Articles Posted in Car and Auto Accidents

There is no such thing as a simple automobile trip. Driving is a complex task, a truth we are constantly reminded of in our work as an Oakland car accident injury law firm. Drivers must focus on the mechanics of operating a vehicle while staying alert to the presence of other drivers, bicycle riders, motorcyclists, and pedestrians. A driver needs to be able to watch for signs, signals, and road conditions, while filtering out a flurry of potential distractions from a ringing phone to a noisy radio, from eye-catching billboards to bickering children in the backseat. Drivers also need to be alert for the unexpected, including the topic of today’s post – road debris, with a particular focus in this entry on vehicle-related debris.

Crash Blame On Runaway Tire

On Thursday, a car accident on Highway 4 in Pittsburg left at least one person injured according to a report by The Contra Costa Times. The single-vehicle accident occurred around noon on the eastbound off-ramp at Railroad Avenue. Witness reports suggest that a runaway tire flew into the path of a blue Cadillac, hitting the car’s front windshield. Early speculation is that the tire may have come from the westbound side of the highway. California Highway Patrol Officer Ron Simmons confirmed that no other cars were involved and that ambulances were called to the scene. It is unclear how many people were in the Cadillac at the time of the incident.

Earlier the week, we wrote about how evolving technology may lead to even more driver distraction. In this post, we take a more general look at the problem of distracted driving and the efforts to cut down on the number of distracted drivers on America’s roads. This is an issue of grave concern to our San Jose car accident attorney. As a California Office of Traffic Safety FAQ on the issue notes, “Driver distractions have joined alcohol and speeding as leading factors in fatal and serious injury crashes.”

The Distracted Driving Problem and Prevention Efforts from 2009 to 2012

In July 2012, the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (“NHTSA”) released a report entitled “Blueprint for Ending Distracted Driving” that sought to expand the national understanding of a safety threat first identified as an NHTSA focal area in 2009 by former Secretary Ray LaHood. According to NHTSA estimates, 3,000 people die each year as a result of distracted driving crashes, accidents involving a driver who loses focus on the task of driving as a result of a manual, visual, and/or cognitive distraction. Notably, texting involves all three forms of distraction. Observational surveys supplement general statistics, reporting that more than 100,000 drivers are texting and 600,000 are holding phones up to their ears at any given moment during daylight hours. Texting, a major form of driver distraction, is particularly widespread among younger drivers, who are also less likely to object if they are a passenger and a driver is texting. On average, a text takes the driver’s eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds, long enough to travel to span of a football field when travelling 55mph.

Technology enhances our lives in many ways. In the automotive sector, new products are emerging constantly that make our travels safer and more enjoyable. However, technology and driving isn’t always a good mix and, while science leads us forward, it often feels like the law is struggling to catch up. Legislatures are still ironing out policies on voice calls and texting behind the wheel, even as a Pew report shows a majority of Americans now own smartphones, a whopping 91% of American adults have some form of cell phone, and 81% of cell phone owners send and receive text messages. This week, an interesting story caught the attention of our Northern California distracted driving injury attorney, reminding us that technology continues to evolve and connectedness is not always a positive safety feature.

New Technology Puts Computer Screen in an Eyeglass

A California court may have seen a first-in-the-nation moment this week when a woman pleaded not guilty to a traffic citation involving the use of Google Glass, a device that an Associated Press report carried by the San Francisco Chronicle referred to as a “computer-in-an-eyeglass.” Although the technology will not be available to the general public until some point in 2014, Ceclia Abadie is one of approximately 10,000 people who have had the opportunity to serve as “explorers” and tryout the eyeglass-style device. Google Glass includes both a camera and a thumbnail-sized transparent display screen. The display screen, located above the user’s right eye, responds to voice commands. In addition to accessing email and getting driving directions, wearers of the lightweight frames can look at something and instantly get information on the display about the item. Notably, legislators in three states (Delaware, New Jersey & West Virginia) have proposed legislation that would ban driving while using Google Glass.

It’s a classic image on television and movies, a person sitting alone at a bar, slumped over a beer. The bartender, white towel slung over one shoulder, removes the glass and says, “Gotta cut you off, buddy.” Alcohol sales are big business, but the profits can come with responsibility. In today’s blog post, we’ll look at dram shop laws, the statutes and court-made rules that address whether or not an establishment that serves alcohol (or even the server/bartender) is liable if they serve a patron who goes on to cause a car accident or otherwise injure another individual. Recent changes mean that the establishment is only liable in very limited circumstances, but it is still an important part of the “toolkit” that our San Francisco DUI injury law firm uses to help injured plaintiffs recover critically needed compensation.

An Overview of Dram Shop Laws and the Liability of Establishments that Supply Alcohol

Like much in the field injury law, the liability of establishments that sell alcohol for injuries to others as a result of an intoxicated patron is generally a matter of state law. The vast majority of states have statutes known as dram shop laws that specifically address this type of claim. Jurisdictions cite a general social contract theory as justification for holding entities and servers responsible for ensuring the safety of both patrons as well as third parties that may encounter those patrons. The responsibility to cut off a patron who is obviously intoxicated can also be justified as a duty tied to the right to sell alcoholic beverages to the community.

