Automobile Accident

Distracted Driving Leads To Deadly North Carolina Accident :: Personal Injury Attorneys and Lawyers in Charlotte, NC

April 9, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

Attorney Matthew R. Arnold answering the question: “What should I do if I have been injured by another party but I can’t afford a lawyer?”

Police investigators with the Asheville Police Department have announced that a woman from Candler, NC died and several others were injured due to distracted driving. Specifically, officers say they found three phones, two of which were open, in the car of Donna May, the woman who ultimately died after the three-car wreck.

Police say they are currently in the process of gathering evidence about what May was using the phones for at the time of the deadly accident. A judge from Buncombe County approved a request by the police to download information contained on the phones to help piece the events of that morning together.

So far, investigators say they know that May was driving east on I-40 in her Ford Thunderbird headed towards the exit ramp for I-26 a little after nine in the morning when she slammed into the back of a Land Rover. May was driving quickly in very congested, morning rush hour traffic and, given her distraction, did not see that the exit ramp was backed up. She then drove directly into the Land Rover, hitting it hard enough to push it into a Ford van. May was taken to a local hospital where she later died from her injuries. Two passengers in the Land Rover were also hospitalized, but have since been released after receiving treatment.

The dangers of distracted driving are clear and law enforcement officials have taken pains to remind drivers about how using cellphones while driving can greatly increase your risk of being involved in an accident. Every single day distracted driving is thought to contribute to 8,000 car accidents. AAA says that those drivers using cellphones while behind the wheel quadruple their risk of being in an accident.

No Headlights At Night Lead To Accident in North Carolina :: Car Wreck Attorneys in Charlotte, North Carolina

February 22, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

A terrible accident took place in Newport, North Carolina a few weeks ago that resulted in several people being taken to the hospital for treatment of their injuries. The two vehicle crash took place early one evening and is being blamed on one driver’s failure to turn on her headlights.

Police say they have charged the one driver with failure to burn her headlights and to properly inflate her tires. The woman was driving her car, an older model Pontiac, west on Highway 70 in Newport, NC with only her parking lights on. It was then that a van making a left turn onto Highway 70 crashed into the Pontiac. Five people were taken to a local hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, while emergency responders at the scene treated a sixth person.

In a normal accident that unfolds in this way, many might think that the car that turned left onto Highway 70 and thus into the path of the Pontiac would be at fault since it did not respect the right of way of the oncoming vehicle. However, the driver of the Pontiac did not have her headlights on which meant she is being held liable for the terrible accident.

North Carolina General Statutes § 20-131 is very clear on the requirement for drivers to keep their headlights on. The language of the law reads:

The headlamps of motor vehicles shall be so constructed, arranged, and adjusted that, except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, they will at all times mentioned in G.S. 20 129, and under normal atmospheric conditions and on a level road, produce a driving light sufficient to render clearly discernible a person 200 feet ahead.

Injured NASCAR Fans Look For Legal Representation :: Personal Injury Lawyers and Attorneys in Charlotte, North Carolina

February 19, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

Several of the fans injured in the recent NASCAR Nationwide Race in Dayton have retained lawyers to ensure that they are compensated for the injuries they sustained in the fiery accident.

The crash took place during the February 23rd Nationwide Series race at Daytona. At least 28 people were injured when a section of Kyle Larson’s car went airborne and overshot the catch fence designed to protect spectators from harm. Flaming debris then went flying into the front-stretch stands during the last lap of the race; sending a few dozen people to the hospital for treatment.

Some injuries were relatively minor, with only scrapes and small cuts. Others were much more serious, so serious in fact that two people remain in the Daytona Beach Halifax Health Hospital today, weeks after the crash. The two remaining patients were injured after being hit by Kyle Larson’s tire and each suffered what were initially life-threatening injuries.

One man from North Carolina was injured in the NASCAR crash. The man, from Angier, NC, was taken to a Daytona hospital to receive medical after suffering from cuts to his face and body. The cuts were deep enough that he had to receive 12 stitches in his head. He’s now back home recovering from his wounds.

Some legal experts interviewed by USA Today are saying that NASCAR could face liability for the accident, despite issuing tickets that say spectators assume the risk of any injuries. Some have said that a strong case could be made that the organization could have done more to prevent these injuries from occurring by using a stronger fence or better assembling it to hold up to the force of a crash.

Charlotte Launches Campaign To Protect Pedestrians :: Personal Injury Law Firms Attorneys and Lawyers in Charlotte, NC

February 7, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

According to a recent report by WBTV, pedestrians in Charlotte might have some good news in terms of safety. That’s because the city has announced the start of a new program designed to make sidewalks in Charlotte safer for those on foot.

