Philadelphia Top Injury Lawyer Blog

Barely a week ago, Philadelphia Flyers playoff hero Danny Briere and his 9-year-old son fortunately escaped serious personal injuries when they were involved in a car-truck accident in New York just north of the Pennsylvania border. Just after midnight, a tired Briere drifted into the truck's lane. His car smashed into the guardrail; the tractor-trailer jackknifed and overturned. Briere sustained injuries to his arm and hand which are not expected to affect his future with the Flyers. His son and the truck driver suffered minor injuries.

The prognosis is considerably less rosy for Giants' rookie safety Chad Jones. A severe personal injury car accident early Friday morning may have cut short his promising NFL career. Jones suffered severe personal injuries when he lost control of his SUV and crashed into a utility pole while in New Orleans for the Giant's training camp. Jones recently signed a 4-year, $2.615 million contract with the Giants.

After being cut out of his car, Jones was transported to Louisiana State University Trauma Center where he remains in "guarded condition" following several hours of surgery to repair his shattered leg. Jones' father told reporters that while the surgery was successful, Jones faces a long and painful rehabilitation. Jones is expected to remain in the hospital for some time due to the severity of his injuries and risk of infection. Jones hopes to regain the use of his leg, but his NFL career is in serious jeopardy. Two passengers in Jones' car suffered minor personal injuries. Police are investigating.

Injuries to sports stars grab the headlines, but serious Philadelphia personal injury car accidents often exact the same high costs -- months of hospitalization and rehabilitation, loss of income and possible life-altering permanent disability. When serious car accidents occur, Philadelphia personal injury lawyers can protect your rights and pursue damage claims to which you may be entitled, allowing accident victims and their families to concentrate on recovery.

As Philadelphia motorists head into Memorial Day, one of the busiest driving weekends of the year, drivers should be aware of the steps they should take if they are involved in a Philadelphia car accident. Making the right decisions and following correct procedures after a Philadelphia car accident can be critical to preventing additional personal injuries and speeding resolution of medical and auto repair bills. When serious personal injuries occur, following recommended procedures will protect your legal rights.

Seek safety. If possible, move your vehicle out of traffic. Get yourself and others to a safe area along the side of the road and away from traffic. If there is no safe place to wait for help, stay in your vehicle and keep your seatbelt on.

Call for help. Call 911 and tell the operator what happened, the location of the accident, the medical condition of accident victims, damage to vehicles involved; and your cell phone number. If possible, keep the line open while waiting for help to arrive.

Exchange information. Exchange information with the other driver, including his name, address and phone number. Write down the make, model, color and license plate number of other vehicles involved and record insurance company names and contact information. If there were passengers in the other vehicle, get their names and contact information.

Document the accident. Record the date and time of the accident, weather conditions, location and direction each vehicle was traveling. If you have a camera phone, take pictures. Get names and contact information of any eyewitnesses.

When a car accident results in serious personal injuries, contact an experienced Philadelphia personal injury attorney for a free case evaluation.

A tragic multiple truck accident not far from Philadelphia shut down a 26-mile stretch of the New Jersey turnpike for nearly 8 hours this week. The 3-truck accident, which occurred near Chesterfield, NJ, south of Trenton, involved a box truck, a dump truck and a tanker trailer loaded with 8,000 gallons of volatile kerosene. Accident investigators believe the box truck rear-ended the tanker, pushing the vehicles into the path of the dump truck. The box truck driver was killed and the tanker driver remains hospitalized with serious personal injuries.

Commercial trucks are responsible for more than 12% of Philadelphia vehicle collisions. This week's crash on the New Jersey turnpike was unusual in that it involved three trucks, perhaps because it occurred at 1:00 a.m. when truck traffic is heavy and automobile traffic is light. In the majority of Philadelphia truck accidents, a truck collides with one or more cars. A car is no match for a truck and fatalities and severe personal injuries are frequent in such collisions. When trucks and cars collide, Philadelphia personal injury attorneys investigate log books, GPS data, black box data and engine computers to identify actions taken by the truck driver prior to and during the crash. Frequently, truck driver exhaustion, failure to track cars that wander into the truck's blind spot and truck maintenance issues are found to be contributing factors in truck/car accidents.

When truck accidents occur, a Philadelphia personal injury lawyer with expertise in investigating and litigating truck accidents is aware of the many demands trucking companies may put on their drivers. Pressure to meet delivery deadlines can cause truck drivers to disobey federal safety rules and drive more hours than allowed, resulting in driving errors, aggressive driving or lack of concentration. If you or a loved one suffers personal injury in a truck accident, consult an experienced Philadelphia personal injury attorney for a free case evaluation.

