Oregon Injury Lawyer Blog

June 28, 2012

Hillsboro Steps Up Distracted Driving Enforcement

A recent announcement by the Hillsboro police department, as reported in The Oregonian, comes as a welcome addition to the summer: the department plans to “have designated officers focused on distracted driving throughout the summer.”

Hillsboro officers working specially designated overtime shifts (funded, the paper notes, by an outside grant) will focus their attention on a broad range of behind-the-wheel distractions. That means that in addition to enforcing violations of Oregon’s distracted driving law, they will also be on the lookout “for people who are distracted by other activities, such as eating and reading.”

“All distractions endanger the driver, passengers and bystanders,” the newspaper quotes a department spokesman saying. Officers, he said, will regularly conduct the extra enforcement patrols between now and September.

June 25, 2012

Oregon Child Injury Highlights Importance of Window Safety

by Matthew D. Kaplan

I have written in the past about the importance of window safety. Too many people forget at this time of year that screens are designed to keep bugs out, not to keep children in, and fail to take essential precautions.

This reminder is prompted by a recent report in The Oregonian about a Cedar Mill toddler who “was taken to a local hospital after she punched through a screen and fell from a second-storey window.” Even more frighteningly: “the girl reportedly fell from the window and first landed on a slanted roof. She then rolled off the roof and hit a mix of pavement and bark dust” the paper adds citing local Tualatin Valley first responders.

The child was taken to an area hospital and her injuries are reported not to be life-threatening.

June 21, 2012

Motorcycle Helmets at Center of Oregon Motorbike Safety Debate

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A recent article in The Oregonian offered the following somewhat surprising revelation: despite deaths from motorcycle crashes having “more than doubled since the mid-1990s” several major motorcycle-focused lobbying groups are advocating for fewer regulations and less enforcement concerning helmets.

The paper writes that lobbyists and their congressional allies want the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to be “blocked from providing any more grants to states to conduct highway stops of motorcyclists to check for safety violations such as the wearing of helmets that don’t meet federal standards.”

Even more shockingly, “the rider groups are seeking to preserve what essentially is a gag rule that since 1998 has prevented the agency from advocating safety measures at the state and local levels, including helmet laws.” The article notes that the gag rule is supported both by grassroots-based riders groups and by lobbyists working for motorcycle makers. It is surprising to learn that just 19 states require all motorcycle riders to wear helmets – though also a relief to find that Oregon is one of them. Even more surprising, however, is the revelation that state legislatures have been rolling back helmet laws for years. The article notes that in the late 70s all but three states required everyone on a motorcycle to be wearing a helmet.

June 15, 2012

Oregon Supreme Court Backs Release of Boy Scout Files

by Matthew D. Kaplan

An important decision announced yesterday by the Oregon Supreme Court bolsters both the principle of openness in our court system and the idea that a key function of the courts is to enforce accountability.

According to the New York Times a unanimous ruling by the Oregon Supreme Court “cleared the way… for the release of thousands of pages of documents detailing accusations and investigations of sexual abuse or other improprieties by Boy Scout leaders around the nation from the mid-1960s into the 1980s.” The documents, which the Scouts’ leadership referred to as “the perversion files” were the keystone of the 2010 sexual abuse case that focused national attention on the organization. The organization was fined over $18 million because of its efforts to cover up the abuse of young boys rather than reporting it to authorities.

It is sad to see that even now the Scouts seem more concerned about protecting their organizational reputation than they are about the many injuries to children enabled by their decades-long conduct. As described by the Times, the files “were kept as a way of weeding out bad leaders and preventing abuse” but proved to be especially damaging to the organization because they offered proof that the Scouts’ leadership knew of cases of sexual abuse but did nothing to bring the guilty adults to justice.

June 13, 2012

Oregon Drunk Driver Sentenced in Cyclist’s Death

by Matthew D. Kaplan

Last week a graduating University of Oregon senior was sentenced to three years in prison for the Eugene drunk driving death of a fellow student, according to the Eugene Register-Guard.

The victim, a Scot who was also attending UO, was riding his bike in a marked bike lane when he was struck from behind. The newspaper reports that in the immediate aftermath of the Oregon bike and car accident the 22-year-old driver stayed with the victim “and took responsibility for his conduct.” The driver “had a blood alcohol level about twice that in which a driver is presumed intoxicated under Oregon law,” the paper notes.

The fact that the driver did not leave the scene of the accident and had no prior drunk driving history prompted prosecutors to agree to the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide, rather than seeking a conviction for second-degree manslaughter (which would have carried a heavier mandatory sentence). The driver pled guilty as part of the agreement with the prosecutor’s office. He will also lose driving privileges for the remainder of his life.