The campaign was started after joggers, disabled citizens and those walking to work and school voiced complaints with the city about the lack of safety for pedestrians. The complaints began after a string of traffic crashes were reported last year involving pedestrians. The accidents were bad enough that two resulted in fatalities for innocent pedestrians.

Last year a terrible accident crystalized some of the problems seen in Charlotte that are caused by overly crowded sidewalks. A student at Myers Park High School was riding his bike when he tried to avoid a garbage can that had been placed on a sidewalk. When he swerved to avoid the can he fell off his bike into the street where he was hit and killed by a passing vehicle.

Auto Deaths Rise In 2012 For First Time In Eight Years :: Personal Injury Lawyers and Attorneys in Charlotte, North Caroilna

January 29, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

According to statistics released by the National Safety Council, the number of traffic deaths across the country increased by around 5% last year. Tragically, the increase in traffic deaths would make for the first time the number of road fatalities has increased in eight years.

The group said that last year 36,200 people died in auto accidents on the nation’s roadways. The number of people injured enough in such accidents to require medical attention also rose by a corresponding 5%, reaching an astonishing 3.9 million people. The financial toll of auto accidents is also significant, with billions wasted in lost wages, lost productivity, hospital bills and property damage. The estimate was that in 2012, expenses associated with auto accidents rose to $276.6 billion.

These numbers are slightly better than the ones released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in December. Those numbers showed that for the first nine moths of 2012, traffic deaths had risen 7.1%. This 7.1% increase was the largest increase in traffic fatalities since 1975; the year the NHTSA began collecting such data.

The National Safety Council has pointed to an increase in teen driving deaths and deaths due to distracted driving as being partially to blame for the increase in road deaths. The organization says it must be a priority by Congress and state legislatures to address such safety issues to ensure that 2013 does not see a similar increase in road deaths.

Distracted Driver Causes Massive Pileup on I-485 :: Automobile Accident Lawyers and Attorneys in Charlotte, North Carolina

January 22, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

A terrible accident on I-485 last week left five people injured after a tractor-trailer carrying a mobile home crashed into other nearby vehicles. The accident happened just after noon on the I-485 inner loop just past Providence Road.

The Charlotte Fire Department said they were dispatched to the scene to save a person who was trapped in a car. All of the five people injured were taken to the CMC Main Hospital for treatment, three of whom were treated for life-threatening injuries.

An interview conducted by WCNC of several of the victims in the crash revealed that one survivor is suffering from multiple broken ribs, a broken leg and a broken arm. Two others in the same car also had several broken bones and are severely bruised. Despite the terrible injuries, they say they count themselves as lucky just to have survived.

One of the vehicles involved in the crash was a Toyota Prius that was following behind the semi acting as a pilot car. The driver says the crew had just pulled off the interstate to fix some plastic wrapping on the mobile home that had come loose. As they were stopped on the side of the interstate out of nowhere the Prius was smashed into by an SUV driver going at least 65 miles per hour along the shoulder of the road. Evidently the driver was attempting to program his GPS and had drifted out of the lane of traffic, not paying attention. The Prius was hit so hard that the front end was smashed into the back of the mobile home and the back end was smashed into the SUV.

NC Highway Patrol Warns Drivers To Watch For Those On Roadsides :: Car Wreck Lawyers and Attorneys in Charlotte, North Carolina

January 17, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

It’s tragic that data shows more than 150 police officers have died since 1999 after being hit by passing vehicles on roadways across the United States. The numbers, recently released by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, serves as a painful reminder of how much police officers sacrifice to keep others safe.

WBTV reports that the North Carolina Highway Patrol is taking this opportunity to impress upon residents of the state how important it is to abide by the Move Over law, especially when emergency vehicles are stopped on the side of the road.

North Carolina is one of 43 states to enact such legislation. North Carolina implemented its version of the law in 2002. Though the law is now more than a decade old, many drivers remain unaware of it. According to recent polling, some 71% of Americans have never heard of “Move Over” laws. This despite the fact that 86% of those responding to the survey say they support enacting such legislation.

North Carolina’s law was designed to help curb the numbers of deaths suffered not only by police officers, but by other emergency responders and even civilians who were stranded on the side of the interstate. North Carolina’s law requires drivers to slow down and approach cautiously when an emergency vehicle is stopped on the shoulder of the roadway with its lights flashing. Motorists are required to move over to another lane away from the emergency vehicle on a multi-lane highway or slow down on a two-lane highway assuming they can do so safely.

Car Accident Lawyers and Attorneys in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina :: The Reason Behind Low Insurance Rates in North Carolina

December 25, 2012 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

There’s been discussion among industry insiders about the low auto insurance rates paid by consumers in North Carolina and whether a raise in the rates might actually be a good thing in the long run. This might come as a surprise to drivers in the state given that North Carolinians currently enjoy some of the lowest car insurance rights in the country.

