The Dangers of Drunk Driving that You Cannot Ignore

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Every year, hundreds of thousands of road accidents are recorded. With these accidents, hundreds of thousands of people get injured, thousands die, and millions of the lives of people are challenged because of these unfortunate incidents. That is why, the government, through the Department of Transportation is making a campaign to help lessen the instances of these accidents. Through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) the government is coming up with ways on how to minimize if not completely avoid these accidents from happening. That is why the NHTSA has been coming up with campaigns, left and right, to help curb the number of accidents, if not to completely prevent them from happening.

Safety in Numbers
One of the programs that the NHTSA started is its “Safety in Numbers” awareness campaign series. This campaign is centered in providing numbers from various statistics to help remind drivers of their role in keeping all of the country’s roads safer. In its recent installment, the campaign focused on the dangers brought about by drunk driving. Over the years, impaired driving has caused thousands of accidents that left thousands dead, and some others injured.

The dangers of impaired driving
According to the latest installment of the Safety in Numbers campaign by the NHTSA, the agency revealed that 9,878 people died because of drunk driving in 2011. This accounts for 31 percent of all the motor vehicle crash deaths. These numbers show that while the overall number of deaths recorded because of motor vehicle accidents have steadily declined over the years, the number of deaths because of drunk driving has been growing lately.

Other more interesting figures reveal that:

• 1,612 of the people who died in impaired driving accidents were passengers whose drivers have BACs of .08 or more; additionally, 91 of those who died were child passengers
• 1,049 of those who died were occupants of the other vehicles
• 710 pedestrians or bicyclists died after they got involved in a crash

A car accident attorney in Los Angeles says that these alarming numbers are the best proof that drunk and impaired driving should once and for all be stopped. That is why this Los Angeles lawyer called on all road users to keep safety in mind to prevent these to help lessen, if not to completely prevent these accidents from happening again.

Car Crash Disaster: Chase Leads To Fiery Crash

 

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Some people really think that they can run away from the law. Some people can be bold enough to take risks and think that they can actually outrun the country’s law enforcers. Police chases are something that is very common in the United States. In fact, all over the world, television shows featuring crazy police chases with fugitives. However, with the federal and state governments’ advanced equipment, engaging the law enforcers and running away from them is nearly impossible.

So you think you can run?

This is what precisely ran into the mind of a man in Hesperia, California. A carjacking suspect engaged the local police in a chase that ended fatally. According to reports, the San Bernardino sheriff’s deputies have been trying to pull a man over with suspicion of the vehicle being carjacked from its owners. However, the man refused to pull over and instead sped. The deputies then ran after the suspect along the southbound lanes of the 215 freeway. The suspect lost control of the car before it got engulfed in a flame. This caused the life of the suspect. No other injuries were recorded in relation to the chase though.

The dangers of police chases

As much as possible, law enforcement agencies have been trying their best to avoid police chases. For one, these chases can get really dangerous as it can endanger the lives of people around. In every car chase, authorities understand the great danger that the public is exposed to. With these criminals showing no fear of whatever it is that might happen to them, innocent people plying by the roads and even some in their homes gets subjected to a great deal of danger. That is why officers would want to end car chases the soonest that they could. Good thing that nobody got hurt in the recent police chase. According to a car accident attorney in Los Angeles, a lot of these chases leave innocent people hurt.

That is why people who drive on the roads should also be vigilant while driving and do everything they can to avoid these instances of car chases to stay unharmed. Otherwise, the victim may end up getting confused as to who they will be filing charges against to claim for the property damaged and physical injuries they sustain. As a Los Angeles lawyer explains, such kind of accidents brought by car chases are quite trickier to handle.

Important Qualities to Look for in a Personal Injury Lawyer

If you have been injured because of someone else’s negligence, the first thing you should do is to seek immediate medical treatment. After you have been treated for your injuries, the next thing to do is to recover damages. As it is, filing a personal injury claim is a step towards receiving monetary compensation from the liable party; however, doing so may pose certain hassles.

Since you’ve just recuperated from your injuries, you may have a hard time understanding what you really need. Of course, you won’t be able to create your personal injury claim. You need someone to help you on that, and that role lies on the hands and minds of a personal injury lawyer.

What you should look for when choosing a personal injury lawyer

The role of the personal injury lawyer is to guide the client throughout the duration of the latter’s case. Whether it is a car accident, slip and fall, wrongful death, product liability, or dog bite case, the lawyer has the expertise to carry out legal measures to meet the primary objective, and that is to compensate the injured client with the right amount of monetary compensation.

Meanwhile, if you wish to have an attorney by your side, here are the things that you should consider when looking for the right legal representative:

•    He or she must have won many personal injury cases before. You know that your chosen lawyer is the right one if he or she has prior experience winning personal injury cases. Your chances of winning your case would increase if he or she has already taken up a case that is similar to yours.

