Articles Posted in Motor Vehicle Accidents

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Oregon State Police are reportedly still investigating the circumstances of a three-car Oregon crash that took the life of a 72 year old woman from Roseburg last week. According to Eugene TV station KMTR, the Oregon fatal traffic accident took place near the intersection of Highway 42 and Carnes Road in the small town of Green, just west of I-5 between Medford and Eugene.

The Oregonian reports that 72-year old Nobu Cress was severely injured when her car was struck by a vehicle that ran a red light as she was turning left through the intersection. The vehicle that struck Cress also hit another car though the driver of that vehicle suffered only minor injuries. Cress was airlifted to a Portland area hospital, but later died, the newspaper reports. The driver of the car that struck her was treated at a hospital in Roseburg, closer to the accident site.

According to KMTR, “troopers have yet to release any information on what caused the crash, like a mechanical problem, medical problem or distraction,” though they did say that there is little evidence that the driver who ran the red light applied her brakes.

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Two months ago I wrote about “Textecution”, a smartphone application available for phones using Google’s Android operating system. At the time I noted that the application’s approach – using a phone’s GPS capabilities to determine whether the user is in a moving vehicle and, if so, to turn off some or all of a handset’s functions – seemed to be the wave of the future.

Sure enough, barely eight weeks later, New York Times technology columnist David Pogue has published a detailed review of four similar applications, all of which seek to address the growing problem of distracted driving. Textecution was not among the applications reviewed this week by Pogue. All of the ones he did look at, however, take a similar approach.

As Pogue notes, iZup, tXtBlocker, CellSafety and ZoomSafer approach the problem of Oregon distracted driving in differing ways but seem to be aimed at the same market: parents of teenagers (or perhaps to bosses who fear that employees on the phone while using the company vehicle will cause an Oregon car accident leading to a lawsuit). Aside from ZoomSafer, all of the applications reviewed require a monthly subscription fee. Purchase prices range from free (for iZup, though, again, there is a monthly fee) to $25.

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A Portland bus accident late Saturday night left two young women dead and three other people injured – one critically – after the group was struck by a bus. According to The Oregonian, police are still working to reconstruct the details of the Oregon fatal pedestrian vehicle crash. The incident took place in downtown Portland as the group of pedestrians left a local comedy club.

According to the paper, the accident occurred at the intersection of Northwest Broadway and Glisan Street. “The bus was westbound on Glisan as it turned left onto southbound Broadway and struck the westbound pedestrians,” the paper reported. The five victims, including a newlywed couple and a brother and sister, all knew one another and were traveling together. According to police, the bus had a green light at the time of the accident and the pedestrians had a walk signal. The bus was out of service at the time and was not carrying passengers.

The Oregonian quoted police saying that neither speed nor alcohol initially appears to be a factor in the accident.

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About 50 people, including Portland’s mayor, gathered last week to mark the unveiling of a unique spot: a shrine dedicated to Portland bicyclists by St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, along with the introduction by the church of a formal ‘bicycle liturgy’, according to a recent article in The Oregonian.

Central to the shrine is a ‘ghost bike’ covered in flowers and dedicated to the memory of a young Portland cyclist who was struck by a car and died in an Oregon bicycle accident in 2007. Mayor Sam Adams told those attending the service that “out of the great tragedy of (Tracey) Sparlings death emerged the city’s bike boxes, designed to prevent more right-hook turns like the one that killed” her, the newspaper reported. According to the church publication Episcopal Life, Sparlings was struck and killed by a cement truck which failed to see her while turning. The driver of the truck was not prosecuted.

The event was a reminder that even in Portland – often regarded as one of the most bike-friendly cities in the country – riders often find themselves endangered by drivers who are not keeping an eye out for cyclists.

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Four members of a Canadian family were injured in a serious Oregon truck accident last week when what police describe as a “large truck” crossed the median on I-5 near Eugene and collided with an oncoming car, according to a report by local TV station KMTR.

According to the Eugene Register-Guard, the truck, which police describe as “rental style”, was headed south on I-5 at the time of the accident. The truck’s 73-year old driver reportedly strayed across the interstate’s grassy median before colliding with the Canadian family’s northbound pick-up truck. All four family members were taken to area hospitals. None of their injuries are thought to be life-threatening. The southbound truck’s driver was more seriously injured. According to the Register-Guard she was airlifted to hospital, after being pulled from her vehicle by fire department personnel.

Eugene injury accidents such as this can be difficult and costly affairs for the victims and their extended families. Bills for medical treatment, rehabilitative services and even counseling can flood in at a time when accident victims, or loved ones forced to leave work to care for them, are further burdened with emotional distress and the possible loss of wages or salaries.

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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.

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The New York Times reported recently on efforts by the federal Department of Transportation to tighten rules governing distracted driving in Oregon and elsewhere in the nation. According to the newspaper, the department wants to make a temporary ban on texting by long-haul truckers permanent. Safety advocates, however, say those rules do not go far enough.

According to the Times, the real concern among highway safety groups focuses on the in-cab computers that have become standard equipment in much of the nation’s trucking fleet. “We want the department to continue down this road of looking at the devices that are highly distracting and take action to curb those as well,” the paper quoted Judith Stone, president of Advocates for Highway Safety, saying.

The department is currently gearing up to take public comments about making the texting rule permanent, but is reported to be receptive to input on a broader ban. Onboard computers are a common sight in the cabs of large trucks. These often combine the features of commercial GPS units with links to dispatchers at a trucking or shipping company’s headquarters.

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Police say a suspected drunk driver in Tigard, near Portland, caused a three-vehicle Oregon car accident late last week that injured four people, one of them seriously. According to The Oregonian, the accident occurred “on the Pacific Highway overpass, just north of Johnson Street” late at night, and closed the effected roadway throughout the following morning.

Local media, quoting police and Oregon DOT investigators, say a southbound vehicle crossed the highway’s center line and hit a north-bound pick-up truck. A north-bound SUV was also caught up in the unfolding Oregon auto accident. All three drivers, as well as a passenger in the SUV, were injured in the incident, according to The Oregonian, with the driver of the pick-up being listed in the most serious condition of the four.

Oregon auto accidents, especially those involving Portland or Beaverton drunk drivers, can be costly and emotionally traumatic for months or years after the fact. The government is well-positioned to punish Oregon drunk drivers with criminal sanctions, but these do little or nothing to address the pain and suffering of Oregon drunk driving car accident victims.

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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.

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An Oregon bicycle and car accident in which a Portland man allegedly intentionally hit a cyclist is being heard in the Clatsop County courts. Prosecutors say the 23 year old driver “just took off” after hitting a cyclist in Seaside, according to TV station KVAL. The station reports that the suspect was found hiding in the woods after abandoning his truck near the scene of the accident.

The Oregonian reports that the cyclist was seriously injured in the incident, and that the driver has been charged with attempted murder, first-degree assault and felony hit-and-run. Bail was set at $250,000.

The accident is a reminder of the importance of both cycling safety, and of the need for the strict enforcement of laws requiring motor vehicles to share the road with law-abiding Oregon bicycle riders. Drivers who intentionally run down cyclists are, mercifully, rare. Far more common, however, are careless motorists who simply do not pay as much attention as they should to Oregon bike riders. A Portland bicycle injury lawyer can advise cyclists who have been hit by cars – whether accidentally or intentionally – on their legal rights and whether they are entitled to damages to cover expenses incurred as a result of an Oregon cycling accident involving a car or truck. Such accidents can be especially dangerous, since Portland cyclists hit by a car stand a significant chance of suffering an Oregon traumatic brain injury.

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