Philadelphia Car Accident Lawyer Blog

According to news sources, new developments have been reported concerning a fatal tour bus crash that killed 2 people along a Texas highway and injured 30 other people when the bus turned over on Tuesday, March 16, 2010. The tour bus carrying 40 people from Mexico and the United States veered off the road of Interstate 37 at 10:00 a.m. and cut back on the road before overturning on its right side. Officials now believe that equipment failure may be the culprit for the deadly rollover bus crash. The bus was operated by Auto Buses Americana, a Greyhound company, and was headed from San Antonio to Mexico.

The experienced bus accident lawyers of Reiff & Bily are committed to bus and commercial carrier safety and have a successful track record of representing those catastrophically injured or killed in a bus accident. For a free no obligation consultation, please contact one of our experienced bus accident lawyers at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

I recently reviewed a case where an 81-year-old school bus driver crashed into a light pole while transporting students. It called to question the issue whether there should be age limits for driving school buses and transporting our precious cargo.

While I recognize that policies restricting the age of drivers smacks of potential discrimination and may be unfair to older people who want to stay active, the increased number of recent school bus accidents discloses that many safety features, practices, and age limitations are being largely ignored.

Surprisingly many states don’t even require a medical examination. Seventeen states permit school buses to be driven by 16 to 17 year olds, fourteen states set the minimum age limit at 18 through 20, nineteen states require that school bus drivers be at least 21, and thirty-five states set no maximum age limits for driving a school bus. In eleven states, 65 is the upper limit and in four others 70 is the upper age limit. The statistics reveal that elderly drivers are more likely than other drivers to receive traffic citations for failing to yield, turning improperly, running red lights, failing to stop at stop signs, as well as other indications of decreased driving ability. It is a fact that older adults are at higher risk for car accidents than other age groups. Older drivers are more likely to get into multiple vehicle accidents than younger people and generally, these accidents are more dangerous for them than similar accidents are for younger drivers. Statistics also reveal that fatal crash rates rise sharply after a driver has reached the age of 70.

While driver safety is an important and sensitive issue for seniors, the changes of normal aging often interfere with the ability to drive safely. When transporting school students on school buses, safety must come first. Since many states have separate age requirement and safety requirements, I think that in view of the recent stream of school bus accidents, the federal government must develop uniform safety standards for the design of school buses, as well as age and safety requirements of the operation of this essential public service which involves transportation of our precious cargo.

As a catastrophic injury and bad faith insurance claims lawyer who has been battling insurance companies since 1979, I am very familiar with the tactics that private insurance companies use to deny, delay, and defend claims. While I hate to bring politics into my articles, the recent healthcare debate which has been examined closely indicates how many ill people are at the mercy of insurance companies. I have seen first hand many cases where sick people are told their insurance is canceled even though they received no notice or a case where somebody is on their way to surgery and their insurance is rescinded because the insurance company can get away with it and the person does not have the dollars or time to fight back. The victims in need of medical care are told “you have a pre-existing condition which is not covered” and you can’t have health insurance nor the required medical procedure or surgery.

Recently I became involved in a significant catastrophic injury case and after we placed the health insurance carrier on notice, we were told that the policy was in fact canceled prior to the accident despite the fact that my client had correspondence indicating the contrary. Frankly, had the insurance company and its adjuster been honest with the client, there would have been no need for my client to hire a lawyer and incur additional expense.

I practice law with the motto that is simply stated, “without integrity nothing stands.” The U.S. insurance companies comprise one of the most powerful industries in the world and they often commit widespread and systematically driven illegal bad faith insurance practices and schemes at the expense of their policyholders who pay hard earned dollars to purchase a policy. I have spent the last 31 years of my life handling legitimate claims with individuals that were denied by insurance companies many times in a bad faith manner and I probably have litigated against most of the major insurers in the United States. I have been witness to their abusive, deceptive, and illegal merry-go-rounds that they put their insureds and defendants on as they attempt to use the litigation process to their advantage while they collect interest on monies that remain in reserves or while successful verdicts are on appeal. It seems that the goal of many insurance companies and their lawyers is to intentionally delay and drag out cases putting off payment for as long as possible.

