2010 August Archive

Parents are usually very curious about which car they should choose for their young driver. Safety is a priority of course. After all, almost 34,000 individuals died in car crashes in the U.S. last year, and auto crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers, reported an article on CBSNews.com.

Consumer Reports has just issued its safest vehicles list. For teens, parents may want to choose a vehicle that has a reasonable size, four-cylinders without too much power, good crash test results, and safety features.

Florida auto accident attorneys would agree that safety features should include electronic stability control, curtain air bags on the side of the vehicle, and a car with a strong structure.

We learned about the importance of stability control after seeing so many Ford Explorer rollovers. Around for more than ten years, electronic stability control or ESC, keeps the vehicle moving forward on a turn and avoids sliding. It will be standard equipment on all 2012 models and presently is on high-end vehicles. This is important technology for the less experienced driver. Look for names such as ESC, Stabilitrack, AdvanceTrac, Vehicle Stability Assist, and others.

Consumer Reports says that the largest vehicles may not always keep teen drivers safe. Larger, heavy cars are more difficult to control and may not handle as well as a smaller vehicle with agility and safety features.

And good news for teens – Consumer Reports suggests teens get a new car with all of the safety features rather than a used family vehicle that may be lacking in safety features that are so important for the new driver.
CBS reports on Consumer Reports’ picks for teens:

Small sedans: Hyundai Elantra SE (2008-2010), Mazda3 (2007 – ), Scion xB (2008 – )
Midsized sedans: Acura TSX (2004-), Honda Accord (2008 – ), Kia Optima (2007 – )
Small SUVs: Honda CR-V (2005 – ), Nissan Rogue (2008 – )

Real estate developer St. Joe Co. has filed a lawsuit against BP for failing to cement the Deepwater Horizon well properly, leading to the largest oil spill in history.

Halliburton, known as a major defense contractor, is also an oil field contractor that had sole responsibility for cementing the Macando well which is attached to the rig owned and operated by BP that exploded April 20. In the complaint filed in Delaware, St. Joe said Halliburton was negligent and bears full responsibility for the spill of crude oil that has polluted a portion of the Gulf. The lawsuit accuses Halliburton of “failing at every stage” of the cementing process.

St. Joe Co. has substantial real estate holding in Florida and it claims it will lose a significant amount of money in its value. UPI reports at least 70% of its more than 577,000 acres in Florida fall within 15 miles of the Gulf coast.

Losses for St. Joe include its assets and an interruption to its business. The value of its stock is down about 40%. The company says it has lost somewhere in the range of $1 billion and is looking for full restitution.

If your business has suffered a severe financial loss, a loved one has suffered an injury, or your property has been damaged as a result of the BP spill, the Florida oil spill economic loss attorneys at Farah & Farah are ready to consult on your situation and explore your options for compensation.

The story of this 12-year-old girl from Florida shows what can happen when the operator at a Wisconsin amusement park is negligent. The girl is in stable but critical condition after she fell more than 100 feet from a platform. The safety net was not put in place and she hit the ground.

Teagan Marti on Friday, July 31, was at Extreme World in Wisconsin Dells. She had seen the Terminal Velocity ride on the Travel Channel. In the ride, the person is raised to a platform and then enters a free-fall ideally hitting the safety net below. But when the girl left the platform the net was still on the ground. The ride operator had released her prematurely.

CBS News reports the ride operator had to leave his job for mental health reasons. The park admitted that it was “human error” that caused her injuries.

The girl survived and is hospitalized with 10 fractures to her back and one in her skull. Teagan’s father is a doctor and when he saw her on the ground he was certain she was dead. He performed CPR at the scene and brought the girl back to life. She has yet to speak, so any brain damage has yet to be assessed.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission reports about four people die at amusement park rides every year and 7,000 are injured.

Legally, you were supposed to be at least 14 to ride this attraction, but the girl’s parents had signed a release form giving their consent to get on the ride. However, in 2009 the Florida Supreme Court ruled 4-1 that parents do not have the right to sign away their child’ right to take a liability issue to court when they sign a standard release form.

Florida personal injury lawyers would like to remind you to be extremely cautious when on amusement park rides. Our prayers go out to this girl and her family for her complete recovery.

Consumer Reports is taking a look at dietary supplements.

In this case, the consumer group finds the dirty dozen supplements you should avoid. Dietary supplements are not overseen by the Food and Drug Administration which can act only when there is a problem and consumers are harmed.

