As a Seattle motorcycle accident attorney and Washington wrongful death lawyer I have seen devastating a motorcycle accident can be. Without the thousands of pounds of metal serving as a barrier between themselves and the road, bikers put themselves in great danger whenever they ride. Far too many lives have been torn apart by a short error in judgment like the one that claimed a young man’s life early this morning.

At 1:30 a.m. Friday, September 03, a fatal motorcycle accident claimed a man’s life. At the2700 block of Westlake Avenue North, a man who appears to be between 25 and 30 years old was riding a black 2005 Kawasaki motorcycle when he failed to initiate a left hand turn properly. His motorcycle veered off the road and struck the guardrail causing it to flip several times before coming to a rest along the road.

The rider was thrown from the motorcycle when it hit the guardrail. Medics quickly arrived at the scene and rushed the victim to Harborview Medical Center, but shortly after he died from his severe injuries.

Fatal motorcycle accidents occur far too often, particularly in the summer months. With little to protect a biker they are 16 times more likely to be fatally injured in an accident that another motorist. Most of these accidents, however, occur because a rider is not properly trained. In fat, 93% of motorcycle accidents involved a rider who had not attended a formal training class. Because of this horrible statistic I have written a book, “The Truth About Washington Motorcycle Accidents” which discusses all of the important aspects of a motorcycle accident and can help you realize your rights as a rider as well as decide whether or not a motorcycle accident you are involved in requires the aid of an aggressive motorcycle accident attorney. This book is free to Washington residents through the link above.

Wednesday, September 1st, an unusual circumstance caused a complete closure of a stretch of I-5 for nearly 2 hours. Commuters were stuck for hours during rush-hour traffic as a 23-year-old  fugitive lead police on a chase through Seattle.

Police followed pursued the suspect along Route 526 where he shot at and struck the patrol car. Police continued to pursue to suspect onto I-5 in Everett where the fleeing man ended up in a Seattle car accident when he rear-ended a van on southbound I-5. The impact knocked the van on its side where it continued to slide. The driver had her window down when the van was flipped on its side and continued to skid for some distance mangling her arm. The driver, 49-year-old, Tammy Fietkau was rushed to Providence Medical Center and then later sent to Harborview Medical Center with serious injuries.

After this car accident the suspect spun out of control and smashed into a guard rail- after which he continued to flee from police on foot into some bushes. Police followed to suspect with the aid of police dogs. With the help of tips from the public and the use of the search dogs police were able to apprehend the suspect at the 7100 block of Olympic.

The suspect was taken to the hospital with unknown injuries.

The suspect’s car was initially thought to be stolen, but it was discovered that its plates had simply been canceled. The suspect had an outstanding warrant for his arrest in Washington.

We hope Tammy Fietkau has a speedy recovery from this accident.

Video URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuDumDfVd3o&feature=player_embedded

On Sunday, August 29th a 13-year-old boy, Peter Lenz, was killed before participating in a motorcycle race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Lenz was doing a practice lap around the track when he crashed his motorcycle and was run over by another young racer unable to see him in time to change his coarse.

Lenz appeared uninjured when he fell off the bike and attempted to prevent an accident by standing up and raising his arms, his efforts, however, were unsuccessful and he was struck seconds later. Lenz was a skilled and accomplished young rider and is the youngest person to be killed on the racetrack since it’s opening in 1909.

After this horrible motorcycle accident officials are now looking at the rules and considering making some changes for safety reasons. Currently, there are experience and age restrictions for participating in races of this sort- a minimum of 2 years of experience and an age of 12 or older are required.

My condolences go out to all the friends and family affected by this horrible motorcycle accident.
There are always risks involved with riding a motorcycle particularly if you are racing at high speeds. Whether or not children that are too young to obtain a license should be allowed to engage in such risks has been highly debated for quite some time. If you do choose to allow your kids to ride motorcycles or ATV’s whether it be for recreation or sport please be advised of some steps you can take to help minimize injuries. Hundreds die every year in motorcycle and ATV crashes and thousands visit the emergency room. Please read this article on ATV safety it will give you some great tips on how to protect your children from horrible accidents such as this.

