May is Motorcycle Awareness Month, and this important initiative couldn’t come at a better time with recent GHSA data revealing a nine percent increase in motorcycle deaths in 2012 as compared with 2011. Motorcycle Awareness Month is an effort to stop the rising number of deaths by educating motorcycle riders and drivers on safety tips.

Our San Antonio, TX motorcycle accident lawyers know that the motorcycle accident fatality rate has increased in 14 of the last 15 years, even as the fatality rate for all other kinds of accidents has declined. This year, however, the increase in the death rate even surprised experts by surpassing predicted increases. With more people dying in accidents, Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month is more important than ever before.

Motorcycle Accident Risks

In a recent press release, NHTSA illustrated the need for Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month with some troubling facts:

• 4,612 motorcycle riders died in the U.S. in 2011.
• Motorcycles represent three percent of all cars on the roads but 14 percent of total highway deaths take place on motorcycles.
• Motorcycle riders are 30 times as likely to die in a crash on a per mile basis than occupants of passenger cars.
• Head injury is the top cause of motorcycle accident fatalities.
• Alcohol use is also a leading reason for motorcycle accidents to occur.

The high death rate among motorcycle riders has many causes, including the fact that motorcycles don’t provide any real protection when a crash happens. One big issue, however, is that drivers often don’t see or pay attention to motorcycles or don’t know how to share the roads with bikes in a safe way.

Safety Tips

As part of the Motorcycle Awareness Month efforts, NHTSA offers advice to both motorcycle riders and to drivers. Riders are told to:

• Never operate a bike while distracted.
• Never operate a bike while drunk.
• Use protective gear including DOT-compliant helmets.
• Wear reflective tape and bright colors.
• Avoid riding in bad weather conditions.
• Always use turn signals and use hand signals as well to draw more attention.
• Stay positioned in a visibile spot in your lane so other drivers will see you.

Drivers, on the other hand, are advised by NHTSA to:

• Never drive while distracted.
• Leave the full lane width to the motorcycle rider instead of sharing the lane. This will allow the motorcycle rider room to maneuver.
• Signal before merging or changing lanes so that motorcyclists can anticipate your position.
• Check carefully for motorcycles in your blind spots at intersections and when changing lanes or entering a lane of traffic.
• Remember that motorcycle turn signals do not turn off automatically so you cannot always assume a motorcycle rider is turning on the basis of a signal alone.
• Leave sufficient stopping distance when following a motorcycle and never tailgate.
• Be sensitive to the fact that motorcycles are affected more than cars to potholes, uneven pavement, railroad crossings and other obstacles or problems on roads.

If drivers and motorcycle riders choose to follow NHTSA’s tips and if all drivers of all vehicles focus on motorcycle safety during this Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month, hopefully motorcycle riders will be safer this summer as they head out on their bikes.

If you’ve been injured in an accident, contact the Herrera Law Firm at 800-455-1054 for a confidential consultation.

With car accidents the leading cause of death for young people, it is imperative that all parents read the new GHSA publication: “Promoting Parent Involvement in Teen Driving: An In-Depth Look at the Importance and the Initiatives.”

The GHSA report indicates that kids who see their parents as authoritative are as much as 70 percent less likely to drive while under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Teens with authoritative parents are also 50 percent more likely to wear seat belts while driving and 30 percent less likely to use a cell phone while behind the wheel. Our San Antonio, TX accident attorneys know that this makes a big difference in how safe teens are, especially as data shows that teens who see their parents as uninvolved are twice as likely to get into a car crash.

How Can Parents Help Teens to Avoid Accidents?

The best way for parents to help kids avoid car crashes is to understand the risks that young people face and to actively take steps to help your kids deal with those risks. According to the GHSA, some of the biggest factors that can affect whether a teen is safe while driving or not include:

• Driving restrictions on teen drivers. In states with graduated licensing laws that impose practice requirements, limits on nighttime driving or limits on driving with passengers in the car, the risk of teen car accidents is reduced by as much as 20-40 percent. Parents should enforce not just legal restrictions imposed by the states but should also make their own rules about issues such as passengers in the car and drive time.
• Teen seat belt use. Teens are less likely than other age groups to wear a seat belt every time they are in the car. Unfortunately, 58 percent of young drivers and 50 percent of young passengers killed in 2011 had no seat belts on at the time of the fatal car wreck. Parents should always require seat belt use. Parents should also buckle up themselves to set a good example.
• Dangerous driving behaviors. There are three behaviors that account for around half of all accidents involving teen drivers. These behaviors are speeding, distracted driving and inadequate surveillance. Parents need to understand these dangers and make sure that teen drivers are aware of the risks.
• Whether the teen is getting enough sleep. Drowsy driving is a major problem among teen drivers, with as many as one in seven drivers ages 16-24 admitting to falling asleep in the 30 days before taking a distracted driving survey.  Parents should talk to kids about drowsy driving and make sure that teens get plenty of sleep.

