Articles Posted in Auto & Car Accidents

Tire Review reports an Iowa jury has ruled against Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. in a deadly rollover crash in 2007 and awarded seven passengers $33 million.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged a manufacturing flaw in the tires caused the tread separation and the driver to lose control of the vehicle. The 1997 Plymouth Grand Voyager minivan carrying the passengers rolled over, killing one passenger, paralyzing another, and injuring the other five.

Cooper denies the tires were at fault and is expected to appeal the verdict.

The parents of a teenage boy have filed suit against Autumn Transportation following a crash that injured their son and caused emotional turmoil when his friend was killed in the crash, reports the Connecticut News. The parents are suing on behalf of their son according to Connecticut law since the boy is a minor.

The bus went off the highway after it collided with a Volvo station wagon. The suit alleges the bus company allowed a driver who did not have proper training and licensing to drive the school bus, and further claims the company does not adequately supervise or train its drivers. The bus driver’s license has since been suspended by the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Also named in the suit are the bus driver and the teen driver of the Volvo for failing to take necessary precautions to avoid an accident.

The Palo Alto Daily News reports the city of Palo Alto will pay $1.5 million to a man injured in a vehicle crash in 2006. The victim alleged a city worker failed to stop for a red light because he was reaching for his cell phone, resulting in a rear-end collision which left the plaintiff with debilitating spinal injuries. The victim had asked for more than $5 million from Palo Alto.

A Tennessee jury has awarded $30 million to a 19-year-old who has permanent brain damage as a result of a traffic accident three years ago, reports The Commercial Appeal of Memphis.

In 2006, a gravel truck ran into the side of the teen’s truck, killing his passenger and leaving him in a coma for eight months. The lawsuit alleged the gravel truck was 20,000 pounds overweight and the driver was inexperienced.

The jury found 70 percent of the responsibility for the accident went to the owner of the gravel truck who hired the driver – APAC-Tennessee, a road paving company. The other 30 percent was divided between the gravel truck driver and the company that loaded the gravel.

Driving while impaired. Felony hit-and-run. Open container in vehicle. Driving with a revoked license. Felony speeding to elude arrest. Running a stop sign. Any one of these violations could result in a brush with law enforcement.

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A 21-year-old Iraq war veteran will never get the chance to reunite with his young wife, who remained in Iraq at the time of the South Carolina car crash that claimed his life.

In an alarming statement on the lack of safety on the roads in South Carolina, a group of business leaders released a report on Tuesday, February 12th that details the loss of life and economic toll of accidents on South Carolina roads. The statistics paint a grim picture: Someone dies in a South Carolina auto accident about every eight hours. Economically speaking, the carnage inflicted by the state’s dangerous roads is $3.7 billion a year.

That breaks down to $863 per South Carolinian to cover medical costs, lost economic and household productivity, psychological or emotional trauma, property damage and travel delays. Given these numbers, the report contends that the state is not spending enough to fix the problem.

Of particular concern are South Carolina’s rural roads. The traffic fatality rate on those roads in 2005 was the highest in the nation at 4.61 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles of travel, the report says. The most dangerous local road on the list was a mile-long stretch of Harmon and Dreher streets in Lexington County – ranking 15th most dangerous and accounting for two deaths and eight injuries.

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In a tragic example of the worst kind of South Carolina Bus Accident, ten children and their driver were injured when their bus overturned, according to an AP Report posted January 24th. The church bus overturned in Pickens County on the evening of Wednesday, January 23rd on U.S. 178 near Lakeview Baptist Church, where the children were returning from service. Four children, ranging in age from 9 to 13, were taken to Greenville Memorial Hospital. One child was in critical condition and another was in serious condition the morning after the accident. The driver was listed in fair condition.

South Carolina bus accidents can be some of the most dangerous of all motor vehicle accidents. When any vehicle overturns in an accident the results can be tragic. School buses do not have seatbelts and very often small children can be thrown around in the cabin, resulting in serious injury.

Very often in wrecks like this one, the cause of the accident must be determined. Was the driver negligent in some way? Did the condition of the bus contribute to the accident? Was it properly maintained? What role does the church play in restitution for injuries suffered in the crash? These are all questions best left to a South Carolina auto accident attorney from the Louthian Law Firm.

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In the wake of a fatal accident this month, residents are questioning the safety of an intersection in Darlington County. According to a story posted on the website of news station WBTW, the intersection of S.C. 340 and Rogers Road saw 62 crashes in the five years between 2002 and 2007. Two were fatal — and the Jan. 11 accident made three. In that crash, a 29-year-old driver failed to yield to a tractor-trailer traveling north on the highway. Residents blame the addition of two turn lanes, which they say creates blind spots. They’re asking for a traffic light at the intersection.

Clearly, the longer an unsafe situation at an intersection is allowed to go on, the more likely it is that it will cause multiple avoidable deaths and injuries. That seems to be the case here, judging from the article:
“We’ve had cars sideways in the ditch. We had an accident … not too long ago, where we had a wreck on Tuesday and then we had a wreck on Thursday,” said Carol Kiker, who lives close to the intersection.

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