With fall approaching and winter not far behind it’s a good time to remember that this is ‘deer’ season and add extra caution to your driving. While these animals may seem beautiful from afar – they are the cause of numerous crashes and fatalities each year. If you keep the following advice in mind – you may save yourself or a family member from potential disaster.

*Be alert when driving through the countryside particularly the Texas hill country. Unfortunately we tend to get lost in the beauty of a particularly ethereal location and only snap back to reality when an animal darts out in front of our car. Try to stay focused and drive defensively.

*Do not speed on country roads. That way – you’ll be able to react to an animal appearing suddenly before you. In inclement weather when the roads are more slippery – slowing down is even more important.

*Keep an eye on the road in front of you and actively scan both sides of the road in search of animals that may run out. In addition, always be especially wary at sunrise and sunset because these are the times that deer and moose are more active.

*Use your high beams at night so as to illuminate more of the road. If a deer runs out in front quickly beep the horn to prevent them from becoming mesmerized by the headlights. Slow down as quickly as possible but do not swerve radically. It may be better to hit a deer than to lose control of the car.

Greg Baumgartner is an auto accident attorney and the founder of the Baumgartner law firm, which is dedicated to helping personal injury victims with serious injury seek civil justice. If you would like to speak with Houston accident attorneys call the Baumgartner firm at 281-587-1111.

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Millions of parents take their children out to a day care facility of some type each week. It is the most recent phenomenon in the evolution of parenting and 2 working parent homes (although many will dispute this in our challenging economic times). Although we have touched on the topic of child safety and day cares – it deserves regular revisiting to support the knowledge base of new families.

*First, do a thorough search – internet, police and otherwise – of the credentials of the facility you are considering. Any glitches whatsoever – social worker warnings, city citations, etc. – are cause to remove this facility from your list of considerations.

*Take a day to visit the facility and watch their long term interactions with children. One cannot glean an appropriate and thorough view of the authenticity of a daycare’s program in a short segment of time – such as a half-hour or even more.

*Ask for and then take time to read any curricular or program material they provide. Also request the credentials of any employees or even volunteer staff members.

*Ask how they handle children who are particularly challenging. What are their policies and procedures related to discipline.

*Find out their student to teacher ratio, the policy on snacks and meals, outdoor play time and whether or not they allow television or movie viewing. How are naptimes arranged and what is their cleaning schedule for all materials in the facility as well as the facility itself.

No matter what day care you choose – if your child does not seem to be adjusting well OR otherwise has obvious (or subtle) and persisting mood changes – do not hesitate to consider child care alternatives. You cannot function if you are worried that your child is not being properly cared for.

Don’t wait to make a change.

Greg Baumgartner is a Houston child 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 child care accident lawyer call the Baumgartner firm.

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Recently the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration kicked off a child safety campaign complete with loveable characters and an easy-to-remember slogan. The motto – “Think Safe, Ride Safe, Be Safe” is catchy and simple enough for children to remember. It is predicated on the fact that automobile accidents continue to be one of the leading causes of wrongful death for children between the ages of 2 to 7 years of age.

The safety campaign is interactive and is designed to deliver ‘life-saving lessons’ to children as they travel by bus, bike, car or on foot. Developed by the well-known creators of Chuggington, the public service program includes a website, downloadable activity and coloring sheets, and other fun activities that will engage children while delivering valuable safety lessons.

For instance, if you visit the ‘bike safety’ webpage you’ll find valuable parent tips to help guide your child to make safe bike riding decisions such as wearing a helmet, preventing accidents and proper bike care. Children are urged to take a safety pledge, watch safety videos and complete a safety activity book. The program has been created in collaboration with educators and other professionals around the country – and except for the requisite taxpayer subsidy -the program is delivered at no cost to the user.

Parents, I urge you to take the time to visit the site and familiarize yourself and your children to take the time to use the educational materials available on this site and become experts in traffic safety.

Greg Baumgartner is an accident attorney in Houston 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 law firm call the Baumgartner firm.

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In our previous article we discussed some new and interesting data related to vehicle collisions that should give the driver pause before making unsafe driving decisions such as driving intoxicated or distracted. Consider the following information.

*In the case of head-on collisions, the result is often one or more fatalities – while only a minor portion of these are injury-producing only and even less result in property damage alone. In other words, head-on collisions are almost certain to cause death.

*Other causes of fatalities include loss of control of a vehicle when negotiating a curve, an unawareness of slowed traffic ahead and/ or vehicle merging or changing lanes. In addition, the top five causes of car accidents are: failure to yield the right of way, speeding or driving too fast for road conditions, failing to stop at lights or stop signs, reckless driving and drunk or drugged driving.