June 7, 2012

Distracted Driving Verdict Sends Teen To Prison

by Matthew D. Kaplan

National attention has been focused this week on a Massachusetts teenager convicted on charges of motor vehicle homicide in a case related to distracted driving. The teenager maintained his innocence, claiming he was distracted by worries about his homework load but not by his phone, according to a report by ABC News.

Prosecutors, however, used the 18-year-old’s phone records to prove that he had been sending and receiving text messages moments before his car swerved across the center line, striking an oncoming pick-up truck driven by a “55-year-old father of three.”

If we look at how this case might have played out under the laws in place here in Oregon several noteworthy things spring to mind. The Massachusetts case was a criminal trial. Though there are no reports of alcohol being involved in the crash, here in Oregon a civil case stemming from an accident like this would be similar to a DUII action. Oregon law would allow victims and their families to file claims for medical bills and lost wages and for the loss of the society and companionship of the deceased.

June 5, 2012

Automakers Raise the Distracted Driving Stakes

by Matthew D. Kaplan

Depending on how one looks at it, the view expressed by automakers in a recent New York Times article represents either a resigned but forward-looking attitude toward electronics and driving, or a bid to maximize profits with little regard to the dangers of distracted driving here in Oregon and elsewhere across the nation.

According to the newspaper, the car companies are moving forward with plans for “connecting smartphones to in-dash systems and putting internet-based information into so-called connected cars for 2013.” It notes that while ever-more-elaborate electronic dashboards have been a fixture of our cars for some time, the newest car models will allow drivers to buy movie tickets, check restaurant reviews and make, read or listen to Facebook posts all while attempting to cope with all of the other distractions one encounters behind the wheel.

The government is concerned, the Times reports, noting that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “issued a 177-page set of proposed guidelines for in-car electronics” earlier this year. “The report repeatedly mentioned the complexity of dashboard displays,” it adds.

May 31, 2012

Industrial Lathe Accident A Reminder of Workplace Dangers

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A recent article in the Sacramento Bee is a telling reminder of the importance of workplace safety here in Oregon and of the sort of precautions businesses ought to be taking to avoid Oregon industrial accidents.

According to an Associated Press report posted on the newspaper’s website, a 60-year old man’s arm was severed by an industrial lathe while he was working at GE Aviation Systems, a company which manufactures parts for airplanes. Quoting local first responders the news agency reports that “workers were turning a piece of metal and the man’s arm somehow got caught in the lathe.”

The victim was transported to a local hospital “along with his crushed arm. It’s unclear if the arm can be reattached,” according to the report.

May 29, 2012

Portland Bike Accident Puts Spotlight on Bike Boxes

by Matthew D. Kaplan

The death of an avid cyclist in a Portland bike and car accident earlier this month has turned a spotlight on bike boxes – the green areas at intersections that the city began adding several years ago in an effort to make Portland more bicycle-friendly.

As I noted last week, a 28-year-old Portland woman died in an Oregon bike accident when she was struck by a semi-truck making a right turn from Madison onto Third Avenue. A recent article on KGW’s website noted that there is a bike box at that intersection, and that accidents like these are exactly what the bike boxes are designed to prevent.

“The green boxes painted in the road with a white bicycle symbol inside are located at several intersections around Portland to help prevent bicycle-car collisions, especially between bikes going straight when cars turn right,” the station reports.

May 25, 2012

Missing Children’s Awareness Day

by Matthew D. Kaplan

As we head into the long holiday weekend – with the summer months stretching out ahead – it is appropriate to take a moment today to mark “Missing Children’s Awareness Day,” so designated by the federal government.

May 25 was chosen as Missing Children’s Awareness day nearly 30 years ago – in 1983 – in memory Etan Patz, the six-year-old New York City boy who disappeared while walking to his school bus stop in 1979. The anniversary is especially poignant this year because just yesterday a man in New Jersey came forward and confessed to Patz’s long-unsolved death. Today, the day chosen in Etan’s honor, he was charged with murder in a New York court. There could hardly be a more poignant way to mark this year’s Missing Children’s Awareness Day.

According to radio station KUIK, Oregon’s state records show that as of late last month 464 children were listed as missing here in our state. The radio station, citing state law enforcement sources, reports that of the children on that state list “about 90% are runaways.” Injuries to children are a constant worry for many parents, but the added burden of fearing for a child’s day-to-day safety while having little or no idea where to find them is something no one should ever have to go through.