Five main scenarios could result from accidents where motorcycles suffer rear-end collisions from larger vehicles. None of them offer much hope for the biker unfortunate enough to be the victim of a rear-end collision in Katy, TX.
1. The car or truck might just roll right up over the bike’s back tire and onto the motorcyclist, crushing both bike and rider.
2. The car or truck might knock the bike down, then run over the bike and rider, pinning them underneath the larger vehicle.
3. The car or truck might shove the motorcycle and rider up underneath the vehicle in front of the bike in an underride-type accident.
4. The car or truck might hurl the bike and rider across the road to suffer additional major impacts.
5. The motorcycle and rider might remain upright, but the motorcyclist would almost certainly suffer severe spinal injuries.
Rear-end collisions where larger vehicles impact motorcycles result in particularly traumatic injuries. Motorcyclists who survive the rear-end collisions might suffer paralysis, permanent disabilities, disfigurement, and long-term pain and debility. If you’ve suffered such a collision, call us for a free accident consultation. We could explain your legal options for recovering financial compensation from the driver who hit you. That compensation could help make you financially whole again, and pay the enormous costs from your accident injuries.
Sadly, the chances of suffering fatal injuries from a rear-end collision remain exceedingly high. Survivors of the fatally injured motorcyclist could bring wrongful death claims in civil court against the driver who killed the biker. Financial compensation offers poor consolation for the loss of a loved one, but it can help you meet the heavy financial burdens that a fatal accident often brings in its wake. Call us for a free consultation. We’re Katy, TX motorcycle accident attorneys with more than 12 years of experience helping grieving family members hold drivers who harmed their loved ones financially accountable for their actions.
On September 1, 2011, a new law went into effect in Texas that provides enhanced penalties in some DWI cases. When authorities find that drivers caught for DWI (driving while intoxicated) have a blood alcohol content (BAC) of at least 0.15%, the possible punishment is twice as severe as under the old law.
Problems in greater Houston served as a major impetus for this new DWI law and its stiffer penalties. Tests found that the drivers involved in approximately 70% of fatal Houston road accidents in 2008 had BACs of at least 0.16%. That’s twice the legal limit. And that drunkenness was killing people on Houston roads at an astonishing rate.
Critics complained that the existing laws of the time had provided no difference in punishment for DWI offenders with BACs just over the legal limit and those with BACs hugely over the legal limit – enough to cause fatal DWI wrecks. The old law provided that a DWI first offender, even if their BAC was more than twice the legal limit, only received charges of a Class B misdemeanor. A Class B misdemeanor provides a fine of up to $2,000 and jail time of up to six months.
Under the new law that just went into effect, a DWI offender with a BAC of 0.15% or more will receive charges of a Class A misdemeanor, even if it’s the first offense. A Class A misdemeanor carries a fine of up to $4,000 and jail time of up to one year.
So penalties have doubled for those caught driving with a high BAC. Arguably, these penalties still aren’t high enough to make a real dent in the drunk driving problem in Texas. A biker in Katy, TX still retains a higher than average probability of suffering a motorcycle wreck and terrible injuries caused by a drunk driver.
Texas currently suffers the highest rate of fatal DWI wrecks of any state. And Harris County suffers the highest rate of fatal DWI wrecks in Texas. Only time will tell if the new DWI law helps reduce these rates.
One sleep study shows that truckers with severe sleep apnea (OSA) have a 7 times greater risk of severe truck accidents than truckers without the disorder. That same study also found that:
* Of 53 truck drivers referred for sleep studies because screenings indicated possible OSA, 33 did not comply with the referral; and
* Sleep studies on the remaining 20 of the 53 truck drivers confirmed OSA in all of them, but only 1 of these drivers complied with treatment of the disorder.
Sleep apnea increases truck drivers’ risks behind the wheel.
Because of generally increased awareness of the dangers of motor vehicle crashes in those drivers with sleep apnea disorders, truck drivers diagnosed with the disorder have an increased risk of losing their jobs. Tests show that drivers with severe sleep apnea perform about the same on driving tasks as drivers with a blood alcohol content above the legal limit. But studies also show that the experience of older, less healthy drivers provides an edge in avoiding wrecks that younger, healthier, but less experienced drivers might not possess.
