Recent Blog Posts in 2009

Often, a patient’s chief complaint in the emergency room isn’t about the illness or injury – it’s about the time it takes to be seen and treated. The new goal of many hospitals in the Phoenix area is to treat the patients as quickly as possible so you can get back to your life – faster.

Press Ganey, a leading national provider of patient satisfaction data, released in its 2008 Emergency Department Pulse Report showing the average total time spent by patients in U.S. emergency rooms is now 4 hours and 5 minutes. Arizona ranked 48th in the nation with an even longer average length of stay of 5 hours, 35 minutes.

Scottsdale Healthcare, Mountain Vista Medical Center, St. Luke’s Medical Center and Tempe St. Luke’s Medical Center have on average the quickest ER wait times– which means the time you enter the ER until the time you leave – it’s nearly 3 hours faster than the state average (Approx. 2 hours).

Scottsdale Healthcare has started to post emergency room wait times on its Web site.
Times posted on www.shc.org represent the time it takes to get a patient from the ER’s front desk to an exam room at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn, Scottsdale Healthcare Shea and Scottsdale Healthcare Thompson Peak. Wait times are updated every 10 minutes.
The reason their wait times are quicker are because they have bedside registration, fast track care for less serious illnesses and injuries, electronic medical records and computerized patient tracking systems, all three hospitals are committed to providing the prompt care patients expect in a medical emergency with professional service.

High quality care. Advanced technology. Friendly, caring environment. You can have faster and better emergency care.

http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/04/14/daily31.html
http://digg.com/health/Real_Time_Hospital_ER_Wait_Times_Phoenix_Arizona

Phoenix drivers have a reputation for aggressive driving and high speeds, and Phoenix highways never seem to be without crashes on any given day. So how did Phoenix, Arizona do in a study of cities and traffic accidents?

Recently, Allstate Insurance researchers analyzed internal data to determine the likelihood that drivers would be involved in a vehicle collision. They looked at those cities in the U.S. with at least 100,000 in population–the largest 196 cities. To create the report entitled, “Allstate America’s Best Drivers Report,” they took property damage claims over a two-year period (from January, 2002 to December, 2003) and used a weighted average of the two-year numbers to determine the annual percentages. The report defines an auto crash as any collision resulting in property damage.

Nationally, the average driver can expect to experience an auto crash with property damage once in every ten years. In Cedar Rapids, though, the average is only once in every 15 years, making that city the safest of all cities of more than 100,000 population.

Here are the top 10, nationally:

1. Cedar Rapids, Iowa
2. Sioux Falls, South Dakota
3. Chattanooga, Tennessee
4. Huntsville, Alabama
5. Knoxville, Tennessee
6. Des Moines, Iowa
7. Topeka, Kansas
8. Lakewood, Colorado
9. Fort Collins, Colorado
10. Birmingham, Alabama

Clearly, those of us who live in bigger cities face bigger risks. In the category of big cities–those with a million or more people–Phoenix, Arizona was the top ranked city in the country, mirroring the national average of a collision once every ten years.

Here are the top 10 cities over 1 million in population:
(the number represents the national ranking)

64. Phoenix
111. San Diego
121. Houston
167. San Antonio
169. New York City
173. Chicago
177. Los Angeles
180. Dallas
182. Philadelphia

Tucson, Arizona also did very well, ranked 53rd overall in the study, and 6th among cities with populations between 500,000 and one million residents. The average driver in Tucson has an accident once in very 10.3 years.

We have heard that most accidents occur close to home, and Allstate says that’s still true: the majority of crashes occurring within five miles of the home. That’s logical to me; I would think that that’s where most people drive! How cities rank are affected by many factors, like demographics, commuting patterns, and city design, traffic engineering, and strong law enforcement initiatives.

http://phoenix.about.com/od/car/a/accidents.htm

The most recent official survey determined there were 4.7 million dog bite victims annually in the USA. Another study showed that 1,000 Americans per day are treated in emergency rooms as a result of dog bites. In 2007 there were 33 fatal dog attacks in the USA. Most of the victims who receive medical attention are children, half of whom are bitten in the face. Dog bite losses exceed $1 billion per year, with over $300 million paid by homeowners insurance.

Merritt Clifton, editor of Animal People, has conducted an unusually detailed study of dog bites from 1982 to the present. The Clifton study show the number of serious canine-inflicted injuries by breed.

