Oregon Injury Lawyer Blog

September 26, 2013

New York’s New Ideas for Combatting Distracted Driving

Almost a generation ago New York became the first state to ban the use of handheld cellphones by people driving cars. Such bans are now common, if far from universal. As I have repeatedly written in the years since Oregon’s own distracted driving law went into effect, however, laws against distracted driving are good but are only a first step. Eliminating this practice takes enforcement, but it also takes education and, as New York is now demonstrating, innovative approaches to the problem.

Standing in front of large signs reading “It Can Wait – Text Stop 5 Miles” and “Text Stop: Parking Area 1 Mile” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a new initiative this week to highlight places where drivers can easily stop to focus on their electronics.

According to New York public radio station WNYC “as part of the state’s effort to combat distracted driving, nearly 300 new signs are going up along New York roadways, highlighting 91 ‘texting zone’ locations – highway rest stops and other parking locations.” The station explained that the initiative involves only signage – no new rest stops are being constructed – but it aims to make progress simply by informing people that a safe opportunity to take care of their texts and phone calls exists only a short distance up the road.

September 23, 2013

Reckless Driver Plows into Weekend Bike Event, Killing Two

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A fatal car and bicycle accident in New Hampshire this weekend left two people dead and serves as a tragic reminder of the caution cyclists, unfortunately, must always take when riding on public roads.

According to reports by CBS News and the Associated Press, republished by Boston television station WBZ, police say a car “plowed into a group of bikers taking part in the annual Granite State Wheelmen” ride early Saturday morning. The 100-mile ride, known as a “century” in cycling argot, has been staged annually for 40 years and involved hundreds of riders according to the media reports, all of whom “were encouraged to follow the rules of the road as they encountered narrow colonial New England roads, steel decked bridges and weekend traffic.” Such events typically involve a significant amount of coordination with local law enforcement agencies to ensure that things go smoothly and that riders are able to travel safely.

In this instance, however, a south-bound vehicle driven by a 20-year-old man from nearby Seabrook NH “crossed over into the north-bound lane” hitting four cyclists, according to police sources cited by the news agency. The accident took place around 8:30 am on Saturday.

September 18, 2013

Oregon Drunk Driving Suspected in Malheur Crash

by Matthew D. Kaplan

Police are investigating a suspected fatal Oregon drunk driving car crash in the east of the state, according to a report by an Idaho TV station that covers the region. According to KIVI a 41-year old man from Vale, in the easternmost part of Oregon, died last week in the crash on Highway 20, in rural Malheur County.

According to the TV station the victim “was headed eastbound on Highway 20 on September 15th when his vehicle crossed into the westbound lane and collided with a semi-trailer… according to police (the driver) was likely under the influence of intoxicants after a citizen report matching his vehicle was called into dispatch before the accident.”

There are several lessons we can take away from this tragedy. The first, and most obvious, is the unnecessary damage to so many lives that drunk driving causes. I’ve written on many previous occasions about the dangers that large semi-trucks pose on the roads of Eastern Oregon. In this case, however, a driver who was doing nothing wrong had his life, and potentially the lives of other drivers and passengers in the vicinity, put in danger by someone else’s irresponsible conduct.

September 10, 2013

Malfunctioning Fairground Ride Injures 13

by Matthew D. Kaplan

Many of us have walked through traveling carnivals and probably had the same thought: exactly how safe and well-maintained are these fairground rides that spend much of the year being hauled from one county fair to the next?

For a group of parents in Connecticut this weekend that question became all too real when, according to the Associated Press “thirteen children were injured when a festival attraction that swings riders into the air lost power” Sunday afternoon. The news agency quotes the police chief of Norwalk, Connecticut estimating “that some children fell between 10 and 15 feet to the ground while some others hit riders and some others hit the ride itself.” Though none of the injuries appear to be life-threatening, one child was reported to have been bleeding from the head at the scene. A dozen children and one adult were treated at a local hospital following the accident, though only one child required overnight hospitalization.

A follow-up story filed by the news agency reports that the ride itself is now being taken apart in an effort to pinpoint the cause of the accident. What is known right now, according to AP, is that something caused the ride to freeze suddenly.

August 31, 2013

NFL Moves Forward On Concussions, TBI

by Matthew D. Kaplan

The widely reported news that “the NFL has agreed to pay $765 million to settle a lawsuit brought by more than 4500 players and their families,” as The New York Times reported this week, is welcome news for former players suffering from traumatic brain injuries and other physical and mental problems linked to the violent, hard-hitting nature of life in the NFL. The broader potential for good in this settlement, however, lies in what it may do to raise awareness about a troubling, and persistent, problem.

At the Times noted, this week’s settlement can be seen as a legal victory for the NFL. It represents less than 5 percent of the league’s annual revenues and spares the NFL both the potential expense and the certain bad publicity of an endless stream of lawsuits by individual players and their families. The paper also notes that “among the terms of the agreement is that the settlement is not to be regarded as an admission of guilt by the league.” Such clauses are not uncommon in settlements like these, but it is difficult to believe that many fans – along with players, parents and coaches at all levels of the game – won’t interpret it that way.

Frankly, that would be a good thing. The League’s reticence on the subject of concussions and TBI has long served as subtle, if perhaps unintended, encouragement for players and coaches at lower levels of the sport. Measures like the one passed here in Oregon earlier this year to encourage youth safety have often encountered resistance from some players, coaches and fans.

