This is a great day to start a habit that could save your life. When you get into a vehicle, buckle your safety belt. If you are driving, put the cellphone down and leave it there.

Only 9 states rank lower than Missouri in seat belt usage. MoDOT records show that, of the 683 vehicle drivers and passengers who died in crashes on Missouri roads in 2016, 63% were not wearing a seat belt.

Reported crashes involving cell phones in Missouri rose 17 percent in 2015. When a driver is texting and driving they are 23 times more likely to be in a critical incident. (source: VA Tech)

For more information about the challenge, visit the MoDOT site.

According to the police, a driver was speeding and passed through an intersection, triggering the five-car accident that left people with injuries. The details are sparse, but what we know is that “several people” were taken to the hospital with injuries that are not believed to be life threatening.

The driver blew by police when he was speeding, and the police didn’t want to start a high-speed chase with him. That tells you quite a bit about how fast he really was going.

There are two things to learn from this crash, and the first is that speeding is a reckless and negligence act. Don’t speed while you drive, because if you do, you could be held liable for any damages, injuries and/or deaths that you cause as a result of your irresponsible act. Respect the rules of the road, and when you approach an intersection, do so safely and at an appropriate speed. Anything less could put you at risk of causing or being involved in an accident.

The other thing to remember here is that when many vehicles are involved in crash — like this one — the liability and legal matters involved can be very complex. There are five different insurers; five different people with five different takes on the situation; potentially numerous lawsuits. There’s a lot to cover, and anyone involved in such a chaotic crash needs an attorney by their side to ensure all of the chaos is covered.

Source: KMBC, “Speeding vehicle blamed for 5-car wreck in KC,” Brian Johnson, Dec. 7, 2014

While truck drivers are usually well-trained to deal with most situations, they are also usually facing a deadline. Federal guidelines have been put in place to help keep commercial truck drivers from working too many hours straight. Before these regulations were put in place, many truck drivers would be encouraged to pull all-nighters, relying on coffee and other stimulants to keep awake.

Despite the limits on the amount of time truck drivers can drive, approximately 13% of truck drivers were fatigued at the time of their crash, according to a Large Truck Crash Causation Study (LTCSS). Fatigue is defined as extreme tiredness, usually resulting from mental or physical exertion. During the course of their duty, a truck driver must be on high alert, looking for danger. Further, operating an extremely large and heavy vehicle while confronted with smaller vehicles on the roadway can be quite a challenge. This kind of constant attention is exhausting, even during a shorter shift.

Drowsy driving can be dangerous, even for smaller vehicles. However, because trucks are so enormous and can crash with tremendous force, their collisions tend to have a higher death rate, especially when smaller cars are involved in the collision.

The injuries that result from truck accidents can also be extreme. For example, big rig accidents can often lead to permanent brain damage, severe spinal cord injuries, or even wrongful death. These catastrophic injuries can not only take years of surgery and rehabilitation, but they might result in a permanent disability that could prevent people from holding a regular job. Quadriplegia, for example, can cost the average 25 year old person more than $2 million in medical bills, rehabilitation costs, house remodeling, and lost wages over the course of his or her lifetime.

If you’ve been injured by a drowsy or fatigued truck driver, don’t hesitate to call us. Adler & Manson has more than sixty-five years of collective legal experience in personal injury law to offer your case. We have been assisting the victims of negligence for years and have helped many people obtain the compensation they deserve. Let us put our skills and legal knowledge to work on your behalf. Call our experienced Kansas City truck accident attorneys today.

Contact us at (816) 333-0400 or fill out our online form to schedule a free case consultation with us.

Sometimes the driver who is at fault is an uninsured motorist (UM). If an uninsured or unknown motorist is at fault, your UM coverage, which is also required, can provide you compensation for your bodily injuries.

Similarly, if the driver who is at fault does not carry enough insurance to compensate you for your injuries, your own underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage can provide you additional compensation. For example, if a UIM is at fault in the accident and you have four people in your car who sustained serious injuries, the value of the combined injury claims might exceed the insurance coverage of the UIM. In that instance, a UIM claim can be made against your own insurance policy.

While Missouri requires UM coverage in all car insurance policies, consumers only have the option of purchasing UIM coverage. It is not mandatory. If you were given the option of buying the coverage but didn’t, the only way to cover your bills and lost wages is to sue the negligent driver for the amount of the claim over his insurance coverage. But UIM’s can be difficult to collect from so it is advisable to have your own UIM coverage.

Our Kansas City personal injury attorneys, Jim Adler and Bill Manson, each have more than 20 years of legal experience in the personal injury area. If you need to recover compensation for damages caused by a negligent driver, we can help. We are a go-to source in Missouri for personal injury claims, because we are available to our clients 24/7 to address their questions and concerns. Let us see what we can do for you.

