Milwaukee Personal Injury Lawyer - Motor Vehicle Accidents

Two Killed In 100 Car Pile Up On Foggy Highway Near Madison

David Lowe — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 23:09:28 GMT

At least two people have been killed and more than 50 injured people have been sent to Madison area hospitals after more than 100 vehicles collided in foggy conditions on Interstate 90 on Madison's east side on Sunday afternoon, according to the Wisconsin State Patrol. The pile ups involved two incidents, just south of Highway 12-18, with collisions occurring on both sides of the expressway.

Dane County Sheriff's Lt. Dan Bolch is saying that the crashes started as drivers began to slow in dense fog and were rammed by vehicles following from behind in a domino effect.

Photos of the accident scene depict what persons on site are calling a "war zone".

When foggy conditions develop on highways, drivers need to exercise extreme caution and need to be concerned about traffic from behind as much as hazards ahead. The Weather Channel's website offers the following safety tips for driving in fog:

Drive with lights on low beam. High beams will only be reflected back off the fog and actually impair visibility even more.
Reduce your speed -- and watch your speedometer. Fog creates a visual illusion of slow motion when you may actually be speeding.
Listen for traffic you cannot see. Open your window a little, to hear better.
Use wipers and defrosters as necessary for maximum visibility.
Use the right edge of the road or painted road markings as a guide.
Be patient. Do not pass lines of traffic.
Do not stop on a freeway or heavily traveled road. If your car stalls or becomes disabled, turn your vehicle's lights off, and take your foot off of the brake pedal. People tend to follow tail lights when driving in fog. Move away from the vehicle to avoid injury.

As one public health commentator points out, drivers should not blame fog any more than pilots should blame the ground for airplane crashes. While the analogy is not quite right (drivers who embark on a trip often encounter fog without warning, while pilots presumably know that keeping some altitude is always a good idea) drivers who fail to take extra precautions once fog is encountered are at great peril, and may be negligently endangering themselves or others.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Car and Motorcycle Accidents.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Lowe

Investigators Focus on Cause of Truck Wheel Separation

David Lowe — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 07:51:30 GMT

Last week I wrote about the uninsured motorist coverage issues raised by the news story about a Mequon, Wisconsin motorist killed by a flying truck tire that had come loose, crossed a highway median, and flown into the victim's windshield.
The victim was later identified as Krishna Chintamaneni, the highly regarded chief of staff of Milwaukee's St. Francis Hospital.

But the truck owner has now been found.

Traffic cameras captured the image of three trucks that passed through the scene about the time of the accident, and authorities were able to contact the owners, one of whom discovered that its truck was missing a driver's side tire. Today's story focuses on the truck owner's poor record of safety inspections, and the driver's record of speeding violations. So now it appears that this will not be a case involving uninsured motorist coverage after all, but probably one of negligent truck inspection.

Reporter Rick Romell, who has written on truck safety issues before, reports that there have been at least seven deaths this year from truck tire separations, usually caused by poor truck maintenance practices and truck part corrosion from highway salts and chemicals.

In 1992, the National Transportation Safety Board published a study on the problem of truck wheel separation, which made several recommendations to address the problem:

Develop guidelines for the inspection and maintenance of all types of medium/heavy truck wheels.

Develop practices that specify how often truck wheel bearings should be examined.

Promote an educational program on proper wheel tightening procedures through carriers, manufacturers, and government.

Encourage manufacturers to provide a labels with recommended practices to torque wheel fasteners.

Educational program on proper wheel tightening procedures by the carriers and manufacturers

Encourage States to separate wheel defects from tire defects in future accident data collection efforts.

Truck safety equipment manufacturers are analyzing the problem of wheel separation too, offering tire safety products designed to prevent the kind of accident that happened here.

Hopefully, organizations involved in highway safety like the Transportation Research Board will take a look at systems to improve truck inspection to reduce the likelihood of this kind of tragedy from happening again.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Car and Motorcycle Accidents.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Lowe

Motorist Killed By Flying Truck Tire Raises Uninsured Motorist Coverage Questions

David Lowe — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 09:39:34 GMT

In a bizarre tragedy Thursday evening, a Mequon, Wisconsin motorist was killed when a truck tire came loose from a truck traveling southbound on I-43, bounced over a retaining wall, and struck the windshield of the man's 2007 BMW. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner announced today that the victim, Krishma Chintamaneni, 55, died at the scene.

