Philadelphia Car Accident Lawyer Blog

The Court of Appeals of Texas of the First District of Houston issued an opinion on February 18, 2010 in its finding the driver of a dump truck employed by the City of Houston guilty of criminally negligent homicide. The Court found that the driver used a deadly weapon, namely a motor vehicle, during the commission of this tragic offense.

The facts indicate that on the morning of October 24, 2006, the driver of the truck, a laborer employed by the City of Houston, was traveling in a city dump truck when it sped recklessly into another vehicle. As it approached an intersection controlled by a red light, other vehicles were properly stopped and at a standstill. The dump truck collided with a Jeep which went airborne with all of its four wheels leaving the pavement thereafter striking a traffic pole and landing on its driver’s side. After striking the Jeep, the dump truck continued across the intersection towards a group of workers who were installing new traffic signals and tragically the dump truck ran over one of the employee’s installing the traffic signals, killing him. The truck also struck another worker who sustained multiple fractures including two broken legs. Many witnesses to this accident stated that the truck was driving too fast to either stop for the light or was in the wrong lane to make a proper turn. The 31,000 lb. dump truck involved in this case weighed 8 times that of the Jeep that it hit.

Continue reading "Death By Out Of Control Dump Truck Results in Driver Being Found Guilty of Criminally Negligent Homicide" »

Once again Toyota executives have a bulls eye on their backs as at least 10 new complaints submitted to the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration charged the recall fix is not working and the problems with sudden acceleration defect continues. The new post-recall complaints were first noted in a report by Safety Research and Strategies SRS a private research firm located in Rehobath, MA. Among the complaints detailed by SRS was a driver who said that even though her 2009 Toyota Matrix had its brakes and pass pedal service February 10th, the car was so uncontrollable on February 26th. Another 2008 Avalon owner said the car was backing out of a driveway a few days after being serviced when it accelerated on its own and the car did about three loops around the garage area of the home causing damage to the car, benches, branches, trees, lamp post, etc. Another complaint says that 2010 Toyota Camry suddenly surged just 5 days after having recall work done.

Although Toyota executives claim they are confident that their SUA recalls will end when the microphones are put in front of them, some consumers who have taken their recall vehicles in for the fix tell a different story.

The Toyota vehicle defect law firm of Reiff and Bily is continuing to investigate and handle Toyota SUA cases and if you or a loved one has been a victim of this situation, please feel free to contact our office for a free consultation.

Eight people were killed early on Friday morning March 5, 2010 when a passenger bus crashed on an Arizona interstate. The wreck occurred south of Phoenix at milepost 173 on I-10. The Department of Safety reports that there have been multiple fatalities and many catastrophic injures. Our hearts and prayers go out to the friends and families of those who were killed in this most tragic bus accident. We wish all of the injured victims a quick and speedy recovery. Though it is not clear from the initial news reports what caused this Arizona bus accident, one thing is clear bus companies owe their passengers the utmost duty of care which means that they must ensure that their passengers are transported safely.

As an experienced bus accident and common carrier accident lawyer, the victims would be well advised to seek experienced counsel to make sure that their rights are properly protected. They would be well advised not to speak to any insurance adjusters or give any statements.

An experienced bus accident lawyer will conduct a comprehensive investigation to determine who is at fault and responsible for their injuries. The experienced bus accident attorneys at Reiff and Bily will always do so with no obligation.

Last month I was traveling northbound on Pennsylvania Interstate 95 in a snow storm that was making the roads slick and impeding vision, yet a tractor trailer blew by my vehicle at such a high rate of speed that the gust caused my vehicle to shift and a snow bomb that erupted from the back of the speeding truck blinded my vision putting me in a very dangerous and anxiety producing situation.