Trucking companies don’t want to take chances on injuries and liabilities stemming from sleep apnea-related truck accidents. So the trucking companies take the easy way out and fire, or refuse to hire, responsible truckers who have sought diagnosis and treatment of their fatigue problem. So most truckers avoid diagnosis or treatment of sleep apnea for fear of losing their jobs. Unfortunately, this just increases the risks to everyone driving in Pearland, TX from trucker fatigue.
Even truckers without sleep apnea have increased risks of fatigue. They’re under pressure to drive long hours and meet strict delivery deadlines. Long haul truckers drive many hours on long stretches of monotonous highways and experience elevated risks of “road trance” and resulting truck accidents.
If you suffer a truck accident caused by a fatigued trucker while driving in Pearland, TX, call us for a free legal consultation. Our Pearland, TX truck accident lawyers, Chad Points and Tony Denena, have more than 12 years of experience helping the injured victims of truck accidents. We have extensive knowledge of the legal requirements involved in truck accident cases revolving around the issue of trucker fatigue. We could help you win fair financial compensation for your injuries caused by the problem of trucker fatigue or sleep apnea.
Several studies have been made of the risk that sleep apnea in truck drivers poses for causing truck crashes. The various studies present differing results.
The major government study on the issue did not draw conclusive answers. That study’s only strong conclusion said that truckers with severe sleep apnea experienced greater risks of severe truck crashes (but not of mild to moderate truck crashes). But the fine print on this study takes pains to point out the weaknesses in certain areas of the study’s data collection processes and in the sample populations studied.
For instance, the majority of the truckers involved in the study were short haul truckers driving in urban areas. Short haul truckers drive for shorter periods of time. Urban areas have more stimulating driving conditions. They require more alertness and present fewer dangers of causing driver fatigue.
Long haul truckers on the other hand drive hours on end through monotonous highway conditions. They frequently fall prey to road trance. They’re the drivers at highest risk for succumbing to the dangers of sleep apnea. But the long haul truckers weren’t well represented in the government study’s truck driver sample.
Other studies show an overwhelming risk of truck crashes from drivers with sleep apnea. One study out of Rhode Island and Massachusetts showed a 7 times greater risk of truck accidents in drivers with sleep apnea than in those without. As Pearland, TX truck crash attorneys, we believe the risk of injuries and fatalities from sleep apnea-related truck crashes becomes clear once you read the fine print on the government study. Sleep apnea in long haul truckers presents high risks of truck crashes to these truckers and to the other travelers around them on the roads.
In a civil claim for damages such as a personal injury claim or a wrongful death claim following an accident, you must clearly and convincingly prove 4 essential elements of your case. After you file a claim for compensation, a pre-trial period of “discovery” follows. During this pre-trial phase of your case, you and the defendant to your claim must exchange information about the strengths and weaknesses of your cases and the evidence you each have to support your version of things.
If your evidence on the 4 essential elements is strong enough to convince the other side that they would lose at trial, they’ll offer you a financial settlement for your claim. Your strong evidence would show them that the lengthy and expensive litigation process would gain them nothing, The value of the settlement offer in relation to the actual value of your claim will directly reflect the strength of your evidence. So you should retain the services of a smart and experienced Pasadena accident attorney to secure the evidence you’ll need to prevail. The 4 essential elements for which you need proof are listed below.
1. A duty of care. You must prove that the defendant had a legal duty to take reasonable care to ensure your safety and prevent harm to you. This duty could be as simple as the duties to drive safely and obey traffic laws. (You might see already how many people violate these duties on a daily basis.)
2. Breach of that duty. You must prove that the defendant violated his or her duty of care in some way. Maybe he ran a red light. Maybe he was speeding. You may know that he was speeding AND he ran a red light before he hit your car in the intersection. But do you know how to PROVE it? That’s the key. An experienced Pasadena accident attorney will know how to obtain the proof you need. At Denena Points, PC, we’ve gathered the necessary proof to win claims like this for over a decade. We know how to help you.
3. Proximate causation. You must prove that the defendant’s violation of his duty of care was the actual cause of the accident and your injuries.
4. Actual damages. Finally, you must prove that you have actual damages from the defendant’s breach of his duty of care. Your actual damages might be injuries, a loved one lost to the accident, or even property damage to your vehicle. Your damages, unfortunately, might include all of these things and more.
When you need to prove your side of an accident case, call on our Pasadena car accident lawyers for help. We know how to prove these 4 elements clearly and convincingly to:
* Defendants,
* Insurance companies,
* Juries, and
* Judges.
