On behalf of Needle & Ellenberg, P.A. posted in Car accidents on Friday, May 18, 2012
Often when a car accident occurs, legal cases ensue. Sometimes criminal charges are pressed by authorities. Other times civil personal injury or wrongful death claims are filed by the injured person or the loved ones of the deceased. On some occasions, both criminal and civil cases occur.
Early one morning last summer, former Miami Heat player, Alonzo Mourning was involved in a car accident on the Julia Tuttle Causeway. The Porsche he was driving, with his wife as a passenger, reportedly collided with an Audi that was stopped in the middle of the roadway. At the time of the incident, the two were on their way home to Coral Gables after the wedding of Miami Heat player Chris Bosh.
On behalf of Needle & Ellenberg, P.A. posted in Car accidents on Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Each day throughout the nation, motor vehicles are involved in accidents of varying severity. In some of these cases multiple cars are involved. In other situations, motor vehicles collide with motorcyclists, pedestrians or bicyclists. While all motor vehicle accidents have the potential to cause severe injuries, those involving individuals who were not in a vehicle are often the worst and in many cases result in death.
This was the case in a Miami hit-and-run car accident that occurred earlier this year. A cyclist died after he and a fellow cyclist were hit by a car while riding their bicycles on the Rickenbacker Causeway. The two were riding near the crest of the bridge, travelling north, when the incident occurred. Immediately after striking the cyclist, the man driving the car left the scene. He later turned himself in.
On behalf of Needle & Ellenberg, P.A. posted in Brain injuries on Friday, May 11, 2012
Miami mourns the death of Ray Easterling, a 62-year-old former safety for Atlanta's professional football team who died last week of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His widow said that he had suffered one brain injury after another during years of taking hard hits in pro football games. The resulting concussions allegedly caused him to suffer from depression, insomnia and dementia.
The deceased belonged to a group of former football players who played pro ball in the 1970s. They recently filed a lawsuit against the league, alleging that the league concealed from the players the severity of the brain damage that they sustained when they were hit during games. Players weren't told that concussions and other brain injuries were associated with the jarring hits that many players took throughout their playing careers. Unaware that they would suffer permanent, debilitating damage, players would return to the defensive line after a hard hit and suffer additional impacts.
On behalf of Needle & Ellenberg, P.A. posted in Car accidents on Wednesday, May 9, 2012
There are many reasons that South Florida is a desirable place to live and visit. For cities located on the coasts, beaches are one of those reasons. People of all ages and backgrounds enjoy going to the beach to play and in some cases relax in the sun. Unfortunately, these outings are not always as relaxing as some would like. This may be due to what seems to be a recent uptick in the number of car accidents taking place on these beaches.
Last year, a police officer on an ATV ran over two beachgoers in Miami Beach. Last month, another south Florida community, Fort Lauderdale, was the scene of an accident involving a pickup owned by the city. A 49-year-old visitor to the state was run over by the city vehicle, driven by a veteran Ocean Rescue lieutenant, as she lay on the beach. The woman was injured in the incident. In addition to cuts, she also received burns in the incident.
On behalf of Needle & Ellenberg, P.A. posted in Car accidents on Friday, May 4, 2012
A recent Miami-area car accident claimed the life of a 5-year old boy. A head-on collision, the crash occurred just before 8:00 a.m. on Campbell Drive, near Southwest 152nd Avenue in Homestead. Involving three cars, the car accident came about when a pickup truck made a left turn onto Southwest 152nd and struck the back of a four-door sedan.
The young boy was a passenger in the sedan, as the pickup forced it into the oncoming lane, causing the head-on crash. Although the young child was seat-belted, he was in the front passenger seat and not in a booster seat in the rear of the vehicle. The 5-year-old was airlifted to Miami Children's Hospital, but it was too late. Sadly, he did not make it.
On behalf of Needle & Ellenberg, P.A. posted in Spinal cord injuries on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
While car accidents are one of the most common ways in which people sustain spinal cord injuries, there are of course many other ways in which the injury can be inflicted. This past April a man visiting South Florida sustained a spinal cord injury when he was hit by a flying mattress as he walked down a street.
The mattress did not come out of nowhere. It was part of a load of furniture being transported by a truck. As the truck passed the man and his friend who were walking down a sidewalk, the mattress, along with its frame, detached from the load and struck the man in the head. After losing the portion of its load, the truck continued on.
On behalf of Needle & Ellenberg, P.A. posted in Truck accidents on Friday, April 27, 2012
New, stricter standards designed to reduce fatigue-related crashes may be coming for truckers in the United States. Sleep apnea is the specific target of this proposal. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration received similar recommendations from two separate panels, which studied driver fatigue accidents.
Miami is no exception to the incidence of truck accident events caused by fatigued--or even sleeping--drivers. The two advisory panels (one, medical and the other, industry safety experts) came to similar conclusions. Sleep apnea causes an inordinate share of crashes.
On behalf of Needle & Ellenberg, P.A. posted in Car accidents on Wednesday, April 25, 2012
School buses are trusted by many parents throughout the Miami area to transport their children to and from school in a safe manner. While most days the routes are completed without incident, there are occasions when car accidents occur. One such accident occurred earlier this week in Miami-Dade County.
A SUV that reportedly did not stop at a stop sign ran into the school bus. The force of the impact caused the bus to run into a house that was located nearby. At the time, there were four passengers on the bus, two children and two adults. Another two people were in the house when the bus hit it. There was one person in the SUV.
On behalf of Needle & Ellenberg, P.A. posted in Car accidents on Friday, April 20, 2012
Fellow students and friends mourn the death of their thirteen-year old classmate in a tragic Miami-area motor vehicle accident in April. Most can still not believe that their close friend is gone forever. Grieving 8th graders from her class have created a Facebook page dedicated to her memory.
The unfortunate victim was riding in her family's minivan, with her father and sisters, on the way to school when a 38-year-old driver crashed into them at US 1 and SW 184th Street. After being airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center, the young teenager died, surrounded by her family. One of her sisters and her father were also hospitalized, although only for minor injuries. After treatment, they were released.
On behalf of Needle & Ellenberg, P.A. posted in Car accidents on Tuesday, April 17, 2012
With the arrival of tax day there are likely quite a few people throughout Miami who are focused on finishing their federal income tax return. For those individuals it is doubtful that they are thinking about April being National Distracted Driving month and the efforts the federal government is making to reduce the number of fatal car accidents throughout the country. Perhaps however, everyone should.
A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the number of traffic deaths on Tax Day (generally April 15) is higher than on other days. The data, provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, indicates the rate is 6 percent higher on that day than others in the same month. Though Tax Day is actually April 17 this year, the findings are nonetheless worth noting.
