Some Sobering Facts about Texas Wrong-Way Driving Accidents

A study by the U.S. NTSB, Highway Special Investigation Report, Wrong-Way Driving (2012), reveals that while only about 3% of all vehicle collisions are due to wrong-way driving, these crashes are much more likely than other types to cause truly severe or fatal injuries. This is because many of them occur at high speeds as head-on collisions. Our East Texas highway collision attorneys point out that a high proportion of these crashes are like this one in East Texas, and occur on two-lane highways.

Studies focusing on head-on collisions have found that the fatality rate is between 12% and 27% higher than for other types of crashes. About 60% of the fatal wrong-way crashes result from drunken driving. Distracted driving and driver fatigue are two of the other leading causes of these catastrophic head-on collisions. For more information on your risks from wrong-way drivers, click on this article by our East Texas highway collision attorneys.

Contact us for a FREE and Confidential Legal Consultation about Your Catastrophic Accident Injuries

If you or a loved one were harmed by a wrong-way driver’s error, feel free to contact us. We offer an entirely FREE and confidential legal consultationto answer your questions and evaluate your potential eligibility for a full financial recovery for the needless harm you’ve suffered. You have no obligation to hire an attorney. Reach us anytime through our online contact form or call us direct at 281-369-4363

Questions you need to ask after you’re in a Pearland TX truck wreck

To protect your rights and help ensure that you maximize your chances to obtain a full financial recovery after you’ve been injured in a Pearland, TX truck wreck, our Pearland truck accident lawyers emphasize that you need to ask the following questions:

• Who owned the truck that struck you?
• Did the owner maintain and service the truck regularly as required by law?
• Did the truck driver have a valid commercial driver’s license?
• Was the truck driver familiar with his route and with the truck type that he drove?
• Did the driver fully understand the truck’s controls and how to operate them?
• Was the truck over the legal weight limit or did it violate any other restrictions at the time of the accident?
• Was the cargo of the truck properly loaded and secured?
• At what speed was the truck traveling at the time of the accident?
• Was the truck driver drowsy, drunk, or distracted at the time of the Pearland TX truck wreck?
• How many miles and hours had the truck driver been on the road at the time of the accident?
• What do the truck driver’s trip log and the truck’s Electronic Data Recorder say?
• Did other vehicles, pedestrians, or objects contribute to the accident?

You might not know the truck, driver, and road regulations that cover the rig, its owner, and its driver. You might not know how to find this information. Some of it can be obscure and difficult to locate and understand.

After a serious truck accident injury, you could benefit from the able legal guidance of an experienced Pearland truck accident attorney. Your attorney could help you ask the right questions, uncover the evidence you need to support your injury claim, and strongly present you case to the powerful insurance company, trucking company, and a jury if needed.

Need Help Obtaining the Police Report for Your Accident? Just give us a call. We’ll get it for you, for FREE.

Reach us at (713) 807-9500 or through our online contact form.

Contact the Experienced Pearland Truck Accident Attorneys at Denena Points, PC

for a FREE, No Obligation Initial Legal Consultation or if You need a Free Police Report from the Wreck

Let our more than 15 years of experience holding negligent truckers accountable for the harm they cause help guide you to the full financial recovery you deserve after your serious injury accident. We’re available at (713) 807-9500 or through our online contact form. Contact us today and let us help you recover.

Also be sure to check out our free report, The Roadmap to Texas 18-Wheeler Injury Claims: What You Must Know

How Roadway Design can affect Your Safety in Texas Traffic

Government traffic officials, civil engineers, law enforcement authorities, and the Texas Transportation Institute all contribute to the roadway designs and safety systems intended to help you travel safely to your destination in Texas. But our Houston truck accident attorneys realize that sometimes even the best of intentions can lead to a complicated roadway design that causes confusion among drivers and results in inherent hazards to drivers.

Dangerous Dallas Intersection as an Example of a Flawed Design

For instance in Dallas, there’s a bizarre intersection where LBJ Freeway meets Audelia meets Skillman meets Forest meets Whitehurst. To simply get across the street here is a hazard and businesses tend to suffer because customers that might like to patronize them can’t easily reach them through the complex interactions at the busy intersection. After decades of frustrating drivers, traffic officials are finally talking about updating the bizarre intersection to make it easier for drivers to negotiate.

We’ll see what happens. Our Houston truck accident attorneys understand that it’ll likely be years before the update is completed. In the meantime, drivers will continue to double back in hazardous U-turns, trucks will continue to make hairpin turns, and pedestrians will continue to run for their lives as drivers become confused and lost at the challenging intersection. We suspect the roadway designers for this intersection might have been designing while intoxicated.

