Southern California Injury Law Blog

At around 10:45 a.m. on Friday, March 18th, the driver of a gold four-door pickup truck fatally struck 68-year-old motorcyclist Daniel Smilanick on Highway 101 in Oxnard. A police chase ensued after the driver fled the scene. Police pursued the hit-and-run driver, who has been identified as 23-year-old Michael Johnson, into Santa Barbara County, observing him point a handgun at his head and then at an officer before throwing it out of the vehicle’s window. After successfully avoiding several spike strips, he was finally apprehended when he crashed into a patrol car and a guardrail near El Capitan State Beach, according to a California injury attorney.

The number of motorcyclists killed in traffic accidents on California roads and highways decreased by 29.6 percent from 560 in 2008 to 394 in 2009, marking the end of an 11-year, 175 percent continuous increase in motorcyclist fatalities, according to the California Office of Traffic Safety. In addition, the number of fatal motorcycle accidents involving alcohol decreased by 4 percent. Despite these improvements, California remains among the three states that lead the nation in motorcyclist fatalities. However, whereas California led the nation in fatalities in 2008, in 2009 it placed behind Texas and Florida.

All of us at Allen, Flatt, Ballidis, and Leslie would like to offer our condolences to the family of Daniel Smilanick, the motorcyclist fatally struck by the hit-and-run driver in Oxnard.

Resources for accident victims and their families, including books and articles on the injury and wrongful death claims process, are available to the public free of charge.

If you would like to request one of these free resources, or to speak with a California injury attorney, feel free to call 866-981-5596.

Shortly after 6:10 a.m. on Friday, March 25, Yvonne Morgan was injured in a crash with a suspected drunk driver in Spring Valley. Morgan was traveling north along Sweetwater Road in a 2001 Lincoln Navigator SUV when she entered the intersection with Jamacha Road and was struck by a motorist running a red light. The motorist, 21-year-old Jose Espinoza, fled the scene of the accident on foot. Paramedics transported Morgan to a nearby hospital. Espinoza was later apprehended and arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and hit and run causing injury, explains a California personal injury attorney.

The California Office of Traffic Safety recorded a total of 2,623 fatal and injury traffic accidents involving alcohol in San Diego County in 2009. There were 18 collisions in which there were victims killed or injured where a driver who was under the age of 21 had been drinking, and 893 in which the driver was between the ages of 21 and 34 years old. Hit-and-run was a factor in 1,100 of the fatal and injury collisions.

All of us at Allen, Flatt, Ballidis, and Leslie would like to wish Yvonne Morgan, the motorist injured in the crash with the suspected drunk driver, a full recovery.

Additional information, including books and articles on the injury claims process, is available to the public free of charge.

To request one of these free resources, or to speak with a California personal injury attorney, feel free to call 866-981-5596.

At around 11 p.m. on Saturday, March 26, a pedestrian was struck and killed in a hit-and-run accident in Santa Cruz. A Chrysler sedan hit the pedestrian, a 37-year-old man from Live Oak, near the intersection of Soquel Avenue and Seventh Avenue. Paramedics transported him to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Witnesses described the vehicle as either a Dodge Magnum or a Chrysler 300 with chrome wheels and dark coloring. Authorities have asked anyone with information about the hit-and-run accident to call (916) 471-1121, explains a California personal injury lawyer.

Nationwide, 4,092 pedestrians were killed and 59,000 were injured in traffic crashes in 2009, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s most recent accident statistics. On average, a pedestrian suffered a fatal traffic accident every two hours and was injured every nine minutes. That year, 29 pedestrians were killed or injured in Santa Cruz, according to the California Office of Traffic Safety.

All of us at Allen, Flatt, Ballidis, and Leslie would like to offer our condolences to the family of the pedestrian who was killed in the hit-and-run accident in Santa Cruz last Saturday.

Resources for accident victims and their families, including books and articles on the wrongful death claims process, are available to the public free of charge.

If you would like to request one of these free resources, or to speak with a California personal injury lawyer, feel free to call 866-981-5596.