August 30, 2013

Protecting Young Athletes

by Matthew D. Kaplan

On a day when the NFL has settled a landmark lawsuit over player concussion (a subject on which I’ll write more later this week) it is worth remembering the measures closer to home that we all need to take to protect our kids from traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries.

A recent report published by SafeKids Oregon outlines the scope of the situation: Last year 1.35 million children arrived in emergency rooms with sports related injuries. Fourteen percent of those injuries were to the head. The group at greatest risk are 12-15-year-olds, who account for nearly half of all youth sports injuries. Though football is the sport we most often associate with concussions and other head injuries, among young athletes the most dangerous sport in terms of concussions was ice hockey which, all by itself, accounts for 31% of all youth sports concussions. Football accounts for only 13%, a bit behind wrestling and tied with soccer. The study notes that in sports played by both boys and girls the latter tend to report higher incidence of concussions, but speculates that this may have more to do with social pressures than with the relative tendency of boys and girls to suffer from the injuries.

Most importantly, however, the study notes that “a Governor’s signature is the beginning of the game, not the fourth quarter.” Put another way: state laws designed to protect young athletes are only as good as the parents and coaches who enforce them. SafeKids Oregon notes that the federal government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers a free online training program, known as “Heads Up”, for adults supervising youth sports.

August 23, 2013

Tweets become factor in Murder Charge

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A recent report from NPR highlights how social media usage can become a factor in reckless and negligent driving cases. According to a report on the radio network’s website, “an 18-year-old California man stands accused of murder after law enforcement officials upgraded charges against him based on tweets and driving history.”

The accident at the center of this story took place in early June in northern California. The man was allegedly driving at more than 80 miles per hour in a 40 mph zone when he lost control of the car and hit a middle-aged couple who were riding in a marked “bike lane alongside Foothill Road, police say, in an area that is marked by a golf course and by large houses with swimming pools.” In other words: a residential area rather than a highway. The woman in the couple was killed in the accident and her husband was injured.

Citing reporting by the San Francisco Chronicle, NPR reports that the suspect stopped at the scene and “spoke with police” though he declined to give a formal statement. Last month he was arrested “on felony charges of vehicular manslaughter and reckless driving” but this was upgraded to murder, and the suspect’s bail revoked, after police took a closer look at his driving habits.

August 16, 2013

Oregon Child Endangerment Cited in Tigard Car Incident

by Matthew D. Kaplan

It is one of those things every parent fears: a child suffering and injured after having been locked in a hot car. It is something few of us can dream of doing, and that even fewer could stand by and watch.

Yet here in Oregon it happened once again, just this week. According to Portland TV station KGW a man in Tigard has been cited by local police “after leaving his small child in a hot car in the parking lot of a Tigard home improvement store. A store employee broke the window of the car when he saw that a baby had been left inside.”

The employee who rescued the 10 or 11 month old child is quoted as saying that the boy appeared to have been alone in the car for approximately 20 minutes. The father identified his baby as the rescuer and other bystanders were working to cool the child down inside the store. Police were called. The TV station reports that they did not cite the man at the scene of the incident, but that “investigators later charged the father with second-degree child neglect, a misdemeanor.”

August 13, 2013

Washington Court Says Rules Apply to the Government Too

by Matthew D. Kaplan

It’s a cliché: safety is everyone’s responsibility. It is also, however, true, and that fact was reinforced last week by Washington State’s Supreme Court. According to an Associated Press dispatch, republished by The Oregonian, the court held that “cities, counties and utility companies can be liable when faulty road design leads to injuries in car crashes – even when the driver is drunk.”

According to the news agency the case focused on a crash near Anacortes. “Two people who had been drinking were injured when their car ran off the road and struck a utility pole that was reportedly closer to the roadway than guidelines dictated.” In overturning a lower court ruling the state Supreme Court held that “government entities owe a duty to ensure roads are reasonably safe for public travel, no matter whether the driver is at fault,” according to the AP.

Obviously this is not, and ought not to be taken as, an excuse of or license for drunk driving. Indeed, in legal terms it is important to remember that DUI is a crime regardless of whether one gets involved in an accident or not. In this instance, however, the court was addressing a bigger issue: whether a driver’s physical condition at the time of a particular accident can be used as an excuse by government or a utility company to escape responsibility for its own negligence. The court held that government and public utilities both have a broader responsibility to provide a safe environment for all users of public roadways. The bad behavior of individual drivers does not absolve the city or county from their responsibility to provide a roadway that is safe for everyone – regardless of the irresponsible behavior of some individual drivers.

August 7, 2013

Portland Bicycle Crash Ruling Spotlights “Vulnerable Road User” Protections

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A report published this week in The Oregonian notes that a 39-year-old Portland garbage truck driver has been cited for careless driving. What makes this news item especially noteworthy, however, is the fact that additional penalties have been imposed on the truck driver under Oregon’s “vulnerable road user” law as a result of a July accident that left a bicyclist seriously injured. Though it has been on the books for nearly six years, the “vulnerable road user” provision is an essential protection for cyclists and pedestrians with which many Oregonians are still unfamiliar, so it merits our attention today.

First, the details of the Portland bicycle crash. As reported by The Oregonian, on July 12 the garbage truck driver hit the bike rider as the truck “turned left from Southeast 17th Avenue onto southbound McLoughlin Boulevard… Police said (the victim) was riding his bike southbound on 17th Avenue on the east side of the street and was crossing McLoughlin when the collision occurred.”

The bike rider “suffered traumatic injuries and was hospitalized. He has since been released from OHSU Hospital.” The driver cooperated with police in their investigation.