 728 fatalities and just fewer than 3,300 injuries. The reduction most likely has to do with increased safety measures and technological tools now available at railroad crossings. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and published by Operation Lifesaver, “a motorist is almost 20 times more likely to die in a crash involving a train than in a collision involving another motor vehicle.” A train hitting your car is akin to your car hitting an aluminum soda can—the train is that much heavier and traveling at much greater speeds.

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 Posted on June 06, 2013 in Uncategorized

Car accidents can occur for many reasons. Sometimes it is due to mechanical issues with a car. On different occasions, the road conditions or inclement weather causes car crashes. But one big reason is distracted driving, which the government is looking to curtail by releasing new guidelines to automobile manufacturers when they integrate new technology into the driving experience. The guidelines are in place to limit the amount which a driver has to look away from the road.

Drivers should only have to divert their attention from the road for two seconds at a time and up to twelve seconds total. Some operations are considered too dangerous to complete while driving such as manual text entry, display of text messages and video based communications and should only be allowed while in park. These recommendations are based on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s study entitled The Impact of Hand-Held and Hands-Free Cell Use on Driving Performance and Safety Critical Event Risk. This new research shows that texting, browsing and dialing are responsible for the longest duration of lost focus.

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 Posted on June 03, 2013 in Uncategorized

According to the CDC, around 800,000 Americans seek medical attention each year because of dog attacks. See Center for Disease Control, Dog Bite: Fact Sheet. While it is true that most dogs do not are a danger to people, it is also true that dogs can cause serious bodily injury, especially to those most vulnerable, like children and the elderly. Most of these accidents can be avoided if dog owners exercise proper pet care. Texas ranks in the top ten states in the Nation for dog bite victims. In addition to legislation specifically prohibiting municipalities from enacting legislation that targets specific breeds, until recently, Texas effectively gave one free pass to negligent dog owners who placed others at risk with their carelessness. Also known as the “One Bite Rule”, it shielded owners from liability for injury-inflicting dogs for the first occurrence of a dog attack. However, horrific stories across Texas and elsewhere, forced Texas legislators to enact laws protecting innocent victims. The Texas dog bite statute imposes liability on dog owners when a person:

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 Posted on May 31, 2013 in Uncategorized

A Swedish study has concluded that flashing, digital billboards often take a driver’s eyes off the road for more than two seconds, which could contribute to car accidents. The result of the study was recently published in the journal Traffic Injury Prevention.

In 2006, a study by Virginia Tech for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that anything that takes a driver’s eyes off the road for more than two seconds increases the risk of a crash. Researchers in this new study say the digital billboards are brighter, are visible from further away, and show changing advertisements, all contributing to holding a driver’s attention for longer.

A statement from Mary Tracy, president of Scenic America, a national nonprofit group that seeks to limit billboards, says that the new study validates the dangers of digital billboards. “Bright, constantly changing signs on the side of the road are meant to attract and keep the attention of drivers, and this study confirms that is exactly what they do.”

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 Posted on May 26, 2013 in Uncategorized

Unfortunately, young drivers are injured or killed every day in a car crash. Experts are making strides in determining the cause and trying to study ways to avoid such tragedies. According to a recent study, young drivers who reported getting less than seven to nine hours of sleep are more likely to have a car accident. While adults need seven to nine hours of sleep, young adults need more. Between working, going to school and having a social life, young drivers may be forfeiting sleep and that could be detrimental when he or she decides to get behind the wheel of a vehicle. The study involved over 19,000 newly licensed drivers between the ages of 17 and 24 who reported having no more than six hours of sleep. The case study tracks these young adults for two years. After pulling police reports, the study showed an increase in car crashes among younger drivers who got fewer than six hours of sleep. Although studies have shown that 20 percent of car crashes are due to drowsy driving in the United States, most of the data did not include young drivers until now. Sleep deprivation in young drivers and others has an impact on alertness and physical performance. When a car crash can be avoided, people are wise to take notice. If he or she was made aware of these findings it may go a long way in saving a young driver’s life. Getting the proper rest may help to avoid the next car accident. If you or a member of your family have been injured in a car crash due to someone else’s negligence a Texas personal injury lawyer can work to get you the compensation owed by the law. Call today for a free consultation.

