Monthly Archives: May 2010

Women dies and 3 teens injured in crash in Apache Junction, Arizona

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A car with three teenagers crashed with a woman driving a PT Cruiser near Baseline and Meridian in Apache Junction, Arizona.

The woman died.

Investigators say the two cars collided head-on. Officer Danny Garcia, with the Apache Junction Police Department, explains, “The PT cruiser veered into the westbound lane.”

Investigators say a woman in her 50s was driving the blue PT cruiser and died at the scene following the collision.

Investigators say they are still unsure why she allegedly veered into the oncoming car.

Crews airlifted the three teens that were traveling in the other car to area hospitals. There were two 18-year-old girls and one 18-year-old boy.

Police say witnesses rushed to help. Garcia explains, “There was, I believe, a Mesa firefighter that helped out that was driving, following the vehicles as it happened…and helped with some aide.”

Investigators say the teens were conscious and talking during their transport to the hospital.

Right now investigators say they do not suspect alcohol was a factor in the crash. The woman who died was an Apache Junction resident but her identity has not been released.

Source

Cell Phones, Text Messaging, and Car Accident Information for All Drivers

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  • Talking on a cell phone causes nearly 25% of car accidents.
  • One-fifth of experienced adult drivers in the United State send text messages while driving
  • In 2008 almost 6,000 people were killed and a half-million were injured in crashes related to driver distraction.
  • At any given time during daylight hours in 2008, more than 800,000 vehicles were driven by someone using a hand-held cell phone.
  • 4 out of every 5 accidents (80%) are attributed to distracted drivers. In contrast, drunk drivers account for roughly 1 out of 3 (33%) of all accidents nationally.
  • Texting while driving is about 6 times more likely to result in an accident thandriving while intoxicated.
  • People who text while driving are 23% more likely to be in a car accident.
  • A study of dangerous driver behavior released in January 2007 by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. found that of 1,200 surveyed drivers, 73% talk on cell phones while driving. The same 2007 survey found that 19% of motorists say they text message while driving.
  • In 2005, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that 10% of drivers are on handheld or hands free cell phones at any given hour of the day.
  • A study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Motorists found that motorists who use cell phones while driving are four times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves.
  • In 2002, the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis calculated that 2,600 people die each year as a result of using cellphones while driving. They estimated that another 330,000 are injured.
  • According to the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, drivers talking on cell phones are 18% slower to react to brake lights. They also take 17% longer to regain the speed they lost when they braked
  • Of cell phone users that were surveyed, 85% said they use their phones occasionally when driving, 30% use their phones while driving on the highway, and 27% use them during half or more of the trips they take.
  • 84% of cell phone users stated that they believe using a cell phone while driving increases the risk of being in an accident.
  • The majority of Americans believe that talking on the phone and texting are two of the most dangerous behaviors that occur behind the wheel. Still, as many as 81% of drivers admit to making phone calls while driving.
  • The number of crashes and near-crashes linked to dialing is nearly identical to the number associated with talking or listening. Dialing is more dangerous but occurs less often than talking or listening.
  • Studies have found that texting while driving causes a 400% increase in time spent with eyes off the road.

Jury awards woman $3.5 million malpractice verdict

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Surgery complications left a 53 year old Harford County women a paraplegic. She was awarded a $3.5 million medical malpractice verdict on Thursday against two surgeons and their business, Vascular Surgery Associates.

Victoria Little underwent surgery for blocked arteries in 2007, with disastrous results, according to her Baltimore attorneys. She filed a lawsuit in Harford County Circuit Court in 2008. And Thursday, after nine hours of deliberation, a civil jury held two doctors responsible for Little’s injuries: Dr. Roger E. Schneider, chairman of Upper Chesapeake Health System, and his partner, Dr. Mark D. Gonze.

Little’s lawyers, James Cardea and Scott Kurlander, claim that the doctors used an improper grafting technique. They say that led to blood loss andvarious injuries, including damage to Little’s spinal cord, which left Little paraplegic and unable to walk.

Jury awards woman $3.5 million malpractice verdict

Surgery complications left a 53 year old Harford County women a paraplegic. She was awarded a $3.5 million medical malpractice verdict on Thursday against two surgeons and their business, Vascular Surgery Associates.

Victoria Little underwent surgery for blocked arteries in 2007, with disastrous results, according to her Baltimore attorneys. She filed a lawsuit in Harford County Circuit Court in 2008. And Thursday, after nine hours of deliberation, a civil jury held two doctors responsible for Little’s injuries: Dr. Roger E. Schneider, chairman of Upper Chesapeake Health System, and his partner, Dr. Mark D. Gonze.

Little’s lawyers, James Cardea and Scott Kurlander, claim that the doctors used an improper grafting technique. They say that led to blood loss andvarious injuries, including damage to Little’s spinal cord, which left Little paraplegic and unable to walk.

Texting While Driving in Arizona

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Arizonans will not be banned from texting while driving, at least this year.

Proposed legislation that would have prohibited typing, reading or sending text messages and e-mails while driving on a state highway died with an 11-11 vote by the Senate on Tuesday. The bill would not have prohibited talking on the phone while driving and would have allowed drivers to type a name or telephone number to make a call.

This is the second year in a row the effort to ban texting while driving has failed despite support from dozens of organizations, including cellphone-company representatives. The Arizona Citizens Defense League opposed the measure.

Legislators who voted against it acknowledged that texting while driving is dangerous and causes many car accidents, but said they opposed unnecessary government restrictions.

Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City, called the legislation a “nanny bill” and “feel-good legislation” that would have banned a practice already covered under current laws against reckless driving.

Supporters said the bill is about saving lives. They said parents would be able to tell children that texting while driving is illegal, dangerous and causes accidents.

“It’s such a dangerous activity to be texting while you’re driving, that outlawing it would seem to be a given,” said Sen. Barbara Leff, R-Paradise Valley.

Phoenix banned texting while driving within its city limits in 2007. Phoenix police Officer Luis Samudio said that about nine citations for texting while driving have been issued since the law went into effect.

“It is minimal,” he said.

Read more: Source

Phoenix police officer in crash with vehicle carrying 9 people

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A collision involving an on-duty police officer and a vehicle carrying nine people Sunday in south Phoenix left no one injured, according to officials.

Shortly before 7 p.m., a patrol car collided with a 1996 four-door Mercury sedan at the intersection of Central Avenue and Alta Vista Road, said Phoenix Police Department spokesman James Holmes.

The Mercury was driven by a 36-year-old female and contained eight children, ages 4 to 17.

All were assessed at the scene and found to have no life-threatening or serious injuries, Holmes said. However, because of the ages of some of the children involved, all nine passengers were taken to a local hospital “as a precautionary measure.”

According to a supervisor on the scene, everyone in the Mercury was properly restrained, Holmes said. He declined to elaborate.

The officer in the patrol car was not injured and remained on the scene.

The Police Department’s vehicular crimes unit plans on further investigating the accident.

Source: Source