Ford Recalling 450,000 Minivans and SUV's

Automatic Braking in Cars Can Help Reduce Crashes

SC Legislature Approves Lawsuit Payout Limit Bill has limited effect on personal injury and auto accident cases

Statistics Indicate Red Light Cameras Reduce Accidents

Text-Blocking Technology to Help Reduce Distracted Driving Accidents

Highway Deaths at Lowest Level Since 1949

March Madness: Close Games Cause Problems on the Roads

Summer Driving Safety

How to keep your family and others safe from drunk drivers, reckless drivers and road defects by Conway / Myrtle Beach Accident Attorney Dirk Derrick

On Tuesday, I attended court with one of the nicest couples I have ever represented concerning the wrongful death of their daughter.  This was the second child out of their four that had been killed in an automobile accident.  This daughter  was killed as a result of  the combination of a drunk driver and a defective highway in Conway South Carolina.  Their story made me think of what we as a community can do to safeguard our families on the highways. 

 The top seven things you can do are:

  1.  Don’t drink alcohol and drive a vehicle.  If you do, you are playing Russian roulette  with your life and the life 
of innocent families.

  2.  Don’t talk or text on a cell phone while driving.  A new study shows that talking on the phone distracts        drivers to the same extent as having a blood-alcohol level of .08.  

  3.  Sign a contract with your children which makes their driving a vehicle conditioned on:  no alcohol, no cell phone use,  and limiting the number of kids riding in their car.  These three things greatly increase the chance of your child being involved in fatal accident.  Call me if you want a sample contract.

  4.  If you see a reckless driver or someone who appears to be intoxicated, pull off the road and call 911 giving the Highway Patrol the tag number and location of the vehicle.  

  5.  If you become aware of a store that is selling alcohol to minors for profit or an adult providing alcohol to minors in order to be “ cool ”, contact my office at 800-704-5412 and I will make sure the appropriate law enforcement agency is notified to investigate.  These irresponsible stores and adults are major contributors to thousands of  deaths per year.

  6.  If you see a defective portion of highway, report it to the South Carolina DOT.  Road defects cause numerous one-car fatalities each year.  These defects can include:  extreme potholes which cause loss of control; shoulders of the road which are more than 2 inches lower than the highway’s surface which cause over-correction accidents; and portions of the highway which have improper drainage  causing water to stand and hydroplaning.  Do not assume that the DOT knows of the problem.  Call the SC DOT at 365-2130 to report road problems.

  7.  Drive defensively.  My father, as well as all driver education teachers, always teach  “drive defensively”.  But you really need to.  In almost every case  I handle, one party was driving legally and responsibly.  My suggestion is to treat every vehicle that you face and every vehicle entering the roadway as a bullet and you are the target.  You do not know if they are drunk or distracted, so you better assume the worst. 

Be safe.

Driving while talking on phone impairs a driver as much as having a .08 alcohol level

Why I Wrote "The Truth About Your South Carolina Injury Claim"

Why I Wrote "The Truth About Your South Carolina Injury Claim"

One day you are minding your own business living your life, and in a heartbeat, a drunk; a texting teenagers; a reckless driver or just someone not paying attention, comes into your lane and changes your day, your year and sometimes your life....with no warning. If you are like most people this has never happened to you before. All of a sudden:

 You are being contacted by insurance companies;

 You are being asked to sign medical releases;

 You are being asked to give a recorded statement;

 You are being asked to take a quick settlement;

 You can’t work;

 Your bills are adding up;

 Creditors are calling;

 You need more medical treatment;

 You can’t afford the treatment you need;

 Adjusters are smiling and being friendly and companies are telling you that you can trust them because they are 
 “good hands people”, “a good neighbor”, or “on your side”.  

 Your friends and family are warning you to be careful;

 You see lawyers on billboards, on TV, in the Yellow pages and all over the phone book who say they:

  Are Personal Injury Lawyers,
  Really care for you,
  Are aggressive, and
  Will see you without a fee;

You need information quickly so you won’t make a mistake.
 
You don’t know who to trust and you don’t want to receive a sales pitch from a fast talking lawyer.
I wrote this book for you to have good information in your hands prior to talking to an insurance adjuster, prior to making a mistake and prior to hiring an attorney.
 

Download it in 60 seconds for free.  BE INFORMED.  http://www.derricklawfirm.com/

Every day, 36 people in the United States die, and approximately 700 more are injured, in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver.

Every day, 36 people in the United States die, and approximately 700 more are injured, in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver.

The Problem

• According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), about three in every ten Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some point in their lives.
  
  
• In 2006, 13,470 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (32%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States.
  
  
• In one year, over 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. This accounts for less than 1% of the 159 million self-reported episodes of alcohol–impaired driving among U.S. adults each year.
  
  
• Alcohol-related crashes in the United States cost about $51 billion a year.
  
