As an experienced Philadelphia car accident attorney who has handled many catastrophic car accidents resulting from cell phone usage and resulting inattention to the roadway, I salute the efforts of the Focus Driven organization and the attention being thrust upon this epidemic problem. Unfortunately, it is not until you look into the faces of those who have lost a loved one as a result of driver inattention is the gravity of this situation is recognized.

Law enforcement needs stronger laws and better tools to enforce these violations.

As a strong advocate against the use of these large vans by church groups and educational groups, I feel compelled to warn once again that these vehicles are simply not safe and often an accident avoidance maneuver and over-correction results in accidents such as this with catastrophic injuries and fatalities.

To this experienced rollover and 15-passenger van attorney, the 15-passenger van is perhaps the most unsafe vehicle on the roadways today and it often claims unknowing victims from church and school groups.

As an experienced Philadelphia car accident attorney who handles catastrophic car accident and traffic accident cases throughout the state of Pennsylvania, we strongly urge the following recommendations set forth by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety as follows:

1. Teenagers must be supervised by an adult driver for at least six months and remain citation free before getting a license.

2. Teens must have 30 to 50 hours of supervised practice behind the wheel.

3. Only issue learner’s permits to youth 16 or older.

4. Charge drivers with child endangerment if driving drunk with a child in the vehicle.

5. Ban open containers of alcohol in the vehicle’s passenger area.

6. Mandate blood alcohol testing for any driver killed in a crash or involved in a fatal crash.

7. Require ignition interlock devices for all drunk driving offenders. (Pennsylvania only does this for repeat offenders.)

8. Prohibit drivers younger than 18 from driving between 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. (Pennsylvania’s limits start at 11:00 p.m.)

9. Ban teen drivers from using cell phones to call or text even with hands free devices.

10. Prohibit unsupervised teen drivers from having more than 1 non-related teenage passenger in the vehicle.

11. Allow police to ticket motorists for not wearing seat belts as a primary offense.

12. Require motorcycle riders to wear helmets.

13. Require all children ages 4 to 7 to ride in a booster seat as a primary offense.

14. Set the minimum age for unrestricted licenses at 18. (Pennsylvania drivers with no citations or crashes on record can get a full license at 17 years 6 months.)

15. Ban texting while driving for all drivers except for emergencies.

Toyota has announced that a brake override software system will shift the engine to idle if it detects that the driver is attempting to apply the brakes without success. Toyota has indicated that it will install brake override systems on all Toyota, Lexus, and Scion vehicles by the end of this year in order to prevent unintended acceleration. The brake override systems will be installed on the Camry, Avalon, Lexus ES 350, IS 350, and IS 250 models. This brake override system will be made standard equipment throughout the Toyota and Lexus product line beginning January 2010 starting with the production of the ES 350 and Camry and scheduled to be incorporated in production of most new models by the end of 2010.

The Philadelphia car accident and vehicle product defect firm of Reiff and Bily has been intimately involved in unintended acceleration cases and if you or a loved one has suffered an injury or death as a result of an unintended acceleration case, please feel free to contact one of our experienced vehicle defect lawyers for a no obligation consultation.

According to Pennsylvania law, it is against the law to operate a vehicle on the highway if it is improperly covered, constructed, or loaded so that any part of its content or load spills, drops, leaks, blows, shifts, or in any other way escapes or falls off the vehicle. Any vehicle transporting such matters must have the load secured or debris secured to prevent any part of the load or debris from spilling on the highway. Failure to secure materials in your car can result in strong fines going up into the thousands and even result in criminal liability if someone is catastrophically injured or killed. There is nothing more dangerous than a piece of ice flying at a high rate of speed into the windshield of another vehicle.

Unfortunately with many companies, unless you accept the initial or continuing low ball settlement offers, which is often not enough to pay medical bills or wages, the posture becomes more aggressive at every step as the insurance companies attempt to deny claims at any and all costs. While I make my living fighting insurance companies, it always amazes me that if insurance companies would attempt to fight fairly from the beginning, in the majority of cases an amicable resolution could be achieved. In most bad faith cases, the insurance company goes to extreme lengths to avoid paying claims and often they are not shy about using aggressive lawyers, unfair claims handling tactics, and the courts to their own advantage in attempting to stack the deck.

In one of our recent cases, intense discovery revealed obvious and intentional misrepresentation by the insurance adjuster representing the insurance company. Our client, a successful business person, was astounded when the company would not pay full benefits under the policy he purchased. He claimed to have many sleepless nights and in fact, went to see his cardiologist who told him that he had suffered an anxiety disorder and stress syndrome as a result of the insurance company’s activities.

