Automobile Accidents

• First Serious Winter Weather Causes Numerous Car Wrecks

  David Tompkins | January 19, 2008 4:15 PM | 0 CommentsWashington, DC

  Icy road in the Washington D.C. area contributed to a number of car accidents this week. Car accidents are not caused by snow, but by inexperienced drivers. People who don't know how to drive on snow go too fast for conditions and hurt other people and themselves. Insurance companies never find their driver negligent for driving too fast for snowy or icy conditions. Adjusters will always...

• Intersections in Maryland Can Be Dangerous

  David Tompkins | January 14, 2008 7:09 PM | 0 CommentsMetro D.C., DC

  NBC reported that another pedestrian has been killed in Prince George's County. On January 12, 2008, Rosario Gonzales was killed at the notoriously dangerous intersection of New Hampshire Avenue and University Boulevard.The sad part of this story is that the person that struck and killed Mr. Gonzalez did not have the human decency to stop. The person who hit Mr. Gonzalez fled the scene, and...

• SUV Rollovers: A Persistent Crucial Problem

  David Tompkins | January 13, 2008 4:35 PM | 0 CommentsMetro D.C., DC

  Steps to take when you are involved in an SUV Rollover:1. Take pictures of the SUV and all vehicles involved in the collision.2. Take pictures of location where the accident took place. These pictures should show the layout of the road and include any scrapes on the road, tire marks or skid marks.3. Keep the SUV even if it is totaled. 4. Take the names, addresses and phone numbers of any...

• Family to Sue Health Insurer for Fatal Delay in Treatment

  David Tompkins | December 23, 2007 11:11 PM | 0 CommentsWashington, DC

  While not a typical automobile post, I'd like to draw your attention to this weeks story about a health insurer who denied a liver transpant to a young insured girl. It seems that liver transplants, to the health insurer, is still considered an "experimental" procedure, so they denied coverage for the procedure.The young girls family hired a well known TV lawyer to get some media coverage. ...

• Allstate Tells Missouri Courts to "Kiss-Off"

  David Tompkins | December 19, 2007 9:22 PM | 0 CommentsMetro D.C., DC

  Allstate Insurance Company was ordered by a Missouri trial court to produce documents related to its "McKinsey Study" program, and Allstates relatively new claims handling program.Allstate, refusing to make public just how shady its claims handling processes are for automobile accident victims, has accepted as a business proposition a $25,000.00 per day sanction from Judge Michael Manners. ...

• Teens and Driving: Parents Need to Protect Their Kids

  David Tompkins | November 26, 2007 8:41 PM | 0 CommentsMetro D.C., DC

  Some of the most tragic cases that I see involve young people. On November 12, 2007 another teenager died in a single car accident. This brings the total teen death rate for suburban Montgomery County to seven in a single week! We strongly encourage parents to take a leadership role with their children. What our experience has shown, and what all emperical data we have seen...

• Court Rules in Uninsured Motorist Policy Case

  Shannon Weidemann | October 31, 2007 11:21 PM | 0 CommentsWashington, DC

  A New Jersey Appellate Court ruled that a woman who was injured in a drive by shooting can receive compensation from the Uninsured Motorist portion of her car insurance even though she was just entering her car at the time of the shooting. The insurance company denied her claim originally. But the appellate judges, citing two New Jersey Supreme Court rulings, concluded there is no...

• California May Target Uninsured Motorists

  Shannon Weidemann | October 31, 2007 10:58 PM | 0 CommentsMetro D.C., DC

  Driving while uninsured in California may become a thing of the past if the Insurance Commissioner has his way. He is trying to place an intiative on the November 2008 ballot to get uninsured motorists off the road. It may work by revoking license plates on cars or allowing police officers greater power in dealing with the uninsured. Advocates of the low-cost program and the possible...

• Man Hurt in Nampa Pedestrian Accident

  Shannon Weidemann | October 31, 2007 10:40 PM | 0 CommentsMetro D.C., DC

  A man was crossing the street in Nampa when he was hit by a car and injured on Monday evening. The pedestrian accident happened on 11th Avenue North at 3rd Street North. There is no marked crosswalk at the intersection. The crash is still under investigation. At this point investigators know that the vehicle was headed north on 11th Avenue North and the pedestrian was walking east across...

• Smithtown Car Accident Kills Two

  Shannon Weidemann | October 31, 2007 10:08 PM | 0 CommentsMetro D.C., DC

  A car accident in Smithtown this morning killed two teenagers. They were both thrown from the vehicle they were passengers in after it hit another car and a guardrail. The accident happened on Jericho Turnpike. The driver of the car is a 17-year-old student at Smithtown High School West. The two teens were pronounced dead at the scene, Compagnone said. It is not known whether they were...