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Experienced Mississippi Auto Accident Attorney Explains: How Can Cell Phone Records Help You After an Auto Accident?

As anyone who drives in Mississippi knows, too many people use their phones while they drive. Worse yet, too many accidents are caused by those distracted drivers, often resulting in serious accidents or death. The question is how does one prove that the party that caused your accident was distracted by their phone and that you were not? This may be crucial evidence in your case, and having experienced counsel help you attain your fair share of compensation is critical if you are harmed in a distracted driver auto accident. Barrett Law has the experience to help you through this process.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

Data from cell phones may be the critical piece of evidence that proves that the person who injured you in an accident is at fault. In turn, it may also prove that you were not at fault, which is sometimes equally important. Attaining that evidence will require the help of counsel experienced with automobile accidents and interpreting cell phone data.

What is the “Negligence” Standard?

Almost everyone has a cell phone. So you can be assured that if you were injured in a car accident, there is almost guaranteed to bet at least one phone associated with that other car, if not more. Finding out if the driver was using his or her phone at the time of the crash is vital to establishing negligence, which is the legal standard for fault in this sort of incident. “Negligence” means that a person did not meet the standard of care that a reasonable person would adhere to under the circumstances. If a driver was distracted by a cellular phone at the time of the accident, they cannot meet that standard of care and will be found to be negligent.

What Type of Records?

We all get a cell phone bill. While accurate enough for billing purposes, cell phone bills do not have the level of accuracy required for court. They are accurate within a minute, but most accidents are decided based on seconds. Instead, with the help of experienced counsel, you can attain Call Detail Records (CDR), which provide accuracy down to the second.  Because you will need to establish that the driver that hit you was distracted at the very moment they impacted with you, filing a subpoena or court order to attain CDR’s will be vital to your case. Determining whether the cell phone company whose records you are trying to see requires a simple subpoena or a court order is important to understand; either way, they can be attained by your attorney.

What Should You Do If You Are Injured By a Distracted Driver?

To best position your case, your attorney needs to start trying to attain cell phone records immediately after your accident. Filing a subpoena or for a court order for the cell phone company’s records and making sure that they are preserved is important, as, like most routine records, cell phone records are usually destroyed or erased on a schedule.  So time is of the essence.  Preserving this evidence is crucial to proving the other driver’s negligence, so do not hesitate.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi auto accident law firm, to represent you if you were injured or harmed by a distracted driver.

Barrett Law has the experience to take on defense attorneys and insurance companies that are focussed on denying your compensation for the harm you experienced. We are skilled at attaining cell phone evidence and presenting it in a manner to best position your case.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

 

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Holidays Can Be Hazardous to Your Health When on Mississippi Roadways

Holidays are often a time for family gatherings and good times to be had by all. Yet, there remains the issue of getting to a family gathering or celebration. Many other people have the same thought in mind which leads to a build up of traffic during the holidays. More cars mean a higher a chance for automobile accidents.

This recent Memorial Day weekend saw six deaths by way of automobile accidents on Mississippi roadways. The ages of those who died ranged from 22 to 93. It is further proof that everyone is susceptible to tragedy, regardless of age, gender or race.

Many other injuries were also a result of holiday travels as the Mississippi Highway Patrol reported 54 people injured in automobile accidents over the holiday weekend. There were 112 auto accidents investigated, although only one proved to be alcohol related.

Other citations will also mean days in court for quite a few people as 132 DUI citations were issued in Mississippi from Friday to Monday of the 2014 Memorial Day weekend. Seat belt violations were also issued in abundance with 603 going out to violators.

Now, as new holiday weekends approach, travelers are encouraged to not only abide by the rules of the road, but also remember to practice safe driving. Consider the following list of reasons why accidents frequently occur (especially during holidays) in Mississippi:

Distracted Driving

There are a number of reasons a driver’s attention strays from the road. Some of the more popular distractions are as follows:

  • Texting while driving
  • Paying attention to GPS device
  • Talking on phone
  • Eating while driving
  • Putting on makeup
  • Changing radio stations
  • Lack of adequate sleep

Driving Unter the Influence

In the state of Mississippi, penalties for DUI convictions are very severe. The following BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) levels are considered to be over the legal limit and warrant a DUI arrest in the state of Mississippi:

  • Driver under the age of 21 – .02%
  • Driver 21 years of age or older – .08%
  • Commercial Drivers – .04%

Aggressive Driving

The maximum speed limit on highways in the state of Mississippi is 75 mph. That high number can often lead drivers to travel at speeds beyond that limit, making for very dangerous situations. However, speeding is only one form of aggressive driving in which motorists can initiate auto accidents.

