Philadelphia Car Accident Lawyer Blog

When I was 16-years old, I just got my driver’s license and was taking one of my first trips to the Jersey shore when a tire flew off the back of a truck into my vehicle causing me to lose control of the vehicle and go off the side of the road. Although the accident was not my fault and I narrowly escaped injury, this freak accident I later learned was not so uncommon.

The experienced Philadelphia truck accident lawyers of The Beasley Reiff Law Group have successfully handled many cases caused by falling cargo, debris and unsecured materials that was not properly fastened to trucks and trailers. A person injured in a car or truck accident caused by unsecured debris, cargo, and falling objects/loads has a right to be compensated for their injuries not only by the person who drops the debris on the highway, but may also have a right under the underinsured or uninsured motorist provision of their own insurance policy.

Last year in another unsecured cargo case, a 44,000 lb. steel coil came lose and bounced off a trailer crushing vehicles in its path, killing three people, and catastrophically injuring a young girl. It seems that many large trucks travel down highways with loads improperly secured.

Consumer advocate Ron Melancon on his website www.dangeroustrailers.org states that this situation has reached epidemic proportions and claims that government authorities do not pay enough attention to this growing problem.

In another situation that was described as a “freak accident”, a prominent rock star was killed on September 3, 2010 when an unsecured bale of hay rolled off a tractor trailer into the path of a van he was driving. As a result, the driver of the van swerved and hit another vehicle causing catastrophic injuries and death.

I am sure that many individuals have been traveling down a highway at a high rate of speed in the winter season when a snow or ice missile flies off a car or truck that was not properly cleaned after a snow storm. Last February after a major snow storm in Philadelphia, I was traveling on I-76 when a large sheet of compacted hard ice flew off a semi-tractor trailer striking my windshield with such force that it caused me to lose control of my vehicle. I skidded off the road into the shoulder and thankfully escaped serious injury but suffered extensive damage to the vehicle.

If the owner or operator of a vehicle fails to make reasonable efforts to remove snow or ice or has loosely secured cargo, they can be held civilly and criminally responsible for resulting catastrophic injuries or wrongful deaths. The experienced Pennsylvania truck accident attorneys at The Beasley Reiff Law Group have successfully handled many truck and car accident fatality cases caused by unsecured cargo, debris, and objects falling from trucks and trailers. Since1958, our skilled lawyers have been awarded over $2 billion dollars on behalf of victims and their families. As always, we offer a free confidential, no obligation consultation. Please contact us online at www.beasleyreifflawgroup.com or toll free at 1-800-588-0130.

A catastrophic injury and fatality is 36 times the norm in a vehicle rollover accident. Victims of roll over accidents are most likely to sustain a catastrophic injury or death due to high incidents of occupant ejection. Head injuries, resulting paralysis, brain injury, as well as amputation of limbs are commonly suffered if one is ejected out of the vehicle and land under a vehicle that continues to roll or struck by another vehicle. More weight increases the chance of a truck or vehicle rollover despite a common belief that added weight adds to stability. Most rollovers occur when a driver runs off the road or the vehicle loses traction due to a tire defect or blowout. If the glass in the vehicle is not laminated or glazed, there is a high likelihood that the victim’s body parts will not be contained in the vehicle and that the person will be ejected.

If a fuel tank is ruptured or a fuel line severs during a rollover, there is a good likelihood that a devastating fuel fed fire can ignite which increases the risk of serious injury or death for drivers, passengers, or people nearby. Many times in a rollover crash, a fuel tank is punctured or tears and the filters and fuel lines separate or there is a hydrostatic burst of fuel vapors.

If you or a loved has sustained a catastrophic injury or wrongful death caused in a rollover accident by one of the above listed factors, it is important to preserve the evidence and contact an experienced SUV and vehicle rollover attorney to fully investigate the facts of your case together with renowned experts and investigators.

The SUV rollover and fuel fed fire lawyers of Reiff & Bily have recently joined forces with the Beasley Firm to create the Beasley Reiff Law Group. Since 1958, our experienced SUV rollover and fuel fed fire lawyers have investigated thousands of product defect and rollover cases and have been awarded over $2 billion dollars on behalf of catastrophically injured claimants. For a free, no obligation consultation, contact us online at www.beasleyreifflawgroup.com or toll free at 1-800-588-0130.

