Veron, Bice, Palermo
The family of a former college football player has filed a wrongful death suit against the university he played for, the university's football coach and the NCAA. The 20-year-old college football player attended and played for Mississippi. He collapsed during the first day of offseason workouts on February 19, 2010. The young man later died at a hospital in Oxford, Mississippi.
Family of college football player sues the university for wrongful death
New program offers car crash victims' vital information to first responders
A growing national program that provides first responders with vital information about car accident victims is spreading across the United States and is particularly useful for older drivers. The program is called Yellow Dot and the program was created to inform emergency personnel of car crash victims' medical information during the first hour after an accident. While the program has not reached Louisiana yet, it may reach our home state in the future.
Rise of car accidents caused by texting pedestrians
It should really come as no surprise that pedestrian accidents and car accidents caused by distracted pedestrians are on the rise. Just as distracted driving has been on the rise because of the widespread use of cell phones and smartphones behind the wheel, pedestrians are also as equally attached to their digital devices as they stroll the streets.
Some states look to make texting while driving primary offense
Some states in the United States have primary texting and driving laws where police officers can pull a driver over for the offense of texting behind the wheel without needing an additional reason. Police officers in states that have secondary texting and driving laws cannot pull a driver over for only texting while driving and have to pull the driver over for another reason. States that have secondary texting and driving laws are looking at sister states with primary laws and are considering a change.
Driverless cars developed to reduce car accidents
Google, the search engine giant, has been testing self-driving cars for a while, but now the company is starting to lobby legislators in Nevada that would make the state the first place where the operation of driverless cars legal. The development of driverless cars has been pursued for a number of reasons including the reduction of driver distraction and car accidents, road efficiency and environmental concerns.
Oil Companies Amendments to HB 563 make bad policy
This amendment creates a special exception for property damage caused by oil companies as opposed to everyone else. If this passes, oil companies will be the only parties in Louisiana who can damage other people's property and not be responsible.
Oil lobbyist propose amendments that will delay cleanup of oilfield contamination and allows oil companies to avoid liability
PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO HB 563
Fatal car accidents decreased in 2010 in United States
Last year was one of the safest years for drivers across the country. According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, the number of highway fatalities in the United States decreased by 1,000 people in 2010. The number of highway deaths in 2009 was 33,808 and the estimated number of highway deaths in 2010 is 32,788. Last year the nation saw the fewest number of fatal car accidents since 1949.
Neighboring state may see new laws regulating products liability suits against carmakers
Lawmakers in Louisiana's neighboring state, Florida, recently passed legislation that would limit the ability of plaintiffs to win damages against carmakers in products liability suits. Even though the Florida law does not directly impact Louisiana, it is still beneficial to talk about the development in products liability law.
The cost of car accidents in Louisiana
The cost of car accidents are usually measured in terms of lives lost or people who have been injured and rightfully so; however, there is another way to measure the cost of car accidents in Louisiana. One way of gaining a bird's eye view of highway accident costs is to measure the costs to society in terms of monetary costs. In 2009 the total cost of car accidents in Louisiana was estimated to be $5.69 billion according to the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission.
