Washington, DC Personal Injury Lawyer - Automobile Accidents

First Serious Winter Weather Causes Numerous Car Wrecks

David Tompkins — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 16:15:50 GMT

Icy road in the Washington D.C. area contributed to a number of car accidents this week. Car accidents are not caused by snow, but by inexperienced drivers. People who don't know how to drive on snow go too fast for conditions and hurt other people and themselves. Insurance companies never find their driver negligent for driving too fast for snowy or icy conditions. Adjusters will always blame the snow, and pay injured people nothing.

Icy conditions, really the first of this year, contributed to numerous car accidents this week. According to NBC4, at least one fatality in the area can be attributed to the weather.

According to this article, one person driving an SUV died when he lost control (going to fast for conditions), was hit by a semi, then pushed off the road on Route 15. The driver died of very serious injuries caused by the collision. The driver of the semi suffered what the article describes as minor injuries.

The article goes on to describe accident after accident caused by snow, ice and weather.

But let's get seroius here. The SNOW did not cause the collision. Poor, unsafe driving causes these collisions. In our society, we just have to get there as fast as we can!

Even more telling is how many of these collision involved SUVs. These large, 4 wheel drive trucks are driven by inexperienced drivers on our roads. What I mean by inexperienced is that the drivers are those who don't really understand how to drive in the SNOW, not how much they drive in general. Driving a 4 wheel drive vehicle will get you moving, but does not help you stop on the snow (at all) and does not really help that much at steering. The person with little experience in the snow will get their large, top heavy vehicle going forward, but can't stop. They become a cannon-ball on the road.

So please, DC drivers, take your time when it is snowing. If you are late, be late and stay alive.

When one of these snow-speed-demons hits you or a loved one, contact an attorney to assist you. Almost guaranteed the insurance company for the other person won't find their driver negligent for driving too fast. The adjuster will blame the snow, and pay you nothing.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Tompkins

Family to Sue Health Insurer for Fatal Delay in Treatment

David Tompkins — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 23:11:16 GMT

While not a typical automobile post, I'd like to draw your attention to this weeks story about a health insurer who denied a liver transpant to a young insured girl. It seems that liver transplants, to the health insurer, is still considered an "experimental" procedure, so they denied coverage for the procedure.

The young girls family hired a well known TV lawyer to get some media coverage. They call legislators, held press conferences, wrote letters, did the whole "blogosphere" routine. Put some heat on the health insurer, and see if you can move them.

It worked, the carrier changed their position, a few hours before the young girl died. I believe there is a song about this: "Isn't it Ironic."

Now there are calls for criminal charges against the health insurer, civil suits for negligence against the health insurer, and so on. But let's look at why this girl died: MONEY.

The procedure costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. Who gets that money? Doctors, for profit hospitals, pharmacutical manufacturers (for the crazy priced anti-rejection drugs) and so on. NONE of these people (I include the doctors here) woudl help this girl, unless there was money in it for them. Think about that for a bit, no one would help her unless the health insurance company (or the girl herself, or her family) coughed up the dough. While we look for money, the girl dies.

Also look at the health insurer. The call now is for a criminal complaint to be filed against the health insurer. A corporation. Corporations cannot go to jail. But there are PEOPLE at the health insurance company who delayed this girl's treatment. If these people knew they would cause this girl's death by delaying her treatment, is that manslaughter. I doubt any district attorney would touch that case. It is morally reprehensible, but probably not a "crime" as such.

I feel badly for the family that lost their beloved daughter. She was killed by our capitalistic, money-grubbing health care system that feeds on insurance company pay-outs and the wages of the poor. The outrage leveled at the health insurer, while deserved, is misplaced. No one is going to cure any disease in America for free.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Tompkins

Court Rules in Uninsured Motorist Policy Case

Shannon Weidemann — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 23:21:30 GMT

A New Jersey Appellate Court ruled that a woman who was injured in a drive by shooting can receive compensation from the Uninsured Motorist portion of her car insurance even though she was just entering her car at the time of the shooting. The insurance company denied her claim originally.

But the appellate judges, citing two New Jersey Supreme Court rulings, concluded there is no requirement that the vehicle "literally strike the insured" in order for a policyholder to receive benefits.
"[T]he automobile did more than provide a setting or an enhanced opportunity for the assault. In addition to allowing the assailant to be at the place of attack, it furnished the assailant with what he must have assumed would be both anonymity and a means of escape. The assailant would not likely have committed such an act of apparently random violence use of a car," the judges wrote.

Uninsured Motorist Insurance normally covers a claim when someone is struck by a hit and run driver or by someone without auto insurance.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Car and Motorcycle Accidents.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Shannon Weidemann

Washington Bus Driver Pleads Guilty in Pedestrian Deaths

Shannon Weidemann — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:23:37 GMT

Two woman were hit by a Metrobus in February and killed. The pedestrian accident happened at the intersection of 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue. The driver of the bus has plead guility to two counts of negligent vehicular homicide.

The accident was captured on videotape by a security camera positioned near the roof of the National Archives. Obtained by 9NEWS NOW and broadcast on July 20th, the tape recording clearly showed the bus make a sweeping left hand turn in front of on-coming traffic and into the intersection where the two women were crossing the street with the green light.