What do Roadway Designers Consider when Planning a Safe Roadway?

The road surfaces: Grooved pavements, concrete, asphalt, rumble strips, and reflective or painted roadway markings like double lines, dotted lines, and arrows can all help drivers confronting different traffic and weather environments, as well as their own fatigue and distraction, to stay safely on the road and in the proper lanes.

Traffic control devices: Stop signs, stop lights, turn arrows, “one way” directional signs, walk lights, traffic lights generally, turn lanes, crosswalks, school crossing zones, pedestrian and bike crossings, roundabouts, and traffic circles can all help to control the flow of traffic and make it easier for travelers to anticipate what they and other drivers should do. Our Houston truck accident attorneys emphasize that predictable traffic flow can help avoid confusion and resulting collision.

Driver behavior controls: Some estimates place the percentage of wrecks caused by incorrect driver behaviors at 95%. Obstacles that limit the speed or direction of vehicle travel and deterrents that discourage high-risk behavior can help keep the number of driver behavior-related crashes down. Things like speed bumps, crash barrels, raised curbs and medians, guardrails, pedestrian islands, concrete barriers, red light cameras, and police surveillance cameras can all help control risky driver behaviors.

Directional and informational signs: When you’re unfamiliar with a route, signs that warn of upcoming turns, stops, narrowing roadways, exits, hazards, construction zones, the names of intersecting streets, and even rest stops and points of interest can be your best friend. These signs make finding your way easier and help you avoid dangerous U-turns and having to take your attention from the roadway to look for landmarks or hard to read street names on corners.

Hazard warnings: Our Houston truck accident attorneys know that you need to know when to slow, stop, or pay extra attention to the road in order to avoid collisions. High-visibility signs, lights, and other warnings of sharp turns, school and pedestrian zones, construction zones, merging traffic, icy bridges, accidents, detours, and even the likelihood of encountering animals like deer can cattle in the road can all help you make it safely to your destination.

Need Help after a Serious Collision? Contact the Houston truck accident Attorneys at Denena Points, PC

We offer a FREE, no obligation legal consultation to discuss your accident and potential eligibility for financial compensation for your needless injuries. Just fill out our online contact form to reach us anytime. Or call us direct at 281-369-4363.

And don’t hesitate to download our FREE guide outlining your necessary steps to make a successful injury compensation claim after your auto accident. Just click on the book icon on this web page to download your free book.

Proving and Accurately Valuing Texas Personal Injury Accident Damages

Our Houston personal injury lawyers point out that there are different types of damages you could claim after an accident depending on the nature of your injuries, losses, and costs from an accident. Your own personal losses, whether personal injuries or damage to your personal property, fall under the category of personal injury damages.

Your personal injury damages claim might include the following items:

• Your medical expenses after the accident.
• The costs of any future medical care and therapies you will need as a result of your accident injuries.
• Lost wages while you can’t work because of the accident.
• The value of your losses relating to a reduced earnings capacity due to disabilities resulting from the accident.
• The value of disfigurements you might have suffered.
• The value of your pain and suffering.
• The value of and mental and emotional anguish caused by your accident and injuries.
• In some cases, the value of lost consortium or impaired family relationships.
• The value of personal property losses, like a wrecked car, from the accident.

Our Houston personal injury lawyers note that to WIN a claim of accident injury damages, you must PROVE the existence of each item of these damages as well as its accurate monetary value. In the case of tangible items of damages like lost wages and incurred medical expenses, you can prove the value with past pay stubs and medical bills.

Beware the Challenging Difficulties and Hidden Complexities in Proving and Accurately Valuing Your Personal Injury Damages

For less easily valued items like the costs of future medical care you’ll need, disfigurements, or pain and suffering, you’ll need an experienced and knowledgeable Houston personal injury lawyer to gather and present convincing evidence of the damages and to accurately value them. For instance, the value of disfigurements will vary greatly depending upon your age and occupation as well as the type and location of the disfigurement. As an example, the value of a serious facial scar to a young model will generally be much higher than to a retired carpenter.

Contact Denena Points, PC for the Experience and Knowledge You need to Prove and Value Your Accident Injury Damages

Contact the Texas Board Certified Houston personal injury lawyers at Denena Points, PC to help you prove and value the damages critical to the success of your accident injury claim. We’ve been helping clients win cases similar to your for over 15 years.

