Mobile Personal Injury Lawyer - Automobile Accidents - Most Popular

Tragic early morning Thanksgiving car accident

Staff Writer — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 10:34:00 GMT

An early morning single-car accident on Thanksgiving left one teen dead and one in critical condition, a report from the associated press said.

The 17-year-old boy driving the car died at the scene, while the other three passengers lived. The 17-year-old male passenger was in critical condition at hte University of South Alabama Medical Center, and the other two passengers, a 15-year-old girl and a 16-year-old girl, were treated for minor injuries.

The fatal accident occured on Old Pascagoula Road. Alabama State Troopers report that alcohol may have been a factor in the 1997 Nissan Maxima running off the road and overturning.

"Alcohol was involved," Piggott said. "There was evidence at the scene that led the trooper to the conclusion that alcohol was involved, and that's what my report shows."

It is not yet known whether the driver or passengers were wearing seat belts.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Staff Writer

Get Off the Phone

Gaines Drago — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:55:28 GMT

Every year, well really every month for that matter, our cell phones appear to be able to perform more and more functions. They truly have become computers in the palm of our hand connecting us to anyone at anytime. Unfortunately, their distracting nature is causing tragic accidents on our road ways.

I was in Orlando, Florida, last weekend visiting a friend, and venturing out to the wonderful world of Disney. I had not been a passenger in a vehicle in a long time so I decided to watch the number of drivers who were texting not talking, and to my amazement I counted nearly one hundred. This is completely crazy to me. In order to text unless you are thirteen and just have a supernatural ability to type on your phone without looking texting requires you to lower your eyes and view the screen, thereby taking your eyes off the road. This was extremely alarming considering we were blazing down the Interstate 4 at speeds of at least 70 mph.

I know that since the radio was placed in the car people have been shouting about the dangers of distracting the driver and very little headway has been made. But texting is simply too much. Unfortunately, we usually wait until something happens that affects our own lives to initiate change, but in this case I urge you to impress upon your State legislators to pass legislation that outlaws the use of cell phones while driving. There is simply no need for such a distracting practice to be allowed. So please put the phone away when you are on the road ways.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Gaines Drago

Another Death From Texting?

Billy Cunningham — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:35:30 GMT

This past week a legal secretary I knew died in an automobile wreck when she crossed over the center line and struck an oncoming car. Apparently, she was texting when she veered over and could not have been paying attention to the job of safe driving. She left behind a 5 year old.

The National Safety Council reports that 80% of all wrecks are caused by inattention. http://www.nsc.org/resources/issues/distracted_driving.aspxCar Wrecks are the number cause of accidental death in the US. Outlawing texting has become the subject of laws in several states. On April 10, 2009, Gov. Barbour of Mississippi signed a bill effective July 1 banning young drivers from texting. The fine under this act can be as high as $500 and if an accident is involved the fine can be $1,000. Mississippi joins 9 other states banning novice drives from texting (Delaware, Kansas, Maryland, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, and West Virginia) Why ban just young drivers? 10 states ban texting for all drivers (Alaska, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Jersey, Utah, Virginia, and Washington and the District of Columbia)

In researching this, I read articles and blogs opposing a ban on texting. The reasons seem inane to me. Like- “Why not ban drinking water-it is distracting, too” “Laws are made to be broken” If you follow that logic then we should do away with laws prohibiting running stops signs.

I have started a little nonscientific research project- counting the number of drivers I see talking on the cell phone. Right now, in city type driving the average is about 4 in 10. To combat cell phone distraction, some states and local governments have passed various laws to control cell phone usage. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 6 states (Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, and Pennsylvania) specifically authorize a locality to ban cellphone use. Localities that have enacted restrictions on cellphone use include: Chicago, IL; Brookline, MA; Detroit, MI; Santa Fe, NM; Brooklyn, North Olmstead and Walton Hills, OH; Conshohocken, Lebanon and West Conshohocken, PA; and Waupaca County, WI. Interestingly, localities are prohibited from banning cellphone use in 8 states (Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Utah). The use of all cellular phones while driving a school bus is prohibited in 17 states and the District of Columbia. ( I cannot imagine any reason other than an emergency for a school bus driver to be talking on the pohone while driving!) The use of all cellular phones by novice drivers is restricted in 20 states and the District of Columbia.