Most people are not equipped to combat the insurance companies on their own and the first time you find yourself being low balled by an insurance adjuster, it would be wise to get an experienced unfair insurance claims and bad faith insurance attorney involved who has the experience and tools necessary to fight back aggressively.

Just this morning on my way to work at approximately 11:00 a.m., I was walking down 11th Street when I saw a truck come by with a load of duct work non-secured and debris was being scattered on the road with a Philadelphia police officer near by when an accident occurred. The police officer drove right by and I was amazed (1) how the truck carrying the debris in a Beverly Hillbilly Jed Clampett style fashion could even be driving on the highways and (2) that the police never stopped to take any information or render assistance. Moreover, in recent weeks, I have had calls from a number of people who have been in car accidents, some of them being very serious, and there have been no police reports filed nor information taken or properly filed.

Now, either the police force is overtaxed and does not have enough police officers on the road, or our city is becoming more and more like the Wild West. Things are different now than they were years ago, and I am not sure what can be done about it but I plead for the Philadelphia police offices on the scene of accidents to try to do a better job and pay more attention to detail as people’s interests are at stake. Without the necessary information, which it is your duty to obtain as well as investigate, it makes everyone’s life more difficult.

Many car accidents involving irresponsible teenagers result in fatalities or catastrophic injuries. Recently this was highlighted in a death last month of six Chester and Montgomery County teens. There were sixteen passengers in one car and three in the other car. Obviously these deaths devastated the families of these victims and as anybody who was a teenage driver or parent knows, many times vehicles can become a party land in and or themselves and it is not often uncommon for teens to be smoking pot or driving while intoxicated. As Catherine Rossi, a spokeswoman for MidAtlantic AAA noted, “a vehicle becomes a virtual party barge when you start adding teenage passengers. Pennsylvania is lax when it comes to safety.” According to NTHSA studies, teenage drivers and passengers are also among the least likely to wear seat belts and failure to buckle up should be a primary offense.

In our Philadelphia car accident law practice, we have seen many instances of teenage driving resulting in catastrophic injuries when the teenager was texting while driving even though a ban has recently been enacted. State Rep. Catherine Watson has been pushing for tighter teen driving laws even though her colleagues have derided her as a hysterical mother. Her bill would restrict the junior licensed driver to only one non-household passenger under age 18 and household relatives under 18 would be permitted with parental approval. A study by Children’s Hospital and State Farm have noted that if parents use disciplined and set clear rules, teens are half as likely to crash.

It seems to me that traffic control signs and warnings are not adequate. There is a stop sign under a tunnel where seemingly no one seems to stop at. Since I have lived in the area, I have handled a good many car accidents involving friends of mine and their children including a few U-turns or cars hitting trees where the road was not properly illuminated. Over the years I have seen situations where contractors were performing construction and failed to adequately mark the construction site.

Many of our cases, not including those in my neighborhood, have involved fatalities or catastrophic injuries on hazardous stretches of roadways or highways. Quite simply, the road that was designed 50 or 75 years ago was not properly maintained or kept up with the times. Many car accident lawyers or injury lawyers never look beyond the simple car accident and fail to consider whether a highway defect was a contributing factor in a car accident case. These same lawyers may not even look to a product liability claim in what appears to be a simple car accident case. Many times we have seen cases where lawyers were looking for the “easy A” and on the verge of settling an auto case or have settled on an auto case for minimal policy limits without considering whether other entities are liable for the accident.

There is a complex interrelationship between the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Transportation, contractors, local governments, statutory caps and notice requirements, which requires specialized experience and investigation involving accident reconstructionists, investigators, engineers, human factor engineers, biomechanical engineers, as well as highway and safety design engineers.

If you or a loved one has been involved in a serious car accident, make sure that you don’t leave a stone unturned. Our track record of success for the last 30 years speaks for itself.

In December, I was driving my car when all of a sudden due to a faulty fuel pump and a hydraulic steering issue, my car went dead and I skidded down a hill on black ice and into a fence, blocking a highway and becoming a sitting target for other vehicles on the icy road. I was completely unprepared for this situation as I was not dressed appropriately and after 2 1/2 hours of waiting for a tow, I was chilled to the bone. Therefore, I might also add, it is important to dress appropriately by wearing layers of warm clothing with proper ventilation. In the cold weather, always be careful when entering and exiting a vehicle as slip and falls are common. Also, clean your vehicle of snow to avoid the snow missile that could cause harm or injury to other vehicles on the road. At times of bad weather, we have to depend on each other for safe travel and our goal is to be safe every day.

