Sacramento Personal Injury Lawyer - Fatal

Avoidable Tragedy- 2 Die in Sacramento Construction Zone

Barbara Burks — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:14:30 GMT

Our roads and highways are an unmatched path across our country. The most common mode of transportation in America is via our personal vehicles. In order to get where we want to go the roads have to be maintained. Because our population is always growing, the roads also have to be expanded. Construction zones are just another part of life and knowing how to navigate them safely is just another part of driving.

Cone zones can sneak up on a person. Just this morning, a crew was repairing a street lamp on a curve and drivers in that lane had to slow considerably and merge into the left lane. It happened really quickly and luckily there was enough room so that nobody got hurt (and thankfully I was in the left left lane and only had to watch them). It could have been worse. It would have been nice if there had been a sign or something warning about the impending merge, but c’est la vie.

Unfortunately, not everyone reacts well to a cone zone. Some people don’t notice at all when they enter a construction zone. They do not take actions that protect themselves and others from being hurt. Others like Arnoldo Placensia, a Sacramento construction worker who died early Thursday morning. He and his crew were repairing potholes in the Arden Arcade area at the corner of Marconi and Howe. At about 1:20am, Nancy Richards sped through the area at a high rate of speed and struck Placensia. She continued on and then struck a large piece of equipment and died at the scene.

Two lives were lost. Night construction is especially dangerous, but very common in the summer season. The weather is good and Caltrans and other road construction companies want to get as much work done as possible. At the same time, they want to disrupt traffic as little as possible. This leads to night construction, but even that can be safe if everyone pays attention. This tragedy could have been avoided. Officials say Richards smelled like alcohol and a toxicology report is pending. If Richards had followed some simple rules she and Placensia would still be alive today.

1. Slow Down- construction zones will often have large machinery and people moving about to and fro, ya know, working. By slowing down you give yourself more time to assess the situation and you give them more time to see you and get out of the way if necessary.

2. Follow Directions- sometimes there are workers with the sole purpose of directing traffic. I have run into times when people are telling me to do something that doesn’t seem safe or is illegal. I didn’t want to do it, but I did it anyway. Try to remember that you don’t know the whole layout of the project. The safest bet would be to listen to the people who do know what is going on.

3. Don’t Linger- don’t get me started on lookie-loos. I don’t like it when people pause to see what’s going on. It is an unexpected action and if you’re looking to the left or right that means you’re not looking in front of you.

4. Avoid Trouble Spots- if you know a certain bridge is going to be under construction for three weeks, try to find an alternate route to your destination. It will save you from having to sit in traffic and could keep you safer.

5. Be Patient- if all else fails and you find yourself stuck for a long period in time, turn on the radio, pull out the hands-free cell phone, and settle in. Try not to get frustrated and you’ll eventually make it through.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that there are people in the area that do not have the protection of one ton of steel surrounding them. Please look out for the brave men and women who risk their lives. When you think about their job and the fact that they stand in front of, beside, behind, and around these huge vehicles and trust those drivers to behave in a responsible fashion, it’s a pretty amazing thing.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Barbara Burks

Teen Driving Safety Week

Barbara Burks — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:01:53 GMT

Californians are celebrating by introducing this year’s Impact Teen Drivers educational program. Every year Impact Teen Drivers hands out material to public schools and encourages them to spend time with students who are learning to drive or just received their licenses. This year is exciting because everyone is getting in on the action.

The program is sponsored by the California Association of Highway Patrolmen, the California Highway Patrol, the California Teachers Association, California State Firefighters Association, the Peace Officers Research Association of California, California Casualty Insurance, and the Association of California Schools Administrators.

Many people are doing there part, but sometimes it is hard to get motivated. In this economy nothing motivates people more than money. This year “Create Real Impact” will be giving grants to California high schools where the Impact Teen Drivers material is used in new, interesting, and more effective ways.

