Car and Auto Accidents

Flooded Roads, Heavy Rains, and Being Prepared Even in California’s Drought

September 30, 2014 | Gregory J. Brod

It may seem somewhat strange to be talking about flooded roads in a state that has faced years of serious drought conditions. Still, Mother Nature always seems to have a few tricks up her sleeve and our region saw some soaking rains in September. Our Northern California injury attorney believes it is always important for drivers to remember the basics of flood safety.

Rainfall Causes Flooding, Wreaks Havoc on Roads

Late last week, wet weather made a guest appearance in Northern California. On Thursday, downpours caused major crashes on at least three major highways according to The Oakland Tribune. Wet weather made headlines again on Friday with KCRA News 3 reporting that the National Weather Service issued a flash-flood warning for Solano County that lasted nearly three hours. Radar revealed a 2 to 3 inch rainfall in about three hours, sparking flash flooding that impacted local waterways and flooded at least one roadway.

A Reminder of Why the Fight to End Distracted Driving Must Continue

September 26, 2014 | Gregory J. Brod

Distracted driving is a topic we discuss with some regularity here at the Brod Firm. Simply put, we talk about it often because we see it often. We see it in our own travels on the region’s roadways. We also see the tragic consequences of distracted driving when we represent people whose lives have been forever altered because of a distracted driver. Cellphone use is just one form of distraction, but it is a major one and it is an issue that we need to talk about until it is no longer claiming lives and causing terrible injuries. In this post, our Santa Rosa distracted driving law firm looks at one tragic crash allegedly caused by a driver glancing at a cellphone screen and then turn to a piece of technology that police hope will aid in the fight against driver distraction.

Driver Sentenced in Case Where One Moment of Distraction Claimed Two Lives

As reported earlier this month by The Press Democrat, an area court handed down a one-year sentence for a driver charged with causing a crash that killed two women. Back in March, Nicholas Tognozzi was driving a GMC pickup at a speed when he looked down to see if he had received a text message. The brief look away from the road while travelling over 50mph left him unable to stop in time to avoid slamming into the rear end of a Toyota Camry stopped in traffic on Highway 12. Two women sitting in the Camry’s backseat, Sue Hufford (53) and her mother-in-law Sharon Hufford (74), were killed instantly. Front passenger Don Hufford suffered serious injuries.

Guardrails: When a Safety Device Becomes Dangerous

September 19, 2014 | Gregory J. Brod

They are supposed to be there for our safety. Guardrails can help prevent an out-of-control vehicle from careening over a cliff or other hazardous terrain and can also keep such vehicles away from opposing traffic. In these roles, they save lives. However, guardrail accidents can also be a serious danger and our Oakland highway crash attorney is closely following developing studies on balancing the role of guardrails as safety devices and the potential for guardrails to be roadside hazards.

FHA to Conduct Study Following Research Showing New Guardrail Design Raises Risk of Serious Injuries and Death

This week, ABC7 News reported that the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) is looking into the safety of guardrails after multiple reports of people losing limbs or dying in pain because a guardrail pierced their vehicle. The focal issue in the planned research study is whether the “guardrail heads,” the start/end piece of a rail, can absorb a head-on impact at up to 62mph in real life conditions. A team of public and private highway engineers as well as other subject-matter experts will conduct the FHA research.

Wrong-Way Accidents, Catastrophic Consequences

September 16, 2014 | Gregory J. Brod

Picture yourself driving along a highway, a high-speed roadway with a physical median, a route you know by heart. Traffic is light and you may have wearied of seeing yet another bumper sticker, more brake lights, but you are still unprepared for a different image — Headlights. It is an image that would frighten even the most adept of drivers. Wrong-way drivers are a relatively rare sight, but wrong-way accidents are frequently catastrophic and often fatal. With specific experience dealing with catastrophic accidents, our Palo Alto car accident attorney is prepared to help innocent parties left injured or grieving by these terrifying crashes.

Palo Alto Wrong-Way Crash Leaves One Dead, One Seriously Injured

Last Thursday, as detailed by the Contra County Times, a Palo Alto wrong-way crash claimed one life and left another person facing major injuries. At 12:52 A.M. on September 11, police received reports of a wrong-way driver heading north in the southbound lanes of Highway 280 by El Monte Road. Less than ten minutes later, the driver collided with another vehicle near Page Mill Road. Twenty-three year old Brian Devoto of Santa Clara died in the crash and an unnamed female driver suffered serious injuries. As of Friday morning, police were still working to determine which of the drivers was the wrong-way traveler and also looking at whether alcohol or drugs played a factor in the deadly incident.

Representing the Victims of Motorized Scooter Accidents in Northern California

September 10, 2014 | Gregory J. Brod

Modern day travel involves more than just cars. On a given day, a stretch of roadway might see travelers on bicycles, motorcycles, trucks, roller skates, and their own two feet. Motorized scooters are another form of travel and, like many other travelers, operators are vulnerable to reckless drivers. When a driver puts a rider at undue risk and harms the more vulnerable traveler, our Oakland scooter accident lawyer can help recover monetary compensation for the injured party. Motor scooter accidents are a real danger and the mix of prevention and representation are key to reducing the threat.

Police Investigating a Fatal Sunnyvale Scooter Accident

A 50 year-old Los Altos man lost his life on Friday following a scooter crash detailed in the San Jose Mercury News. Brian David Lazara was hit by two cars while riding a motorized scooter in Sunnyvale. The crash occurred just before 9 A.M. at the intersection of Central Expressway and Mary Avenue. Emergency responders arrived to find Lazara injured and lying in the roadway. They performed CPR and took him to Stanford Hospital’s trauma center where personnel declared him dead. Both auto drivers are cooperating with the ongoing investigation.

