Danger for Innocent Houston Drivers: Police Chases & Fleeing Suspects

Police departments could help by implementing well thought out pursuit policies and training programs to teach officers not just how to pursue, but when to pursue. And when to terminate a pursuit. The departments could also make greater use of alternatives such as helicopter pursuits, spiked stop strips, microwave vehicle control interference technology, the inbuilt OnStar disabling feature, and other new technological devices. Some states have tried increasing the penalties for fleeing from the police.

The problem is a difficult one. If police don’t pursue a suspect, that presents a danger to public safety. If police DO pursue a suspect, that also presents a danger to public safety. It’s a difficult decision. And police often have to make that decision in an instant, based on instinct. Lives ride on the accuracy of their decisions.

Better training and policies could help hone and guide their instincts. The police pursuers themselves have been trained in pursuit driving; they rarely have accidents themselves. But the pursued tend to have poor judgment and little or no regard for the safety of others. They tend to be the ones to directly kill and injure innocent victims. It needs to stop. But finding a solution to such a complex problem presents a thorny challenge that perhaps we can’t resolve any time soon.

Go back to Part 1.

Tomball, TX Accident Lawyer on Vehicle Black Boxes and Your Privacy

Black boxes are becoming increasingly common in commercial trucks and in passenger vehicles. A number of people stridently object to the idea of having one of these telltale electronic data recorders (EDRs) in their vehicle. They object even more strongly to the notion that so many people might be able to extract and read that data, while the vehicle owner usually cannot.

The ordinary “black box” really doesn’t raise much in the way of privacy concerns as far as this Tomball accident lawyer is concerned. The ordinary EDR, while it records data constantly, also constantly re-records over the preceding data. It only saves the data in the event of a triggering impact or an airbag deployment to prevent an injury. And it only saves the last 15 seconds of data that preceded the triggering event. The data it saves consists of technical data.

Your speed prior to the event.
Whether you applied the brakes, and how much you applied them.
Whether you applied the gas pedal, and how much you applied it.
The direction you were steering.
Changes in speed and direction.
Whether you were wearing your seat belt or not.
And that’s pretty much it. Your Tomball, TX accident lawyer points out that while this data might limit your ability to shift the blame for an accident if you were at fault, it can also be invaluable to you to demonstrate the other drivers’ fault when you weren’t. The data’s main purpose is to help in the reconstruction of an accident to determine what happened. An ordinary EDR won’t help an angry spouse catch a cheating spouse. It won’t give away your sneaked trip to a friend’s party or to a big sale at the mall.

OnStar, on the other hand, can do this and more. OnStar is the “Big Brother is watching you, knows what you had for breakfast, and thinks you should be dieting” version of the EDR. Increasing numbers of cars come equipped with OnStar. Your new car might have a one-year subscription to OnStar included for free with your purchase.

The OnStar device can help you with directions, contact authorities in the event of an accident, and provide several other helpful services. If you let your subscription run out at the end of the year, OnStar doesn’t stop functioning. It does stop providing you the additional helpful services. But it still records your location and driving data, and can receive and transmit. It even includes a sneaky feature whereby authorities can disable your vehicle. Though authorities as yet seem understandably reluctant to use this feature.

Continue to Part 2.

Part 2: Tomball Accident Lawyer’s Discussion of Black Boxes & Privacy

Privacy concerns related to the ordinary EDR (the non-OnStar EDRs) may overestimate the ability of others to extract the data from it. Traditionally, most automakers have installed their own proprietary versions of the EDR. Only their own dealers that have the proprietary extraction tool can access and download the data. That’s been a problem for insurance companies and government authorities wanting access to the data. Federal authorities are making rules to standardize the black box and the tools that can extract the data.

And your Tomball, TX accident lawyer reminds you that many cars still don’t possess an EDR. In the absence of a requirement to install one, many automakers didn’t. As of the 2011 model year, new car owners’ manuals have to state whether the car has a black box or not and, if so, where it is located.

But that doesn’t help owners to turn off the devices. The EDRs can’t be turned off. They form integral parts of the car’s computerized sensing and diagnostic system to help the vehicle avoid wrecks or deploy airbags when needed.

It will not be until the 2013 model year that passenger vehicles must all come equipped with a standardized black box. Automakers first began to install EDRs in some vehicles in the mid 1990s. Owners of these older vehicles sometimes find themselves surprised to discover that they’ve had an EDR silently recording their driving data for all these years. They often don’t learn about the presence of the EDR until after they’ve had a significant wreck and the insurance companies want to extract the data.

Tomball, TX accident lawyer clarifies that generally, interested parties can only extract the EDR data with the consent of the vehicle owner or with a court order.

