Texas Personal Injury Law Blog

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has issued a recall in cooperation with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for 40,915 Wrangler Silent Armor tires due to a defect which may result in serious auto accidents. The tires have been found to contain a defect that can result in partial tire tread separation, which in turn can strike the vehicle and damage it or cause the car to crash.

The tires are used for pickup trucks, sports utility vehicles, and vans for off-road driving, and the company believes that there are currently 27,000 still in service around the nation. Issues with the product have been reported since 2010 when warranty and property damage claims in relation to the tires began to rise. Additionally, the product has been tied to a fatal car rollover accident in August 2011 that killed two people after the tread of one of the Silent Armor tires separated during a drive. It was after this incident that serious investigations into the products began.

Goodyear will be notifying tire owners of the defect and is expected to begin replacing them free of charge starting on March 22. The recalled models were manufactured between March 31, 2009 and May 31, 2009. The specific tire sizes being recalled are:

• LT235/80R17 LRE
• LT245/75R17 LRE
• LT265/70R17 LRE
• LT275/70R18 LRE
• LT285/70R17 LRD
• LT325/60R18 LRE

Any auto product defect is a serious matter, as it can cause a dangerous auto accident that a driver cannot predict or prevent. An experienced Dallas product liability attorney can help injured victims understand their rights and options for injury compensation.

According to a report from the TheCW33.com, a married couple was hit by a train at Lake Lewisville, killing the husband and injuring the wife. The newlywed pair was at a family outing the evening of February 25 when they decided to leave the group to take a stroll, walking north along the A-train tracks over Lake Lewisville. A northbound train came from speeding from behind and hit the couple, making the two fall 20 feet below the tracks and into the lake below. Several Good Samaritans driving by helped pull the husband and wife from the water.

Both victims were flown to area hospitals for treatment, but tragically, the husband, a 32-year-old Iraq war veteran, died from his injuries. The commuter A-train involved in this Lewisville train accident is operated by the Denton County Transit Authority (DCTA), and a spokesperson for the group says the couple was walking in a restricted area on the tracks. The spokesperson urges for passersby to heed the warning signs posted along the tracks as this heartbreaking incident follows another fatal accident which occurred in November, killing a student who was also walking near the tracks.

In addition to obeying any posted warning signs, the following are a few safety tips to prevent being involved in a serious train accident:

• Walking down train tracks is dangerous and often illegal, so it’s best to stay off. Modern trains are also much quieter than older trains, so it is not safe to assume you will hear a train coming. Also, if in a vehicle, never stop on the tracks.
• Try and stay out of a train’s way as it is extremely difficult for them to stop and it may take a very long time for the large vehicle to brake. Trains also don’t often run on schedule, so don’t assume it is safe to cross simply because of the time.
• Only cross train tracks in the spots designated for pedestrians and vehicles, and look both ways before crossing. Also, never enter a train tunnel or cross a railroad trestle as it leaves no way to escape an oncoming train.

Being involved in a train accident is very dangerous and can often result in life-threatening injuries or fatalities, so following these safety tips can help prevent you or a loved one from being involved in a deadly collision. However, various other causes, such as a negligent train operator, can still cause an accident. If you have been injured in a serious accident, a skilled Lewisville accident attorney can help you obtain compensation for your injuries and hold at-fault parties legally accountable.

Part of the fun of riding a motorcycle is being able to take trips and group rides with your fellow bikers. In last week’s blog post, we discussed several tips for group motorcycle riding safely. For today’s post, we will be continuing that important list with some more helpful guidelines from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF):

1. Each rider is responsible for making sure that their own motorcycle is up for the ride mechanically. Fill up the fuel tank and make sure there are no put off maintenance issues.
2. Set up a buddy system if the group is large or split the large group up into two smaller ones. Bigger groups tend to increase the risk of accidents and other issues.
3. Every rider should have a 2-second gap between themselves and the rider ahead of them. A staggered formation can stick to this rule but keep the group tighter.
4. Sidecars and trikes should always stay in the center/middle of the lane.
5. When visibility decreases or turns get sharper, move into single-file formation (also when exiting or entering highways, when the road surface is questionable or at toll booths).
6. Tighten the formation to side-by-side when coming to a stop at intersections. When you get going again, the motorcycle on the left goes first.
7. Do not block the intersection. Yes, you may be split up, but blocking the intersection is illegal.
8. Make sure there is enough parking where you are headed. When parking, get off the roadway as quickly as you can.