  

Protect Yourself and Your Family and Friends

During the holiday season, and year-round, take steps to make sure that you and everyone you celebrate with avoids driving under the influence of alcohol. Following these tips from NHTSA can help you stay safe:

• Plan ahead. Always designate a non-drinking driver before any holiday party or celebration begins.
  
  
• Take the keys. Do not let a friend drive if they are impaired.
  
  
• Be a helpful host. If you’re hosting a party this holiday season, remind your guests to plan ahead and designate their sober driver, always offer alcohol-free beverages, and make sure all of your guests leave with a sober driver.

Know How Communities Can Help

Proven community and state-level methods for reducing alcohol-impaired driving include:

• Sobriety checkpoints. Studies found that fatal crashes thought to involve alcohol dropped by about 22% following implementation of sobriety checkpoints.
  
  
• Minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) laws. Studies found that raising the MLDA to 21 reduced crashes by about 16% among people ages 18-20 years.
  
  
• 0.08% BAC laws. Fatal alcohol-related crashes declined about 7% after 0.08% BAC laws were passed.
  
  
• "Zero tolerance" laws for young drivers. Three studies found that zero tolerance laws resulted in declines in fatal crashes among drivers ages 18.20 years of between 9% and 24%.

Resources for More Information

Web-based Resources

CDC: Impaired Driving Fact Sheet: http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/drving.htm

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Traffic Safety Facts 2006: Alcohol-Impaired Driving

Troopers ready to Arrest those who choose to Drink and Drive over the 4th

The Fourth of July holiday is cause for celebration. Many of those celebrations unfortunately end with someone drinking and driving. A new Highway Patrol DUI enforcement team aims to prevent drunk driving accidents and fatalities.

Highway Patrol based the statewide team on one being used in Horry County. Last year, Highway Patrol assigned six troopers to the DUI team in Horry County. They say it resulted in more DUI arrests and fewer DUI-related fatalities.

Officials want to see those same results in Florence and Darlington counties where DUI crashes and fatalities have increased this year. Troopers say they will fan out across those counties and hold safety checkpoints, until they see a drop in DUI accidents. (Wpde)

The 10 Worst Insurance Companies in America

In order to help consumers before they have to file a claim,
researchers at the American Association for Justice (AAJ)
did a thorough investigation to determine the 10 worst insurance
companies in America.  AAJ studied court documents, SEC
and FBI records, state insurance department investigations and
complaints,  news accounts from across the country, and the
testimony and depositions of former insurance agents and adjusters.

To no surprise to anyone litigating cases over the past 10 years,
 Allstate was rated the Worst Insurance Company in America by a longshot.

Allstate’s organized and settled plan to put profits over policyholders
 gave Allstate the title.  According to CEO Thomas Wilson,
Allstate’s mission is clear: “our obligation is to earn a return for
our shareholders.” The  “good hands” people actually teaches its
claims agents to employ a “boxing gloves” strategy against its own
 policyholders.A former Allstate adjuster Jo Ann Katzman said,
“We were told to lie by our supervisors—it’s tough to look at
 people and know you’re lying.”

Allstate's plan for profit:

a. Get the Premiums:

   1. Hire your hometown neighbor that you know and trust to sell
       insurance to you. I personally know and like our local agents 
       and they are good people doing nothing wrong.  My wife has relatives
       in another state that sell Allstate insurance.

    2. Use a well liked and soft spoken actor to encourage you to
        buy insurance from them because they are "the good hands people".

b. Delay and Deny claims

    1. Instead of paying small claims, try to find anything to deny or delay
        the claim. Wear down claimants. See  Anderson Cooper's CNN special
        report located here and part 2  here..

    2. Don't use the same local agents who know you, rather use teams
       of adjusters, most of whom you don't know,
        to deny and delay your claim to wear you down while they 
        hold your money.

    3. Drag out small claims by refusing to settle to make it unprofitable
        for attorneys to represent the victims. Once attorneys are out the way,
        Allstate can bully those making claims.

c.  Hold down Jury awards once case gets to court 

     1. Participate in Tort Reform campaign by telling potential jurors
         through ads that fraud, frivolous suits and high verdicts are causing
         premiums to rise. 

      2.  Just in case potential jurors research for themselves and determine
           that the tort reform story is a lie, Allstate supports big business
           politicians who will pass laws to make it harder to get fair
           verdicts and  overrule you and your neighbors when you determine what is fair..

No wonder they come in at number 1 as the worst Insurance company in America. 
The entire list is listed below.

The Ten Worst
Insurance Companies
1. Allstate
2. Unum
3. AIG
4. State Farm
5. Conseco
6. WellPoint
7. Farmers
8. UnitedHealth
9. Torchmark
10. Liberty Mutual

Preventing problems instead of trying to fix them

Why you need uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on your own vehicle

Statistics on how Alcohol is destroying our kids