Accidents Archive

With where Cars are Heading, my Money’s Going in Funeral Homes

May 21st, 2010. By Hunter West

I love to drive—but I just may have to give it up and be done with it. Because I don’t like where the cars of the future are going. 

For that matter, I don’t like where they are now. 

A recent article in The New York Times focused on the cars of the future and what our dashboards are going to look like. Specifically, a demonstration by Cisco Systems showed how an LED dashboard display can be manipulated and customized much like the screen on your smart phone, iPad or laptop. 

In other words, if you don’t like the fuel gauge over HERE, you can drag and drop it over THERE. 

Same with the icons for the car’s web browser, the weather channel, the stocks channel, the news feed, the video screen, the keyboard and the GPS. 

Here’s the problem…  

It’s one thing to have the dashboard evolve from a collection of mechanical dials to integrated electronic bars, and graphs. This gee-whiz stuff has been happening since the 1980’s. 

The problem—and I’ll say it again—is all the interconnectivity that automotive manufacturers have, or are bringing into the car. 

Were cars to have the capacity to drive themselves, then I’d be all for it. Just like the cockpit of an airliner, where you can throw the multi-million-dollar jet on autopilot and play with your laptop while the plane overshoots the airport by an hour… 

Oh, wait a minute. That’s not so good, either. 

The point is, even if cars were to have the kind of sophistication that commercial jets have, Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Automobile, Automotive, Cars, Cisco, LED Dashboard, Smart Car
Posted in Accidents, Automotive, Defective Products | No Comments »

Lawyer to Discuss Defective Car Seats on FOX 11 Ten O’Clock News LA

May 19th, 2010. By AbiK

Given all the news over the past few months about sticking accelerator pedals, floor mat problems or defective brakes, it’s easy to see how an issue like defective car seats can get lost in the mix. And, in truth, you don’t hear about defective car seat stories too often in the news. Sadly though, it appears to be a growing problem and when there is a car accident involving a defective car seat, it’s often with fatal results.

Attorney Brian Chase is scheduled to appear on FOX 11 Ten O’Clock News Los Angeles at 10:00 pm tomorrow night (Thursday, May 20) as part of a special report on the issue. Chase’s firm, Bisnar Chase, has handled defective car seat lawsuits and Chase will discuss two of these cases.

One case involves a woman who sustained catastrophic injuries that rendered her quadriplegic due to a defective seat. The other case involves a woman whose seven-year-old daughter was killed as the result of a defective seat that careened backwards, crushing the child’s chest and causing her to sustain fatal injuries.

Chase is also set to discuss what’s described as “an inadequate, 40-year seat manufacturing standard that provides pathetic occupant protection in rear-end collisions—a standard that desperately needs changed.”  What’s more, he’ll speak about side-by-side crash tests that prove more rigid seat designs would offer significantly better occupant protection than “soft” designs currently being manufactured by a majority of today’s automakers.

Tags: Bisnar Chase, Brian Chase, Defective Car Seats, Fox News
Posted in Accidents, Automotive, Defective Products | 1 Comment »

Mmmaybe not…BP up for Safety Award, Ceremony Quietly Postponed

May 7th, 2010. By Hunter West

If it wasn’t so tragic—with loss of life and the almost certain environmental threat—the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon would have taken on a completely unexpected spin with an irony so delicious you could taste it.

Instead, it’s just sad.

That’s because BP, the multinational oil company that had leased the Deepwater Horizon and is now scrambling to stem the flow of millions of gallons of crude oil beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, was a favorite to win an environmental award last Monday that celebrated the safety and efficiency of the offshore drilling industry.

Needless to say, in the wake of the ongoing crisis, that ceremony was quietly postponed.

Somebody is thinking at the federal Minerals Management Service, the sponsor of the awards. Whomever handles their public relations over there deserves a raise in pay and a pat on the back, as going through with the ceremony in light of what has happened would be a gaffe of major proportions capable of reverberating around the world.