As an experienced bus accident attorney for the last 32 years, this winter brought to light just how dangerous bus travel can be. Our office is representing the interests of several catastrophically injured people who were involved in a New Jersey Turnpike accident last month which also killed a 21-year old Montgomery County, Pennsylvania man. State and Federal regulators have placed bus safety square in their spotlights. The Feds have shut down Super Luxury Tours of Wilkes Barre, PA. Our investigators have incurred a spider webs of confusion and misrepresentations on behalf of the many tour bus operators. As I have noted before, one generally assumes that bus travel is one of the safest means of transportation, but unfortunately, this is not the case when operators take short cuts on safety and maintenance. The U.S. Department of Transportation claims it is committed to improving tour bus safety records requiring higher standards of safety and controls for coaches and buses. The Greyhound Line, the nation’s largest intercity operator, recently announced that it would begin installing lap and shoulder seat belts on all its new buses.

Recently a federal court in Sacramento, California ruled that Greyhound could be held liable for failing to put seat belts on its buses. The case where 8 passengers traveling on a Greyhound bus were injured in a rollover accident on the I-5 freeway. Greyhound’s action to equip their new buses with seat belts represent a safety breakthrough, and we salute the concern for safety as the federal government does not yet require seat belts on large buses.

As an experienced Pennsylvania car accident lawyer and citizen of Pennsylvania, I am still amazed how many times I see many drivers running stop signs or traffic lights while still speaking on a cell phone. Just last week, I personally narrowly escaped a car accident when a very young driver operating an SUV ran a stop sign and I noticed she was speaking on a cell phone. She obnoxiously gave me the middle finger as if I had done something wrong after I issued a horn warning.

Just yesterday, a catastrophically injured victim met with me after she was also struck by a teen driver while texting on a cell phone. A new report issued comes as no surprise as it announces that distracted driving is killing more people than ever. It is claimed that at least 5% of all fatality accidents are due to texting and a rapidly growing list of distracted drivers. Such distractions include but are not limited to application of makeup, eating food, ipods, cell phones, and the use of computers and navigation devices inside the vehicle. A bill to ban texting while driving in Pennsylvania is one step closer to becoming law as it won unanimous support from the State House Transportation Committee. The legislation would ban texting by all drivers and prohibit drivers under the age of 18 from using handheld cell phones while behind the wheel.

As an experienced Philadelphia car accident attorney who has represented the families of loved ones who are killed by a texting driver, I am afraid to say that Pennsylvania has been behind the times and legislators have not attacked this issue in an aggressive enough fashion. While several localities have enacted restrictions in cell phone use, including West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, my experience as a car accident lawyer for the past 32 years has revealed just how dangerous multitasking can be while operating a car and I urge all the Pennsylvania legislatures to unanimously support any texting while driving bans.

If you or a loved one has been involved in a car accident, please feel free to contact one of our experienced Philadelphia car accident lawyers. Recently the law firm of Reiff & Bily has joined forces with the Beasley Firm and together both of our law firms have been awarded over $2 billion dollars since 1958. As always, we offer a free, no obligation consultation. Contact us online at www.beasleyreifflawgroup.com or toll free at 1-800-588-0130.

As an experienced Pennsylvania car accident lawyer who has concentrated on automobile product liability and defective automobile components for over 30 years, I am always studying NHTSA statistics as well as fatality investigations concerning automobiles.

Recently I was quite puzzled when I learned that fatalities resulting from car accidents for men aged 51 to 65 were rising dramatically by almost 25% from 2000 to 2009, yet when taking the same fatality factor into consideration FOR ALL MALE DRIVERS, there was a 20% decline in fatalities. Surprisingly studies indicated that the increase in deaths was directly related to the increase in the number of licensed drivers and male licensed drivers in the 59 to 60 age group rose by 33%. The apparent bulge in the population age structure related fatality is related to the naming of the baby boomers.

I never had a second thought about using one of the cut rate bus services or even putting my children on one of the buses from Philadelphia to New York or Washington. After all, I thought to myself, what could really go wrong. One would normally think that buses provide one the safest means of transportation and should most certainly be safer than an airplane.

As news events of the past few months has indicated, many deadly tour bus crashes have occurred as a result of numerous safety and maintenance violations by many bus operators. Just last week a surprise New York bus inspection removed 124 drivers and 100 buses from the road following the deadly New York bus crash a month ago. A tour bus crashed on March 12, 2011 on a Bronx highway returning to the city from a casino in Connecticut killing 15 people. Our experienced Pennsylvania bus accident attorneys have been retained to represent victims of another tour bus crash in New Jersey a few days later, and the results of our investigation are very concerning and somewhat horrifying. We filed a lawsuit on behalf of a catastrophically injured victim only to be stonewalled by false information, addresses, and what appears to be misrepresentation of corporate identities and parties.