Since 1979, the catastrophic personal injury law firm of Reiff & Bily has successfully represented thousands of consumers by aggressively fighting against insurance companies for bad faith. We are committed to fighting insurance company abuse and understand the tactics of the insurance industry and the roadblocks that they put in the path of justice. If you need a bulldog lawyer ready to employ a hardball boxing strategy against an insurance company, please feel free to contact one of our experienced bad faith industry lawyers.

As an experienced Philadelphia car accident lawyer, I am amazed by how many people are afraid to drive a car and how much their fears can arise to a position totally impairing their ability to concentrate and drive safely. Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death by injury worldwide and according to a recent study, people ages 15 to 44 account for over half of all deaths due to road traffic injuries. If you are crippled by fear when driving an automobile, chances are you may be driving too slow or applying the brakes too frequently and acting as a hazard to other drivers on the road. As driving a vehicle requires concentration and a set of skills, it is suggested that one who sustains driving anxiety take a driving course with a professional driving instructor to be coached into a psychological comfort zone and learn successful defensive driving techniques that can systematically reduce crash rates and mitigate potential liability.

There are many new cutting edge anticipation based methods and techniques that are easy to remember and repeat that will make a safe and confident driver out of a nervous one. The result will be less stress and less chance for injury in everyone’s life.

The experienced Philadelphia car accident law firm of Reiff & Bily has been committed to motorist safety since 1979.

As an experienced defective trailer and car accident lawyer, I am seeing more and more cases of defective or unhitched trailers resulting in catastrophic injuries and death to innocent victims.

Recently a story came over the wires on March 10, 2010 whereupon a Michigan man’s trailer became unhooked and killed an oncoming driver. The man pleaded no contest to negligent homicide. According to the news story, Thomas Dells was driving a van when his trailer came loose, flew over a westbound vehicle and hit the next car’s windshield. The crash killed 46-year-old Tony Lynn Hall, as well as causing substantial and catastrophic injuries to her passenger. The police investigation revealed that the steel pin that held the ball mount to the van’s hitch somehow became loose, allowing the trailer to break free. The trailer was hauling salvage metal. The documents reviewed indicate that Dells did not use safety chains on his trailer.

Our thoughts, hearts, and prayers go out to the unfortunate victims of this tragic accident and they would be well served to seek the services of a lawyer experienced in defective trailer and trailer defect claims to ensure that their legal rights are protected to the maximum extent available by law.

A Buick Regal speeding out of control in drag race type fashion slammed into a Toyota Camry westbound on Vine Street at its intersection with N. 16th Street tragically killing two innocent victims. According to police, the crash happened at 5:00 a.m. on March 18, 2010, when the Buick speeding northbound on 16th Street ran a red light and slammed into the Toyota Camry which was westbound on Vine Street. The two men in the Camry were pronounced dead at the scene. Their bodies remained in the mangled vehicle for hours while police conducted their investigation. The two men in the Buick jumped into a Pontiac which sped away down the nearby ramp to westbound Vine Street Expressway. The police found a hand gun in the Buick which is registered to an undisclosed Philadelphia address.
Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims of this tragic incident. We will closely follow this story as police continue to investigate. The families of the innocent deceased victims would be well advised to seek the services of an experienced catastrophic injury and car accident lawyer to fully investigate this claim and to work with the authorities to make sure their interests are properly protected.

A recent school bus accident in Florida resulted in the death of a student who was ejected from the school bus upon impact with a tree. According to news sources, the high school junior suffered severe injuries which proved fatal a day after the horrifying accident.

Over the years, we have often heard the refrain “buckle up for safety” when it comes to car accidents. However, when it comes to seat belts, there is an ongoing debate. Only two states, namely New York and New Jersey, require seat belts on public school buses. Last year 17 states introduced seat belt bills for school buses. However, none of them passed. The National Coalition for Seat Belts on School Buses lists the following reasons why school buses should have seat belts.

1. If a crash occurs the use of seat belts will reduce the probability of death and severe injuries to children seated in the school bus.

2. Seat belt usage improves passenger behavior and reduces bus driver distraction.

3. Seat belts offer protection against injuries in rollover or side impact crashes and ejection.

4. Seat belt usage in school buses reinforces good safety habits.

5. The cost to install seat belts is nominal.

According to NHTSA, seat belts are of no value in the majority of fatal accidents. This tragic case of ejection which took the life of a high school junior clearly indicates “buckle up for safety” should not be just limited to automobiles.