According to the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration, aggressive driving occurs when “an individual commits a combination of moving traffic offenses so as to endanger other persons or property.” Some forms of aggressive driving are as follows:

  • Tailgaiting
  • Frequent changing of lanes
  • Failing to use turn signal
  • Speeding
  • Running red lights or stop signs
  • Exhibiting road rage
  • Failure to yield

Every year, particularly around the holidays, automobile accidents result in painful and sometimes tragic times for families. There are ways to maintain optimum safety when driving, but drivers cannot control how other people operate behind the wheel. When accidents occur, there are usually common reasons for a crash. That means there is always someone responsible, even for a minor fender bender.

If you or someone you know has been involved in auto accident, the seasoned Mississippi Auto Accident Attorney at Barrett Law PLLC can help. When someone else is at fault in an auto accident, you are the victim. That means you have the right to be compensated. Our reputable and experienced legal team of attorneys can help you build a strategy that can lead to a favorable outcome in your auto accident case. Call us today for a free confidential consultation at (601) 790-1505.

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Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains Accounting For Your Auto Accident

When vehicles collide, there is often an immediate bout of pandemonium. The first thought is generally to make sure everyone involved in the accident is safe. Modern protocol then tells us to immediately inform the authorities and allow them to sort out the details. After the accident, vehicles are towed and people either go home or to the hospital. What comes next is usually a lot of waiting.

Waiting is not your only option if you are the victim in an auto accident. There is no getting around the fact that you will have to wait for the legal process to run its course. In the meantime, you can do something that can prove to be extremely valuable: keep a journal.

Your journal should begin right after the accident. Start by writing down everything you remember about the accident. Think about what you saw, what went through your mind and what happened during the actual accident. Try to focus on as many details as possible, even when it comes to the colliding vehicle and its driver.

This is important because the passing of time may cause you to forget some things about the accident. It may just be a minor detail or two that you forget, but that minor detail could eventually play a major role in your case. This kind of written memory will allow you to accurately recreate the accident scene if you are ever asked to do so, particularly in a courtroom.

Continue on with the journal by recording everything that happens in the days after the accident. Make sure to record any time off work, any calls to a lawyer, or any bills you may have received as a result of the accident. Anything that might be remotely connected to the accident should be written in your journal.

Overall, keeping a journal will thoroughly prepare you if your case does go to court. It will also provide leverage if your case goes to mediation. Settlements could turn out to be much larger when the victim has detailed documentation of injuries, pain, suffering and bills that are noted down to the exact penny.

Your healing process should be a major part of your journal. If you wake up with a slight pain in the middle of the night, reach for your journal before you reach for an aspirin. Injuries are important in every auto accident case. They could make a big difference in the final payout. So document every little pain you feel. Those pains may not initially seem to be a direct result of the crash, but there are lingering effects you may not be privy to.

All of this will not only help with the legal process, but it will also help you with the healing process. Car accidents are a traumatic event that can affect people emotionally as well as physically. It is important to be sure you have a record of every bit of your suffering.

You do not need to be a professional writer to put together a quality journal. Just be precise and consistent. A judge is not going to be awarding a Pulitzer Prize, but a judge could award you a sizeable payout. Honest facts about everything that could be related to your auto accident can only strengthen your case.

Victims of car accidents can turn to the Mississippi Auto Accident Attorney at Barrett Law PLLC. Your suffering deserves compensation and our legal team can show you the best ways to get what you deserve. Our attorneys can help you build your case into a winner. Call us today for a free confidential consultation at (601) 790-1505.

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New Report Ranks Mississippi Among Most Dangerous States for Drivers

Recently, the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety released a report ranking Mississippi among the eleven most dangerous states for drivers due to a lack of safe driving regulations.  This coalition of business and safety groups made the alarming finding that more states have a lack of basic safety laws than have strong safety regulations.  The report illustrates a direct correlation between regulation and lives saved.

The Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety ranked each state based on adoption of the fifteen safety laws considered critical by the organization.  After analyzing the safety laws employed in each state, the report provided color ratings according to the level of regulation.  Eleven states, including Mississippi, received a “red rating,” which reflects poor protections. The complete list of states receiving this red status are: Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.  Ten states received the highest “green rating.”  These top safety states are: California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington.  Washington, D.C., also received the coveted green ranking.  All remaining states fell into the “yellow rating” category, meaning they had some necessary regulations on the books but not as many as recommended.

The fifteen safety laws considered optimal by the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety include: driving while texting bans; requiring booster seats for children; mandating helmets for all motorcycles; and allowing officers to ticket any passenger not wearing a seatbelt without another offense having first taken place.  Additionally, there are seven laws relating to teen driving, including night restrictions, and three related to impaired driving.

Illinois and Oregon were the top two states, each having adopted twelve out of the fifteen recommended safety regulations.  South Dakota had the fewest safety laws, with just two regulations that restrict nighttime driving among young drivers and prohibit open containers.  The organization found that two laws in particular, both related to teen driving, were the least adopted.  They are: setting sixteen as the minimum age to obtain a learner’s permit and nighttime restrictions on teen driving.  Just eight states prohibit learner’s permits for those under sixteen and only eleven have nighttime restrictions on teen driving.

According to the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Mississippi needs to pass the following laws to ensure maximum driver safety in our state:

  1. Require booster seats through age seven
  2. Mandate sixteen as the minimum age for a learner’s permit
  3. Enact 30-50 hours supervised driving provision
  4. Strengthen nighttime restriction provision for new drivers
  5. Ban passengers with new drivers
  6. Strengthen cell phone restriction provision
  7. Set eighteen as minimum age for unrestricted license
  8. Pass law banning open containers
  9. Require ignition interlock for every offenders
  10. Pass an all driver text messaging ban

According to the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, crash data from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration demonstrates the effectiveness of safety regulations.  For instance, in 2012, seat belts saved the lives of an estimated 12,174 passengers.  The use of safety belts increased in states that passed laws allowing ticketing for failure to wear a safety belt even when no other offense had taken place.

Since 1936, the team of legal professionals at Barrett Law PLLC has represented the victims of all types of car, truck, and motorcycle accidents.  At Barrett Law PLLC, we care deeply about the safety of Mississippi drivers and hope to see more important safety regulations passed in the coming years so that our roadways become among the safest in the nation.  If you have been injured in an accident, contact Barrett Law PLLC today at 1 (601) 790-1505 for a free consultation.

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Celebrity’s Tragic Death Serves as Reminder of the Dangers of “Fast and Furious” Driving

Many of us have seen one or more of the “Fast and Furious” franchise of movies.  These movies depict, and largely glorify, the lifestyle of illegal street racing, involving beautiful cars, beautiful people, and fun.  In the movies, 100-mile-per-hour-plus races down city streets, back alleys, and highways are common.  In a grotesquely tragic twist of irony, one of the movie franchise’s main stars – Paul Walker – lost his life on November 30, 2013, while speeding down a street in a Porsche Carrera GT.  The car in which Walker was riding slammed into a tree and then literally ripped apart and burst into flames.  Photographs of the car depicted a mangled and twisted pile of charred metal that resembled a heap of scrap metal more than a car worth in excess of $400,000.

The car was capable of reaching speeds of 205 miles per hour.  The prior owner of the car, who himself is a professional Porsche racing driver, indicated that the car could be tricky to handle.  Authorities have indicated that speed was likely a factor in the accident but official results of the cause of the accident will not be released for approximately three months.  However, it has also been stressed that the driver of the car, Roger Rodas, had plenty of experience with fast cars—he was a former professional race-car driver.  Autopsies of the two men were delayed in order to allow obtaining dental records, as their bodies were so badly burned as to be indistinguishable from one another.

The accident is a grim reminder of a reality—speed kills.  Speeding in and of itself is a cause of approximately 5% of automobile accidents, but driving too fast for conditions and driving too fast for curves are the number one and number two decisional errors leading to accidents.  Moreover, speed is a factor in nearly one-third of fatal accidents across the United States.  Said another way, while speed is not the biggest cause of accidents, it is a significant cause of deadly ones in the United States.