If parents are aware of these issues, if they set and enforce rules and guidelines and if they model good driving behavior, teens will be less at risk of dying from the leading cause of youth death. Not only that, but everyone else on the roads who could be hit by a teen driver will also be safer as a result.

If you’ve been injured in an accident, contact the Herrera Law Firm at 800-455-1054 for a confidential consultation.

We wish to express our support for all those affected by the explosion at the West Fertilizer Company plant and offer our deepest condolences to those families who have suffered the loss of loved ones, injuries and/or property damage.

We are dedicated exclusively to helping the citizens of West, Texas and with this in mind have made a contribution of $25,000 to the American Red Cross.  We urge others to join us in a show of support for the victims of this tragedy by contributing to the American Red Cross as well.

Auto accidents in the Eagle Ford Shale region of Texas increased by 98 percent during a recent two-year period, raising concerns about road safety and the increased risk of serious Texas car accidents due to oil and natural gas development in the region.

Our San Antonio car accident lawyers were alarmed by the statistics released by Texas Department of Public Safety. According to the report published by MySanAntonio.com, the total number of motor vehicle crashes in Karnes, LaSalle and Dimmit counties increased by 98 percent between 2009 and 2011. And during that same time period in the same three Texas counties, the number of crashes involving commercial vehicles increased by 470 percent.

The report also cautions that other counties could be at risk of more auto accidents due to additional pending drilling permits. The other Texas counties at risk of more motor vehicle accidents include Dewitt, McMullen, Webb and Zavala.

The Eagle Ford Shale play in South Texas contains one of the world’s largest oil and natural gas reserves. The oil and gas industry there has produced numerous jobs. But our Eagle Ford Shale accident lawyers know that work-related injuries have been common, often due to exploratory drilling rig accidents and hydraulic fracking accidents.

Reports about disputes over wages and hours involving oil and gas workers are also common in the Eagle Ford Shale region.

But it’s the sharp rise in motor vehicle accidents in the region that has people extremely concerned. One recent accident in Karnes County involved a pickup driver who fell asleep and hit both an 18-wheeler and a school bus, according to MySanAntonio.com.

And the number of safety violations for commercial vehicles operating in the Eagle Ford Shale region has also skyrocketed in recent years. MySanAntonio.com reported:

…During a safety check last summer, many commercial trucks driving in the Eagle Ford region didn’t meet safety standards.

Last June during a 72-hour commercial-trucking safety event called “Roadcheck,” state troopers pulled over thousands of commercial vehicles across the state to look for driver and truck violations.

Counties in the Eagle Ford Shale region had particularly high rates of violations that took either the driver or the vehicle out of service, according to data requested by the San Antonio Express-News under the Texas Public Information Act.

If you or a loved one was injured in an Eagle Ford Shale accident or you are coping with a wage and hour case or other Eagle Ford Shale legal dispute, call The Herrera Law Firm, Inc. at 800-455-1054 to schedule a free case evaluation.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Four Brackettville, Texas family members died this past weekend when a drunk truck driver crashed head-on while driving the wrong way on U.S. 90 in San Antonio, leaving the close-knit community distraught, angry and frustrated.

Drunk truck driver accidents wreak havoc on San Antonio’s highways. That’s why the Herrera Law Firm takes such a tough stance against Texas drunk driving accidents. The Texas drunk truck driver accident lawyers at our firm have seen firsthand how such accidents can turn the lives of entire families upside down in an instant. As one of the leading San Antonio drunk driving law firms, the Herrera Law Firm works tirelessly for families directly affected by such accidents. We do this because we realize such accidents are about more than just money. They’re about justice, about holding reckless people responsible for their actions.

Two Brackett High School students and their parents died in the accident around midnight on Saturday, April 13^th, according to MySanAntonio.com. Kenneth and Melissa Koontz, and their two daughters, Madison and Marley Ann, died at the scene. Madison was a senior and Marley a freshman, school officials told MySanAntonio.com. The only survivor in the Koontz family was seventh-grader Zachary.