The National Safety Council offers a Distracted Driver CD to help businesses inform and educate employees about the risks of using hand-held and hands-free communication devices while driving. It also assists organizations in creating and implementing a distracted driving policy as well as in gaining employee buy-in. It also includes tools to help reinforce the policy company-wide. On the CD is the NSC Motor Vehicle Safety Policy. This document, with its comprehensive section on distracted driving, is designed to serve as a model for any company. It includes a Statement of Acknowledgement, which employees must sign and return to their supervisors. A similar acknowledgement statement is part of the sample Generic Cell Phone Policy. Your business and family may find this CD and its tools helpful in protecting your co-workers and loved ones.

The bottom line to all this is that we all need to be more attentive when driving to protect ourselves and others.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Billy Cunningham

Fatal car accident kills two people

Staff Writer — Tue, 15 May 2007 11:20:29 GMT

Dothan, Alabama's News 4 reports a deadly car accident that tragically killed two 78-year-olds on Thursday night on State Route 30 in Bay County, Florida.

The accident happened when a 17-year-old crossed the median and hit the couple head-on. It is presumed that the two victims died instantly, and the report says that neither were wearing seat belts.

The condition of the teen in the other car was not reported, and Florida Highway Patrol is still investigating the crash.

If you or someone close to you has been involved in a motor vehicle accident, you may want to consult with one of our attorneys for a free case evaluation by clicking on the form to the right.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Staff Writer

Durable Power of Attorney over Health Care Issues

Gaines Drago — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:44:56 GMT

No one likes to think about their own mortality, especially while feeling vibrant and alive. The "It could never happen to me attitude," dominates our thoughts, and while it is true that most of the time it won't happen to you sometimes it does, and the people left to suffer through painful decisions are friends and family. Imagine, for example, that you are 35 years old, in relatively good health, good job, engaged but not married, but that you are one day involved in an auto accident and leaves you incapacitated. Your are rushed to the hospital, where your mother, father and fiance agonize over what to do. Your mother wants keep fighting even though you have limited if any chance and you are feeling some high levels of pain, but your fiance, whom you have discussed this scenario with wants to let you go. These kinds of things, while horrible do happen.

However, there is an easy way to resolve this type of problem: awarding durable power of attorney over health care to a trusted individual. This works much like a typical durable power of attorney and gives a trusted person the ability to make decisions about life and death when the other party is unable to do so. In addition you can assign more than one person this power so as to relieve the alone on an island effect this could have over a person. The most appealing aspect is that it allows the victim to have a say in his own life and death decisions. Guidelines can and should be given to the individual who will be given power of attorney over healthcare. This will alleviate much of the pressure on that person, and allow you a peace of mind to know that whatever happens you are in control over what happens in your life.

While, no one certainly enjoys thinking about these things, there is nothing wrong with having a plan in place that ensures you remain the key decision maker in your own life.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Gaines Drago

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage Part 2: Stacking Coverage

Pete Mackey — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 08:00:00 GMT

If you have more than one vehicle insured under the same insurance policy and you are involved in a collision where the at fault driver is uninsured or underinsured, you can "stack" the uninsured/underinsured (um/uim) coverages of up to two more insured vehicles on top of the vehicle involved in the collision. For instance, let's say that you have four vehicles covered under one policy and the um/uim limits for each is $100,000 per person and $300,000 per incident. In that instance, you would "stack" the coverages of two more of your vehicles, raising the total amount of um/uim coverage available to $300,000 per person and $900,000 per incident.

