Motorcycle riding is becoming an increasingly acceptable way to commute these days – thanks, in part, to the economy. (No doubt a gallon of gas goes much further in a motorcycle than any other type of vehicle.) Safety is the biggest factor for motorcyclists – and the most basic of safety features is the helmet. As a Houston personal injury lawyer I frequently see motorcycle accident victims with serious head injuries. What follows are some interesting facts and regulations regarding motorcycle helmet use across the United States.

*According to the NHTSA, the number of motorcyclists who use helmets stood at nearly 70% in a recent year – up by four percentage points over the previous year. This is true despite the fact that there are an increasing number of states that are reversing legislation that required the use of helmets.

* Helmet use in states that do require all motorcyclists to wear helmets significantly increased from 78 percent in 2008 to 86 percent in 2009!

* NHTSA estimates that helmets saved 1,829 motorcyclists’ lives in 2008, and that 823 more could have been saved if all motorcyclists had worn helmets.

*Motorcycle crash statistics show that persons in accidents who are wearing helmets are nearly one third more likely to survive the crash than riders without helmets.

*Opponents of mandatory motorcycle helmet laws argue that they interfere with vision and hearing – but research conducted by the NHTSA and others have conclusive evidence that refutes these claims.

There is no doubt wearing a helmet is the safest way to ride a motorcycle.

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 motorcycle accident lawyer call the Baumgartner firm.

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There are many different approaches to avoid car accidents by distracted drivers. Each state and sometimes even cities and towns within a state seek to reduce car wrecks by regulating cell phone and texting while driving.

Not long ago, the federal government got involved and banned texting while driving for commercial vehicles. Some cities have also enacted legislation designed to make it illegal to text while driving. In Texas, recently our legislature sought to regulate texting while driving but Gov. Perry vetoed the law.

On my way to work this morning I noticed numerous vehicles that were being driven as though the driver was not paying careful attention. In each instance upon close examination the driver was using a cell phone. One driver stopped for a green light, one driver was driving so slow that it impeded traffic such that it created a danger and another just was not paying attention to the roadway while changing lanes.

Well this is not scientific evidence; a certain amount of common sense should prevail in Texas and across our great nation to protect citizens from the explosion in cell phone use. I am all for freedom, and I also believe that one of the most important governmental functions is to protect the public from unreasonable and unnecessary risks.

It is not so much that banning cell phone use while driving is an effort to protect the driver as it is to protect the public that the driver may injure simply because he or she chose to use a cell phone while driving.

Studies have come back inconclusive regarding the use of a cell phone while driving but there is no doubt that reading e-mail, texting or checking stock quotes on your smart phone endangers not only you but others around you. Some studies even suggest that texting while driving or reading e-mail while driving can give up as much as 2 links of safety because of the inattention of the driver.

While it may not be “politically correct” to suggest that we should ban cell phone use while driving, I believe that it is time that we addressed the problem head on not only for adults but for our children who are set to become new drivers. Old habits die-hard and it is time to set a new standard for the safety of our community.

Greg Baumgartner is a Houston wrongful death 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 distracted driving accident lawyer call the Baumgartner firm.

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A recent and deadly motor home accident has prompted me to develop several short journal entries on the topic. Let us consider the basic facts and statistics of this type of vehicle in this article.

*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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Motor home or hor recreational vehicles are often more expensive than a regular home these days. Overall, sales of these traveling homes are down due to economic challenges that include everything from unemployment to the ever-rising cost of fuel – and the ridiculously low m.p.g. a driver gets from these vehicles.

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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Nursing home neglect and abuse are on the rise locally, state-wide and nationally. So, too, are lawsuits against nursing homes due to the alarming statistics related to the problem. Consider the following information:

*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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There has been a lot of news coming out lately about the American auto industry – and most of it is good. First, it’s nice to know that America is finally back on top when it comes to manufacturing, design and sales. In my opinion the pendulum was bound to swing back in favor of American auto makers eventually – and it seems that is has according to media sources. One commentator offered an interesting observation as to one reason for this. It seems that today’s young buyers do not want to be caught in the same type of vehicle their parents drove. So their parents’ parents drove American – then their parents drove Japanese (foreign) – so to reclaim their sense of independent thinking they have returned to the American auto market! (An interesting psychoanalysis of the auto market…)

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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Intoxicated driving is a regular topic of this blog. We have discussed it from just about every point of view – but today’s topic is a different take on drunk driving than we have ever considered before.

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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Statistics show that there were over a thousand serious injuries of children in daycare last year alone that required medical attention and/or hospitalization. Under the circumstances I believe it would be valuable to provide families with guidelines established by some of the most well-known child guidance oversight organizations in the country to reduce the potential for a day care accident.

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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Millions of mothers and fathers entrust the care of their child (or children) to daycare centers each week as they head out to make the wages necessary to keep their family afloat financially. Certainly most of them would prefer to remain at home and care for the child themselves because we all know that there is no one who will look out for your child with the same authentic concern than the parent.

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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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is a branch of the U.S. Department of Labor created in 1970 and charged with preventing work-related injuries, illnesses and occupational fatalities. They do this in large part by creating and enforcing work-place safety standards. These federal regulations cover private and public sector employment. Of course, it should come as no surprise that the organization and its edicts are often quite controversial. Employers like to complain that the cost of these regulations is prohibitive. Yet, studies show that there are long-term benefits in reduced costs to companies in the form of fewer workman’s compensation claims and onsite injuries (when regulations are adhered to). Let us consider some of the most recent standards at construction worksites endorsed by OSHA.

*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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