A single-vehicle rollover accident left several people injured on Memorial Day. The incident provides a sobering illustration of the dangers inherent in SUV design.

Just after midnight Monday morning a driver of a Ford Explorer was traveling westbound on W. Long Avenue in Granbury, Texas, when he lost control. His rate of speed was well above the limit; so much so, that the SUV flipped over and rolled three times. One passenger who was sitting in the back was ejected. Once the vehicle came to a stop the driver fled on foot.

The man who was ejected suffered injuries described as serious. He was taken to a local hospital and is expected to survive. Two other passengers were also injured, though less severely. They also were transported to a hospital. Police know the identity of the driver and are seeking to arrest him on criminal charges of hit-and-run. There is no indication whether alcohol or drugs were thought to be involved.

While carelessness seems to have played a significant role in this accident, SUVs have a much greater potential to roll over in accidents. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that over 280,000 rollover accidents occur in the U.S. each year, leading to 10,000 deaths. SUVs are particularly prone to such accidents due to several factors:

• SUVs generally have a narrow wheel base in proportion to their height.
• They tend not to handle well on sharp turns.
• When the roof rack is loaded they are top-heavy.

More troubling yet is that the model involved in the accident, a Ford Explorer, has been the subject of controversy for over a decade. The Washington Post conducted an analysis which concluded that the Explorer has a greater tendency to roll-over than other SUVS.

If you are injured in an accident due to the fault or negligence of someone else, you may wish to file a claim to recover cost. Call Dallas personal injury lawyer Dean Malone for a consultation at (214) 670-9989.

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Many people are afraid to fly. While arguments are made that a person faces a much greater potential of being injured or killed in a car than an airplane, something about the vulnerability of flying at death-defying heights can be very intimidating. Regardless of how relatively safe planes are, investigating crashes when they do occur often is difficult, as an accident last Sunday attests.

A Dallas pilot was returning from a flight Sunday evening when tragedy struck. Accompanying him on the flight back from Louisiana were his son and son’s girlfriend, among others. For reasons that are still under investigation the Cessna 210 crashed as the pilot tried to land on a grass runway. The son managed to wrest free from the wreckage and save all but his father, who died at the scene. Three survivors suffered burns and other injuries. Rescuers transported the injured to Dallas’ Parkland Hospital.

FAA officials are still investigating the accident.

Small planes are involved in accidents at a rate much higher than commercial airlines. Similarly, crashes can be difficult to investigate. The National Transportation Safety Board reports that the rate per 100,000 hours of flight time shows that the risk of accident is as much as five times greater for small planes. Many factors can be attributed to this difference. For one, commercial pilots must have many thousands of hours of flight experience. Moreover, they are given rigorous training in safety.

Other factors which account for the greater incidence of small plane crashes are poor maintenance, defective or worn parts that are not replaced, errors committed by air traffic control personnel, and weather. Because there is generally a minimal amount of documentation for a small plane’s upkeep, it is often difficult to determine what caused the accident. When a plane crashes in a remote area, just locating it can prove challenging.

If you are injured in an accident in a small plane or elsewhere, and someone else is at fault, you may wish to file a claim for compensation. Call Dallas personal injury lawyer Dean Malone for a consultation at (214) 670-9989.

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Most parents are aware of the many hazards of automobiles, especially those that can hurt their children. Legislators have answered many of these hazards through laws requiring such safety equipment as car seats. However, one danger inside many automobiles has received little notice – injuries from power windows.

The National Center for Statistics and Analysis reports that each year 500 people are taken to hospitals with injuries received from power windows. Another study suggests that the number is closer to 1000, with an average of five fatalities. And while these numbers should be enough to raise concern, the fact that most of the injuries and deaths from power windows are to children ought to make parents think twice about how safe the family car really is.

Until very recently, U.S. automakers have paid little attention to the dangers of power windows. Perhaps this is because of a dearth of coverage in the media. Meanwhile, children by the hundreds receive injuries to fingers or hands from closing windows. In some cases children have even been strangled.

Worse yet is the fact that children often are seated where they have access to power window controls. It isn’t enough for a parent to simply avoid raising and lowering windows while driving, then. And if a mother leaves the children unattended for just those few moments to put money in a parking meter or pay for gas, tragedy can strike.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offers tips to prevent power window accidents that may injure your child:

• Never leave your children alone, even for a moment
• Restrain children with seat belts or car seats, as applicable, to prevent them from getting body parts in the way of activated windows.
• When you raise or lower windows, double-check to make sure your children’s hands, feet, and head are not in the way.
• Never leave your keys in the ignition. A parent may try to keep children entertained while she pays for gas by leaving the radio on, but this means the power to car windows is on as well.
• If your car is equipped with a window lock switch, keep it activated.

New cars are being fitted with switches that are more difficult for children to open. However, no device or legislation can replace a parent’s vigilance when it comes to maintaining safety.

