The following is part of an interview I did on WAVE Listens about The Schafer Law Office Glove Box Accident Guide and what to do at athe scene of a car accident.

We are talking today about specifically this little publication that Mike has created.  It’s called the Glove Box Accident Guide and this is actually a, a publication that you can keep, literally, in your glove box just in case you’re involved in a car accident, and it gives you some very important information that you need to keep in mind in case you’re involved in an accident.  One, No. 1 is to stay calm.

You don’t want to put yourself in further danger, you don’t want to move anybody that is hurt, you want to make sure that the police are called but you don’t want to put yourself in further danger. The best way to do that is to stay calm and to evaluate the situation and see what you need to do next.

At the time that you’re in the accident, you don’t know that law.

You don’t know the circumstances of how the law is going to treat the case.  So if you go up to the person that hit you and say, I’m so sorry for this accident, the insurance company or the insurance company’s lawyers are going to use that as an admission of fault down the road.  The accident may not have been your fault.  You may have made a U?turn which you think you shouldn’t have made but is perfectly legal in Kentucky if there’s not a “No U-Turn” sign.

So you can, it’s best to talk to the individual, make sure everything is okay.

Okay, all right, and then the aforementioned No. 3 is contact the police, call 911.

Always call the police and have them out there.  One, so that they can secure the area, they can document what has happened in the accident and they can get an ambulance there and take care of anybody that’s hurt, uh, if that is needed.

No. 4 is to find witnesses.

This is probably one of the most important items in there because witnesses to accidents are really a key to the success of a personal injury case if you’re injured and if you have to go forward on that case.

I’ll give you an example.  Almost every week people that come into my office as clients will say, “There are witnesses to the accident”.  I say, well, great, did you get their names.  They respond, “no, but the police talked to them”.  Well, 95 percent of the time the police may talk to the witness but they’re not going to write that name down and write that information down unless it’s a very serious accident case.  Police are very busy and sometimes they just do not document this so it’s important for you to make sure that you get the names or a card or phone number of anybody that did see the accident that you see around, if you’re able.

Never put yourself in danger of getting hit by a car or if you’re on the expressway or a busy roadway.

If you’re hurt the No. 1 thing is to take care of your health. If you are able, getting the contact information of witnesses can make the difference.  I have several cases where we would not have been able to collect for significant injuries if that good Samaritan hadn’t stopped and given their name and number to the person that was injured.

Okay.  The other things, uh, perhaps you might consider is taking photographs.  A lot easier now with everybody with smart phones and all of that sort of thing.

An old trite saying but a picture’s worth 1,000 words.

My grandmother wouldn’t allow pictures because she says pictures don’t lie so I don’t want to see them. That’s the same thing in accident cases.  Pictures don’t lie, they tell the story much better than what  you can and if you say my car is totaled, that says one thing, but if you see the entire front end smashed in to the, the steering wheel. That creates a whole different image, and the only time you can take the pictures of the car that hit you is at the scene, and once again, this is all tempered by if you’re able and if you’re, can get around without hurting yourself further and putting yourself in danger.

Gathering information is also critical when you’re involved in an accident.

If you do not get the insurance information at the time of the accident, I can go on for a long time on this one.  Insurance information, you want to get your car fixed after the accident.

And in Jefferson County it takes about ten days to get an accident report so you’re not going to get the at-fault driver’s insurance information until that ten days runs. If you don’t exchange insurance information with the other driver, it’s going to be ten days. It’s going to be ten days before you can get a car, contact the at-fault car insurance company for a rental car.

And if your car is not drivable, this can be a really, really bad situation for you.

You want to document where the cars came to rest, if there’s any skid marks, anything that can show where the cars were, how long it took the car to stop, anything like that.

That is the only time you’re ever going to have a chance to do that.

And you need to do it immediately at that time.  Once again, if you are able and don’t put yourself in further danger, you need to take those pictures, you need to document, document, document, this goes through the entire case, but you need to do this at the scene if you’re able to.