According to the Clifton study, pit bulls, Rottweilers, Presa Canarios and their mixes are responsible for 74% of attacks that were included in the study, 68% of the attacks upon children, 82% of the attacks upon adults, 65% of the deaths, and 68% of the maimings. In more than two-thirds of the cases included in the study, the life-threatening or fatal attack was apparently the first known dangerous behavior by the animal in question.

As it investigates recent incidents of swine influenza in humans, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is stressing prevention.
The agency has posted several Web pages dealing with swine flu, including a list of what you can do to forestall this — or any — infectious disease.
The CDC recommends taking these everyday precautions:
• Avoid contact with people if you, or they, are sick.
• Stay at home — from work, school or other public activities — when you are ill.
• Shield others from your coughs and sneezes by using a tissue.
• Wash your hands often.
• Keep your hands away from your eyes, nose or mouth.
• Maintain healthful habits — get ample sleep and exercise, drink fluids, eat well.
Currently, there’s no vaccine for humans that prevents swine flu, though scientists are working on one. But there is a vaccine for some forms of swine flu in pigs.
Which suggests one more precaution particular to this outbreak: Avoid unnecessary contact with live pigs. (It’s safe to eat pork, but not pet a pig.) But that alone may not roadblock the spread of swine flu this time around. In pigs, this virus causes a respiratory illness that’s highly contagious, but usually not fatal.
As seen with bird flu, people coming into contact with infected animals occasionally become sick themselves — but the virus usually stops there. Rarely have humans infected other humans with bird flu — or swine flu. With the current swine flu outbreak, the swine flu virus has transformed, appearing to increase its ability to spread between humans.
“We’ve seen swine influenza in humans over the past several years, and in most cases, it’s come from direct pig contact. This seems to be different,” Arnold Monto, a flu researcher with the University of Michigan, told the Associated Press. “I think we need to be careful and not apprehensive, but certainly paying attention to new developments as they proceed.”
At this point, the CDC and other government organizations are focusing on getting the message out to individuals about how to respond to the threat of influenza. Public health officials are monitoring the various cases and conducting epidemiological research on the virus.
“If the outbreak turns into a full blown epidemic,” says Andrew Pekosz, an associate professor at the Bloomberg School of Health at Johns Hopkins University, “the government will have the right to place limitations on travel and gatherings of groups of individuals.” Schools may be closed or sporting events canceled, Pekosz says, and officials will implement quarantine procedures for hotspots of cases and begin distribution of antiviral drugs.
All these steps, Pekosz says, are necessary “to limit the epidemic and slow virus spread.”
Jeanne Matthews, an assistant professor at the Georgetown University School of Nursing and Health Studies, says health officials are “so dependent on whether it appears that community containment might halt person to person contact. This is a new strain. I don’t think we know enough about this flu to have a sense of when that should be.”

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103523454

Since 1980, a group of mothers got together to form a group to help prevent drunk driving. The name of the organization is “Mother’s Against Drunk Driving” or “MADD” for short. “The mission of Mothers Against Drunk Driving is to stop drunk driving, support the victims of this violent crime and prevent underage drinking.”

MADD is very pleased that due to their hard work and continuous effort to make people more aware of the true dangers of drunk driving, new fatality data from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) shows that drunk driving fatalities declined 9.7% ; 11,773 in 2008 and 13,041 deaths in 2007. According to DOT, “the number of overall traffic fatalities reported in 2008 hit their lowest level since 1961.”  The numbers for 2009 show a continued decrease so far.

Arizona and New Mexico lead the nation in reductions of  drunk driving fatality with 20% less in Arizona and 21% drop in New Mexico.  Both states require all drunk driving offenders to install an ignition interlock in their car which is believed to be the reason for the decline.  The state-by-state fatality numbers are available at

http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811172.pdf.

http://www.madd.org/

During labor and delivery, medical complications can result in birth injuries. Doctors and health care professionals must exercise the utmost care to avoid injury to babies during the especially vulnerable times of labor induction, Cesarean section, and mechanically assisted (forceps) births. Babies who experience severe oxygen deprivation to the brain, or head trauma, during these delicate obstetrical procedures often die or face lifelong disabilities. Approximately 10,000 babies each year develop Cerebral palsy (a condition which impacts the ability to control movement) as a result of oxygen deprivation. Oxygen shortage also causes brain damage. Other types of traumatic obstetric birth injuries include prenatal asphyxia, Erbs Palsy or Brachial Plexus Palsy, Klumpke’s Palsy, Torticollis, and Shoulder Dystocia. Fractures, spinal cord trauma, cephalohematoma and intracranial hemorrhage may be the result of preventable obstetrical damage. Common errors for which medical providers may be held responsible are as follows: 

