Car Accidents

February 11, 2011

Could More Back-In Parking Reduce Oregon Car Accidents?

An article just published by the online magazine Slate raises an intriguing question: is it safer to drive head-first into a parking spot, the way most Americans do? Or to back into it? The question is relevant because if there is strong data suggesting that backing into parking spaces is, by and large, safer that, in turn, would mean that we ought to begin looking at Oregon car accidents in different ways.

We all know, of course, that Portland car accidents can lead to any number of traumas: Oregon brain injuries, injuries to children, even wrongful death. Who among us has not had a near miss either when backing out of a parking space or when passing by (whether in a car or on foot) someone who is doing so without paying sufficient attention.

Though Slate notes that “parking lot crash statistics are a bit hazy,” it goes on to note: “a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in 2001 and 2002 found that 14 percent of all damage claims involved crashes in parking lots (some number of which must have involved vehicles moving in and out of spaces).” Further, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in a report to Congress last year estimated that “backover crashes,” as they are officially known, “cause at least 183 fatalities annually” as well as approximately 7000 injuries. The NHTSA is studying new rules that it hopes may lower these numbers by cutting the size of vehicle blind spots.

January 24, 2011

California Tragedy is a Reminder That There is More Than One Kind of Distracted Driving

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A case headed for California’s courts offers a pointed reminder that there is more to ‘distracted driving’ than cellphones. According to the Orange County Register, a man in southern California has been charged with vehicular manslaughter for causing a baby’s death because he “was distracted by a laptop sliding off his passenger seat.” In California the charge of “vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence” caries a potential sentence of a year in jail.

According to the paper, the fatal car accident took place last September. It began when the driver, as he crossed some railroad tracks, turned his attention to a laptop sitting in the passenger seat that he feared would slide out of its bag. As a result, he “did not notice that the traffic in front of him had stopped” and rear-ended the vehicle in front of him. That vehicle, in turn, lurched forward, striking an Australian tourist who was making her way across a crosswalk with her baby in a stroller as well as her 11-year-old niece and 7-year-old nephew.

The woman and the 11 year old were struck and injured by the car at the head of the chain-reaction accident. The baby was launched from her stroller, landing “approximately 70 feet away,” the newspaper reports.

January 16, 2011

Central Oregon Car Crash Leads to Drunk Driving Arrest

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A dramatic Oregon car accident near Redmond landed a 25-year-old Prineville woman in prison on suspicion of Oregon drunk driving, according to the Bend Bulletin.

The newspaper reports that Deneice Tebbits “was driving south a few miles south of Redmond shortly before 7 a.m. (last Wednesday) when she attempted to pass a line of cars and spun out of control, crossed three lanes of traffic, and struck a northbound vehicle.” According to MyCentralOregon.com neither Tebbits nor the driver of the car she hit were injured, but Tebbits was arrested at the scene and charged with suspicion of Oregon DUII.

If there were ever a case that illustrates the many dangers of Oregon drunk driving this has to be it. Based on media reporting of the case, we allegedly have an impaired driver (at seven o’clock in the morning!) endangering both herself and a significant other number of motorists.

January 14, 2011

Three Injured in Walterville Crash

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A local fire department official had to be rescued by his own colleagues after causing an Oregon injury car wreck near Walterville, the Eugene Register-Guard reports. The Oregon car accident took place on Highway 126 last Sunday and resulted in three injuries, one of which was described as “serious” in media reports.

The newspaper, quoting witnesses and the local police, reported that a Toyota driven by Michael McCall was “weaving in and out of its lane and traveling in the opposing lane before it crashed into an oncoming Ford Taurus occupied by two Eugene residents.”

McCall, described as “a volunteer lieutenant with McKenzie Fire & Rescue” had to be rescued from the wreck by his fire department colleagues. He was transported to a hospital in Springfield and treated for serious injuries following the Oregon head-on collision. The driver and passenger in the Taurus were transported to a different Springfield hospital with injuries that were described as non-life threatening.

January 10, 2011

Back-to-Back Oregon Pedestrian Accidents Highlight Continued Traffic Dangers

by Matthew D. Kaplan

Two serious Portland pedestrian accidents only hours apart – one of them fatal – highlight the danger pedestrians continue to face here in northern Oregon, despite a renewed public focus on the issue in recent months.

The first accident took place last Monday on Southeast 82nd Avenue where a 27-year old pedestrian was hit by a car and run over by not one but two vehicles, according to a report in The Oregonian. The victim is hospitalized in serious condition. According to an OSP spokesperson, the Oregon pedestrian car accident began when she was struck while crossing 82nd Avenue in a marked crosswalk Monday afternoon. A pick-up truck traveling behind the car that hit the pedestrian ran over her as it attempted to drive around the first car. The driver of the first car, apparently startled, then moved her vehicle – in the process running over the victim a second time. Neither driver was cited in the incident, according to The Oregonian, but an investigation is still under way.

