Utah Law Talk

In order to avoid the wrath of a Utah text messaging accident lawyer, motorists are warned to give head to a recent study published by the University of Utah. As reported in the Christian Science Monitor, new data released by the National Safety Council shows that the number of car crashes caused by cell phone use and texting is at 1.6 million, a number that is one million more than previously thought. This report makes even more necessary, the need to grow the nationwide anti-distracted driving campaign which many states have adopted.

David Teater, director of transportation strategic initiatives at the National Safety Council said, “One out of every four car crashes in the United States is caused by cell phone distraction.” David knows first hand the horrific consequences of distracted driving: his son was killed in a crash caused by a driver on a cell phone.

Safety action group, “FocusDriven” aims to adopt many of the same tactics as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). “Just as groups like MADD changed attitudes about drunk driving, I believe FocusDriven can help raise awareness and change the way people think about distracted driving,” said U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The National Safety Council first called for a nationwide ban on cell phone use while driving about a year ago. Today, only six states and Washington D.C., have banned cell phone use while driving. Nineteen of fifty states ban text messaging while behind the wheel.

Researchers at University of Utah found that the likelihood of a crash increases fourfold when someone is talking on the cell phone while driving and if a person is texting while driving the person is eight time morel likely to be in a car accident. The distraction goes far beyond visual impairment, but a driver is also cognitively disconnected when texting or talking on the cell phone. The brain is focused on a conversation, so it doesn’t compute images as quickly as someone who is solely focused on driving.

Ron Kramer is a Utah personal injury lawyer representing clients injured from those who drive while texting and has offices in Bountiful, Draper and in Provo, Utah.

Eight Utah workers were sent to the hospital following a chemical reaction at Pro Pac Lab located at 3804 South Airport Road in Ogden, Utah. Pro Pac Lab makes vitamins and mineral supplements, a process that leaves chemical residue on the machinery used to make the vitamins and minerals. On Friday, December 19, 2009, workers went through a routine clean up around 7:15 a.m. and bleach mixed one of the chemical residues left on the machines to create a dangerous ammonia gas.

According to KSL news, employees evacuated the building to escape the ammonia gas. Once the workers got into the fresh air, the symptoms cleared quickly. Emergency personnel responded and investigated the cause of the chemical reaction. They believe that bleach came into contact with nitrogen dust to create the ammonia gas.

“That ammonia gas is what caused people to get a burning sensation in their mouths, nose, in their eyes, or lungs depending on how much they breathed in during that process,” said Chad Tucker, deputy chief of the Ogden City Fire Department.

Pro Pac Lab is looking into manufacturing processes and cleaning processes that will prevent this problem in the future.

From this report, several questions are raised. Company officials said they will look into the cleaning process to make sure this doesn’t happen in the future; but what are they going to do until they figure out the exact cause? It sounds like workers did a routine cleaning similar to this each day, but this particular time the bleach mixed with the wrong chemical and caused the reaction. Officials should be 100% sure that the this reaction will won’t happen again before they allow workers to continue working in that environment.

With respect to the eight injured. I recommend that they contact a Utah accident and injury attorney who will help them receive compensation for their injuries and explore their options in case the reaction causes long term damages.

A man who rear-ended the back of a school bus was pronounced dead. According to KSL News, a school bus heading east stopped in Cedar City, Utah, on state Route 56 at 7700 West was dropping off children when the car crash occurred. The bus driver had extended the bus’ stop sign and its lights were on when this happened on February 23, 2009. The 81-year-old man, according to reports, ran into the back, right-hand side. No children on board the bus were injured. The man’s body will be examined to see if maybe he suffered a heart attack or stroke just prior to the bus crash.