Dallas Auto Accident Attorneys Blog — Published by Dallas, Texas Auto Accident Lawyers

Published on: June 21, 2018

Summer Time Driving Safety

heatwave12-300x169 Summer is a dangerous time to drive: more drunk drivers, new drivers, and more confused tourists are out on the road with you in Dallas, Texas, and the surrounding areas.

But even if you take other drivers out of the picture, the summer months still have their own inherent climate-related dangers. The heat alone is dangerous for passengers and drivers alike. The most important things to watch out for during the summer months include: tire failure, heat stroke, and an overheated engine.

Tire Failure. The over-usage of drivers on the road, along with excessive heat, can wear down and cause great damage to your tires. Tire damage and failure causes over 11,000 accidents each year.

Continue reading →

Published on: June 19, 2018

More Safety Means Higher Car Insurance Costs

By Angel Reyes III

250652-300x200 New cars have steadily increased the high-tech crash-prevention gear, and now they are having a perverse effect on car-insurance costs: They are soaring.

Safety features such as autonomous braking and systems to prevent drivers from drifting out of their lanes are increasingly available on vehicles rolling off assembly lines. Auto companies and third-party researchers say these features help prevent crashes and are building blocks to self-driving cars.

But progress comes with a price.

Continue reading →

Published on: June 14, 2018

How Can I Reduce the Cost of Having a Teenage Driver on My Policy?

By Angel Reyes III

Teen_Driver_2-731735-edited The financial shock of adding a teenager to a family auto insurance policy is getting less shocking… kind of.

An annual analysis by insuranceQuotes.com found that adding a teenager still increased annual premiums substantially, but the magnitude of the increase has been falling over the past few years.

Adding a single teenager to a policy caused annual premiums to increase an average of 78 percent, or $671. But rate increases have been decreasing since 2013, when the average increase was 85 percent.

Continue reading →

Published on: June 12, 2018

The Secrets Insurance Companies Don’t Want You to Know

By Angel Reyes III

bigstock-Top-Secret-Concept-Top-Secret-232925815-1024x678 Hiring a personal injury attorney should be the first step for the severely injured after a car or truck wreck. Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex personal injury victims must make a series of choices after an accident, and many of those involve dealing with the insurance company. Coping with an adjuster or an insurance company that is trying to pay as little as it possibly can be incredibly frustrating. However, if you are going to represent yourself- here are a few secrets:

It is Not Personal – Just Business for the Adjuster

Typically, an adverse adjuster will contact the car or truck crash victim after a serious injury accident. It is important to remember that the adjuster is not on your side and does not have your interest at heart when attempting to settle a claim. Your claim is probably one of several hundred the adjuster has on the plate. Don’t make the mistake of believing they care about your situation. If the adjuster is going out of his or her way to be helpful to you- that is a signal they may be worried about the amount of your claim.

Continue reading →

Published on: June 7, 2018

Swimming Pool Summer Time Safety Tips

By Angel Reyes III

bigstock-Children-sitting-on-inflatable-21193889-300x227 With summer here, it ‘s a great time to remind everyone of the various dangers and liabilities of swimming pools. Although they can provide a lot of fun, backyard and public pools alike pose a serious risk to those who don’t look out for the potential safety flaws in their summer fun.

Water slides of all kinds can be another serious risk. If a rider is on a slide that has too powerful of a flow of water, they can be potentially thrown from the slide, causing serious injury. Lifeguards or attendants not paying attention to what they are doing may also send too many riders down in quick succession, leading to a dangerous pile-up at the exit of the slide, which may empty into a pool that is not sized or filled properly, creating another potential hazard. Finally, as recent news has shown us, the flawed design, construction, or maintenance, especially of water park slides, can open up possibilities of serious injury and even death.

Even basic safety components of a pool can create lesser-known risks.

Continue reading →

Published on: June 5, 2018

How to Manage Chronic Pain After an Auto Crash

By Angel Reyes III

AdobeStock_96275293-1024x683 The Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex is an amazing to explore, but if someone else’s negligence leaves you injured in an accident things can be very different. While accidents caused by negligence can lead to any number of injuries, chronic pain can be especially difficult to manage. If you’re suffering from chronic pain that was caused by another person’s negligence, you need experienced legal counsel.

