Articles Posted in Motor Vehicle Accidents

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An Associated Press story, reprinted in The Oregonian, offers a gut-wrenching reminder of the dangers of Washington and Oregon distracted driving.

According to the news agency, a couple and their 8-year-old nephew all died when the husband lost control of his SUV on I-182 near Richland. The report quotes the Washington State Patrol saying the driver “was on the phone moments before” the vehicle “swerved off the road and rolled seven times.” The couple’s three children – ages 10, 8 and 2 – were also in the SUV. The older children were injured and received treatment at area hospitals. The toddler was unharmed.

Washington, like Oregon, has a distracted driving law that forbids use of a handset while behind the wheel. Though both states laws allow for “primary” enforcement (i.e. you can be pulled over just for being on the phone. In some other states distracted driving enforcement is “secondary” meaning that some other alleged violation – such as speeding – has to be the initiating factor in a traffic stop), we all know that it is relatively easy to skirt distracted driving laws when there are no law enforcement officers in sight.

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In a scenario that reads like a scene from a movie or television show, a 19-year-old motorcycle rider was arrested Friday at the end of a high-speed chase near Salem. According to The Oregonian, the chase included a dramatic Oregon motorcycle and car crash that, miraculously, left no one injured.

The incident began when a Marion County sheriffs’ deputy saw a lone motorcyclist zoom past him at 112 miles per hour. According to the Salem Statesman-Journal, the officer chased the motorcyclist southbound on I-5 at speeds as high as 125 miles per hour but eventually relented for fear of endangering other drivers. When the biker tried to exit at Mission Street SE, however, he lost control of his motorcycle and was hurled off the bike as it careened off-road. The riderless motorcycle then slammed into a car as the rider attempted to flee on foot, according to The Oregonian.

By an extraordinary stroke of luck neither the biker nor the driver of the car his motorcycle hit was injured. Once apprehended the 19-year-old suspect was charged with a long list of offenses: “reckless driving, attempting to elude police, hit-and-run, driving without insurance and failing to have a motorcycle endorsement, as well as several citations,” the Statesman-Journal reported. The rider, according to The Oregonian, later told police he fled from them because he wanted to avoid getting “another” speeding ticket.

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A driver running a red light near Aurora caused a two-car Oregon car accident that sent an 87-year-old woman to the hospital late last week, according to police officials. As reported by the Canby Herald, the Marion County car crash occurred when a 34-year-old woman failed to stop at a traffic signal at the intersection of Highway 551 and Ehlen Road.

The victim, identified by police as Jean Inman of Aurora, was turning left onto Ehlen Road when a northbound car driven by the 34-year-old crashed into her in the intersection. Inman “was transported by LiftFlight to Legacy Emanuel Hospital,” the newspaper reported. Police described her injuries as “nonlife-threatening.” The driver of the car that struck Inman was not injured.

The good news element of this Aurora car accident story is that both drivers were wearing their seat belts, and that air bags in both vehicles deployed properly, according to police officials cited by the Herald. That fact almost certainly prevented more serious injuries on the part of both drivers.

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A task force formed earlier this year to address shortcomings at TriMet, Portland’s public transportation authority, has issued a scathing report calling for sweeping changes in the culture of the transportation agency. In particular, the task force wants TriMet to strike the word “accident” from both its dictionary and its mindset.

“The group recommended eliminating the term ‘accident’ from its vocabulary, saying it implies that collisions are unpreventable,” The Oregonian reported. The Task Force was formed after a horrific incident last April in which a bus driver making an illegal left turn hit five people in a Portland crosswalk, killing two of them.

Among other things, the group suggested new incentives for TriMet employees to work toward improving safety performance, greater use of traffic and collision data to determine where Portland’s safety trouble spots are located, the appointment of a senior official charged only with overseeing safety issues and the development of better systems through which to assess driver performance.

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A three-vehicle Central Oregon car accident over the weekend left one person dead and two injured. The Salem Statesman-Journal, quoting Oregon State Police, reports that 19-year-old Yardley Rico of Culver was driving north on US-97 when, for reasons still unknown, his car drifted over the center line.

Rico reportedly sideswiped one oncoming car before colliding head-on with another. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver and a passenger in the car he hit head-on were treated at a Redmond hospital for what the Statesman-Journal describes as “non-life threatening injuries.” The driver and passenger in the other car – the one Rico sideswiped – were not injured.

The Oregonian reported that OSP officials are still trying to determine “if safety belts were used by those involved in the accident.” It adds that Highway 97 “was closed in both directions for two hours after the accident while emergency responders treated the injured.”

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Regular readers of this blog know that I have been reminding Oregonians since last year of the importance of the Oregon distracted driving law that went into effect January 1. An ever-growing number of studies nationwide testify to the importance of concentration behind the wheel and the particular dangers posed by hand-held cellphones.