Our Pasadena car accident lawyers have been successfully proving accident claims for our unjustly injured clients for more than 12 years. We’ve helped inured victims obtain just compensation from those whose negligence caused their harm. So let us help you. It’s what we do. Call us. Your case evaluation consultation with a Pasadena car accident lawyer is free. At the same time, that consultation might be invaluable to your future.
We explain why you’ll need an experienced Pasadena accident lawyer to help you gather evidence. You need solid, convincing evidence to prove your accident claim and to obtain the monetary compensation you need to move forward in life after your accident.
Without an experienced, aggressive accident lawyer on your side, you’re completely overmatched in accident cases where well-funded entities like trucking companies or manufacturers might be at fault. These entities maintain highly paid teams of aggressive accident investigators, insurance adjusters and defense attorneys who will be at the accident scene almost immediately. The common goal of these team members is to try to find ways shift the blame away from their employer.
You must act quickly to bring your own experienced Pasadena accident lawyer into the case to conduct a thorough accident investigation. At Denena Points, PC, we are experienced Pasadena accident lawyers with more than 12 years of experience investigating accidents and securing the evidence our clients need to prove and win their cases. And we’re also Texas Board Certified personal injury trial lawyers. That means that we have proven knowledge and experience in the ways to locate, obtain, preserve and present necessary evidence for your case so that it will be admissible in court.
If you don’t have solid evidence to prove your case, or if you have evidence, but you’ve obtained it in ways unacceptable in court, the defendants and their insurers will refuse to offer you a cash settlement. They know that they will get a dismissal if your evidence can’t be properly presented to the court. So don’t make a mistake. Don’t try to make your legal claim on your own.
Tony Denena and Chad Points know the critical importance of working quickly to locate, sequester, examine and protect the evidence you’ll need to prove your case. They know the dangers from deceptive defendants like truckers and trucking companies that might try to hide, remove or destroy the evidence you need for your case. Truckers have been known to sneak into salvage yards and remove or smash headlights in a victim’s wrecked car to try and make it look like the victim of an accident was at fault for a nighttime wreck. And that’s only one of the many tricks guilty defendants might employ against you.
A savvy Pasadena accident lawyer knows to always look for security cameras that might have taped evidence of the deception. We also look for video and photographic surveillance records from the accident area. And we know how to locate the witnesses that might have knowledge of what happened to cause your accident.
You have only one chance to make a valid financial claim against those at fault for causing your accident and injuries. Don’t waste that chance. Accident claims require complex legal arguments, highly technical evidence, and diligent legal action to win. Most claims meet fierce defense and opposition. Negligent parties at fault for causing serious injury accidents usually aren’t the type to want to pay you for the harm they’ve caused. Even if they were too cheap or reckless to take the simple precautions that might have prevented your harm, you can bet they’ll spring for a top-notch defense when their alternative is paying out assets to the people they’ve harmed.
You need a strong Pasadena accident lawyer to meet their fierce attack with a ferocious and strategic counterattack. Call us today. Put our extensive legal knowledge and winning experience to work for your benefit.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is a federal agency that compiles all kinds of road and vehicle safety data for the United States. Their report on School Transportation-Related Crashes, revised in March 2011, says that since 2000, 371,104 people have died in U.S. motor vehicle wrecks.
The NHTSA report further states that since 2000, 1,386 people have died in school transportation-related crashes. That’s an average of about 140 fatalities per year.
Since 2000, 130 pedestrians aged 18 years and younger died from school transportation-related crashes.
In a recent Houston school bus wreck, the bus crashed into a pickup truck stopped at a light. News accounts indicate that the driver might have tried to stop but could not. It sounds like maybe the brakes failed. Poor servicing or maintenance of the bus might be to blame.
If your child suffers injury from a school bus wreck, you face the trauma of a child unexpectedly injured in an environment where you expected him or her to remain safe. You also face the major medical expenses that pile up when anyone suffers a crash-related injury.
Our Houston accident lawyers could help you recover the financial compensation you need to pay for all these expenses from those to blame for the terrible bus accident and injury to your child. Call us today for your free legal consultation. We could help you identify the causes of the accident, and who might be liable to you for the costs of the crash. if your child was injured in the recent Houston school bus crash, you might have a valid claim against the private company that owns the bus.
Our Houston accident lawyers could help you understand your legal options and routes to a successful financial recovery. Our more than 12 years of experience helping injured victims of such crashes could guide you smoothly every step of the way to a successful outcome of your injury claim.