• Difficult or prolonged labor (often due to a large baby);
• Failing to detect the umbilical cord wrapped around a baby’s neck;
• Unreasonable delay in performing an emergency Cesarean section;
• Failure to test and treat conditions during pregnancy, or misdiagnosis
• Failing to recognize negative fetal signs

Approximately 27 of every 1,000 births in the United States results in a birth injury. A “birth injury” is defined as any type of damage to an infant’s body before, during or just after birth. The March of Dimes cites 60 percent of birth defects due to unknown causes; however, thousands of developmental defects and fetal deaths are attributable to an expectant mother’s exposure to toxic substances. Studies have shown that women living within two miles of a landfill have an increased chance of giving birth to a baby with spina bifida, a hole in the heart, or other defects. Pregnant women exposed to high levels of pollutants have almost three times the risk of delivering an infant with a cardiac problem. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are well documented hazards to pregnant women and may inhibit a child’s intellectual ability, short and long-term memory and attention span. Microcephaly (an abnormally small head circumference) is caused by detrimental in utero factors such as pharmaceutical drugs, radiation, or a mother’s prenatal infection of rubella (German measles).

Heavy metals (gold, lead, mercury), cleaning solutions, paint, caffeine, radiation, drugs and alcohol are also culprits in causing birth defects. Manufacturers who fail to inform (via labeling) pregnant women of the risk can be held responsible for the birth defects caused by their products.

There are many “natural” circumstances wherein oxygen deprivation can occur during the labor and delivery process: the umbilical cord can become compressed or twisted in the birth process; the baby is too large to pass through the birth canal easily, or the baby is breach or sideways in the womb.

There are also many circumstances where brain damage or brain injuries are caused by mistakes made by doctors, hospitals or other medical professionals during the delivery process: a delay in performing a necessary C-section delivery, complication with a VBAC (vaginal birth after C-section) delivery - such as uterine rupture, use of excessive force during the delivery, or a miscalculation in the size of the baby, causing a traumatic delivery.

http://www.syracuseinjurylaw.com/birth_injuries.html

Underage drinking is the number ONE youth drug problem in the United States. About 5,000 people under the age of  21 die each year due to underage drinking. This does not include sexual assaults, violence and injuries.

The minimum drinking age is the most studied public health law ever. As you might guess, lowering the drinking age costs lives. Some have suggested that we should experiment by lowering the drinking age and see what happens. Organizations have “experimented” with giving alcohol to teenagers 18 and 19 years old and studies find they are much more immature and irresponsible when they are drunk then the average 21 year old adult.   

In 1999, New Zealand lowered its drinking age from 20 to 18. Not only did the alcohol-involved crash rate increase among 18 and 19 year olds (12% increase for males; 51% for females), but also among 15-17 year olds (14% increase for males; 24% for females).

A lower drinking age promotes unsafe binge drinking. Most European countries with lower drinking ages have not only higher drinking rates, but higher binge drinking/intoxication rates. As a result, several of these countries are considering increasing their drinking ages because the 21 minimum drinking ages is so effective. In the United States  statistics prove that from 1983 (the year before the national 21 law) to 1988 (the year when all states had adopted it), binge drinking among 12th graders dropped 15 percent during the same time binge drinking rates were increasing among the same age groups in Canada.

In fact, all underage drinking is unsafe drinking. Research has shown that the brain continues to develop into the early twenties. The part that controls reasoning and cognitive ability takes the longest to mature; thus, underage drinking, especially heavy drinking, affects memory and reasoning. The part of the brain responsible for forming new memories is noticeably smaller in youth who abuse alcohol. Alcohol use in adolescence also decreases executive functioning, memory, spatial operations, and attention among adolescents.  Research shows most of this damage is permanent.

The most dangerous room in a house happens to be a tie between the kitchen and bathroom. Many people visit hospitals reporting injuries happening in these two rooms.

Every year, there are about 200,000 bathroom slip and fall accidents. The Federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention compiles statistics on falls.  The leading cause of injury among older adults, is a slip and fall accident in the bathroom resulting in a fractured hip or traumatic brain injury.

Each year in the United States alone, more than 100,000 people go to the emergency room reporting kitchen related injuries such as burns and cuts from knives. Hot water alone causes 3,800 injuries and 34 deaths each year in the United States. Water boils at 212 degrees and it only takes a second to get third-degree burns. A knife slip means a nasty cut, stitches or potentially even the loss of a finger or two. Propane stoves cause many fire accidents and a glass casserole dish left on top of a range burner can explode, sending shards of glass in every direction.