Though not all driving training courses are the same and I recommend seeking a Defensive Driving course for your teen most driver safety starts at home. Riding with your teen frequently and pointing out different road hazards is the best way for your teen to learn- after all, practice makes better. You must also set rules and boundaries in order to curtail dangerous behavior and ensure your teen is not exposed to dangerous situations prematurely. Night time driving and driving with multiple passengers have both been shown to lead to most teen accidents and these are easily prevented by establishing simple rules and boundaries.

For more information on preventing teen accidents read my article Top Teen Driving Tips. This article discusses in more depth what rules and regulations you should set as a parent and ways you can prepare your teen for the road. Increasing our teen’s knowledge and giving them as much hands-on experience as possible behind the wheel is the only thing we, as parents, can do to protect our children from the dangerous of the road. But by being proactive and involved in our children’s driving training will help them learn safer habits—after all, we can’t always ride in the passenger seat—eventually we have to let go and hope we have given them enough knowledge to be safe.

Just yesterday, August 26th, a 32-year-old woman was killed in an Arlington auto accident when her vehicle crossed the center line. The woman was driving her Honda Sedan North on 67th Ave Northeast in Arlington when her vehicle crossed over the center line of the road- colliding with a Ford truck. The woman was sadly pronounced dead at the scene and the truck driver was taken to the hospital for treatment of his non-life threatening injuries.

The reason why the Honda veered off its course is unknown at this time, but there are a variety of standard reasons for these types of incidents. Drowsy driving, intoxicated driving and inattentive driving all top the charts in their abilities to cause fatal auto accidents such as this one. There are ways to help protect yourself from becoming a victim to one of these horrible fatal auto accidents which you can discover in the article Ten Ways to Prevent an Accident.

It is always difficult to learn of lives lost in auto accidents. The last thing you want to worry about in these situations is legal issues. In an attempt to provide you with much deserved help and assistance, I have co-authored a book with attorney Patrick J. Kang which is a guide for families of Washington wrongful death victims. The book is called, In Case of Death: Straight Talk on Washington Wrongful Death, and is available at no charge to Washington residents by clicking on the preceding link.

For the older generation reading this post, I am sure you can attest to the reckless and stressful driving habits of teenage drivers. Teenagers are known for their erratic and often times negligent behavior. I, myself was guilty of making poor driving decisions as a teen and was lucky to have never seriously injured myself or another driver. The facts are 16 and 17 year olds simply do not have the maturity level to operate such a powerful machine and they are unable to realize how much responsibility it takes to operate a vehicle.

With thousands of teens dying every year I believe we would see a significant drop in these fatal car accidents by simply postponing the age people can get their license. By waiting until teens are mature enough to handle the responsibility we will ensure safer drivers from the start. Many European countries have driving ages of 18 and also have significantly lower fatal car accidents. While the United States maintains over 6 million car accidents a year Germany only has 336,000 car accidents—that’s a lot fewer zeros.

My answer?  Raise the legal driving age in Washington and the rest of the US to 18.  This plan will clearly not be very popular, particularly among those under the age of 25- but consider how dramatically the reinstating the drinking age of 21 reduced the number of fatal car accidents I think a change in the licensing age will have just as positive an effect. In the meantime we, as parents, can make our children safer drivers through education and supervision and by helping them make safer choices. We have some resources for parents that can help you teach your teens to be safer drivers including: tips for teaching your teen to drive and preparing your teen for the road.

As a parent as well as a Seattle personal injury lawyer and Washington wrongful death attorney I get anxious when teens hit the roads and explore their new found freedom. Sadly, teenage accidents occur on a daily basis and many of these leave the victims with permanent injuries or dead. Another one of these horrible teen accidents occurred this week in California where a fatal car accident has left a 17-year-old boy faced with charges of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and involuntary manslaughter.

The accident occurred on Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach California on Sunday August 22^nd just after midnight. A Ford Mustang was racing a Ford Taurus headed eastbound on Ocean Boulevard at speeds excess of 100 miles per hour when the two cars collided forcing the Mustang into a spin that sent it crashing into a concrete sign along the median of the road.

Three passengers in the Mustang were ejected from the vehicle- a 32-year-old woman and unidentified female were pronounced dead at the scene along with the 18-year-old male driver of the Mustang, Jesse Heredia. A 19-year-old male passenger was rush to the hospital in critical condition, but died due to injuries sustained in the accident two days after the crash.

The occupants of the Taurus fled the scene on foot and were later caught by police. The Taurus was later found to be a stolen vehicle and the driver was found to be without a license.

