Accident & Injury Law in Texas

Archive for the ‘Accidents’ Category

Austin Police said that Rose Yanya Binyi, 44, was killed in a crash on RM 2222 near Dry Creek Drive at 10:15 p.m. Sunday night.

Binyi was driving east on RM 2222 in a gray 2003 Nissan Altima when she lost control, crossed the center lane and struck a 1999 Chevrolet van traveling west.  Binyi was killed at the scene and two other people were taken to University Medical Center Brackenridge.

The road was wet from rain, and excessive speed appears to be a contributing factor in the crash but alcohol does not.  Anyone with information about the wreck should call (512) 974-4724.

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Two women were killed Saturday morning when a car careened out of control and struck them as they waited at a bus stop on South First Street just north of Stassney Lane.  The accident occurred about 7:80 a.m. at a Capital Metro bus stop near Emerald Wood Drive.

One woman died at the scene, Carpenter said, and the other was taken to University Medical Center Brackenridge, where she died.

Carpenter said the car, a silver Toyota Celica, was traveling north on South First Street when the driver lost control and skidded into the bus stop, which is on the east side of the street. It appears that the driver may have been racing.

The driver of the Celica was also taken to Brackenridge with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.

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• Wednesday 10th February 2010
• Challenges…….

Three people were taken to University Medical Center Brackenridge on Thursday with serious injuries after a collision on Interstate 35 South near Texas 130 toll Road.

Two people who weren’t wearing seat belts were thrown from the vehicle and flown to Brackenridge in critical condition.

A third person was taken to Brackenridge by ground transportation in serious condition.

Honestly, why do people not wear seat belts?

A 6-year-old girl who had been in critical condition at Dell Children’s Medical Center after a wreck in Bastrop County last weekend died Friday morning.

Angie Gonzalez of Houston was riding in a van with four other children and two adults last Sunday afternoon when the driver failed to yield to a pickup while turning onto Texas 21 from U.S. 290.

Three other children – Leah Gonzalez, 5, Noel Gonzalez, 8, and Paul Gonzalez, 9 – died at the scene.  Two adults were taken to University Medical Center Brackenridge and released shortly after.  Apolinar Saldana, 1, and Angie Gonzalez were taken to Dell Children’s as well. Saldana was released on Friday.

Apparently, only one person was wearing a seat belt and the 1-year-old was in a car seat.  I don’t know why the other children weren’t in boosters or seat belts.

A 64-year-old woman was killed Thursday night when she was hit by a vehicle while crossing a street in Northeast Austin.

The woman was crossing Cameron Road mid-block near St. Johns Avenue on Friday at 7:36 p.m. when she was struck by a 1999 GM pickup in the southbound right lane.  She was pronounced dead en route to the hospital.

Neither alcohol nor speed seemed to be factors in the incident and the pickup driver remained at the scene.

Anyone with information is asked to call vehicular homicide unit detectives at (512) 974-4724.

Toyota has for years blocked access to data stored in devices similar to airline “black boxes” that could explain crashes blamed on sudden unintended acceleration, according to an Associated Press review of lawsuits nationwide and interviews with auto crash experts.

The AP investigation found that Toyota has been inconsistent — and sometimes contradictory — in revealing what the devices record and don’t record, including critical data about whether the, brake or accelerator pedals were depressed at the time of a crash.

By contrast, most other automakers routinely allow more open access to information from their event data recorders.

The Associated Press also found that Toyota:

• Has frequently refused to provide key information sought by crash victims and survivors.
• Uses proprietary software in its recorders. Until this week, only a single laptop in the U.S. contained the software needed to read the data after a crash.
• Either settled or provided printouts with the key columns blank, when pressed to provide recorder information in some lawsuits.

Toyota’s “black box” information is emerging as a critical legal issue amid the recall of 8 million vehicles by the world’s largest automaker. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said this week that 52 people have died in crashes linked to accelerator problems, triggering an avalanche of lawsuits.

In addition, the number of post-repair complaints is rising. The government said Thursday that it has received more than 60 complaints from Toyota drivers who say their cars have sped up by themselves even after being fixed to correct the problem.

The highway safety agency said it is contacting every owner to learn more about the consumer reports. The complaints have not been independently verified.

When Toyota was asked by the Associated Press to explain what exactly its recorders collect, a company statement said Thursday that the devices record data from five seconds before until two seconds after an air bag is deployed in a crash.

