Accident & Injury Law in Texas

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Several states, including California and New York, have introduced laws against talking on a cell phone while driving, but they still allow the use of hands-free devices, such as Bluetooth headsets.  However, studies have shown that hands-free devices may not help.  It appears that it is the distraction of dialing or talking that is dangerous, rather thean the act of taking a hand off the wheel.

A study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2006 found that dialing or talking on the phone was the cause in 7 percent of crashes and near-crashes.  For the study, drivers had onboard “black boxes” that recorded their actions.

Last year, 41,059 people died in traffic accidents.

Aegis Mobility, a Canadian software company, announced this month that it has developed software called DriveAssist that will detect whether a cell phone is moving at car speeds.  When that happens, the software will alert the cellular network, telling it to hold calls and text messages until he drive is over.

The software doesn’t completely block incoming calls.  Callers will hear a message saying the person they’re calling appears to be driving.  They can hit a button to leave an emergency voice mail, which is put through immediately.

Aegis’ software will work on phones with Windows Mobile software or Symbian software (used in phones from Nokia and Ericsson).  It uses the phone’s global positioning system chip to detect motion, aided by the cell-tower signal.  To work, the software has to be supported by the cellular carrier and can be managed remotely through a web site.

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. said it plans to offer a discount of up to 3 to 10 percent on family policies for people who use DriveAssist.

Bookmark to:

Immigrants must now prove they are in the United States legally to obtain new driver’s licenses and identification cards, which will indicate their status, under new Texas Department of Public Safety rules.

Because driver’s licenses can be used to gain access to bank accounts, board airplanes and enter various government buildings, the new rules are intended to enhance the security of the driver’s license and ID card and reduce the risk of identity theft and fraud.

In 2005, a federal law intended to fight terrorism set standards for how states issue driver’s licenses, requiring the 70 million or so Americans who get or renew licenses each year to provide more proof of who they are and where they live.  The law compelled states to more aggressively verify that information.

As of October 1, applicants who are not citizens must present immigration documents before they are issued a card.  After documents are verified, the license will be issued with the photograph positioned vertically instead of horizontally.  “Temporary Visitor” will also be written on the card as well as the date the temporary status expires.

When being issued a duplicate or renewal card, applicants will have to provide proof that their status has been updated or extended.  People whose status in the country is limited to six months or less will not be able to get licenses or ID cards.

In the past, people applying for a driver’s license or identification card were required to show documentation to establish identity but not legal status.

Bookmark to:

Nationwide, more patients are seeking care in fewer ERs.

The average time that hospital emergency rooms patients wait to see a doctor has grown from about 38 minutes to almost an hour in the past decade, according to federal statistics released last month.

According to the report authored by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the increase is due to supply and demand - more people arriving at ERs and fewer ERs.

In 2006, about 119 million visits were made to emergency rooms, up 32 percent from 1996 while the number of hospital emergency departments dropped to under 4,600 from nearly 4,900.

Other factors raising the wait time is the limited number of hospital beds (forcing people to wait in the ER room), shortage of surgical specialists, and patients turning to the ER when they cannot get an appointment with their doctor.

Emergency room patients at St. David’s five hospitals in Travis and Williamson counties waited an average of an hour to see a doctor so far this year, up five minutes from a year ago, according to David Thomsen, the system’s vice president of quality.

According to the CDC study, most patients spend more than two hours, but fewer than four hours in emergency rooms.

About 40 percent of emergency room patients had private insurance, about 25 percent were covered by state programs for children, and about 17 percent were covered by Medicare, with 17 percent being uninsured.

Bookmark to:

A large number of drivers on Texas highways and roads do not have auto insurance.

A 60-day pilot project testing the Texas-Sure program (which allows law enforcement personnel to verify coverage status when they stop a motorist) focused on Travis County.  During the test, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers found 25.5 percent of 5,012 drivers stopped in Travis County and a small portion of Williamson County and Hays County since June 2 did not have auto insurance.

This spring, the minimum amount of liability insurance Texas drivers are required to have increased for the first time in 22 years (from $20,000 to $25,000).

Two things you should take away -

1) Carry uninsured motorist coverage to protect yourself

2) Cary under-insured motorist coverage to protect yourself from the very real possibility of a sky-high medical bill

Bookmark to: