2010 January Archive

Date:  January 19‚ 2010

Type:  Motorcycle vs. big rig truck accident

Location:  SR-79‚ east of Vail Lake Road‚ outside Temecula‚ CA

Outcome:  Motorcyclist killed

A motorcycle crashed into a big rig tractor trailor near Vail Lake Road‚ killing the motorcyclist‚ according to the California Highway Patrol.  The motorcycle accident took place around 10:25 a.m. when the motorcylist tried to pass slower moving traffic and crashed into the truck travelling in the opposite direction.  Both directions of State Route 79 were closed due to the wreck.  A third vehicle carrying a pregnant woman reportedly was also involved‚ but it is unknown whether she sustained any injuries.

Date:  January 21‚ 2010

Type:  Auto Accident

Location:  SR-79 East of Vail Lake Road near Temecula‚ CA

Outcome:  Two people injured

A motorist was injured after a mudslide caused his vehicle to leave State Route 79 and fell 70 feet down an embankment.  An ambulance that responded to the scene also crashed into an embankment.  The car accident happened outside of Temecula east of Vail Lake Road around 5:36 p.m.

Caltrans was later called to fix the mudslide.  Emergency towing cars also reported to the scene to winch the vehicles up the embankment.

It is well-known that the majority of San Diego auto accidents are caused by excessive speed‚ driving under the influence of alcohol‚ or due to age and inexperience.

Recently‚ Seattle‚ WA car accident lawyer Jason Epstein of Straight Talk Law recommended raising the minimum driving age from 16 years old to 18.  His argument is that 16 years olds are too immature to handle the responsibility of driving and that the rest of us bear the cost of this carelessness in the form of a higher rate of car wrecks and injuries.

Why does he think 18 is the appropriate age to issue a drivers’ license?  No real empirical evidence supports the decision other than at that age‚ the person becomes an adult and can be drafted and fight for our country in the military.

Although I would have been very upset to have had to wait until I was 18 to receive my driver’s license‚ in hindsight Mr. Epstein’s argument rings true.  Like most 16 year-old children‚ I was too immature and likely to take silly and stupid risks.  While I still took silly and stupid risks at 18‚ the number and frequency of such poor choices was greatly reduced.

You can read the entire article on Mr. Epstein’s Seattle‚ WA personal injury lawyer blog.

The battleground of Republican tort reform arguments lies with medical malpractice claims.  Often‚ tort reform proponents argue that tort reform in the form of capping damages‚ limiting attorneys’ fees‚ and prohibiting punitive damages.  The thought is that such measures will reduce medical costs by eliminating "frivolous lawsuits".

But are "frivolous lawsuits" increasing medical costs?  Or are they increased by frivolous defenses by dangerous or incompetent doctors?

Virginia medical malpractice lawyer Ben Glass has a post about a Fredericksburg‚ VA orthopedist who is asserting a variety of outrageous defenses after he admitted that he performed surgery on the wrong side of his patient’s body.  Reading over the list of egregious mistakes made by this surgeon‚ as told by Mr. Glass‚ is amazing.  How could this doctor defend his actions?