While most vitamin manufacturers and herbal supplement producers are responsible, there have been those who have jumped in for quick profits, especially in the area of weight loss and sexual enhancement.

And some herbs, though natural, have been found to have serious side effects. After all, many of today’s drugs are extracted from natural herbs such aspirin’s active ingredient, salicin, which comes from willow bark.

Many of the warnings from Consumer Reports sound similar to warnings concerning prescription medication. Problems with herbs can include liver damage and heart beat irregularity to your skin turning blue (colloidal silver).

Consumer Reports says avoid:

• Aconite- for inflammation and joint pains
• Bitter Orange – for weight loss and nasal congestion
• Chaparral – for colds
• Colloidal Silver – for infections
• Comfrey – for cough
• Country Mallow – for nasal congestion and allergies
• Geranium – for pain and infections
• Greater Celandine – for upset stomach and irritable bowel
• Kava – for anxiety
• Lobelia – for coughing, asthma
• Yohimbe – for chest pain, aphrodisiac

Florida products liability attorneys would like you to take this list into consideration and talk to your doctor before starting any dietary supplement regimen.

A new survey by AAA and Seventeen magazine on teen driving habits finds that an alarming number of teen drivers engage in risky behavior behind the wheel, including texting, and reading text messages.

The survey is published in Seventeen’s August issue. The survey, taken in April, finds that nearly nine in 10 teenage drivers – or 86% – have driven while distracted, according to an AAA news release. The majority of the teens say they know it’s dangerous but the activity only takes a second and they didn’t think anyone could be hurt.

“It’s very distracting, and you increase your accidental rate by 50 percent,” AAA spokeswoman Robin Yales said. “We’re losing a lot of lives from it,” she says to News4Jax.com.

Auto accidents remain the leading cause of death of teenagers ages 15 to 19. Florida remains one of a dozen states that still has not enacted any type of texting ban. Georgia initiated its ban this summer.

“You want a bill that will, in fact, make driving a safer exercise, but you want to make it enforceable,” local Rep. Mike Weinstein said to Channel 4.

Florida has a history of promoting texting ban bills in the legislature and then not passing them at the last minute. Again in March 2010, the bills were locked in committee and failed to pass. In the next legislative session a number of bills are promised again. Rep. Weinstein says it’s only a matter of time before one finally passes.

Critics say it could be tough for law enforcement to decipher between dialing a phone from texting, but both activities are distracting, so perhaps a distinction is not necessary.

Two-Second Turnoff
Seventeen is promoting a Two-Second Turnoff contest September 17th.

Seventeen, AAA, and the U.S. Department of Transportation are sponsoring a viral video day. Teens should put together a 90 second video about the negative influences of distracted driving that talks about Seventeen’s Two-Second Turnoff Day on September 17. The focus is on why it’s so important not to drive distracted. Upload the video to YouTube, send the link to friends, and then enter the contest. The best video will be judged by Seventeen editors and the winner can take home $2,000.

But the most important prize is the lesson to be learned that two seconds is all it takes to turn off your phone before you start your car so you are never driving distracted.

A family of four was killed in St. Petersburg Sunday, August 1, after an allegedly intoxicated driver sped through a red light and into their vehicle. The driver has now been taken into custody. Demetrius Jordan, 20, will be charged with four counts of DUI manslaughter and with injuring his passenger. He is also charged with underage drinking.

The Florida Highway Patrol interviewed witnesses who said that Jordan was traveling at a high rate of speed just before 1:00 a.m. when he ran a red light and his 2001 Chevrolet Impala hit the 2010 Ford Fusion being driven by Elroy McConnell, 51. Also in the Ford were McConnell’s three sons, 19-year-old Kelly McConnell, 24-year-old Nathan, and 28-year-old Elroy McConnell III, from Orlando, Miami and New Orleans. The family was vacationing in St. Petersburg and returning home from a movie. All were killed at the scene in this Florida drunk driving accident while Jordan and his passenger suffered serious injuries, according to News 4 Jax.

Suncoast Pinellas TBO.com reports that the oldest McConnell son had a small child of his own. His wife and son had joined the Pinellas County gathering.

Our sincerest condolences go out to the McConnell family and friends. The loss of this close family is almost indescribable.