Okay.  All of this information and more in the handy little Glove Box Accident Guide provided by Mike Schafer from his law office, it’s The Schafer Law Office.

This is a question I was asked on WAVE Listens a couple of months ago about what to do if you have been hurt in a car accident when you go to the doctor or hospital:

“My neighbor lady, she’s 85.  She’s from Germany.  Someone hit her yesterday evening and I’m taking her to the hospital here in about half an hour.  She’s refused an ambulance but she was hit so hard it knocked her hairnet off of her head.

What else I should do today for her?  I was going to take her to the hospital to be checked out.  She has a bad headache and she said it did throw her head forward really hard so we’re going to get her checked out to make sure she doesn’t have some whiplash and make sure she didn’t have any back injury out of it.”

It is important to make sure that she does understand the questions that are being posed to her since English is a second language.  It will be assumed that she understands any question she answers. She should not answer any question that she is unclear on.

It is very important that you tell her not to minimize her injuries.  We have a tendency when we go to the doctor to try to make things seem a little better than they really are.

Make sure she tells the doctor everything that’s been going on with her from the time she was in the accident up until that appointment. Whether it’s gone away or not gone away, such as the headache you spoke of, tell the doctor. If the headache goes away by the time you take her to the emergency room she should still state that she had a headache because that could indicate that she had a concussion or a closed head injury.

Another thing that is very important for her to tell the doctors is any other problems she’s ever had with her back, whether they were minimal or not. If the doctor asks her if she has been in prior accidents she should tell them about all prior accidents that she has been in whether or not she had been hurt or not hurt.

She should hold off until she’s feeling better to speak with the insurance adjuster or sign any paperwork. This will help make sure she has a clear head and has had a chance to speak with a personal injury attorney about her accident.

The Insurance industry has been trusted for many years. It protects us all from tragedies, at least so we think.  Do we always get what we think we are paying for? Insurance companies are required by law to work in good faith with their customers. Unfortunately, its weak regulation and delays in handing claims have ordered this trust.

Russ Roberts, a New Mexico-based management consultant and former business professor at Northwestern University who studied the insurance industry’s evolution from a service business to a profit-driven machine said that, “Claims has been converted into money-making process.” The change started when consulting giant Mckinsey & Company sold Allstate and other leading insurance a new system where a computer-driven method produced purposefully low offers to claimants in auto accidents.

There have been cases of complaints where consumers suffered financial hardships because of delayed payment of insurance claims. Studies have shown that insurance companies delay claims to help save millions of dollars. Some claimants who file cases against insurance companies will never see the end of their case because of death, other injury or lack of interest. Some insurance company purposely delay claims as tactic to manipulate or evade legal insurance claim settlements and to increase their own profit.

As of November 28, 2011, the NAIC had received 11,503 delay-related complaints this year. How can you keep yourself from being taken advantage of by insurance companies if you have been injured in a Kentucky car accident? You are the one injured you have experienced a loss.  You deserve to be compensated under the insurance policy.  Knowing your rights and the law is the first step to making sure you are not taken advantage of.  My book “7 Potholes That Can Wreck Your Kentucky Accident Case” was written to give Kentucky car accident victims thorough understanding of the claims process in a car accident case.  Order your complementary copy today so you can level the playing field and not be taken advantage of by the insurance industry.

You have been in a serious car accident.  You are in pain.  You don’t know what to do.  You don’t know how your medical bills will be paid.  You don’t know how your car is going to be fixed.  Should you call an attorney?  Or maybe you should call an injury help line.  Consider this when you make your decision.

I read an interesting article in the Bloomberg News about 1-800-ASK-GARY, a “referral network” that advertises heavily in Louisville, Kentucky for car accident cases.

The article talks about three individuals who were injured in car accidents that called 1-800-ASK-GARY, which is a medical referral service they saw advertised on television.  All were referred to a clinic owned by Gary Kompothecras, Physicians Group.  Two of his three were referred to a law firm that was part of the group, Winters & Yonker.

