Month: June 2011

It is a common headline, but when it is somebody famous the point is publicized more. “Jackass” star Ryan Dunn died in a fiery car crash in suburban Philadelphia early Monday morning. Of the more shocking details of this crash include that Mr. Dunn texted a picture of himself drinking not long before the crash, the car left over one hundred feet of skid marks, the car was unrecognizable, for a while the damage left the passenger unrecognizable, the car was travelling well over one hundred miles an hour.  Speed Kills.  It causes wrongful death and spinal cord injuries, paraplegia, and brain injury, broken bones and leaves families shattered.

It robs us of so much.  Where is James Dean, Princess Diana and Harry Chapin?

Speed does not just kill famous people.  Our hearts go out to the parents of two young men killed in Muncie, Indiana where authorities believe speed cost the young men their lives. Myles Swoboda, and Jake C. Monroe both suffered wrongful death in a crash involving speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour.

Parents, share these stories with your young drivers, it may save their lives.

Often when someone is injured in a crash or by some other method as a result of someone’s negligence the insurance carrier for the party at fault will come in early and offer a small settlement in exchange for signing a “release”.  An injured person who signs the release gives up all of their rights regardless of how seriously they are injured. It does not matter how many medical bills you have or future medical bills you might have because  a release stops all responsibility on the party at faults behalf. It is not unusual for someone to come to our office after learning that they are hurt worse than they originally suspected. They might have future medical bills and lost wages that they did not anticipate when they signed the release. The reality is that when they sign the release they lose the right to seek fair compensation. You should never sign a release until you are released from you doctor after a thorough examination and period of time to make sure that you are not more seriously hurt that anticipated. Another problem with signing a release it that you might limit or stop your own health insurance companies duty to pay bills if you release the wrongdoer.  You can even limit , reduce or eliminate your ability to make a claim under your uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage if a release is signed too early and without the proper steps being followed. It is always best to consult with a lawyer familiar with this area of law before signing on the dotted line. It is often too late when you come to a lawyers office with a signed release in hand.

The roads are not reserved for the two four wheel variety of transportation. Now that the warm months are upon us, we are seeing more bicycles and motorcycles sharing our roads.  This recognition is the first essential in helping to protect our two wheeled Hoosiers.  Cyclist are not generally as visible as a car.  So, all drivers must keep in mind to be on  the lookout for them.  Keep in mind that if you hit a cyclist and cause serious personal injury, such as a spinal injury, paraplegia, broken bones or even wrongful death, you may not be able to forgive yourself.  Knowing that you have interfered with a fellow Hoosier’s ability to work, earn a living and support their family is a heavy burden.

Sue Ann Vanderbeck is struggling with the guilt and consequences of her negligence this very moment. (Remember, negligence is the failure to use reasonable care, in other words to be on the lookout for a cyclist and avoid impact).  On September 30, 2010, at about 12:30 a.m. Mrs. Vanderbeck struck a police officer on a training ride on U.S. 40 west of Knightstown, IN.  She left the scene.  William Phillips suffered wrongful death as a result of her actions.  I am certain that not a moment goes by that Mrs. Vanderbeck does not wish that she could change the events of that night and let Officer Phillips return to his family. Unfortunately for all involved, that is not possible.

Take a lesson from the tragedy of Officer Williams and Mrs. Vanderbeck, keep an extra sharp lookout for cyclists sharing the road.  An ounce of prevention prevents a lifetime of guilt, grief and loss.

Again, I was riding my bike to work today.  A part of my route gives me two options.  Neither option has bike lanes. The first option is to ride south on Pennsylvania Street from 16^th street to Ohio.  Pennsylvania is a one way south with four lanes and is a busy artery into the city from the north side. The other route is Delaware Street.  Delaware Street, south of 16^th street is also a four lane street, but it is a one way north.  It had 8 foot wide sidewalks and in the morning is not really heavily travelled.  I choose to take the Delaware Street route because it is less congested and I think is safer than the Pennsylvania Street route.   I have noticed a few things about this decision that I would like to share.  The first is that when cars come to Delaware Street, whether they are coming out of a parking lot, a street or an alley, the driver inevitably looks only to the south (the direction from which car traffic is traveling).  At first I was kinds put off by this.  Then it occurred to me that this was only natural because that is the only direction the driver expects a hazard my come from.  Given this fact, whenever I come to an intersection or any outlet on to Delaware Street, I always yield to the car.  I never pass in front of them because I know they probably with not look for me.  Those who do look, always look startled to see me waiting for them to pass. This surprise always gives way to a thankful smile as I waive them on. It is a little curtsey that has saved my butter on many occasions.

When I ride south on Delaware, I ride on the sidewalk when traffic is so close that we may pass.  If I ride on the road the drivers do not seem to know what to expect from me.  I think they think that if I am crazy enough to ride south on a one way north street, I may be capable of doing anything.  They give me weird looks and sometimes the looks are hostile.  I think that to be safe, I want the driver to believe that my actions are going to be predictable.  To this end, I ride on the sidewalk when cars are coming at me.  If there are people on the sidewalk, I slow down, give them the right of way at all times and make sure they are aware I am there with an audible signal.  Pedestrians appreciate knowing what is going to happen the same as a driver does.  If the sidewalks were not so wide on Delaware Street, I may have to choose another route, but they are wide, and with a little courtesy, my rides are accident free.

Yesterday, I was coming back to our serious injury offices in Indianapolis, from Richmond.  We just concluded a significant hearing. I was travelling west on I-70 near the Keystone interchange (Mile marker 83.5, just east of the I-65-I-70 split). At that location, I-70 is five lanes wide.  I was in the second lane from the right.  (I was travelling the speed limit, but there is not much of that at that location).  There was a small car to my right.  My front bumper was just about even with his back bumper.  I was in his blind spot.  He put on his left turn signal and immediately started to move into my lane. He obviously did not know I was there and did not bother to turn his head to look before moving over. There were cars immediately to my left so I could not move left.  Although there was a car on my tail I hit the brakes and the car moved into my lane with about ten feet to spare. 

 To my surprise, he just kept moving left.  The car to my left hit the brakes and the merging car barely missed him, then his luck ran out.  The merging car kept on going, but in the next lane was a semi tractor-trailer.  The semi cannot slow as efficiently as a car and the merging car hit the semi on the passenger front corner.  The merging car was suddenly fully in front of the semi being pushed down the road.  The driver of the merging car could only see the grill of the semi as he looked left.  Unfortunately both the semi and the merging car were not only moving down the road, they were also merging into the left lane.  An SUV clipped either the merging cars front or the semi’s front lost control and started to roll.  The SUV landed on the wheels.  I do not know what happened to the merging car.  I pulled over, called 911 reported the collision, gave the State Police my name and telephone number.  I thought about going back to the scene, but many, many people had already stopped to help and I was on the opposite side of the highway from where they all came to a stop, so to reach the scene I would have had to cross three lanes of traffic, which oddly enough barely seemed to slow down.

 The point of this story is that we want to you to be careful when merging into another lane.  Every car has a blind spot.  To properly merge you must signal your intent and then look to make sure no one is in your blind spot.  If the merging car, in my story, had followed this simple rule, there would have been no collision and several families would have made it home safe.