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Matthew D. Kaplan

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that more than 39,000 people died in traffic accidents in 2024. That represents an improvement from 2023, when nearly 41,000 people died on the roads in this country. Nevertheless, highways and roadways in Oregon and across the U.S. remain dangerous, as the many collisions, injuries, and deaths attest. If you have suffered a serious injury or lost a loved one in a motor vehicle accident, there may be many people or entities whose negligence led to your harm, from other drivers to governmental entities responsible for the maintenance and repair of the road where the crash occurred. To find out more regarding holding negligent parties accountable, you should talk to an experienced Oregon motor vehicle accident lawyer.

Counties like Multnomah and Washington typically rank at the top in terms of the most crashes and deaths each year, based on raw numbers. That does not necessarily tell the whole story, however, as they are also among Oregon’s most populous counties. Recently, Stacker delved into this data and ranked Oregon’s counties not simply by tallying the number of deaths, but by assigning a fatality rate based on dividing the number of deaths by the county’s total population.

The county at the top of the list was Harney County. Harney is a large, sparsely populated county in southeast Oregon. Although it logged only six deaths, that number, given the county’s low population (less than 7,500), was enough to make its fatality rate (80.5 per 100,000 people) nearly double that of the #2 county, Malheur.

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A lawsuit in which you need to hold accountable one or more private entities or individuals is complex enough, including many potentially difficult hurdles. You face challenges related to the facts, the law, and the rules of procedure. A lawsuit where you need to hold a governmental entity accountable is even more complex, as it comes with its own special set of rules. Failure to follow these rules with precision can result in losing your opportunity to get justice entirely. Rather than face that risk, you should reach out to a skilled Oregon attorney who is familiar with Oregon Tort Claim matters.

Many cases may involve a combination of private and public actors who were negligent. This was the case in a catastrophic crash from 2020.

The accident, which occurred in South Salem, left one teenage girl dead. Police reports and evidence from the crash site revealed that the driver of the girl’s vehicle was speeding and ran a stop sign in the moments before the two-vehicle collision occurred.

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Dogs are integral members of many families. They provide companionship, protection, and more to their humans. Unfortunately, dogs can also be dangerous. Even if a dog is of a breed generally considered non-violent, that dog is a powerful animal and may be capable of doing serious (and sometimes fatal) damage if it attacks. That is why owning a dog, while immensely rewarding, is also a massive responsibility. A dog placed in the possession of an irresponsible owner is a potential risk to all those around it. If you have questions about domestic animal attacks and Oregon liability law, you should speak to an experienced Oregon dog bite lawyer.

A fatal case from Southwest Oregon illustrates the harm that an out-of-control dog can cause.

According to the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office, a four-year-old girl died after a dog attacked her on August 16. Available details about the attack were sparse, but KOBI reported that the incident occurred at a residence in Cave Junction, approximately 30 miles southwest of Grants Pass. KOBI also indicated that the dog involved was a mix of Cane Corso, Rottweiler, and Pit bull breeds. A GoFundMe for the child’s family stated that the dog belonged to a neighbor.

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Motorcyclists and bicyclists are among the most at-risk of all those who share Oregon’s roadways. Because motorcyclists and bicyclists are physically exposed in ways that passenger vehicle occupants are not, crashes are more likely to cause serious or even fatal harm. While accidents often result from good-faith judgment errors, some drivers act with bad intentions, including those fueled by road rage. If a driver hurt you while you rode your motorcycle — whether that driver was driving negligently or recklessly — you may be entitled to obtain essential compensation via the civil justice system. In any scenario, but especially if your case involves exceptional circumstances like a road-rage driver, you should retain the services of an experienced Oregon motorcycle accident lawyer to ensure your rights are protected.

Video footage the Beaverton Police Department released in May shows how quickly a disagreement on the road can go from a verbal dispute to a life-threatening crash when a road-rage driver uses his vehicle as a weapon.

In the video from Beaverton, two vehicles — one minivan and one motorcycle — travel side-by-side on westbound Highway 26 between Highway 217 and Cedar Hills Boulevard. The motorcyclist appeared to yell, point, or gesture toward the Kia van. The van driver’s response was shocking and inappropriate.

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Traveling by bicycle offers bicyclists many benefits. It is a great way to stay healthy, to take in our area’s beautiful scenery, and to reduce one’s pollution output. Unfortunately, recent headlines paint a dangerous picture for bicyclists in and around Portland. Speeding drivers, inattentive/distracted drivers, intoxicated drivers, and other negligent drivers are dangerous to everyone who shares the road, but a wreck that impacts a bicyclist often involves serious or fatal injuries. Because a catastrophic or fatal accident often involves many steps like insurance claims, civil lawsuits, or both, it is well worth your while to retain a skilled Oregon bicycle accident lawyer who can help you understand your rights and all your options for getting justice.

One of those recent bicycle accidents occurred in Southeast Portland. OregonLive reported that a vehicle driver and a bicyclist crashed near the intersection of SE 145th Avenue and SE Powell Boulevard at around 7:00 pm on July 13. The bicyclist died from his injuries on July 14.