The highlights of the stories of Jennifer Malina, Kathleen Weston and Sharon Langford include:

• Medical bills that were reduced to about half.
• Treatment for areas where there was no pain complaints.
• Confidential complaints to the Florida Bar Association.
• Non-use of available health insurance.
• A flight from Kentucky to Florida for surgery.

Investigation

There are 50 Physician’s Group clinics specializing in treatment in car-crash medicine. The ASK-GARY services is one of Florida’s 72 registered referral networks with hotlines such as 1-800-411-PAIN, 1-800-NeedHelp and 1-305-NO-FAULT. These networks also operate in other states such as Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Tennessee and Texas.

According to Captain Steven Smith, Florida’s Insurance Fraud Unit is conducting a criminal probe of accident-referral services. Smith told the Florida Bar Association that the State investigators are trying to determine whether clinics or lawyers make unlawful payments for referrals and whether patients are being treated for non-existing injuries. The FBI wants to find out if lawyers are directing treatment based on how much insurance coverage patients have.

According to Steven Butron, attorney for the clinics, Physician’s Group complies with all “laws, regulations and rules of ethics”. Kompothecras said in a statement, “We have always held strict adherence to the highest quality of care. We have served thousands of patients with no malpractice claims to date”.

Existing Views

Every accident victim has the ability to seek the lawyers and medical care of their choice. It will be interesting to see the results of the investigation by the Florida Bar of these referral hotlines.  It is important to choose the doctor and lawyer that are best for YOU if you are the victim of a car accident.

There has been a crack down on runners for attorneys in Kentucky.  The runners law prohibits the direct solicitation of car accident victims by attorneys for 30 days following the car accident.  Most injured car crash victims are looking for someone to trust by calling a referral line.  They make a phone call to be referred to a medical facility and a car accident lawyer that is best for their situation and circumstances.  What they don’t know is that there may only be one medical facility on the referral list.  They are being sent there no matter what their injury is.  A broken arm, whiplash or a head injury may all be referred to the same place.  The advertisement should tell the public this!  I would like to know what you think. Should this be information that is easily available to a caller of an injury help line?

Do you remember the ZZ Top song “Arrested While Driving While Blind”? It referred to driving while so drunk that you couldn’t see.  Today’s version might include a verse about texting and driving and how it makes you blind to the road. Controlling a motor vehicle requires 100% of one’s attention at ALL times! If you do anything that draws your attention away from driving it puts you and others at risk of death. Distracted driving remains a problem on Kentucky roads even though we know its risks and dangers. According to car safety experts, 40% of car accidents are caused by distracted driving. I know this is hard to believe, but distracted driving is more dangerous than drunk driving.

The most common distraction for drivers is the use of cell phones while behind the wheel.  In Kentucky, 192 collisions were reported in 2010 due to use of cell phones for talking or texting while driving. Despite the implementation of a texting ban in Kentucky and other States nationwide, there are still people using their cell phones and there are still reported cases of car accidents caused by texting while driving.

The Study made by the Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging at Carnegie Mellon University found out that brain power used while driving decreases by 40% when a driver listens to conversation or music. Driving while doing other things is just like driving blind. Watch this video produced by Cindy Speaker and you can really see the danger that distracted driving can cause you and the people around you.

As a personal injury attorney, it troubles me to see reports of victims, especially teens, involved in car crashes caused by distracted driving. Do people not realize that once they move attention away from driving, they are putting their own lives and the lives of innocent people at a huge danger? Texting can wait or unimportant text messages can ruin lives. A call and a text can wait until you have reached your destination. Don’t cause a serious car accident by Driving While Blind.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among ages 5-34 in the USA.  Many campaigns, projects and awareness drives for road safety are promoted by different organizations in order to save lives.   The American Automobile Association (AAA) is one organization that provides services in automotive and transportation arena, as well as conducting studies on motorist safety and supporting motorist rights.