Be careful of the potential hazards throughout your home, especially in the bathroom and kitchen.
http://www.noahbalmer.com/noahbalmer_research_bathroom_safety.pdf
http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/28/the-most-dangerous-room-in-the-house/

Light Rail officials told ABC15 they are starting to re-focus their efforts on safety now that the official grand opening ceremony is complete.

Four minor collisions have impacted the new train system since December, including one that occurred during the practice phase.

“They’re all unfortunate,” said Hillary Foose, a Light Rail spokesperson.  “If there is any silver lining it gives us the opportunity to talk more publicly about safety and how to be safe, reinforcing the message about obeying the traffic signals,” she said.

Foose said all of the collisions are under investigation, but it appears as if most of the independent drivers involved in these cases failed to obey all of the traffic laws.

Currently, Tempe Police are reviewing the surveillance tapes from the trains.

According to Foose, each train car contains sixteen cameras, including ten that monitor the exterior of the train in several different angles.

http://www.abc15.com/content/news/phoenixmetro/story/4-accidents-cause-Light-Rail-to-refocus-safety/oTvU6-nBmUmEyONOiW4_dw.cspx

Each year thousands of people suffer personal injury from slip and fall accidents, as the result of another person’s negligence. Slip and falls are one of the leading causes of accidental deaths in the United States.

The term slip and fall, or trip and fall, refers to a situation in which a person suffers an injury from a fall due to an unsafe, hazardous condition. Slip and fall accidents can occur inside or outside and can be caused by various conditions, including water on the ground, poorly lit stairs, rugs that seem to be lose, holes in the sidewalk, etc. If you are injured in a slip and fall accident due to a dangerous condition that the owner knew, or should have known, about he or she can be held legally liable.

In these instances, get the names and numbers of any witnesses to the accident, as well as people who were there after the accident occurred. It is also helpful to take photographs of the dangerous conditions, before the property owner has a chance to fix it. Slip and fall cases can be hard to prove, so it is important to have knowledgeable representation that can help you gather the essential evidence as soon as possible.

If you or a loved one suffers from severe injuries or death from a slip and fall accident, the Phoenix personal injury lawyers of Phillips and Lyon will help you get the money you deserve. Contact us now.
http://www.sgklawyers.com/PracticeAreas/Personal-Injury.asp#slip

A few tips and suggestion on how to be safe when riding your motorcycle!

1. Take a basic riding class to learn better riding techniques and helpful hints. More than 90% of riders involved in accidents had no formal training.

2. Make sure you have a motorcycle license! Nearly half of all motorcycle riders involved in accidents are unlicensed or improperly licensed.
3. Prepare for your ride. Wear appropriate gear for comfort and protection including proper shoes and most importantly a helmet!
4. Make sure you can be seen by the other drivers on the road. Stand out and wear bright clothing and use retro reflective material.
5. Make sure you are alert while riding. Fatigue or drowsiness can impair a motorcyclist’s ability to react.
6. Have a plan when riding in a group, determine your route in advance and coordinate it with the other riders.
7. Make sure your motorcycle is safe to ride.  If something fails on a motorcycle it can be very dangerous.
8. Ride sober. Alcohol and other drugs affect judgment and do not mix with motorcycling.
9. Don’t speed.  Speeding increases the risk of a serious injury accident by 60%.
10.  Be considerate on the road; show courtesy and respect to other drivers.

The attorneys at Phillips & Lyon have a well-earned reputation for protecting the rights of motorcycle accident victims. Unlike other firms in the Phoenix area, our senior partners are involved in every case and Greg Lyon, a senior partner, is an avid motorcycle rider! Our steadfast commitment to our injured clients along with our wealth of experience has lead to consistent results for our clients.

http://www.nysgtsc.state.ny.us/mcyc-tip.htm

An airbag, or supplemental restraint, is designed to protect drivers from making a hard impact during a car accident. Being a “supplemental restraint” gives the general idea that both seatbelts and airbags need to be used together, not just one or the other. If the airbag inflates, the seat belt will act by providing body support and preventing occupant ejection. The airbag can be said to bear similar texture to a soft cushion, and this cushion is what separates the driver from other hard surfaces in the car like the steering wheel, windshield, and dashboard and prevent severe injuries.

Furthermore, it is called a “passive” safety component, because it only inflates after an accident has occurred, it doesn’t prevent accidents from occurring. Airbags help avoid or lessen the risk of severe head and chest injuries in collisions.