Contact us at (816) 333-0400 or fill out our online form to schedule a free case consultation today.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that over 1,100 people are injured in car accidents involving a distracted driver every day, making distracted driving one of the 3 largest causes of injury (along with speeding and intoxication). Drivers have a responsibility to avoid distractions in order to ensure their safety, as well as the safety of their passengers and those sharing the road with them. To learn how to become a safer driver, let’s look at the 3 types of driving distraction in further detail.

1. Mental Distractions: Have you had a rough week at work? Are you dealing with a bad relationship or tight finances? Maybe your child is sick or you’re over the moon about your upcoming weekend plans? When your mind is focused on these things and not the road in front of you, you are obviously at a greater risk of an accident due to a cognitive distraction. Essentially, a mental or cognitive distraction is anything that takes your focus and attention away from the task you are currently doing (driving) and brings it somewhere else. The danger is increased with fatigued drivers.
2. Visual Distractions: A visual distraction is anything that takes your eyes off the road ahead of you. That interesting billboard on the side of the road, the inflatable tube-man waving his arms, or the giant chicken holding a sign for a new restaurant are all visual distractions designed to get your attention while driving. Distractions can be found in the car as well with devices such as your GPS system, an in-dash system playing a video, someone showing you a picture on their smart phone, and so on.
3. Manual Distractions: This third type of distraction is perhaps the most dangerous of all because it actually involves you removing one or both hands from the wheel. Manual distractions can include things such as eating or drinking, adjusting your GPS, putting on makeup, shaving, and more. It’s amazing what some people will do while driving. However, it also includes things that may seem relatively harmless, such as rolling down a window, scratching an itch, or changing the radio station. There are a large number of manual distractions in today’s vehicles, even with all of the added convenience features.

Distracted driving can be extremely dangerous and can result in serious injuries. If you have been injured and you suspect the other driver was operating a vehicle while distracted, don’t hesitate to discuss the details of your case with a Kansas City car accident attorney from Adler & Manson. Since 1995, we have helped victims of car accidents stand up for their rights and get the justice they deserve. We are not afraid to go as far as we need to in order to help you achieve a successful outcome in your case, and we never back down from insurance companies that would rather protect their bottom line than give you the care you deserve.

We are proud of our success, including recovering more than $80 million on behalf of our clients. Speak with a member of our team today! Call Adler & Manson at 816.216.6214 and request a free consultation to begin.

However, what’s unique about this accident is that Brown was in a Tesla Model S luxury vehicle with its autonomous driving technology, dubbed “Autopilot” by the manufacturer. Brown was reportedly watching a Harry Potter movie in the driver’s seat at the time of the accident.

Tesla has launched a full probe into the incident, investigating the technology to determine if it was indeed at fault for not detecting the sudden obstacle in front of it. In a statement on their corporate website, Tesla stated that “Neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor-trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied. The high ride height of the trailer combined with its positioning across the road and the extremely rare circumstances of the impact caused the Model S to pass under the trailer, with the bottom of the trailer impacting the windshield of the Model S.”

Should there be a major flaw discovered in the technology, Tesla may be forced to recall thousands of Model S vehicles equipped with the “Autopilot” feature as a safety precaution.

The crash will have ramifications not just for Tesla, but for all vehicle manufacturers who are looking to develop this autonomous operation technology. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will issue guidelines for research of these autonomous vehicles for the near-future. This is particularly significant for BMW, which has stated that they will introduce a fully-autonomous vehicle by 2021 with the help of newfound business partners, Intel and Mobileye.

Is Tesla Liable for the Accident?

Tesla calls their autonomous operation technology “Autopilot,” which may be misleading for consumers who are treating it as a fully-autonomous system. While the technology can indeed operate the car in traffic without the interference or guidance of an operator, the technology is not perfect or capable of operating in every circumstance.

On a regulatory scale, Tesla’s “Autopilot” technology is rated a Level 2 technology whereas a fully-autonomous vehicle is a Level 4. Essentially this means Telsa’s “Autopilot” is similar to a typical cruise control with the additional ability to control itself.

Ryan Eustice, professor of engineering at the University of Michigan, said “The expectation of Tesla is that the driver is alert and vigilant, ready to take over at a moment’s notice. In practice, however, we see that humans quickly become bored and place too much trust in the system. People let down their guard and are not attentive and ready to take over.”

If you have been injured in an auto accident, particularly one involving this controversial new “Autopilot” technology, securing the services of a Kansas City personal injury attorney is important to help you review your legal options. Adler & Manson has protected the rights of the injured and has more than 60 combined years’ of legal experience. Their dedication to ethics and quality representation has earned both Jim Adler and Bill Manson the highest possible peer-review rating: an AV® Preeminent™ rating from Martindale-Hubbell®.

To request a free consultation with our skilled team, call our office today at (816) 333-0400.

This is important: do not provide authorization.