The driver of the semi from which the tire came loose did not stop at the scene, and it is unclear whether the truck driver was aware that a tire had come loose or that an accident had occurred. Authorities are searching for the driver of the semi, and are asking that anyone with information call the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department at (414) 278-4788.

The tragedy raises the question of whether an accident victim can recover compensation for injury or death when the accident is caused by a tire or part that flies off of another vehicle that flees or leaves the scene of the accident. The answer would seem to be "yes."

If the victim has automobile liabilty insurance in Wisconsin, and in many other states, there is a mandatory level of uninsured motorist coverage. Where a physical contact has occurred between the fleeing vehicle and the victim's vehicle, UM coverage applies and affords compensation.

So the question is whether there is "physical contact" between two vehicles when the contact consists of a piece of debris thrown by one vehicle into another. There is a case on point in Wisconsin. In Theis v. Midwest Sec. Ins. Co., 232 Wis.2d 749, 606 N.W.2d 162 (2000) it was held that uninsured motorist coverage applies where a part of a truck flies off and strikes the car of the victim having uninsured motorist coverage. In the Theis case a "truck leaf spring" was propelled into the victim's vehicle by an unidentified passing semitractor, and the court held that there was UM coverage, even though there was no contact between the victim's vehicle and the passing semitractor and even though it was unknown whether leaf spring came from the passing semitractor or another unidentified motor vehicle. It was enough that the passing semi propelled the piece into the victim's car.

There are other situations where, unfortunately, uninsured motorist coverage has been denied. It has been established that in the case of a "miss and run", that is where a vehicle swerves near but does not strike the victim's car, causing the victim to loose control and get into an accident, there is no uninsured motorist coverage. Physical contact is required. Progressive Northern Ins. Co. v. Romanshek, 281 Wis.2d 300, 697 N.W.2d 417, 2005 WI 67 (Wis. Jun 07, 2005).

Similarly, earlier this year, the Wisconsin Supreme Court held in the DeHart case that UM coverage was not mandated by the Wisconsin insurance statutes for an accident in which an unidentified vehicle made contact with a third vehicle, which caused the victim to lose control of her vehicle, because there was no "hit" to the victim's automobile.

It is therefore clear that for UM coverage to apply in Wisconsin there must be a physical contact with the insured victim's vehicle, and the contact must be one caused in some way by a fleeing or uninsured vehicle.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Tractor-Trailer Accidents.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Lowe

Fatal Auto-Bicycle Collision Under Investigation In Shawano

David Lowe — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 20:59:29 GMT

Authorities in northern Wisconsin Shawano County are investigating a fatal bicycle-auto accident that occurred just before 6:00 a.m. Tuesday morning when two bicyclists were struck by a car driven by a Shawano County man at State Highway 22, near Shady Road, in the Town of Washington.

WFRV TV is reporting that the identity of the driver of the 2001 Monte Carlo that struck the cyclists is 25 year old Todd Giese, of Shawano.

Shawano County Sheriff's officials have said that Chester Coblentz, 18, of Clare, Michigan was pronounced dead at the scene following the collision, and that the second bicyclist, Dennis Beechy, 19, of Trenton, Missouri, was transported to Shawano Community Hospital and later flown out to another hospital for further treatment. The victims were reportedly members of the Amish community and were together in Shawano for Beechy's wedding, according to a news report from Saginaw, Michigan near Coblentz's home town, Clare, Mchigan.