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 Posted on May 22, 2013 in Uncategorized

A recent study from Cohen Children’s Medical Center has found that distracted driving is at fault for more teen deaths than drunk driving. On average, more than 3,000 teenagers across the country are killed as a direct result from sending text messages in their car. On a yearly basis, about 2,700 teens are killed from alcohol-influenced driving.

Regular Driving Behavior

Perhaps the spike in teen texting and driving is because teens are likely to have the cell phone with them on a constant basis- whereas a teen may elect to drink and drive far less. What teens don’t realize is that every time they get behind the wheel with the cell phone, their chances of an accident skyrocket. Official statistics from the 2011 study from the same hospital revealed that drivers who text are 23 times more likely to be in a car accident.

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 Posted on May 19, 2013 in Uncategorized

Once the scene of the accident is cleaned up, there is still plenty of work that needs to be done. One of the things that is ongoing is the actual investigation of the accident. The investigation needs to be done in order to determine who was at fault and how the accident occurred. The accident investigation will also determine whether there will be any criminal charges filed. This investigation can also be the cornerstone of a personal injury lawsuit.

The first step in the investigation is to do a forensic interview with the driver of the vehicle that caused the accident. This is an in depth interview that will chronicle everything that the suspect did in the last 24 hours. This includes everywhere he went, anything that he consumed etc. The investigator will also assess whether stress or fatigue were a factor. The law enforcement officer will have already done a field sobriety test and/or a breathalyzer test if alcohol was believed to be a contributing factor.

The investigator will also interview any witnesses that were present at the time of the accident as well as the people who were with the driver prior to the time of the accident. This will help determine how the driver was acting before he got into the car. This is especially true if the driver was intoxicated. If there is an issue with alcohol or other intoxicants, the investigator will determine whether the accident would have happened in the absence of this intoxicant.

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 Posted on May 15, 2013 in Uncategorized

In the state of Texas, vehicular homicide is a felony offense. Here, it is defined as “the willful killing of a human being through the use of a motor vehicle.” This offense is much different from other crimes such as negligent homicide. The criminal penalties for this very serious offense can vary depending on several different variables.

Individuals convicted of vehicular homicide can be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison. In Texas, vehicular homicide includes the killing of any human being, including a fetus being carried by a pregnant woman. Once the offender is released, there will be additional restrictions based on the terms of the parole and probation agreement.

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 Posted on May 08, 2013 in Uncategorized

There is a lot of evidence that drinking alcohol and then driving can cause car accidents. That is why there are laws which regulate alcohol consumption and designate a range of acceptable intoxication. The state of Texas finds that being “intoxicated” means that normal mental or physical functioning is impaired. Driving under the influence of marijuana including prior to three hours of smoking can also be detrimental according to multiple studies. Since the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health estimates that over 10 million Americans have driven under the influence of marijuana, this is no small deal. A study conducted by the Dalhousie University in Canada compiled the statistics of nine other studies which studied marijuana’s effects on car accidents from all around the world. Overall, more than 49,000 people who were involved in accidents were under the influence of marijuana. That lead these researchers to conclude that people who smoked weed before driving were almost two times more likely to cause car accidents. “Despite being regulated in many jurisdictions, cannabis (marijuana) is the most widely used illicit substance in the world,” the report stated in the British Medical Journal. The report also suggests “that cannabis impairs performance of the cognitive and motor tasks necessary for safe driving, increasing the risk of collision.” It may be difficult to avoid car crashes even if you are as careful as possible. But if you are injured because of the negligence of someone else, it is good to know that they may be liable for damages such as medical bills and lost wages. Filing a personal injury lawsuit can also help you deal with the emotional trauma that you have experienced from the accident. Contact a skilled personal injury attorney in New Braunfels who can represent your interests.

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