Shortly before 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 16, 41-year-old Maria Aguilar, of Pomona, and 17-year-old Delia Medina, also of Pomona, were killed in a semi-truck accident in Chino. While traveling east on California State Route 60, a flatbed truck merged into Aguilar’s lane, colliding with the front bumper of the Honda Civic she was driving. The impact sent the vehicle swerving into the path of a Honda CRX, which it struck head-on before hitting the median barrier, traveling back into traffic, and colliding with two semi trucks. Aguilar was pronounced dead at the scene. Medina died at a nearby hospital. Authorities are investigating the accident, explains a California truck accident attorney.

In 2009, the most recent year for which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, has released accident statistics, there were more than 5.5 million police-reported motor vehicle crashes in the United States, of which 28 percent resulted in injury and less than one percent in death. The majority of the fatalities were suffered between midnight and 3 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. That year, collisions involving large trucks claimed 3,380 lives and injured 74,000 people.

All of us at Allen, Flatt, Ballidis, and Leslie would like to offer our condolences to the families of Maria Aguilar and Delia Medina, the two women killed in the semi-truck accident in Chino.

Resources for accident victims and their families, such as books and articles on the injury and wrongful death claims process, are available to the public free of charge.

If you would like to request one of these free resources, or to discuss a specific legal matter with a California truck accident attorney, feel free to call 866-981-5596.

On Thursday, March 17, a crash involving a stolen vehicle injured Olivia Perez and her four children in East Oakland. The incident occurred near Mills College when a suspected car thief driving a silver Toyota on 60th Avenue broadsided the silver Lexus in which Perez and her children were occupants. The suspect proceeded to flee the scene of the accident on foot, prompting police to conduct a door-to-door search of the surrounding neighborhood. Paramedics treated her at the scene and transported her children to a local hospital, explains a California personal injury attorney.

Traffic crashes claimed the lives of 33,808 people and injured another 2,217,000 in 2009, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s most recent accident statistics. Vehicle occupants accounted for 24,474 of the fatalities and 2,011,000 of the injuries. Throughout the country, the number of fatal crashes decreased by 9.9 percent from 2008 to 2009; the injury rate per 100 million vehicle miles of travel decreased by 6.3 percent during the same time frame.

All of us at Allen, Flatt, Ballidis, and Leslie would like to wish a full recovery to Olivia Perez and her four children, the vehicle occupants injured in the crash involving the stolen vehicle in Oakland.

Resources for accident victims, such as books and articles on the injury claims process, are available to the public free of charge.

If you would like to request one of these free resources, or to speak with a California personal injury attorney, feel free to call 866-981-5596.

On Monday, March 21 at around 6 a.m. 61-year-old motorcyclist Paul Allen Palika suffered a fatal collision with an SUV in San Diego. The Oceanside resident was riding south on Interstate 805 near Balboa Avenue when a gray Lexus SUV traveling in front of him spun out on the rain-slicked freeway. According to investigators, Palika was unable to avoid the SUV and was ejected from his bike when he struck it. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The freeway was closed until 8 a.m. while authorities investigated the accident, explains a California injury lawyer.

From 1992 to 2009, the number of fatalities suffered by motor vehicle occupants in traffic accidents, including motorcyclists, decreased by 26.8 percent, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s most recently released accident statistics. During this same period of time, the injury rate for vehicle occupants, including motorcyclists, decreased by 40 percent. In 2009, motorcycle accidents claimed the lives of 4,462 riders and injured another 90,000.

All of us at Allen, Flatt, Ballidis, and Leslie would like to offer our condolences to the family of Paul Allen Palika, the motorcyclist who suffered the fatal collision with the SUV in San Diego last Monday.

Resources for the victims of motorcycle accidents and their families, including books and articles on the injury and wrongful death claims process, are available to the public free of charge.

If you would like to request one of these free resources, or to discuss a specific legal matter with a California injury lawyer, feel free to call 866-981-5596.