•    He or she has the reputation of resolving cases soundly. You know you have chosen the best lawyer if he or she has the reputation of comprehensively taking clients’ cases and quickly resolving them. Plus, if he or she is well-regarded among legal circles in your area, then you know that your claim for compensation in a personal injury accident will favor you.

•    He or she is objective. You know you have chosen the right lawyer for your case if he or she genuinely cares for his or her clients. The lawyer is not one to quickly resolve a case just to receive a fee and move on to another client. Instead, he or she must be willing to spend time and effort to enable him or her to reach a settlement going to your favor.

Accordingly, if you’re from California and you have been injured because of someone else’s negligence, there’s no other legal representative to retain but a personal injury lawyer in Los Angeles from Personal Injury Defenders. Aside from having the qualities mentioned above, he or she works on a contingency-fee basis, which means that if the lawyer wins your case, he or she will be paid a percentage coming from the amount awarded to you after the settlement. Otherwise, your attorney won’t get any compensation.

Get Your Damaged Car Fixed By Filing A Car Accident Insurance Claim

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Your car is your handy tool that can get you to different places. Over the years, it has been more than just a mere means to travel. Somehow, it has become a part of your life, your family. That is why when someone causes damage on your beloved ride, you’d do anything to make sure that it is mended at the soonest possible time. But it is not every day that you have money to spare to get your car fixed as soon as possible. That is why when your car gets involved in an accident, make sure to file a claim from your insurance company. Here are some of the ways on how you can file your claims.

Get the insurance details of the vehicles involved. This is very critical especially if it is the accident is the fault of the other party. This will be beneficial as you wouldn’t need to pay for a deductible.

• Document the accident by taking images of the crash site. This will help with your claims. This will help you with your insurance claims at it will be a great piece of evidence against the other party.
• Give your claims representative a call the soonest possible time. These guys are the ones that help you with your claims. He or she will conduct the necessary investigation to help expedite the processing of your claims so your car gets fixed as soon as possible.
• Ask for the help of a Los Angeles car accident lawyer. These professionals know how to go around the system of car insurance companies. So before you file a complaint, make sure that you ask for their advice to help you get the most of your insurance claim.
• Wait for the compensation check to arrive. This is the most painful time of the processing of your claims. After the insurance company checks on your application and evaluated the results of the claim that you submitted, they will then send you a check that you can use to pay for the expenses to have your car repaired.

Getting your car broken for reasons caused by one’s negligence is really a pain in the neck. You should not worry though for your car insurance can have that covered and repaired. All that you need is file a compelling claim to have your vehicle repaired as soon as possible.

Answers to Common Questions About Personal Injury, Revealed

 You probably know that there are legal remedies that you can turn to if you have suffered a personal injury due to the actions or negligence of an individual. The thing is, you still probably have questions about personal injury, the laws governing it, and how you can file for such claims. Here are the common questions asked about it and the answers that could help you get your claims filed the right way.

“How do I know if I can file a personal injury claim?”

If the injuries that you sustained were caused by one’s negligence or carelessness, you can file a claim to get damages from the ones responsible for you getting hurt. In such case, a Los Angeles personal injury attorney can help assess your injuries, pain and suffering and will peg the amount of damages that you can ask for.

“What am I entitled to receive if I file a personal injury claim?”

A personal injury claim gives you the right to seek for damages that will help you recover from your injuries. More than that, you are entitled to pursue “special damages” that includes past and future wages or income that have and will be lost because of your injuries. This also includes the expenses you will incur as a result of the injury. Also, you can ask for “general damages” that will be used as payment for your pain, suffering, disfigurement, and inconvenience.

“Will the person that caused my injuries receive punishment?”I

The thing with personal injury claims is that it is a civil action, not a criminal one. Defendants in such cases won’t be jailed, or will be made to pay criminal fines as punishment. Instead, the defendant will be made to pay “punitive damages”. This is a way to punish the defendant that behaved recklessly or have intentionally done things that are against public interest.

“Will my medical bills be paid for after filing this?”

It will be included however, depending on the settlement or litigation of the case, the availability of funds to pay for such bills can vary. Rest assured though, these are included and are actually a major component of the damages you are to receive.

These are just some of the questions that are usually asked by those who want to file a personal injury claims. However, you might have questions that were not included in this. That is why this is the best time to ask for the help of a Los Angeles lawyer that can and will answer such questions. That is why everyone who has been a victim of such injuries must go and seek the best legal help that they can find. This will help them get justice for the pain and suffering that they have been made to go through because of this incident.

A Look at the Recent Million-dollar Car Crashes

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Let’s face it; owning a car, especially if it is bought out of your hard work and perseverance, is basically an investment in itself. While it could be a hassle to encounter traffic on your way to work, the fact that you drive something that you can use for your daily trips is what it’s all about. You got to own something that you can use on a daily or weekly basis.

