Philadelphia Top Injury Lawyer Blog

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.

Philadelphia residents are still digging their way out of the record-breaking snowfall that blanketed the Eastern Seaboard from the Carolina's into New England this past weekend. Meteorologists report that 23.2 inches of snow fell on Philadelphia. With meteorologists predicting a Christmas Day rainstorm, already treacherous Philadelphia roadway conditions are expected to become even more hazardous. Worsening road conditions could expose Philadelphia residents to an even greater risk of personal injury related car accidents and truck accidents.

The 30-hour winter storm caused whiteout conditions on many roadways as winds gusted up to 60 mph. Motorists were sent skidding across roadways and car accidents were numerous in the Philadelphia area, Motorists in Virginia were stranded for hours on snow-choked highways before emergency crews arrived to dig them out. Seven people in three states died as a result of the storm, including a snowmobiler who crashed head-first into a horse-drawn buggy in Pennsylvania's Amish country west of Philadelphia.

As the Philadelphia region digs out today, slippery road conditions and black ice from melting snow will make driving conditions extremely dangerous. Many Philadelphia streets were still unplowed this morning. Philadelphia motorists are being urged to exercise extreme caution and expect traffic delays.

When severe weather is a factor in serious Philadelphia car accidents and truck accidents, the facts of the accident can be obscured by slow response times by overworked emergency crews coupled with the physical difficulty of reaching snowed-in accident scenes. A thorough investigation may have to be conducted by a skilled Philadelphia personal injury lawyer to uncover the facts and determine an event timeline for the car or truck accident. Serious personal injuries like bone fractures, spinal injuries and head trauma can have life-changing consequences. A Philadelphia personal injury attorney has the legal knowledge and professional expertise to pursue your claim and obtain the largest settlement possible

It should be a pleasantly balmy, if breezy, 54 degrees in Philadelphia today. Enjoy it now because tonight the full force of winter will blow into Philadelphia as the fierce winter storm that has hammered the nation blankets the city. Daytime Philadelphia temperatures are expected to drop nearly 20 degrees by tomorrow morning with overnight temps below freezing for the next week. Rain mixed with snow and sleet could make driving conditions around Philadelphia extremely dangerous. Powerful wind gusts over 40 mph could make walking on rain and ice-slicked pavements extremely treacherous and lead to numerous slip and fall accidents.

The storm that's about to descend on Philadelphia has wrought havoc and hundreds of personal injury accidents across the country. Torrential rains caused mud slides in California. Winds over 100 mph ripped roofs off buildings in New Mexico. Fifteen-foot snow drifts immobilized Iowa and Illinois. Southern states are bracing for flooding and tornadoes. Downed power lines, subzero wind chills, power outages, flight delays, falling tree limbs, jackknifed trucks and hundreds of car accidents litter the storm's aftermath. At least four deaths have been attributed to the storm.

When winter storms bring freezing rain, ice and snow to Philadelphia, personal injury accidents and car accidents rise. Unshoveled walks and iced over parking lot puddles create dangerous slip and fall hazards for Philadelphia pedestrians. Black ice on snowy roadways can cause trucks to jackknife and cars to lose control increasing car accidents and truck accidents. When temperatures drop, defective heating products can cause fires in Philadelphia homes. A Philadelphia personal injury lawyer can assist you if you slip and fall. Philadelphia accident lawyers can protect your rights in a car accident. A Philadelphia personal injury attorney experienced in fire and defective product claims can assist you if heating equipment fails. If you become a victim of the coming storm, seek the advice of an experienced Philadelphia personal injury attorney immediately.