I’m excited to announce the publication of a book that I wrote designed to help those who have been injured in a car accident in Utah (the information is helpful even if you don’t live in Utah). The book, called “The Utah Accident Book” explores a number of different topics related to car accidents. For example, you will want to read the chapter on the thirteen mistakes to avoid if you have been injured in a car accident. There is also a chapter on representing yourself in your accident case as well as how to decide if you can really do this on your own. If you are looking to hire a Utah personal injury attorney, there is a chapter on this as well.I talk about getting the most money for your wrecked car from the insurance company and how to make sure you get a car rental.
If you are currently with another attorney and are looking to get out of this “bad relationship,” I give you some pointers on how you might do this (after I try and talk you out of it!). Then there is the chapter on how these cases work, how long they take and how much money you might expect from your Utah car accident case. The book will be available by calling my office and asking for it at (801) 553-8840 or by visiting my book website (still being developed) at www.UTAccidentBook.com. Once the site is up and running, you will have the option of getting a .pdf version of my book while you are waiting for the real thing to arrive.
Ron Kramer is a personal injury attorney with offices in Provo, Draper and Bountiful, Utah. You can visit his website at http:\\www.RonKramerLaw.com.
Archive for the ‘Legal News’ Category
Utah Accident Book Reveals Mistakes to Avoid After Car Accident
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009Drunk Driver Involved in West Valley City Accident
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009A woman, who police think was drunk, crashed into a power pole last night, February 3, 2009, and sustained injuries. According to KSL News, the woman was driving in the opposite lane of travel and almost hit a police car as she drove through a fence, a shed, eventually wrapping her car around a power pole.
Driving under the influence of alcohol is a crime in Utah. It is an enhanced crime when someone is injured because of their driving. Luckily in this case, only property was damaged from her actions. The public can help police the roads by calling 911 when they witness a motorist driving erratically.
Published by: Ron Kramer
Utah’s Fatal Car Accidents Down for 2008, Motorcycle Accidents Up
Saturday, January 31st, 2009The Utah Department of Public Safety Research recently released a report that shows that Utah fatal car accidents were actually down for 2008. The report listed that 272 victims lost their lives on Utah roads in 2008, compared to 299 in 2007. The number of deaths related to a Utah car crash was the lowest level in 16 years. This is certainly encouraging. A department spokesman said that car crash deaths were down 11 percent from the previous year and that single-vehicle fatal accidents were down 17 percent.
Unfortunately, this report also shows that fatal motorcycle accident deaths jumped by 35 percent. This puts the number of Utah motorcycle deaths at 35, which makes 2008 the deadliest year since 1985. Part of the reason for the increase in motorcycle accident deaths could have come from the surge in gas prices, which have since dramatically come down. But for awhile, there was a frenzy of people ditching their cars in favor of two-wheeled transportation.
Ron Kramer is a car and motorcycle accident attorney, with offices in Utah and Salt Lake County.
Published by: Ron Kramer
Additional Traffic Cops Reduce Provo City Car Accidents
Thursday, January 29th, 2009I recently was pulled over by a Provo City Police officer, who, unfortunately for me, wrote me a ticket. I was given the option of attending traffic school to keep the “points” off my record, and decided to do this. Traffic school was held on a snowy Saturday in downtown Provo at the Provo City building. The class was about an hour and a half long (we were told that classes in surrounding cities are much longer). The class overall was pretty interesting and was presented by a Provo City Police officer whose name escapes me. He was pretty entertaining, though.
At any rate, I learned that in the past few years, that Provo City has increased the number of officers assigned to patrol traffic and has actually hired officers whose almost sole purpose is to write traffic tickets. Although increased revenue of almost one million dollars annually for traffic ticket/traffic school tickets has helped replenish the city’s coffers, I learned that an even more important side benefit is that there are now significantly fewer Provo car wrecks than before the additional officers were hired. In my mind, this is a win-win situation all around: more money for Provo City, safer roads in Provo, and fewer injuries from fewer Provo car accidents.
Ron Kramer is a personal injury attorney practicing in Utah County, with a Provo office at 495 N. University Av., Suite 100. Mr. Kramer focuses on car accident, pedestrian, and truck accident cases. He also handles other types of personal injury cases, such as slip and fall and dog bite cases, and serves the cities of Springville, Lindon, Pleasant Grove, Cedar Hills, American Fork, Spanish Fork, Mapleton, Nephi, Santaquin, Price, Payson, and others.
