Brave mother Nina Cherry is out of the ICU and although she will still need further surgeries, she is on her way to recovery. Cherry was run over by her own car earlier this month when she was carjacked while waiting to pick up her children at Pantego Christian Academy.

Police believe they have the perpetrator, but the Pantego community is worried about more than just putting the culprit behind bars. The community wants to help the Cherry family pay their ever increasing load of medical bills. The Pantego Christian Academy is selling T-shirts that say on the front “Live, Love, Trust” and “We are In Gods Hands” on the back. The proceeds from the T-shirt will go to the Cherry family as they try to recover from this tragic upset.

To read the original post on the Carjacking click here or view entry from 05/09/12.

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A lawsuit in New Jersey is taking a ban on texting while driving to a whole new level. Kyle Best was texting and driving when he caused a serious accident that led to a married couple on a motorcycle losing their left legs. Best is only one party being held responsible in the case – the other is his friend who was texting him.

David & Linda Kubert, WABC - TV

That’s right, Shannon Colonna who was miles away at the time of the accident, but who was texting Best is being sued. Never before has someone not present during the accident been held liable for the crash.

The now disabled married couple, David and Linda Kubert, believes that both Best and Colonna were responsible for the wreck. Their personal injury attorney Skippy Weinstein is arguing that Colonna knew Best’s schedule and was aware that he was driving. If she knew that he was driving than she shouldn’t have continued to have a conversation with him over text message.

Part of Weinstein’s argument is that a passenger in a car can be held liable if he or she pressures a young driver to act recklessly by speeding or ignoring traffic signs. Colonna was in essence encouraging his behavior and they were texting within seconds the accident.

Of course on the other side, Colonna’s attorney Joseph McGlone is pointing out that she wasn’t physically present and so couldn’t control Best’s actions.

Is the texter responsible for something the other person does?

This lawsuit, even if it sounds strange, is actually asking very important questions – How real are our digital conversations? Does what we text or type hold as much weight as what we would say face-to-face?

It will all come down to a Superior Court New Jersey judge’s decision on May 25^th when the court will decide whether or not Colonna will be included in the lawsuit. Keep an eye out for the case because even though it’s miles away, a ruling like this could find its way down to the Lone Star State.

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Last week Richard Bolduc was cruising in his big rig at 62 miles per hour on the highway when suddenly his windshield exploded.  Bolduc didn’t know what had happened. He miraculously managed to bring his truck to a stop without crashing and was airlifted to a Plano Hospital. Even then, Bolduc couldn’t figure out what had happened. Had his phone exploded? Was there somehow another car he didn’t see?

FOX 4 photo of Burger King Cup

Bolduc was recovering in the nearby small town of Bagota when State Trooper Ryan Case found the culprit – a medium-sized Burger King cup. The paper cup had struck the windshield at such a force that it shattered the glass. Bits of the paper cup were mixed in with the debris, but the evidence was clear.

Bolduc was nearly killed by an unassuming piece of litter that had turned dangerous on the highway. It’s rare, but it does happen. It’s likely that whoever the guy was who tossed the Burger King cup out the window never imagined his trash could shatter a windshield, but that’s exactly what happened. Next time you see someone throwing trash out the window, remind them that it could be the start of a freak death-by-fast-food-packaging accident like this.

Bolduc summed it up well when he told Fox 4 – “I just don’t want it to happen to anybody else.”

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Yesterday morning, a woman was killed in a car wreck in North Dallas near Midway and Frankfurt when her SUV flipped over and careened into a nearby utility pole. She lost control of her gold SUV when she was unexpectedly hit by a man driving a Toyota RAV 4. He pulled out of his apartment complex and for no apparent reason slammed into the gold SUV.

Fox 4 Photo of Wreckage

In many other situations this could have been a minor to middle-grade accident, but the Toyota struck the SUV at a key point. He hit the “right rear quarter panel” according to Fox as she continued to drive forward. This set off a domino effect that would lead to the SUV driver’s death. First the car spun out from the impact, then it encountered a nearby curb. Striking the curb, the car flipped upside down and then continued to hit the utility pole directly on the driver’s side.

The driver of the SUV was trapped alive in her vehicle but later died before at the scene of the accident. As for the Toyota driver who pulled out of his apartment complex, there have not yet been charges filed. So far, there’s no indication that he was under any influence. It’s possible that this was one of those cases that started with a simple, minor mistake but, where everything that could go wrong went wrong.

Fox 4 photo, Close Up View

Nothing yet has been mentioned about the SUV’s condition and if it’s flipping upside down/spinning out of control had anything to do with a manufacturing error. In this day in age it is horrifying to think that such a common vehicle could be so unsafe that a driver is killed in what may have otherwise been a common car accident.

