Category: Car Accidents

An Arizona auto accident occurred on Sunday in the area of 75th Ave. and Mountain View Rd. in Phoenix where a driver crashed into a garage at a home, according to azfamily.com. The incident occurred when a man who was backing out of this own driveway lost control of his vehicle, drove across the street and struck an attached garage where his neighbor was working.

No injuries have been reported.

Making the situation even more odd, it is being said that the driver of the truck works for a garage door company. Accident cleanup is supposed to be underway at the home.

While luckily it sounds like no one was injured in this accident, that is not always the case, and car crashes where motorists hit buildings is not all that uncommon. Phoenix personal injury lawyers at Abels & Annes have handled a couple of these cases.

In one case, our law firm represented a woman who was at home when her elderly neighbor lost control of her vehicle, drove into her house and hit her while she was lying in bed in a first-floor bedroom. The injuries in the case were non-life-threatening and the claim settled without having to file a lawsuit.

In another injury case we worked on, accident lawyers from our office represented a man who was eating lunch at a busy hot dog stand in downtown Chicago when an elderly motorist lost control of his car and drove right into the restaurant, striking several patrons.

The plaintiff was taken by ambulance to an emergency room with complaints of neck and back pain, and headaches. He ended up having to go through medical treatment for several months with an osteopathic physician. A lawsuit was filed in the case which settled prior to going to trial.

And speaking of Chicago accidents, there is a popular restaurant downtown called Petterino’s that is across from the Daley Center Courthouse. The restaurant has been on the wrong end of taxicab accidents on several occasions. Each time (and I can remember at least three events) a taxi is involved in some type of accident, or just loses control, and hits the eatery. Fortunately, there’s been no fatalities or severe injuries in any of the crashes.

The number of traffic fatalities on Arizona roads reached a 16-year-low in 2009, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.

As our Phoenix car accident attorneys recently reported on our Phoenix Injury Lawyer Blog, the federal government recently reported the fewest traffic fatalities in 60 years. Safety experts pin the decline on a number of factors, including the economic downturn.Nationwide, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that traffic deaths dropped to 33,808 in 2009, the lowest level since 1950.

Arizona recorded 807 fatal traffic accidents in 2009, the lowest number since 1993. By comparison, 938 people were killed in Arizona traffic accidents in 2008. The numbers represent a two-year decline of 14 percent in the number of fatal car accidents in Arizona.

ADOT gave some credit for the reduction to what it calls the “Four Es,” engineering, enforcement, emergency response and education.

“There are a variety of modern improvements that we have already made to our state highway system and continue to implement,” said ADOT Director John Halikowski. “This includes enhancements to the roadway and the addition of technology along our freeways. All of these innovations work together with law enforcement officers and others in the safety sector to create a safer driving experience.”

The state program to cut rumble strips into the shoulders of the state’s entire highway system was also cited for the reduction. The warning grooves at the edge of highways have been shown to reduce accidents by up to 33 percent as they warn drivers who are drifting onto the shoulder of the road.

Other improvements include:

-Reflective pavement markers
-Larger traffic signals
-Crash cushions on guardrail endcaps
-Wider highway stripes — ADOT uses 6-inch stripes compared to the 4-inch stripes that are the national average
-Cable barriers on urban divided highways that keep cars from crossing over into oncoming traffic
-Brighter freeway signs Continue reading “Arizona car accidents at lowest level in 16 years”

A three vehicle Arizona auto accident seriously injured a 17-year-old teen on Thursday, according to ABC 15. The crash involved three vehicles and occurred in the area of Val Vista Drive and Germann Road in Gilbert, AZ.

The teenager, who is from Gilbert, was taken to Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Trauma Center after sustaining a head injury and a loss of consciousness. He was transported to the hospital by helicopter in serious condition. Four other people involved were treated at the scene and not hospitalized.

The Arizona car crash reportedly occurred when a Ford F-150 that was southbound tried to make a left turn when act the same time a Nissan that was headed northbound ran a red light. The Ford was then knocked into a minivan that was stopped at the intersection for red light. The injured teen was riding as a passenger in the Nissan.

The Arizona Republic reported that a hazmat team had to respond to the scene of the accident because the pickup truck rolled over and spilled pool cleaning chemicals onto the road. The intersection had to be closed for a period of time for cleanup.