Results released from the New York City Department of Transportation indicated that, in 2012, speeding was the top cause of fatal motor vehicle accidents.  A recently-released study by the Governor’s Highway Safety Administration also found that speeding was the cause of approximately one-third of all fatal automobile accidents involving teenaged males, compared with rates between fifteen and twenty percent involving males between the ages of 35 to 45.

If you or someone you love has been injured in an automobile accident, the consequences can be devastating.  This is true regardless of the cause.  However, if excessive speed was the cause, you may be feeling as if you have been victimized twice—once by the accident and once by the extreme disregard for the safety of others by the driver of the other vehicle involved in the collision.  The professionals at Barrett Law PLLC understand the emotional turmoil that individuals experience after a serious automobile accident.  We can stand by you during this difficult time, helping you through the maze of issues that you are now facing.  You should not have to face them alone.

Barrett Law PLLC has been representing the rights of individuals injured in motor vehicle accidents in Mississippi for more than seven decades.  If you or someone you love has been injured in a motor vehicle accident, please contact us today to discuss your rights.  We can be reached at (601) 790-1505.

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NHTSA Announces Teen Driver Safety Initiative

The United States’ National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (“NHTSA”) recently announced its new safety initiative designed to decrease the number of fatalities involving teenagers.  According to NHTSA, motor vehicle accidents claim the lives of more teenagers aged 14 to 18 than does any other cause.  In 2011, 2,105 teenagers died in motor vehicle accidents.

The topics covered in the initiative, “5 to Drive” include refraining from cell phone use and avoiding texting while driving; limiting extra passengers in the car; avoiding speeding; avoiding the use of alcohol before or during driving; and ensuring the use of a seat belt.  The topics are designed to address the common characteristics attributing to teenager motor vehicle fatalities—inexperience and immaturity.

In terms of contributors to fatal accidents involving teenagers, in 2011, twenty-seven percent of all fatalities involved teenaged drivers with positive blood-alcohol concentrations.  This figure represents an increase from twenty-four percent in 2007.  Speeding is also a large contributor to fatal accidents involving teenagers.  From 2007 to 2011, the percentage of fatalities involving speeding remained constant at thirty-five percent.  Finally, the most staggering statistic of all is that in over half—approximately fifty-three percent—of all fatal accidents, the teenagers that were killed were not wearing safety belts.

In fatal car accidents involving teenagers, forty percent of those fatalities involved the driver of the motor vehicle.  Twenty-eight percent involved occupants in a motor vehicle operated by a teenager.  Finally, twenty-four percent of fatalities involved occupants in motor vehicles driven by someone else.  Most of these accidents occurred between three and five o’clock in the afternoon, with another spike during late-night hours.

NHTSA regularly publishes a report addressing, among other things, strategies to reduce accidents involving teenaged drivers.  One of the most effective of these strategies includes introducing a system of graduated driver’s licenses.  According to NHTSA, all states have implemented such graduated licensing systems, although they vary from state to state.  The graduated licensing systems involves three stages—a learner’s permit, an intermediate license, and a full license.  Other equally effective strategies include restrictions on the number of passengers in the motor vehicle and restrictions on nighttime driving.  Other less effective strategies include limitations on the use of cell phones and requiring the use of seat belts.

Parents are encouraged to set ground rules early and ensure consistent enforcement.  In fact, NHTSA recommends using a driving contract with teenaged drivers.  The contract should clearly indicate ground rules and should also clearly set forth the consequences for breaking the ground rules.  Suggested rules include zero-tolerance on the use of alcohol; always use a seat belt; no cell phone use while driving; no driving after 10 p.m.; and allowing only one passenger at a time.

Talking with teenagers about traffic safety early on, before they start driving, is also key.  Parents are reminded that driver’s education classes cannot cover every aspect of safe driving and that parents need to be actively involved in educating their teenagers about safe driving habits.  Finally, NHTSA recommends modeling safe driving behaviors while your teenagers are in the care—no cell phone use, use of seatbelts, avoid speeding, and the like.

Barrett Law, PLLC has been representing the rights of individuals injured in motor vehicle accidents for decades, and will continue to do so for decades into the future.  If you or someone you love has been injured as a resulting of a motor vehicle accident, please contact our firm today at (601) 790-1505 to schedule an initial, no-cost consultation.