The Philadelphia car accident and school bus accident law firm of Reiff & Bily is committed to consumer safety and representing the rights of the catastrophically injured.

Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman has scheduled a news conference to detail vehicular homicide charges, including multiple counts of reckless endangerment, against a school bus driver Frederick Poust III. Poust was at the wheel of a Perkiomen Valley School Bus carrying 45 students on the morning of February 17, 2010 when it collided with an oncoming car killing the passenger in the car and catastrophically injuring the driver.

As I noted in a prior blog, the school bus driver had been behind the wheel in another fatal accident a decade ago. In the previous fatal accident, the school bus driver was dialing his girlfriend on his cell phone when his Ford Explorer blew through a stop sign in Bucks County crashing into another car and killing a two-year old girl.

As it appears to this experienced Philadelphia car accident and school bus accident lawyer, the school bus company nor the responsible individuals did any background check on this driver’s past history. With the easy availability of driver records and a simple background check, perhaps this accident may have been avoided and the tragic loss of lives prevented.

Since 1979, the experienced Philadelphia car accident lawyers at our firm have been handling automobile accident cases one case at a time. Many of our legal brethren frown down upon what we do with derogatory terms. As they sit in their ivory towers defending insurance companies, automobile manufacturers who make defective products, or representing doctors who knowingly have committed malpractice, they are quick to point their fingers at the car accident attorney many times using the derogatory term “ambulance chaser.” What these ivory tower lawyers and others fail to recognize is that yes accidents do happen, people do get injured most times catastrophically and seriously, and that every time you or a loved one gets in an automobile, there is a plethora of events that may occur which could give rise to a tragic consequence - seat belt failure, airbag failure, sudden acceleration, drunk driver on the road, somebody texting or phoning and not paying attention to the road and in one second one’s life can be instantly and tragically changed.

I find it interesting that many prominent individuals who come to our firm for representation may be embarrassed that their friends should not know that they are pursuing an automobile accident claim even though the law of Pennsylvania provides that they are entitled to recover for compensatory or monetary damages intended to make them whole when considering the extent of the injuries sustained in the accident.

If you or a loved one has been catastrophically injured or sustained a wrongful death because of an automotive product liability defect or the negligence of another, you are entitled to be compensated for pain and suffering and recover for the loss of life’s pleasures and the loss of the ability to perform life’s daily duties. You are entitled to recover earnings, medical expenses, funeral expenses, estate administration expenses, and perhaps even punitive damages.

The Philadelphia car accident law firm of Reiff & Bily understands and respects the value of hope and the loss of someone’s dreams when they are involved in an accident. We have been able to successfully communicate plaintiffs’ dreams and hopes to insurance companies and our opponents and ultimately a jury who hear our cases since 1979. It is our job to prove what the plaintiff is capable of doing or was capable of doing prior to an accident and to identify the compensation necessary for the plaintiff to recognize the fulfillment of his dreams and goals. We are proud to be Philadelphia car accident lawyers and are not afraid to ask insurance companies or juries to fully compensate the injured for the loss of their dreams and hopes.

According to a recent article published in The Morning Call, PennDOT sources revealed that between the years 2004 and 2008 a staggering number of people were killed or injured in Pennsylvania school bus crashes:

Bus Drivers 2,171
Passengers 1,132
Pedestrians 759
Drivers and Passengers 22,727
Other 137

Total 322,126 (Source PennDOT)

According to the recently published article, Pennsylvania state mandated background checks for school bus drivers worked as designed but still did not raise any red flags over the tragic wreck involving a Schwenksville, Pennsylvania man who was driving a school bus involved in a fatal accident. The driver, Frederick Poust, III, was involved in a second fatal accident last week when he allegedly turned his school bus into the path of an oncoming car, potentially violating its right of way.

Continue reading " Just Who Is Driving That School Bus? - You Better Watch Out, You Better Beware " »

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 & 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 & 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 & 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 & 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 & Bily are committed to motorist safety and call for re-instituting driver’s ed in our high schools.