Houston Car Accident Lawyer Blog

Teen drivers are a particularly sensitive subject for many readers. After all, we were all teen drivers at one point and most of us lived to tell about it. Local, state and federal agencies work tirelessly to discern and legislate conditions that will be optimum for the safety of our youngest and newest set of drivers.

In the last two decades teens have been required to attend more classroom hours and spend more time practice driving than at any time in our nation's history. At the same time, many of the newer vehicles are literally stuffed with safety devices and restrictions abound that are meant to further inhibit teen mistakes when they are behind the wheel.

However, this may be all for naught because as a recent study attests - many of the more 'enlightened' laws have done little to prevent teen driving deaths. It appears that in states that have imposed strict driving requirements on 16 year olds - including such things as graduated licenses, restrictions on night time driving and passenger limits have been effective at lowering the number of teen deaths in that age category.

But when these restrictions are removed at age 18 - the number of deaths in that age group rise significantly.

Experts believe this phenomenon may be the cause of the older driver (18 year old) reacting carelessly to the lifting of driving constraints.

Parents - even teens that have been driving safely for several years may make poor driving choices in less restrictive conditions. Maintain an ongoing dialogue with your children about proper and safe driving choices.

Continue reading "Teen Drivers Need Parents Training" »

If you've been in a car accident here are a few apps that may be helpful to you.

Camera Phones
camera phones can be a very important help to you in documenting the location of the vehicles, the condition of the accident scene and also injuries, witnesses and property damage. Today, most cell phones come with a built in camera that is more than sufficient to aid an accident victim in documenting the accident.

Witness Statements and Notes
free apps such as Dragon Dictate can be very helpful to record with the statements, to take notes of names and phone numbers without the necessity of typing and doing a short memo of important information at the accident scene.

What To Do Apps
AAA has a handy app that outlines steps to do after you have been involved in a car accident. The app is free and is very helpful. Some Houston personal injury attorneys also have their own to do apps for accidents.

Note Apps
Can be handy for keep a log of doctor visits and recovery information. The are many good ones including Pensulate.

Continue reading "Handy Apps At A Car Wreck" »

One of the most important things you can do at the scene of a car accident is to obtain witness information from any and all persons who may have seen exactly what has happened. The importance of independent witnesses cannot be overstated.

As numerous Houston car accident victims can tell you -just because the negligent party accepts responsibility at the scene does not mean that their insurance company will pay you. Further, as many victims can attest, often the negligent parties story changes from the accident scene to the time you make an insurance claim against their policy.

People who have admitted fault at the same sometimes turnaround and claim the accident happened completely the opposite way, and that responsibility lie with the innocent victim and not themselves. This is much more common than you could even imagine.

That is why the independent witness is so critically important in many cases. Sometimes obtaining independent witnesses name and address can't be done because the victim is being transported to the hospital with very serious injuries and is unable to gather the necessary information. Police officers are charged with the responsibility of obtaining witness statements, however in the hustle and bustle of the city and witnesses sometimes not sticking around, often no witnesses will be interviewed.

If you can, after Houston car accident obtain the telephone number and name of any and all witnesses to the accident. You'll be glad you did. Additionally, it is sometimes very helpful to take photos with your cell phone of the locations of the vehicles, before they are moved.

Whatever you can do to ensure that the story doesn't change usually is very helpful to your injury claim with the defendant's insurance company.

Continue reading "Houston Car Accident Tips" »

Houston stops Red light cameras

The Houston city Council recently decided to discontinue the red light camera program in Houston. The program seemed to be a controversy from the very beginning. Some people were very excited about the program given it was a big revenue producer for the city of Houston and that it would make some intersections safer.

Others, viewed the red light camera program as an intrusion into personal lives of Houstonians and unfair in issuing the ticket without a human eyewitness.

Houston traffic ticket attorneys and others opposed the program and led a fight to discontinue the red light camera use in Houston. While safety studies were inconclusive, there is no doubt that folks who were aware of the red light cameras at a particular intersection probably one more apt to stop at red light.

The red light program has been on and off recently given different developments in its implementation and also the results of a vote in Houston. One of the items of controversy is the potential for a Houston lawsuit by the managers of the red light program.

As a Houston injury attorney, my opinion is that the red light program was in fact a good thing for Houston. I believe that the cameras tend to help people decide to be safe and obey traffic signals which leads to a reduction in serious accidents.

There is some authority that suggests that some accidents are actually increased by the red light camera program and those are basically drivers to stop suddenly in an effort to avoid a ticket for running a red light. Those car accidents tend to be less severe than the alternative such as a T-bone accident at an intersection..