Metro DC Personal Injury Lawyer - Car Accidents

Intersections in Maryland Can Be Dangerous

David Tompkins — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:09:22 GMT

NBC reported that another pedestrian has been killed in Prince George's County. On January 12, 2008, Rosario Gonzales was killed at the notoriously dangerous intersection of New Hampshire Avenue and University Boulevard.

The sad part of this story is that the person that struck and killed Mr. Gonzalez did not have the human decency to stop. The person who hit Mr. Gonzalez fled the scene, and police are looking for him now.

Our roads have been designed for automobile traffic only. Our roads were not designed to help pedestrians, nor where they designed to help bicyclists get where they need to go. When you need to cross the street, you have to be extra careful, because the road designs and intersection designs are working against you.

Serious personal injuries are routine in pedestrian and bicycle accidents. Unfortunately, Maryland follows the principle of contributory negligence, where if you are partly at fault, you cannot recover any damages from another person.

Insurance companies routinely mislead their insureds about what insurance is available, and always threaten to "raise your rates" if you use your insurance. When you hear something that just does not sound right, it is probably time to call a lawyer.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Car and Motorcycle Accidents.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Tompkins

SUV Rollovers: A Persistent Crucial Problem

David Tompkins — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 16:35:40 GMT

Steps to take when you are involved in an SUV Rollover:

1. Take pictures of the SUV and all vehicles involved in the collision.

2. Take pictures of location where the accident took place. These pictures should show the layout of the road and include any scrapes on the road, tire marks or skid marks.

3. Keep the SUV even if it is totaled.

4. Take the names, addresses and phone numbers of any witnesses at the accident scene.

People believe that the bigger their vehicle, the safer they are. That perception has propelled the SUV industry into one of the fastest growing car markets in the United States. Unfortunately, that perception is not correct. SUV's, have a disturbing tendency to roll over which results in more serious accidents. Just about every make and model of SUV's have this problem.

The government requires SUVs to display a warning label telling drivers that the vehicle may rollover when they make a sharp turn which is exactly the type of a maneuver a driver may take in order to avoid an accident. According to the National Highway Safety Administration, SUVs roll over more than twice the rate of other vehicles. Warning drivers that their vehicle may rollover if they make a sharp turn is not enough, the basic flawed design needs to be changed.

What causes SUVS to flip and rollover? SUVs have a higher center of gravity because they are taller, have higher ground clearance and a narrower distance between their wheels. This higher center of gravity makes it easier for SUVs to tip over. In fact, the heavier the vehicle, which SUVs tend to be, the more likely the vehicle will tip over. A roll over bar provides some protection in the event of a roller yet many SUV manufacturers have taken them out of the SUVs since they are predominantly driven by families.

Don't be fooled by ratings given to SUV. The tests provided by the manufacturers were conducted by professional drivers with lightly loaded SUVs which have little to do with how an ordinary driver with a car full of kids would react in the same situation. Even an SUV with a five-star crash rating still has a 10% chance of rolling over in a single-vehicle crash. When drivers of SUVs lose control their vehicles, their vehicles tend to flip over more often than passenger cars; their passengers can be ejected which likely results in death. More than half (53%) of passenger deaths in SUVs occurred in rollover accidents.

Litigating SUV roller cases can be complex and involves knowledge of not only state laws governing negligence but also federal safety regulations and laws of corporate liability and products liability. If you or someone you love has been involved in an SUV rollover accident, please click the link on the right hand side of the page.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Car and Motorcycle Accidents.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Tompkins

Allstate Tells Missouri Courts to "Kiss-Off"

David Tompkins — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:22:08 GMT

Allstate Insurance Company was ordered by a Missouri trial court to produce documents related to its "McKinsey Study" program, and Allstates relatively new claims handling program.

Allstate, refusing to make public just how shady its claims handling processes are for automobile accident victims, has accepted as a business proposition a $25,000.00 per day sanction from Judge Michael Manners.