The Philadelphia car accident lawyers at Reiff and Bily are committed to motorist safety. If you or a loved one has been involved in car accident, please feel free to contact one of our experienced Philadelphia car accident attorneys for a free no obligation consultation.

On my way to work in the days following the snowfall, I skidded on black ice and hit a fence at the bottom of hill, although the road looked dry and I was proceeding very slowly. Although my car is equipped with ESC and a sophisticated braking system, the car went out of control and spun sideways, partially blocking the highway and making me a prime target for a car accident.

When car accidents occur, the police and emergency response teams are overtaxed. It is important if you are in an accident to take as thorough a history as possible noting the time, date, identification of the other person and make, model and license tag of the other vehicle(s) involved, as well as obtain the names and contact information of any and all witnesses. A good idea would be to contact experienced Philadelphia car accident attorneys and ask them to conduct an investigation at their cost to uncover the facts and determine whether a proper cause of action exists so that you are properly compensated for the extent of your injuries. In a second, one’s life can be changed from a catastrophic injury resulting from the negligence of an unpredictable car accident.

The experienced car accident attorneys at Reiff and Bily have represented individuals since 1979 who have suffered fatalities, catastrophic injuries, head and brain trauma, fractures and closed head injuries. Our success record speaks for itself. We never charge a fee unless there is a recovery.

Also, under Pennsylvania law, any person who furnishes alcohol to a minor commits a third degree misdemeanor and this law has even been applied to parents who have allowed their children to drink at home. The Pennsylvania personal injury lawyers at Reiff and Bily have an excellent track record of success holding negligent social hosts liable when their actions or inactions led to car accidents or other serious accidents resulting in catastrophic injury or death.

In a season where the roads are often covered with ice and snow, this experienced Philadelphia car accident lawyer advises all readers to buckle their seat belts up because even a minor impact can lead to catastrophic injuries if you are not belted. Statistics recognize that people who buckle up generally only sustain minor injuries in an accident whereas people who are not belted have a greater risk of death and serious injury.

As I started practicing automobile product liability law, buckling my seat belt became reflexive and I am quick to admonish anybody who gets in my car or anyone else’s car who does not use a seat belt. We are thankful for advancements in automotive safety and I thank all of the product liability lawyers committed to fighting the major automobile manufacturers who still try to place profitability over consumer safety.

This bipartisan bill comprehensively addresses NTSB safety recommendations by including safety requirements for occupant protection (seat belts, roof strength and anti-ejection windows), protection against onboard fires (fire fighting equipment, fire suppression), and crash avoidance (electronic stability control and tire pressure monitoring systems). This legislation also addresses the safe operation of motorcoach companies through new safety reviews to be conducted within nine months of starting operations and improves driver safety by requiring entry level driver training and electronic onboard recorders to ensure compliance of federal rules of maximum driving time.

Annually more than 700 million Americans take trips in motorcoaches, as many as United States commercial airlines carry. Today there are nearly 3,700 interstate motorcoach companies operating more than 34,000 motorcoaches and thousands of other motorcoaches operating in interstate commerce. Each year, the number of new interstate registered motorcoach companies increases by about 900. Safety advocates indicate that for decades DOT has not required motorcoaches to have the same occupant protection safety features that are routinely designed into passenger motor vehicles to prevent catastrophic injury and death. For example, in 1968, the NTSB first recommended that motorcoaches be equipped with seat belts. Today there is no federal requirement for this essential lifesaving protection in a crash.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victim of this tragic accident. The police have indicated that the truck driver remained at the scene and was cooperating with authorities. We ask that you keep the victim and his family in your prayers. This accident is just another reminder to all of us that the highways can be an extremely dangerous place especially in inclement weather.

If it is determined that the truck driver did cause the accident and is at fault, then both he and his employer (the trucking company) could be held liable for the victim’s death. The victim’s family would be well advised to consult with a reputed and experienced Philadelphia truck accident lawyer who has a successful track record handling Pennsylvania trucking accident cases and has the necessary resources to financially pursue trucking companies on behalf of injured and deceased victims and their families. The victim’s family should remember never to speak to any insurance adjuster or attorney for the trucking company before they have consulted with an experienced Pennsylvania truck accident attorney who will make sure that their rights and best interests are protected.