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On Monday Nina Cherry was waiting to pick up her two children, both sophomores at Pantego Christian Academy, when she was attacked.

Benjamin Rowell, 32, had allegedly tried to steal the school’s computers and was looking for a quick way escape. Police think he threw Cherry out of her own car and drove off in her van, running over the terrified mother in the process.

Students at Pantego Christian Academy, PHOTO FOX 4

Rowell would go on to hit at least three other vehicles before abandoning the van and attempting to escape on foot. The cops have him in custody and firmly believe he was the perpetrator. Cherry has not been able to identify him yet, due to her current condition. Cherry sustained serious injuries including a fractured pelvis and other internal injuries. The latest media reports say that she is still in the ICU at JPS.

Meanwhile, the community is pulling together to provide support and prayers. Counselors have been on Pantego’s campus to help students process the violent event and students have made Cherry numerous cards with hopes of her recovery.

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Elaine Steigler and Dena Carvell were traveling across the new bridge over the Trinity last Sunday night, when they witnessed a disturbing sight. A maroon SUV barreling towards them was going the wrong-way on the bridge. Thankfully, there wasn’t a collision, but it was a close call for them and for other cars on the bridge.

Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, WFAA Photo

Steigler caught the whole thing on video using her iPhone while Carvell carefully continued driving. They were both grateful that they hadn’t been in the left lane.  Other cars on the bridge honked at the maroon Dodge and flashed their lights, but the driver just wasn’t getting the message.

Due to WFAA’s coverage of the incident, the city of Dallas added two “Wrong Way” signs and a “Do Not Enter” sign to the bridge’s trickiest entrances yesterday. Before the end of the week the city will also install about 400 “pavement buttons” designed to glow red for drivers who are facing the wrong way.

This is a great example of concerned citizens, media and citywide officials coming together to quickly improve a dangerous situation. Hopefully, these new signs and buttons will be enough to dissuade drivers from going the wrong way.

It’s poignant that these new signs were put up on the same day Louis Nieves was sentenced to 20 years in prison for intoxication manslaughter. In that case, Alejandro Raya was not as lucky as the drivers on the new Trinity bridge. He was hit head-on when Nieves’ was driving the wrong-way down Interstate 30 East near downtown Fort Worth last year. Nieves was not simply a distracted driver on a new road – he was an intoxicated driver traveling negligently on a known highway. Nieves admitted to having had 10 beers before getting into his car that night.

Highways and bridges across the United States continue to try to find better ways to let drivers, even those heavily under the influence, know that they are driving the wrong way. Wrong-way wrecks can be particularly dangerous, so it’s important that city officials and citizens do all that we can to keep these incidents from happening.

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Our Michigan car accident lawyers at Buckfire & Buckfire P.C. represent individuals injured in automobile accidents, truck accidents, and motorcycle accidents. This includes claims for both personal injuries against the negligent driver and for Michigan No-Fault insurance benefits against automobile insurance company responsible for paying medical bills, lost wages, and other benefits.

Too often, Michigan car accidents are caused by distracted drivers who are not paying attention to the road. According to a 2011 Virginia Tech study, it found that a driver is 23 times more likely to crash if he/she is texting while driving. In fact in June 2011 alone, more than 196 billion text messages were sent or received in the United States in which we can constitute many of those were sent or received while driving a vehicle. In addition, distracted driving wrongfully killed nearly 5,500 people and injured a half million more in 2009. It is a serious issue and should not be taken lightly.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 80% of all car accidents involve some type of driver distraction. Some of these driver distractions include:

• Cell phone use
• Adjusting the radio
• Eating and drinking
• Grooming
• Reading
• Talking to passengers
• Having pets or children in the car
• Objects moving around in the car

Many auto accidents can be avoided by paying close attention to the road and to drivers around you that might not be as observant as you are. However, if you are injured in a Michigan car accident, you can file a claim for Michigan No Fault insurance benefits and you may be entitled to file a lawsuit. A qualified and experienced car accident lawyer can help you evaluate your rights.

Individuals injured in a Michigan distracted driving accident should contact the lawyers at Buckfire & Buckfire, P.C. Our office will start working on your case immediately and begin gathering the witness statements and evidence to prove and win your case. Call our office now at (800) 606-1717.

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On Sunday The Dallas Morning News published an editorial by Emily Yoffe on how we as a society deal with elderly drivers. The quote bellow the headline encompasses her viewpoint, “There’s still no clear personal, societal or policy solution for taking seniors’ keys.” It may seem harsh to some readers, particularly seniors, but there’s a lot of research that Yoffe uses to back up her claim that we simply aren’t doing enough to keep senior drivers from being a danger both to themselves and others on the road.