Records show that Jordan was supposed to lose his license last week for failing to pay a fine after running a stop sign on June 30. WFTV finds that Jordan had seven traffic citations, with three in June alone, but was never arrested. He is being held on $90,250 bail, reports TBO.com. St. Petersburg police report Jordan admitted he had been drinking hard alcohol, a caffeinated beverage called Four Loko, and smoking marijuana before the crash. Police reported he slurred his words and had bloodshot eyes.

TBO.com reports Jordan may have been going at least 80 mph on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street at 22nd Avenue North, at an intersection where the speed limit is 35 mph.

Experts who reconstruct the accident site can determine the approximate speed each vehicle is traveling depending on the degree of crumpled metal on the cars and skid marks. If you need to prove your case with the help of an accident reconstructionist, an experienced Florida wrongful death accident attorney can be your best ally in investigating your case.

Florida’s Gulf waters have been reopened to commercial fishing. The announcement was made in late July by federal officials opening more than 26,000 square miles of the Gulf of Mexico off Pensacola to commercial and recreational fishing.

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg reassured the public that the seafood from the area is safe in an official statement on August 2.

“Through close coordination with our state and federal partners, we are confident all appropriate steps have been taken to ensure that seafood harvested from the waters being opened today is safe and that Gulf seafood lovers everywhere can be confident eating and enjoying the fish that will be coming out of this area.”

Hamburg talks about the importance that commercial fishermen and seafood processors return to their livelihoods, but makes no mention of the chemical dispersant that was used in Gulf waters to break up the crude oil dumped by BP following an April 20 explosion on its Deepwater oil rig.

At the same time, Hamburg announced the opening of some Mississippi state waters to commercial fishing.
Captain Kenneth Daniels Jr. and his crew have been out of work for three months and heralded the reopening to fishing, he tells the Bradenton Herald. A wide range of people and businesses have felt oil spill economic loss.

The National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Coast Guard both confirm there has not been a light oil sheen observed in the northeastern Gulf since mid-June.

Safe Seafood?
To determine whether the seafood is safe, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration took 52 samples of fish species from the Gulf from June 23 to July 13. After determining where the fish were caught, they went to a lab in Pascagoula where the fish underwent a taste and smell test as well as chemical analysis. The green light was issued after it was determined the food was safe for consumption. However, more than 57,000 square miles of federal waters will remain closed, which represents nearly a quarter of the Gulf’s economic zone.

We certainly hope the seafood is safe, but federal officials told first responders following 9/11 in 2001, that the air at Ground Zero was safe too. It turns out it wasn’t and many today have lung cancers as well as respiratory problems and sued over environmental health issues. Let’s hope our government learned from that error and has not put economic considerations above public health.

The 75-year-old son of former Florida Governor LeRoy Collins was killed Thursday July 29, while riding his bicycle in South Tampa according to a News4Jax article. LeRoy Collins Jr. was crossing South Hyde Park Avenue at Brorein Street when he was hit by an SUV just before 7 a.m. Collins lived on nearby Davis Island and was known to be an active cyclist and rower.

Collins considered himself a fortunate man.

He had recently celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary, had all four children living within four miles along with eight grandchildren, was able to row 10 miles in an outing and swim 1,000 yards, along with cycling. He got up every morning at 5:30 a.m. to bike to the University of Tampa rowing club.

Police have already ruled the death an accident. No charges will be filed against Margaux Manual, 27, who was behind the wheel of the SUV heading west on Brorein Street. When she made a left turn, she failed to see Collins in the cross walk.

Our sympathies go out to the family of Collins, who was well loved. He was also a retired admiral and still currently employed as the executive director of the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs.

Staying at the Scene
Many drivers will leave the scene of a Floria bicycle accident but Manual and a witness, who was from her work, stayed and performed CPR on Collins before EMS arrived. Manuel reported to police that Collins appeared to have a scrape on his knee. It turns out she is an obstetrician/gynecologist resident at the University of South Florida and was on her way to work.

Jacksonville bike accident attorneys want to remind all Floridians that to leave the scene and not render aid can bring a vehicular homicide charge and up to 30 years in prison.

Accolades are coming in for Collins as an outstanding individual and role model. In his blog he recently wrote:

“Life goes by quickly. So, do what you can today, as you can never be sure whether this is your winter or not.

“Life is a gift to you. The way you live your life is your gift to those who come after. Make it a fantastic one.”