“Why?” you might ask. “It’s my own insurance company.” That may be true, but there’s nothing certain about car accidents and insurance benefits until all claims are resolved. Technically, the at-fault driver’s insurance will provide compensation for medical treatment and car repairs, but if there’s no clear fault assigned, both drivers’ insurance companies will limit their liability as much as possible.

That’s where your medical records come in. Here’s the key thing to remember about medical authorization releases: unless otherwise stated, they provide total access to your medical history. If you have any part of your medical history that insurance companies could use to argue against you, then your claim may be devalued and you’ll lose your ability to collect all of your benefits.

For example, if you suffered a neck injury in your crash, that could result in substantial compensation for you: physical therapy, chiropractic care, rehabilitative items like neck supports, etc. However, if your insurance company finds that you had a neck sprain a year or two prior to your accident, even if it doesn’t factor into the crash, they may use the information to lower your benefits.

HOW HAVING AN ATTORNEY CAN HELP YOU

It is possible to provide a partial release that only provides adjusters with the records that have to do with your car accident and nothing more. However, doing so requires an understanding of the medical records and insurance systems. Otherwise, you run the risk of opening yourself up to a loss of privacy regarding your medical history.

That’s why turning to a car accident lawyer in Kansas City is so vital for our clients—we protect their rights against insurance companies before a trial case becomes a possibility. By protecting your privacy early in the process, we can keep your claim as strong as possible, whether or not you pursue compensation in court.

If you’ve been in a car accident recently and you want to make sure your rights are protected, contact Adler & Manson today. We have more than 65 years of combined experience fighting for Kansas City residents, and we’ve secured more than $80 million for our injured clients. Call (816) 333-0400 so we can speak in a free legal consultation to discuss your options and begin work on your behalf.

Police recently placed a 15-year-old girl in custody in connection with the accident, though it is unclear if she was indeed the driver. The charges against the girl are also unclear, if there are any charges at all.

It’s hard to overstate just how infuriating and upsetting hit and run accidents are. The individual who was driving hasn’t just committed a crime they have also deprived the victim of vital, potentially life-saving care.

Responsible drivers who are in accidents involving pedestrians, bicyclists, or others, remain at the scene to assist anyone who may be potentially injured. Hit and run drivers ignore the safety of others so that they may selfishly attempt to evade responsibility for the wreck.

When they are caught (and many hit and runs drivers are eventually caught), they may not only face criminal charges, but civil charges as well. The victims of the hit and run accident (or their loved ones) should seriously consider legal action so that they can hold the individual responsible for their heinous act.

However, with all the attention often paid to these two behaviors, other dangerous behaviors can remain in the background. This can lead to difficulties in making individuals aware of other potentially dangerous driving behaviors. To this end, we bring up a new study about the use of sleeping pills and driving.

Now, it’s obvious that popping a sleeping pill and then immediately getting behind the wheel of a car is a dangerous act. However, this study sheds far more light on the topic, making sleeping pills seem far more horrifying.

According to the study, sleeping pills continue to affect a person, even after their affects are supposed to have worn off. In other words, the morning after you use a sleeping pill, you are likely to still be under the effects of the sleeping pill, thus reducing your driving abilities and increasing your chances of being involved in an accident. More specifically, the study says that people who use the top three sleeping pill brands are anywhere from 25 percent to three times more likely to be in an accident.

Again, this may not be that surprising, but it is an issue that leads to a broader discussion. What about drivers who are just tired and fatigued because they didn’t sleep well the night before? What about drivers who have not had an adequate meal recently? What about other medical conditions that can afflict a driver? Drivers can cause a crash even though they aren’t drinking or distracted.

Source: NBC News, “Sleeping Pill Use Raises Car Crash Risk, Study Finds,” Maggie Fox, June 11, 2015

At first, this may seem like a silly question. The truth of the matter is that this question is actually far more complex than you may initially think. Of course, there are some examples where fault or liability is unquestionable (i.e., drunk driving). However, determining liability for your everyday fender-bender is far trickier than many assume.

Let’s say that the collision in question occurred, in part, because one of the drivers failed to brake on time, or cut off another vehicle, or did some vague and general that almost any driver on the road to relate to. Well, these acts, in a vacuum, certainly make that driver liable for the wreck.

However, what if the other driver — the “victim” if you will — had his or her lights off and so the driver “at fault” couldn’t tell the vehicle was approaching? What if a turn signal was off? What if the driver was going a bit over the speed limit? What if the driver made an illegal lane change prior to the wreck?

Any of these situations can shape or change the way liability is determined in the car accident. Additionally, it is not a guarantee that just one driver will be found at fault for the wreck. In fact, in many cases, multiple drivers are at fault or all the drivers involved “share” liability for the wreck.

Source: FindLaw, “Fault and Liability for Motor Vehicle Accidents,” Accessed July 8, 2015