Carrollton, Texas truck driver Ruben Galindo, 60, has been charged with four counts of intoxicated manslaughter. He remained in jail Monday on a $1 million bond, according to the news station KENS5.com.  Police are still investigating why Galindo was driving his big rig the wrong way on U.S. 90 West near the Loop 1604 exit when the accident occurred.

The Koontz family was returning home from a University Interscholastic League competition, where Madison was “singled out for her performance in a one-act play Saturday,” MySanAntonio.com reported. “You couldn’t have asked for a more model family for character and integrity,” Brackett High School principal Kevin Newsom told the web site.

Saturday’s car accident was the deadliest car crash in San Antonio this year, according to police. So far this year, 50 people have died in fatal auto accidents in the city, 12 more than at this time last year, according to MySanAntonio.com.

As the days get longer and the weather gets warmer, more people will enjoy bicycling in and around San Antonio. Unfortunately, as more people choose to ride their bikes this spring and summer, these bike riders are at risk of potentially being injured or even killed in a car accident.

Our San Antonio, TX injury attorneys know that bike riders face many potential perils as they take to the road and share space with cars, pedestrians, trains and other bicycle riders. In some cases, bike riders can protect themselves from danger by making smart choices to stay safe. In other instances, however, drivers will simply not share the road in a responsible and safe manner with bicyclists and the chances of an accident will be significantly increased.

Recent Bicycle Accident Reminds Bike Riders to Obey Driving Rules

One of the biggest dangers to bike riders is that some riders do no believe the rules of the road apply to them. For example, some bike riders will drive against traffic on the wrong side of the road; will stray into the street instead of staying on sidewalks or designated bike lanes; will fail-to-yield; or will skip stopping at stop signs and traffic signals. In one recent tragic case, KSAT.com even reported that a bicycle rider appeared to ignore closed gates indicating that a train was coming, going around the gates and trying to cross the tracks. This led to tragic consequences as the bicycle rider was killed by the train.

To avoid the self-inflicted dangers that come along with not obeying driving rules, bicycle riders need to remember that they are expected to follow the law when they are on their bikes. The bike is a vehicle too, just like a car, and bicycle riders should not break any traffic laws while riding their bike just as they wouldn’t break these laws when driving any other car.

Drivers Need to be Mindful of Bicycle Riders

While bicycle riders sometimes do dangerous things that lead to accidents, most accidents are caused by other vehicles on the road, which typically fail to yield the right-of-way to a rider. Often, drivers are at fault when a bike accident occurs between a motor vehicle and a bicycle. In some cases, drivers will also misjudge the speed at which a bicycle rider is going, so the driver may believe he or she has plenty of time to make the turn or cut the bike off when in reality this is not the case.

Drivers who are speeding, driving drunk, distracted by their cell phones or something else in the car, or who are overtired and falling asleep may also increase the chances of becoming involved in a crash with a bike rider. Any time a driver is not paying attention or is not in control of his vehicle, there is a chance that the driver could hit an innocent bike rider and become responsible for the harm caused. Drivers, therefore, will also need to be more cautious as the warmest months of the year approach and as more and more people take advantage of spring to get on their bikes.

If you’ve been injured in an accident, contact the Herrera Law Firm at 800-455-1054 for a confidential consultation.

On March 13, USA Today reported the tragic story of five teenagers killed in a fiery car wreck on Sunday in a town 45 miles north of Amarillo Texas. The teens were in a Chevy pickup truck, which ran a stop sign. Their truck was then hit on the passenger side by a fuel tanker, leading to a fiery crash.

The five teenagers were killed at the accident scene. The driver of the fuel tank suffered burns over 90 percent of his body and was listed in critical condition. The accident, which caused so much loss, is a sad reminder of the dangers that teen drivers face. Unfortunately, as our San Antonio, TX auto accident lawyers know, there are thousands of deaths of young drivers each year. In fact, auto accidents are the top cause of death for 15-19 year olds.

Tankers, tractor-trailers and other large commercial vehicles continue to increase the risk of traffic collisions in San Antonio and the surrounding area.

The Collision with the Fuel Tanker

According to the USA Today, the teens’ vehicle ran the stop sign and collided with the fuel tanker. A Public Safety spokesman indicated that he did not yet know where the young people were going when the accident happened. He also indicated that the investigation was still underway into the accident and how the events unfolded.