Texting while driving has become a serious problem for drivers in all 50 states. Texas is no exception. The Department of Transportation (DOT) has issued a proposed ban for all commercial drivers from using cell phones for both talking and texting. This change could help prevent serious injuries from a Houston truck wreck.
If someone you love has been seriously injured in a Houston truck accident, there may be help for you. Get your free copy of The Roadmap to Texas 18-Wheeler Injury Claims: What You Must Do Now, written by the Houston truck accident lawyers at Denena & Points.
The proposed ban was issued after a truck driver veered off the road in Kentucky and killed 11 people traveling in a passenger van. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), it would include banning all commercial drivers from talking, dialing, and reaching for their cell phone while operating a commercial vehicle. If a driver is found violating the ban, they would face a federal civil penalty of up to $2,750 for each offense. If the driver continues to ignore the ban they may have their commercial driver’s license revoked.
According to FMCSA research, the act of using a cell phone by a commercial driver involves taking risky and dangerous steps. They state that a driver reaching for an object, including a cell phone, is three times more likely to be involved in a crash. In addition, holding a cell phone while driving increased the risk to six times.
Several major companies have already taken the steps to prevent these incidents from happening by prohibiting mobile phone use while on the clock. Companies like UPS, Wal-Mart, and Covert Transport are only a few of the many businesses with a ban written into their employee policy.
The aftermath of a truck wreck in Texas can be very stressful. Contact a Houston truck wreck attorney today to find out how to get the help you deserve.
Deputies from the El Paso County Sheriff’s office arrested a 25-year-old Clint, TX man early yesterday. The Clint man, Juan Marin Castillo, Jr., had crashed his gray 1999 Mazda pickup head-on into a parked police vehicle around 1 a.m. Police had shut down a portion of eastbound I-10 between Clint and Horizon City to investigate the scene of a fatal rollover wreck that happened about 9:30 p.m. on the previous day. The dark green pickup truck involved in the rollover wreck may have been racing a small black car prior to the rollover.
Socorro Police spokesman David Garcia said that the two men involved in the rollover wreck might have just come from watching the Cowboys game with friends. One of the men had mentioned he had to be home early, so the owner of the truck let one of the men borrow it to drive the other home. Michael Portillo, 27, was fatally injured when the truck rolled over several times and ejected him from the cab. The rollover wreck critically injured Tommy Cruz, Jr. Police say they remain unsure of which of the men was driving at the time of the wreck. If the survivor of the rollover wreck is found to have been driving the truck, he could face charges.
The deputies investigating Juan Marin Castillo Jr.’s inauspicious crash into the police car at the site of the Socorro crash investigation noticed a “strong odor of alcohol” and multiple beer cans laying around the wrecked Mazda pickup truck. They arrested the Clint man on suspicion of DUI and took him into custody at the County Jail on a $1,000 bond.
Drunken driving and street racing take top spots for sources of hazards on Texas roads. A drunken driver just crashed into a parked police car at the scene of a street racing rollover accident that authorities had closed off. The drunken driver failed to observe the road closure. The police officer just managed to jump out of the way of the careening vehicle.
A few days beforehand, two innocent young pedestrians in their 20s suffered fatal injuries when a drunken driver ran a red light and mowed them down in Southwest Houston.
A couple of days before that, a speeding driver ran down a Good Samaritan that had stopped to help someone with a car broken down by the side of the road.
Let’s give the police and other first responders the credit they deserve for jumping into danger on our behalf every day. They never know what they’ll face when they respond to a call. And just closing a road for a vehicle accident or directing traffic takes officers’ lives on a regular basis.
And let’s also give some credit to the Good Samaritans who risk their lives to help others. Even just walking across a street as a pedestrian or bicycling on Texas roads unfortunately means taking your life in your hands.
In Texas, you could be injured in a road accident at almost any time for any number of reasons. It’s an unfortunate consequence of our driving-dependent culture. And the vast distances between places in our big state means it’s unlikely that we’ll be cutting down on our driving needs any time soon.
If you’ve been injured on our Texas roads, and you need help recovering financial compensation after your accident, just give us a call. We could discuss the particulars of your accident with you in a free legal consultation. We could help you understand your legal options for a fair recovery after the accident. We’re Pearland accident lawyers with more than a decade of successful experience helping innocent victims recover for their injuries. We could help you too. So call today. The consultation is free, but your case results could be priceless.