Eldridge Ave Scene of 2 DUI Crashes in Bellingham Over the Weekend
While most people take drinking and driving seriously after decades of public education campaigns, there are still far too many people who choose to get behind the wheel intoxicated. The choice to drive drunk often has deadly consequences for the driver, their passengers, and anyone they crash into. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), each day about 28 Americans die in DUI crashes. In the 10-year period from 2010 to 2019, more than 10,000 people died every year in DUI crashes. Tragically, these were preventable deaths.
Read MoreWill I Automatically Get a Car Accident Settlement?
People injured in car accidents because of the negligence of another driver have the legal right to file a claim. The claim will seek compensation for their losses. This right should not be conflated with a guarantee; people injured in car accidents will not automatically get a car accident settlement. In fact, not all insurance claims for car accidents result in settlements.
At-fault insurance companies will do just about anything they can to weasel out of paying a fair settlement. They will use the lack of damage to your vehicle or your prior medical history to claim that you could not have been injured by their driver. This is why it is so important to seek the help of an experienced car accident lawyer. A lawyer will know all the insurance industry tricks.
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Read MoreWhat To Do If You are Hit by an Unlicensed Driver
Because of the risks involved with driving, all drivers in the United States, including Washington State, are required to have a driver’s license to operate a vehicle. Unfortunately, there is always a percentage of people who don’t comply. At any given time, there are people driving on U.S. roads without a valid license; most often because their license was suspended or revoked. This selfish choice puts other drivers on the road with them at risk of being hit by an unlicensed driver.
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Read MoreWhat to Do If You are in a Hit and Run Accident
A hit and run accident makes the stress and trauma of a car accident even worse, especially when someone is seriously injured or killed in the collision. When the person who may be responsible for the crash flees the scene without exchanging information with the other driver, there is a legitimate fear that the driver may not be held responsible for the accident and injuries they caused.
As car accident lawyers, we have seen an increase in hit and run accidents in the last 24 months. According to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), overall traffic crashes and injuries were down in 2020 but fatal crashes and fatalities increased and deaths in hit-and-run crashes jumped by 26 percent.
Read MoreWhat Not to Say After a Car Accident
Anyone who has been in a car accident knows the amount of adrenaline that starts pumping through your body. It’s a very stressful situation that can make us drop our guard right at the time we need to keep our cool. It’s safe to assume that anything said to the other driver or a responding police officer after a collision will be used against you, making it more difficult to file a claim and get fair compensation for your losses. Read on to learn what not to say after a car accident so you can protect yourself.
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Read MoreFalling Asleep at the Wheel: 6 Signs You’re Too Tired to Drive
There are a variety of reasons that a person may cause a car accident: drowsy driving or falling asleep at the wheel is one of them. Tragically, drowsy driving crashes result in more than 1,550 fatal car accidents and 71,000 injuries annually.
If you or a loved one was injured because of a driver falling asleep at the wheel, call a local car accident lawyer as soon as possible. The injury attorney can discuss your legal rights and determine next steps.
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Read MoreFailure to Secure a Load Leads to Fatality
Debris of any kind that lands on the roadway is a serious safety hazard. Every year in North America, road litter causes 25,000 accidents and almost 100 fatalities. Washington State has more than 400 accidents annually caused by road debris; failure to secure a load is a common part of this problem. Many of these accidents and injuries could be prevented by properly securing a load.
Typically, debris ends up on the road because it is either not loaded properly or secured properly and then goes flying when the vehicle is moving. When material of any kind falls off of a vehicle because it isn’t properly secured, it is littering. According to Washington State Patrol Records, approximately 37 percent of all litter-related citations issued by Washington State Patrol are for a failure to secure a load. An additional 22 percent of citations are issued for debris escaping from loads.
Read MoreTop 5 Reasons Insurance Companies Lowball Insurance Settlement Offers
If there is one thing you need to know about insurance companies it’s that they aren’t in business to pay out fair settlements. Their priority is their bottom line, not their clients and certainly not the person injured by one of their clients. If you were injured because of the negligence of another such as in a car accident, you likely received a call from the at-fault insurer shortly after the accident claim, to ask questions that will benefit them and/or to make a lowball settlement offer. It is important to seek legal guidance from a personal injury lawyer before speaking to an insurance adjuster and definitely before accepting an insurance settlement offer.
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Read MoreHead-On Collisions Most Deadly Type of Motor Vehicle Accident
Head-on collisions are one of the scariest types of motor vehicle accidents a person can be involved in. The reason that head-on crashes are so scary is that they are often fatal. Head-on collisions are considered the deadliest type of motor vehicle accident because while they only account for two percent of car accidents, they are responsible for 10 percent of fatalities. The reason for this is because of the enormous energy transmitted into each driver’s body upon impact.
Read MoreRisky Driving Behaviors Persist Leading to Increase in US Road Deaths
U.S. road deaths have increased at a record pace during the pandemic, apparently as a result of a rise in risking driving behaviors. According to data collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in the first nine months of 2021, U.S. traffic deaths rose to 31,720; matching the pace of more risky driving behaviors that began during the initial shutdowns. This figure represents a 12 percent increase over the same period in 2020 and a 33 percent increase over the last decade. It is the highest percentage increase over a nine-month period since the Transportation Department began recording fatal crash data in 1975 and the highest nine-month figure recorded since 2006.
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