Here’s another reason not to pile on too many excess pounds: A new study finds that the obese and very obese are at raised risk of death in severe car crashes.

According to the research, published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, a moderately obese driver is 21 percent more likely to die in a severe motor vehicle crash compared to non-obese drivers, while being severely obese hikes the risk of death by 56 percent.

However, being just slightly overweight seemed to lower the odds for death in a severe crash: these drivers were actually less likely to die than either underweight or normal-weight drivers, according to researchers at the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

In the study, the researchers analyzed data from the national Fatality Analysis Reporting System involving almost 156,000 drivers in severe motor vehicle crashes occurring between 2000-2005. The researchers included all fatalities occurring within 30 days of a crash.

The link between obesity and death risk was found for both men and women, the researchers noted.

The study’s lead author said the findings could have implications for car design and car safety testing.

“The rate of obesity is continuing to rise, so is it imperative that car designs are modified to protect the obese population, and that crash tests are done using a full range of dummy sizes,” Dr. Dietrich Jehle, professor of emergency medicine, said in a university news release.

“Extending the range of adjustable seats would be helpful, as well as encouraging moderately and morbidly obese individuals to buy larger vehicles with more space between the seat and the steering column,” he said.

“We also recommend that manufacturers design and test vehicle interiors with obese dummies, which currently are not available.”

The study was funded in part by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration.

Study: Obese Drivers at Higher Risk of Death in Car Crashes is a post from: Accident & Injury Law in Texas

I’ve uploaded my first YouTube video and would appreciate your comments.

“The Ant & the Grasshopper – A Texas Tale” is Aesop’s Tale told with a Texas Twist.  Watch this short (3 minute) video and you may just discover something about Texas law you weren’t aware of.  The authors of this video feel a duty, as lawyers, to make the public aware of recent changes in the law that effect the citizens of Texas.

The Ant & the Grasshopper – a Texas Tale

Ant and Grasshopper Video is a post from: Accident & Injury Law in Texas

Traffic fatalities in Texas dropped 11 percent in 2009 to the lowest number since 1993, according to data released Tuesday by the Texas Department of Transportation.

Last year, 3,089 drivers or passengers died in traffic-related incidents, 388 fewer than in 2008.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration attributes the decline to safer vehicles, safer roads and motorists driving less.

Officials also cite public safety campaigns about seat belt usage, drunken driving and distracted driving.

Officials say motorcycle deaths were down 19 percent in 2009, to 432. In 2008, 531 people died in motorcycle wrecks.

Texas Traffic Fatalities down 11 percent in ’09 is a post from: Accident & Injury Law in Texas

A Houston, Texas jury has awarded $9 million to a 24-year-old Houston woman wrongly arrested at a Wal-Mart.

The Houston Chronicle reports that a Harris County court jury Friday determined that Wal-Mart Stores Texas should pay $8.2 million in actual damages and another $826,000 in punitive damages.

Nitra Gipson filed a civil lawsuit after she was arrested when store employees accused her of trying to exchange counterfeit money orders for cash. But the Harris County district attorney’s office declined to pursue charges after investigators determined that the money orders were authentic.

The newspaper reports that Wal-Mart lawyers later sent her a letter alleging that she owed the retailer money for taking merchandise.

Harris County jury awards woman $9 million for wrongful arrest at Wal-Mart is a post from: Accident & Injury Law in Texas

Handing a rare victory to personal injury trial lawyers, the Senate passed legislation that would make it easier for certain people to recover damages after being exposed to asbestos.

The bill, which passed 20-11 on a preliminary vote Thursday, would apply to lawsuits involving mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer usually caused by the inhalation of asebstos fibers.

The legislation, which faces more hurdles before becoming law, would set a lower standard of proof for demonstrating that asbestos exposure was significant enough to cause cancer.

No doubt, Rick Perry will veto it.

Trial lawyers get rare victory with legislature is a post from: Accident & Injury Law in Texas

Scary.  Very Scary.

Tractor trailer and bus drivers in the United States have suffered seizures, hear attacks or unconscious spells behind the wheel that led to deadly crashes on highways.  Hundreds of thousands of drivers carry commercial licenses even though they also qualify for full federal disability payments, according to a new U.S. safety study.

The problems threatening highway travelers persist despite years of government warnings and hundreds of deaths and injuries blamed on commercial truck and bus drivers who blacked out, collapsed or suffered major health problems behind the wheel of vehicles that can weith 40 tons or more!

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the agency responsible for cracking down on unfit truckers, acknowledges that it hasn’t completed any of eight recommendations U.S. safety regulators have proposed since 2001 including minimum standards for officials who determine whether truckers are medically safe to drive and preventing truckers from “doctor shopping” to find a physician who might overlook risky health.

The Transportation Department said 5,300 people died in crashes involving large commercial trucks or buses in 2006 and about 126,000 were injured while truckers violating federal medical rules have been caught in every state.

A federal safety study last summer found that drivers falling asleep, suffering heart attacks or seizures or otherwise being physically impaired were a leading cause of serious crashes involving large trucks.

Scary.  Very Scary.

Study: Truckers’ disabilities turn deadly on roads is a post from: Accident & Injury Law in Texas

I just came across an excellent article about damage caps for medical malpractice which explains why they won’t help lower premiums for Texas doctors.

It’s sad to say, but the real effect of damage caps is to punish children, the elderly, the unemployed, and single people.

Why do I say that?  Because children, retired people, unemployed people, and people who aren’t married or don’t have children aren’t entitled to economic damages.  The damage cap then states that all that can be recovered by their estate is $250,000.  Figure that a typical medical malpractice case can cost $100,000 to go to trial and you will understand why insurance companies never settle these cases, even when liability is clear.  Shame on the legislature.

Damage Caps Don’t Work is a post from: Accident & Injury Law in Texas