Unfortunately, this accident was likely made so much worse because it involved a fuel tank. Fires as a result of auto accidents are very common, with a 2008 report by the  U.S. Fire Administration indicating that as many as 258,500 car fires occurred on highways between 2004 and 2006. The tanker truck gave fuel to the fire, resulting in a dramatic fiery blaze that killed the teens and seriously injured the tanker driver who now has burns on 90 percent of his body.

Burn injuries can be classified into degrees, with first degree burns the most mild and fourth degree burns often fatal. In any accident where serious burn injuries occur, permanent disfigurement is possible and expensive and difficult medical treatment may be necessary.

Tragically, the driver of the tanker will now be coping with the consequences of those burn injuries, including disfigurement. His losses and pain were a direct result of the collision.

Urging Kids to be Safer Drivers

As this Texas accident shows, the consequences of a teen making a bad driving choice can be far reaching and many lives can be shattered. All possible steps should be taken to avoid teen car accidents, including parents talking to their children regularly about safe driving behavior.

One major issue that increases the chances of teen accidents is when there are multiple passengers in the car with the teen driver. In this case, the driver had four friends in the vehicle.

It is too easy for young and inexperienced drivers to pay attention to their friends, or to be encouraged in dangerous behavior by their friends in the car. This significantly increases the risk of an accident occurring. As such, to help keep their kids safe, parents may wish to impose restrictions on the number of friends in the car with an unsupervised young driver.

If you’ve been injured in an accident, contact the Herrera Law Firm at 800-455-1054 for a confidential consultation.

In 2003, Texas passed a Driver Responsibility program in an effort to deter Texas residents from driving drunk, driving without insurance, driving with no license or committing certain other violations. The aim of the program was to impose large surcharges on drivers convicted of various offenses in order to act as a deterrent from engaging in dangerous driving behaviors. The surcharges were on top of standard fines, penalties and punishments.

Unfortunately, the Driver Responsibility Program has had some unintended consequences which may have actually made the roads of Texas less safe. Lawmakers are currently looking at what to do about the Program and about the problems created. Our San Antonio, TX accident attorneys hope that they are able to make a decision that makes Texas a safer place to drive.

The Driver Responsibility Program Problem

When the driver responsibility program was signed into law, it created a system whereby drivers convicted of designated traffic offenses would pay thousands of dollars in fines over a three-year period of time. The revenue generated was intended to support highway projects and to be paid to hospital trauma centers.

Unfortunately, according to Dallas News, more than 1.3 million drivers in Texas who were supposed to pay their surcharges are either unable to do so or are unwilling to do so. The problem that this creates is much larger than the fact that the state is simply not getting the revenue expected. The issue is that drivers who have not paid their fines have their driver’s licenses automatically suspended.

The result is that many of the more than one million residents who haven’t paid their fines may be driving without a driver’s license. In fact, the Dallas News article suggests that as many as 60 percent of all of the drivers who have been assessed a surcharge have lost their driver’s licenses as a result of nonpayment of the large fines.

Other data also indicates that the law isn’t working very well. For example, thousands of defendants who were accused of driving while intoxicated requested a trial in order to avoid the huge DWI surcharge. This led to prosecutors being forced to accept plea bargains for lesser offenses, such as reckless driving or public intoxication, instead of plea bargains for DWI convictions. The DWI conviction rate went down for drunk driving offenses and the dismissal rate for these offenses went up as a result.

Texas Streets May Be Less Safe

It seems clear from the data that the Driver Responsibility Program has not been a success and has had many negative unintended consequences.

More driver’s without licenses, for example, means that there are more drivers who cannot get auto insurance (you need a license to get insurance to drive). Uninsured drivers typically cannot pay for damages they cause if they are responsible for a crash. This leaves victims uncompensated. Further, a driver who gets into an accident with no license may be more likely to hit and run.

For all of these reasons, lawmakers are reconsidering the Driver Responsibility Program. Ten years after it passed, it is about time to take another look.

If you’ve been injured in an accident, contact the Herrera Law Firm at 800-455-1054 for a confidential consultation.

According to KVUE.com, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) visited the Texas State Capital in mid-February as part of their efforts to push for some reforms to Texas drunk driving laws. The article spoke with mothers who had visited the Capital and who had suffered personal tragedy including one woman who lost her 16-year-old son to a drunk driving crash.

The stories told by the mothers are powerful. They aim to urge lawmakers to adapt reforms that could have a big impact on reducing DWIs in the state of Texas. Our San Antonio, TX personal injury attorneys support their efforts and hope lawmakers will carefully consider proposals that can have an impact on drunk driving accidents and fatalities.

