Minneapolis Personal Injury Blog

In the fourth annual survey published on June 16, 2009, AutoVantage ranked the least and worst cities for road rage in America. Minneapolis /St. Paul ranked the fifth worst city for road rage in our country. The worst city for road rage is New York, followed by Dallas, Detroit, Atlanta, and Minneapolis/St. Paul. The most courteous city for is Portland, followed by Cleveland, Baltimore, Sacramento and Pittsburg. www.affiniongroupmedia.com/themes/site_themes/affinionassets/releases/autovantage/Road_Rage_09

The survey asked consumers about the major cause for road rage. The most frequent responses included speeding, tailgating, talking on cell phones, accidents, traffic problems, and drivers who act like they own the road.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that aggressive driving is the cause of approximately one-third of all car accident and about two-thirds of car accident, truck accident fatalities.

If you or your family members have been injured in a car or truck accident, contact a car accident or truck accident lawyer at Howard W. Sussman & Associates. You cant contact us at 612-332-4830 by contacting us through our website at www.sussmanlaw.com.

Howard W. Sussman & Associates have offices in Plymouth, Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Burnsville, Minnesota. Arrangements can be made for hospital, home or office visits for a free consultation.

The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute released a new study on July 27, 2009, based on equipping trucks with video cameras and tracking approximately three million miles of hauling goods across the country. The study highlights the time that drivers were not looking at the road while sending and receiving texts. In situations where an accident occurred, or a near collision happened, drivers focused on their device for approximately five seconds, which at highway speeds equals the length of a football field. Rick Hanowski, who was in charge of the study stated that, “texting is in its own universe of risks” of contributing to car accidents and trucks accidents.

One area of surprise in the study was that research contradicts previously reported risks of talking and listening to cellphones. This study concludes that listening and talking on a cellphone does not increase the risk of an accident nearly as much as the previously report comparison to a driver operating their vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.

Margaret Kuehn, 79, died near her home on James Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota on Saturday, June 20, 2009. Ms. Kuehn was walking in the alley immediately behind her house when she was struck by an ambulance that was reversing in the alley. The ambulance was responding to an earlier accident where an elderly woman lost control of her vehicle in a nearby parking lot, crashing through a fence and ending up in the alley area. The driver in the initial accident didn’t need transportation to the hospital and the ambulance was backing when the fatal accident involving Ms. Kuehn occurred. The fatal collision is now being investigated by the Minnesota State Patrol to determine whether the alarm that should sound when the ambulance is put into reverse was operating at the time of the fatal accident.

Truck accidents injure over 100,000 people each year and result in over 100,000.00 personal injuries and 5,000 fatalities in the United States a year. A leading reason for truck accidents is truck driver sleep deprivation. Recent studies have confirmed that sleep apnea is a major source for health problems for truckers, including falling asleep at the wheel. www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31066019.

Research has shown that there is a strong connection between overweight truck drivers and sleep apnea. A recent Harvard University study on sleep apnea recommends that federal government require testing for obese truck drivers in order to reduce the frequency and danger of unnecessary truck accidents. For the past several years, officials at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration have discussed implementing new rules require screenings for overweight truck drivers, but it has not been put in place yet.

Studies have shown that sleep apnea increases this risk of car accidents and trucks accidents by two to seven times. Up to twenty percent of truck accidents are caused by truckers who have fallen asleep.

If you or your family members have been injured in a car or truck accident, contact a car accident or truck accident lawyer at Howard W. Sussman & Associates. You cant contact us at 612-332-4830 by contacting us through our website at www.sussmanlaw.com.

Howard W. Sussman & Associates have offices in Plymouth, Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Burnsville, Minnesota. Arrangements can be made for hospital, home or office visits for a free consultation.

Clayton J. Domonkos was sentenced on April 13, 2009, in Ramsey County District Court by Judge Edward Wilson to serve 79 days in jail based on his February plea of guilty to a gross misdemeanor count of criminal vehicular injury. The State of Minnesota’s lawyer was Meghan Kisch and Mr. Domokos was represented by attorney Murah Mohammad.

This criminal case arose from a May 9, 2008, car/pedestrian accident on Arlington Avenue in St. Paul at which time Mr. Domonkos’ vehicle hit a boy resulting in personal injuries. At the time of the accident, Mr. Domonkos had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.15 percent.