Youngstown Car Accident Law Blog

A wrong-way crash is a terrible thing. Oncoming vehicles are suddenly put at immediate risk of a head-on collision, with virtually no time to react.

A recent spate of wrong-way crashes in the Toledo area is forcing the Ohio Department of Transportation to consider what more can be done to prevent them. There were three such crashes in 11 days. The third crash killed two men.

Of course, as with any Ohio car accident, safety has to start with the driver. Negligence due to driver distraction, drug or alcohol intoxication, a medical condition, or other factors is what leads to a driver going the wrong way in the first place. The same is true of failing to turn around immediately.

Law enforcement officers who respond to accident scenes confirm that driver impairment is frequently involved in wrong-way crashes.

What can the state do, to protect against wrong-way accidents or to mitigate the damage they cause?

In the short term, ODOT can take steps like putting in additional pavement markers or installing more illuminated warning signs.

On Saturday, February 11, Snowstorms and high winds contributed to a series of chain reaction car accidents on Interstate 76 in Portage County, the Akron Beacon Journal reported on Sunday. Over 40 vehicles were involved in several separate collisions. The car accidents occurred almost simultaneously around 1pm on the westbound lanes of the interstate between State Route 8 and the Cuyahoga River Bridge. Large portions of I-76 remained closed for over four hours as police, ambulances, and tow trucks sorted out the disorder. Fortunately, only a few drivers reported serious initial injuries and were transported by ambulance to nearby hospitals.

Mark Gervelis a certified trial lawyer with over 30 years experience in helping injured plaintiffs receive compensation had the following comments. Chain reaction crashes often lead to complicated disputes regarding causation and contributory negligence. For example, if you are involved in this type of crash, often a rear end collision to your vehicle will propel you into a vehicle in front of you. If you are not careful in a discussion with an insurance adjuster they may argue that you failed to maintain an assured clear distance - when you were a victim in the accident! Insurance adjusters are trained in cross examining drivers in these situations, often tricking them in recorded phone statements to elicit information that will get their insured driver off the hook and you without any compensation for your injury. The best advice is to decline to provide a statement and seek legal advice from an attorney. Our office provides free consultations; you can call and speak with an attorney over the phone within minutes. You are under no obligation to provide a statement to an insurance company other than your own. Hang up on that adjuster and give a call to an attorney that will be an advocate for you. 

A FedEx manager put it very aptly. "It's crazy," said Dean Sahli," referring to the rush to deliver so many packages in such a compressed period of time.

Ohio is one of the busiest states in the country for this annual mad dash to the Christmas finish line. Among 500 FedEx stations around the country, the Richfield location is one of the ten busiest. Things are also busy in Columbus and Toledo, which are two of FedEx's 30 hubs.

So in December, the expressways across Ohio, including those around Mahoning County, are filled with delivery trucks on a deadline.

But even when they are not on such a hectic schedule, delivery trucks pose distinct dangers that can cause Ohio car accidents. On expressways, trucks can easily be overloaded or be operated by drivers suffering from fatigue. On the streets of towns or cities, delivery trucks often stop and start abruptly, putting other drivers or pedestrians at risk.

These dangers are not unique to December. They occur all year round, in Ohio communities big and small.

The evidence just keeps coming in about the risk of long-term damage from head injuries. A new research study published online this week documents many of the problems that children who suffer head trauma can encounter later in life.

Children can suffer traumatic brain injuries in car accidents, in falls, and in other types of accidents. The research study published in Pediatrics examines the effect that these injuries can have throughout life.

The study was based on an analysis of 729 children under age 18 who were treated for brain injuries in emergency rooms between 2007 and 2008 in two large American cities. The cities were Philadelphia and Seattle. The lead author of the study, Dr. Frederick Rivera, is a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington.

The researchers compared this group to a different group of 197 children who had been treated for arm injuries during the same time period in the same ERs.

About 85 percent of the children with head injuries had mild trauma. Few of these children had long-lasting effects impacting their social life and daily activities, unless they also suffered a brain hemorrhage.

For children with more serious head injuries, however, the story was different. After two years, these children showed a reduction in basic life skills, such as carrying on a conversation and completing daily tasks.