According to the Journal of Commerce:

“While there were fewer track defects than in the same 2008 period, human causes and train equipment defects – two other FRA accident categories – both declined more sharply this year as falling traffic levels due to the recession helped bring down the total number of train wrecks.

The safety agency said out of 736 train accidents this year through May, track defects were the primary cause in 239 or 32.47 percent of them. A year earlier, 1,042 accidents were reported with 351 due to track problems, for 33.69 percent.

In the past, rail industry officials and federal policy makers have targeted human factors as the leading cause of accidents. Unions have pressed for more training by railroads and for elimination of off-the-clock limbo time in which workers would remain out on the line beyond scheduled work hours and therefore at higher risk of fatigue.

Late last year, Congress ordered changes in work hours that took effect this summer and could reduce work-schedule fatigue risks.”

While any changes that promote and result in a higher degree of safety are clearly positive, the raw numbers involved are surprising.  If you or someone you love has been injured in a train accident, regardless of the cause, contact the train accident lawyers at the Phillips National Injury Group today to schedule a free initial consultation.

Now comes word from Information Week that the driver has been indicted:

“According to law enforcement officials, motorman Aiden Quinn admitted that he was texting his girlfriend while his trolley traveled nearly 600 feet through a tunnel and ran a yellow and a red light. When Quinn looked up from his cell phone, he was just 8 feet from the rear of a stopped trolley, officials said.

The indictment was issued after a grand jury examined the accident. While there were no life-threatening injuries to passengers, a few suffered serious injuries. Three trolleys were destroyed.

The crash caused the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority to ban operators from carrying electronic devices on trains or buses — the strictest ban in the United States.”

While there was no law technically on the books at the time of the crash that banned this sort of behavior, the driver’s actions were clearly egregious enough to trigger a criminal indictment.  He faces up to three years in prison.  The driver could also face substantial civil liability, and if you’ve been injured by a driver of any vehicle who was clearly distracted, contact the accident lawyers at the Phillips National Injury Group today to schedule a free initial consultation.

According to an article published by the Associated Press:

“The four most seriously injured victims in a weekend light-rail crash were improving Monday, as a union official said the operator of the train had blacked out just before the collision with a parked train.

The hospitalized driver told officials from San Francisco’s transit workers union that a “medical condition” was to blame for his loss of consciousness, said Irwin Lum, the union’s president.

Federal investigators reported Sunday that Gray had turned off the train’s automatic controls moments before the collision.

Lum said drivers under pressure to keep their trains running on time turn off the controls before entering the West Portal station to speed loading and unloading.

The NTSB’s Turpin said the operator never engaged the emergency brake, and a mechanical inspection of the train that caused the accident has so far not uncovered any problems.”

Whether the medical condition cited is one that should have been considered before allowing the driver to operate the train has yet to be determined.  Regardless, 47 people were injured as a result of this problem, and if you have been harmed in a train accident, you need to contact the attorneys at the Phillips National Injury Group today to schedule a free initial consultation.

According to CNN:

“Apparently the conductor for one of the trains miscalculated a turn. It’s still under investigation right now,” a police officer told CNN. He would not provide his name.

At least 44 people were injured, a fire official said.

None of the injuries was extremely serious, said Leslie Dubbin, administrator for operations at San Francisco General Hospital.

Initial reports indicated a one-car train traveling at low speed collided with a stopped one-car train, Muni spokesman Judson True said in a written statement. The accident occurred on the outbound platform of West Portal Station, he said.”

While the words ‘extremely serious’ can be somewhat difficult to decipher in terms of just how serious any of the injuries could be, the bottom line is that no one paid the ultimate price for the latest in a series of mistakes in this setting.  Crashes in Washington, D.C. and at Disney World in Florida have proven fatal for some.

Regardless, the situation does highlight how completely dependent passengers of trains are on their conductors and carrier companies to provide them with safe transportation.  If you or someone you love has been harmed due to such an occurrence, you need to contact the train accident lawyers at the Phillips National Injury Group today to schedule a free initial consultation.

According to Bloomberg:

“American International Group Inc. and insurers at Lloyd’s of London are among firms that may face a combined total of more than $100 million in claims tied to the Washington Metro crash that killed nine people last month.

The costs to the pool of insurers, which also includes Bermuda-based XL Capital Ltd. and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., will depend on estimates of medical care, loss of expected lifetime earnings and the degree of negligence by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

The cost “will easily exceed $100 million,” said Peter Grenier, a lawyer at Washington-based Bode & Grenier LLP, who negotiated a $2.3 million settlement for a man who lost his wife when she was struck by a Metro bus in 2007.”

The costs assocaited with medical care, loss of lifetime earnings and the like are all closely tied to the form of damages that would be sought by passengers in lawsuits for negligence.  Therefore, when a disaster like this occurs, many insurers will simply look at the situation from a financial standpoint.  Basically, they will decide whether paying the claims as settlements to any lawsuits is less expensive than fighting the claims in court and potentially still having to pay the claims.

However, in order to secure the best settlement from insurance companies in these sorts of situations, it’s always best to work with an accident attorney.  Contact the lawyers at the Phillips National Injury Group today to schedule a free initial consultation if you or someone you love has been harmed in an accident.

According to ABC News:

“The National Transportation Safety Board had twice warned that trains like the ones involved in the Monday wreck could be dangerous to passengers.