 The inflation of an airbag is triggered by the airbag control unit, which reacts to the crash sensor when it detects a heavy impact.  The airbags release rapidly and protect the passenger from more severe injuries.  Airbags are known to cause “burns” on the driver’s arms or other injuries, but the injuries caused by an airbag are usually far less then if there was no airbag.

If you or someone you know has been injured in an accident, please contact Phillips and Lyon!

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Importance-of-Airbags&id=1315758

These perfect scores varied from the safety cage, restraints, airbags, “crumple zones”, and how secure the driver’s and passenger’s head, neck, chest, pelvis, leg and foot are. 

“Although mass transit tends to be quite safe, sometimes accidents occur involving buses. Bringing a claim arising from a bus accident can be complicated by issues such as governmental immunity, determination of fault, and fraud.

Bus Accidents

Due to the size and weight of the typical bus, low speed accidents often have little impact on a bus or its passengers, but can have a serious impact on a passenger vehicle which collides with a bus.

When the impact is great enough to cause injury to the passengers on a bus, as the passengers are typically unrestrained, there can often be multiple injuries. If the bus rolls, goes off the road, or catches on fire, injuries to passengers can be very serious.

As previously suggested, where a vehicle is hit by a bus, that vehicle and its passengers can suffer very serious injury.

Governmental Immunity

As buses are often operated by a governmental authority, such as a municipality or a public school, even when the bus driver is at fault there may be an attempt to avoid compensating injured persons on the basis of governmental immunity. As governmental immunity laws vary significantly by state, and can be tricky to analyze, it is a good idea to have any governmental immunity issues evaluated by a lawyer in the jurisdiction where the bus accident occurred.

School Bus Accidents

Many serious injuries associated with school buses occur during passenger boarding and disembarking, for example when passing motorists disregard the signals on the school bus, children cross the street in an unsafe manner, or when the bus driver loses track of a child and either turns off the signals prematurely or strikes the child with the school bus. Serious injuries also occur in collisions, including highway accidents or where school buses roll or go off of the roadway.

Modern school buses are designed to incorporate a significant degree of passive restraint into the seat design - that is, the seats are constructed to try to minimize injury either from children being ejected from their seat or from collision with the seat in front of them. While there has been some debate over the use of seat belts on school buses, the consensus to date is to try to improve the safety through better design. Trying to enforce a seat belt rule on a bus full of children or teenagers can be unrealistic for a school bus driver. In many cases, retrofitting buses with seat belts could increase the danger of injury, as the seats may not be adequately secured to the floor to withstand the momentum that would result in an accident if the students wore seat-belts - it is bad enough for kids to be ejected from their seats in an accident, but potentially much worse if the seats come loose from the floor.

Where a public school bus driver causes an accident, there may be an attempt by the school board to claim governmental immunity in relation to the injuries that result.

Fifteen Passenger Vans

Although not truly “buses”, fifteen passenger vans are used in a similar manner by many church groups, private schools, and similar organizations. It is often asserted that fifteen passenger vans are unsafe, due to a high chance of rollover in the event of a collision. Thus, following an accident, the passengers have a potential product liability claim in addition to any claims of negligent driving conduct.

Problems With Fraud

In larger municipalities, there has historically been a problem with people boarding buses after an accident has occurred, then claiming to have been injured while riding the bus at the time of the accident. Some cities have even staged bus accident scenes, making it appear that a collision had occurred, to catch people who attempt this type of fraud. Also, even within the context of a real accident, sometimes bus passengers are known to exaggerate their injuries or to attribute a pre-existing condition to the accident. This type of fraud and misrepresentation can make it more difficult for people who actually suffer injury to establish their claims.”

If you or a loved one suffers from severe injuries or death from a car or bicycle accident, the Phoenix personal injury lawyers of Phillips and Lyon will help you get the money you deserve. Contact us now.

Posted By: Phoenix Accident Lawyers, Phillips and Lyon

“When cars collide with pedestrians, there is high potential for serious injury.

Drivers should take appropriate care in crowded areas or school zones, for the potential that a pedestrian will enter the roadway.

Pedestrians should follow the advice that we attempt to ingrain into the youngest of children - look both ways before attempting to cross the street.

Pedestrian Error

Pedestrians have a great capacity to avoid being struck by cars, as it is very rare for collisions to occur outside of the roadway. When pedestrians exercise due caution before entering a road, the chances of being struck by a car are very low. The chances of accident go up significantly in the following contexts:

Ignoring Traffic Controls - Although many are imperfect, pedestrian traffic controls tend to be timed such that when the signal switches from “walk” to “don’t walk”, a pedestrian no longer has time to safely cross the roadway. At such a time, pedestrians in the road should continue to cross, but pedestrians on the corner should wait for the next light. Similarly, if there are no pedestrian control devices, no pedestrians should enter a roadway once a traffic light controlling the intersection turns yellow. Whenever possible, cross in a crosswalk and wait for a green light.