Published by: Ron Kramer
Tooele Attorney Dismisses Charges in UPS Car Accident Case
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009Charges filed against the driver of a dump truck that made a left-hand turn in front of UPS driver Alan Christofferson resulting in a fatal car accident in Tooele, Utah, are being dropped. According to KSL news, the Tooele County attorney’s office says there was “human error” at the crime lab in testing the driver’s blood. In fact, a retest showed “triple zeros” for the dump truck driver Steven Jakeman. We are told that charges of failure to yield and failure to provide a valid license will still be made.
Video Courtesy of KSL.com
I’m glad that the Tooele County Attorney’s office brought this information to light. The driver, whose actions led to this Tooele truck accident, obviously shouldn’t have to face an added penalty based on false evidence. Yet he should still be held accountable for the consequences of his actions.
Published by: Ron Kramer
Sandy Car Accident Causes Power Outage
Monday, January 26th, 2009Last night, January 25, 2009, a car spun out of control on an icy road and hit a power pole near 1300 East and 9100 South in Sandy, Utah. The crash severed wires and disrupted power to about 7300 residents for around two hours. Interestingly, a Sandy City Police Dept. squad car somehow got tangled up in the wires and had to wait until rescue crews could get him out. There is no word on the condition of the person who hit the pole. Obviously, they have no legal claim in this situation since from the sound of it, they were driving too fast for conditions.
Published by: Ron Kramer
Mine Safety Ruling Clears Way for Employee’s Suit
Friday, January 23rd, 2009On October 29, 2008, William L. Kay, 81 years of age, was an employee of Bob Orton Trucking of Panguitch, and on the day in question, was delivering a load of pipes to a job site at Kennecott Utah Copper Corp. Another tailings pond contractor, Ames Construction, was involved in helping to unload the pipes. Although it is somewhat unclear, it appears that straps that held the pipes were unloosed before a forklift could be positioned in place to catch them. A 3,000 pound pipe then fell off the truck an on to Mr. Kay, crushing him to death. Now the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration is blaming both Bob Orton Trucking and Ames Construction for this fatal accident, saying that they violated policies put in place for safe unloading. Both of these companies were cited by the MSHA.
Now normally if an employee is injured when they are on the clock and another employee or the employee themselves is to blame, then it will be a workers compensation case. In these situations, you cannot sue the employer. However, in Utah if a “third-party” can be blamed for the work place accident, then the worker, or the worker’s family in this case, can bring a civil action against the at-fault person or company. In Utah a “wrongful death heir” is either the parents, the spouse, or children of the injured or killed worker. Thus, the door is now opened for Mr. Kay’s family members to bring a claim against Ames Construction. (They incidently could have brought a claim before, but an administrative determination of fault should be very useful in helping the family establish their claim.) I would recommend that the family contact a Utah personal injury attorney that has experience in handling wrongful death cases to help.
Published by: Ron Kramer
Utah Cell Phone Legislation Worries Snow Plow Operators
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009Law makers concerned with the rising rate of Utah car accidents involving the use of cell phones or text messaging, are proposing legislation this session to set restrictions on cell phone/texting use. In an interesting development, The Utah Dept. Of Transportation says that cell phone driving restrictions will hurt their snow plowing efforts. The legislator who has proposed the bill, Rep. Phil Riesen, is proposing to make the use of a wireless device while driving a class C misdemeanor. But, others in UDOT say that drivers already use two-way radios to communicate. It appears that UDOT’s big concern is that their 2-way radios may somehow be classified as a “wireless device.”
UDOT director is not so sure that a cell phone/text messaging bill would pass in the first place. He says that “most legislators driver around with Blackberries all the time, using them while they drive.”
Published by: Ron Kramer
Skier’s Death Sheds Light on Dangers of Tree Wells
Monday, January 19th, 2009A skiing accident last week in Utah involving Bountiful, Utah teenager Megan Pysnak, is helping shed some light on the dangers prevalent in ski resorts where there has been a sizeable amount of snowfall. According to KSL news, Megan became separated from her family while skiing at Alta ski resort and was found face down in a tree well. It is well known among skiing professionals that tree wells can be quite dangerous in the winter when there has been a large amount of snow fall.
What happens is that the lower branches of a tree prevent snow from falling into and packing around the base of a tree. Some trees actually have hollow voids with no snow or very loosely-packed, powdery snow around the bottom portion of the exposed tree trunk. As a result, if a skier or snowboarder gets too close to the tree, they can actually get sucked into the well area, and by accounts, usually falling head-first into the area. The light, uncompacted snow causes them to plunge toward the bottom of the tree well. Loose snow then fills in around the victim’s face as they slip downward or struggle, causing those caught in this situation to literally suffocate to death. And since many fall in with their skis or snowboard still attached to their feet, getting out of this situation is said to be close to impossible. Depending on the size of the tree well, other passers by may never actually detect that someone has been swallowed up by a tree.