Beware the implications of ownership transfer: If you relinquish your car to salvage after a wreck, the salvage yard becomes the owner. And if the insurance company or police want the EDR data, the salvage owner will provide permission to extract it. And sometimes the insurance company will buy the salvaged vehicle directly.

Extracting the data usually only involves attaching a cord, and then running it to a laptop computer. Special software will actually “read” the EDR data. But some vehicles, for instance the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze, allow the EDR data to be easily extracted wirelessly through the OnStar system. And car dealers can easily download EDR data on their make of vehicle.

Some automakers maintain that the whole purpose behind including EDRs in their vehicles related to safety research. They claim that the data has helped them to design better airbags and other safety features for your car.

But those that benefit most from the EDR devices may be the insurance companies. The EDR data allows them to establish with more certainty who was at fault in an accident, as well as the “how and why” of an accident event. This can help you establish the other driver’s fault after you’ve been injured in an accident. The insurance companies can also use the data in some instances to evaluate drivers’ driving habits and to determine what their insurance rates should be.

Tomball, TX accident lawyer mentions that if considering the power of your EDR device to finger you for fault worries you. Consider how much more data your cell phone provides about you every single day. Your cell phone, particularly a “smart phone,” can tell others where you go, to whom you speak, what Internet sites you look up, what you purchase, and more. And many people deliberately link themselves to “find” features that tell others their whereabouts at all times. And your cell phone data is stored longer, more widely, and is more easily accessible to far more people than your EDR data. Unless you have OnStar, your EDR doesn’t much invade your privacy. Your cell phone, on the other hand, just throws your privacy out the window.

Houston Pedestrian Accident Lawyers Focus on Halloween Child Safety

Halloween is an exciting time for children of all ages. They get to dress up like their favorite characters and eat all the candy they could ever hope for. But as parents worry about tainted candy and making sure their kids’ costumes look just right, many of them forget to make sure their children are protected against the most dangerous Halloween hazard – vehicles.
On a night where ghosts and goblins reign, vehicles take a backseat in scariness. However, more children are injured in Texas pedestrian accidents on Halloween night than on any other night of the year. In fact, a study by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute found that the risk of pedestrian injuries on Halloween night is 4.5 times higher than on any other night of the year. Keep your children safe by following these safety tips:

Costumes

• Make sure costumes do not impede movement or vision.
• Consider face paint instead of a mask. If a mask is worn, make sure the child’s vision is not impaired.
• Hats or scarves should fit well and not be covering the child’s eyes.
• Make sure the child wears shoes that fit well and are not a tripping hazard.
• Be sure the costume is not too long.

Visibility

• Black, although a popular color for Halloween, is not the safest color at night. If your child’s costume is black, consider sewing on reflective tape.
• Have children carry a flashlight to see better as well as make themselves more visible to others.
• Remind children not to cross mid-street. Only cross at corners and use designated crosswalks when they are available.
• Stay in well lit-neighborhoods. Do not travel into dark or dimly lit areas.

Motorists

• Drive slowly. Be on the lookout for children who may be darting between vehicles or crossing mid-street.
• Enter and exit driveways and alleyways with caution.
• Expect the unexpected. Never assume that a child sees your vehicle or will stop before crossing in front of you.

By making sure children travel together in well-lit areas and increase their visibility as much as possible, we can all make trick-or-treating a less scary experience.

If you know a child who has been injured in a pedestrian accident in Texas, you need to contact a Houston injury lawyer for help. Call our office at 877-307-9500 for a free consultation.

Also be sure to order your FREE copy of our leading book on Houston accident questions, What Every Houston Accident Victim Needs to Know.

Houston Car Crash Lawyers Provide Teen Driver Safety Week Tips

October 16-22 is National Teen Driver Safety Week. During this week, we focus on the importance of educating teen drivers to be safe and aware when they are behind the wheel. By educating teens and stressing the importance of driving cautiously, we hope to decrease the number of Houston car accidents involving teen drivers.
Teen drivers between the ages of 16 and 19 years old are at four times higher risk of fatal accident injuries than drivers who between 25 and 69 years old. Not only do these drivers have a higher risk than older, more experienced drivers, but their risk also increases when other teens are present in the vehicle. For example, if a teen is driving with another teen in the passenger seat, their risk of suffering a fatal accident doubles. If there are 3 or more teen passengers, the risk of a fatal accident quadruples.

In order to decrease teenagers’ risk of suffering injuries in an accident, we need to first address the underlying causes.