The accident remains under investigation by the Shawano County Sheriff's Department and the Wisconsin State Patrol.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Car and Motorcycle Accidents.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Lowe

Kenosha Bus Accident Injures 22 Students

Paul Jacquart — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 14:17:00 GMT

WTMJ4 reports that 22 Bradford High School students were injured in a bus crash in Kenosha on Wednesday, September 5, 2007. According to the article, the bus crashed into a car driven by another Bradford High School student who reportedly pulled in front of the bus cutting it off on 39th Avenue, south of Bradford High School. Another news report from WSAW indicates that the car subsequently crashed into a tree and tipped on its side and the roots of the tree may have kept the bus from doing more damage to the car and may have saved the life of its occupant, who was rushed to Children's Hospital by flight for life helicopter. He was reportedly in stable condition and gave a thumbs up to the crowd of onlookers after being cut out of his car. Fortunately, most of the students only sustained minor injuries and were able to return to school this week. From the photos, it does not appear that the bus in question was a standard school bus with the yellow and black markings we are used to seeing, however, the articles report it was being used to transport students. According to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, which keeps bus accident statistics:

In school bus crashes over the last couple of decades, fewer than 10% of school bus occupants have had any injury and 90% were not injured at all. The occupant most frequently injured is the bus driver since that seating position does not have the same passive occupant protections that passenger seats have, such as flexible and padded seat backs. The persons most likely to be injured in a school bus crash are drivers and passengers of vehicles that strike the bus or are struck by the bus. Sixty percent of school bus fatalities involve non-bus occupants. Small vehicles do not do well in a crash with a big yellow bus or any other big vehicle, and should be driven accordingly. The majority of school bus crashes are cited as the fault of the other vehicle's driver.

While fortunately there were no deaths or life-threatening injuries in the Kenosha crash, the injury ratio was substantially higher than the norm in the DOT statistics. The news articles indicate the bus in question was carrying 45 passengers, about 50% of whom were injured.

For more information on this subject matter please refer to the section on Airline, Cruise, Bus, and Other Mass Transit Accidents.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Jacquart

School Bus Accidents Studied in Virginia News Story

David Lowe — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 07:46:16 GMT

Yesterday the Virginia-Pilot published a story by Marc Davis reporting that local municipalities paid about $7.5 million to more than 1,700 victims of accidents in 2004, 2005 and 2006 for wrecks caused by city cars, buses and trucks. About a third of the accidents involved school buses. The story makes the point that reliable data are not kept about the frequency of such accidents. But the Virginia-Pilot analyzed the records of these accidents and settlements involving municipal vehicles and found some interesting points and trends.

The school bus accidents happened for a variety of reasons, with some drivers in a hurry because they're running late, some caused by substitute bus drivers driving unfamiliar routes, and difficulty for drivers in navigating narrow streets with cars parked on either side.

An encouraging sign was a recent decrease in claims for Norfolk, Virginia, where the city analyzed each accident and clamped down with disciplinary actions against negligent drivers, firing or suspending some, and ordering others to retraining.

The story also looked at accidents involving other municipal vehicles, such as police cars, garbage trucks, dump trucks, and bull dozers, which tended to be involved in more property damage incidents than personal injury accidents.

Whenever a serious school bus accident occurs, calls are renewed for school bus seat belts, even though the statistics suggest that school bus transportation is relatively safe. A USA Today story a couple years ago observed:

School buses are the safest way to travel to school. Nonetheless, an average of 20 students are killed every year -- five while riding the bus and 15 run over by buses while getting on or off them.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Lowe

Turn Off the iPhone While Driving

David Lowe — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 07:34:15 GMT

I had the chance this weekend to visit an Apple Store and try out a one of Apple's new iPhones. I couldn't help but think that we'll have a new rash of cell phone car accidents as drivers go through their learning curve on the remarkable device--while behind the wheel.

It is already well known that the distraction of cell phone use by drivers has caused many accidents. Those of us who handle personal injury cases involving car accidents see the problem regularly. The Car Talk website has a section entitled "Drive Now, Talk Later" listing a host of anecdotes about actual car accidents involving cell phone use by drivers.

The Insurance information Institute recently summarized research studies about cell phone use and car crashes, and legislative efforts to limit cell phone use while driving. Some of the studies make the point that any distraction while driving can result in an accident. I handled a case last year in which a driver was actually eating a bowl of cereal while driving! As she attempted to enter a highway with a wide turn to avoid spilling the milk out of her bowl, she collided with my client, at a motorcyclist, spilling him into a ditch and causing serious, permanent injuries.

iPhones have a remarkable array of functions that can be accessed and manipulated with the fingertip. Its ease of use will prompt many drivers to think that it can be safely operated while driving. While the iPhone may be easy to operate, cars remain dangerous missiles unless controlled by a person attentive to traffic rather than text messaging a friend.