At around 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday, March 15, two people were seriously injured when three semis and another vehicle collided while traveling west on Interstate 10 in Desert Center. They were airlifted to a nearby hospital for treatment. A third person sustained minor injuries and received treatment at the scene. The crash occurred between Eagle Mountain Road and Coachella Valley. Authorities called a HazMat team to the accident scene to clean up 20 to 30 gallons of fuel and 10 gallons of oil that had spilt from one of the big rigs, explains a California truck accident attorney.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, recorded 3,380 fatalities and 74,000 injuries resulting from collisions with semis and other large trucks in 2009, the most recent year for which it has released accident statistics. Fatigue and drowsiness are two major factors contributing to truck accidents, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, DOT. Moreover, the National Transportation Safety Board attributed 30 to 40 percent of truck crashes it studied to driver fatigue.

All of us at Allen, Flatt, Ballidis, and Leslie would like to wish the two people seriously injured in the collision involving semis a full recovery.

Resources for accident victims, including books and articles on the injury claims process, are available to the public free of charge.

If you would like to request one of these free resources, or to speak with a California truck accident attorney, feel free to call 866-981-5596.

At around 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 8, 25-year-old Gabriel Arias was struck and killed by a Ford Bronco while walking near the intersection of Live Oak Street and Robles Road in Hesperia. He sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the Bronco, Tony Williams, and the passenger, Gary Amaoka, were arrested for unrelated drug offenses. Authorities have asked anyone with information about this pedestrian accident to call (760) 947-1500, explains a California personal injury attorney.

In 2009, pedestrian accidents claimed 4,092 lives and injured 59,000 people, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s most recent accident statistics. That year, pedestrian deaths accounted for 12 percent of all traffic fatalities and 3 percent of all people injured in traffic crashes. The majority of the fatal pedestrian accidents, nearly 70 percent, occurred at night.

All of us at Allen, Flatt, Ballidis, and Leslie would like to offer our condolences to the family of Gabriel Arias, the pedestrian who was killed in Hesperia last Tuesday.

Additional information, including books and articles on the injury and wrongful death claims process, is available to the public free of charge.

If you would like to request one of these free resources, or to discuss a specific legal matter with a California personal injury attorney, feel free to call 866-981-5596.

At around 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 5, a hit-and-run accident claimed the life of 40-year-old Jose Luis Carmona. A red 2008 Mitsubishi struck Carmona while he was walking his bike along Pacific Coast Highway near Faria Beach. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police found the vehicle parked in the driveway of 43-year-old Shannon Richard. She reportedly told investigators that she thought she had struck an animal. They believed alcohol may have been a factor in the accident and arrested her for felony driving under the influence of alcohol, hit and run, and vehicular manslaughter, explains a California personal injury attorney.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, classifies bicyclists and other cyclists, such as the riders of two-wheel nonmotorized vehicles, tricycles, and unicycles powered solely by pedals, as pedalcyclists. In 2009, traffic accidents claimed the lives of 630 pedalcyclists and injured another 51,000. Alcohol was a factor in 40 percent of the traffic crashes that resulted in pedalcyclist fatalities.

All of us at Allen, Flatt, Ballidis, and Leslie would like to offer our condolences to the family of Jose Luis Carmona, the bicyclist killed in the hit-and-run accident in Ventura last Saturday.

Resources for accident victims and their families, including books and articles on the injury and wrongful death claims process, are available to the public free of charge.

If you would like to request one of these free resources, or to speak with a California personal injury attorney, feel free to call 866-981-5596.

At around 6 p.m. on Sunday, February 27, a dark sedan struck 92-year-old Jafar Amirshahidi in a marked crosswalk at the intersection of Reseda Boulevard and Victory Boulevard in Reseda. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. The driver of the sedan fled the scene of the pedestrian accident. Authorities have asked witnesses to call (818) 644-8116 or (800) 222-8477, explains a California personal injury lawyer.

From 2000 to 2009, fatal pedestrian accidents decreased by 14 percent, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA. In 2009, the most recent year for which accident statistics are available, traffic accidents claimed the lives of 4,092 pedestrians and injured 59,000. That year, pedestrian fatalities accounted for 12 percent of all traffic fatalities in motor vehicle traffic crashes.