Just two weeks ago before, a truck driving too fast down an Ohio interstate lost control, slid across the interstate and into oncoming traffic, hitting a special needs bus and killing four. It consistently amazes me that truckers seem to think that they own the highway and don’t seem to give a damn about other vehicles in their way particularly in icy and snowy conditions. When I tried to slow my vehicle down due to a temporary loss of control as a result of the icy road and truck wind and snow gust, I started sliding and began to curse the truck driver. If another vehicle was close to me, I would have probably slid right into that vehicle and the truck would have kept going. Of course, the truck was registered out-of-state and obviously revealed little regard for the safety of Pennsylvania motorists.

In this experienced Pennsylvania truck accident and car accident attorney’s opinion, the trucker was driving much too fast for conditions. Interestingly enough, the major cause of trucking wrecks in Pennsylvania is driver inattention, speeding, driving too fast for conditions, all of which is manifested by the callousness that many truckers exhibit on Pennsylvania highways. Illegal or unsafe speeds, obscured vision, and the other catchall “human contributing factors” is no different than drunk driving according to the Public Safety Department’s Office of Traffic Safety. As I handle more of these truck and car accident cases in my law practice and have luckily escaped “the bullet” many times, I can tell you that it is not just bar hoppers or drunkards who make the road so dangerous.

If you or a loved one has been involved in a catastrophic car accident or truck accident, please feel free to contact one of our experienced truck accident and car accident lawyers at Reiff and Bily for a free consultation at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

According to Transportation Secretary Raymond LaHood, the ban will go into effect immediately. The experienced Philadelphia car accident and truck accident lawyers of Reiff and Bily have known for years that trucking regulator site research shows that when drivers take their eyes off the road to send and receive text messages on cell phones, they put themselves and other drivers at significantly higher risk for accidents. Drivers of heavy trucks and buses that are texting are 23.2 times more likely to be involved in a crash or near crash event than those who are not texting while driving. Studies have indicated that drivers of heavy vehicles take their eyes off the road for five to six seconds while texting. At 55 mph this means that drivers travel the length of a football field, including the end zones, without looking at the road. The National Safety Council estimates that over 200,000 crashes a year are caused by drivers who are texting. Legislation has also been introduced in Congress to extend the ban to all drivers of motor vehicles on a national scale.

As an experienced Philadelphia car accident attorney, I have handled thousands of car accident cases involving simple negligence as well as automobile product liability defects. I have dealt with just about every conceivable type of expert there is when it comes to car accidents and the one thing that I have learned over the years is that one should never drive in the rain with your cruise control on. Although you may think that it is cautious and a way to avoid speeding tickets by driving with cruise control on, a common situation is that your car can hydroplane and tires will lose contact with the pavement and the car will accelerate at a high rate of speed making it take off like an airplane.

Last year traveling on a slick Atlantic City Expressway, I made the mistake of traveling with cruise control on and my car hydroplaned and ended up going off the road into a ditch causing extensive property damage and minor injuries. I was very lucky. However, many times others are not so lucky. More importantly, some vehicles will not even allow you to set cruise control when the windshield wipers are on. Although many people claim that it is a hoax that you should not use cruise control in the rain, the National Safety Commission issued an article on March 3, 2009 titled Hazards of Driving in the Rain with Cruise Control. Take it from me as an experienced Philadelphia car accident attorney, the safest thing to do when it rains is to disengage cruise control and lower your speed. Driving in the rain requires heightened awareness and ability to react in a second’s notice.

When I went to high school, driver’s ed was a requirement and made me a much safer driver. Unfortunately, driver’s ed classes which were once a mainstay in high school have become almost non-existent in suburban Pennsylvania high schools as they have in high schools around the country. The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration and the Pennsylvania Department of Education dropped driver’s education from its list of priority programs when federal funding disappeared. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2008, approximately 3,500 people in the United States ages 15 to 19 were killed in car accidents with more than 350,000 seriously injured. Teen drivers incur more fatalities and injuries per mile than any other age group. A spokesman for MidAtlantic AAA, Katherine Rossy, noted that AAA would like to see driver’s ed reestablished as federal priority so that states could implement standardized courses increasing behind the wheel training. The experienced Philadelphia car accident lawyers at Reiff and Bily are committed to motorist safety and call for re-instituting driver’s ed in our high schools.