Let's work through an example. To make it simple, I will not consider the at fault driver's "per incident" limits of liability coverage. Using the coverages above, father, son and daughter are driving to the store in dad's car when another driver runs the red light and collides with dad's vehicle. That driver has liability insurance with a $50,000 limit. At the trial of that case, the jury awards father damages of $60,000, son damages of $200,000 and daughter $400,000. Who gets what? As to father, the at fault driver's liability coverage pays it's $50,000 limit and dad's um/uim carrier pays the remaining $10,000 of the judgment. Son would get the full $200,000 ($50,000 from at fault driver and $150,000 from um/uim). Daughter, however, would have her damage award capped at $350,000 ($50,000 from at fault driver and $300,000 from um/uim) because she got the limits from each.

There is one twist to "stacking." If the four vehicles owned by dad were insured by the same insurance carrier under four separate policies, the coverages for each policy would be available to dad and his kids. Tomorrow, we will talk about damages.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Pete Mackey

Mobile Woman Killed in Car Accident

Chrissie Cole — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 22:44:41 GMT

A Mobile woman, 27, died from injuries she suffered in a car accident, on Friday, when the car she was driving overturned.

The woman was ejected from her automobile, although authorities have confirmed she was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash, reported a spokesman for Saraland Police Department.

She was traveling alone in her Honda Accord when it flipped several times on her way home from her Mother's home at 6:40 p.m., on Friday. Authorities are investigating the cause of the crash.

A rescue helicopter transported her to the University of South Alabama Medical Center where she was taken off of life support at 1 p.m., on Monday.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chrissie Cole

Deadly accident on Alabama Highway 35

Staff Writer — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 12:50:19 GMT

A two-car accident on Alabama Highway 35 Monday morning left a man dead, according to a report from The Daily Sentinel of Jackson County.

The accident involved two pick-up trucks, one of them a landscape/lawn maintenance truck driven by the a Huntsville man who owned the business. The victim was apparently a passenger in the lawn/landscape truck, which was pulling an extended cab. Both vehicles were heading eastbound when they collided. Details of the cause of the accident are unknown.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Staff Writer

Underage driver causes fatal car accident

Staff Writer — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 13:23:57 GMT

A sad story out of Wilmer, Alabama, reports that a 13-year-old boy driving a car full of older teens caused a fatal car crash last night.

Alabama state troopers reported that the underage driver crossed the center line of the road on U.S. 98 near Big Creek Lake, then overcorrected causing the car to flip. A 16-year-old boy thrown from the car died, and a 17-year-old girl was injured.

This tragic story reminds parents to carefully monitor their teens and warn them of the dangers of breaking the law in this and other ways.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Staff Writer

Former University of Alabama Football Player Loses Wife and Four Children in Tragic Car Accident

Chrissie Cole — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 22:25:03 GMT

Former University of Alabama football player, Siran Stacy, was involved in a horrific car accident, Tuesday, when a pickup truck struck the van he was driving.

Six people were tragically killed in the accident including his wife and four of his children, according to State Troopers. The driver of the pickup truck was also killed in the crash.

Stacy, 39, a star running back for Alabama during 1989-91, was listed in stable condition in surgical intensive care at Flowers Hospital in Dothan. He was the first pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1992 draft, but never carried the ball in the NFL.

According to troopers, the pickup truck was traveling on the wrong side of the four-lane road when it struck Stacy's van on the passenger side on U.S. 84. Stacy was stopped at a red light - when the light turned green he proceeded to cross the highway when he was struck by the pickup.

Investigators are unsure why the pickup truck was traveling in the wrong lane. The truck hit them broadside and t-boned them at the intersection.

Stacy's 3-year-old daughter, Shelly, was taken to Children's Hospital in Birmingham, which did not release her condition.

Byrd identified the victims as Stacy's wife, Ellen Stacy, 36; children Lequisa, 18, Bronson, 10, Sidney, 8, and Ellie, 2, all of Newton in southeast Alabama; and pickup driver Adam W. Wayman, 29, of Dothan.

For more information on this topic, please visit our section on Automobile Accidents.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chrissie Cole