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Was Your Accident Caused by a Roadway Defect?

In most accidents one of the drivers was somehow responsible. Determining responsibility is necessary before anyone can be compensated for their injuries and losses. When an accident is caused by a roadway defect it can make the process very confusing. Roadway defects can give the illusion of driver error. In worst case scenarios an innocent driver can even be convicted of a crime that he or she didn’t commit.

What really happens after an auto accident

Once immediate medical emergencies have been addressed, the first thing that police do after a traffic accident is try to determine what happened and who is at fault. Some act objectively, honestly trying to determine who was responsible for the accident and why. Others are just trying to figure out who to ticket so they can meat their quotas. Insurance companies start looking for someone to blame, preferably someone other than the person that they are insuring. You, the victim, are left in the middle, trying to stay out of jail and hoping that the insurance company of the person who caused the accident will cough up the money that they owe you so that you can get your car fixed, pay your hospital bills, and pay the back rent for the time you missed from work while you recovered.

In most cases, no one is even checking for roadway defects as the cause of the accident. If it is a known defect, and especially if there is a history of accidents caused by the defect, someone is probably working very hard to cover it up, get rid of the evidence, and do whatever it takes to keep from getting sued.

What is a roadway defect?

It sounds like a technical term, but a roadway defect is anything wrong with the road, including structural or design defects in the road itself, and signs or signals. Roadway defects which often result in accidents include:

• Malfunctioning traffic lights

• Missing or obscured stop signs

• Missing, obscured, or confusing yield signs and other signs meant to control the flow of traffic

• Failure to post warning signs or signals

• Inadequate or malfunctioning warning signs or signals

• Inadequate or insufficient notification of impending conditions such as construction zones, merging traffic, or hazardous weather conditions

• Inadequately with highway division status, line striping and edge lines

• Shoulder drop-offs

• Inadequate or insufficient notification of changes in the shoulder

• Excessive oil and/or gravel

• Debris which has not been removed in a timely fashion

• Potholes

• Defective street lights

• Improper road design

• Dangerous intersections which have not been modified despite past accidents

Who is responsible for accidents caused by roadway defects?

Most roadways are the responsibility of government entities – federal, state, county, or city agencies or departments. This adds a significant layer of complexity to your case. Lawsuits involving government entities are different to lawsuits involving individuals and businesses, and involve different procedures, time limits, and notification requirements.

Revealing and proving roadway defects

Some defects are easy to spot, but not visible to drivers in time to avoid the accident. If you already know that a defect caused your accident, you must collect evidence immediately, before the defect is corrected.

Defects that were not noticeable at the time may begin to be revealed as your review driver and witness statements. For instance, when everyone involved in an accident in an intersection vehemently claims to have had the right of way, it is very likely that a malfunctioning traffic light caused the accident.

Some roadway defects have a history of causing accidents. Some are well documented, and some are not. These defects often go uncorrected to save money and because correcting the defect can be interpreted as an admission of fault, leaving the responsible party open to multiple lawsuits.

About the Author

If you believe that your accident was caused by a roadway defect contact an experienced auto accident attorney today.

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Dangerous Roads: Minneapolis Car Accidents

The Minneapolis and St. Paul area is an increasingly dangerous area for drivers.  Interstates 35 and 94 carry huge volumes of traffic, including commercial trucks traveling across the country with their large and dangerous loads.  With a large metropolitan area topping 3.5 million residents, our commuter and interstate traffic creates traffic.  Any of us who have seen the thousands of car accidents on our roads will understand the danger that accompanies driving in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Our winters often bring icy conditions and snow that make driving all the more perilous.  All of these factors combine to create very dangerous roads and you need to be prepared in case you are in a car accident.  The car accident rate in Minneapolis continues to rise, even despite higher gasoline prices and the struggling economy.

Make sure that your car is in safe working shape before you get onto the road.  You should test your lights and blinkers regularly to make sure that they are working properly.  If your car is not road-ready, you are putting yourself and other drivers at risk.  You are also probably breaking the law and might be subject to a traffic stop.

It is also important to make sure that you pay attention to traffic conditions when driving.  Limit distractions inside your automobile by using a hands-free cell phone device so that you can use both hands to drive.  Also do not drive after you consume alcohol.

Even a safe driver cannot avoid some car accidents.  If you are rear-ended, there is little that you can do to prevent the collision.  An accident can happen in a split second when someone else on the road is negligent.  When large trucks are involved, fatalities and severe injures are all too common.

If you or a family member is injured in a car accident, you need a Minneapolis personal injury lawyer who will fight on your behalf.  You should not let insurance companies take advantage of you and cause you to be victimized again in the process.  A personal injury lawyer in Minneapolis will fight for you and make sure your rights are protected.