Call us at 281-369-4363 or fill out our online contact form to schedule a FREE, no obligation legal consultation to discuss your accident injury claim. Let us help you obtain a full financial recovery for your needless injuries.

7 Factors that increase Your Risk of having a Texas Rollover Accident

Texas rollover accidents have a greater fatality rate than any other type of motor vehicle accident. Nationwide, deadly rollover wrecks take about 10,000 lives per year. Our Houston car accident attorneys present the following list for your safety. It gives you some ofthe primary factors that could increase your risk of a deadly rollover wreck.

1. The type of vehicle you’re driving: SUVs, pickup trucks, cement trucks and other vehicles with a high center of gravity, particularly when it’s up on a relatively narrow wheelbase, hugely increase your risk of a deadly rollover wreck.

2. Speeding increases your risk, especially on curves or turns or when you must suddenly stop. The larger proportion of deaths from Texas rollover accidents occur when vehicles are driving at or faster than posted higher speeds.

3. Driving impaired or intoxicated. It’s difficult to control rollover-prone vehicles even unimpaired, so don’t take a chance. You never want to bet with your life.

4. Not wearing your seatbelt restraints. During a rollover wreck, your chances of being ejected from your vehicle are vastly increased if you’re not wearing your seatbelt. And about 75% of people ejected from their vehicles during a crash die.

5. Rural highways with soft shoulders or ditches.

6. Distracted driving: when you veer out of a lane and have to correct your course, your chances of a fatal Texas rollover accident from overcorrecting, sliding, or tires losing proper contact with the road are greatly elevated.

Learn more about Types of Injury and Fatality Risks from Rollover Wrecks

Read this article by the Houston car accident attorneys at Denena Points, PC. And if you need help after a serious Texas rollover accident injury, just contact us for a FREE and confidential legal consultation. You have no obligation to hire an attorney. We can be reached anytime by ouronline contact form. Just fill it out and one of our Board Certified Houston car accident attorneys will contact you as soon as possible. Or you can call us direct at 281-369-4363.

We understand what you’re going through and we care about our clients’ case outcomes. We dedicate ourselves to your success. Let us help; it’s the reason we’re here.

Some basic Rollover Wreck Facts You need to know if You drive in Texas

Texas rollover wrecks happen most frequently when a vehicle is making a turn or taking a curve. Changing lanes or swerving to avoid another vehicle can send unwary drivers of rollover-prone vehicles into a rollover.

When a vehicle’s speed exceeds what the combined center of gravity, wheelbase, and tire integrity can bear, then the vehicle can easily trip into a deadly rollover accident. Our Houston car accident lawyers note that sometimes striking a curb or a highway embankment sends the driver into a roll.

Vehicles in the United States don’t yet have the best rollover resistance standards in place. So you might encounter life-threatening hazards from Texas rollover wrecks that better vehicle rollover resistance might prevent one day.

Rollover Accidents can cause Life-threatening Injuries and Fatalities in these Ways:

• Collapses of the vehicles structure that can crush, trap or catastrophically injury drivers and passengers. After rollover accidents, the Jaws of Life are often required to extract vehicle occupants.

• Occupant ejection from the vehicle, which has a 75% fatality rate. Drivers and passengers can be ejected because they fail to wear their seatbelts or because car doors warp or door latches open during a roll.

• Roof crush injuries.

• Impacts against vehicle interior parts and other vehicle occupants during a rollover. Occupants not wearing seatbelts might also suffer serious or fatal injuries because they’re too near vehicle airbags when they deploy at about 200 mph.

• Strains on the neck and spinal column from rollovers can cause permanent disabilities and impairments as well as fatal injuries.

Don’t Suffer Needlessly. Learn how to Avoid Rollover Accidents. And Contact Denena Points, PC if You need help for Injuries from a Texas Rollover Wreck

Learn some major mistakes to avoid so that you don’t end up in a rollover:click on this article by our Houston car accident lawyers. And contact the Texas Board Certified Houston car accident lawyers at Denena Points, PC for a FREE, no obligation legal consultation if you need help or have urgent questions after a serious rollover accident has harmed you or a loved one.

We’re here for you at 281-369-4363 or through our online contact form. Call today to start your journey down the road to full financial recovery after a serious accident.

Fatal Accident Increase from Oil Boom a Cause for TX Drivers’ Concern

Over the last year, our Texas truck crash lawyers have been covering the rapid rise in fatal accident numbers due to the Texas oil boom, especially in relation to the Eagle Ford Shale development. But the upswing in fatal crash numbers is troubling in the Basin area as well. Fatal accident reports out of Midland, Odessa, and Lubbock show up more and more frequently on the radar.