Fenty’s comments came as the NTSB learned that the operator of the D.C. Metro train that crashed into a stopped train ahead of it likely hit the emergency brake before the impact, but the breaks may have been behind schedule for maintenance.

“There are control positions that are consistent with the application of the emergency brake,” NTSB investigator Debbie Hersman told “Good Morning America.”

The NTSB is also looking into reports that the emergency brakes aboard that train were two months overdue for maintenance, but it has not been able to confirm those reports.

Officials said Metro trains travel above sensors along the rail that can automatically detect when trains are getting too close to one another. The computerized system is designed to stop them from coming within 1,200 feet of each other.”

If either of these two theories prove to be true, then an enormous amount of liability could be attached to several parties if wrongful death lawsuits are brought.  If you or someone you love has been injured in a train accident, contact the attorneys at the Phillips National Injury Group today to schedule a free initial consultation.

According to CNN:

“The crash occurred just before 5 p.m. on an above-ground track in the District of Columbia near the border with Takoma Park, Maryland.

Both trains were on the same track, and one of them was stationary when the crash happened, said John Catoe, Metro general manager.

The investigators “are going to look very carefully at the event recorder in the train that hit the stopped train,” he said. “Unfortunately, in a number of train accidents recently, both in Boston and in Southern California, you had the engineer being distracted. My hope is that’s not the case here.”

In a Boston trolley accident in May and a commuter train accident near Los Angeles last fall, the operators were sending text messages just before the accidents. Since then, the California Public Utilities Commission has banned train engineers from using cell phones on duty.

The Washington transit authority told investigators that trains normally operate in automatic mode at rush hour, Hersman said, adding that investigators were trying to determine whether that was true during the accident.”

Clearly, this is a story that will continue to be covered for days as new facts are uncovered.  Perhaps the most critical to many is the determination of how this accident occurred.  If you or someone you love has been injured or worse in a train accident, contact the attorneys at the Phillips National Injury Group today to schedule a free initial consultation.

Unfortunately, a high amount of road construction when mixed with heavy traffic is no laughing matter.  Some areas have reported a huge increase in accidents on their roads, most of which are occurring in construction zones.  Officials have offered many reasons for this spike.  According to an article published on KUTV.com in Salt Lake City:

“No matter where you go in Utah this summer, you’re bound to run into a construction zone. “It’s one of the busiest years UDOT has ever experienced,” said Adan Carrillo with the Utah Department of Transportation.

In fact right now, UDOT is working 280 projects across the state. And with all the construction, comes accidents.

This weekend, emergency crews responded to as many as seven crashes across the valley in construction zones, according to the Utah Highway Patrol.

One of them in North Salt Lake at I-215 and Beck Street turned deadly when the driver of a tow truck shot across the barriers, and into oncoming traffi,c killing the driver of an SUV.

Troopers say it was all because the driver of the tow truck got distracted.

They say distracted drivers in construction zones are a big part of the cause of accidents.”

Clearly, the ‘common’ mistakes that drivers make on the open road are much more likely to lead to tragic results in these construction zones.  If you or someone you love has been injured in an auto accident, you need to contact the Phillips National Injury Group today to schedule a free initial consultation.

According to the Arizona Republic:

“The crash was the 22nd of the year and a setback for Metro’s improving safety record. After averaging nearly five crashes a month, Metro’s last crash was May 15; two collisions involving trains occurred in May.

The Route 8 bus made a right turn across the path of the tracks to continue its run down Washington Street when it collided with a two-car train carrying about 30 people.

Metro reported moderate damage to the front left of the train and the rear of the bus.”

It should be noted that Metro’s train has not been found at fault in any of the 21 crashes so far this year, but investigators stated that it would take at least 10 days to complete the investigation surrounding this incident.  Clearly and regardless of fault, the presence of the train in the downtown area is proving to be a rocky adjustment for those who traverse the area regularly.

Bus and train accidents can occur at any time, and if you or someone you love has been injured in such an incident, you need to contact the accident attorneys at the Phillips National Injury Group today to schedule a free initial consultation.

It seems that one of the common and relevant questions that’s being asked is how these products ever made it to the market without having to be approved by the FDA in the first place, as this is the agency that’s charged with protecting consumers from such dangers.  While it’s a valid question, there’s a simple, and somewhat troubling, response - Hydroxycut slipped through a legal loophole.

That loophole deals with the type of products that exist within Hydroxycut’s overall line.  If these products were classified as medications or prescription drugs, they would have had to go through the same approval process with the FDA that’s required for any medication that’s currently on the market.  There are specific steps that need to be taken that include completing and reporting clinical trials, and if all goes well the FDA will allow the sale of these products.

However, Hydroxycut is not classified as a drug or a medication.  Instead, it’s classified as a supplement, and supplements do not require FDA approval before hitting the market on a retail basis.  Therefore, no studies needed to be done, no trials needed to be published and no regulation was required beforehand.  Instead, the FDA is limited to a reactionary role in this situation, and can only get involved after reports of side effects and injuries surface.

Should the FDA have approval power over supplements?  That’s a legitimate question.  Regardless of the answer, if you have been injured as a result of using Hydroxycut, you still have legal rights and options regardless of the classification of these products.  Contact the defective products lawyers at the Phillips National Injury Group today to schedule a free initial consultation.