The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles has recently implemented facial recognition technology to arrest 31 drivers with commercial licenses for using aliases to fraudulently obtain multiple licenses with 50 more cases being reviewed. Federal transportation officials reported 2,800 spot checks of passenger buses from March 28 to April 6 resulting in 289 drivers of buses being removed from the road. Also, this followed 300 buses being removed from service after 3,000 inspections after 17 days of earlier spot checks.

Recently the Philadelphia bus accident lawyers of Reiff & Bily have joined forces with the legendary Beasley Firm to form the Beasley Reiff Law Group and together have recovered over $2 billion dollars for injured victims. If you or a loved one has sustained catastrophic injuries or wrongful death as a result of being involved in a tour bus or other bus accident, please contact us online at www.beasleyreifflawgroup.com or toll free at 1-800-588-0130 for a free, no obligation consultation.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Transportation shut down the Wilkes-Barre based tour bus company that was involved in the March 14, 2011 deadly bus accident. It was found that the bus driver violated federal insurance requirements.

Ironically, the decision to shut down the tour bus company came on the same day that the Senate subcommittee confronted the department because it was not addressing bus safety quickly enough. Subcommittee Chairman, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.), was concerned that the Department of Transportation was not moving quickly enough to make motor coaches or tour buses safer. He also felt that it was unsafe to continue to put unsafe buses and bus operators on the road. Senator Lautenberg was quoted as saying, “Just because bus companies can discount prices doesn’t mean they can discount safety.”

The experienced Pennsylvania bus accident attorneys Jeffrey Reiff and Raymond Bily have filed one of the first lawsuits against Super Luxury Tours on behalf of a victim who sustained catastrophic injuries in the March 14, 2011 bus crash, which also claimed the lives of several others.

The experienced auto accident lawyers of Reiff & Bily has recently joined forces with the catastrophic bus accident attorneys of The Beasley Firm and both law firms have been awarded in excess of $2 billion dollars on behalf of our clients since 1958. We will continue to diligently work on behalf of our clients, as well as with lawmakers, to ensure that the wrongdoers are brought to justice. For more information, contact us online at Beasley Reiff Law Group or toll free at 1-800-588-0130 for a free, no obligation consultation.

Experienced Pennsylvania bus accident attorneys Jeffrey Reiff and Raymond Bily have filed one of the first lawsuits against Super Luxury Tours on behalf of a victim who sustained catastrophic injuries in the March 14, 2011 bus crash, which also claimed the lives of several others.

The bus company involved in the fatal and catastrophic accident reported that it had offices in Wilkes-Barre, PA. However, the locations listed on paperwork filed with the Department of State are not occupied by anyone affiliated with the tour group or the bus company. Our investigators have determined that the company has had multiple accidents and multiple safety violations on its records over the past two years. According to state reports, Super Luxury Tours lists 115 N. Meade Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA as its address. However the building is a multi-unit apartment building owned by James A. and Helena K. Davis of Hanover Township. The building is a duplex with both units rented out. The landlord claims of no knowledge of the bus company operating out of the building.

Another address listed by Super Luxury Tours was identified to be a vacant space located at 17 E. Market Street across the street from City Hall in Wilkes-Barre, PA. Super Luxury Tours is identified by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration as having a higher than average number of violations for unsafe driving, including 9 tickets in the past two years for speeding, improper passing, and failure to obey traffic controls. They have also been repeatedly cited for having drivers who do not speak English. To add insult to injury, the passengers who were catastrophically injured or killed as a result of this accident are being denied benefits for payment of financial losses for themselves and their families.

As an experienced Pennsylvania bus accident attorney, I am horrified that buses entrusted with the safety of transporting innocent passengers away from the stresses of everyday life operate in a system lacking proper safety regulations and concern for the safety of innocent passengers. The legal team of Reiff & Bily has recently joined forces with the catastrophic bus accident attorneys of the Beasley Firm and both law firms have been awarded in excess of $2 billion dollars on behalf of our clients since 1958. We will continue to diligently work on behalf of our clients, as well as with lawmakers, to ensure that the wrongdoers are brought to justice. For more information, contact us online at Beasley Reiff Law Group or toll free at 1-800-588-0130 for a free, no obligation consultation.