These final tips can ensure that your group riding experience, whether your first or twentieth, is fun, safe, fulfilling, and exciting. Group riding does pose certain risks, however. Other motorists often do not know how to operate their vehicle safely around one rider, let alone a group. If you should ever suffer injuries in a motorcycle accident due to the negligence of another in Texas, a knowledgeable Lewisville motorcycle accident lawyer can help you understand your legal rights and options.

Taking a group ride is an experience like no other. The level of camaraderie one rider has with his or her fellows on a group ride offers a sense of belonging and freedom you can’t get in a car. However, in order to have a safe ride as well as a fun and exciting one, there are a few things to keep in mind. In this two part blog series, we will be offering helpful tips to make the most out of your group ride.

The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) offers the following guidelines from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF):

1. Organize the ride. Make sure everyone knows who is going, the destination and how you are getting there. Exchanging contact information is also a good idea.
2. Ride your own bike and ride only as fast as you are comfortable. Group riding does not necessarily mean group decisions. You’re responsible for your safety.
3. Consider the stamina and experience of the group when planning the route and picking stops.
4. Establish communication signals for during the ride.
5. Experienced riders should be at the head of your formation. Inexperienced riders should be behind the leaders.
6. The sweep rider should have a cell phone to use in case of an emergency.
7. If the goal is to keep the group together, the leader should match the pace of the least-experienced rider.
8. Don’t fixate on the motorcycle in front of you. Look through the turn to where you want to go.
9. If the group is going too fast for your comfort, tell the sweep rider that you are dropping out to ride at a more leisurely speed. You’ll get to the destination later, but more safely.

As experienced motorcycle accident attorneys in Texas, we encourage riders to keep these tips in mind for a great group ride; but these are not all. To learn more about safe group riding strategies, visit our blog next week!

While traumatic brain injuries are serious occurrences, they are actually quite common throughout the United States and for people of all ages. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 1.7 million people suffer from a traumatic brain injury (TBI) every year. These injuries can occur in accidents ranging from slip-and-falls to auto accidents, but always result in some degree of damage to the brain either by blunt force trauma to the head or penetration of the skull.

TBIs are not always obvious when they occur, with signs ranging from subtle in their effect to very noticeable for the victim and those nearby. In order to prevent serious complications and seek medical treatment immediately, it is important to know the signs of a brain injury. These symptoms, from mild to severe, include:

• Headache;
• Change in sleeping patterns;
• Change in mood;
• Sensitivity to light;
• Dizziness, nausea, and/or vomiting;
• Mild to profound confusion;
• Loss of bladder or bowel control;
• Convulsions or seizures;
• Clear fluid draining from nose and/or ears; and
• Loss of consciousness ranging from seconds to hours.

Any of these symptoms can be a sign that someone has suffered a TBI. Generally, the greater the number of symptoms, the more severe the effects, and the more frequently occurring or longer-lasting the symptoms are, the more severe the injury. However, any instance of TBI is serious and could have deadly consequences without proper medical treatment.

When someone suffers a traumatic brain injury, it can be difficult to find out who was at fault for the accident or what his or her rights are. A skilled Texas brain injury attorney can help victims and their families understand what happened and seek compensation from the negligent parties whose actions caused such injuries.

Using a life jacket or other personal flotation device (PFD) may save your life in the case of a boating accident in Texas. Choosing the right PFD for each person and for the water conditions is especially important, since size, fit, and type do matter. In order to help keep your family safe during summer fun in the water, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Offers several tips to purchasing the right life jackets for your family.

In order to work properly, a wearable PFD must fit the person wearing it. To test the fit of a PFD, put it on and attach all the fastenings properly, adjusting them so that the PFD is snug around your torso. Once the PFD is on and snug, have someone else pull upwards on the shoulders of the PFD. If it fits properly, the top of the shoulders will not reach the bottom of your ears, and the jacket will fit snugly around your torso. It’s best to try on a PFD before buying it to ensure that it fits properly.