New drivers are the most at risk for fatal collisions. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 6,982 young drivers, between the ages of 15 and 20, were involved in fatal collisions in the United States in 2007. In California, 238 young drivers died and 199 young passengers died while in the vehicle of a young driver. In Texas, more drivers died, but fewer passengers died. California had the highest number of fatalities.

This year the Impact Teen Drivers program is coming into the twenty-first century. They have not only created a new website, but they have set up a myspace and a facebook page as well. They really know their customers. We all hope that some good will come of these programs and that next year we’ll see an even bigger drop in teen fatalitites.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Barbara Burks

Where is the Justice for Car Crash Victims?

Amber Wheat — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:36:11 GMT

The Sacramento Bee published an article about a very curious case. Maximillian Sullivan has been in and out of jail twice since the end of October and he is in jail again. All three arrests have been for traffic violations. The first, on October 24, 2008, was when he was identified as the driver in an injury-causing hit and run. The second on November 3, 2008, was for reckless driving. And the most recent on December 1, 2008, for yet another injury-causing hit and run, this time with a suspicion of driving under the influence.

The comments on the Sacramento Bee website all have one question in mind. Will this man have to kill someone before he is stopped? Mr. Sullivan was driving on a suspended license during all three incidents. According to court documents he was jailed at least three times since 2005 and has never served more than a few weeks in jail or on the sheriff's work project.

Let us assume that Mr. Sullivan’s first offense was merely a hit-and-run causing injury while driving with a suspended license. The minimum punishment would be $1,000 for the hit-and-run causing an injury and $300 for driving with a suspended license. Jail time is not required at all for those offenses. The law only dictates maximum sentencing if the court chooses to pursue that avenue.

The second offence of reckless driving carries a minimum of five days in jail and a $145 fine with another $300 for the suspended license charge. Again that is the absolute minimum he could have received.

If Mr. Sullivan is convicted of hit and run DUI causing injury for this time, he will receive a minimum of 90 days in jail, a $390 fine, and revocation of his license. He will not have the privilege of operating a motor vehicle for some time.

The people behind the comments on the SacBee website are upset right now because they feel Mr. Sullivan’s punishment has been too lenient so far. But there is a fine line that the court must walk. The forefathers of this nation knew that liberty is the quintessential right of every man. It is a huge responsibility to be in charge of deciding whether or not to deprive a man of his freedom. Mistakes are made and they should be paid for, but let the punishment fit the crime.

In this same vein, the family of Aman Kumar Khanna is grieving for the husband and father they lost and for the justice they did not receive. The seventeen-year-old convicted of gross vehicular manslaughter for the accident that took the life of Mr. Khanna will serve one year at the Sacramento County Boys Ranch and will then be deported.

The issue is very controversial, but the court decided to try him as an minor. That choice severely limited the possibilities of punishment. This boy ran a red light at 80 miles per hour while under the influence of alcohol and then fled the scene. A grave injustice has been done to this family... by the system. He was seventeen, he was here illegally, and he made the wrong choices. He made adult choices.

To think that something as trivial as age has kept him from years in prison for his crime. It was the same way with Amit Tandon’s family. A young man, Troy Hovey, was sentenced to 180 days in jail and three years probation. It seems like victims cannot find justice these days.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Amber Wheat

Holiday Season Highway Fatalities Down

Amber Wheat — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:00:26 GMT

The holiday season is a dangerous time to be out and about. The weather conditions are not always ideal, there are more people on the roads, and drivers tend to be a little more stressed than usual. Every year people die during this time and it is a horrible to thing to lose someone anytime of the year, but losing them at Christmas makes it that much harder.

Over the years, California has instituted programs with the purpose of limiting the number of deaths and injuries due to traffic accidents. The seat belt campaign, the drunk driving prevention, and the probationary license for teens have all contributed to the falling number of traffic fatalities.