As far as a civil claim is concerned, the Gilbert teen definitely has a case, however there could be some difficulty in resolving the claim. This is a “he said she said” type of red light accident, and often both sides will end up pointing the finger at each other. The Phoenix area car accident attorney that gets involved in the case will most likely pursue claims against both the driver of the Nissan and the driver of the Ford, and attempt to reached settlements with both sides’ insurance carriers.

Six people a minute are injured in car accidents on the nation’s roads and a motorist dies every 8 minutes, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Our Phoenix Injury Lawyers agree with the report’s findings that concentration in four main areas would help reduce the risk of serious and fatal Arizona car accidents and accidents throughout the nation: Improve child passenger safety, improve teen driving, reduce drunk driving and increase seat belt use.Each year the nearly 40,000 motorists die and 270,000 are hospitalized at a cost of $99 billion.

Child Safety

More than 1,300 hundred children are killed in accidents each year, making motor vehicle crashes the leading cause of death. Lawmakers should strengthen child safety laws, increase educational programs and provide financial assistance to those in need.

Drunk Driving Accidents

Someone dies in a drunk driving accident every 45 minutes — or about 12,000 times a year. The increased use of ignition interlock devices for convicted drunk drivers could substantially reduce repeat offenses. The minimum drinking age saves more than 700 lives per year and should be maintained. Sobriety checkpoints are another valuable tool to combat drunk driving and programs should be continued or expanded throughout the country.

Teen Driver Safety

Car accidents are the number one cause of death for teenagers ages 15 to 20, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In 2008, more than 5,800 young people were killed in car accidents. States without strong graduated driver’s license programs should make improvements; those with the strongest GDL programs have experienced a 40 percent average reduction in fatal and nonfatal accidents involving new drivers.

-Additionally, teens should be limited to one teen passenger unless an adult is along to supervise and should be restricted from driving between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.

Increase Seat Belt Use

Primary seat belt laws, which allow law enforcement to pull drivers over and ticket them for not wearing a safety belt, are more effective than secondary enforcement laws, which only permit ticketing if a driver has been pulled over for a separate offense. Seat belt use saves an average of 13,000 lives a year and increasing compliance to 90 percent nationwide would save more than $5 billion a year.

States that have upgraded to primary enforcement laws have seen a 14 percent increase in seat belt use and a 7 percent decrease in traffic deaths.
Continue reading “Targeted safety efforts could reduce serious and fatal Phoenix car accidents, traffic accidents nationwide”

A new report by the Highway Loss Data Institute questions the effectiveness of banning motorists form text messaging while driving. In fact, the study found that the accident rate actually increased in three of four states examined where such bans exist.

As we previously reported on our Phoenix Injury Lawyer Blog, Arizona is under increasing pressure to enact a distracted driving law but remains one of 20 states where texting and driving is legal. Advocates of the ban contend it would reduce the number of car accidents in Phoenix and throughout Arizona that result each year form distracted driving.The HLDI study looked at four states with the bans and four states without. It found three of the states that have bans in place actually witnessed an increased in the accident rate.

“Texting bans haven’t reduced crashes at all … texting bans might even increase the risk of texting for drivers who continue to do so despite the laws,” says Adrian Lund, president of both HLDI and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

As the Washington Post reports, speeding laws have been in place for nearly 150 years, but speeders still speed.

This study suggests texters may still text.

“Clearly drivers did respond to the bans somehow, and what they might have been doing was moving their phones down and out of sight when they texted, in recognition that what they were doing was illegal,” Lund said. “This could exacerbate the risk of texting by taking drivers’ eyes further from the road and for a longer time.”

Meanwhile, the popularity of texting continues to skyrocket, growing by 60 percent last year to 1.6 trillion text messages, compared to the 1 trillion messages sent in 2008.

In my opinion, the argument set forth by HLDI and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety does not add up. The studies argue that accident rates went up in three states where a texting ban is in place. There could be 100 reasons for an increase in accidents in those states. For example there could be more drivers on the road or bad weather that year.

Sometimes accident rates go up and down, but that does not mean dangerous behavior should be made legal. Texting while driving is hazardous and can cause accidents, the same way speeding is dangerous.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration continues to push texting bans as a primary tool in the fight against distracted driving. The federal government blames distracted driving for nearly 5,000 deaths and 500,000 injuries each year in the United States.
Continue reading “Argument made that texting ban might not reduce car accidents in Phoenix or traffic crashes elsewhere in Arizona – but a new law is still needed”