Texas law requires children ages 13 and younger to wear a PFD at all times when they are on a motorboat less than 26 feet long. All boats under 16 feet long should carry a Type I, II, III, or V PFD for each person on board. If the boat is over 16 feet long, it should also have at least one Type IV, or “throwable,” PFD that’s easily available. Canoes and kayaks, however, do not have to have a Type IV PFD on board.

A boating accident can quickly turn a summer day’s fun into tragedy. When an accident occurs, it can be difficult to figure out who was responsible for the accident or what your rights are under Texas law. An experienced Texas boat accident lawyer can help you make sense of what happened and seek compensation if someone else’s negligence or carelessness caused an injury.

The U.S. Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) not only keeps track of all railroad-related accidents in the United States each year, but it also makes this information available on the Internet for those who want to know more about railroad safety.

In 2010, according to the FRA, Texas saw 803 accidents. This number includes accidents involving only a moving train, accidents involving both a train and a motor vehicle or motorcycle, and accidents that occurred in rail yards and similar areas in which trains are stored or fixed. Of these 803 accidents, 53 of them resulted in the death of at least one person. Twenty-seven of these people were killed when a train collided with a motor vehicle.

According to the FRA, human error – either by engineers, workers, or motorists – caused one-third of the railroad accidents in Texas in 2010. Fully forty percent of the accidents were caused by defective track, while another eighteen percent were caused by defective equipment, including defective signals at railroad crossings.

These numbers indicate that it’s important for Texas residents who have suffered injury in a train accident to consider all the possible causes of the accident and all the different people or companies that may have played a role in the crash. While it’s easy to see a defective signal at a railroad crossing, for instance, it’s not always obvious that a train also had a defective brake part that prevented it from stopping or slowing in time to prevent a crash. Most experienced Texas railroad accident lawyers are familiar with the many ways in which a train accident can occur and are willing to examine a railroad accident carefully to determine what happened and who may be responsible.

A Fort Worth School District school bus and a passenger car collided in east Fort Worth recently, leaving six of the bus’s passengers injured, according to an article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. According to police, the school bus had just finished picking up students and was heading for William James Middle School when it collided with a car at Canton Street and Greenlee Drive. Police have not yet said what caused the accident.

The school bus was carrying approximately thirty students when the crash occurred. Rescue workers took six of the children to Cook Children’s Medical Center for treatment of their injuries. One adult involved in the Fort Worth bus accident was also taken to the hospital. All of the people who suffered injuries in the accident are expected to make a complete recovery.

School bus accidents make up only about 0.34 percent of traffic accidents in the U.S. each year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). While 19 people, on average, die each year in school bus accidents, most of them are pedestrians who are accidentally struck by school buses, rather than passengers on the bus.

It doesn’t matter how rare school bus accidents are, however, if you or your child is the one injured in an accident. Texas residents who are injured in accidents have certain legal rights, including the right to seek compensation from anyone whose negligence may have caused the accident. An experienced Fort Worth bus accident attorney can help you understand your options and take the next step after an accident.

According to the Bicycle Almanac, available at bicycleuniverse.info, bicycle accidents are under-reported. Most police departments, including many in Texas, do not fill out a report if no one is severely injured or if the vehicle involved in the accident isn’t damaged enough to require a tow truck. The statistics that are available, however, indicate that bicyclists face the risk of an accident whenever they take to city streets.

For instance, a study conducted in New York in 1999 found that in as many as 92 percent of car-bicycle accidents, the driver of the car was at fault. More than half of the crashes occurred because a driver failed to follow traffic laws. Of these accidents, 23 percent were caused by drivers who passed a bicyclist too aggressively or unsafely. Another 15 percent involved a driver who turned into the path of a bicyclist who could not stop in time, 14 percent were speeding, and 10 percent failed to stop at a red light or stop sign.