AAA director of federal relations Chris Plaushin says they wanted to raise the profile and raise the awareness about road safety so they have conducted a study. Their study shows the average cost of $6 million per fatal accident in a motor vehicle crash. The cost of motor vehicle crashes was more than three times that of traffic congestion:  $299.5 billion compared with $97.7 billion.  The congestion costs include the price of gas wasted idling in traffic and loss of motorists’ time.  Traffic fatality cost was based on Federal Highway Administration data on 11 components:  property damage; lost earnings, loss of household activities;    medical costs; emergency services; travel delays; vocational rehabilitation; lost time at work; administrative costs; legal costs; and pain and lost quality of life.  Also, the average cost of an injury-only crash is $126,000.  These numbers are higher as compared to 2005 study wherein cost of traffic fatality was $3.24 million and the injury crash was only $68,170.

These figures are staggering, not only for fatalities but for a car accident.  Plaushin states that AAA’s study is designed to push road safety to the forefront of the national debate over transportation priorities as Congress considers a long-term highway funding bill.  More investment in proven safety measures such as cable barriers along medians to prevent crossover accidents , modernized roundabouts and rumble strips are among of the recommendations from the AAA in order to reduce the financial impact of motor vehicle crashes.  It is evident from this study that the cost of safety measures will be off set many times by the amount of many saved from fewer car accidents and fatal accidents.

The abnormal motion or force applied to the neck in motor vehicle accidents causes the neck’s movement beyond the normal range of motion that leads to “whiplash”. Neck pain can occur immediately, minutes, hours or even later after the car accident. Headaches are also experienced from this type of injury. Headaches are commonly cervicogenic, that is they originate in the structures of the neck such as ligaments.

A case report

You must be carful not to ignore headaches after a car accident.  A headache may be a symptom of a more sever injury.  Let me give you an exapmple from a study I recently read.

A 65-year-old woman visited a chiropractor six days after a car accident.  She voiced complaints of neck pain, lower back pain and headache. She did not seek immediate medical attention after the accident, she had no loss of consciosness and she did not hit any body parts on the interior of the vehicle. She took Advil, which provided her some pain relief. Her memory function and cognition was good. She described her headache as “a pressure-like sensation.” She went through a treatment program of mobilization of the upper spine, and manipulation of the lumbar area. She reported progress with all her symptoms other than the headache.

“Approximately one month after the initial treatment began, she reported feeling numbness in her right arm. She noticed her right leg was weak and that her right leg was dragging. She was also starting to lose her balance. On several occasions, her daughter caught her, as she was ‘falling.’” She was brought to the emergency room due the seriosness of her symptoms where she was diagnosed with a subdural hematoma. This condition is caused when brain tissue bleeds and puts pressure on the brain. The pressure results in neurological symptoms such as numbness or weakness, problems with concentration and severe headaches. She underwent surgical decompression to relieve pressure on the brain and two weeks later she had recovered with no significant physical impairment.

What we need to know?

Here’s the point.  A brain injury does not require direct head impact. To have a brain injury does not require loss of consciousness. It is hard to determine the difference in brain injury and cervicogenic headache. The lady I spoke of only had a whiplash injury.  There was no trauma directly to her head.  There are warning signs that may indicate subdural hematoma. These signs include:

• headaches getting worse as time progresses,
• headache may not begin until 24 to 72 hours after trauma, and
• weakness in one side of the body is often present.

If these signs are felt, immediately seek medical attention and testing such as CT or MRI to determine if you have subdural hematoma.  Do not assume it will go away.  Always seek medical attention.

If you and your loved ones experience headache after an auto accident, look for warning signs of serious trauma and ask for a medical referral in order to receive the proper diagnosis.  Don’t let this condition threaten your life.

This October Apple introduced its latest iPhone 4S that made a lot of people excited and craving to have one. This amazing iPhone comes with a voice-activated software program called “Siri”. It is like having a virtual assistant that helps you make calls, send messages, read incoming text aloud and set reminders.