She uses a poignant story of an elderly couple, the Yeagers, who after being married more than 70 years die holding hands in the hospital after a car crash. Mr. Yeager had failed to stop at a stop sign, and slammed into another couple’s car. The wife of that couple was severely injured and both Yeagers passed away as a result of their injuries.  It turns out that there were many signs that Mr. Yeager at age 94 was no longer fit to drive, but neither his son nor the state of Iowa were able to keep him off the road. If they had, the couple might still be alive today.

National and Local Cases

There are countless national stories like this. The tragic accident in 2003 where an 86-year-old George Weller plowed through a California farmers market leaving 10 dead and 63 people injured. There was the story two years ago in Florida where an 81-year-old woman caused a highway accident in which two seniors were killed and more than a dozen injured after she smashed into a bus full of nursing home residents.

Earlier this month in Dallas an 88-year-old driver killed a pedestrian when the senior rear-end a park car. The parked pick-up flew into the pedestrian who was standing outside of the parked car. It’s not just this month, think back on what we’ve seen this whole last year – there was the elderly driver who killed a senior customer when she smashed into a hearing aide store and the elderly driver who could have killed someone when she crashed through Jimmy’s Food Store.

Elderly Driving Habits

As the baby boomers get older, senior drivers will make up a growing proportion of all the drivers on the road. While it’s true that senior drivers are less like than other driving groups to speed or drive drunk, they are dangerous in other areas. For example, intersections are particularly challenging for the elderly.  Half of the fatalities in accidents involving senior drivers take place in intersections where either the driver misjudged whether it was safe to proceed or in some cases, simply failed to see another car altogether.

Teens vs Seniors – Where are the risks?

The risk of teen drivers versus elderly drivers is a classic debate. Teen still have a higher collision rate per mile traveled than any age group, but it’s not all about the number of collisions. It’s also about the severity of the accidents. So while teens are in more accidents, octogenarians have the highest fatal collisions rate per mile traveled. The most important idea that is too often missing from the teen versus senior driver debate is this – when a teen is in an accident, he or she learns and matures into a greater driver. When an elderly person is an accident, it’s most likely that this is the beginning of a decline not a simply a hiccup on the way to being a great driver.

One of the hardest things about fatalities related to senior driving, is that the deceased is most likely to be another elderly person.  Too often the victim of a senior’s negligent driving is themselves or one of their elderly passengers.

Problem Solving

The article points out that different states, insurance companies and organizations have tried a variety of different strategies to ensure the safety of elderly drivers. The best case scenario: self-recognition. The best cases are when seniors have the wisdom and strength to set their own realistic limits for driving. This could take the form of realizing that nighttime driving isn’t a good idea anymore or agreeing not to drive longer distances.

The good news is that statistics show us that the people are getting increasingly more aware of their limits as they age. This is exactly the right path.

Whether we get there through family conversations, discussions with personal physicians or even helpful but restrained influence from state-wide government, the goal is safety.

Please speak with your elderly loved ones about their driving habits as they age. You could end up saving their life or the life of someone else.

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Abdallah Khader’s family celebrated his sixth birthday this week. The celebration was bitter-sweet because although his family is thankful that Khader survived the car crash that nearly took his live in 2009, he has lost about 80% of his brain function since the accident. 6 year-old Khader was injured nearly three years ago when a drunk driver crashed into the family car.

His family has fought tirelessly since the accident to hold the drunk driver, Stewart Richardson, responsible for his actions. Richardson has not yet been tried despite the fact the accident was almost three years ago. Richardson had numerous previous convictions and charges of driving under the influence. One of the family’s biggest frustrations has been that Richardson’s past convictions aren’t admissible due to a technicality. The fact that Richardson’s convictions took place in 4 other States has kept his record out of Texas courts.

Fahad Khader, Abdallah’s father, told WFAA, “It’s killing us from the inside, to be honest. It hurts us too much.” Loubna Elharazin added, “Our pain and suffering of just looking at him, is nothing compared to what he is going through. He’s a hero. He’s a superman. He’s everything.”

The family’s pleas have not gone completely unheard by the legislature. The state legislature passed laws in Abdallah’s name that mandate harsher punishments for drunk drivers who injure others this severely.

Hopefully, by his seventh birthday, the Khader family will have at last see Richardson permanently behind bars. Until then the family continues to care for their son and pray for justice.

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David Pope, 55, was hit while walking across the street last Sunday around 8pm in Fort Worth on the 4700 block of Wichita Street. The vehicle struck him from behind and then continued driving without stopping to render aide. The police have not arrested the suspect or released a description of the suspect’s vehicle.

Pope died of his injuries on Tuesday, leaving behind grieving family members and friends. His father Lee Pope and widow Charlie Mae Pope have personally appealed to anyone who might have information about the accident, asking them to please come forward and speak with the police.

If you have any information, please contact the Fort Worth police. Even the smallest detail could be helpful.

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