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A disabled truck is being blamed for a fatal truck accident in Burbank, California that killed one person this week.

The accident occurred on Friday morning. According to news reports, a small passenger vehicle collided into a tractor-trailer that was stopped on the southbound 5 free way. The passenger car was wedged beneath the tractor-trailer rig. The driver died at the scene of the accident. It took emergency personnel at least three hours to remove the driver’s body from the wreckage. Investigators are still looking at the reasons for the crash. There is no information about why the tractor-trailer rig was stopped at the location.

If the truck was disabled, then the driver should have switched on his hazard lights. There is no information if the emergency lights were switched on at the time the passenger vehicle crashed into the truck.

Any accident involving a semi truck, tractor trailer or an 18-wheeler can lead to serious injuries. The huge risks for motorists when they share the highways with these massive vehicles, is the reason why truck drivers and the trucking companies that employ them, are held to such high standards of trucking safety. Trucking companies and truck drivers are subject to rules laid down by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, as well as state statutes

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration lays out at least 16 golden rules for truck and trucking companies to follow. These rules involve the hiring of safe, experienced and competent drivers. Companies are required to conduct drug and alcohol testing before they hire a driver. Besides, they must also conduct random drug and alcohol testing to ensure that intoxicated drivers are weeded out of their payroll.  Failure to do so can place the company liable in any injuries caused by a truck accident. The minimum legally allowed blood alcohol concentration level for a truck driver is .04% as opposed to .08% for the general motorist population.. Truckers caught driving at above .04% could place their employers at liability in any accidents and injuries caused as a result of intoxicated driving.

Earlier this year, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration also set up a website that will allow employees access to truck driver accident and inspection records. A trucking company can register at the website, and access records at a fee of $10 for every truck driver record. Records date back to 5 years in the case of accident records, and three years in case of inspection records. With the help of these records, trucking companies can find out a driver’s accident record, and make a safe decision before hiring someone.

Federal rules also lay out the maximum number of hours that a truck driver can drive at a stretch. Those currently stand at 11 consecutive hours, but the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is revising those rules. California truck accident lawyers have been very critical of the rule that allows drivers to drive for one extra hour in a 14-hour window.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of truck accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not representing any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

A unique new study looks at the kind of effects obesity has when a person suffers injuries in an automobile accident, and the kind of injuries that an overweight person can expect. The researchers compiled data from the US National Automotive Sampling System’s Crash Worthiness Data System. They found that men with a high body mass index were at a high risk of certain injuries, like upper body injuries.

The researchers used data relating to injuries and body mass index of approximately 11,000 men and women between 2001 and 2005. The men and women had been injured in front impact motor vehicle accidents during the same period of time. The researchers also used computer models of obese drivers, and put these through a crash test situation. The study found that male drivers who were obese, were at a much higher risk of upper body injuries, like those to the head, face, chest and spine. Besides, men and women with low and high BMI were at a much higher risk of suffering a serious abdominal injury. Obese men had a much higher risk of injuries in accidents than obese women in all body regions, except in the abdominal region and the extremities.

In a nutshell, obese men have a much higher risk of injuries to the upper body than men with normal weight. They also have a much higher risk of injuries to the upper body in automobile accidents, than obese women. The researchers found the exact same results in both the compilation of data from the crashworthiness data system, as well as the crash tests using computer models of obese drivers.

According to the researchers, the differences between obese men and men of regular weight and obese women, could be due to differences in fat distribution, body shape, center of gravity differences between obese persons and individuals who have a normal weight, as well as differences between men and women.

According to the researchers, the study may be limited in scope, and there is the need for more research to prove these findings. However, the findings could be an indication that automakers must adjust their auto manufacturing specifications to take into consideration the fact that more Americans now are obese than 20 or 30 years ago. Obesity is a nationwide epidemic in the country. Approximately 67% of Americans are believed to be overweight.

In a situation like this, there is a large segment of the population that may be at a higher risk of injuries in automobile accidents. Current auto technologies do not take into consideration the fact that more numbers of people driving these cars are excessively overweight, and at a higher risk of injuries.

California injury lawyers will find these findings very interesting. More research is needed before any firm conclusions can be drawn, but it is intriguing that both statistics as well as crash tests indicated a high risk of injury to overweight people, especially men.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of auto accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not representing any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

The National Safety Council has released a white paper into the crash risks from distracted driving. The paper is called Understanding the Distracted Brain: Why Driving While Using Hands-Free Cell Phones Is Risky Behavior.”  The report is an analysis of how current legislation in place in several states may not be addressing the problem of distracted driving adequately by merely banning the use of hand-held cell phones while driving.