During rush hour this morning, the Philadelphia driver of a minivan lost control of his vehicle and plowed into a parked car on Ben Franklin Parkway. The force of the Philadelphia car accident triggered a chain reaction that damaged two additional vehicles. No serious personal injuries were reported, and the accident is under investigation. It is not yet known what caused the driver to lose control.

Driver error is sometimes found to be the cause when a car veers out of control and causes property damage or a personal injury accident. Other times, the problem is mechanical failure as was the case recently with Toyota's accelerator problems. Many Toyota vehicles as well as other manufacturers' cars and trucks are equipped with a black box attached to the engine that records vehicle performance data during a crash. Used by automakers to solve problems, Philadelphia personal injury lawyers now regularly request that black box accident data be shared. While many automakers comply, Toyota typically had not.

In the wake of the recent Toyota recall, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee has released a draft bill of legislation that would increase vehicle safety for Philadelphia citizens. The proposed legislation would require all new cars and trucks to be equipped with black boxes to aid car and Philadelphia truck accident investigators. The legislation would also eliminate the cap on civil penalties that limits automaker liability. If made into law, the measure would also beef up National Highway Traffic Safety Administration authority, enabling it to order immediate vehicle recalls if it believed a vehicle posed an "imminent hazard of death or serious injury."

Philadelphia personal injury attorneys support any measure that allows the victims of personal injury car accidents to obtain facts about car crashes. Black box findings could be a real help to Philadelphia personal injury investigators working to reconstruct car accidents.

If our last post we shared some of the tricks of the trade Philadelphia personal injury attorneys use when investigating car accidents and truck accidents. Investigation is crucial in determining fault and responsibility when serious personal injury car accidents occur. Today, we continue our list of Philadelphia personal injury car accident investigation tips:

Was either driver talking or texting on his cell phone? Police can subpoena cell phone records to determine if calls were made or received during the accident time. Personal injury lawyers can gain access to these records when a legal action is implemented.

Were the car's headlights on? Because headlights make a car more visible in low light, this question is particularly important when car accidents occur during twilight or early dawn hours. Investigators examine the light bulb filament inside the headlamp. The filament would be cold if the headlights were off and would crack or snap into pieces on impact. If the headlights were on, the filament would be hot and would stretch and twist on impact.

Where in the roadway was each car? The location of each car in the roadway at the time of the accident helps Philadelphia personal injury attorneys determine whether either driver was changing lanes, preparing to turn, trying to avoid an obstruction in the parking lane or had, perhaps, ventured outside his lane or over the median. Measurements between the point of impact and lane barriers help investigators determine each vehicle's path prior to and during the accident.

Was either driver drunk or driving impaired? While field sobriety tests are not administered by police in every auto accident, they are usually conducted if the officer has reason to suspect alcohol or drug impairment. When sobriety tests are not conducted, personal injury lawyers may canvass accident witnesses or friends and associates of the drivers to determine whether either driver engaged in alcohol or drug use just prior to the accident.

A new law that takes effect on Monday, May 3, 2010, has caused some confusion for Philadelphia drivers. Under the new regulation, Philadelphia drivers will no longer be required to contact police immediately after a minor car accident. Beginning Monday, Philadelphia drivers may exchange personal and vehicle information and leave the accident scene, waiting until they return home to alert police and their insurance company. It's the definition of "minor" accident that has many Philadelphia drivers confused.

Minor accidents are those that involve no personal injuries and no physical damage to surrounding property, including any residential, commercial and government-owned property. In a minor accident, all damage is confined to the motor vehicles involved in the crash and damage to those vehicles is slight enough that they can continue to be driven safely. If anyone affected by the accident suffers even a slight personal injury, the police must be contacted immediately. If the accident causes any property damage -- landscape plants, fences, other autos, signage, etc. -- or any vehicle suffers major damage or cannot be safely driven, the police must be called.

The new law also specifies that all drivers involved in the accident must exchange owner and vehicle information. Experienced Philadelphia personal injury lawyers recommend exchanging the following information:

• Make, model, year, color, license plate state and number and vehicle identification number (VIN) of the car.


• Name, address, phone number and driver's license number of the driver. Always write down the information from the license, but also ask if the information on the license is current and write down any different information the driver gives you verbally.


• Auto insurance company name and policy number.

You may also want to snap a few pictures of the accident site and any damage to the other vehicle as a precaution. Once you return home, Philadelphia drivers are required to call the police to report the accident and should then call their insurance company.