To reduce the risk of suffering a tree well death or injury, experts advise against skiing too close to pine trees, especially those where the branches appear to be touching the ground. Stick to groomed areas where machinery and skiers have helped to compact the snow. Skiing with a buddy is also recommended. I would also add that an electronic avalanche tracker could help in a situation like this.
I would finally add that the ski resorts themselves can do a much better job at educating their paying customers of the risks involved with skiing near trees. I think way too little is said on this subject. And although the article does not mention if Ms. Pysnak was skiing in an “out-of-bounds” or in a designated area, I would say the resort should still be providing education to their customers of tree well dangers. Anyone who has gone up the lifts of any given ski resort can see the tracks where others have skied through trees outside of the normal ski path of most skiers. In a sense, then, all areas of a ski resort are “designated” unless marked as “out-of-bounds.” As such, skiiers run the risk of suffering the same fate.
I would recommend the family contact an attorney who is versed in ski injury law to advise them and look into how this tragic ski accident happened and how it could have been prevented. If anything, I hope that news of what should have been a preventable injury will help educate and inform others of additional safeguards to take while out skiing.
Published by: Ron Kramer
Agency Aims to Reduce Text Messaging, Cell Phone Car Accidents
Friday, January 16th, 2009The National Safety Council or NSC has issued a call to motorists, businesses and lawmakers throughout the 50 states to ban the use of cell phones and text messaging devices while motorists’ cars are in motion. A report by the Harvard Center of Risk Analysis says that around 636,000 car accidents happen every year from drivers who talk on their cell phone or who text. Of these auto accidents, around 2,600 involve fatalities and 330,000 involve injuries. “Studies show that driving while talking on a cell phone is extremely dangerous and puts drivers at a four times greater risk of a crash,” said Janet Froetscher, president and CEO of the NSC. “Driving drunk is also dangerous and against the law. When our friends have been drinking, we take the car keys away. It’s time to take the cell phone away.”
There has been recent legislative proposals in Utah that call for the use of hands-free devices while driving. The NSC, however, takes issue with whether these devices actually make driving while on the phone safer than simply putting the phone to the ear. In fact, the NSC cites to our own University of Utah study where researchers showed that talking on one of the many hands-free devices is actually not any safer than talking on a hand-held cell phone. Certainly this study calls into question the effectiveness of pending legislation where hands-free only cell devices are endorsed as a solution to the growing epidemic of cell phone-related Utah car accidents.
The NSC call to action also focuses on things that businesses can do to stem cell and text messaging accidents. It would seem that businesses would be very interested in this proposal since they stand to face big liability issues once the fact finder discovers that their employee was talking on their cell phone or text messaging on company time. Those business that never imposed limitations on cell phone use while driving will be the hardest hit since it is now widely accepted that cell phone and texting while driving can be a huge distraction.
NSC president commented: “Anyone with a busy job knows the temptation to multi-task and stay in touch with the office while driving, believe me, I’ve been there. I didn’t realize how much risk I was taking. Most people don’t. Employers understand how dangerous the behavior is and their potential liability. We are asking all businesses to join us by adopting policies banning calling and texting while driving on the job.”
According to studies by the Insurance Information Institute, a motorists’ ability to operate a vehicle safely is seriously compromised when that motorist is sending or reading a text message or is using their cell phone since motorists not only take their eyes off the road but get intensely involved in their conversations such that they cannot concentrate on the road. A recent survey by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. shows the magnitude of the problem: 73% of the participants in the study talk on their cell phones while driving.
Text messaging accidents has also become a big problem, especially among teen-aged drivers, since you are combining the inexperience of youth with the highly-distracting activity of text messaging. Nationwide Insurance in their study of January of 2007 found that 19% of motorists admitted to texting while driving. But that was two years ago. I’m sure the percentage is much higher now. Since then, we have learned that Salt Lake is tied for second place in the nation for number of text messages sent and received. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety have said that motorists who talk and text while driving are four times more likely to becoming involved in a Utah car accident with injuries than motorists who don’t use these devices.
I do know that in my office we are seeing an increase in the number of Utah car accidents caused by cell phone and/or text messaging use. This includes one of our current clients who was seriously injured when a motorist blew through a red light and hit my client’s car as he was driving through an intersection. This caused his car to spin out of control and strike a pedestrian who was getting ready to cross the street and who was unable to get out of the way quick enough. The woman admitted to police that she had been texting at the time she ran the red light.
Published by: Ron Kramer
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