The National Safety Council white paper uses data from more than 30 scientific studies into the risks of distracted driving, to stress the dangers arising from multitasking while at the wheel. According to the white paper, drivers who are having a cell phone conversation while driving, may miss vital visual cues that enable them to drive safely. In fact, such motorists may miss up to 50% of vital information in their surroundings. These motorists may not be able to perceive immediate risks in their environment. For instance, they may fail to realize that the car is veering off the lane, or may fail to adequately judge the speed of the vehicle in front of them. Motorists having a conversation even on a hands-free cell phone, can become engaged in the conversation, and may become inattentive to their environment with potentially deadly consequences.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 11% of motorists are using cell phones at any given time. One out of every four accidents can be traced to the use of cell phones while driving. It’s not that motorists are not aware of the risks of texting, or using hand-held cell phones while driving. Even with the knowledge of all these risks, motorists continue to indulge in such distracted driving practices.

Several states including California, have enacted legislation banning the use of hand-held cell phones while driving. The logic behind such bans is that using hand-held cell phone requires the motorist to use their hand, taking it away from the steering wheel. According to the National Safety Council, a ban on hand-held cell phones may do little to eliminate the crash risks from distracted driving.  The distraction comes from the conversation the person is having, and not so much by the fact that he’s using his hand to hold a cell phone to his ear.

There is truth to what the National Safety Council says.  Earlier this year, a study revealed a troubling fact – cell phone bans and legislations in several states have done nothing to reduce the number of accidents in the states. The study raised the question about the efficacy of such laws in limiting accidents. The researchers looked at four states that have bans on hand-held cell phones in place, and compared accident rates from before the ban to the months following the ban. No conceivable difference was seen. California car accident lawyers at the time had wondered whether this status quo in accident rates is because a ban on hand-held cell phones does not adequately address the problem of distracted driving.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of auto accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not representing any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

Normally, a motorcycle accident in the state of Arizona would not find a place on a California injury lawyer’s blog. However, law enforcement authorities there are calling a fatal accident that occurred in Phoenix last week, the deadliest they have ever seen.

The accident occurred on Thursday. Eight motorcyclists were stopped at a traffic light. The motorcycles were carrying a total of nine people.  According to reports, a sanitation truck approaching the traffic light failed to slow down in time, and mowed down the motorcycles. Three motorcyclists were killed at the scene. One motorcyclist was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries, and unfortunately, succumbed a day later.

The impact of the truck was severe, and several motorcycles were dragged several feet with the sanitation truck. When emergency rescue personnel arrived at the scene of the accident, they found three motorcyclists still stuck under the truck. One of those severely injured in the accident was a fire captain who is also a member of the local motorcycle club. It’s not confirmed if all the motorcyclists who were injured or killed in this horrible accident were part of the same motorcycle club. The scene of the accident was a horrible one. Smashed motorcycles were strewn around the intersection where the crash occurred, with several bikes wedged under the truck.

The driver of the sanitation truck sustained minor injuries in the accident. So far, there is no reason to believe that he was driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Police are still trying to determine why he was unable to control the speed of the truck. No charges or citations have been filed yet in this tragic motorcycle accident. According to witnesses at the scene, the driver appeared to be in shock after the crash. He told people at the scene that he had been busy shuffling paperwork, when his truck rammed into the motorcycles.

It’s too early to tell if there is any truth to these witness reports, but Phoenix police are likely to speak to all witnesses at the scene and take all their accounts into consideration. California motorcycle accident lawyers have been very disturbed at the increased risk that motorcyclists face these days. One of the biggest risks seems to be that motorists are more distracted than ever before. These distractions come not just in the form of cell phones and texting devices, but also from the various activities that the driver may be involved in while driving. These can include looking at digitized billboards, changing radio stations, snacking, and applying makeup.

Distracted driving has been a major focus at the Department of Transportation ever since Transportation Sec. Ray LaHood took over at the agency. California injury lawyers will be hoping that Sec. LaHood also looks especially closely at the risks to vulnerable users of our roads like motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians from distracted motorists. Currently, the focus seems to be on motorists at risk from distracted driving crashes.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of motorcycle accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not representing any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

The daughter of Hollywood producer Jon Peters was involved in a fatal motorcycle accident in Los Angeles on Saturday. Caleigh Peters was trying to make a turn when a motorcycle crashed into her car. According to police, Peters does not seem to have been at fault in the accident.