For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Car and Motorcycle Accidents.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Lowe

Verdict for Wheelchair Passenger Injured Due to Improper Application of Occupant Restraints

David Lowe — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 07:16:47 GMT

Been in trial so I haven't blogged for awhile.

But the case was quite interesting, involving wheelchair transportation safey issues.

My client, Russell Worth is an 83 year old T-12 paraplegic, having suffered injuries 16 years ago in a motor vehicle accident. But despite his age and physical disability, was very active as a participant in the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic in Snowmass, Colorado and the National Veterans Wheel Chair Games, held every summer, a board member of the Wisconsin Paralyzed Veterans of America, and as a volunteer at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

In March, 2004, Russ was a wheelchair passenger riding aboard a transit van operated by a common carrier under a contract with the Veterans Administration. When the transit van driver braked for normal traffic, Russ flew out of his chair to the floor of the van, fracturing his leg. The reason why he came out of the wheelchair was disputed. We alleged that the transit van driver had failed to apply the wheelchair occupant restraint system properly--adjusting the female end of the lap belt in such a way that the end release latch was pressed against the edge of the wheelchair armrest, so when the brakes were applied and inertia took Russ forward, the end release was forced against the armrest, it depressed and released, and Russ came forward unrestrained out of the wheelchair.

The defendant transit company alleged several alternative explanations: that Russ had intentionally released the lap belt after it had been properly applied; that Russ had inadvertently pushed in the end release latch; or that Russ had "submarined" under the lap belt, not because of negligence but because of the difficulty of routing the lapbelt through wheelchairs in a manner that keeps the belt in a good position low over the occupant's pelvis.

In addition, defendant alleged that the occupant restraint system, which was manufactured by Sure-Lok, Inc. , was defective and unreasonably dangerous if it inadvertently released as plaintiff alleged. Defendants used Professor Douglas Hobson[http://www.shrs.pitt.edu/cms/School/Faculty_Bio.asp?id=533], from the University of Pittsburgh, and we used Dr. Lawrence Schneider [http://www.umtri.umich.edu/people.php?personID=6], from the University of Michigan transportation research center [http://www.umtri.umich.edu/news.php].

Ironically, the two sides experts are colleagues who work together on the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Wheelchair Transportation Safety.

Defendant also blamed the phantom driver who had cut off the van and caused the driver to apply her brakes.

The trial court refused to submit the phantom driver's negligence to the jury, finding no cause as a matter of law. The court also refused to submit the plaintiff's alleged contributory negligence to the jury, finding no evidence to support the allegation that plaintiff disengaged his own belt. The jury found the defendant transit company negligent and rejected defendant's contention that the occupant restraint system was defective or unreasonably dangerous.

Damages were also disputed. In his 13 years as a paraplegic before this incident, Russ had never required assistance to transfer out of bed and into his wheelchair. After this accident, however, he had to wear a heavy cast for a period, it caused ulcers in his leg, and he then had to remain on bedrest for an extended period to heal the ulcers. He became deconditioned while in bed, and has required a home health aid ever since to assist him with transfers at home. Russ has always been proud of his independence, despite his paraplegia, so this was a big setback for him. The Milwaukee Circuit Court jury awarded $195,000 for pain, suffering and disability, and $154,000 in medical expenses.

The main legal issue that arose at trial had to do with attrition of jurors after the trial began. Thirteen jurors were originally empanelled. On the second day of trial, a juror called in by cell phone to report that she could not find a parking place, apparently due to a large motivational speaker conference held near the courthouse, featuring Zig Ziglar, Bill Cosby, Suze Orman, Colin Powell, Ed McMahon, Chicago Bears head coach Lovie Smith and Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy. After waiting 45 minutes, the trial court excused her. The next day, a second juror became unavailable due to a death in the family. The defendant was unwilling to stipulate to proceed with the remaining 11 jurors, and moved for a mistrial. When the action was filed, the plaintiff had demanded 12 jurors but did not pay the fee at that time. The defendant filed an answer requesting only six jurors, and paid that amount. The plaintiff had later paid for the other six jurors. Because the defendant had not requested or paid for 12 jurors, the court denied the motion for mistrial. Finding the Wisconsin statutes unclear, and no applicable case authority, the trial judge relied upon the words of Mick Jagger: "You can't always get what you want. But you get what you requested." The court accordingly sent only six jurors to deliberate.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Lowe