A handful of cases involved drivers who were intoxicated or did not have a valid driver’s license, but most drivers who caused car-bicycle crashes were both sober and properly licensed. Even drivers who were obeying traffic laws were sometimes involved in bicycle accidents because they were not paying attention to their surroundings and failed to see a bicyclist until it was too late to stop or swerve.

Texas bicyclists injured in a bicycle accident should always seek medical attention for their injuries as soon as possible after an accident. Once the bicyclist’s injuries have been treated, the bicyclist would be wise to seek the help of an experienced Dallas bicycle accident attorney, who can help the injured cyclist understand his legal rights and seek compensation if appropriate.

Source:http://bicycleuniverse.info/transpo/almanac-safety.html , http://rightofway.org/research/cyclists.pdf

A pre-nursing student at the University of Texas at Arlington was struck by a car recently as she walked through campus. She now faces several months of rehabilitation and recovery from her injuries, according to the student newspaper The Shorthorn. The driver of the SUV that hit the young woman was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, although he claims he was not drunk at the time. Nevertheless, the young woman’s family is considering pressing criminal charges against the driver.

Meanwhile, the injured woman is still being treated for her injuries at Harris Methodist Hospital. She suffered several fractures, including damage to her spinal vertebrae. After surgery to repair the fractures in her leg and hand, she was released from the hospital’s intensive care unit into a private hospital room. Even after she leaves the hospital, however, she faces a minimum of eight weeks of recovery, during which her ability to carry on her normal routine – including classes and taking care of her two children – will be limited.

Although Texas law provides some legal rights and options for injured pedestrians, many injured people find it overwhelming to exercise these rights on their own while also trying to recover from their injuries. That’s why the help of an experienced Texas pedestrian accident attorney can be invaluable.

When a pedestrian is injured by a negligent or reckless driver, the price the pedestrian pays often goes far beyond the costs of medical care for the injury. Severe injuries often require weeks or months of treatment, rehabilitation, and various kinds of therapy. Some injuries are so severe that the injured person is never fully restored to the condition she was in before the accident.

Texas’s BNSF Railway Company, headquartered in Fort Worth, stated it may appeal a $1.9 million jury verdict issued recently, according to an article in The Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The jury awarded the money to a former employee of the railroad company, who proved that his severe back injuries were caused by years of working as an engineer on the railroad.

The former BNSF engineer explained that the lack of ergonomically correct seats in BNSF’s locomotives took a toll on his health. The jury agreed that the improper seating caused severe spinal cord injuries, and that the injuries forced the former engineer to undergo multiple back surgeries and give up as many as ten years of his career, most of which would have been spent at BNSF’s peak pay rate for engineers. The jury award is based on its finding that BNSF’s negligence caused the engineer’s back and spinal cord injuries, which in turn forced him to give up his pay and retire early.

BNSF announced in a statement that it was considering an appeal of the jury verdict. The railroad company maintains that its locomotive seats did not cause its former employee’s spinal cord injuries. The company also claims that “numerous errors’ occurred during the trial, which it wishes to have an appeals court review.

When it comes to seeking compensation from an employer whose negligence caused your injuries, having an experienced Texas personal injury lawyer on your side is crucial. Choosing an attorney who can build a strong case and has courtroom experience representing the injured can go a long way toward winning the compensation you need after an injury.

Driving while distracted by your cell phone or other devices may be as dangerous as driving with a blood alcohol concentration that’s above the legal limit, according to a study released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Association.

NHTSA cites a study performed by the University of Utah, which found that talking on a cell phone while driving may be as dangerous as driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent – even if you’re using a hands-free device. Driving while texting on a cell phone may be even more dangerous, since texting takes the mind, the hands, and the eyes away from the task of driving and concentrates them on sending the text message instead.

If you or someone you love is involved in an accident with a distracted driver, the best first step is always to seek medical care for every person who may have been injured. Next, talking to an experienced Texas accident attorney can help you understand your legal rights and options after a distracted driving crash.

Although it may seem to take only seconds to send a text message or make a phone call, drivers who were distracted by their cell phones, conversations in the car, roadside attractions, or other matters caused over 5,000 deadly accidents in 2009 alone, according to NHTSA. In addition, nearly 448,000 people were injured in vehicle accidents that involved distracted drivers. Although drivers in their 30s were most likely to report having been distracted when a crash occurred, teenagers suffered the most deaths in accidents that involved distracted driving, making this a problem that involves all drivers.