If you have been injured due to a product defect or for any other reason, you may wish to file a claim to receive compensation. Call Dallas personal injury lawyer Dean Malone for a consultation at (214) 670-9989.

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A Marshall, Texas bus ride accident in 2010 has culminated in a lawsuit against both the transit company and driver. The injured, a paraplegic woman, is seeking damages for medical expenses, further physical impairment, attorney’s costs, pain, suffering, and other related costs.

The victim was taking her first bus ride in nearly twenty years following an accident which left her a paraplegic in 1991. When the driver stopped to pick her up, he used the lift to bring her wheelchair into the bus, then secured the wheelchair in place with a single strap.

According to the plaintiff, the injury accident occurred when the driver made a right turn. The wheelchair tottered, then fell over, sending her sprawling onto the floor. The woman hit her head and became unconscious.

Immediately following the accident the driver allegedly failed to contact emergency assistance, instead relying on another passenger, a construction worker, to return the victim to her wheelchair. The plaintiff claims in the suit that she repeatedly demanded that the driver call for help; he finally contacted his supervisor, who came to the scene and instructed the driver to call for an ambulance.

The lawsuit claims that the driver failed to adequately secure the plaintiff, and then drove at an unsafe speed. Moreover, the bus company is being sued for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The case stands as an example of how a personal injury lawsuit may play out. Particularly in more complex cases a plaintiff may have to wait an extended period of time before having her day in court. However, with a strong Dallas personal injury lawyer in one’s corner, it is often easier for a victim to recover damages.

If you have been injured in an accident due to the negligence or fault of another, call the Law Offices of personal injury lawyer Dean Malone for a consultation at (214) 670-9989.

- Guest Contributor

One would imagine that SUVs offer at least a modicum of protection in collisions due to their size and construction. However, when two such vehicles collided in a Flower Mound accident this past weekend eight people were injured, one fatally.

In the late afternoon on Saturday a woman was driving her Chevrolet Tahoe with four passengers northbound on Highway 377. The second SUV, a Chevy Suburban, was headed southbound with six on board when the driver veered over the center line and smashed into the Tahoe.

Whether the driver was momentarily distracted or some other factor led to her crossing the double yellow line, the result was a scene of devastation. Seven of the eleven involved in the accident were injured enough to require hospitalization. An eighth person died at the scene of blunt force trauma.

While investigators are still seeking an explanation for the collision, they have all but ruled out alcohol, drugs, or speed as factors. Those who were hospitalized suffered non-life threatening injuries, fortunately.

There has been no indication whether any of the victims or family of the deceased plan to file a civil suit for damages. In cases where negligence or fault of another individual can be identified there is often a potential for a victim to file a claim to recover medical expenses, lost income, and pain and suffering. When an individual dies in an accident, the family may sue for wrongful death. In such instances, a Dallas personal injury lawyer may prove very useful.

If you have been injured in an accident due to the negligence of another, you also may be able to file a claim to attempt to recover damages. Call Dallas personal injury lawyer Dean Malone at (214) 670-9989 for a consultation.

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An accident Thursday morning shut down lanes on the Dallas North Tollway until rush hour, and caused at least one serious injury. The personal injury accident occurred when a semi-truck overturned onto another vehicle.

The 18-wheeler driver was attempting to enter the Tollway northbound from the I-635 ramp but was traveling too fast and lost control. The big rig crossed three lanes of traffic, in the process slamming into an SUV and driving it through the concrete center divider. The SUV ended up in southbound lanes, while the big rig turned over on its side, landing on another car.

The driver of the third vehicle, upon which the truck fell, was trapped inside and had to be extricated by rescue workers. He was transported to Parkland Hospital, where he remains in serious condition in the Intensive Care Unit. The SUV driver was also hospitalized. However, his condition has not been reported.

Police officials indicate that the big rig driver will be charged with failure to control speed. He was not injured. The affected lanes were finally reopened during rush hour traffic late Thursday afternoon. Aside from the concrete barrier, a light pole was the only other object apparently damaged significantly.

It remains to be seen whether either victim will seek the assistance of a Dallas personal injury lawyer to file a claim. However, this is one incident in which any mitigating issue of comparative negligence will not likely be a factor.

Whether or not a personal injury case is dramatic enough to make the news, as in this incident, it can nonetheless be devastating to the victim. If you have been injured in an accident due to the fault or negligence of another, call Dallas personal injury lawyer Dean Malone at (214) 670-9989.

- Guest Contributor

Image by alforque via Flickr

Tragedy struck the student body of a Dallas school Thursday afternoon when two cars driven by teenagers raced along city streets, leading to a fatal collision. All those involved were students at an early-college academy. The accident occurred less than a mile from the school.

Around 4:15 p.m. a 15-year-old student driving a Honda with two passengers inside participated in a drag race with a second car. The vehicles sped down South Lancaster Road for some distance until the driver of the Honda lost control and hit a utility pole. He suffered critical injuries and was taken to Baylor Medical Center. The passenger in the front seat suffered less-severe injuries and was in stable condition by the evening. However, the second passenger, who sat in the back, died at the scene.