Most Philadelphia drivers may not realize that the choices they make when they purchase car or truck insurance may some day impact the outcome if they are involved in a personal injury car accident or truck accident. When purchasing insurance, Philadelphia drivers must choose between Full Tort or Limited Tort insurance. In case of a car accident, limited tort insurance forces the car owner to assume the burden of recovering funds to pay for pain and suffering endured when a serious personal injury is sustained. Full tort insurance places that burden on the insurance company in exchange for higher insurance fees.

In order to recover funds for pain and suffering, the victim of a Philadelphia car accident or truck accident or their family must show that the personal injury suffered was severe enough to cause serious impairment of body function, permanent disfigurement or death. If you suffer serious injury in a car or truck accident, it is advisable to seek the advice of an expert Philadelphia personal injury attorney with experience in handling full tort and limited tort auto accident claims.

Generally, muscle strains and other injuries that may cause pain or problems for several months but do not result in lifelong chronic issues are insufficient to obtain pain and suffering compensation; however, there are exceptions. Obtain the appropriate diagnostic tests that confirm your injuries may be crucial to your case. An experienced Philadelphia personal injury lawyer can advise you on medical tests that can support your claim and other necessary measures that you should take.

When Philadelphia auto owners choose full tort insurance, their ability to recover for pain and suffering is not limited, even for minor injuries. Either tort option allows injured parties to recover for economic loss, including lost wages, property damage and excess medical bills. If you have been in a car or truck accident, consult a Philadelphia personal injury attorney for a free case evaluation.

Auto safety issues seem to be making Philadelphia headlines daily. Honda yesterday announced a recall of Element and Odyssey models to repair squishy brakes. A vehicle stability assist modulator connected to the brake assembly appears to be faulty and has been linked by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to several car accidents. The recall comes on the heels of Honda's recall of nearly half a million vehicles for malfunctioning air bags that can burst and cause serious personal injury, peppering vehicle occupants with metal fragments.

Toyota's acceleration problems continue to worry Philadelphia car owners and baffle federal regulators. Despite several repair efforts, sudden acceleration on Toyota vehicles remains a problem. Federal regulators are now investigating whether cosmic rays from space, known to affect airplane and space shuttle systems, might be interfering with car computer systems. NHTSA has also tracked fatal acceleration car accidents to Ford and Chrysler vehicles.

In their nationally syndicated column Car Talk, Tom and Ray Magliozzi advise drivers to shift their car into neutral if the gas pedal sticks or the car starts to accelerate on its own. Shifting into neutral disengages the engine from the wheels so that even if the engine continues to rev, the car will slow down and eventually stop. Shifting into neutral is preferable to turning off the key because it allows the driver to maintain control of the car. In neutral, the power steering, power brakes, ABS and other vehicle systems continue to work. Turning off the key shuts down all these systems and can activate the steering wheel lock, giving the driver absolutely no control over the runaway vehicle.

If you are in a car accident caused by uncontrollable acceleration or vehicle malfunction, a personal injury attorney can provide a free case evaluation and advise you of your legal rights.

Philadelphia personal injury lawyers and Philly consumers were appalled to learn that Toyota has for years been collecting car crash data but failed to reveal or share it to protect consumers. According to an Associated Press investigation published this week, Toyota has consistently stone-walled authorities by denying access to vital information about vehicle accidents collected in the event data recorders installed in every Toyota car and truck. As part of their continuing quality control efforts, most auto manufacturers use event data recorders, also called EDRs, to record engine, computer and other operating system data about their vehicles. Working much like the "black box" devices used in commercial airplanes, these electronic recorders provide the manufacturer with vital data about the vehicle's performance -- and failure -- if it is involved in a car accident.

Most automakers allow open access to EDR data. This data can be invaluable to police and insurance investigators as well as Philadelphia personal injury lawyers trying to determine the cause of an auto accident or truck accident. The Associated Press investigation found that Toyota frequently refused to share critical information with crash victims and accident survivors. When forced by personal injury attorneys during court proceedings to provide EDR data, Toyota frequently provided blank or incomplete data sheets or initiated out-of-court settlements. Unlike other auto manufacturers, Toyota EDRs use proprietary software that effectively restricts access to EDR information by auto accident investigators. According to the Associated Press, last week only one computer in the entire U.S. was equipped with the software necessary to read Toyota EDR data.

Toyota's recall of 8 million vehicles plagued by runaway accelerator and faulty brake problems has affected thousands of concerned Philadelphia car owners. If you own a Toyota car or truck and have been involved in an accident, contact a Philadelphia personal injury attorney for a free case evaluation.

