On behalf of Reed & Terry, L.L.P. posted in Drunk Driving Accidents on Thursday, May 16, 2013
When it comes to how much you can drink and still legally drive, the current standard in Texas and all other U.S. jurisdictions has been a blood alcohol content of less than .08 percent. The allowable BAC has been at .08 since the mid-80s and 90s, after traffic safety and other interest groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving lobbied for years to have the law passed in every state.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, however, the .08 standard isn't doing enough to stop drunk driving accidents from killing thousands of people every year. Since the allowable BAC in the many other industrialized countries is .05, the agency has just announced its recommendation that the U.S. follow suit.
Government statistics show that around 30 percent of all fatal traffic accidents involve drunk driving. That is a big improvement since driving while intoxicated first became a major political issue during the Reagan administration, when half of all fatal crashes involved someone who was DWI.
On behalf of Reed & Terry, L.L.P. posted in Product Liability on Thursday, May 9, 2013
Another medical device from Medtronic is under fire. The Food and Drug Administration has issued a Class I recall of Medtronic's deep brain stimulation, or DBS, devices because the external wires may become damaged by the very cap installed to keep them securely attached to the implanted electronics. A Class I recall by the FDA means that there is a reasonable possibility patients using the defective medical device could experience serious, adverse medical effects or even die from the fault.
What a DBS does is send highly-targeted electrical impulses to the brain. Part of the device is implanted in the brain, but it has an external component to allow the patient to change the batteries. The device is used to treat a number of conditions, such as Parkinson's disease, obsessive-compulsive disorder and involuntary muscle contractions. Not all patients with the device are affected, but the problem was widespread enough that Medtronic called it to the FDA's attention in February.
On behalf of Reed & Terry, L.L.P. posted in Car Accidents on Wednesday, May 1, 2013
No one enjoys receiving a traffic ticket, especially when it comes in the mail unexpectedly after running afoul of a red light camera. But do they at least help cut down on the number of car accidents where they're installed? Or are they, as some contend, merely a revenue generator for law enforcement?
Voters in Sugar Land may get a chance to weigh in on that issue in November. One New Territory man has some big issues with the cameras and doesn't believe they impact the car accident rate. He recently delivered a petition with some 3,300 signatures to the City Secretary in an effort to get the question of whether the city should have red light cameras onto the ballot. 2,835 verified signatures of Sugar Land voters are needed for the ballot initiative.
The city claims that a number of studies have been performed since 2009 showing that red light cameras do indeed cut down on car accidents. At the nine Sugar Land intersections that have the cameras, the city says traffic crashes are down 58 percent.
On behalf of Reed & Terry, L.L.P. posted in Car Accidents on Thursday, April 25, 2013
On the morning of Thursday, April 11, a bus bound for a casino crashed on a highway near George Bush Turnpike, killing two passengers and injuring many others. In one of the worst single-vehicle accidents in recent memory, the charter bus was carrying a group of mostly senior citizens from Texas to an out-of-state casino when the accident occurred. The accident is still under investigation by Texas authorities.
According to preliminary reports, the bus was traveling northbound when it suddenly veered to the right and struck an impact attenuator, a safety device installed along some highways. The force of the impact careened the bus back across the highway where it hit the median and mounted the highway divider, rolling onto its side and coming to a stop. When authorities responded, two unidentified passengers were already dead and over 30 more had sustained injuries characterized from minor to critical in severity.
On behalf of Reed & Terry, L.L.P. posted in Car Accidents on Wednesday, April 17, 2013
An 18-year-old man tragically lost his life on Saturday, April 4 after a two-car accident outside of Edinburg. The Texas Department of Safety is currently investigating the car accident, which injured three other people. Sources say a downed stop sign may have been partially responsible for the crash.