• Inexperience – One of the main causes of accidents comes down to simple inexperience. Driving is a learning process, and teens will not know how to properly handle a vehicle without some practice.
• Distractions – Distractions such as passengers, music, eating or just daydreaming play a large role in teen crashes.
• Nighttime driving – It is much harder to see at night. Make sure teens are comfortable with daytime driving before moving to nighttime driving.
• Inclement weather – Weather conditions change the way a vehicle handles. Teens may not allow for more room to stop on slick roads or may overreact is their vehicle starts to slide.
• Reckless driving – Teens like to appear cool to their friends, which may lead them to make reckless driving decisions such as speeding, tailgating, or swerving between lanes of traffic.

If a teen you know and love has been seriously injured in a car accident in Houston, you need to seek legal help. Contact a Houston car accident lawyer at Denena & Points to learn more about your rights to seek compensation after a serious accident.

Protect Yourself from Injury on Black Friday: Stay Home

Black Friday is the safest day to be at home. Your chances of injury or fatality from a house fire are the lowest in the year.

But the minute you step out the door, your chances of injury or death increase precipitously. The roads are still filled with drunk drivers who celebrated the holiday with far too much alcohol, then made the deadly choice to get behind the wheel.

And even if you arrive safely at the mall or big box retailer whose sales drew you, your worries aren’t over yet. Fights, pepper spray, trampling, and shootouts await the unwary shopper.

The military needs to quit recruiting out of high schools and look at recruiting out of Wal*mart and other big retailers on Black Friday. There, apparently, is where they’ll find experienced, ruthless fighters heedless of causing human harm that will go into battle against crowds without a thought to personal safety.

But how the military could arrange things to properly motivate these would be warriors presents an obstacle. Plant high-end flat screen TVs at strategic points in the Libyan desert? Arrange to have caches of the latest video game equipment or iPods in strategic urban centers in Iraq? It’s a conundrum.

After a retail worker opening doors to shoppers on Black Friday died under a stampede in 2008, OSHA issued guidelines for crowd control and safety to big retailers to help them avoid dangerous workplace injuries. But Black Friday violence and mayhem continues. Your best bet to avoid physical injuries incurred in Black Friday frenzies probably rests in waiting to shop online on Cyber Monday.

If you didn’t shop online, but instead encountered a would be warrior at a store on Black Friday, and you received injuries caused by their negligence or reckless behavior, feel free to contact our Houston personal injury lawyers for a free and confidential legal consultation.

The Houston personal injury lawyers at Denena & Points could help you determine winning strategies for recovering financial compensation for your wounds from those who caused them. If you need an ally to stand up for your rights, we’re here for you. We still believe that the pen is mightier than the sword. Use our legal expertise and skill with the mighty sword of the law to fight for your financial recovery.

The Shoulders of our Texas Roadways: Risky Places for You to Be

Deer Park accident lawyers see that annually hundreds of people suffer fatal injuries on the shoulders of U.S. roads. These fatalities include:

1. Accident first responders,
2. Reporters covering accidents from the shoulder of the road,
3. Pedestrians walking alongside the road, and
4. People with stalled, wrecked, or broken down vehicles.

Around 12% of the fatalities tied to our interstates actually represent pedestrians in the roadway or on the shoulder of the road. A large proportion of these fatalities occur at night. Deer Park accident lawyers caution you that at night more drivers are driving impaired (DUI) or fatigued. And even unimpaired drivers have greater difficulty in visually detecting obstacles or pedestrians in their paths at night.

To save yourself from being injured in an accident on the shoulder of a roadway, Deer Park accident lawyers say that you should:

• Try to make it to the nearest exit off the road in the event of an emergency.
• If you have to be on the shoulder of the road, try to stay inside your vehicle if at all possible.
• If you have a flat tire, drive to the nearest exit and find a safe place to stop your car. Replacing a ruined rim might cost several hundred dollars, but stopping on the shoulder could cost you your life. And you can’t replace that.
• If you can’t make it off the shoulder, pull off as far away from traffic as possible. Use your hazard lights. If there’s a guardrail or fence, get on the other side (unless you’re on an overpass shoulder). If you have flares, use them.

Local laws generally require that you move away a lane if you spot an accident or first responders at the scene of an accident. But that’s not always possible in rapid or heavy traffic. And drivers might have little time and only a short distance to react to an emergency. Experience teaches us that some people react better than others in the event of an emergency. So don’t take chances.

If another person’s unsafe, negligent, or reckless driving injures you or wrongfully kills your loved one on the shoulder of a road, the Deer Park accident lawyers of Denena & Points could help you. Our extensive experience and in-depth knowledge of the complexities of vehicle accident claims could help you recover just financial compensation for your losses from the accident. Call us today for your free and confidential accident consultation. Let us help you make a full recovery.