Eighty-five inches of snow! A normal winter in Minnesota or North Dakota where brutal winters are the norm; but in usually temperate Philadelphia it's a record that has closed airports, halted trains, downed power lines, sent school children home, caused cars to careen into each other and sent Philly residents sliding across sidewalks. Mother Nature's most recent wallop has contributed to numerous Philadelphia personal injury accidents and several deaths. Philadelphia car and truck accidents, slip and fall accidents and personal injury accidents caused by snow blower malfunctions have increased in the wake of the latest Nor'easter to blow through Philadelphia.

Yesterday, Pennsylvania highway officials cut the maximum speed on I-476 and later banned tractor-trailers because of dangerous whiteout conditions. Accident reports on I-95 exceeded troopers' ability to respond and non-injury accident victims were instructed to exchange information and struggle home. A woman and her son died and her husband and two other children were rushed to the emergency room yesterday when their car slid off icy I-80 in the Poconos. Amtrak suspended service for several hours along its heavily trafficked Boston to Washington corridor when a high-speed train struck and killed two Philadelphia pedestrians just south of the city yesterday morning.

The snow dumped on Philadelphia is so wet and heavy that it's clogging snow blowers, increasing personal injury risk to fingers and hands as people struggle with malfunctioning snow blowers, attempting to unclog snow-packed chutes. Mixed with rain, the wet snow is causing an icy slip and fall hazard for Philadelphia pedestrians skidding along sidewalks and attempting to traverse ice-slicked parking lots.

When weather plays a role in personal injury accidents, it takes exacting investigation by a highly experienced Philadelphia personal injury lawyer to determine legal fault. If you have suffered a personal injury accident during this latest round of storms, contact an expert Philadelphia personal injury attorney to assess your claim and explain your legal rights.

Between 20% and 30% of all car accidents and truck accidents are caused by distracted drivers, according to statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Proliferate cell phone use has made talking and texting on the phone the primary cause of driver distraction and a significant contributing factor in Philadelphia personal injury car accidents. According to a NHTSA study, Philadelphia drivers are 1.3 times more likely to be involved in a collision while talking on a phone. The risk more than doubles when drivers are dialing a cell phone and increases even further when Philadelphia drivers text while on the road.

Concern over the impact of cell phone use on Philadelphia personal injury car accidents caused the city to enact a cell phone law last November banning talking, dialing and texting on a handheld device while driving a motor vehicle. The severity of the problem prompted the Pennsylvania House to approve a statewide bill that, if passed by the Senate as expected, will strictly ban talking and texting on handheld cell phones while driving (see our January 27 post). National accidents attributed to cell phone use led the U.S. Department of Transportation to recently ban texting by commercial truck and bus drivers.

In a Philadelphia cell phone-related car accident late last year, a van driver ran a red light while talking on his cell phone, crashing into the front of a SEPTA bus. The crash caused the bus to lose control and ram into an El support column. Eighteen people were injured. A passenger in a SUV driven by a Pennsylvania resident suffered catastrophic injuries when the driver collided with another vehicle while texting. A truck driver talking on his cell phone on I-70 rammed a car in bad weather, killing a mother and two children.

If you are involved in a Philadelphia car or truck accident, whether or not cell phone use played a possible role, contact a Philadelphia personal injury lawyer about your rights.

Yesterday, Philadelphia representatives voted for a tough new bill strictly banning handheld cell phone use while driving. Overwhelmingly approved by the Pennsylvania House, the bill now goes to the Senate. If passed, Pennsylvania will become the fifth state to ban both talking and texting while driving.

Driving a car is such a normal everyday part of American life that most people take it for granted. Drivers regularly apply makeup or shave on the way to work, munch their lunches while driving between errands, check through their CDs and pop in some new tunes while on the highway, plug new destinations into their GPS units, and more. In pursuit of our fast-paced multi-tasking lifestyle, Americans seem driven to pack as much activity into every single second as they can. Multi-tasking among teens and young adults who regularly spend in excess of 8 to 10 hours plugged into electronics -- listening to music on their iPods while surfing the Internet, talking on cell phones and texting simultaneously -- has sparked recent media concern. Put these kids behind a wheel and traffic safety officials say you have a recipe for disaster.

In fact, Philadelphia drivers of any age who combine driving with other activities decrease concentration and increase the risk of personal injury car accidents. Studies have found that people don't actually multi-task as well as they think they do. The brain focuses on one thing at a time. Talking on the phone while driving impairs response time as much as driving drunk. If you talk on the phone while driving, you brain focuses on your conversation, causing reaction time to lag when a car accident situation occurs. Decreased response time is the same whether you're using a handheld phone or hands-free headset. It's the conversation that is distracting. The result of distracting driving in Philadelphia has been deadly, prompting Pennsylvania to join other states in considering distracted driver laws that focus on cell phone use, particularly texting.