All of us at Allen, Flatt, Ballidis, and Leslie would like to offer our condolences to the family of Jafar Amirshahidi, the pedestrian killed in the hit-and-run accident in Reseda.

Additional information, including links to pedestrian advocacy groups and articles on the injury and wrongful death claims process, is available to the public free of charge.

If you would like to request one of these free resources, or to speak with a California personal injury lawyer, feel free to call 866-981-5596.

At around 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 2, 36-year-old Jessica Vasquez, of Burbank, was critically injured in a multiple-vehicle collision in Anaheim. She was a passenger in a 2005 Hyundai driven by 36-year-old Edgar Aragon that was involved in a crash with two SUVs and a red sedan on the 91 Freeway near Gypsum Canyon Road. Aragon suffered moderate injuries, along with passenger 22-year-old German Mora. Another passenger, 21-year-old Anghy Aragon sustained minor injuries. They were taken to a nearby hospital, explains an Orange County auto accident attorney.

Nationwide, there were 24,474 vehicle occupant fatalities and 2,011,000 injuries in 2009, the most recent year for which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, has released accident statistics. The injury rate per every 100 million vehicle miles traveled decreased by 6.3 percent from 2008 to 2009. Moreover, the number of fatal crashes in California decreased by 10 percent.

All of us at Allen, Flatt, Ballidis, and Leslie would like to wish Jessica Vasquez, the woman critically injured in the multiple-vehicle collision in Anaheim, a full recovery. We would also like to wish a full recovery to Edgar Aragon, Anghy Aragon, and German Mora.

Resources for accident victims, including books and articles on the injury claims process, are available to the public free of charge.

If you would like to request one of these free resources, or to speak with an Orange County auto accident attorney, feel free to call 866-981-5596.

At around 7:20 p.m. last night a motorcyclist was seriously injured in a hit-and-run accident in San Marcos. The motorcycle rider lost control of his bike on Montiel Road while trying to avoid a collision with a vehicle that turned in front of him. While skidding out, a Dodge pickup turning left off of Montiel ran him over and then fled the scene. Police later apprehended him. Authorities have asked anyone with information about this accident to call (760) 510-5049, explains a California injury lawyer.

In 2009, the most recent year for which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has released accident statistics, 4,462 motorcyclists were killed and 90,000 were injured in traffic accidents. The majority of fatal accidents occurred between a motorcyclist and a fixed object. Peak times for fatal crashes were 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. for injury accidents

All of us at Allen, Flatt, Ballidis, and Leslie would like to wish the motorcyclist injured in the hit-and-run accident in San Marcos yesterday a full recovery.

Resources for accident victims, such as articles and books on the injury claims process, are available to the public free of charge.

To request one of these free resources, or to speak with a California injury lawyer, feel free to call 866-981-5596.

Four people were injured in a car accident in Merced on Friday, February 11. The incident occurred in the Kadota-Bear Creek area when the driver of a vehicle traveling east on California State Route 140 made a left turn onto Kibby Road and collided with a vehicle that was heading west on Route 140. The driver of the westbound vehicle sustained serious injuries and was air lifted to a nearby hospital, while the passengers, also injured, were transported to a nearby hospital. The driver of the eastbound vehicle was not hurt, explains a California injury lawyer.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s 2009 Traffic Safety Facts, there were more that 5.5 million motor vehicle accidents in the United States in 2009. Twenty-eight percent of the accidents resulted in injury, while less than one percent proved fatal. Collisions between two or more motor vehicles in transport accounted for the majority of the fatal and injury crashes that year.

All of us at Allen, Flatt, Ballidis, and Leslie would like to wish the four people injured in the car accident in Merced a full recovery.

Resources for accident victims, such as books and articles on the injury claims process, are available to the public free of charge.

If you would like to request one of these free resources, or to discuss a specific legal matter with a California injury lawyer, feel free to call 866-981-5596.