Traumatic Brain Injury-- The Long Road to Recovery

David Lowe — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 07:11:07 GMT

Traumatic brain injury is a frequent and devastating consequence of a car accident. A column by award winning writer Crocker Stephenson in today's Milwaukee-Journal Sentinel provides a poignant account of a couple driving their car on a foggy day, broadsided by a delivery truck, and each left with serious consequences of brain injury from the force of the brain slamming into the skull that surrounds it. The story is written two years after the accident. The husband's memory has returned and he has little residual effect, but the wife, who has lived in hospitals and residential treatment centers since the accident, is usually unable to remember her husband or even come up with her own name when asked for it. Their future is unclear.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke lists the following as symptoms of brain injury:

A person with a mild TBI may remain conscious or may experience a loss of consciousness for a few seconds or minutes. Other symptoms of mild TBI include headache, confusion, lightheadedness, dizziness, blurred vision or tired eyes, ringing in the ears, bad taste in the mouth, fatigue or lethargy, a change in sleep patterns, behavioral or mood changes, and trouble with memory, concentration, attention, or thinking. A person with a moderate or severe TBI may show these same symptoms, but may also have a headache that gets worse or does not go away, repeated vomiting or nausea, convulsions or seizures, an inability to awaken from sleep, dilation of one or both pupils of the eyes, slurred speech, weakness or numbness in the extremities, loss of coordination, and increased confusion, restlessness, or agitation.

Many victims of TBI will require surgery to remove hematomas and contusions of the brain, but little can be done to reverse the initial brain damage, so treatment largely consists of various forms of rehabilitation therapy. Disabilities that persist often affect cognition, sensory processing, communication, and behavior.

Hopefully, the future for the coule featured in this story will improve. But with brain injury, no one can say for sure.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Lowe

Intersection Design Examined In Wake of Tragic Georgia Bus Accident

David Lowe — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 08:15:23 GMT

National Transportation Safety Board investigators are focusing on dangerous highway design in their search for the cause of the tragic Georgia bus accident that took the lives of four students, the bus driver and the driver's wife on March 2, 2007 when the driver apparently mistook an exit ramp in Atlanta as a regular traffic lane. The bus drove up the exit ramp and slammed into a barrier at an intersection and overturned, falling 30 feet onto a highway below. Hurt in the accident were twenty nine other students, members of the baseball team of Bluffton University, a small college south of Toledeo, Ohio. The team was headed to Florida for its first baseball game of the season when the accident occurred.

Complicating the investigation is the fact that the driver died in the accident, and most of the other bus occupants were asleep when the accident occurred. However, surviving passengers said that the driver was fresh, having assumed control of the bus only a short time before the crash. There was no electronic recording device or "black box" to help determine the cause of the crash. A CNN animation of the crash reveals a somewhat confusing exit ramp configuration.

One official stated that there is a history of wrecks at the accident site, suggesting that this may have been a dangerous intersection. An NTSB investigation team is looking into environmental factors including signage and highway engineering.

Investigators are voicing highway design safety concerns:

"We know that there have been numerous accidents at Exit 252 for Northside Drive," National Transportation Safety Board Member Kitty Higgins said, referring to the accident site, where a high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane and an exit lane run side by side.
"We are also interested in the history of the HOV lane and exit ramp design and will be looking at the signage, highway markings and other motorist warning devices that were available before exiting at that particular spot."
There were no skid marks leading up to a stop sign at the end of the exit, police said.
Witnesses said there was "no indication that there was a concerted effort to stop the bus" before it reached the top of the exit ramp and entered the multi-lane bridge over the highway, said Maj. Calvin Moss, commander of special operations for Atlanta police.

Investigators have determined that there was no mechanical defect in the bus that could have contributed to the accident.

However, the accident renews concerns about whether bus passenger protection measures might have lessened the deaths or injuries. At least seven of the passengers were thrown from the bus, including all four players who were killed and two survivors who ended up pinned beneath the vehicle.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Lowe