With the stroke of midnight and the beginning of 2010 Oregon joined the growing list of states restricting the use of cellphones by people driving cars. In Oregon and around the country distracted driving has emerged over the last two or three years as a serious issue of public concern.…
Oregon state police are urging Drivers to slow down and exercise caution this holiday weekend after a state trooper was injured in an Oregon auto accident. The trooper’s patrol car was struck by an SUV that was driving too fast in bad weather near the Columbia River Gorge, according to…
The new Oregon distracted driving law that comes into effect Friday has been getting a lot of attention over the last week. This weekend, however, the state’s leading newspaper raised serious questions about whether the law already contains a fatal flaw. An editorial in the Portland newspaper The Oregonian points…
The City of Portland has hired an outside audit and investigative group to look into the police department’s handling of the 2006 death in custody of James P. Chasse Jr, according to a recent article in The Oregonian. Chasse died of what the newspaper describes as “broad-based blunt-force trauma to…
A three vehicle Oregon car crash on Route 20 between Corvallis and Albany injured nine people Christmas Eve, according to an article in The Oregonian. Quoting State Police, the newspaper reports that a pick-up truck driven by a 19 year old Salem man drifted out of the westbound lane and…
In a tragic, yet timely, reminder of the need for safe driving this Holiday Season, KATU television reports that a teenager is in critical condition after an Oregon injury car accident near Salem earlier this week. The car was reportedly carrying five people when it crashed into a power pole…
The Oregon truck death of a driver who had stopped to put on chains is a timely, if tragic, reminder of the need to use extra caution in the coming months as winter settles in throughout the Northwest. According to local media reports, truck driver Milton Melton of Colville, Washington…
An update on an issue I wrote about last month (click here to see the original post from November 21): as part of the last minute maneuvering to round up 60 votes for health care reform legislation in the US Senate, the measure ending the health insurance and medical malpractice…
The step-Grandmother of a 16-year-old Eugene girl who died after alleged torture and abuse by her mother and stepfather says she made repeated efforts to warn state child welfare officials of the situation, according to a recent article in The Oregonian. This tragic, and extreme, case of Oregon child injury…
On January 1 Oregon joins the ranks of states banning texting while driving as well as the use of a hand-held cellphone. A recent blog and accompanying discussion on the New York Times website, however, asks an intriguing question for Oregon distracted drivers: are you willing to acknowledge that your…