*In terms of cost – accidents account for a significant portion of the Gross National Product. The total cost of accidents averages over $32 billion dollars a year to the economy – of which nearly a billion and a half goes to emergency services, another $11 billion goes to legal costs, and $20 billion goes to lost productivity.  Another $39 billion is spent in property damages.

*An average of 40,000 people lose their lives each year on American roadways. Everyone needs to drive safely.

Greg Baumgartner is a successful wrongful death attorney in Houston 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 fatal accident lawyer call the Baumgartner firm.

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Motor vehicle accident facts are compiled by multiple sources in the United States – some agencies are private, some public, many are governmental including (but not limited to) FARS (fatal accident reporting system), IIHS (insurance institute for highway safety), NCHS (national center for highway statistics), NHTSA (national highway transportation safety administration) and NCSS (national crash severity system). Frankly, you’d think that with such powerful organizations and dozens others like it there would be NO traffic accidents or fatalities whatsoever. Unfortunately, nothing could be farther from the truth. Let us consider some of the very real facts about traffic injuries and deaths that occur annually across the country.

*In a recent year there were 28 million vehicles damaged to some degree due to a traffic accident. These were the result of 12 and a half million traffic accidents that caused over 2 million permanent and disabling injuries to drivers, passengers or other victims (such as pedestrians and other nearby witnesses).

*There are a suspected and significant number of additional injuries that are never reported due to such things as a lack of insurance on the part of the person who caused the accident and/or hit and run drivers who fail to seek medical help for fear of being caught and prosecuted.

*Rear-end collisions are the major cause of accidents and injuries in the U.S.

*Every second a driver is behind the wheel of their vehicle they are confronted with no less than 10 traffic situations that require them to make a driving decision.

In addition, the typical driver is confronted with at least one driver error every two minutes they are on the road. The situation gets more complex with the explosion in mobile phone communications, primarily texting and email use by drivers.  Studies have shown that texting is almost as dangerous as a drunk driver. Unfortunately, our Texas governor chose to veto a state wide ban of texting and driving.

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 lawyer call the Baumgartner firm.

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The Houston Chronicle today reported yet another fatal hit and run accident in Houston.

According to reports, police became suspicious about a car stopped in downtown Houston and approached the vehicle, asking its occupants to get out. One of the occupants apparently complied with the police request yet the other fled the scene in the vehicle.

While attempting to evade police the driver ran a red light and crashed into another car killing a woman and injuring two other people, before the driver fled the scene of the accident.

Houston has had a rash of hit and run fatal accidents in the last year. It is almost astonishing the number of hit-and-run accidents we have seen in our community. The accident reported by the Chronicle happened downtown about 1130 in the evening. It seems a high percentage of fatal hit-and-run accidents happen in the evening or early morning hours.

Some of the reasons for hit and run accidents are that the driver of the vehicle is afraid of being arrested for one reason or another. Frequently, intoxicated drivers for the accident scenes hoping to avoid arrest for drunken driving or intoxicated assault. Folks that are uninsured and seeking to escape financial responsibility perpetrate some hit-and-run accidents, and also there are those who may not have a driver’s license or may not have documents to be in the country legally.

For whatever the specific cause of the driver fleeing an accident scene, it is clear that Houston has reached the epidemic level in hit and run accidents.

Almost every week in my Texas personal injury practice I see folks who have been in an accident with an uninsured party and left holding the bag. In these times of uncertainty economically, it may well be in your best interest to meet with your insurance agent and discuss underinsured motorist coverage and uninsured motorist coverage. You may be very glad you did.

The Houston Police Department’s hit and run central telephone number is 713-247-4065. If you have any information about this hit and run or any other hit and run accident please contact the Houston Police Department hit and run division.

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 call the Baumgartner law firm at 281-587-1111.

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Unfortunately, burn injuries due to explosions on the job are more common than you might suspect – particularly in Texas with the prevalence of chemical and petroleum manufacturing. Consider the following reports of detonations in the past year or so that have caused injury and death to Texas citizens. Numerous Texas wrongful death lawsuits have been filed because of explosions.

News of a massive explosion only days before at a chemical plant in a small town outside of Dallas caused plumes of black and thick smoke to roll into the skies that could be seen for miles. Before the fire could be contained it also engulfed a nearby rail yard. The cause of the fire and other details are still under investigation.