The driver of the Taurus is now in custody and faces massive charges for the deaths of the four individuals in the Mustang.

It is horrible incidents such as these that make the car accident fatality rate for teens so high. As a parent this can be disconcerting and stressful- but there are steps you can take to help make your teen a better and safer driver the article: Top Teen Driving Tips is a useful tool for parents in teaching their child the ways of the road and preventing accidents like this through proactive measures.

A 2009 wrongful death may have been the result of an epileptic driver with a history of accidents from seizures. 69-year-old Ben Garnet Holt of Edmonds was driving 70 in a 35 mile per hour zone when he ran into a minivan stopped at a traffic light driven by 63-year-old John Spudich. The impact crushed Spudich’s vehicle and he later died from injuries sustained in the accident.

Holt’s car shows he failed to break at all before the impact and blood tests taken the day of the accident found a large amount of anti-cunvulsant drugs meant to help control epileptic seizures. Looking into Holt’s background shows that he has a history of auto accidents resulting from blackouts. Holt’s accident history begins in 2000 when he blacked out behind the wheel and hit the vehicle in front of him repeatedly. In 2002 Holt ran over a mailbox and speed limit sign before smashing his vehicle into a tree. And in 2005 and 2006 there were more crashes resulting in injuries to other drivers.

Though people with severe epilepsy are not supposed to drive especially without the recommendation of their physician- doctors are not required to report the condition to the department of licensing. So despite no being fit to drive if the State Patrol or Physicians don’t inform the DMV of the license revoking and the driver does not inform the state they will continue on their destructive path behind the wheel.

It is wrongful death accidents such as these that make Seattle personal injury attorneys and Washington wrongful death lawyers necessary. Without lawyers the John Spudich’s wife, children and grandchildren would have no hope for justice, but because of an aggressive attorney uncovering the at-fault drivers dangerous medical condition the Spudich family may be able to rest a little more easily.

If your family ever faces a horrible situation such as this I encourage you to contact a wrongful death lawyer as they will know the best course of action to take and have the resources to investigate the incident and fight for you. I also encourage you to read the book: In Case of Death: Straight Talk on Washington Wrongful Death. I wrote this book with attorney Patrick J. Kang as a resource guide for families dealing with a horrible Washington wrongful death case. It will help you not only discover if you have a case, but figure out the next steps to take. This book is free to Washington state residents through the link above.

A Puyallup teen was recently killed while using an All-Terrain Vehicle near Forest Grove Oregon. The 16 year-old, Louie Hertel, was visiting family in Oregon and helping with farm work when his ATV flipped trapping him underneath. Hertel was able to call 911 from a cell phone and told operators he was “injured all over”. By the time help arrived Hertel had passed away and was pronounced dead at the scene. After an investigation into the incident the Sheriff’s office determined that the ATV flipped when it hit large ruts hidden in the tall grass.

Sadly, this is just one of hundreds of fatal ATV accidents that happen every year. Thousands of people visit emergency rooms with injuries related to ATV accidents which is why regulations have been placed on ATV use. It is illegal to operate an ATV after dark without the use of both a headlight and backlight, and these vehicles are not allowed on highways unless marked for their use. In spite of these regulations, accidents continue to plague the United States particularly in the summer months. In order to help you protect your teens and children from a fatal ATV accident I have written an article outlining different safety precautions and steps you can take to protect your children from such a grave outcome. The article: ATV Accident Prevention Tips can be viewed through the preceding link.

Because of this incident and the gnawing fear parents have when their teens take to the road it is important for parents to prepare their kids for all of the brutal ugliness the road can create. Rather than just focusing on proper following distances and lane changes you also need to teach your teen how to prepare for unseen disaster on the roadways. There are proper procedures for handling a stalled car and your teen should not only be familiar with how to change a flat tire, but how to do so safely. Preparing your child will not only give them more confidence, it will give you an ease of mind knowing that they will know how to deal with disaster.

There are many tips on how to prepare your teen- teaching them the warning signs for common car issues such as flat tires and bad breaks will help them listen and become acquainted with their car—ultimately preparing them to listen for disasters before they happen. Having your teen practice changing tires, checking oil etc. are also extremely important and learning to maintain their own vehicle will help them out when they finally leave the house. I have written an article with tips on Preparing Your Teen for the Road which can help you prepare your teen for the road and give you a little piece of mind.