The Basin area, while less densely populated than some other areas of Texas nonetheless contains some very heavily trafficked roads like Highway 349, I-20, and FM 1788 that are all prone to congestion and major accidents.

A recent report from KWES indicates that six Basin counties (Andrews, Ector, Howard, Martin, Midland, and Ward) are seeing numbers similar to those of McMullen County in the Eagle Ford Shale Development. Our Texas truck crash lawyers emphasize that McMullen County has shown some of the largest increases in accident numbers since the shale oil boom really took off in that region.

A Look at the Alarming Numbers Heralding the Rise in Fatal Accidents in the Basin

• 2007: 59 fatal crashes killing 65 people in the six Basin counties of Andrews, Ector, Howard, Martin, Midland, and Ward. 23 fatal accidents occurred in each of Ector and Midland Counties, 6 in Howard County, 5 in Andrews County, and 2 in Ward County.
• 2011: 77 fatal crashes killing 86 people in the six featured Basin counties. For instance, 12 fatal accidents occurred in Andrews County, 5 in Ward County, and 5 in Martin County.
• 2012, the less than 10 months so far: 70 fatal accidents killing 87 people in the six Basin counties at issue here.

Officials point out that a large proportion of the accidents are single-vehicle roadway departure accidents. Such accidents are characteristic of driver fatigue, a big problem also in the Eagle Ford Shale development where oil company drivers work extremely long hours. The Midland Odessa Transportation Alliance states that the number of injury accidents hasincreased 17%. And in fatal accidents, there are more often multiple fatalities then in the past.

Our Texas truck crash lawyers note that 2012 still has two more months to run. These two months include the busy holiday period, which historically throughout Texas sees an upswing in fatal accidents from drunken driving.

Some of the Safety Improvements being Made to Reduce Fatal Accident Numbers

• More rumble strips are being installed to alert drivers to impending road departures
• New signal lights are going up at busy intersections
• Flashing beacons are being installed at other intersections that won’t receive full signal lights
• Some highways being widened to contain more lanes
• Placing improved 8-foot shoulders along some highway areas (Source: Geena Martinez, KWES Newswest 9, 10/28/12)

Compare the Rising Trend in Basin Fatal Accidents to the Upswing in Fatal Crashes in the Eagle Ford Shale Oil and Gas Development

Read the in-depth examination of the issue by clicking on this article by our Texas truck crash lawyers.

Forklift Fatalities on the Job: Have You Suffered a Forklift Injury?

On Monday morning at Dow Machine Corporation in NW Harris County, a worker died instantly when a forklift fell on him. The cause behind the tragic forklift fatality remains under investigation.

Forklift operation in the workplace causes tens of thousands of serious injuries and dozens of fatalities each year. Forklift injuries can be particularly debilitating and nasty, due to the massive weight of the machine in relation to the victim. Crushing injuries and fatalities are most common.

How many forklift injuries occur and how much do they cost their victims?

• The average cost of a forklift injury is more than $4,800.
• In 29% of all forklift injury cases, it’s the forklift driver who is injured.
• 1 in 5 forklift injuries occur from forklifts hitting employees who are on foot and unaware of the forklift being operated nearby.
• Around 100 U.S. workers die each year in fatal forklift accidents.
• Almost 35,000 U.S. workers each year receive serious injuries from forklift accidents on the job.
• And over 61,000 U.S. workers receive non-serious injuries in forklift accidents.

In fatal forklift accidents,

• 42% of victims are crushed when the forklift tips over on them.
• 11% of forklift fatalities happen when victims get crushed between two vehicles.
• 25% of victims are crushed between a forklift and another surface.
• 10% of forklift fatalities result when a person is hit or run over by a vehicle.
• 18% of forklift fatalities occur when a load falls from a forklift.
• 4% of victims die when their forklift falls from or drives off a platform.

Many fatal and non-fatal forklift accidents occur from overloading the forklift, elevating people by using the forklift. A small percentage of accidents occur because the forklift has received poor or improper maintenance of its brakes, steering, hydraulic systems, etc. A lack of forklift rollover protection safety devices also results in needless crushing injuries and deaths.

And in some instances, the workplace where a forklift is being operated has simply not been properly designed for such machines. For example, aisles may be too narrow or full, there might be a high level of pedestrian traffic, or noise levels might be too high for other people to notice forklifts operating in their vicinity until it’s too late.