The bus driver could face up to 10 years in prison but he will likely be sentenced to three years. He will be sentenced in December. The widower of one of the victims has filed a civil suit against Metrobus.

For more information on this subject matter, please refer to the section on Airline, Cruise, Bus, and Other Mass Transit Accidents.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Shannon Weidemann

Text Messaging on Cell Phones While Driving Dangerous Idea

Shannon Weidemann — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 18:05:24 GMT

A recent study by a researcher at the University of Utah at Salt Lake City has found that drivers that engage in text messaging or "texting" on their cell phones are six times more likely to be involved in a car accident. Washington D.C. has banned the use of hand held cell phones while driving but the law does not include text messaging.

John Ulczycki, director of transportation safety for the National Safety Council, said text messaging is among the worst things a driver can do.
"Any time you take your hands, eyes or brain off the wheel it's not good," he said. "With text messaging, you take all three off the wheel."

A study by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. found that for drivers between the ages of 18 and 60, 20 percent admitted to using text messaging while driving. The number of people that are using the texting feature on their cell phones increases every year.

For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Car and Motorcycle Accidents.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Shannon Weidemann

Teenager Killed in Charles Town Accident

Shannon Weidemann — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 17:40:12 GMT

A 13-year-old was killed in a car accident in Charles Town on Sunday. He was being treated for his injuries at Children's Hospital in Washington D.C. when he passed away on Monday.

The victim was in an SUV that

was struck by a Toyota Camry while attempting to make a left turn onto U.S. 340 from Augustine Avenue in Charles Town.

Police believe that the victim's father, who was driving the SUV, was at fault in the accident. The victim's sister was also injured in the accident. She was treated and released for her injuries. The driver and passenger in the other vehicle were also injured and treated at local hospitals.

For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Automobile and Mototrcycle Accidents.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Shannon Weidemann

Washington D.C. Removes Road Test Requirement for Elderly

Shannon Weidemann — Fri, 25 May 2007 15:48:53 GMT

The District of Columbia tried to inact a measure to require drivers that are older than 75 and renewing their license to undergo a written test and road test. Drivers, AAA, and the AARP all protested the new measure saying it was unfair to the elderly. Washington D.C. was trying to prevent motor vehicle accidents.

"We're not going to wait until there's a horrific accident and then wring our hands and say, 'There was nothing we could have done,'" Acting DMV director Lucinda Babers said last week, before Fenty changed the policy.
In the district and elsewhere, officials are bracing for an uptick in older drivers, as aging baby boomers swell the ranks of the elderly.
DMV officials discovered a decades-old law on the district's books that gives the agency the right to require drivers over 75 to retake the road test and the written test upon renewal every five years. The department began using that power in May 2006.

The requirement has now been removed. Instead they will rely on people reporting concerns about elderly drivers on a case by case basis. Drivers over 70 must also appear in person to renew their license.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Shannon Weidemann

Police Officer Dies After Parade Accident

Shannon Weidemann — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 23:18:24 GMT

An officer with the Washington D.C. Police force has died from injuries he sustained during an accident on Good Friday. He was helping to block the parade route when he got out of his vehicle to stop a scooter. His car was somehow left in drive.

Police believe that Pitt rushed back to his car to try to put it in park but never got fully inside the vehicle.
The police car continued forward, striking the scooter, a parked car and finally a tree. He was rushed to surgery at Washington Hospital Center for internal injuries. No one else was injured.

He suffered internal injuries and never recovered. His family removed him from life support and he died with them by his side. He had been a police officer since 1986 starting with the Durham police force.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Shannon Weidemann

Two People Hurt in Hit and Run Accident

Shannon Weidemann — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 21:44:48 GMT

A man driving a Honda Accord owned by a friend, ran into two people and then fled from the scene on foot. The owner of the car was a passenger. He is unable to drive due to a problem with his driver's license.

D.C. police are looking for the driver of a car who fled on foot after hitting a man and a woman. Investigators said the incident happened just after 11 p.m. on Wisconsin Avenue near Tenley Circle.
Police said the couple, in their 20s, had just gotten off a bus and were attempting to cross the street when they were struck by a light blue four-door Honda Accord.
After the impact, witnesses told police, the driver got out of the car and ran away.

Both people were taken to a local hospital for treatment. They are both expected to recover. The police are still investigating the accident and trying to find the driver. Anyone with information is asked to call them.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Shannon Weidemann

Man Killed in Car Accident on Wisconsin Ave.

Shannon Weidemann — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 00:37:28 GMT

A 29-year-old man from Ireland was killed in a four car accident in Washington D.C. early Saturday morning. The victim worked at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel.

The collision remains under investigation, but D.C. police spokesman Sgt. Joe Gentile said at this time speed and alcohol appear to be contributing factors.
Police closed Wisconsin Avenue for a time in both directions near Woodley Road to allow the department's major crash unit to complete their investigation.

The 42-year-old driver of the vehicle that caused the accident has been charged with second-degree murder.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Shannon Weidemann