The bad news is that sixteen people died on our highways this season, the good news is that the number has decreased from last year. Only eight of those deaths involved someone not wearing a seat belt. Statistically speaking, that shows an increase in seat belt use. Only 824 people were arrested for drunk driving. Last year the number was 1,303. That is a huge difference and it may have made a difference in your life.

The highways are getting safer and safer, but they remain dangerous nonetheless. We owe a thanks to the California Highway Patrol and everything they do to lessen our chances of being hurt or killed in a traffic accident. And we owe a responsibilty to everyone on the road to make good choices and drive carefully.

Let's keep the numbers down through New Year's!

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Amber Wheat

Drunk Driver gets a Slap on the Wrist for Fatal Crash

Amber Wheat — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:25:43 GMT

I was shocked and very upset to read about Troy Hovey’s sentencing. Judge Robert Glusman handed down the weak sentence of 180 days in jail and three years probation for taking the life of Amit Tandon.

Mr. Tandon’s widow is pregnant and was unable to face the man who killed her husband in court, but she sent the judge a letter asking for the maximum of 10 years in prison. But friends and relatives of Hovey sent letters also, telling the judge about what a wonderful man Hovey was.

This case did not go in front of a jury. Hovey pleaded no contest to a felony charge of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving with more than .08 percent of alcohol in his system. In actuality, Hovey had a blood alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit He knew what he did.

I have always contended that drunk drivers make choices. These are not “accidents” (any good plaintiff attorney knows to call it “the collision”), but they are mistakes. Mistakes are made when people make wrong choices. Defense counsel cited addiction and alcoholism as excuses for him. The judge expects Hovey to “embrace recovery.” Hovey has tried twice before to get sober and was even participating in an outpatient program at the time of the accident.

What really irritates me is that Judge Glusman defends his ruling by saying that probation has not been prohibited in vehicular manslaughter cases and that means the Legislature wants judges to examine each case on its merits. Well fine! Look at the merits of this case! He knew he had a drinking problem (in tort law we call that forseeability), he went drinking, he got really drunk, he got back in his car, he raced down Highway 99 at 60-80 miles per hour, he crossed the median, and slammed head-on to a husband and soon-to-be father. He killed this man. Where is the justice for Tandon’s family?

The judge is confident that “this won’t happen again,” but his parting words are “If I find you’re drinking, I’ll be the last person you want to see.”

I am incredibly saddened by this outcome and it’s message to other drivers who drink and then take stupid risks. It’s not the drinking that’s the problem, it’s the driving after drinking. Get drunk to your hearts content, but STAY HOME. As citizens of America we have every right in the world to drink alcohol, but nobody has the right to put the lives of others at risk.

Am I being too harsh? I know I am coming down hard, but I firmly believe that there is no excuse for drunk driving in today’s day-and-age. With cell phones, taxi companies, public transit, volunteer drivers, and so many other options, drinking and driving should be a thing of the past.

What do you think?

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Amber Wheat

5 Year-old dies in Tragic but Avoidable Accident

John Demas — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:13:21 GMT

California Vehicle Code section 27315(d)(1) states: “A person may not operate a motor vehicle on a highway unless that person and all passengers 16 years of age or over are properly restrained by a safety belt.”

California Vehicle Code section 27360(b)(1) states: “A driver may not transport on a highway a child in a motor vehicle, as defined in Section 27315, without properly securing the child in a rear seat in a child passenger restraint system meeting applicable federal motor vehicle safety standards, unless the child is one of the following: (A) Six years of age or older.(B) Sixty pounds or more.”

These rules were put in place to protect young children from injury or death in the event of a collision with another vehicle. Children must rely on the adults around them to ensure their safety and so California decided to put common sense into law.