The statement said information is captured about vehicle speed, the accelerator’s angle, gear shift position, whether the seat belt was used and the angle of the driver’s seat.

There was no initial mention of brakes a key point in the sudden acceleration problem. When the Associated Press went back to Toyota to ask specifically about brake information, Toyota responded that its recorders do record “data on the brake’s position and the antilock brake system.”

But that does not square with information that attorneys obtained in a deadly crash last year in Southlake, which is in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and in a 2004 wreck in Indiana that killed an elderly woman.

In the Texas crash, where four people died when their 2008 Avalon ripped through a fence, hit a tree and flipped into an icy pond, a recorder readout obtained by police listed as “off” any information on acceleration or braking.

In the Indiana crash, 77-year-old Juanita Grossman told relatives before she died that she was practically standing with both feet on the brake pedal but could not-stop her 2003 Camry from slamming info a building. Records confirm that emergency personnel found Grossman with both feet on the brake pedal.

A Toyota representative told the family’s attorneys there was “no sensor that would have preserved information regarding the accelerator and brake positions at the time of impact,” according to a summary of the case provided by Safety Research & Strategies Inc., a Rehoboth, Mass. based company that does vehicle safety research for attorneys, engineers, government and others.

One attorney in the Texas case contends in court documents that Toyota may have de literately stopped allowing its recorders to collect critical information so the Japanese automaker would not be forced to reveal it in court cases.

“This goes directly to defendants’ notice of the problem and willingness to cover up the, problem,” said E. Todd Tracy, who had been suing automakers for 20 years.

Randy Roberts, an attorney for the driver in that case, said he was surprised at how little information the Avalon’s recorder contained.

“When I found out the Toyota black box was so uninformative, I was shocked,” Roberts said.

Toyota refused to comment on Tracy’s allegations because it is an ongoing legal matter but said the company does share recorder information with government regulators.

“Because the EDR system is an experimental device and is neither intended, nor reliable, for accident reconstruction, Toyota’s policy is to download data only at the direction of law enforcement, NHTSA or a court order,” the Toyota statement said.

In many cases, attorneys and crash experts say recorder data could help explain what happened in the moments before a crash by detailing the positions of the gas and brake pedals as well as the engine’s revolutions per minute.

Yet, some crash experts say Toyota shouldn’t bear too much criticism for failing to capture large amounts or specific kinds of data, because recorder systems were initially built for air bag deployment and not to reconstruct wrecks. They also vary widely from vehicle model to model, Haight said.

Officials say an 18-year-old El Paso man, apparently angry about being asked to leave a gathering, drove his car into a crowd in a parking area. Two male teenagers were injured but are expected to recover.

The El Paso County sheriff’s office said Sunday that a 17-year-old was pinned under the car and a 16-year-old was struck and suffered broken leg.

Witnesses said the driver in the early Saturday incident had to be forced out of the car so the 17-year-old could be pulled out from under it. The 17-year-old suffered bruising and internal injuries.

The driver was jailed on two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

A 53-year-old man was killed Sunday morning in a single-vehicle wreck on RM 620 near Comanche Trail, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

A dispatcher said Michael Bowen of Victoria was driving his 2009 Ford pickup south on RM 620 when, the truck left the road, struck a guardrail and rolled several times.

Bowen was pronounced dead at the scene.

His passenger, 36-year-old Brandon Carpenter of Liberty Hill, was taken to St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center, where he was reported to be in stable condition

A bicyclist was critically injured Monday morning in a crash on FM 620 at El Salido Parkway that left her pinned under an 18-wheeler.

The female cyclist was taken toga Round Rock hospital with a critical leg injury.

The woman and the 18-wheeler were at a stoplight in the southbound lanes of FM 620, facing the same direction. When the light turned green, the woman apparently veered right, and the 18-wheeler caught her bicycle and dragged her under a wheel.

“It was not a high-speed collision, but it was really traumatic because of the difference in the size, obviously,” said Warren Hassinger of the Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services. “At least one leg was badly crushed by the weight of the rig.”

He said the woman was undergoing surgery.

Police said Thursday that the pedestrian who was killed on the Interstate 35 frontage road near Farmer Lane on Tuesday has been identified as Christopher David Conklin, 37. Police said Conklin was trying to cross the southbound frontage road at 9:46 Am. when he was struck by a silver Kia. The driver did not stop. Police are still searching for that car.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call 974-8164. The death marks Austin’s third vehicle-related fatality this year.