The second Portland car accident took place Tuesday evening. Unlike the first accident, where both drivers are cooperating with police, this was a hit-and-run, and a reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the driver, according to The Oregonian. The accident, on Southeast Division St, led to the death of a pedestrian who was struck “as he crossed the wide road”, the newspaper reports. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

August 26, 2010

Study Finds Pets Can Be as Much of a Distraction for Drivers as Texting

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A study released last week by AAA seems certain to add to the debate surrounding distracted driving in Oregon and elsewhere around the nation. According to the survey, as reported by the Chicago Tribune, two out of every three dog owners “said they routinely drive while petting or playing with their dogs.”

Need I mention that this is not a very safe practice?

In fact, according to Fox News (reporting on the same AAA study), an unrestrained animal in a moving car poses the same degree of distracted driving danger as texting. Texting while driving is, of course, illegal in Oregon and a growing number of other states. That is somewhat ironic since, as the Tribune notes, “there are no state laws requiring drivers to buckle up their pets or prohibiting them from holding animals on their laps.” The paper quotes a AAA spokeswoman saying the auto club considers this situation “an increasingly big problem.”

August 6, 2010

Oregon Fatal Car Crash Leads to Charges

by Matthew D. Kaplan

The Associated Press is reporting that a 24 year old Portland man involved in an Oregon fatal car crash late last year has been charged with manslaughter. According to the news agency the suspect “was arraigned Tuesday in Marion County Circuit Court in Salem.” In addition to manslaughter he has also been charged with “assault and possession of a controlled substance.”

According to the dispatch, which was published on The Oregonian’s website, the Oregon SUV driver allegedly crossed the centerline of Highway 22 near Idanha, east of Salem, on December 19 and hit an oncoming car. The Salem car accident killed a 69 year old man in the oncoming car and sent three other people in that vehicle to the hospital. The driver of the SUV was also hospitalized with what AP describes as serious injuries.

Accidents like this one are a reminder of the important distinction between criminal and civil proceedings. Just because the state has chosen to move ahead with manslaughter and other charges does not mean the alleged SUV driver cannot also be held to account in civil court for the damage he has done to the victims and their families.

July 2, 2010

Beaverton Car Crash Kills Two

by Matthew D. Kaplan

An Oregon car crash Wednesday left two people dead in Beaverton, highlighting in the most tragic way possible the need for caution behind the wheel as we head into this holiday weekend.

According to The Oregonian, the Washington County car accident took place at mid-afternoon on South Murray Boulevard. The driver “barely stopped for the red light” before making a right turn and then speeding up. The abrupt acceleration caused “the car to fishtail across both lanes, jump the curb and crash into” a concrete wall, the paper reports. A 54-year old man riding in the passenger seat was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. The driver, a 61 year old woman, was airlifted to a Portland hospital following the Oregon car accident, but died a few hours later.

Television station KGW quotes police investigating the accident saying both that speed “appears to have been” one cause of the Oregon single car accident, and that alcohol use may also have played a role.

April 11, 2010

Distracted Driver Gets 4 Years for Fatal Accident

by Matthew D. Kaplan

With Oregon distracted driving on the minds of many motorists as the state’s new ban on the use of hand-held cellphones and texting by drivers takes effect, a court case in California last week became the latest important legal decision to remind everyone how serious an issue this is.

According to the Associated Press, a 42 year old California man has been sentenced to four years in prison following a car accident in which he struck and killed a pedestrian. Martin Kuehl was texting as he drove through the southern California city of Newport Beach in August 2008. According to the AP, “prosecutors argued that he had an unobstructed view of the crosswalk” where he struck and killed the pedestrian, but “failed to slow down or break in any way.”

Interestingly, the accident took place one month before California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation banning texting behind the wheel throughout the state. That fact is an important reminder that the consequences of Portland distracted driving can go far beyond those directly related to the Oregon distracted driving law.

March 27, 2010

Junction City Car Accident Leaves Father & Son Critically Injured

by Matthew D. Kaplan

Junction City, midway between Eugene and Salem, was the site of a serious Oregon truck crash last week, one that left a 20 year old father and his infant son both critically injured. According to the Eugene Register-Guard, Cory Jackson and his 9 month old son Eli were driving in the family’s Volkswagen Jetta when their car was struck by a truck. Both father and son were transported to area hospitals.

Police told the Register-Guard that Jackson “drove into the path of the truck.” In the immediate aftermath of the accident, however, they were unable to provide many further details. The accident took place at the intersection of Highway 99 and Milliron Road in Junction City. A portion of Highway 99 was closed for about four hours as police investigators and an accident reconstruction team worked on the accident site, according to TV station KMTR.

Oregon truck accidents can take an horrific toll on ordinary passenger cars. When the crash leads to a Eugene child injury accident the results are especially tragic. In such instances, contacting an Oregon car crash attorney as quickly as possible following the accident can be one of the most important moves you or your loved ones make.