The Proposed Changes to Texas DWI Law

There are two important reforms that Mothers Against Drunk Driving are pushing Texas lawmakers to adopt. The first is a law permitting statewide sobriety checkpoints. The second is a law that would require all first-time drunk driving offenders to have an ignition interlock device installed in their vehicles.

A Texas Republican Representative, State Rep. Bill Callegari, has already authored a bill, House Bill 260, which would impose the ignition interlock device requirement. Callegari authored the bill after a friend and a constituent lost their son in a drunk driving accident.  No bill has yet been filed regarding statewide mandates on sobriety checkpoints but such a bill could originate in the Texas senate.

How the Proposed New Laws Would Reduce Drunk Driving

Both statewide sobriety checkpoints and mandated use of ignition interlock devices for first time offenders could have a significant impact on the number of drunk driving accidents and deaths within the state.

Sobriety checkpoints allow law enforcement to set up checkpoints in a targeted area in order to identify potential drunk drivers. The checkpoints can serve as a deterrent since people might be less likely to drive drunk if they know that there is a good chance they’ll encounter a law enforcement checkpoint. They also make it easier for police to identify drunk drivers before they become involved in a crash and hurt or kill themselves or others.

Texas is one of a minority of states that does not have sobriety checkpoints in place already on a statewide level, and some believe that this contributes to making Texas the worst in the nation for drunk driving. While others argue that such checkpoints may be a violation of constitutional protections against unlawful search and seizure, the Supreme Court has already ruled them constitutional.

Ignition interlock devices, on the other hand, would stop a person from being able to start his car when he was drunk. The devices require an offender to blow into a breath test in the dash before starting the vehicle. If an offender wasn’t able to show his BAC was below the limit, he would be unable to drive and thus any accidents he might have caused in his intoxicated state would be avoided.

Both these laws, therefore, could have a significant impact on reducing drunk driving accidents and deaths if they pass. Hopefully, lawmakers will listen to MADD and make the smart, safe choice.

If you’ve been injured in an accident, contact the Herrera Law Firm at 800-455-1054 for a confidential consultation.

According to My San Antonio.com, a North Texas teacher was arrested in January after a hit-and-run accident that led to the death of a six-year-old boy. The teacher turned herself in to law enforcement and has been charged with manslaughter as well as failure to stop and render aid.

Our San Antonio, TX accident attorneys are glad that the teacher did the responsible thing and turned herself in to the the police so that the family of the young boy who was killed can have closure. Hit and run accidents are problematic for many reasons, including the fact that it is difficult or even impossible to hold the responsible party civilly and criminally liable for his or her actions.

The Texas Hit and Run Accident

The 53-year-old North Texas teacher who was involved in the hit and run accident reportedly ran a red light and struck the six-year-old victim. The young victim’s mother and sister watched as the boy was hit by the car.

Running a red light is, of course, illegal and for good reason – it can cause a fatal accident. In this case, the crash was a pedestrian accident that led to the death of a child, but running a red light can also cause a crash with another vehicle that is turning or proceeding straight at a T-intersection.

Regardless of whether the crash involves a car striking a pedestrian or a car hitting another car, the driver who ran the red light is expected to stop and help those who were hurt. In fact, under Texas law, anyone who is involved in a crash that may have caused injuries must stop and render assistance to the victims. Texas drivers who are involved in a crash that causes only property damage are still expected to stop and provide their name and contact information to the person whose property has been damaged.

Because the Texas teacher both ran the red light and failed to stop, she broke several Texas laws and now must face the consequences. The fact that the accident resulted in the death of a victim also elevated the charges from injury to a child to manslaughter.

Hit and Run Accidents Complicate Matters for Victims

In this hit and run accident, the person responsible turned herself in. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Often, a person who hits and runs never comes forward and, in some cases, law enforcement is not able to solve the crime and track down the responsible party.

When a victim is involved in a hit and run, there is a lot riding on whether the perpetrator of the crime will be found. If the driver responsible for the accident who committed the crime of fleeing the scene is not identified, then the victim is left with little recourse.

Not only will the victim not get to see the person who hurt him stand trial and be punished but the victim will also be unable to file any type of civil lawsuit to obtain compensation for injuries. In such cases, car accident victims will have few options but to seek whatever compensation they can under an uninsured motorist policy that may be part of their own automobile insurance coverage.

If you’ve been injured in an accident, contact the Herrera Law Firm at 800-455-1054 for a confidential consultation.