Oregon Injury Lawyer Blog

November 21, 2010

Traffic Data Again Highlights Dangers for Portland Pedestrians

Hard on the tragic death of a Portland toddler in a Portland pedestrian accident, and new statistical evidence that the danger to pedestrians is increasing here in Oregon, the Portland Tribune has published an analysis highlighting some of the metro area’s worst intersections.

According to the paper, “Northeast Marine Drive now ranks No. 1 on the city’s new list of most dangerous stretches, with 16 fatalities in the past 10 years.” It is important to note that while Northeast Marine has seen the largest number of fatalities, the worst stretch of road for crashes overall is Southeast Powell Boulevard. Though there have been fewer pedestrian deaths there over the past decade (nine, versus the 16 on Northeast Marine), the overall crash rate is significantly higher than anywhere else in the city: 5345, including a stunning 356 just at the intersection of Southeast Powell and 82nd Avenue. See below for a link to the original article, which includes the full list.

The last few weeks have provided both tragic evidence for and statistical validation of the belief that reckless drivers need to be held to account for their actions. Crossing the street should not be the dangerous and life-threatening experience it has become in some parts of Portland. In recounting the story of one accident, the Tribune notes that the busy intersection on Burnside where it took place “is nearly impossible to cross on foot, though it is, in fact, a legal crosswalk.”

November 18, 2010

Study Highlights Dangers of Portland Bicycle Accidents

by Matthew D. Kaplan

Portland takes justifiable pride in being one of the most bicycle-friendly communities in America. According to US Census figures, quoted by The Oregonian, Portland leads all larger American cities in the percentage of our population that uses bikes to commute to work or school. Bike friendliness can, however, come with a price. According to the same analysis by the newspaper, a recent study by the Oregon Health and Science University found that bike commuters are at significantly high risk for injury than drivers or more occasional riders when it comes to Oregon bike accidents.

According to the paper, an astonishing 20 percent of all Portland bike commuters report being injured in an Oregon bicycle accident during the last year. The good news is that many of those accidents were minor (so minor what the article quotes some local bike advocates complaining that the study used too broad a definition of “accident”). Fully one-quarter of Portland bike accidents, however, were serious enough to require “medical attention.”

Put another way: “Compared with auto commuters, bicyclists are 12 times more likely to be seriously injured in a crash, largely because they are far more vulnerable, the study says.” The biggest thing we can do to lower those numbers, according to the authors, is to “focus on improving the safety of the bicycle commuting environment.” Or, in plain English, we can concentrate not only on improving and maintaining the city’s bike infrastructure, but also on enforcing the traffic laws.

November 15, 2010

Oregon Wrongful Death Suit Follows Eugene-Area Truck Crash

by Matthew D. Kaplan

The family of a driver who died in an Oregon truck crash earlier this year has filed an Oregon wrongful death lawsuit against the other driver involved in the accident, according to a report in the Eugene Register-Guard.

Because the driver of the truck that caused the accident is already serving an 18-month prison term in connection with the fatal Oregon big rig crash, this case offers an especially clear reminder of something I have frequently mentioned in this space: the fact that the search for justice does not end in our criminal courts.

According to the Register-Guard the fatal accident on Highway 58 east of Eugene took place last March. Driver Bon Puckett “pleaded guilty last month to criminally negligent homicide and hit-and-run in connection with the pre-dawn wreck.” The accident took place when 28,000 pounds of hay Puckett was hauling that morning came loose and crushed the cab of a paint truck driven by Gregory Muller of Nevada. Prosecutors later contended that Puckett had not secured the hay properly and that his truck had not been properly maintained.

November 13, 2010

Portland Pedestrian Accident Claims Life of Toddler

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A few days ago I wrote about new data showing a worrisome rise in traffic accidents leading to Oregon pedestrian deaths. In the most tragic illustration possible of what seems to be a trend, we now have word of the death of a toddler in who was in a stroller as he and his father crossed the street at what TV station KGW describes as “a clearly marked crosswalk.”

According to a detailed account in The Oregonian, the accident took place last Monday in North Portland. The 75-year-old driver of the car that struck and killed 22-month-old Seamus DuBarry, his father and another man told police that he panicked and, in the process, mistook the gas pedal for the brake. The newspaper reports that the elder DuBarry and his small son “were flipped onto the car’s hood and carried for nearly 100 feet. The car slammed into a utility pole and stopped.” Another Oregon pedestrian, Da-Mon McDonald, was left in the middle of the road. Both of the adults suffered what the paper describes as minor injuries in the crash. The child, however, died a short while later at a nearby hospital after surgical attempts to save him failed.

Though police opted not to issue any citations in the incident, McDonald was quoted by The Oregonian saying that the driver “owes that family and that little boy, big time.” According to the paper the accident remains under investigation. Police expect to forward a report on the incident to the Multnomah County DA soon.