According to a survey by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, drivers in the state pay the eighth lowest amount in the country behind Maine, Idaho and five states in the Midwest. Another survey, from Insure.com, says that the state is doing in even better, coming in at the fifth lowest auto premiums in 2012.

However, the reason for the low rates reveals that it’s not all good news. Some of the reasons are great: good roads, good traffic enforcement and low population density are all contributing factors. However, a bigger reason is that North Carolina is one of only a few states with laws on the book that make it harder to win personal injury lawsuits by evaluating whether an injured person had a role to play.

In North Carolina, the law says that if you are even one percent at fault, you might as well be 100% at fault. That’s because unlike most states, North Carolina follows an old common law rule known as contributory negligence. Under this approach, when a person is found to have any responsibility at all for his or her injuries, that person is then barred from recovering damages for those injuries. That means, that if a person is responsible in the smallest way for an accident, the defendant will avoid having to pay anything for the harm they caused. There are a few ways around this strict rule, including if the defendant acted in a willful or wanton manner or if the defendant had the last chance to avoid an accident and failed to do so. Currently only three other states and the District of Columbia follow the contributory negligence approach.

The vast majority of states use some version of a comparative negligence system where the amount a plaintiff can recover is reduced according to the percentage they are found to be at fault. For instance, if a plaintiff is found to be 10% responsible for an accident and the defendant is found to be 90% responsible, the total damage award will be reduced by 10%.

There have been several attempts to change the outdated system used in North Carolina, including last year’s vote in the House in favor of a bill replacing the contributory negligence system with a modified comparative negligence system. Though the House passed the bill, it failed to get the necessary votes in the Senate due to language inserted by legislators friendly to the insurance industry.

Personal Injury Attorneys and Lawyers in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina :: Red States and Blue States Differ on Fatal Traffic Accident Rates

December 11, 2012 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

Though most of us know about the cultural differences that appear to exist between people in red and blue states, we likely have never heard that there are also differences in fatal traffic accident rates. According to a recent article in the LA Times, red states have significantly higher fatal traffic accident rates than blue states.

Some may try to extract political reasons for the difference, but experts agree that the real reason is one of geography. Most red states have higher speed limits than blue states given the increased amount of open, rural roadways as opposed to dense, urban population centers. Moreover, red states often see drivers having to travel longer distances and go further to find a hospital or emergency services. Blue staters are more likely to use public transportation, further dropping their chance of being killed on the road.

Public transportation usage dramatically reduces the rate of road deaths, so much so that many people have used the data to push for an increase in government money directed towards rail projects. Nearly all of the least fatal states have comprehensive public transportation systems which keep residents from driving much of the time.

The site revealed that the 10 highest death rates, per 100,000 people, occurred in states that voted for Mitt Romney in the recent election. Even more surprising is that fully 17 out of the 18 deadliest traffic accident states voted Republican in 2012. The 10 states with the highest traffic death rates per 100,000 population are: Wyoming, Mississippi, Arkansas, Montana, Alabama, Oklahoma, Kentucky, South Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia.

Dram Shop Attorneys and Lawyers in Charlotte, NC :: North Carolina Dram Shop Laws Receive Attention After Tragic Accident

November 29, 2012 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

A heartbreaking drunk driving crash in Charlotte, NC that severely injured a young couple and killed their unborn child and the drunk driver shed light a law that is meant to prevent bars and restaurants from serving alcohol to already intoxicated customers.

The innocent North Carolina couple was driving home in October of 2010 when police say a drunk driver with a blood alcohol level more than three times the legal limit crashed into them going more than 100 miles per hour. The drunk driver had just left a bar in south Charlotte where he had been served at least 10 drinks.

The couple spent more than a month in the hospital and the wife lost the baby and more than 40% of her own blood. Extensive surgery was required for both the husband and wife in addition to many months of rehabilitation after the accident.

Earlier this month a jury in Charlotte returned a $1.7 million verdict against the bar, finding that the restaurant was negligent in serving alcohol to a person it should have known was drunk. Though the bar has not been found criminally liable, saying an investigation by the Mecklenburg County Alcoholic Beverage Control Board found that the bar had not served alcohol to the drunk driver after he was “visibly intoxicated,” the civil standard is less stringent.

The innocent couple sued the bar under North Carolina’s law that makes establishments that serve alcohol to obviously drunk or underage customers who then cause death or injury to others liable. The laws, known as dram shop laws, are on the books in all but seven states. Some have criticized the North Carolina law for being vague; not specifying exactly what owners of such establishments should do to ensure they are not liable for the actions of their patrons.