As an experienced Philadelphia car accident attorney since 1979, I have handled many cases over the last few years that have been caused by driver inattention due to the fact that the driver was distracted while using a cell phone, either texting or speaking, rather than paying attention to the task of driving and the roadway ahead. One of those cases involved the driver of a truck owned by a corporate defendant who hit our clients head on, catastrophically injuring a husband and wife with permanent injuries. Due to the fact that the employer had deeper pockets than the single driver and that the employer’s liability insurance policy had greater value than the employee’s automobile coverage, we sued both the employer and the employee and were successful.

In Pennsylvania, an employer can be held responsible for an accident caused by their employee when the employee is driving a company vehicle or using his or her personal vehicle while engaged in business related activities. Employers do face potential liability for an accident caused by their employees in the course and scope of their employment by a doctrine known as respondeat superior.

I have been an outspoken advocate against the use of cell phones while driving and all too frequently have represented people who sustain catastrophic injuries or death as a result of driver inattention while using a cell phone. New laws restricting cell phone usage or texting while driving make it important for employers to consider adapting or adopting cell phone policies concerning employees while driving and it is more important than ever for lawyers representing injured persons to fully investigate this area of recovery.

If you or a loved one has been involved in a car accident and you believe that cell phone usage is an issue, please contact one of our experienced Philadelphia car accident attorneys for a free, no obligation consultation.

If you live in Philadelphia, which is being crippled by the recession, your auto insurance costs approximately 3 to 4 times what it would cost other cities. Philadelphians traditionally have paid more for insurance than their counterparts in Baltimore, Chicago, and Cleveland despite much higher theft rates in those other cities. So, why is insurance in Philadelphia much higher? The answer is simple. Many Philadelphians have few assets and no insurance and therefore, people involved in car accidents with an uninsured motorist have to collect from their own insurance company through their uninsured or underinsured motorist policy. The theory is that uninsured motorists and drivers cause premiums to be higher and when premiums are higher more people opt out against buying car insurance thereby creating a vicious circle.

At the Philadelphia car accident law firm of Reiff and Bily, we are seeing more and more uninsured motorist cases coupled with bankrupt defendants who have no assets. Unfortunately, state regulatory agencies and law enforcement officials are not doing a great job enforcing mandatory insurance laws. Simply enacting a mandatory insurance law, which a majority of the states have already done, is not the same as enforcing a mandatory insurance law. Now more than ever, it is important to completely review your automobile insurance policy to make sure that you are properly covered as chance favors the prepared mind.

The experienced Philadelphia hit and run and uninsured car accident lawyers at Reiff and Bily offer a free no obligation consultation to review your policy and have represented thousands of uninsured and underinsured motorists since 1979.

Recently a story was published where it was noted that a motorist was distracted by her talking Tom Tom GPS, missed a stop sign, and collided with a 16 passenger van transporting a family, causing the van to rollover resulting in serious injuries. The driver of the colliding vehicle stated she was noticeably distracted by the talking GPS causing her to run a stop sign and injure 9 members of the family in the other van. As GPS and navigation systems become more and more sophisticated and actually talk to you, it is easy to become distracted or shocked and take your full attention off the road at hand. As you are no doubt aware, there has been an epidemic of texting and cell phone usage and the resulting driver distraction has caused tragic accidents and the same has come under attention by many state and federal legislatures.

My own particular vehicle contains a night vision system that illuminates the driveway and forces you to look down at the speedometer rather than straight ahead at the road to see what is ahead. Mercedes Benz night vision in my mind seems more like a gimmicky distraction than a useful safety feature due to the fact that it focuses your eyes from the windshield downward to the dashboard speedometer area. Although Mercedes Benz notes that it can reduce the risk of injury during night time accidents by avoiding night time accidents, to me it seems a bit gimmicky and in my opinion, could possibly cause accidents.