The National Institute of Health (NIH) defines chronic pain as any pain that lasts for more than 12 weeks. While acute pain serves the important role of alerting sufferers to a physical problem that needs medical attention, chronic pain is a different story. Chronic pain is simply just pain – and often lasts for a prolonged time. Chronic pain often results from a precipitating injury, and is frequently accompanied by other health problems such as:

Fatigue

Continue reading →

Published on: May 31, 2018

Not Only Motorists are Distracted: Pedestrian and Bicyclist Deaths on the Rise

By Angel Reyes III

According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, just shy of 6,000 pedestrians were killed in 2016 in traffic accidents, 11 percent higher from 2016 and 22 percent higher than 2015.

bigstock-people-travel-technology-le-134934635-300x200 Each year about 2 percent of motor vehicle crash deaths are bicyclists. In a majority of bicyclist deaths, the most serious injuries are to the head, highlighting the importance of wearing a bicycle helmet.

A total of 817 bicyclists were killed in crashes with motor vehicles in 2015. This represents a 13 percent increase from 2014 and the highest number of bicyclist deaths since 1995.

Continue reading →

Published on: May 29, 2018

Despite Past Fatal Crash, A Frisco Self-Driving Start-Up Presses Forward

By Angel Reyes III

drive-vehicle-2-1024x683 FRISCO, TX – (original article by Cade Metz of the New York Times) Earlier this month, an orange and blue car with the words “Self-Driving Vehicle” prominently displayed on both sides drove itself through the streets of this rapidly growing city north of Dallas, navigating across four lanes of traffic and around a traffic circle.

The car, operated by the Silicon Valley start-up Drive.ai, will eventually become part of a fleet of autonomous taxis that will ferry locals along a predetermined route between the Dallas Cowboys facility in Frisco and two other office, retail and apartment complexes.

While other companies have tested self-driving cars for years and some are in the early stages of offering a taxi service, Drive.ai’s autonomous vehicle debut on Monday was still notable. It was the first new rollout of autonomous cars in the United States since a pedestrian died in Arizona in March after a self-driving car operated by Uber hit her.

Continue reading →

Published on: May 24, 2018

What Type of Child Car Safety Seat Should You Be Using?

By Angel Reyes III

4-steps-1024x462
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death and serious injury for children over one years of age, and every day an unrestrained child under the age of five is killed in a traffic crash in the United States.

The safest place for a child in a car is in a rear seat, properly buckled into a child safety seat, or a booster seat – but what type of Child Car Safety Seat should you be using?

If your child is:

Continue reading →

Published on: May 22, 2018

Could Dental Malpractice be Considered Murder?

By Angel Reyes III

A California dentist, Dr. Claire, was charged with second-degree murder in the death of his son, after performing a routine dental procedure. Patrick Claire, a developmentally disabled 36-year-old whose condition resembled autism, died shortly after having a painful wisdom tooth extracted by his father. Patrick died from respiratory failure and cardiac arrest as a result of an overdose of the sedatives morphine and valium. The dentist had been practicing for forty years and had a history of complaints filed against him for sedation-related issues. Morphine is not an approved sedative and Dr. Claire did not have a license to practice aesthetics.

What elevated the incident of death from dental malpractice to suspicion of murder was the testimony of an eyewitness to the entire procedure. Sandra Montoya was the dental assistant at the time and claimed that Dr. Claire did nothing when she tried to alert him that his son was struggling to breathe. She said that the doctor claimed that such was common and his son was prone to having seizures. After Ms. Montoya left work at 5:00 pm the doctor waited an hour and called 911. When police and rescue workers arrived around 6:00 pm they found Dr. Claire half-heartedly administering CPR to his son with a force the equivalent of “honking a car horn with one hand”. Patrick was taken to a local hospital where he was declared dead. Montoya told police that she did not see the doctor administer the required blood pressure tests to Patrick prior to giving him the sedatives and that there were no vital signs monitored during the procedure as required by law.

Although Dr. Claire claimed that he had given Patrick a standard intravenous dosage of valium and morphine, lethal amounts nearly three times the required level to sedate a patient of his height and weight were found in his system including some in his stomach. It was discovered that Patrick had sought medical attention at the local emergency room and was given pain prescription painkillers including novocaine. It is suspected that Patrick, a known local drug user, could have secured the morphine illegally and used it to relieve his pain without telling his father.

Continue reading →