The New York Times’ David Pogue declared that it is “Big News for Drivers”. The question I have is, as a personal injury attorney, does the use of Siri violate a states texting while driving law? Many states have ban texting while driving, including in Kentucky. Some states disallow the use of hands-free device and voice-activated technologies. Siri could write text messages for drivers but the need to check for misspelled words or the meaning of the message upon transcription can make a driver look at the phone. As more drivers begin utilizing this technology, state lawmakers will have to make a decision as whether Siri is safe to use on the road.  As of now, it will be up to the Courts to interpret the state statute to determine of the use of voice technology constitutes texting while driving.

According to research, cognitive distraction is experienced by drivers while talking on a hands-free phone. The brain can switch between two competing activities that leads to “inattention blindness”, a phenomenon that cause a person to “look at” but not “see” objects. However, research done at Virginia Tech University found that drivers using voice-activated hands-free devices have a lower risk of causing a car accident because the driver’s eyes stayed on the road.

Research on texting using voice-recognition technology is ongoing. The Governors Highway Safety Association, an advocacy group for improving traffic safety, is encouraging states to tackle known risks, such as manual texting while driving, and to ban cell phone use for novice drivers. Safety solutions are also recommended, such as educating the public about distracted driving and its risk and enforcing existing distracted driving laws.

With the sprout of high standard technologies such as iPhone’s Siri, Kentucky’s Court and Legislature will have to tackle the meaning of distracted driving and what it will include.  I believe all texting and driving should be banned.  What do you think will best prevent serious car accident?

During the 1990s, cell phones became widely available in the United States and since then their use has increased. Everyone has a cell phone. We now have smart phones and apps. They act like iPods. There is no telling what will be next. They seem to be attached to teens. There have been concerns have been over the risk of cancer from emitted radio-frequency (RF) waves.

The big question we have all heard is “Do cell phones increase the risk of brain tumors?” There have been several studies over the years to answer this question.

A new study throws doubts on the relation between cell phones and brain cancer. A Danish study of 358,403 people found the same cancer risks between people who had used a cell phone for about a decade and those who did not. The study concludes that It is not probable to get a tumor in the part of the brain closest to where phones are commonly held against the head. The radiation produced by cellular phones cannot instantly damage DNA and is not similar to stronger types of radiation like ultraviolet lights or X-rays. Radio Frequency waves from cell phones can heat up body tissues but are not thought to destroy human cells.

The results of the study may ease our minds over cancer risks from cell phone use but the fact is cell phone use can still be deadly.  As cell phone users are increasing, car accidents involving distracted driving are also increasing. Fatal accidents that end lives occur just because of the use of cell phones. Texting while driving is the major culprit and has reached the level of an epidemic from my point of view. Cell phones will continue to kill until we quit texting while driving.

The greatest risk of traffic crashes is among teenage drivers.  Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers across the United States.  There are many factors that cause teenagers to be such risky drivers.  Among these are:

• Poor hazard detection;
• Low risk perception;
• Risk taking;
• Lack of skill;
• Alcohol and drugs;
• and many others

There is a new study by crash experts that show why newly licensed teenagers have many more car accidents than adults,  that being gravitational forces or “g-forces” caused by braking late and then swerving abruptly.  This causes loss of control of the vehicle and leaves less time to react to hazards.

The U.S. National Institutes of Health studied 42 newly licensed teens and 55 parents, for comparative purposes, in order to assess their driving habits.  Their cars were outfitted with surveillance systems to collect information on acceleration and mileage, as well as video monitoring equipment.  The study showed that novice teen drivers are almost four times as likely to end up in a car accident or a close-call as adult drivers.  Teens experienced higher rates of crashes or near-crashes compared with their parents.  Teens behind the wheel experienced much higher g-forces because they engaged in sharp turning 25 to 30 times more often than their parents.  Consequently their accident risk was higher.

The NIH team concluded that risky driving declines with experience and adolescents learn to reduce risky driving behavior.  It remains unclear why teens maintain dangerous driving habits despite getting better at handling risky g-force maneuvering.  I would speculate that teens are risk takers who enjoy the thrill of speed.  Another thought is they are just clueless about related safety concerns.  Parents have a big job in keeping their teenage driver kids to be aware of the safety measures in driving to follow in order to avoid accidents and fatalities on the roadway.