Last week saw a Portland car crash that highlighted these truths in an exceptionally ironic manner. According to a report on KPTV’s website a Portland driver who was talking on his cellphone rear-ended a police car. OK, it was an unmarked patrol car, not a marked cruiser. Still, if you are going to have an accident while violating the Oregon distracted law, getting collared because you hit a cop car does tend to make things look even worse.

According to KPTV the accident took place on I-205 near Foster Road early last Tuesday morning. The 70-year old driver of a Toyota was, according to police quoted by the TV station, heading south on the interstate while using his cellphone without a hands-free device when he rear-ended the police car as it cruised along at 55 miles per hour.

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Yamaha’s Rhino off-road vehicle is emerging as a target of significant personal injury lawsuits here in Oregon and elsewhere around the country, according to a recent article in The Oregonian. The paper notes that the Rhino, first introduced in 2003, is the subject of “about 700 injury and wrongful death claims” nationwide, including several in Oregon.

Only five such cases have gone to trial so far, and the company has won four of those (the exception was in Georgia), but, the paper notes, “Yamaha has quietly paid settlements in at least 40 Rhino cases, some on the eve of trial.” The paper’s reporting, which was compiled by the consumer watchdog organization FairWarning.org, also says the federal government’s Consumer Product Safety Commission “has received reports of 70 deaths in Rhino crashes.” An August 2009 CPSC news release notes that several models of the Rhino were recalled for repairs “in order to enhance stability and reduce the potential for rollover.” At the time of the recall the company also gave Rhino owners free helmets.

The company says the vehicles are safe, and that its winning record at trial proves it. Consumer advocates, according to The Oregonian, counter that the company has, until now, successfully cherry-picked cases it was likely to win: instances in which reckless driving appeared to have played a role in the injuries or deaths resulting from accidents involving Rhinos. A March 2009 CPSC report noted, however, that many of the more recent accident reports “appear to involve turns at relatively low speeds on level terrain,” according to The Oregonian.

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A Portland traffic accident last week that resulted in the death of a 54-year-old pedestrian is still under investigation by Oregon law enforcement authorities, according to The Oregonian and other local media. Though the police are reported to have issued no citations at the site of the accident, the incident raises the possibility of a Portland wrongful death claim.

According to The Oregonian, “Christopher Berard, of Southwest Portland, was crossing SW Barbur at SW Capitol Highway from east to west around 8:45 p.m. against the “Don’t Walk” signal” last Thursday when he was struck by a car headed south on SW Barbur.

Berard was transported to a nearby hospital following the Portland traffic accident, but subsequently died of his injuries, according to television station KPTV. Though the precise circumstances of the fatal Oregon car accident remain under investigation the driver of the car that struck Berard is cooperating with law enforcement, KPTV reports.

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A driver who allegedly hit two Portland cyclists in the space of a minute is being sought by police, according to an account of the incidents in The Oregonian. The Portland car and bicycle accidents took place “shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday”, the paper reports. In both instances police describe the bikers as lucky to be alive, and say that officers were shocked by the apparent circumstances of the incidents.

Citing law enforcement sources as well as eye-witnesses, the newspaper describes a young (age 18 to 20) and erratic man driving a Subaru with no license plates. The first victim, a 47 year old man, was struck as he signaled to change lanes. He describes the driver as “clearly mad that I was in his way” and said the car sped around him, knocking him off of his bike in the process. The second incident took place barely a minute later near the Rose Garden. In that incident a 27-year old woman was struck and hurled through the air. She required hospitalization, though her injuries were described as not being life-threatening.

The incidents are a reminder that even in this – often cited as one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in America – things can go desperately wrong. If you have been hit by a car as part of an Oregon bicycle accident you owe it to yourself and your loved ones to make contact with a Portland bicycle injury lawyer as soon as possible.

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An August 2009 head-on car crash that left two dead in Bethany, near Beaverton, is the subject of a suit brought under Oregon’s dram shop laws, according to an article published last week in The Oregonian.

The Oregon dram shop suit has been brought by the family of Thai Hoang-Williams, who died as a result of a head-on collision with Belinda Lopez, who also died in the Oregon car crash. Lopez’s car crossed the centerline to strike Hoang-Williams’ vehicle. At the time, police blamed speed for the accident, but a private investigator hired by Hoang-Williams’ family also found that Lopez had been drinking heavily at a nearby restaurant, Chen’s Dynasty, shortly before the accident.

According to the newspaper, the Oregon wrongful death lawsuit alleges that Chen’s Dynasty shares responsibility for the accident with Lopez herself because it allegedly continued to serve her alcohol after she was drunk. This claim, according to the newspaper, is based on toxicology reports that were not released publicly at the time of the crash, but which show Lopez to have been significantly over the legal limit for blood alcohol at the time of the accident.

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