Back to School Safety II – San Francisco Child Injury Attorney on School Zone Safety

August 22, 2014 | Gregory J. Brod

Earlier this week, we focused on school bus safety. However, the safety of students is too important to confine to one blog entry. We all know that drivers should pay extra attention and slow down when passing through school zones. Still, far too often, drivers choose shaving a few moments off their travel time over protecting our school children and teens. When school zone injuries or fatalities stem from a driver’s failure to value school zone safety, our San Francisco school injury attorney is ready to help.

SFPD Increases Safety Patrols As Students Return to School

This week, SF Weekly reported that the SFPD is stepping up efforts to target drivers who might endanger students as they return to school. Police are watching for speeders, drivers who fail to yield to pedestrians, and those who simply aren’t focused on the path before them. Notably, while 42% of San Francisco elementary students live within walking distance of their school, only a quarter actually walk because of safety worries.

Back to School Safety: School Bus Accidents & School Transportation Safety

August 20, 2014 | Gregory J. Brod

With commercials for laptop computers and old-fashioned spiral notebooks, not to mention new sneakers and stylish jeans, there’s no question that the time children dread and parents celebrate has arrived – Back to School. As classrooms throughout Northern California open, school buses ready to transport students to and from school. Although they rank as one of the safest means of transportation, a recent headline proves that school bus accidents are a reality. When drivers fail to give these vehicles the special care they deserve or when a school bus driver violates our trust and puts kids at risk, our Northern California school bus injury lawyer is ready to protect the young victims.

Suspected Drunk Driver Arrested After Hitting School Bus

Classes had resumed for just one week when a school bus travelling to Union Mine High School was hit by a suspected drunk driver. KCRA reports that 32 students were on board when the crash occurred on Thursday August 14 at 6:30 A.M. on Grizzly Flat Road in Somerset, El Dorado County. An SUV driven by 24 year old Steven Gruber hit a school bus on the two-lane road. Police arrested Gruber on suspicion of driving under the influence. Five students and the bus driver suffered minor injuries and two students were taken to the hospital as a precaution. Another vehicle was also involved in the incident, although it is not known whether its occupants were injured.

A Settlement Offer by Another Name: GM Offers Compensation Plan for Defect Victims

August 15, 2014 | Gregory J. Brod

Car makers should be focused on the future, on the next car to come down the assembly rather than the last. However, lately it seems GM is spending more time dealing with problems from yesterday’s cars than making tomorrow’s. Our San Francisco auto accident law firm is always concerned when an auto recall is announced and earlier this week The San Francisco Chronicle reported that GM had added six new recalls to the sixty already announced. The new recalls mean the auto giant’s recalls for 2014 cover more than 29 million vehicles.

GM Ignition Switch Recall and Compensation Program

While note every recall involves a problem that has been known to cause accidents, a piece in last week’s Wall Street Journal focused on a problem initially linked to at least 54 crashes and 13 fatalities. The actual toll may be much higher. GM recently began a compensation program and in the first eight days received approximately 120 claims, half of which involve purported fatalities and another dozen or so that involve catastrophic injury. The issue, which led to a recall of around 2.6 million cars, is a possibly faulty ignition switch that could slip out of the “on” setting, abruptly stalling the vehicle and disabling its air bags. Distressingly, reports say that GM knew about the underlying problem for over a DECADE, but only began to recall and repair affected vehicles this February.

Negligence Per Se – Applying a Legal Theory to the Collision of a Big Rig and a Muni Light Rail

August 6, 2014 | Gregory J. Brod

Few concepts are as fundamental to the field of civil injury law as the notion of negligence. As a plaintiff’s law firm, a key part of our job is proving that the defendant was negligent and that this negligence was the cause of the plaintiff’s injuries. In this post, our San Francisco personal injury attorney looks at a special form of negligence – negligence per se – a concept that helps plaintiffs fulfill their legal burden and show the judge/jury that the defendant should be held liable and ordered to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.

Big Rig’s Illegal Turn Leads to Crash with Light Rail Train

San Francisco’s ABC affiliate reported on a serious collision that occurred last Friday between a big rig and a light rail train. Witness reports helped San Francisco Police conclude that the driver of the big rig attempted to turn left onto Third Street from Innes Avenue despite signs clearly stating that left turns were not permitted. While attempting the illegal turn, the 18-wheel truck was struck by the Muni light rail train. Police did not immediately charge the driver despite concluding he was at fault

The Danger of Downed Power Lines

July 18, 2014 | Gregory J. Brod

Sometimes, as our San Francisco car accident lawyer knows quite well, real life writes stories that our imaginations never could. In this case, the San Francisco Chronicle reported a story that began when 21 year old Arman Samsonian crashed into a fire hydrant while rushing to the gym. Witness Irma Zamora, age 40, called 911 and then raced over to help. She was joined by 39 year old Stacey Schreiber. Unbeknownst to the two women, electricity was running through the water around the wrecked car. Both of the Good Samaritans were electrocuted and both died. The incident had unusual aspects but, unfortunately, it is far too common for downed power lines and electrocution to cause injury and/or death following a car accident.

In May, despite his attorney suggesting the electrocutions were not a foreseeable consequence of speeding, Samsonian pled no contest to vehicular manslaughter. On Wednesday, a Los Angeles Superior Court sentenced Samsonian to three years of probation and 70 days of community service. The judge also ordered him to pay restitution to the victims (note: restitution typically cannot compensate victims for pain and suffering). Committing another vehicular offense during the probation period will send Samsonian to prison.

What to Do If Power Lines Fall on Your Car