Jaywalking - When pedestrians choose to cross the street in inappropriate or unexpected locations, they put themselves at greater risk of injury. It is best to cross in a designated crosswalk or at an intersection.

The “Darting” Child - Children sometimes “dart” into the roadway with little regard for traffic, often in pursuit of a pet, toy, or another child. Motorists should take particular care when they see children at play in a neighborhood, or when they pass a park, school, or other area which is posted as having children present.

The Parent In Pursuit - When children run into a roadway, their parent’s first thought may be to rescue the child, and they may run into the road in complete disregard of oncoming traffic.

Walking On A Limited Access Highway - Pedestrian traffic on limited access highways is extremely dangerous. Highway traffic moves at high speeds, and drivers will not be expecting pedestrians. When a roadway is marked “No Pedestrians”, respect that prohibition. If your vehicle breaks down on a limited access highway, and you get out to perform maintenance or to try to walk somewhere for help, you should take great care not to put yourself in danger. Attempting to cross a highway on foot is exceptionally dangerous.

Driver Error

Common driver errors or driving misconduct which contributes to car-pedestrian accidents include:

Disregarding a Crosswalk - Drivers who don’t pay attention to crosswalks, whether at intersections or at other points in the roadway, create a significant risk of accident. Drivers should exercise appropriate care that pedestrians are not crossing the road before passing through a designated crosswalk.

Disregarding a Traffic Control Device - When drivers ignore traffic controls, particularly those which specifically relate to pedestrian traffic, they significantly increase the chances of an accident.

Disregarding a Pedestrian Already Crossing the Roadway - When a pedestrian in the roadway ahead of a car is obviously crossing the road, or has entered the driver’s lane while in the process of crossing the road, drivers should exercise appropriate caution and should yield as necessary to avoid accident.

Driving While Intoxicated - Drunk drivers pose a high risk of injury to pedestrians, and there are many notorious cases where drunk drivers have caused accidents, striking pedestrians on sidewalks.

Passing a School Bus - When drivers overlook or ignore the red, flashing overhead lights on a school bus, their passing of a school bus creates a high risk of injury to children who may be disembarking from the bus.

Potential for Serious Injury

When a pedestrian is struck by several thousand pounds of metal and glass, even a low-speed collision carries a high potential for serious or catastrophic injury, or even death. Parents should emphasize pedestrian safety rules with their children, and should set a good example by following those safety rules themselves.”

If you or a loved one suffers from severe injuries or death from a car and pedestrian accident, the Phoenix personal injury lawyers of Phillips and Lyon will help you get the money you deserve. Contact us now.

Posted By: Phoenix Accident Lawyers, Phillips and Lyon

“In 2008, there were 39,991 DUI arrests in Arizona; making this offense responsible for the highest number of arrests or 11.9% of total arrests. 2008 recorded 6,757 alcohol-related vehicle crashes in the state and 324 people killed. Drinking drivers were involved in 59.26% of all fatalities in the State of Arizona. In Maricopa County alone there were 4,240 alcohol-related crashes, killing 132 and injuring 2,888 people.”

According to the taxi fare finder, there is an initial charge for approximately $2.50 to $3.50 and then a charge for every additional mile after that which tends to range from $1.50 to $2.00. Why take the risk of causing severe injuries or death to a person when you can pay a much smaller fee to begin with? Just take a taxi because you don’t want to be the one included in these statistics and the one who causes death and injuries to a loved ones family members.

If you or a loved one suffers from severe injuries or death caused by a drunk driver, the attorneys at Phillips and Lyon will help you fight for justice. Contact us now.

http://www.crimefreeaz.com/dui/
http://www.taxifarefinder.com/info.php?city=Phoenix

What is considered red light running?
“A violation occurs when a motorist enters an intersection some time after the signal light has turned red. Motorists inadvertently in an intersection when the signal changes to red (waiting to turn left, for example) are not red light runners.”

Red light running is the most common cause of crashes nationwide. In 2007 alone, approximately 900 people were killed and an estimated 153,000 injuries were caused by red light running. Many of these deaths caused by red light runners were either pedestrians or people in the opposing vehicle that were hit and generally the collision were T-bone accidents. Arizona has been known to have some of the worst offenders pertaining to red light running.