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Teenagers Injured in Serious Mississippi Car Accident

In another article posted on our law firm’s website this month, the risks associated with teenaged drivers were discussed.  Three accidents that have occurred over the past several months illustrate the devastating effects of inexperienced and inattentive teenaged drivers and the need for increased focus on this issue.

In a recent motor vehicle accident in Warren County, Mississippi, six teenagers were injured and one teenager was killed.  It happened on October 15, 2013, just after 9:00 p.m.  A Toyota Corolla was being driven by a 16-year old who lost control of vehicle and crashed into a tree.  The six passengers in the vehicle included a 15-year old, three 14-year olds, and two 13-year olds.  Two of the teenagers needed to be airlifted to the University of Mississippi Medical center.  One of the 14-year old passengers died from the injuries he sustained in the accident.

In a shockingly similar story, and just several days earlier, on October 12, 2013, seven teenagers were injured in an accident in Olympia, Washington, when a motor vehicle driven by a 16-year old crashed into a pillar.  Fortunately, in this accident, no one lost his or her life, though the force of the collision actually caused the engine to separate from the car.  There were six passengers in the car.  Three of the passengers were 17-year olds, one of the passengers was a 16-year old, and two of the passengers were 15-year olds.  Authorities investigating that accident indicated it was caused by driver inattention.

In a terrible tragedy in Laveen, Arizona, near Phoenix, earlier this year, three children—ages 11, 5, and 4–were killed in an accident involving a teenaged driver.  There were seven passengers in the car at the time of the accident, ranging in age from three to sixteen.  All seven of the passengers were siblings.  The driver was transporting all of his siblings to school.  Several of the children were ejected from the minivan after it crossed collided head-on with another vehicle and then rolled over.  Police had to search nearby brush and bushes to locate all of the passengers.  The four siblings who managed to survive the accident suffered severe injuries.  No one in the minivan was wearing a seatbelt.  Authorities indicated that the cause of the accident was inexperience.  Authorities also indicated that the driver may have been impaired by drugs or alcohol at the time of the accident.  The driver of the vehicle was unlicensed—he had only a learner’s permit.  The driver of the vehicle that the minivan collided with also died.  He was 31 years old.

The United States’ National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (“NHTSA”) regularly publishes a report addressing, among other things, strategies to reduce accidents involving teenaged drivers.  One of those strategies includes restrictions on the number of passengers in the motor vehicle.  Other strategies include the use of safety belts.  NHTSA also recommends that parents have early and frequent discussions with teenaged drivers about safety issues and set restrictions on things such as the use of cell phone and number of passengers in the car at any one time.

Barrett Law, PLLC has been representing the rights of individuals injured in motor vehicle accidents for decades.  If you or someone you love has been injured as a resulting of a motor vehicle accident and a teenaged driver was at fault, we understand how difficult the situation can be for all individuals involved.  Nevertheless, you have been injured and you need to protect your rights and make sure you receive the compensation you deserve.  We can help you receive that compensation.  Please contact our firm today at (601) 790-1505 to schedule an initial, no-cost consultation.

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Volkswagon Recalls Millions of Cars

On November 13, 2013, Volkswagen announced it was recalling 2.64 million Volkswagen and Audi cars worldwide due to multiple potential issues.  Volkswagen is Europe’s largest automobile manufacturer.  The recall is one of the largest ever recall impacting Volkswagen.  Many of the vehicles being recalled are located in China and the United Kingdom.

One of the safety issues involves vehicles with seven-speed dual-clutch gearboxes.  The affected gearboxes are known as DQ200 gearboxes.  Vehicles impacted by the recall include Scirocco 1.4Ts, 1.4Ts and 1.2Ts Beetles, Audi A1s and A3s, Golf wagons, and Golf sports convertibles.   Other affected vehicles include Boras, Sagitars, Magotans, and Tourans.  According to Volkswagen, the synthetic oil in these gearboxes needs to be replaced.  This safety issue affects 1.6 million vehicles.  Volkswagen has indicated the issue involves vehicles subjected to hot, humid conditions and stop-and-go driving.  These conditions, coupled with the synthetic oil, can cause damage to electronics in the vehicles in question.  Replacing current synthetic oil with a mineral oil has been found to correct the problem.