Like many of you, our team members spent the past weekend finalizing plans for Thanksgiving. For some, that means making final grocery lists; for others, it means confirming travel plans. We are looking forward to a day of family, friends, food, and football. We also appreciate the opportunity to reflect and give thanks for all that we take for granted, including the safety and well-being of our loved ones. Sadly, far too many Americans have their holiday interrupted by a Thanksgiving car accident. Before the final rush sets in, our San Francisco accident lawyer and his team share a few thoughts on staying safe on the roads during upcoming holiday.

A Deadly Distinction: Thanksgiving Car Accidents

The timing of the question likely gives away the answer, but imagine you didn’t have the hint: What holiday sees the highest number fatalities on U.S. roads? As ABC detailed in a report last November, Thanksgiving holds that dubious distinction. Citing data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (“NHTSA”), ABC reports that 431 people died on roads nationwide during the 2010 Thanksgiving holiday (all holiday data reflects a 3-4 day holiday period, see Table 14 in the NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts 2010 data compilation). To compare it to other 2010 holiday periods, Labor Day saw 403 roadway deaths, July 4th saw 392, and Christmas saw 259 roadway fatalities. Notably, ABC’s comparison doesn’t include New Year’s, which many would imagine would lead the list of dangerous holidays. Based on the NHTSA publication, the New Year’s 2010 holiday saw 297 fatalities over a three-day span (which appears to include 12/31/09), a number that may be reduced by better planning by revelers who recognize the likelihood of alcohol impairment.

Driving under the influence puts your life, the lives of your passengers, and the lives of others on the road at risk. This is a truth we all know. As an Oakland drunk driving accident law firm, we are dismayed by how many individuals continue to drive drunk despite knowing the dangers. Like many others, we are particularly disturbed to hear about people who drive drunk with children in the car. These cases give rise to (appropriately) elevated criminal liability and we will fight for the rights of children injured or killed as a result of a DUI with child passengers.

Police Allege Fremont Babysitter Drove Impaired with Children in the Vehicle

Last Friday, The Oakland Tribune reported on the case of a babysitter who allegedly drove while intoxicated with her charges in the car. On November 7, a student ran to the principal’s office at Robertson High School to report that she had just been dropped off by Alice Briscoe who was too intoxicated to drive. The student told school officials that Briscoe had hit a curb and struck multiple parked cars while behind the wheel of a Nissan Quest. Briscoe, a 36 year-old from Fremont, was babysitting at the time and her own four children were in school.

While there are general themes and principles that run throughout injury law, ultimately each case is unique. Few cases illustrate this truth as well as the collision in June where a firefighter is accused of driving a ladder truck while intoxicated, hitting and seriously injuring a motorcycle rider, and then leaving the accident scene. It is a case that raises complicated legal issues and involves complex, disputed facts and seems to only get more complicated with time, making this emergency responder accident a fascinating case for our San Francisco DUI injury attorney to follow.

Firefighter Drives Ladder Truck After Drinking, Hits Motorcycle, Leaves the Scene

When Alex Bastain, the San Francisco district attorney’s spokesperson, said that “[t]his is not your run-of-the-mill DUI investigation,” he was understating the matter. According to The San Francisco Chronicle, Michael Quinn had been with the San Francisco Fire Department for 23 years prior to the events of June 29. On that night, he took the wheel of a department ladder truck en route to a call that turned out to be a false alarm. As he sped through a red light at the intersection of Fifth and Howard (a surveillance camera reportedly shows Quinn running the red, despite initial statements to the contrary by a higher-up), the truck hit a motorcycle, flinging the rider into a fire hydrant and leaving him seriously injured. Quinn did not wait for police, who arrived 40 minutes later. He was caught on camera drinking water at a pub near the collision, in what police suggest was an attempt to sober up, before he finally returned to the station several hours later. Despite the delay, when police finally caught up with Quinn he had a blood alcohol level of 0.13, in excess of the standard legal driving limit of 0.08 and a violation of the Fire Department’s “zero tolerance” stance for drinking while on duty.

An AP report, carried by The San Francisco Chronicle and detailing two crashes that occurred on a New Hampshire highway on Tuesday caught the attention of the distracted driving accident team at our San Francisco injury law firm. Shortly after 5 A.M., a tractor trailer travelling on Interstate 89 in Grantham, New Hampshire jack-knifed and proceeded to slide down an embankment. As heavy duty tow trucks worked to remove the vehicle from the side of the road, a passing vehicle swerved to avoid colliding with slowed traffic, became airborne, and hurtled down the embankment towards the first accident scene. The driver was injured and hospitalized, along with a trooper who was hit after he pushed the tow truck driver out of harm’s way. Reports suggest the vehicle’s driver had been looking at the initial accident scene rather than focusing on the traffic in front of her.

Applying Cognitive Science to Behind-the-Wheel Distractions

The New Hampshire crash served as a reminder that distracted driving can take many forms, including those involving new technologies and those involving more “old-fashioned” distractions. In a piece published by AAA this summer, Professor David Strayer recalls a time when he was just about to chastise his children for making faces at passing drivers. The professor of cognition and neural science planned to remind his children that they should never distracted a driver when he realized the driver hadn’t seen his children; the driver was already distracted by a cellphone conversation.