Many freight train companies currently move locomotives around switching yards using remote controls, which allow workers to move several trains without requiring an engineer in each one. Soon, however, railroad companies may start using remote-controlled cargo trains to move freight across the country, according to a recent news report from KDFW.

Fort Worth is one of the few cities that currently has cargo trains moving across intersections without a driver in the locomotive itself, since the Burlington Northern Santa Fe line uses remote controls to move some trains, including those going through the Industrial Boulevard crossing in the downtown Fort Worth area. But several railroad companies, including the Burlington Northern Santa Fe, may be sending trains on longer trips without a driver as a means to cut costs.

The full scope of the safety issues involved with taking locomotive engineers out of cargo trains is not yet clear, however. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) estimates that freight trains run by remote control are involved in 25 percent more accidents than trains that have a human engineer. Some veteran engineers state that a person operating a train by remote control cannot deal with every possible issue the train might encounter, which could easily increase the rate of accidents.

Accidents which involve a freight train and a passenger vehicle or a pedestrian often cause severe injuries and deaths, since neither cars nor human bodies stand much chance against something as large as a locomotive. Railroad safety, therefore, should be a top priority for everyone who operates or travels on or near railroads. Texas citizens who are injured in a railroad accident should strongly consider consulting an experienced Texas railroad accident attorney, who can help them understand their rights and options under Texas law.

Summer is upon us, and for many Texans that means opening the backyard pool. However, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) warns that pools can be dangerous for children. There are a few basic safety tips you can follow to keep your pool as safe as possible to prevent injuries from occurring this summer.

First, the AAP warns that if at all possible, you should not put a swimming pool in your yard until your kids are older than 5-years-old. If that’s not possible, with children younger than five, practice touch supervision, which means keeping the adult within an arm’s length of the child at all times.

Make sure to have a fence between your house and the pool that is at least four feet high around all sides of the pool. The pool should also be separated from any play areas of the ward. Make sure the gates on the fence close and latch automatically, and that the latches are higher than children can reach. Most children who drown in pools walk out of the house and fall into the pool. You may consider using an approved safety cover, but don’t use it in place of a fence. Have both, if possible.

Do not leave children alone in or near the pool, not even for a moment, regardless of whether your child knows how to swim. Keep rescue equipment by the pool. After the children are done swimming, remove all toys – sometimes children are tempted to reach for the toys and accidentally fall into a pool.

Backyard pools can be great in the summer as long as basic safety rules are followed. Unfortunately, Dallas premises liability attorneys know that some pool owners do not take even the most basic of precautions. If you or a family member has been injured in a pool accident, you may have a cause of action against the pool’s owner for your injuries.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently began offering a multi-pronged program to attempt to reduce the number of teens who die in car accidents each year. As part of the program, the NHTSA collects statistics on teen driving safety issues, including teen driver accidents and fatalities.

Car accidents are the number-one killer of teenagers in the U. S. Every year, approximately 5,000 teens lose their lives in car accidents. On average, about every hour during weekends and every two hours during weekdays, an American teen between the ages of 16 and 20 dies in a car accident, according to the NHTSA. Sadly, these numbers don’t even begin to consider the teens that are injured in car accidents but survive.

The NHTSA notes that the rate of death among teen drivers is high for two reasons: alcohol use and the failure to wear seat belts. About 25 percent of teenagers from ages 16 to 20 had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08 percent – the legal limit for adults – or higher when they were involved in a fatal car accident. Additionally, 58 percent of teens ages 16 to 20 who lost their lives in car crashes were not wearing seat belts at the time. The risk of death from not wearing a seat belt is highest among teenage males and those who live in rural areas, two groups that are among the least likely to buckle up.

Educating your teens about safe driving can help protect them while they’re on the road. Unfortunately, no one can force all drivers on the road to drive smart and safely. When an accident occurs, a Texas car accident lawyer can provide detailed advice on your legal rights and options.