Washington Injury Law Blog

A recent video by a British police department is getting a huge amount of media coverage.  The police department put together an old school scare tactic driving video with all the blood and gore to scare teens straight about the dangers of text messaging while driving in an effort to stop texting caused car accidents.  Check it out:

The video is definitely a bit cheesy, but that scary stats about the dangers of teen texting while driving are not.  A recent study has indicated that teens are more dangerous when texting and driving than when drinking and driving.  It’s better to have a drunk teenager driving than a texting teenager, that’s scary!

As a Washington Car Accident Attorney I have seen the number of car accidents being caused by cell phone use sky rocket.  Whether you’re distracted by texting, emailing, or talking on your cell phone it all is dangerous to other drivers on the road around you.

Here’s a suggestion.  Turn off all audio chimes that let you know you have a new text, email or anything new on your cell phone.  Check your cell for new stuff on your timeline, not every time it chimes at you.  You’ll be surprised at how much less frequently you look at your cell and how much more productive you can be with your time.

Drive safe!

Max Meyers, Esq.

A 19 year old German nanny, Cristin Kellner, was paid $127,500 to settle her lawsuit against the Seattle Police Department and City of Seattle.  Back in 2005 Kellner was an innocent bystander that was shoot while standing outside Belltown Billards.  The shooting resulted from Seattle Police engaging in a shootout with a man riding a motorcycle near the pedestrian outside the pool hall at closing time.

Seattle City attorney Tom Carr said the city settled because of the risks posed by taking the case to a jury.  In other words, he believed there was a very high chance that the jury would find the police negligent in engaging in a shootout so close to where a large number of bystanders were positioned.  There were six police officers present and four of them determined it was too dangerous to return gun fired at the armed motorcycle rider.

The bullet that struck Kellner lodged in her lunge and was too dangerous to remove.  So identifying exactly who fired the bullet that hit her was not possible.  However, clearly the angle of her entry wound and position of the police officers who were shooting no doubt indicated one of the policemen likely the source of the bullet that injured Kellner.

Police are put in tough situations and asked to make tough judgment calls.  But they need to protect innocent people first, before apprenhending criminals.  In this case, two officers made the wrong choice and hurt an innocent person.  The city has paid for the mistake, the system has worked it out, and now everyone can move on.

A Portland, Oregon vigilante bicyclist yelled at and leaned into a passing car and tried to grab the driver of car becase the car had been tailgating a group of bicyclists.  The car driver and a back-seat passenger grabbed the bicyclist, 31 year-old Kevin Stevenson, pulled him from his bike and dragged him 150 feet down Portland street.  Stevenson suffered burn injuries to his heels, legs, knees, shoulder and back.

Stevenson in my opinion got what he deserved.  If you chase down a car in anger for tailgating you as a bicycle rider, you are the assailant and aggressor and should not be surprised when you receive similar treatment in response.  Was it right for the car to grab and drag him 150 feet down the road, of course not.  Do two wrongs make a right, no.  Both bicycle rider and car driver were in the wrong and someone got seriously hurt.  Had Stevenson exercised a little patience and forgiveness he may have avoided injury.

As a Washington Bicycle Accident Lawyer I can tell you that Stevenson may be tempted to bring an injury claim against the car.  If he walked in my office, I would show him the door soon thereafter.  This one falls into the category of are you kidding me, you started the fight!  No juror is ever going to excuse Stevenson for his aggression and will in all likelihood punish him for wasting their time in bringing what would no doubt be considered a frivolous claim.

Bicyclist have a hard enough time getting cars to share the road with them.  This type of conduct by a bicyclist does nothing but reinforce the bias against bicyclists that many vehicle drivers already have.  Do as my grandfather always taught…follow the Golden rule, treat others how you would want them to treat you!

Ride safe and share the road!

Max Meyers, Esq.

Ken Thieman, 31, of Dallesport, Washington crashed his motorcycle at 85 mph last month on I-84 in Dalles, Oregon.  An Oregon State Trooper was sitting on the side of the road.  Thieman likely saw the cop and freaked out a little because he was doing 85 mph.  That momentary loss of focus caused Thieman to crash his motorcycle, which was caught on video tape by the cop car.  Check it out.

Watch for the motorcycle sliding by on left side of road as man rolls by on right side of road.  Crazy!

There has been three motorcycle accident deaths this week in the Puget Sound area.  Motorcycle plus high speed often = fatality.  The guy in the video was very lucky.  Please use common sense and ride safe.

Max Meyers, Esq.

My friend and fellow perosnal injury attorney Ross Jurewitz of the Jurewitz Law Group has written a blog post on San Diego Injury Lawyer Blog about my recent award.  Check out what Ross had to say here.

A big thank you to Ross for his kind words.

Max

I was reading the news stories of today and found no less than three different reports of single vehicle car or motorcycle accidents that resulted in fatalities.  At least two of which had speeding as a contributing factor.

There’s been a bit of a heat wave in Seattle and the rest of Washington for a while now.  The long sunny days and warm summer nights can lead people to do things they may not normally do or engage in recreational activities they only do in the summer.

Speeding is a high risk activity and car accidents at high speed normally cause very serious injuries and may even cause death.  An Olympia teenager learned this lesson that hard way yesterday.  The young man is under arrest for vehicular homicide and assault after a car accident killed his front seat passenger Silas Turner, 18, of Olympia and sent his rear seat passenger to the hospital with injuries.  Summer nights, inexperienced drivers and speed often equals tragedy.  My sincere condolences go out to the Turner family.

A Vancouver, Washington man died after he crashed his motorcycle in Yakima over the weekend.  The man was riding a 2007 Harley-Davidson on U.S. Highway 12 when he rode onto the shoulder and hit an embankment causing him to flip his bike.  The man suffered fatal injuries despite wearing a helmet.  A moments inattention or mistake on a motorcycle can lead to a devastating motorcycle crash.

We love to enjoy a little extra freedom here in the Northwest when the long hot days of summer hit.  But please keep safety in the forefront of your mind.  It’s great to have fun, but one mistake can lead to a life altering tragedy if you push the limits too far.

Be safe!

Max Meyers, Esq.