Contact Harris County Forklift Injury Attorneys Tony Denena and Chad Points to Discuss Your Potential for Financial Recovery after a Serious Forklift Injury

Call or contact the experienced Harris County forklift injury attorneys at Denena & Points to find out if you have the basis for a forklift injury-related lawsuit. Don’t just settle for minimal workman’s compensation that won’t pay all your expenses. Talk to one of our Texas Board Certified Harris County forklift injury attorneys about what happened and what we could do to help you win a full financial recovery.

Your initial legal consultation is FREE and without obligation. And if you decide to hire us to help you with your injury lawsuit, we don’t charge you attorney’s fees unless we win your case for you. You have nothing to lose, so call or contact us online today for your free, private legal consultation.

Avoid Forklift Injury at Work: Tips for Safe Forklift Operation

Research data indicates that providing better training could prevent many forklift accidents. OSHA guidance requires forklift drivers to undergo training in forklift operation and safety.

Some important safety rules to follow in order to avoid forklift accidents and minimize injury in the event of an accident include:

• When operating a forklift with an elevated load, keep the load elevation as low as possible to increase vehicle stability and prevent the forklift from tipping over.
• If the forklift starts to tip over, stay with the vehicle rather than trying to jump off. More than 40% of forklift fatalities occur when the driver tries to jump from a tipping vehicle. The driver usually ends up in the path of the overhead guard, resulting in crush injuries to the head, neck, and/or back.
• Wear the seat belt safety restraint when you operate a forklift.
• Maintain the forklift properly to ensure safe operation of the brakes, steering, hydraulic system, and transmission power train.
• Ensure the forklift is equipped with seat belts and a rollover protection system.
• Don’t operate a forklift in workspaces not designed for safe operation of the vehicles. If the aisles are too narrow or crowded, there is too much foot traffic around, or lights and noise conditions prevent safe operation of a forklift, don’t do it.

You may need a qualified Houston forklift injury lawyer to represent you and win you proper financial compensation if you’ve suffered a workplace forklift injury

To discover the extent of your Houston forklift injury and how much you could recover to pay the costs of your harm, it is critical that you seek qualified and competent medical and legal advice. Find out if you have the valid basis for an injury lawsuit. Don’t just settle for the minimal amounts provided by workers’ compensation if your case presents serious injury or long-term disability.

Call or contact online the experienced Houston forklift injury lawyers at Denena & Points to find out if you have the basis for a forklift injury-related lawsuit. Talk to one of our Texas Board Certified Houston forklift injury lawyers about what happened and what we could do to help you win a full financial recovery to improve your quality of life and move forward again. Contact us now to begin your free, no-obligation legal consultation. We take our cases on a contingency fee basis so you don’t pay any attorneys’ fees unless we win your claim for you.

What’s the real story on Yale Street Bridge safety in Houston, Texas?

Our Houston injury attorneys have been reading recently about the weight limit reduction that TxDOT imposed for the Yale Street Bridge in Houston, Texas. The bridge forms a critical component in the city’s traffic infrastructure. It links our I-10 artery, 610, and points south. Construction isn’t expected to begin on a replacement for the Yale Street Bridge until 2016. TxDOT says the current bridge is still safe.

TxDOT has just reduced the weight limit on the bridge to 3,000 pounds per single axle. TxDOT also imposed a maximum weight limit of 6,000 pounds. Some SUVs and pickup trucks weigh more than 6,000 pounds, so the reduced weight limit essentially says that commercial truck traffic must find another route. But is there one really?

The Director of Responsible Urban Development for Houston noted that the previous weight limit on the bridge had been violated several times per hour. He expects the new, reduced weight limit to be violated several times every few minutes. (Source: khou.com, 9/28/12)

Houston police have already begun to enforce the new weight restrictions. But if violations really occur so frequently, the HPD won’t catch everybody. They won’t even catch a high percentage of violators at the estimated violation rate. On the other hand, our Houston injury attorneys are hopeful that fines from the violators the police do catch should help sock away some funds to repair or replace the Yale Street Bridge.

In the coming weeks, Houston has said it will be performing some low-cost repairs with an eye to stabilizing the bridge so that the weight limit can be increased again to amore realistic level. In the meantime, should you take the Yale Street Bridge, try to make your way across in the presence of as little traffic, and weight, as possible.

Learn what to do in the event of a truck accident injury. Download our Houston injury attorneys’ free book with a click on this web page. The free guide outlines the steps you need to take to protect your rights and make a successful financial recovery following an unfortunate accident that has injured you.