It’s strictly a physics lesson, a body in motion will stay in motion until something interrupts it. It may not always feel like it, but your body is moving at the same speed as the vehicle that you are in. When the vehicle stops suddenly, your body keeps going forward until something gets in the way (like the windshield). Safety belts are a good solution to this problem, instead of continuing forward, a belt across your shoulder and across your lap keep your body from flinging forward out of the seat. Airbags are a safety feature meant to work in conjunction with the safety belt. Inevitably, your body does move forward somewhat and sometimes the shoulder harness doesn’t lock and you end up bending forward at the waist. The airbag is there to absorb the impact of your body so that you don’t smack into the hard steering wheel or console.

Airbags deploy with a great deal of force because speed changes rapidly and engineers know that every millisecond counts during an accident. Because airbags are meant to absorb most of the force of a sudden stop, the speed at which they inflate is geared toward how fast your body is moving forward. If your body is being held back by, oh, let’s say... a safety belt, the airbags of today know that they can take their time inflating and open with less force because of sensors in the vehicle. If a person isn’t wearing their safety belt, the airbag knows it has to stop your body right away and deploys with more force.

The less force when an airbag is deployed, the less likely it is to cause injury to the passengers. This incredibly smart tool had tragic consequences yesterday when a

five-year-old boy, Alexander Martinez, was killed while he was sitting in his grandmother’s lap

. The grandmother wasn’t wearing a safety belt, but even if she had been, the boy was still in a very dangerous position. Alexander’s grandmother must now live with the fact that her grandson my have been alive today if she had belted him into a child safety seat like the law says she should have.

She may face criminal charges.

More than that, she is liable for the death of her grandson according to California Vehicle Code section 17150: “Every owner of a motor vehicle is liable and responsible for death or injury to person or property resulting from a negligent or wrongful act or omission in the operation of the motor vehicle, in the business of the owner or otherwise, by any person using or operating the same with the permission, express or implied, of the owner.”

The investigation is still ongoing.

The police are looking into drugs or alcohol being a connection

, as well as the possibility of defective machinery.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by John Demas

Driving Under the Influence

Amber Wheat — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:37:07 GMT

This is a pretty hot topic right now because of the increasing number of collisions that involve alcohol or drugs. Anyone who has been caught drunk driving will tell you it’s not worth the risk, but people (especially young adults) still think that it’s okay to get behind the wheel after having a few rounds.

The truth is, driving under the influence is just plain stupid. Not only are those people endangering their lives, but they are taking unnecessary risks with the lives of everyone else on the road. They don’t seem to understand the consequences of their actions. Bethann Colyer will pay for her mistake with twelve years and eight months in prison. One would hope that the public would take her sentence as a warning, but the very next day, a sixteen-year-old took the life of an old man while driving under the influence.

The tragic Casino Bus Crash was international news last week and many articles reported that the driver had been drunk. The District Attorney dropped the DUI charges yesterday when the toxicity tests turned out to be negative. It appears the driver may have had low blood sugar which caused intoxicated behavior leading to the original suspicion.

You don’t even have to be the cause of the accident, you will still be arrested if you operate a motor vehicle while under the influence of any intoxicating substance as a construction truck driver found out after he was rear-ended.

Too bad for him, a pair of DUI Fixers were recently arrested and found guilty of tampering with court records to get DUI cases dismissed. Hector Whitley won’t be able to help anymore violators (at least not for six to eight years). With help from ex-court clerk Fernando Catlin, minute orders were entered into the files dismissing the cases.

Is it any wonder that DUIs are such a problem right now? When times are tough, people are losing their jobs, and you can get off scott free, why not? If you or someone you love has been injured in an accident please give us a call. Drunk drivers make a choice, actually, they make two choices, 1) they choose to drink, take drugs, or medicate themselves, then 2) they choose to get behind the wheel. The first choice isn’t always a mistake, but it dulls a person’s senses and may make choice number two that much easier to make. It’s okay to drink.. .just don’t drive.

In today’s day and age there is absolutely no excuse for driving under the influence. There are many charitable organizations that offer rides home to people at bars. There are taxi services that people can call. Call a friend, or family, or anybody who is sober, everyone has a cell phone nowadays. If all else fails take public transit or walk. Do not ride a bike (that can be just as dangerous, if not moreso).