The driver of the second vehicle fled the scene before police arrived. All the students reportedly attend Kathlyn Joy Gilliam Collegiate Academy, and are accelerated students. All three in the first car were related – two female twins, who were the passengers, and their male cousin.

Fatalities from such illegal drag races are often horrific, and unfortunately they are on the rise. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, between 2001 and 2006 804 people died in race-related accidents. One-fifth of these were in Texas. After a downturn in such crashes since then, the numbers are up again as of 2010.

Worse, car crashes are the leading cause of death among teenagers. A full 6,000 youths are killed in crashes each year.

Issues of liability in this accident will likely arise once the families of the victims and students at the academy begin to cope with this tragedy.

Personal injury accidents, whether resulting from a car crash or other source, often leave victims and their loved ones with loss that is difficult to recover from. If you are the victim in a personal injury accident due to the fault of another, call the Law Offices of Dean Malone, P.C. at (214) 670-9989 for a consultation.

- Guest Contributor

A young couple’s date to a hockey game Tuesday night ended in a car accident that left three people dead. Details of the accident remain somewhat sketchy, since there were no survivors, and no witnesses have come forward.

Whether a second vehicle was involved is not known, but the couple apparently went to a bar after the game for drinks. They met a local lawyer there who apparently paid for their drinks. Much of the information about the couple’s activities prior to the accident come from a Facebook posting placed by the girl victim’s mother.

Evidently the three left together in the lawyer’s Porsche. They were last seen driving about 2:30 a.m. Nothing was seen of the car or victims until twelve hours later when a maintenance worker operating a boat in the Las Colinas canal saw the car submerged. A bus driver had earlier reported to police that she saw debris in the roadway near a bridge.

Inside the submerged car police found the bodies of the young couple. Because items in the recovered car suggested a third person was involved, divers were brought in to search the turbid waters of the canal. They eventually found the body of the lawyer in the water. He had apparently been thrown from the vehicle during the accident.

This sad accident illustrates how even an apparent single-car incident can devastate victims. Many times single-car accidents occur because of the negligence of the driver. When passengers are injured, they may have a personal injury case.

In the event that you are a victim in an accident due to the fault of another, don’t try to fight the insurance company alone. Call Dallas personal injury lawyer Dean Malone at (214) 670-9989 for a consultation.

- Guest Contributor

We all hear of drivers who talk on their cell phones, or worse, text while driving. These are distractions that can lead to serious personal injury accidents. But a driver can be distracted by almost anything – a drink spilled or cigarette dropped, to name but two.

Just before Christmas a traffic wreck on Interstate 35W in Fort Worth resulted in the death of one individual and the injury of two others. The driver was heading in his pickup with two passengers down the highway in morning traffic when apparently he was distracted for just a moment. It was reported that one of the passengers had become ill.

The distracted driver lost control of his pickup and went off the highway, smashing into a wall. Emergency personnel attempted to revive the ill passenger, and initially succeeded. However, he died some hours later at John Peter Smith hospital. Also taken to this hospital were the driver and another passenger for injuries.

The mid-morning accident made it necessary for police to close the southbound lanes of I-35W for about an hour as the clean-up and investigation were conducted.

If one is fortunate enough to survive an accident resulting from a distracted driver, he/she still may suffer severe personal injuries which can take months, or even years to heal. A moment of distraction can even leave a victim with the dismal prospect of unrecoverable injuries.

If you have suffered a personal injury in the Dallas-Fort Worth area due to another person’s negligence or fault, call personal injury attorney Dean Malone at (214) 670-9989.

- Guest Contributor

Image via Wikipedia

A Dallas-area automobile accident last weekend resulted in the deaths of three teenagers and the injury of a fourth. It is thought that excessive speed was involved.

Apparently the BMW was headed northbound on a street in Arlington in the early morning hours, driven by the oldest of the boys. The car was apparently moving at high speed when it hit a curb and moved into the southbound lanes, crossing all three until it jumped the curb and crashed into an electric pole. The car flipped over, then caught on fire.

Three of the boys were trapped inside and succumbed to burns. A fourth boy managed to escape via the rear of the car. He was taken to a nearby hospital, but his injuries were not life-threatening. He told officials later that he lost consciousness and did not know how he made it out of the car. He explained that the driver was trying to get him home by his curfew, which was 2:00 a.m.

Police are investigating to determine whether drugs or alcohol were involved. The number of fatalities in Dallas-area car accidents now stands at 25 for this year.

It is always a terrible loss to family and the community when someone dies in an accident, but when young people are killed, it is especially tragic. But this also brings up an issue that affects adults as well. How often do we drive faster than is safe in order to get to work or an appointment on time? The dangers are real and considerable.

If you are injured in an accident due to the negligence of another, call Dallas personal injury attorney Dean Malone at (214) 670-9989.

- Guest Contributor