More next time

Once again brutish winter weather led Philadelphia headlines as an Alberta Clipper blanketed states from the Great Plains to the Atlantic Coast with ice, snow and freezing temperatures. Philadelphia residents endured a slow, slushy commute this morning peppered with car accidents on the slippery roads. Many Philadelphia schools and businesses opened late this morning to give buses and employees a little longer to navigate Philadelphia's treacherous highways.

One inch of snow was recorded in Philadelphia last night but western Pennsylvania and parts of Central Ohio received up to 6 inches of snow. Snow-related treacherous highway conditions on I-70 near Columbus, Ohio are believed to have played a role in yesterday's tragic truck accident. As reported on national newscasts, the driver of an empty tanker truck lost control of the vehicle which careened across the median and crashed head-on into a mini-bus carrying disabled adults home from a training session. The bus driver and three of the adults were killed in the truck accident.

Philadelphia was fortunate to be spared a highway fatality, although numerous car accidents and truck accidents were reported throughout the area this morning, adding to computing headaches. Things didn't get any easier once people parked their cars and headed across slippery parking lots for the office door. Melting snow and freezing temperatures turned Philadelphia parking lots and sidewalks in skating rinks. Dangerous slip and fall accidents were a serious concern this morning. With sunny skies expected today followed by overnight temperatures in the chilly mid-teens, the melt-and-freeze cycle should continue to make Philadelphia sidewalks and parking lots a dangerous slip and fall personal injury hazard all weekend.

When bad weather results in car and truck accidents or causes slip and fall accidents, investigation by a Philadelphia personal injury attorney can discover possible fault or negligence on the part of drivers or property owners and help you collect the settlement you deserve.

In the wake of a tragic New Year's Eve car accident that killed two in Philadelphia comes a report from the Institute for Transportation Engineers that an estimated 120 people die every day on U.S. highways in "vehicle-related crashes." Car accidents, truck accidents and motorcycle accidents are the leading cause of death among Americans aged 1 to 34 according to statistics from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Interestingly, people who seriously fear being victimized by robbery, rape or assault crimes fail to associate similar danger with driving.

In an interview with Scripps Howard News Service, Russ Rader of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety had this explanation for the phenomenon:

"People don't generally think of driving as a risky task. They think that crashes happen to other people, not themselves. There is a researcher who calls it the illusory zone of immunity. When we do things day after day that are routine, we don't think of them as being particularly dangerous. But of course, the statistics show that getting behind the wheel of a car is probably the riskiest thing any of us do on any given day."

Over the past decade, more than 41,000 people have died in car accidents nationally and thousands more sustain serious personal injuries, many in the Philadelphia area. The AAA Foundation (American Automobile Association) calls car accident and truck accident deaths a "public health crisis" on its website. Highway safety experts lament that it is a crisis that seems to be flying under most people's radar. Safety experts point out and Philadelphia personal injury lawyers agree that daily car accidents kill far more than the occasional train wreck or airline disaster but rarely garner major headlines.

Just before Christmas a 12-year-old girl was killed when the car she was riding in was rear-ended by a box truck in Port Richmond. The force of the crash ejected the girl from the car and she died instantly. The other occupants of the car, the girls' parents and 4-year-old brother, were taken to the hospital with injuries that were not life threatening. The truck driver was not injuried.

So often, that's the tragic result when a small car and heavy-duty truck collide in Philadelphia. Passenger cars designed to crumple to protect their occupants are no match for the force, weight and stronger construction of larger trucks. Unfortunately, designs that are efficient for hauling cargo can create dangerous conditions when inattention, weather issues, unpredictable drivers or unexpected circumstances pit trucks against cars. Truck designs may obscure the Philadelphia truck driver's visibility. Greater weight, higher center of gravity, taller bumpers and a host of other factors can affect not only the truck's stability and maneuverability, but the driver's ability to control the vehicle in an accident situation.

In a Philadelphia truck accident last January, a tractor-trailer with faulty brakes rear-ended a car on the Schuylkill Expressway killing the car's driver and seriously injuring a passenger. Just recently resolved in court, the Philadelphia truck owner in that case pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide, admitting gross negligence in placing a faulty vehicle on the road. Expert investigation led authorities to also charge both the truck driver and truck mechanic for their parts in failing to properly inspect and report maintainance problems with the vehicle. All three Philadelphia men now await sentencing that can include up to 7 years in jail and serious fines.

Expert investigation, knowledge of the trucking industry and legal tenacity are often required to discover the truth in personal injury cases involving Philadelphia truck accidents.