“According to the Arizona Department of Transportation, red light running crashes only account for about six percent of all vehicle crashes in Arizona. However, 80 people were killed and nearly 7,500 were injured as a result of red light running. Additionally, Arizona has one of the highest death rates in the country per 100,000 people, according to data collected by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The institute also reports that Phoenix, Mesa and Tucson are three of the worst offending cities for red light runners.”

To prevent red light running in the state of Arizona, red light cameras were put throughout the cities of Scottsdale, Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa, and Paradise Valley. These red light cameras have proven to decrease intersection accidents and also reduce red light violations. “A study of the same fixed speed-enforcement program in Scottsdale, AZ, found that the speed camera program led to lower speeds, safer drivers, shorter drive times and economic savings. Average speeds were reduced by about 9 mph following the installation of six cameras on the Loop 101 freeway; total crashes were reduced by 44% to 54% and injury crashes decreased by 28% to 48%.”
If you or a loved one suffers from severe injuries or death from a red light running accident, the Phoenix personal injury lawyers of Phillips and Lyon will help you get the money you deserve. Contact us now.

http://www.iihs.org/research/qanda/rlr.html
http://www.speedingticketcentral.com/Arizona-speeding-ticket.html
http://www.stopredlightrunning.com/get_the_facts_speedcamera.html

“The responsibility of a manufacturer or vendor of goods to compensate for injury caused by defective merchandise that it has provided for sale.”

Manufacturers, retailers, distributors and furnishers have a certain responsibility when making products. These companies must follow general standards of health and safety along with making their consumer goods follow these guidelines.

Many times companies take shortcuts, risks and let their responsibilities slip to save a little money. If a company does not follow these guidelines of health and safety and their product results in a personal injury, the company is held liable.

A few examples include defective design of tires, automobiles, and seatbelts. With defectives automobiles and tires, there is a higher risk for auto accidents. A defective seatbelt or airbag could be a huge risk and result in a major products liability case.

If you or a loved one suffers from injuries from a defective product, the Phoenix personal injury lawyers of Phillips and Lyon will help you get the money you deserve. Contact us now.

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Product+Liability

Our Goal Is to Keep you Informed!

We will always strive to help our clients make truly informed decisions about their legal matters.  During our representation, we will constantly keep all clients “in the loop”.   At Phillips and Lyon will do our best to solicit client input and feelings about each case’s background and developments.  Clients always have insights and historic knowledge of issues that can help us fine tune our approach.  Listening to clients is very important to us. 

Phillips and Lyon will also explain tactics and strategies we plan to employ so clients understand why we may recommend a particular course of legal action and where we intend the strategy to lead us.  We always appreciate client feedback.
Finally, our approach always includes giving each client the opportunity to ask questions which we will answer right away. 

If you or someone you know has been injured in an accident please contact Phillips and Lyon!

Auto, truck and sport utility vehicle rollover accident unnecessarily kill 10,000 Americans annually.  Another 24,000 suffer severe injuries.

Long suppressed internal documents show that automakers knew as early as 1966 that car and truck roof designs were so weak that occupants could be crushed to death in rollover accidents.  Ford could have fixed this deadly problem for $43.13 per vehicle.  Instead, manufacturers hid the information for years and continued selling dangerous vehicles.

In 2005, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – despite specific direction from Congress to increase vehicle roof safety – established auto industry sympathetic standards mandating only minimal improvements to existing standards.  The regulations also prevent lawsuits against manufacturers who ignore their own internal safety researchers to bolster their bottom lines

www.newslettersink.com

Consumers have the right to sue as a group over advertising they believe misled them into buying products, a divided state Supreme Court ruled Monday in reinstating a massive suit against the tobacco industry. 

The 4-3 decision rejected business arguments that, if accepted, would have virtually prohibited class-action suits for false advertising by requiring proof that every plaintiff - millions of them, in some cases - had seen an allegedly deceptive ad and relied on it to make a purchase. The court majority said that evidence is required only for the single plaintiff or small group that represents the entire class.
“This gives the consumers rights to protect themselves from fraudulent advertising,” said Mark Robinson, a lawyer for the smokers who sued tobacco companies in 1997.

The ruling could make California “the class-action capital of the country,” retorted William Stern, a lawyer for business organizations and a co-author of Proposition 64, a 2004 ballot measure at the heart of the case.

Wrongful death lawsuit: Parents of boy killed by garage door sue homeowner, manufacturer and installer
By Lauren R Harrison
The family whose 6-year-old son was killed after a garage door closed on him filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Wednesday against the Chicago homeowner and two companies believed to have manufactured and installed the door.