I emphasize, of course, that this is only my opinion as an experienced Philadelphia car accident attorney who also regularly handles automobile product liability lawsuits against the major automobile manufacturers. Though no doubt it is a great conversation piece for occupants in the vehicle, I was very impressed when I first purchased the car and “had to have” the night imaging system. The goal is to shine infrared beams down the road to illuminate passages that are beyond the reach of the headlights. The issue is, should you be looking straight ahead or down at the display on the dashboard. In the instant it takes to shift your focus, one could easily strike a deer or other object on the road and become easily distracted.

Although Mercedes Benz claims that the S class nightview assist is a milestone in the area of passenger car technology designed to relieve driver stress during tiring journeys at night, I believe that better positioning of the display perhaps closer to the windshield would be a safer place to help avoid accidents and driver distraction.

According to news sources, Joseph J. Owsiak, Sr. was traveling east of Bradford Road on County Line Road when he lost control of his vehicle on the icy highway and slid into the westbound lane colliding with a 2007 Dodge van. Mr. Owsiak was pronounced dead at the scene. Our hearts and prayers go out to the family of Joseph J. Owsiak, Sr.

According to the news source, several other vehicles on that highway wound up involved in accidents due to icy road conditions. Unfortunately, we see many catastrophic car accidents when roads are slick and when there is black ice on the road that is not apparent to the innocent eye. As a matter of fact, I had my own black ice accident a few weeks ago. It is important to consider that when driving in freezing and below conditions to pay extra caution to roadway conditions and drive a bit slower and more carefully than normal.

If you were involved in a Philadelphia car accident as a result of an icy road, please contact one of our experienced Philadelphia car accident lawyers for a free, no obligation consultation.

The survey recently issued by Insurance.com claiming that lawyers are the most dangerous drivers would seem to offer a golden opportunity to crack wise about the only profession held in lower esteem than journalists. I am going to resist the temptation to crack wise, however.

Insurance.com's data is based on the numbers of customers requesting a quote from the Web site, hardly a scientific survey. Perhaps these drivers are worse than average and are seeking quotes because their insurance companies are dropping them for being bad drivers. There also is no differentiation between fender benders and more serious accidents involving injury or death.

Insurance.com is trying to gin up publicity by bad mouthing lawyers, long seen as the arch enemy of the insurance companies without having the facts to back up its claims. The company sure does sound sure of itself.

"Attorneys topped the list at No. 1 with 44 percent claiming a prior accident when receiving a car insurance comparison quote from insurance.com. (We bet 44 percent of them talked their way out of a ticket, too.)," Insurance.com says, with tongue firmly in cheek. It insists the study is no joke.

"We looked at quotes from a seven month period (June to December 2009).The number of quotes compiled in the research was in the tens of thousands. In terms of our data, the occupational designation of attorney/judge is the No. 1 accident reported to quote requested occupation," says Tom Tennant, a company spokesman, in an e mail.

Attorneys specializing in accident cases tell me that their fellow members of the bar tend to be careful drivers. Jeffrey Reiff, founding partner of the Philadelphia firm of Reiff and Bily, tells WalletPop that he has never had a case of a lawyer involved in an accident who was multi tasking. Lawyers, he says, probably pay low insurance rates because they tend to be good drivers.

"I have never heard of anything like this," Reiff says of the survey. "I find it astounding."

Insurance.com has no idea why lawyers topped the list.

"... we can make the educated guess that it is for the reasons previously stated: stress, when they are on the road, road conditions, number of distractions, propensity to shop for insurance (request quotes)," Tennant says.

Other professions are also maligned by Insurance.com. For reasons that are baffling, dog groomers were rated as the sixth most dangerous profession, edging out marketing/advertising professionals, barbers/stylists (for humans), coaches and nurses. Why dog groomers would be such a menace on the roads is a mystery. Perhaps they're driving with their clients on their laps.