While I am a licensed Missouri attorney, graduate of Mizzou Law in 1996, I have never had the pleasure of practicing before Judge Manners. However, I believe the Court is in for a rude awakening when dealing the Allstate. The level of abuse and arrogance Allstate is willing to shell out to victims of automobile negligence is legendary.

In the middle to late 1990s, Allstate figured out a few things about how they handled automobile collision claims. Foremost, they figured out that lawyers representing automobile accident victims were used to "easy settlements." They also figured out that lawyers made claims settle for two to three times higher than claims where a victim handled a claim without an attorney

In an effort to "change the game," Allstate developed a program designed to specifically to reduce the rates at which victims retain an attorney. The program was comprehensive, ranging from quick, low offers to those who were in desperate need of money, lawyer-bashing (all too obvious and easy), and a program to make lawyer's lives miserable by shifting costs and delays to the victims burden.

Some people argue that, when you are suing another person, in an adversarial system like the US legal system, this is ok. And to a point, I would agree. Allstate takes the program WAY beyond that point.

Besides, Allstate does not limit its practices to third-party claims. If you are an Allstate insured and you have to make a claim on your own policy, you are up against the same onerous process. Yes, your own insurance carrier, to whom you have paid premiums diligently for years and years, will put you through the ringer in an effort to get you to abandon your claim, or take less to make the onerous process stop.

In the case I just read about in Jackson County, rather than comply with the Court's order, Allstate has accepted as a business expense a $25,000.00 per day fine. The arrogance of this is astounding.

Remember, if you have a car accident where you were injured, pray that Allstate is not the company you have to deal with. If it is, get yourself a lawyer right away! You're going to need one!

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Car and Motorcycle Accidents.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Tompkins

Teens and Driving: Parents Need to Protect Their Kids

David Tompkins — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 20:41:42 GMT

Some of the most tragic cases that I see involve young people. On November 12, 2007 another teenager died in a single car accident. This brings the total teen death rate for suburban Montgomery County to seven in a single week!

We strongly encourage parents to take a leadership role with their children. What our experience has shown, and what all emperical data we have seen supports, is that the single leading contributors to teen deaths are:
1. Alcohol
2. More than one non-family passenger in a vehicle
3. Driving after 9:00 pm (we believe basically after dark)
4. Bad weather
5. Vehicle engines with greater than a 4-cylinder engine.

One or more of these factors are involved in EVERY SINGLE death case we have handled for a dead teenager's grieving parents.

There is some talk of restricting teen driving privileges. I am not sure that this is the solution, as practically speaking, teens need to drive to work, school activities and so on. However, parents can take an active role in protecting their children. Do not let you child drive other teens in their car. Do not buy you child a car with a large engine. Put and enforce a curfew on you child and enforce it with driving privileges. NEVER LET YOUR CHILD CONSUME ALCOHOL EVER. Restrict drivng during inclement weather, especially after dark.

We feel for all families that lose a child. We hope we never see another grieving parent in our office. We encourage everyone to take these basic steps to help keep their learning drivers safe.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Car and Motorcycle Accidents.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Tompkins

Smithtown Car Accident Kills Two

Shannon Weidemann — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 22:08:22 GMT

A car accident in Smithtown this morning killed two teenagers. They were both thrown from the vehicle they were passengers in after it hit another car and a guardrail. The accident happened on Jericho Turnpike. The driver of the car is a 17-year-old student at Smithtown High School West.

The two teens were pronounced dead at the scene, Compagnone said. It is not known whether they were wearing seat belts, he said.
"They were really good, nice kids, and they had a very bright future ahead of them," said principal John Dolan.

The driver of the car was driving on a junior license which means he was not allowed to drive to school or with passengers in the car that are not his parents. He received a head injury in the crash. Both the driver of the other car and her passenger were also injured in the crash.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Shannon Weidemann