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A Minneapolis personal injury lawyer can help you with your Minnesota accident claims .

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SEO Management – Take Your Law Practice To The Next Level

Three Tips To Maximize Your Attorney Marketing Campaign

Make no mistake, the internet is better than traditional advertising that attorneys used to use like yellow books, billboards & even television in some regions. The internet is by far the best place for clever Lawyer Marketing experts to get the best cases over other law firms in their local area. Good news – if you haven’t started marketing your firm on the web yet, you haven’t totally missed out. Here are three tips to get you going:

1. Optimize Now. Start to optimize your website. You are invisible to people looking specifically for you every day. There are honestly thousands of searches every month by people looking for a Auto Accident Lawyer (or what you practice) in Portland (or your city). Bottom line, you need to be found on Google, Yahoo & Bing, ideally the first page. That is what SEO does for you. If done well, SEO will get you on high on the first page for the most-searched keywords people are using to try and find you.

2. Don’t Be Such A Control Freak – Hire a Pro – Yes, there are many tagging changes you can do to help yourself, but there is only so much tweaking of your meta tags, heading optimization, bullets, and other simple SEO techniques you can do yourself. Why do people hire you? Because you’re an expert. Whatever money you spend on a effective SEO Consultant for Law Firms is money well spent. But do your homework. Don’t just hire your brother-in-law who designs websites. Make sure they have experience in optimizing lawyer websites, as attorney sites are incredibly competitive and difficult to get on page one.

Do the people you’re looking to hire have an optimized site? Go To Google and search Lawyer Marketing, or Attorney SEO. If their own site shows up for those competitive lawyer marketing terms, then they probably have the knowledge to get your site ranked high too. Depending on your city and law specialty, (some like Loan Modification are more competitive than others) you could expect to pay thousands of dollars a month or more for a good SEO professional. But if thousands of people are looking for your specialty, do you think you would get at least one to two clients a month? What would you make from those clients?

3. Create An Impressive Web Site – Think like an Attorney Marketing Professional. Don’t go on the cheap for this one. You are up against other lawyers who know the value of first impressions. Think of your site as a something to bring you clients. The true purpose of your attorney marketing is to compel them to contact you. And don’t just focus on the people who are looking for you on Yahoo and don’t know who you are yet, but make sure you keep the people that others lawyers pass on to you!

A potential client is pointed in your direction, where are they going to go to do their research on you? Absolutely! Your website! So when they type your name into Bing, make sure what they see is something you are proud of. The worst thing you want is for a referral to be so disinterested with your site that once they find you, they go back to Google and find your competitors.

Do yourself a favor and take this advice. If you want to master attorney marketing, use these tips and start taking advantage of the power of the internet. Good luck, share your ideas with us! I’m happy to share also!

About the Author

Finding a good Attorney Marketing Company who knows what they’re doing can be difficult. Author, Anthony Flores helps Lawyers get new clients by getting them on the First Page Organically on Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Call theLawyer Marketing Professionals for a free consultation at www.attorneymarketingnow.com or 626-483-4208

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Got in a Accident and got some questions…..?

I got into a car accident on February 19th 2008. I was at the light and there was a truck in front of me. When the light turned green, the truck sped off. Because the roads were already slippery and the truck was speeding, the truck started to approach the car in front of him too fast and tried to press on his breaks to stop. When he realized he couldn’t stop, he turned away and started spinning towards me. He hit me and the police came to the scene. They found him at fault. I suffered from whiplash, back and neck sprain. I contacted a lawyer. Now, June 19th, my attorney tells me that there was no accident or police report filed. Also the way the accident occurred, it looks like I hit the man. He was found at fault though. What should I do from now? Could I still get an accident report if I talk to the officer and do you think I still have a case? I stay in a small town in Wisconsin and everyone knows everyone. Doesn’t this sound fishy how the report was no longer in existence?

In Wisconsin, an accident report (form MV4000) SHALL be completed when there is any of the following:
1. $1000 damage to any one persons property (vehicle, land, etc)
2. $200 damage to any government property
3. Any injury (including a possible, non-visible injury) to anyone involved in the accident

As you were injured, an accident report should have been completed. However, if you did not claim any injury at the time of the accident and there was less than $1000 damage to any one persons property, there may not have been a report completed. If you did not claim injury at the scene and up to 30 days after the crash, a report may not have been done, assuming less than $1000 damage. I would suggest yourself looking into getting the report. Under open records laws, the report can be obtained from the police department for a small fee. If you did claim injury or there was clearly more than $1000 damage and there is no report filed, cry foul to the administration.

WI Truck Wrecks Caused by Bad Brakes – Wisconsin Truck Accident Lawyers 1-800-773-6770

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