How are you doing on your New Year’s Resolutions? Every year, most of us make resolutions about how to improve our minds, health and lives. And each year, around this time, most of us tend to lose steam. Lasting change is hard, but we have some easy things you can do to substantially protect your financial well-being in 2025. Read on for 3 easy resolutions. Continue reading
Articles Posted in Motorcycle Accidents
Would You Settle for Less?
Part of our job is to attempt to keep up with what our opponents (the insurance industry and their lawyers) are thinking and doing. One of the many ways we try to do that is by reading insurance industry publications such as Claims Journal. In a recent Claims Journal article, the author interviewed Harish Kapur, CEO of Across America Insurance Services. Mr. Kapur’s comments are nothing new to us, but they are a good reminder to anyone who is considering filing a personal injury or wrongful death claim. Here are three key take-aways:
- The insurance companies handle injury claims all day-every day, while this is hopefully your one and only injury claim.
Mr. Kapur bragged about his “crack team of in-house adjusters” and how they “have to know everything about the file.” The insurance adjusters know what information is critical. They know how to ask questions and frame the narrative during a recorded statement. They are trained how to interview witnesses and scour the internet for information on you.
The 5th of July
The 4th of July is almost here and the majority of people have some type of plans to celebrate Independence Day. Of course, those plans do not include a car accident, but because folks are heading to the mountains, the lake, a friend’s backyard BBQ or to watch a parade, etc., the roadways are expected to be very busy and dangerous. In fact, while the 4th of July is usually the peak of summer travel, this year is expected to be a recording setting weekend. Based on statistics from prior years, The National Safety Council estimates 599 people will lose their lives in car accidents over the 4th of July holiday and another 68,000 will be injured. Here are some tips for staying safe on the roads this holiday and living to enjoy the 5th of July. Continue reading
New Developments in Safety Technology and Car Accidents
In the past several years, car accidents have been on the rise. In fact, according to the most current data, deadly car accidents have increased by 16% throughout the United States. Automakers and safety regulators at The National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA) are keen to use new technology to try and help reverse that trend with the implementation self-driving tractor-trailers and automatic emergency braking systems. But others are concerned about the safety of the technology and its overall effectiveness. Continue reading
What Is a Release of All Claims?
For Valentine’s Day, I received a gift card for a spa. When I began to book an appointment online for the massage, I was asked to electronically sign a Release of All Claims. Among other things, the Release of All Claims for a massage at this spa stated that if death resulted from the massage, then the spa was not responsible. There were also other excessive provisions. I declined to sign the Release of All Claims, and the spa was kind enough to refund the purchased gift card, but the outrageousness of their request is not particularly isolated. Every day, businesses ask their prospective customers to sign releases before providing services or allowing participation in activities. As such, we thought it would be good to review what exactly is a release of all claims. Continue reading
New Year Advice from an Injury Lawyer
How are you doing on your New Year’s resolution? Whether you love them or hate them, resolutions are a New Year tradition for most people. The purpose, of course, is to identify areas in your life for improvement and then resolving to stop doing the bad things or begin doing beneficial things. The overwhelming majority of resolutions take time and, unfortunately, the majority fail. Lucky for you, the award-winning attorneys at the Law Offices of John Day have a resolution for your New Year that is easy, does not take much time at all but could make all the difference in the event you are involved in a car accident. Continue reading
Don’t Be Cute
Litigation is fighting with rules, confrontation with a referee. Most people do not enjoy confrontation, and for others, it brings out their worst. If you are involved in litigation or have a claim that may result in litigation, please take our advice: don’t get cute. A few news articles lately have shown what happens when people try to get cute during litigation. Continue reading
Distracted Driving and Traffic Deaths Are Increasing
Drivers are using their cellphones during 58% of trips taken, an 8% increase from just 3 years ago. Just as alarming, the amount of time drivers are interacting with their phones while driving increase by 23% during that same time period. In 2020, drivers would interact with their phone while driving for 1 minute and 47 seconds. A recent report indicates that has now increased to 2 minutes and 12 seconds. Not surprisingly, all of this distracted driving is literally killing people. Accidents involving cars, bicycles and pedestrians are all up because distracted drivers are 2.4 times more likely to cause a crash. Read on for more scary statistics and tips to protect yourself. Continue reading
The South: A Dangerous Place to Drive
Perhaps, too many of us watched an excessive number of Smoky & The Bandit reruns or thought Ricky Bobby of Talladega Nights should be used for driving inspiration. We don’t know the cause, but we do know this: the South is a dangerous place to drive. In fact, according to recently released federal statistics, 8 of the top 11 most dangerous places to drive are “southern states”, as that term is defined by the U.S. Census as opposed to the teams currently comprising The SEC. Read on to learn where Tennessee is ranked and our number one piece of advice on protecting yourself. Continue reading
Scary Statistics on Car Accidents and How to Protect Yourself
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently released its report on accidents involving cars, trucks, pedestrians and cyclists for 2021 (the most recently analyzed data) and the numbers are alarming. So, let’s just get right to them. More Americans were killed on our roadways in 2021 than any year since 2005 – 42,915 people lost their lives. Another 4.5 million people were injured and 23 million vehicles were damaged. 7,342 pedestrians were killed in 2021, the biggest number since 1981. 985 cyclists were killed, the biggest number since 1980. What is causing this increase in car, pedestrian and bicyclists accidents? What are the financial costs? And how can you protect yourself from this growing trend? Continue reading