*There are three classes of motor home vehicles – which are decided by the weight of the recreational vehicle. The Class “A” vehicle is most like a home and not unlike stripping a truck chassis and overlaying it with the framework of a bus – only with living accommodations. The obvious advantages are roominess and a high perch for the driver.

*The advantages are also disadvantages as well. These vehicles are cumbersome at best – and difficult to maneuver, park, back up and handle in an emergency situation. Driving the vast majority of RVs requires no special license and dealers will tell prospective buyers that handling them is easier than many newcomers think. In some states, the very largest motor homes may require a special driving test or written test for a different class of driver’s license. Regardless of size, personal use recreation vehicles do not require a commercial driver’s license.

*There are a variety of other types of recreational vehicles as well including the travel trailer, van/camper, attached cab, truck campers, pop-up campers and fifth wheel models. All come with the need to develop an expertise in handling before taking them out on the ‘open-road’ and drivers would be well served with a little training before taking the road.

Greg Baumgartner is a Houston personal injury attorney and the founder of the Baumgartner law firm, which is dedicated to helping personal injury victims seek civil justice. If you would like to speak with a Houston accident attorney call the Baumgartner firm.

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The one thing that is rarely discussed, however, in the decision to buy a motor home is the potential dangers inherent in these vehicles. Oh sure, most drivers believe that because it’s about the same size as a bus – or even rivals the size of a semi-truck that there is a natural safety factor built into it.

Unfortunately, though, passengers (and even drivers) tend to mistakenly believe that because of its size – a motorhome is naturally safe and they often overlook the one factor that continues to save lives in any accident – the seat belt.

Only a few weeks ago an RV carrying nearly a dozen people experienced a tire blowout that caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle – sending it careening into a tree and killing two people. The others were admitted to the hospital with varying degrees of injuries. One minute the group was enjoying the revelry of traveling to a ‘bowl game’ and the next – tragedy.

Any safety precaution that one must take into account for driving a car, truck, bus, or semi is relevant to motorhome driving as well. Keep the vehicle in good working order – and wear your seatbelt.  Many motor homes or custom vans have aftermarket parts such as auxiliary fuel tanks and in some cases an aftermarket part can be very dangerous as some manufacturers of aftermarket parts do not adequately test them for real life safety.

Greg Baumgartner is a Houston personal injury lawyer and the founder of the Baumgartner law firm, a Texas personal injury law firm dedicated to helping families of people seriously injured or killed in accidents. For a free no obligation consultation with a Houston personal injury attorney call the Baumgartner law firm at 281-587-1111.

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*Experts suggest that for every one case of nursing abuse, exploitation or neglect that is reported, there are five more that go unreported.

*Perhaps as many as one and two million Americans age 65 or older have been exploited, neglected or otherwise mistreated by someone on whom they depended for care and/or protection. However, as few as 1 in 14 of these incidents are actually brought to the attention of public authorities.

•The percentage of nursing home residents under the age of 65 has doubled in the last decade from 7 to 14%. At the same time the average age of the resident has dropped from 83 to 79.

•Five percent of the older adults in the United States reside in nursing facilities (1.8 million of the 36 million over the age of 65). Of these, three-fourths or 75% of the residents are female. In addition, clearly half or 50% are 85 years of age and older.

Researchers also found that the average cost of a room in a private nursing home is expected to triple in the next decade. (Elder care is considered to be a coming industry of note as our population ages).

Families should sit down with their aging loved ones and begin to plan for a future that is respectful and loving. They need to be part of the conversation about a solution.

Greg Baumgartner is a and the founder of the Baumgartner law firm, a Texas personal injury law firm dedicated to helping families of people injured or killed in accidents. For a free no obligation consultation with Texas personal injury attorneys call the Baumgartner law firm at 281-587-1111 or toll free at 1(866) 758-4529.

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Green vehicles are entering the market with greater speed now. Drivers are looking for authentic alternatives to gas-powered engines and their choices are increasing constantly. It seems every manufacturer has a green car to offer the driving public. However, of late there have been some surprising setbacks – most notably with the batteries. Several tests have shown they may have a propensity to catch fire –and a car fire is never a good thing in the potential driver’s mind. One manufacturer has offered to buy back the vehicles from their customers until the ‘problem is solved’ but few have taken them up on the offer. What follows is a short reminder to car companies:

Safety first – then green.

Greg Baumgartner is a car fire attorney and the founder of the Baumgartner law firm, a Texas personal injury law firm dedicated to helping families of people injured or killed in accidents. For a free no obligation consultation with a Texas personal injury attorney call the Baumgartner law firm at 281-587-1111.

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A local mother lost her daughter to a drunk driver two years ago – and another youth was also killed. This woman has chosen to bring the cause of ‘drunk driving’ to the public’s attention by creating a Facebook page on which she regularly posts photos and other relative information that highlights people who have been arrested for ‘drunk driving’ within her county along. Strangers to the site will probably be shocked to find that there are approximately 600 people on the page – including a police officer, attorney and other average citizens.

The site is meant to be a tribute to her daughter as well as a blatant reminder that drunk driving is a huge problem in her county. It is mind boggling to imagine the number of arrests multiplied by all of the counties within the state of Texas alone – and then across the country. There are literally thousands of people stopped an detained each day for suspected DUIs – representing a huge potential for catastrophic injuries and deaths that may have been averted in each instance.

If you believe that someone is drinking and driving – contact your local law enforcement – and allow them to take it from there. Don’t be a statistic and do not ride drunk.

Finally, this story is a wonderful example of the positive role social media can play in people’s lives and how a tragedy can turn out to help prevent future loss of life.