Can you imagine? Everybody from Jon Stewart to Jay Leno would be all over it. If people are already saddened and angered over the accident and the environmental impact, such an ill-advised decision to forge ahead with a self-serving glad-fest would leave the rest of us seeing red as we watch the Gulf of Mexico turn brown, as Mother Earth bleeds green.

Make no mistake, in any other scenario and at any other time the annual Industry SAFE Awards would be—and is—an important incentive for an industry that plays with fire as far as the Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: BP Oil Spill, Deepwater Horizon, Environmental Damage, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Drilling, Oil Spill
Posted in Accidents, Emerging Issues, Environment | 4 Comments »

No Paycheck. No Motorcycle. No Accident. Coincidence?

April 28th, 2010. By AbiK

Apparently not if you go by the latest report by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) on motorcycle accident deaths. The report indicates that motorcycle fatalities for 2009 were down by at least ten percent vs. 2008. And that follows eleven straight years of increases in motorcycle accident deaths.

While, according to the GHSA, the findings are based on preliminary data for full-year 2009, most states reporting motorcycle fatalities for the year have at least nine months of fatality counts submitted to the agency. The GHSA states it is confident, therefore, in being able to make its full-year projection.

What’s interesting is that the GHSA asked its members to suggest reasons for the decline. According to the GHSA release, there were a range of possible reasons submitted: less motorcycle travel due to the economy; increased state attention to motorcycle safety programs; and poor cycling weather conditions in some areas.

GHSA Chairman Vernon Betkey states, “Clearly the economy played a large role in motorcycle deaths declining in 2009. Less disposable income translates to fewer leisure riders, and we suspect that the trend of inexperienced baby boomers buying bikes may have subsided.” (Can’t help having an image of clean-cut Jay Leno in jeans and leather jacket when I hear that last part—though Leno is, indeed, experienced).

To be fair, Betkey also notes that because there had previously been sharp increases in motorcycle accident deaths during the 1997-2008 period, many states ramped up their efforts to improve motorcycle highway safety. Additionally, Betkey cautions that the data only represents one year of data and to really consider this decrease in fatalities a positive trend, there really should be at least three to five years of data.

Still, if there has to be something positive related in part to the economic downturn, we’ll take fewer motorcycle accident deaths.

Tags: GHSA, Motorcycle Accidents, Motorcycles
Posted in Accidents, Emerging Issues | No Comments »

Fallen Workers Remembered this Workers’ Memorial Day

April 27th, 2010. By janem

Did you know that today is Workers’ Memorial Day? Not to be confused with Memorial Day in May, people worldwide will join together this April 28^th and remember those disabled, injured, made unwell or killed in the workplace. The purpose of this day is to sympathize with those who have suffered due to unsafe, negligent or unfair employment practices, and to raise awareness by encouraging and lobbying unions, lawyers and government for the fair, healthy and safe treatment of workers.

Canada first observed Workers’ Memorial Day in1984, and since that time trade unionists now mark April 28 as an International Day of Mourning:  the slogan “”Remember the dead, fight for the living,” has been adopted by the US (in 1989) and a host of nations, from Asia to Europe to Africa.

It’s important that the public play its part to keep workers safe and to keep in check the tendencies of companies and employers to choose profit over safety. Throughout the world, it is estimated that approximately 270 million accidents occur in the workplace, and that more than 150 million people acquire illnesses related to unsafe or toxic work environments.

April 28 is also the anniversary of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Although OSHA and EPA have made considerable strides in controlling workplace incidents, the organizations say there is a long way to go. A spokesperson for a federation of international labor unions recently said that “…job fatalities, injuries and illnesses have been reduced significantly as have exposures to toxic substances such as asbestos, lead, benzene and cotton dust.”

But asbestos in the workplace is killing people at an alarming rate; people who were exposed Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Asbestos, mesothelioma, occupational accidents, workers' memorial day, workplace accidents. NSL
Posted in Accidents | No Comments »