This month, the Department of Transportation released preliminary figures that indicate that highway fatality numbers for 2009 are lower than they were in 2008. In 2009, the number of highway fatalities was 9% lower than the previous year. The number of people killed in accidents in 2009 was actually at its lowest level in more than five decades. The last quarter of 2009 was also the 15th consecutive quarter with declining auto accident fatality rates. California injury lawyers and auto safety groups have been very encouraged by these figures

While all of these are impressive figures, the fact is that motorcyclists continue to be at a high risk of death in accidents. Motorcycle fatality rates have been increasing steadily over the past decade. This is even as fatality rates in other kinds of accidents like car and truck accidents, have been declining. The trend has been seen nationwide, with almost all states reporting a steady increase in the number of people killed in motorcycle crashes. Accidents like the one here remind us that there is much to be done in promoting motorcyclist safety.

There are several reasons why motorcycle accident fatalities have increased the way they have.

The biggest factor is that motorcyclists today face increasing risks from motorists who are distracted by cell phones and other devices. While there are fewer fatalities in automobile accidents in the US, the number of accidents involving distracted drivers have actually increased. The National Safety Council estimates that about 28% of accidents every year are caused by cell phone use or text messaging while driving.

California motorcycle accident lawyers see that other motorist behaviors like speeding and drunk driving continue to be an important factor in motorcycle crashes. This is even as California and other states have managed to bring down the rate of drunk driving accidents through increased law enforcement efforts, stronger laws against DUI and more numbers of sobriety checkpoints and patrols.

Motorist negligence has always been a factor in motorcycle accidents. Motorists who fail to yield to motorcyclists or give him the right of way, are the number one factor in motorcycle accidents, and continue to be so.

The motorcyclist demographic has also undergone major changes in appearance. The numbers of older motorcyclists on the highways is increasing.  These persons may be new to riding motorcycles, and may lack the skills and experience needed to ride motorcycles in California’s congested traffic.

Besides, motorcycles these days are much more powerful than those that were available in the market decades earlier. It’s harder to ride these machines unless you have the right amount of training and expertise. More powerful machines can accelerate to higher speeds, contributing to accidents.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of motorcycle accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not representing any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

A 16-year-old baseball player in Marin County continues to be in a critical condition after suffering a brain injury from being struck by a ball hit by a metal baseball bat. His injuries are spurring efforts to pass legislation that would ban the use of metal bats in high school baseball games.

16-year-old Gunnar Sandberg was seriously injured on the 11th of March when he was struck by a ball hit by a metal baseball bat. The injury occurred during a baseball game between his school Marin High School and a team from the De LaSalle High School in Concord. He spent eight days in a medically induced coma. He has since been taken off medication, but he continues to remain in a critical condition.

His parents are joining other voices around the state, including those from California brain injury lawyers, seeking legislation that would impose a ban on metal bats and a shift to the traditional wooden bats used earlier. California Assemblyman Jared Huffman Democrat-Rafael is currently drafting a bill that would impose such a ban on baseball bats used in high school games. On Thursday, the Board of Directors of the Marin County Athletic League will decide whether to make wooden bats the standard for the rest of the season.

There have been numerous studies to indicate that balls hit by a metal bat travel at a higher speed than those struck by a traditional wooden bat. However, studies proving that the use of metal bats substantially increases the risk of injuries are not as conclusive.

Sports injury experts are divided about whether a ban on metal bats is necessary at all. According to Frederick Mueller, director of the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at the University Of North Carolina, there haven’t been enough incidents of baseball players being struck by balls hit by metal bats, to suggest a high risk from such bats. There simply haven’t been enough incidents to draw any conclusions about the risks from these facts. Other experts insist that the risk of brain injury, from a ball traveling at 96 mph involving a wooden bat, and a ball traveling at 100 mph involving a metal bat, is pretty much the same. The brain injury that the person will suffer from this impact, is likely to be substantial in both cases.Gunnar’s injury has also led to calls for helmets for baseball pitchers.

This is a painful time for Gunnar’s family. He faces a long road to recovery, and his parents’ only wish is that no other child be put through the same kind of suffering as their son is going through.

It shouldn’t have to take dozens of serious brain injuries for sports authorities and school districts to take necessary action. Perhaps the time has come for metal bats to be taken out of high school baseball games, and replaced with traditional wooden bats instead. The incidence of brain injury from cases like Gunnar’s may be few, but do we really need more kids to be injured severely before we take action?

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of brain injuries. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not representing any party in the matters discussed in this posting.