Angela Washington-Sanders and Marshall Sanders sued in Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of their son, Dijion, whose death Saturday was from compressional asphyxia after he was trapped under the garage door, according to the medical examiner’s office. His 9-year-old brother found him fatally injured and alerted their mother after Dijion was playing outside alone, the family said.

The suit names as defendants Darrell Washington, the victim’s uncle who owned the home in the 9200 block of South Saginaw Avenue in the Calumet Heights neighborhood where the accident occurred, as well as Mid-America Door Co. and Sears, Roebuck & Co.

The suit alleged that the garage door wasn’t equipped with a motion sensor and that Washington failed to warn his relatives that it “could unexpectedly close or fall.”

“I’m haunted by this every day, and if I would have known he was under the garage [door], then there’s no way that I wouldn’t have run to him,” his mother said at a news conference. “I keep thinking that he was screaming and calling someone and no one was there to help him.”

Timothy Cavanagh, the family’s attorney, said that since 1992 the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has required garage door openers to have devices that reverse the door when it comes into contact with a person or object. Cavanagh said he did not know when Washington’s garage door was manufactured or installed.

Sears declined to comment, but a company spokeswoman as well as John Earnest, president of Mid-America Door, expressed sympathy for the family’s loss.

READ entire article: Chicago Tribune

When I went to Germany last year I saw my first SMART car, a car which is approximately half the size of the average vehicle seen in the United States.  I couldn’t help but pose for a picture next to this yellow and black “tiny” car.  One of the first things I noticed while visiting Germany is there really are no big vehicles on the road.  It was almost impossible for my family to rent a mini van because they are so limited and the garbage trucks are just about the largest truck around.  It is hard to find an SUV or truck anywhere.  So, maybe it would be ok to drive a SMART car in Europe because if you get in a car accident you most likely won’t be up against a huge SUV or lifted truck.

To my surprise at the beginning of 2009 I saw someone driving the SMART car here in Arizona. Is this SMART?  I rationalized it in Europe, but not sure about how it would hold up in the United States.  I couldn’t help but think of the serious injuries the SMART car driver would receive if they got in an accident with a semi truck.  I did some research and found the SMART car dimensions are:

8.8 Feet long (you can fit two SMART cars in an average parking space)
5.1 Feet tall (has as much headroom as most luxury vehicles)
5.1 Feet wide (it’s as wide as it is tall!)

SMART car representatives defend the car by saying, “The car’s body is designed to keep the occupant space intact while everything else, from the bumpers to the engine bay, absorbs the impact. Standard front- and side-impact airbags, as well as antilock brakes and an electronic stability system, are there to provide additional safety”. “The car’s small size could also help it avoid crashes altogether”, Smart USA president Dave Schembri said. He pointed to the car’s agility: “Maybe small could even be safer.”

Rader, one of the SMART cars critics states, “The bottom line is, you can’t repeal the laws of physics, you can have all the airbags and all the safety features that currently exist, but you can never make a small car as safe as a bigger, heavier one.”
The SMART car is becoming more common, and although it is small, it is easy to spot on the road.  They range in price from $11,990 to $20,990 and their top speed is 90 mph.  This little car gets 33 city/41 highway mpg according to 2009 EPA standards. And passes all required car crash safety regulations.
Is the SMART car smart?  Let’s just say I’d rather be driving in a big car!
Video of SMART car crash test: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju6t-yyoU8s
www.PhillipsAndLyon.com

Sites:
http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2007/01/more_on_smart_c.html
http://www.smartusa.com/smart-car-faq.aspx

Aggressive Driving vs. Moderate Driving
Result: Major savings potential
Facts: Up to 37% savings, average of 31%
Recommendation: Stop driving like a maniac!

Use Cruise Control
Result: Surprisingly effective way to save gas
Facts: Up to 14% savings, average of 7%
Recommendation: If you’ve got it, use it

Check Your Tire Pressure
Result: Important for Safety, no impact on gas
Facts: No measurable difference
Recommendation: Check your pressure for Safety
   *All tests conducted by Edmunds. www.Edmunds.com
 
Lower Speeds Saves Gas
Result: Substantial savings on a long trip
Facts: Up to 14% savings, average of 12%
Recommendation: Drive the speed limit

A/C On, Windows Up vs. A/C off, Windows Down
Result: Nice in theory, not true in practice
Fact: No measurable difference
Recommendation: Please, make yourself comfortable

Avoid Excessive Idling
Result: Very Important
Facts: Save 19% if car not idling longer than 1 minute
Recommendation: Shut ‘er down