A fatal natural gas explosion occurred about a year ago along the Texas-Oklahoma border. This followed a deadly explosion that occurred in the panhandle of Texas only the day before. Both accidents have been allegedly attributed to construction mishaps in which pipelines were hit by equipment in the middle of removing ground and dirt from an area. According to reports of witnesses at the scene, the ground remained so hot even 12 hours later that the soles of investigators shoes could be seen to be melting as they moved carefully around the scene.

Employers and employees alike must take some responsibility for ensuring the safety of the workplace – particularly when it comes to handling sensitive and combustible materials. Remain apprised of the latest safety practices and technologies that can be used to keep the public and workers out of dangerous situations.

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 an  accident lawyer in Houston call the Baumgartner firm at 1-866-758-4529.

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Air Transport For Serious Injury

Memorial Hermann Hospital operates a helicopter service that transports injury victims in the Houston area to the Texas medical Center and is responsible for saving countless lives every year.

In Houston’s congested highways particularly during peak traffic times getting an injury victim to the care they need is often a very difficult and slow process. That’s where helicopter transport comes in to play.

In reality, the helicopter service is really an air ambulance service and can transport folks with very serious injuries quickly and efficiently. Often times minutes matter and can make the difference in helping a doctor save a life.

Having access to such quality ambulance services is a real benefit to the Houston community and the area at large. The helicopter service serves the community within about 150 miles of the Texas Medical Center and is the fastest way to get victims with life-threatening injuries to critical care providers.

There are numerous pilots and flight nurses as well as paramedics and mechanics and others that support and work with this air ambulance service. If you have a friend or family member that has been critically injured in a car accident or a truck accident you will be happy to know that the air ambulance service is available to help save lives in our community.

Greg Baumgartner is a personal injury lawyer in Houston 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 accident lawyer in Houston call the Baumgartner firm at 281-587-1111 or fill out the contact form.

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There are many injury attorneys throughout the Houston area and across the state of Texas who advertise to handle truck accident cases. In our opinion, it is important particularly with serious injury and wrongful death cases to select a law firm that has handled truck accident cases successfully in the past and also devotes a good part of their practice to 18-wheeler accident cases.

Semi trucks by virtue of the trailer and also the laws applicable to commercial vehicles are a much different situation than a passenger car to passenger car vehicle accident. The stopping distances for 18-wheelers are much different than for cars and pickup trucks and that is only one example of the many differences in the operation and also of the reconstruction or reenactment of the accident.

Often, a semi truck accident lawsuit can revolve around what actions the professional truck driver took or did not take as well as the actions or inactions of the motor carrier. Specific rules and standard of care for motor carriers cover such items as a condition of the rig, the training of the driver and documenting everything with appropriate paperwork.

Such things as hours of service, truck driver training, service of the brakes, daily vehicle inspections and other rules and regulations can make all the difference in establishing liability and sometimes gross neglect or malice for the purposes of punitive damages.

If you are loved one have been seriously injured in a semi truck accident and would like to speak with experienced semi truck accident lawyers in Houston contact the Baumgartner law firm for a free- no obligation consultation with the Houston semi truck accident attorney.

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When it comes to burn injuries – let’s take a look at the facts. Data concerning burn injuries is compiled by a number of organizations across the country. Today we will consider those presented by the Burn Survivor Resource Center.

*Burn injuries have literally reached epidemic proportions in recent years – despite the fact that there have been great advancements in fire prevention including what arguably be considered the most valuable – fire and smoke detectors and alarms in homes.

*In 1950 there were only 10 hospitals in the country that addressed burn injuries. Today there are over 200 burn injury centers from coast to coast – in all that means there are 4 centers in each state.
*Statistics support the premise that 50% or clearly half of all burn injuries are preventable. In the case of house fires – one in thirteen fires are caused by children playing with an instrument that can cause a fire (matches, lighter). They are often unaware of the potential for danger.

*There are more cases of pediatric burns in the winter months than any other time of the year. Children up to age 2 make up half of the burn injuries presented in emergency rooms across the country each year.

*In addition, the kitchen and bathroom respectively are the two areas of the home in which the majority of burn accidents occur.

*Shockingly, burn injuries are second only to motor vehicle accidents as the leading cause of accidental death in the United States.

*Finally, the LEADING cause of accidental death in the home for children aged newborn to 14 is fire and burns.

Needless to say, these types of statistics beg the reader to reassess the potential for fires in the home – and to remain vigilant.

If you have lost a loved one in a fire and would like to discuss your options with a Houston burn injury attorney call the Baumgartner Law Firm at 281-587-1111 for a free no obligation consultation on a Houston wrongful death lawsuit.

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