Getting your car wrecked

But then, the only disadvantage of driving your car is the possibility of getting it wrecked. As we all know, there are a lot of motorists out there on the road who are reckless, aggressive, and negligent with their driving.

While you believe that you’re a safe driver yourself (not drinking while driving, following traffic rules, etc.), the chances of encountering these kinds of motorists will surely get you to into a world of trouble. If you do, it’s always a sad situation to be involved in, as you’ll have to deal with your finances, particularly the insurance and the needed repairs for your vehicle.

Similarly, it is definitely even sadder if the accident involved an exotic car. Such vehicles value to up to five- to six-digit figures, and having to repair a wrecked one would surely make its owner cringe.

Million-dollar crashes

However, such occurrences of exotic cars getting totaled in crashes are not uncommon today. In fact, there are those kinds of crashes that are very rare that you’ll surely expect that the total costs of damages result in millions of dollars.

Here are some of the recent million-dollar crashes:

• Mr. Bean’s McLaren F1. Rowan Atkinson has that tremendous passion for cars, and owns high-end, exotic ones. He hates keeping them in his garage, and uses them whenever he wanted to use them. But then, he had this own history of crashing his exotic cars, including his McLaren F1 in which he did twice. His latest was on August 2011. After a year’s worth of calculation, the final damages to the vehicle amounted to a whopping £900,000 (about $1.4 million), making it the highest repair bill on a car in all of the U.K.
• Fourteen-car wreck in Japan. This accident is one of the worst and most expensive, not because of the casualties (thankfully no one died), but with the number of exotic vehicles involved in this crash that happened roughly 2 years ago. Imagine this: eight Ferraris and a Lamborghini were involved in it. The total amount of damages: around $3.8 million.
• Ferrari 250 GTO. It was last year when this accident, dubbed as the “most expensive car crash ever,” happened. The car involved is very rare that only 36 units were manufactured in the 1960’s! Called the Picasso of the motoring world, the crash to the blue-and-yellow-painted GTO amounted to an astonishing $30 million.

While these three accidents are just few of the many other instances where exotic cars amounting to millions of dollars were involved, every Los Angeles car accident lawyer and other legal experts believe that all motorists should learn from them.

Even if you own a vehicle that is not within the level of being exotic, you still have to value it. You must make sure that you employ safety when driving so as to avoid serious injuries or dealing with the repair costs.

The Perils of Distracted Driving in the Realm of Law Enforcement

Blasting sirens, breakneck speeds, and aggressive pursuits: these are what we typically describe a perfectly normal police response. Whether they are responding to an accident on the road or chasing down a culprit who had just stolen a car or has done some law violation, the pursuits we see on TV news footage and even in real life are just the regular duties of the elements of most law enforcement agencies.

However, officers who engage in emergency responses and police pursuits on a regular basis, while exercising professionalism in the line of duty, are often beset with the possibility of encountering accidents.

As it is, driving while on pursuit of a criminal on a heated chase often involves multitasking on the part of the officer. Looking at it, police officers often engage in distracted driving practices, which we all know is one of the primary factors as to why accidental injuries and deaths happen.

Distracted driving explained

Basically, distracted driving, among normal motorists, is more than just using the cell phone to text or call while driving.  Activities that are usually done simultaneously with driving are often diverse. They include fidgeting on the car stereo, eating and drinking, talking to a companion inside the vehicle, and picking up a loose change on the floor of the vehicle, among others.

In the United States, distracted driving is one of the lingering problems in the realm of traffic safety. In fact, in 2011, some 3,331 people were killed in car crashes involving a distracted driver. The figure was a 1.9 percent increase from the previous year, which stood at 3,267. Conversely, related injuries decreased by 7 percent in 2011, from about 416,000 in 2010 to around 387,000.

Multitasking during police responses and pursuits

Police officers, for one, often engage in multitasking activities while driving, and that is a part of their job. However, such duties would often take away the officer’s attention away from his or her driving. From complex ones such as entering queries into the mobile data terminal or MDT, to as simple as talking to a fellow officer on the police radio, multitasking while on the line of duty can be dangerous.

In fact, many officers have died in accidents while performing pursuits and emergency responses. Interestingly, in 2009, statistics showed that they often involve those who already had vast experience in law enforcement, particularly 35-year-old officers who had served 9 years in the police force.

Efforts to curb distracted driving in law enforcement

Despite most law enforcement being exempted from laws that prohibit distracted driving, there are states whose agencies have applied such legislation to its police force who exclusively deal with emergency responses and pursuits. One of them is the State of Washington. In Florida, it mandated hands-free voice communication to its troopers, despite the state’s lack of such statute.

Meanwhile, every Los Angeles car accident lawyer informs that there are no relevant laws yet with regard to distracted driving in California’s law enforcement. While there are existing laws in the state with regard to the use of mobile phones while driving for motorists, California authorities might as well pursue a similar statute for the benefit of those who respond to emergencies and pursuits.