800,000 Tiguans are also subject to the recall.  The Tiguans suffer from a possible fault in a fuse that can affect lighting.  Models built between the years 2008 and 2011 are affected.  The recall requires replacing the fuse with a fuse with a more durable surface.  Obviously, issues with the failure of lighting can be disastrous, depending on the circumstances involved.  No one wants their headlights to fail in the dead of night while driving down dimly-lit roads.

There recall also involves 239,000 Amarok trucks.  The trucks have fuel lines that potentially leak.  The recall involves fitting protection to the fuel lines to prevent damage.

If you drive a Volkswagen or Audi vehicle, in order to verify whether your vehicle is subject to this recall, you can visit the following website:

http://www.vw.com/en/owners/parts-and-accessories/protection/recalls-campaigns.html.

Relatively minor issues such as those affecting the Volkswagen and Audi vehicles in question may seem unimportant, but it is vital to ensure any vehicle you drive is up-to-date on any replacements, modifications, etc., necessitated by recalls.  Nearly everyone can remember the safety recall and related issues that plagued Toyota during 2010.  Over five million cars involved in the Toyota recall were recalled due to issues with floormats.  While it sounded innocent enough, the floormats could cause the pedal to stick and thereby cause extremely unsafe acceleration issues.

While our law firm is certainly not suggesting that the current Volkswagen recall is at all similar to the Toyota recall, it is important to note that proper maintenance and attention to your vehicle is important for your safety, as well as the safety of all other individuals on the road.

If you have been involved in an accident and you believe a malfunction related to your motor vehicle might have caused or contributed to the accident, it is important that you retain an experienced personal injury attorney as soon as possible. Accidents involving failed or malfunctioning component parts are extremely complicated to litigate.  More than likely, your case will require extensive accident reconstruction and expert analysis. If you have been injured, these issues are the last things you want to be focused on.  You need to focus on recovery.  Let us help you through this difficult time by focusing on the legal aspects of your case.

Barrett Law, PLLC has been representing the rights of individuals injured in trucking accidents for many years.  If you or someone you love has been injured as a resulting of a motor vehicle accident and you suspect that defects in the motor vehicle caused or contributed to the accident, please contact our firm today at reached at (601) 790-1505 to schedule an initial, no-cost consultation.

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Debate Over How to Curb Distracted Driving in Mississippi

Everyone has read about the dangers of distracted driving.  Unfortunately, many of us have also experienced it first hand in the form of being involved in a motor vehicle accident or having a loved one or friend who has been involved in such an accident.  There is simply no debate that distracted driving leads to increase risk of motor vehicle accidents.  However, there is a debate on the best way to deal with the issues related to distracted driving.

Many individuals have begun advocating for increased technology to alleviate distracted driving.  Devices that allow voice-activated commands, such as voice-activated texting, voice-activated GPS, and hands-free telephone calls, are on the rise.  The concept behind these products is to use technology to make current technology safer, rather than prohibiting its use while operating a motor vehicle altogether.  Despite this, there are disputes about whether ever-increasing technology is, in fact, the best way to deal with distracted driving or whether ever-increasing technology simply creates even more distracted driving.

A study published by Professor David Strayer of the University of Utah, sponsored by AAA (formerly the American Automobile Association) Foundation for Traffic Safety, indicates that ever-increasing technology does not alleviate distracted driving and actually makes it even worse.  The full study can be found at https://www.aaafoundation.org/measuring-cognitive-distractions.  The study measured cognitive distractions while driving a motor vehicle.  According to the study, three types of in-vehicle distractions exist:  impairments to driving (such as taking your eyes of the road); manual impairments to driving (such as taking your hands of the steering wheel); and cognitive impairments to driving (when attention is withdrawn from the task of driving itself).

To evaluate cognitive distraction, researchers evaluated reaction time and physiological measures, such as brain activity and eye movements.  Drivers were given a series of eight increasingly cognitively-demanding tasks in various simulated laboratory and driving simulator and real-life situations.  These activities included no distractions at all; listening to the radio; listening to an audio book; talking with a passenger; having a conversation on a hand-held device; having a conversation on a hands-free device; speech-to-text; and performing math and verbal problems.  As drivers engaged in activities that required more attention, cognitive distraction consistently increased.  Notably, speech-to-text and more complicated cognitive activities, such as performing math and verbal problems with driving, produced the next-to-highest and highest levels of cognitive distraction.

