Abels & Annes, P.C. Personal Injury Blog

What does a typical car accident in Phoenix look like? You may have a picture in your mind, but experts agree that it is difficult to express a “typical” collision because each crash is unique. From the number of vehicles involved to the factors that led to an impact, the facts surrounding each car accident vary enough that it can be challenging to lump them together for analysis. But in the end, what matters most following a car crash is the safety of those who were involved. Drivers and passengers alike are prone to injuries in a collision but often, the safety of passengers is overlooked or not contemplated. The presence of passengers does not always get as much media attention as the presence of drivers in a car and therefore, less attention is paid to their health by the public at large.

Personal injury lawyers face similar questions every day because most people are unaware of Arizona laws and how those laws affect them. What happens if they are injured? What if the injury occurred at someone’s home instead of in a car accident or in a public setting? Can that victim still obtain relief? Fortunately for those who reside in the Phoenix area, victims are protected and are guaranteed protections under local and state laws. Those who are injured at a private residence, like the home of a friend or family member, may be able to seek and obtain relief for their injuries and for the suffering they endure. The facts surrounding any incident that led to harm are important as they will determine whether a legal claim is viable and if so, who is responsible for the harm done to a victim.

When it comes to understanding traffic accidents in the Phoenix area, the role played by commercial trucks can be deceiving. While these vehicles are less likely to be involved in an accident per mile traveled than are typical passenger cars, the collisions that do occur are much more likely to result in injuries or even death to those involved. This can spell disaster for those innocent victims of truck accidents who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and who are forced to endure suffering as the result of a crash. Truck drivers are required to undergo specific training and receive tailored licensing so that they can operate their rigs in a safe, reasonable manner. Most drivers receive the education they need and therefore, lack of training is not a common reason that truck accidents take place but one of the most frequently cited actions among truckers that lead to and resulted in collisions continues to be truck driver fatigue, a factor that crops up each and every day in the United States.

When you are in need of medical treatment, you can go to a hospital, seek professional care, and get the attention that you deserve to help you get well. You may expect that you will receive medical tests and screenings for certain diseases. You may even anticipate being given medications and drugs to help you improve. But do you plan on getting an infection while you are at the hospital? Probably not. But if you happen to be one of the roughly four percent of Americans who suffer from hospital-acquired infections each year, you may not be able to think about anything else when it comes to hospital care afterwards.

If you have spent any amount of time driving in the Phoenix area, it is likely that you have seen the congestion that plagues the city, especially during the weekday rush hours. Sometimes traffic can stop for no known reason and in other cases, it seems like traffic jams will never clear. The typical motorist in the Phoenix area admits that these situations can be frustrating from time to time and it can be difficult to cope with traffic problems and inconveniences. But congestion is far from the only distressing situation that can occur on the roads. In addition, speeding, weaving in and out of traffic, and cutting off other vehicles are just some of the reasons that surveyed motorists said they become frustrated with other drivers in Arizona and why those motorists may respond with their own aggressive driving.

Every year, there is news about the latest and greatest safety features that are being implemented in new automobile designs and constructions. Features like side curtain air bags, automatic emergency braking, blind spot detection, and crumple zones are all helpful in preventing collisions or limiting injuries in the event that a crash happens, but these new features are not the most important one when it comes to keeping occupants safe. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, seat belts are the most effective way to save lives and reduce injuries in car accidents in the country.

Patients put their trust into their doctors and medical companies when they are in need of advice, treatment, or preventative care related to their health, and such trust is reasonable. After all, a typical patient is not aware of all the medical issues that may be surrounding any condition and therefore seeks out the advice of an expert – someone who has been trained in the matter and who can opine as to the safety and efficacy of any device or procedure. Many women have sought such advice when they were in need of contraception and chose to use an intrauterine device, commonly called an IUD, in response. Unfortunately, after those IUDs were placed, some women experienced severe and even life-threatening complications stemming from the device itself and many have been left with permanent harm.

Mistakes in the medical fields happen every day in America with some of them going unnoticed and others causing catastrophic results. While extreme examples may be reported on via the news, social media, or other sources, the majority of these incidents seem to avoid mass disclosure and some are even covered up in their entirety. One area of medicine where mistakes and errors happen with some regularity is through the use of drugs. Whether they are name-brand prescription medications, generic substitutes, or over-the-counter drugs, mistakes in using, administering, and prescribing these medications are having life-altering effects every day in this country, including among those that call Phoenix home. Victims of these errors may be unsure of how to proceed with their lives, confused about where to turn or whether they are even entitled to relief.

Each year, one week in September is designated as Child Passenger Safety Week and this year it falls from September 13th through the 19th. In conjunction with this safety week, Saturday, September 19, 2015 is National Car Seat Check Saturday, a reminder for parents in the Valley and across the nation to review their children’s safety seats and to verify that they are installed and used in an appropriate manner. In anticipation of these coming events, AAA of Arizona has released a list of some of the common mistakes that Phoenix parents make when it comes to purchasing, installing, and using car seats and ways to avoid those errors. Some common mistakes on AAA’s list include the following:

Technology permeates our daily lives from the minute we awake in the morning until the minute we go to bed at night. It is so pervasive that most people in Phoenix do not think about its presence, taking for granted the alarm clock attached to their smart phone, the high-definition, flat screen TV that provides their news, and the goods that get delivered straight to their door after being purchased online. Automobiles have been in existence for well over 100 years and the majority of Phoenix residents today either own a car or have access to one. These vehicles have not escaped the rapid advances in technology that are more noted in other aspects of our lives and in fact, new safety features debut every year in cars that make it more likely for accident victims to escape a collision unharmed.