According to the report, the vehicle driver, who was shoeless, had “bloodshot eyes and smelled like alcohol.” The driver also allegedly “appeared to be struggling to walk in a straight line or talk.”

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A common truth posits that motor vehicles and alcohol do not mix. That theory is never more true than when the driver is someone under the age of 21. In many cases where an underage driver has crashed a vehicle due to their intoxication, they obtained their alcoholic beverages from someone else, whether that someone is a private server or a commercial establishment. When a social host or a bartender fails to check IDs or otherwise take proper steps to prevent serving minors, they may face severe consequences. A business might lose its liquor license. And, if an intoxicated minor injures (or kills) someone else in a vehicle crash, the facts of the case may present an issue of potential liability on the part of those who served the alcohol. If you have questions about pursuing a dram shop or social host case, be sure to contact a knowledgeable Oregon dram shop lawyer to receive sound, reliable advice about your situation.

A fatal accident just outside Portland was allegedly an example of mixing minors, alcohol, and “dangerous” vehicles.

The crash occurred on Sauvie Island, located approximately 10 miles northwest of downtown Portland. According to the police, an 18-year-old male crashed a Polaris utility terrain vehicle shortly after midnight on May 18. The Oregonian reported that the crash killed the vehicle’s other passenger, a 17-year-old girl.

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A common expression related to grief posits that “no parent should have to bury a child… it is not the natural order of things.” Unfortunately, this happens thousands of times every year. According to the National Institutes of Health, vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death in children and adolescents, accounting for 20% of all deaths. If you have encountered this kind of tragic loss, you may need to take legal action. If you do have such a need, your case will benefit from having representation provided by an experienced Oregon auto accident lawyer.

One of those fatal accidents occurred this month in Clatsop County.

The collision occurred along Highway 101 just south of its intersection with Highway 26. A southbound pickup truck entered the northbound lanes and crashed head-on into a northbound Honda SUV. The truck continued forward in the wrong lane, eventually hitting a Nissan SUV head-on.

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According to a leading trade association, forklift accidents totaled more than 40,000 in 2021-22. Every year, 8,000-9,000 of those are injury-causing, according to OSHA, with 75-95 people dying annually in forklift accidents. When your Oregon forklift accident has left you significantly injured (or has taken the life of a loved one,) an industrial accident claim may be a vital element of your family’s financial recovery. To find out if you can seek accountability for your accident using this legal tool, reach out without delay to speak to a knowledgeable Oregon industrial accident lawyer.

Forklift accidents encompass everything from forklift rollovers to pedestrian impacts to forklifts falling off docks/trailers and more. Rollovers are the most common type of accident, but are far from the only cause. Other factors include working in close quarters with pedestrians, insufficiently trained forklift operators, improperly loaded loads, workers falling from forks, mechanical failures, and more.

Earlier this month, the scenario involved a falling forklift, and the outcome was tragically fatal.

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According to the Insurance Information Institute, more than one in every 10 fatal accidents involves a head-on collision scenario, taking thousands of lives each year. While head-on crashes occur for a variety of reasons — from speeding to impaired driving to unsafe passing — almost all have one thing in common: a driver who engaged in one or more dangerous actions that resulted in their vehicle ending up going the wrong way into oncoming traffic. If you have experienced serious harm — or lost a loved one — because a driver drove negligently and caused a head-on crash, you likely will need to take multiple actions to obtain a recovery. These may include insurance claims, civil lawsuits, and more. To get the recovery you and your family need, you should take the time to consult and retain an experienced Oregon auto accident lawyer.

A rural stretch of Highway 26 in Clatsop County was the scene of one of these severe accidents in the morning hours of April 29. According to Oregonlive.com, police responded shortly after sunrise to find a head-on collision between two Ford F-350 pickup trucks.

According to the report, the driver of the westbound truck was trying to pass “multiple commercial vehicles” when he crashed into an eastbound pickup. The impact threw the first truck into one of the big rigs.

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One of roughly every 80 auto accidents involves a driver who crashed due to a medical emergency. The vast majority of these involved people who experienced “seizures, blackouts, or diabetic reactions,” according to the data collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. When you are hurt in a crash involving an at-fault driver with medical problems, the defense may try to use that medical condition to avoid liability. Countering that may require a variety of steps. An experienced Oregon auto accident lawyer can advise you on what actions can help strengthen your case.

Deschutes County was the site of one of those accidents earlier this month. According to the Bend Police, a 61-year-old man driving southbound on the Bend Parkway “had a medical event” that caused his pickup truck to veer into the northbound lanes. There, the truck crashed head-on into a Toyota van.

The force of the collision partially ejected the van driver from her vehicle. Central Oregon Daily reported that both drivers were hurt and that the woman suffered life-threatening harm. The police cited the truck driver for careless driving, which caused an accident. The police did not disclose the nature of the medical event that afflicted the truck driver.

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