Poly-Drugs in Impaired Drivers Represent a Growing TX Accident Hazard

Chemical tests conducted on the blood draws of impaired drivers around the Houston area find more traces of prescription drugs than in the past. The drugs are often used in conjunction with alcohol and/or illegal drugs. The poly-drug combinations increase the lethal effects of DUI impairment. Some of the prescription drugs most commonly found in poly-drug impaired drivers’ blood include:

Soma,

Xanax, and

Hydrocodone.
These drugs impair drivers’ reaction times, physical coordination, and decision-making abilities.

In the summer of 2010, a “no refusal” night of DUI enforcement in Houston, TX found substantial numbers of Houstonians driving under the influence of poly-drug combinations. Approximately 60% of the first several hundred blood draws found drugs other than alcohol in the drivers’ bloodstreams.

Houston police tie the growth in the number of poly-drugged drivers to widespread misuse and abuse of prescription drugs. Houston, already a national “ground zero” for drunk driving and illegal street racing, has also become a flashpoint for illegal drug activity.

Houston forms the hub of a network dedicated to the illegal sale and distribution of a trio of prescription drugs known as “the holy trinity” or the Houston Cocktail. You saw these drugs mentioned above: Xanax, Soma, and hydrocodone. Taken together, they can give the user a heroin-type high. They can also cause the user to crash fatally into a fixed object by the road. Or into you.

At least two dozen Houston law enforcement agencies have responded to the growing crisis by adding trained drug recognition experts (DREs) to their staffs. The DREs respond to DWI arrests to evaluate the suspect for the possibility of impairing substances besides alcohol. They recommend chemical tests to detect drugs. The DREs help to determine the category of drug adding to the drivers’ evident impairment.

The DREs’ evaluations of suspects’ exhibited behaviors can supplement lab reports to help your Deer Park injury lawyer present a strong and winning claim for you in court. Your strong and valid injury claim could net you substantial amounts of monetary compensation from the negligent parties who caused your accident injuries. Call Denena & Points, experienced Deer Park injury lawyers, for your completely confidential and free accident consultation.

Houston Accident Attorney on Speed as a Factor in Fatal Houston Wrecks

Houston accident attorney notes that speed kills. Now I know that many of the Houston commuters out there, who suffer endless delays and Houston traffic backups, are probably sardonically thinking: “Good to know. But when do I ever get to go above 9 mph?”

Those annoying Houston traffic delays that we experience each day on our commutes may actually be good for our health. Statistically speaking, slower drives cause fewer accident fatalities and injuries.

Studies by the U.S. DOT and the NHTSA show that speeding on rural roads (where drivers actually enjoy the space to drive at or above the speed limit) represents the nation’s leading cause of roadway accidents and accident fatalities.

We drive more miles annually on our congested urban roads than on our more open rural roads. We drive 1.6 million miles on urban roads as opposed to 1 million miles on rural roads. But we experience far more accidents and accident fatalities on our less congested rural roads than on our challenging urban ones.

Relatively few accident fatalities happen on the urban interstates having the highest speed limits. But these fatal interstate accidents tend to be the ones reported most frequently in our urban newspapers. Rural roads, conversely, show:

A greater number of severe wrecks;
Rougher terrain and poorer road conditions;
Less congestion and traffic;
Greater lag times between accidents and the reporting of them to rescuers;
A lesser level of trauma care following the accident; and
Less widespread coverage in the news.
With the recent increase of the Texas speed limit to 85 mph on some Texas rural roads, this Houston accident attorney expects that the incidence of rural crash injuries and accident fatalities will unfortunately rise even further.

So the next time you’re stuck in slow and heavy Houston traffic, think about this: your lack of speed, while infinitely frustrating, may actually be saving your life from the possibility of a fatal crash. After all, we need something positive to reflect upon while we suffer the lengthy Houston traffic delays that make us late to work.

Some Facts You’ll Want to Know about the ESC in Your U.S. Vehicle

Pearland, TX accident attorney discusses the rise of ESC systems as standard safety equipment in America. The U.S. government requires ESC systems in all SUVs, pickup trucks, and cars as of the 2012 model year. The new cars out on showroom floors in Pearland, TX right now should all contain ESC systems as standard equipment. ESC systems have been shown to produce significant reductions in some types of accident injuries.

Even prior to the federal government’s requirement of ESC systems in all passenger vehicles, automaker incorporation of ESC into their vehicles had already grown to 10 times the 1998 rate.

In the 2011 model year, ESC systems already came standard in 90% of cars in the U.S., 72% of pickup trucks, and 100% of SUVs. (Pickup trucks traditionally lag behind cars and SUVs in incorporating some safety features.)

The first vehicle equipped with ESC as a standard feature was the European model of the 1995 Mercedes Benz S-Class.

An ESC system reduces the costs of a Pearland, TX collision by about 15% compared to losses for prior year models lacking ESC. This data comes from the Highway Loss Data Institute based on the insurance claims resulting from collisions.