Articles Posted in Motor Vehicle Accidents

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The death of a young Corvallis man on Thanksgiving Day as the result of an Oregon motor vehicle accident involving an armored car was a sad reminder of the dangers of driving on holiday weekends and has left a number of legal questions potentially unresolved.

Joseph Michael Pablo was riding in the back of an armored car early on the morning before Thanksgiving when the vehicle’s driver lost control, according to reports in the Corvallis Gazette-Times and the Salem Statesman-Journal. The accident took place off Highway 99W near Monmouth, southwest of Salem. The Gazette-Times reports that Pablo’s armored “truck was headed south and veered off the right side of the road, hit a tree and rolled several times before coming to rest on its roof.”

Pablo had been riding in the back of the truck as part of his job as a guard working for the company operating the vehicle. Pablo was transported to an area hospital in critical condition and died of his injuries the following day. The truck’s driver at the time of the Oregon fatal truck accident was not seriously injured and did not require hospitalization. He was cited for Oregon careless driving, according to the Gazette-Times.

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Back in August I wrote about the dangers posed to children by ATVs, and the effort in Massachusetts to cut the number of deaths and injuries to young riders through a new law banning ATV use by kids 14 and younger. Now we have even more evidence of the need for such laws, and the need for accountability among ATV manufacturers.

According to a recent article in the trade publication The Safety Record, a new study conducted by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Injury Research and Policy looks at ATV-related hospitalizations and injuries to children between 1997 and 2006. The study found a huge spike in both categories among children during that time period. The numbers are particularly noteworthy because, as The Safety Record notes, it was during this time that a 10-year consent agreement between the Consumer Product Safety Commission and ATV manufacturers expired. Under that agreement, reached in 1988, the manufacturers offered “free training for riders, warning labels, a public education campaign and a ban on three-wheeled ATVs,” the publication notes. Once the agreement expired some manufacturers continued to honor it voluntarily, but others did not.

During the 1997-2006 period, the study found, ATV-related injuries to children (defined as 17 years old or younger) increased by 150 percent overall. Some sub-groups showed even more alarming jumps: notably 15-17 year old boys, among whom injuries increased by 260 percent. “All-Terrain vehicles are inherently dangerous to children,” the report quotes Dr. Stephen Bowman, a Johns Hopkins professor and the study’s lead author, saying.

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A pick-up truck running a stop sign caused an Oregon two-car crash that left one dead and ten injured, according to a report at MyCentralOregon.com. The crash took place on Highway 361 near Culver, in Central Oregon and was serious enough to require mobilizing troopers from two separate OSP barracks as well as the Jefferson County Sheriff’s office along with emergency medical personnel from both Jefferson County and Warm Springs.

According to the website, the accident took place when a pick-up driven by 28-year-old Andrea Orozco of Madras ran a stop sign and collided with a Toyota driven by Linda Ross, 61, of Metolius. The site reports: “The impact caused the Toyota to travel west where it came to rest off the highway. (Orozco’s) Ford Expedition traveled travelled northwest and overturned before coming to rest on its side.”

A passenger in Ross’ Toyota died from injuries sustained in the Oregon car crash several hours after the accident, while Ross herself was hospitalized with what the website report describes as “serious injuries”. Orozco was carrying eight passengers – two adults and six children ages 2 to 14. She and all of her passengers were transported to area hospitals with what were also described as “serious injuries”.

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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