The study reports that even with eyes and hand on the wheel, causes of cognitive distraction cause major impairments to safe driving.  These include suppressed brain activity to the areas needed for safe driving; increased reaction time; missed cues; and decreased visual attention.  The study clearly indicates that hands-free does not mean safer.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently released figures related to accidents occurring in the year 2012.  According to the yearly report, 421,000 individuals were injured in accidents related to distracted driving.

Regardless of the cause, if you or a loved one has been injured or a loved one has been killed in a motor vehicle accident, the consequences can be devastating.  During this difficult time, you need experienced attorneys to help you make sense of the chaos surrounding you—legally, financially, and otherwise.  Barrett Law PLLC, has experience to provide you with this kind of help.  Our law firm ahs been representing individuals injured in car and truck accidents in Mississippi for decades.  If you have any questions about lawsuits related to car or truck accident injuries, please contact us at (601) 790-1505 to set up a no-cost consultation.

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Dump-Truck Accident in Dallas, Texas, Highlights Dangers of Heavy Truck Versus Car Accidents

A recent accident on the Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway in Dallas, Texas, highlights the dangers when a heavy truck is involved in an accident with cars.  On September 10, 2013, a dump truck was travelling east down one side of the divided road when, according to eye-witnesses, a plume of smoke erupted and the truck slid over one car and pinned it underneath the truck.  The dump truck then jumped across the concrete median barrier into the westbound lanes of traffic and came to rest on a Lexus sedan travelling in one of the westbound lanes. The two individuals in the Lexus—Tarleton and Benna Mullikin—were killed.  Daniel Cerean, the driver of the other car that was pinned underneath the back of the dump truck, sustained injuries but is recovering.  The freeway was closed for five hours in both directions while local authorities attended to the scene.  Authorities have not yet issued details about the cause of the crash.  The dump truck belonged to a company that is a subcontractor working on the roadway construction on the freeway.

Accidents involving large, commercial vehicles and smaller, consumer vehicles often end with disastrous consequences due to the disparity in size between the vehicles.  When accidents like this occur, it is important to ensure that an accident reconstruction expert is retained to thoroughly examine the potential causes of the accident.  Commercial trucks, including semi-trailers, construction trucks, dump trucks, and similar large commercial trucks, are more complicated that vehicles designed for consumer use.  They also experience much more extreme wear, use, and strain simply because of the purposes for which they are designed.  Because of this, proper maintenance of commercial trucks is vital. Unfortunately, the owners of these trucks sometimes do not properly maintain them.  This inadequate maintenance can lead to accidents. Inadequate maintenance can cause issues in braking systems, tires, and load distribution capabilities.

Frighteningly, braking systems are a common area of insufficient maintenance.  The weight of commercial trucks and the force needed to stop them can lead to tragedy when brakes have not been properly inspected, serviced, or replaced.  Simply put, inadequately maintained braking systems prevent trucks from stopping when they should or, even worse, from stopping at all.

Inadequately maintained tires is a second major cause of trucking accidents.  Tires are vital to the safe operation of all commercial trucks.  When tires are not replaced at the end of their useful like, the risk of a tire blowout increases dramatically. Tire blowouts can cause drivers to lose control or be unable to maneuver the truck or to be unable to slow or stop the truck.

Trucks haul things; that is what they are specifically intended to do.  This function is made possible by a multitude of coupling devices, bolts, and locking mechanisms, just to name a few. If these parts are insufficiently maintained, eventually they can fail.  When such a failure occurs, the load a truck is transporting can shift or completely fall loose from the truck.  Obviously, loads falling completely loose represent a hazard to all oncoming traffic.  Shifting loads can also cause the truck to lose control.

If you or a loved one has been involved in an accident involving a commercial truck, it is important to retain an attorney experienced in this type of personal injury lawsuit.  You need an attorney who understands when an expert is necessary, and knows which experts on which to rely.  You also need an attorney who understands how to fight insurance companies—sometimes, many of them at the same time.  Barrett Law, PLLC has been fighting for the rights of individuals injured as a result of trucking accidents for decades.  We are here to fight for you.  Please contact us today at (601) 790-1505 to learn more about how we can help you.

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