November 10, 2010

Oregon traffic deaths highlight dangers for pedestrians

by Matthew D. Kaplan

Data showing a huge jump in the number of pedestrian deaths from Oregon car accidents made the news over the weekend, only to be reinforced by the death of a 21-year-old pedestrian Monday in an Oregon fatal car accident in Newberg.

The data cited by The Oregonian last Sunday was certainly eye-opening: an 80 percent jump in the number of pedestrians killed on Oregon’s roads this year compared to the same period in 2009. “The increase this year over last year is pretty alarming,” the paper quoted Oregon State Police spokesman Lt. Gregg Hastings saying. The article went on to cite Judith Yip, who coordinates the Oregon Pedestrian Safety Program. She noted that much of the increase can be attributed to pedestrians who “just don’t realize how invisible they are.”

Still, one has to wonder about incidents like the one that took place in Newberg a day after the Oregonian piece on pedestrian safety was published. According to a report, also carried in The Oregonian, the victim was attempting to cross State Route 219 in the late afternoon when he was struck by not one but two eastbound vehicles. According to the newspaper he died at the scene of the accident before a medical evacuation helicopter could arrive to take him to a hospital.

November 7, 2010

Central Oregon Truck Crash Highlights Big Rig Dangers

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A semi truck carrying lumber crashed in Central Oregon late last week, dumping its cargo across the road and highlighting, again, the dangers Oregon truck accidents can pose for all motorists.

According to a detailed account published in the Central Oregonian, the accident took place early Wednesday morning on George Millican Road in Prineville. The paper reports that police responding to an Oregon truck accident call arrived to find the “truck and trailer overturned in the northbound lane blocking most of the road.” The truck’s cargo of lumber was splayed across the road, which was closed to traffic for several hours while the accident was investigated and clean-up operations took place. The paper reported that police believe the truck’s driver lost control of the vehicle when he swerved to avoid a deer in the road.

Thankfully, no one was injured in this accident (including the truck’s driver, who was wearing his safety belt). The incident does, however, highlight just how dangerous big rigs can be, and the importance of ensuring that they are operated in a safe manner – both to protect their own drivers and cargo and to protect the rest of the traveling public.

November 5, 2010

Go-Kart Death Raises Liability, Wrongful Death Issues

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A 67-year-old woman trying out a “go kart-like” vehicle at a California swap meet was killed last week when she lost control of the vehicle, drove out into traffic and was hit by a car. The sudden and unexpected tragedy raises a host of legal questions, particularly concerning liability and whether the woman’s accident can be defined as a wrongful death.

Family members later told the Orange County Register that Hwa Oh had never driven a go-kart before. The newspaper reports that while visiting the swap meet with her sister she accepted an offer to try out the go-kart in the facility’s parking lot. According to an account of the accident by the Associated Press, moments after taking the wheel the woman “lost control of the cart and ran through some bushes, across a sidewalk and onto a street.” She was pronounced dead at an area hospital a short time after the accident.

The AP report notes that law enforcement did not issue any citations at the scene of the accident. That decision by the local police does not, however, necessarily foreclose the possibility of legal action. One has to ask whether appropriate safety measures were in place in the parking lot before the woman climbed into the go-kart. We know from her surviving relatives that she had never driven such a vehicle, but did the cart’s owner ever ask that question? Should the owner of the property even have allowed people to drive around an active parking lot in small, fast, unsafe vehicles?

November 3, 2010

Fatal Washington Crash Highlights Distracted Driving Dangers

by Matthew D. Kaplan

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.

October 31, 2010

Oregon Dog Attack in Corvallis

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A police report reprinted on the crime blotter page of the Corvallis Gazette-Times tells a story that will be all-too-familiar to victims of Oregon dog attacks: Someone gets bitten while walking through a park, and the dog’s owner tries to brush off the incident.

The good news in this case is that the victim, 52-year-old Doug Whippo, was not seriously injured. According to the police report, as reprinted in the paper, he was attacked in Willamette Park last weekend. The dog bit Whippo on his left tricep, but the police say the bite “did not break his skin or cause any damage to his clothes.”

The bad news comes from the reaction by the dog’s owner, who told police: “the dog had just been playing and was only a puppy.” The police report then dryly notes that this ‘puppy’ weighs 93 pounds. The owner added that “she had instantly grabbed the dog by the collar and apologized.” Obviously grabbing your dog by the collar after it attacks someone is a good thing for owners to do. So is apologizing. On the whole, however, it would be even better if owners paid closer attention to their animals to ensure that they did not wind up in this position in the first place.

October 30, 2010

Salem Motorcycle Crash Leads to Arrest

by Matthew D. Kaplan

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.