Greg Baumgartner is a Houston personal injury lawyer and the founder of the Baumgartner law firm, which is dedicated to helping personal injury victims seek civil justice. If you would like to speak with a Houston injury lawyer call the Baumgartner firm.

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1. Plan to spend a half-day visiting the sites. This will allow you to see the manner in which children and adults interact over long periods of time. What do adults do when a child cries? What is the supervision like? Check their credentials and those of all staff members.

1. Take a thorough tour of the facility – both indoors and outdoors. Is it child-friendly? It is clean and sanitary? How are meals and snacks prepared, served and then cleaned up? Are there children in diapers? What is the manner in which diapered babies are changed? How are the diapers disposed of?

1. Do they offer an educational program for children beginning at the youngest ages? How do they keep parents appraised of the curriculum? Are activities age — appropriate? What is the ratio of adults to children? What are the sleeping facilities like? Is the school licensed? Are there a lot of stimulating and fun toys and books for children?

1. How are children punished or how is inappropriate behavior addressed?

If you are not comfortable with your child’s daycare arrangements your job will be compromised. Take the time to make the best daycare choice for your child. If your child has been injured in a day care and you would like a no obligation consultation with a day care accident lawyer in Houston, call the Baumgartner Law Firm for a free consultation.

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Unfortunately, working is a necessity for most of us and even when we believe we have located the perfect substitute ‘parenting’ group we still hold our breaths as we hand our children over. And with good reason as it turns out because statistics show that thousands of children receive injuries of one sort or another and some quite serious while at daycare each day.

There are times when the injuries are very serious. Take, for instance, the case of the mother whose child rolled off a changing table and hit the floor when he had been left unattended. Even though the daycare center claimed the child was fine – the mother took her son straightaway to the emergency room where they discovered he had a fractured skull and concussion. Other examples like broken arms, and legs occur much more frequently in day care accidents than you would believe.

Parents frequently pulled their child out of that daycare center immediately and then sue them for negligence and sometimes even punitive damages.  Even when the child eventually recovers – the parents (particularly the mother) often have a hard time not feeling guilty for entrusting their little one to the day care after a day care accident.

Greg Baumgartner is a Houston Day care accident lawyer and the founder of the Baumgartner Law Firm, which is dedicated to helping personal injury victims seek civil justice. If you would like to speak with a child injury lawyer call the Baumgartner firm.

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*OSHA has developed a series of measures to help prevent heat illnesses of outdoor workers when the heat index rises above 91 degrees.

*OSHA developed the standards to ensure the safety of crane hoisted personnel platforms – common site where skyscrapers are being erected.

*OSHA recently fined a company for not being in compliance with standards to prevent cave-ins (for workers who are working below ground in any number of scenarios).

In addition, OSHA has set standards for everything from mandatory safety training to exposure to asbestos and bloodborne pathogens to permissible protective equipment.

Safety regulations are to be posted and visible for employees as well as incorporated into employee handbooks. Most companies require employees to initial or otherwise indicate that they have read all safety requirements of the job for which they will be employed.

In the end, OSHA plays an important part in keeping Americans safe on the job.

Additionally, after a serious on the job injury or a construction accident the violation of the rules set out by OSHA can be a powerful tool to Texas personal injury attorneys.

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It was not many years ago that many prominent political leaders fought hard to keep open containers legal on Texas highways. We have come a long way since the days when drunken driving accidents were not subject to the same penalties as they are today. Not only are DWI accidents resulting in stiff fines and jail time, but also civil cases have been generous in awarding the innocent victim substantial damages from a drunk driving accident.

To the credit of Texas, we have come a long way in the fight to raise awareness of the dangers of drunken driving. We have much work to do and such efforts such as “don’t write drunk” that have been adopted in our neighboring states should be adopted here as well.

Local municipalities such as Houston have adopted “no refusal weekends” where a suspected drunk driver can and will be tested at the scene for alcohol. With New Year’s coming up, the Baumgartner law firm would encourage everyone to drive responsibly and designate a driver if you are apt to celebrate the new year with alcoholic beverages.

Greg Baumgartner is a Houston DWI accident injury lawyer and also the founder of the Baumgartner law firm. If you are loved one have been involved in an accident with a drunk driver and would like to speak with a Houston DUI accident injury attorney please call the Baumgartner law firm for a no obligation consultation.

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*Orthopedic injuries. Bones can be fractured, crushed or severed. Each of these types of injuries require extensive medical care and take weeks if not months for recovery – if recovery is possible.

*Brain injuries. Semi-truck collisions can result in traumatic brain injuries of victims – and a full recovery is not always possible. The injury occurs either due to a direct blow to the head or from the rapid movement of the brain and head during impact. In addition, a brain injury can lead to secondary conditions such as intracranial pressure or cerebral edema. These latter injuries may not manifest themselves immediately.

*Burn injuries. Most people do not give much thought to the fact that there are a half a dozen types of flammable liquid in their vehicles that are subject to ignition under certain circumstances. Vehicle collisions may result in an explosion and/or fire that can lead to varying degrees of burn injuries. According to one source there are approximately 200,000 car fires annually and several hundred deaths as a result.

*Spinal cord, back and neck injuries. Whiplash is the most common example of these types of injuries – and it is a serious problem indeed. Whiplash manifests itself in a number of symptoms and could take months of intense therapy to relief. However, there are other types of spinal cord injuries including partial or full paralysis – in some cases this is permanent.

Of course there are residual emotional and psychological problems that we do not have time to address in this blog. It is safe to say that survivors of 18 wheeler truck accidents face months and years of varying types of rehabilitation – and for some their lives are forever altered.

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