Category: Vehicle Accidents
August 11, 2014 / Vehicle Accidents
The Lessen Plan For School Zones
In many Indianapolis school districts, teachers and students are now back to school after a summer break. Drivers are cautioned to be on the alert for children walking to and from school and to observe the lessened speed limits in those areas. Nationwide statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reflect that, on average, 135 people are killed each year in school-transportation-related accidents, with 8 percent being school bus passengers and 21 percent pedestrians or bicyclists. About one-third of the accident victims are hit by passenger cars, trucks or motorcycles, not by school buses. Here are answers to some of the frequently asked questions regarding Indiana school zones. Q. What is the legal speed li[...]
July 17, 2014 / Vehicle Accidents
Wrong-Way Wreck
It’s sometimes hard to figure out how a driver could wind up driving in a lane going the wrong direction. And Wayne County law enforcement personnel are wondering how a man driving westbound in the eastbound lanes of I-70 came to be headed the wrong way on a portion of the interstate that is divided by a median with a cable barrier. Early on the morning of Sunday, July 13, 2014, Phillip Lloyd of Richmond, Indiana, was behind the wheel of a Mustang which collided with a Greyhound bus headed from St. Louis to New York City. Lloyd was killed instantly; the bus driver was airlifted to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis; and 18 of the 23 bus passengers were treated at Reid Hospital in Richmond. Fortunately, most of the injuries were relativel[...]
June 27, 2014 / Vehicle Accidents
Stop, Go Straight On Red?
If you’re riding a bicycle, moped or motorcycle, that’s exactly what you’ll be able to do come July 1. A new law will take effect in Indiana that will allow two- and three-wheeled vehicles to go through a red light if they have waited for two minutes and the light has not turned green. They must first ensure that there is no traffic coming. Indiana became the 16th state to pass what they call a “dead red” law in response to the difficulty these light-weight vehicles have at stop signals because they often do not trip the detector which cues the traffic light to change. The riders have to wait for a more massive vehicle to approach the intersection and switch the light to green. The laws in the other dead red states -- Arkansas,[...]
June 16, 2014 / Vehicle Accidents
Should Your Tires Be Retired?
Your car or truck wouldn’t be of much use to you if it didn’t have tires, would it? And yet we often don’t give tires much thought, so long as they don’t go flat. Even then, we’ve got that trusty spare that has been riding around in the trunk for years and doesn’t have any mileage on it at all. So, no problem, right? Wrong. See Also: Tire Troubles & Accident Litigation For the most part, drivers measure the road-worthiness of their tires by the amount of tread left on them. And that is one credible factor to consider. With the normal amount of driving, the tires’ tread wears out before the rubber itself deteriorates. But tires can deteriorate with age, just like people, even if they haven’t seen hard use and still hav[...]
April 18, 2014 / Vehicle Accidents
GM Ignored Red Flags
In February, GM recalled about 780,000 of its 2005-07 Chevrolet Cobalt vehicles. That was just a portion of the larger recall of more than 2.6 million vehicles that may have faulty ignition switches, allowing the ignition to easily be moved out of the “run” position and into the “auxiliary” position and causing loss of power, steering, braking, airbags and lighting. GM says it has linked 32 crashes and 13 deaths to the faulty ignition switches, but a new study commissioned by the Center for Auto Safety indicates the death toll could exceed 300. Some folks from Indiana have been in recent news about the ignition switch problem. One of the many lawsuits that have been lodged against GM by those who were injured in accidents alle[...]