All right, I’ll get off my soap box now. Just please be careful out there folks.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Amber Wheat

Colusa Bus Crash Highlights Dangers of Negligent Hiring

David Rosenthal — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:32:02 GMT

The Sacramento Bee is reporting that the driver of a bus that crashed in Colusa on Sunday was hired by the bus owner the week before after posting to an online classified ad for the position. It turns out Quintin J. Watts was a truck driver who had no experience driving busses, had an extensive history of citations for moving violations, and had even been convicted of several criminal offenses. Investigators say alcohol and drugs may have contributed to Mr. Watts falling asleep at the wheel and rolling the bus, killing 10 passengers and injuring at least 35 more, some critically.

The hiring of this driver is astonishing when you consider that California, like many states, requires that "common carriers" exercise a higher degree of care for the safety of their passengers than the average person driving with a passenger. Under Civil Code §2100, persons or entities that transport people for financial compensation must "use the utmost diligence for their safe carriage." Most individuals are held to a lesser standard of reasonable care. The higher standard makes sense when you consider that common carriers, such as trains and busses, carry large numbers of people and safety considerations can sometimes give way to efforts to increase profits.

Daniel Cobb, the owner of the private bus that crashed Sunday was obviously desparate for a driver since he placed an online classified ad for the position on 10/2/08. He apparently was willing to forego a background check or to simply ignore Watts' checkered past because he was Cobb's stepson. It was a costly decision not only for the passengers and their families, but for Cobb himself, who died as a result of the collision. Cobb's poor choice of a driver had diproportionately tragic consequences for families in Sacramento's Lao and Hmong communities, whose parents and grandparents were his regular customers.

Many responsible common carriers have minimum training requirements and conduct stringent background checks. However, far too often we see the tragic consequences of employers who take short cuts in hiring the people who are entrusted with the safe transportation of our loved ones. Make sure that the common carrier you hire is not gambling on safety.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Rosenthal

Citrus Heights Installed Traffic Cameras in Two Intersections where Fatal Collisions Occurred

Amber Wheat — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 12:14:57 GMT

This is how a city is supposed to respond to incidents like this. Let’s face it, people do not always obey the law. It is nearly impossible to think that a government body could prevent collisions from occurring when the people do not act as responsible citizens. When choosing when and where to install expensive safety devices a city has to look at prior incidences, risks to the public, and cost/benefit analysis.

Since a fatal collision because of someone running a red light has happened at both of these intersections, the city is taking proactive action and putting up the cameras. Again, it will not exactly prevent it from occurring again, but if people know they are there and that they might get ticketed, hopefully they will take fewer risks.

When it comes to something like the fence that would have cost $100,000 and may have saved the trucker from being in a vegetative state for the rest of his life (he lost, by the way, I’m bummed), then I focus on the sheer number of people it would protect. Every person who drives on the highway would be protected and every person living or walking near the highway would be protected, do the math, how many cents per person does that fence cost?

I am proud of Citrus Heights for taking their duty to maintain safe roadways seriously. Bravo!

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Amber Wheat

Fatal Hit and Run in Fair Oaks

Amber Wheat — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:57:36 GMT

Never leave the scene if you are involved in an accident.

California Vehicle Code section 20001, et seq. states quite clearly that if you are involved in a collision, YOU MUST STOP. Information that must be given if requested is driver's license, vehicle registration, current residence address of the driver and of the registered owner, and other valid identification to the other involved parties.

Penalties for leaving the scene are quite severe and can range from a maximum of six months in prison to a minimum addition of five years to a vehicular manslaughter sentence. Fines range from $1,000.00 to $10,000.00.

And with the technology at the disposal of the investigating officers, you will be found and caught. This man left the scene because he did not want to go back to jail and now if he is convicted of vehicular manslaughter, five additional years can be added to his sentence.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Amber Wheat