Automobile Accidents

• Kentucky Train Fire Shuts Down Roadways

  Staff Writer | January 16, 2007 3:03 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  This morning a CSX company train hauling hazardous materials derailed and exploded causing street closures, home evacuations and general problems within an eighteen mile radius of the derailment. Originally the trains were thought to be hauling liquid propane gas. However, the chemical fire actually resulted from ignition of cyclohexane, the chemical stored in the derailed train cars. Many...

• Teenage Driving in Arizona

  Staff Writer | December 27, 2006 12:52 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  A recent press release from the Arizona Automobile Association suggests, Arizona is far behind in being a safe state for the riskiest group of all teens. The state could do more to make it a safer state for ALL drivers by putting stricter limits on teenagers, the state's most dangerous drivers.Statistics supplied by AAA Arizona back up its conclusion that too many teenagers drive with reckless...

• Insurance Institute Vehicle Safety Statistics

  Staff Writer | November 12, 2006 12:35 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  In September, 2006, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety came out with a report about the safety of various new cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles. Data from crash, theft and injury reports show actual safety performance for newer vehicles. According to the vehicle safety report:The results show that insurance losses for injuries, vehicle damage, and theft vary widely. Vehicle size...

• Airbags Save Lives

  Staff Writer | October 16, 2006 10:51 AM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  A recent study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety confirms that airbag use saves lives. An airbag deployment in a side impact automobile accident is thirty-seven percent more likely to save the life of the driver than in a non-deployment impact. This figure rises to fifty-two percent if the accident involves a sport utility vehicle. This means that in automobile accidents, airbag...

• Cell Phone use and Automobile Safety

  Staff Writer | September 01, 2006 5:24 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  In a prior entry onto this forum, I cited research from the National Highway Safety Administration concerning inattentiveness as a major cause of motor vehicle collisions. According to this organization, driver inattentiveness while talking on a cellphone can be one characteristic of inattentiveness.As cellphone use rises each year, one question which comes to mind is whether hands free devices...

• Automobile Safety

  Staff Writer | August 23, 2006 11:07 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  As I traveled into work today, I was reminded about how vigilant we need to be when we drive. I saw a car veering in and out of traffic at speeds of about ninety miles per hour. The driver had both hands on a cell phone rather than the steering wheel. Unfortunately, shortly after zipping by me and further up the roadway, this motorist had to be extricated from his car by the city fire...

• Pedestrian Accidents Prompt Bridge Building

  Staff Writer | August 07, 2006 2:40 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  Isaac Middle School in West Phoenix should have a new walkers bridge in place by 2008, according to an article in The Arizona Republic. With three reports of pedestrian accidents involving schoolchildren between 1996 and 2005, and more than 30,000 vehicles passing in by the school each day, it was time for action to be taken. Hundreds of students and nearby residents cross the five-lane road...

• Should Drag Racers share responsibility for the havoc they wreak?

  Andrew Defusco | May 10, 2006 11:41 AM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  How often have we seen this tragic plot unfold?Two motorists, for whatever dumb reason, are drag racing each other on a public road. One of the cars strikes another innocent motorist or pedestrian, who suffers catastrophic injury. Should both drag racers be responsible for all damages that the injured victim receives? Or should the "contact" vehicle be completely responsible? Or should the...

• What can you recover in a personal injury lawsuit?

  Staff Writer | March 30, 2006 9:23 AM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  My clients often ask me what they can recover in a lawsuit? The answer to this quesiton like so many other legal questions is not simple. It depends on a whole host of factors. Some of our clients have tragically lost a loved one due to the wrongful conduct of somebody else. The type of recovery in a wrongful death action varies from the type of recovery for an action when somebody suffers...

• I Was in a Car Accident -- Now What?

  Andrew Defusco | March 10, 2006 9:58 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  Eventually, it is likely to happen to each of us: we're involved in an automobile accident. Now what?Your health comes first. Check around you to see if you or anybody else suffered injuries. If someone suffered injury, render aid where appropriate (by contacting the police or 911 immediately). Do so as quickly as possible. Emergency medical personnel who arrive at the accident scene...