According to safety reports, a red minivan was headed north when it struck a silver sedan at an intersection where the stop sign had been knocked down. Local residents say the sign had been down since the previous night. When troopers and fire fighters responded, they used the Jaws of Life to extract the driver of the sedan and his passenger, who was taken to a local hospital with undisclosed injuries. The minivan driver suffered throat injuries and she, along with her passenger, were taken to the same medical facility. The three injured parties remain in unknown condition, and the driver of the sedan was declared dead.
On behalf of Reed & Terry, L.L.P. posted in Car Accidents on Friday, April 12, 2013
The Texas Department of Public Safety is overseeing an investigation into a fatal crash that occurred in a small East Texas town on March 28. According to local police, the car accident involved an SUV and a pickup truck towing a trailer with an attached motorcycle. The crash has left one man dead and two other people critically injured.
According to police reports, the two vehicles were traveling in opposite directions when the SUV suddenly changed lanes and crashed headlong into the truck. The left fronts of each vehicle collided, causing severe damage. The driver of the SUV, a 22-year-old Texas man, suffered extensive injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene; while the occupants of the truck, a husband and wife, were rushed by air to East Texas Medical Center. Their injuries were purportedly significant, but both are expected to survive and were listed as being stable at last report.
On behalf of Reed & Terry, L.L.P. posted in Car Accidents on Thursday, April 4, 2013
Conroe, Texas was the site of what officials are calling one of the worst crashes in the area's history on March 23, when a family of four was tragically killed. The car accident happened in the early hours of a rainy day on Texas 105. The crash claimed the lives of two adults, aged 27 and 28, along with their two young children, aged 6 and 8.
According to investigators, the family's vehicle was traveling westbound when a truck traveling in the opposite direction suddenly veered into their lane and struck the car head-on. Despite the fact that all four family members were wearing seatbelts, they were pronounced dead at the scene. The truck driver, a 40-year-old Texas native, was taken to a nearby hospital and treated for internal and head injuries that were described as non-life-threatening.
By Reed & Terry, L.L.P. posted in Car Accidents on Thursday, March 28, 2013
On the evening of Friday March 22, a tragic car accident took the life of one woman and left eight others badly injured, according to San Patricio County authorities. The car accident occurred when a bus leaving San Antonio ran the red light at the intersection of Highways 181 and 188, just east of Sinton. The bus struck the side of a small car, causing several of the car's passengers to be ejected from the vehicle.
An investigation launched by the Department of Public Safety concluded that the occupants who were thrown from the car were not wearing seat belts at the time of the crash. All eight injured parties, including two young girls aged 12 and 15, were airlifted by Halo Flight to local hospitals in the Corpus Christi County area. One woman was pronounced dead at the scene, but officials have yet to release additional information as to her identity or the nature of her injuries.
On behalf of Reed & Terry, L.L.P. posted in Car Accidents on Friday, March 22, 2013
Details are few in a recent tragic crash that claimed the life of two young people here in Texas. Both of the victims of a fatal car accident were cadets in the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets. A third victim who was also a cadet survived the crash with injuries.
According to a report, the three cadets had travelled back to their hometown to participate in a JROTC event. As they drove to return to the Texas A&M campus, the small truck in which they rode was struck by another vehicle. It appears that the car was driving in the opposite direction in the wrong lane when it smashed head-on into the vehicle occupied by the cadets.
On behalf of Reed & Terry, L.L.P. posted in Wrongful Death on Monday, March 11, 2013
A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against a Texas county, the sheriff and several others employed at a jail where a man took his life in 2011. The man had been in custody for over a year, stemming from several criminal charges. He reportedly suffered from mental issues, but the lawsuit claims he was not receiving necessary medications while in jail to help treat those problems. The wrongful death suit claims the county is guilty of discriminating against the man and, as a result, his mental health began to deteriorate.
The man's mother is asking for a way to force the county to report an inmate's suicidal tendencies to the appropriate medical or supervisory staff. She also wants damages for her pain and suffering, mental anguish, her son's funeral costs and wages equal to what her son would have earned had he lived and gotten out of jail. She is also seeking additional compensation, but the details of exactly what are unknown.
