car accidents

January 8, 2021

What are My Options if I Was Injured by an Uninsured Motorist in Vista?

Nobody expects to get hurt in a car accident in Vista or elsewhere in Southern California, yet negligent motorists routinely cause serious crashes that result in significant and debilitating injuries. When someone is injured in a collision, they should be able to have the option of filing a third-party claim through the at-fault driver’s insurance or filing a first-party claim through their own insurance. As you may know, California is an at-fault state or a “tort” state when it comes to auto insurance, and motorists are required to carry liability coverage to compensate others who have been injured in collisions.

What happens when an uninsured motorist causes a car crash in Vista or in another part of San Diego County? What options does an injured party have for seeking financial compensation?

Determine if You Have Uninsured Motorist Coverage

August 7, 2020

Avoiding Summer Auto Accident Dangers in Carlsbad

by Walton Law Firm

Whether you are on the road heading to or from work, or you are driving up the California coast with your family for a weekend vacation, you should know that some types of accidents tend to happen more often in the summer than during other months. Winter weather collisions are not typically an issue in Southern California given that the weather is temperate year-round, but many of the summer and warm-weather accident hazards that exist throughout the country are certainly present in San Diego County and throughout the state in the summer. Travelers Insurance identifies some of the most common causes of car crashes from June through September. The following are tips for avoiding a summer auto accident.

High Temperatures can Pose Dangers to Your Vehicle

High temperatures can wreak havoc on an automobile if it is not regularly and properly maintained. For example, if tires are underinflated and the weather is particularly hot, you could be at risk of a tire blowout while you are driving. Engines can also be at increased risk of overheating during the summer. Most of the vehicle-related risks that come with hot weather can be avoided if you have your vehicle serviced regularly.

July 14, 2017

Vista Road Rage Accidents and Aggressive Driving

by Walton Law Firm

Could a multi-vehicle accident caused by road rage and aggressive driving happen in Vista, California? According to a recent report from ABC News, a motorcyclist’s road rage and aggressive driving caused a serious crash around Santa Clarita. The collision involved a sedan and a pickup truck, and that pickup truck overturned as a result of the crash. The motorcyclist—who was caught on film by other drivers, fled the scene of the car accident. The incident should alerts drivers throughout Southern California to the serious risks associated with road rage and other forms of aggressive driving.

Details of the Road Rage Accident

According to report, the accident happened at approximately 5:45 a.m. on a recent weekday morning. While witnesses could not say precisely what started the altercation, those heading southbound on State Road 14 managed to film a motorcyclist who “appears to try to kick the sedan” the approaches on his right. As a result of the motorcyclist’s behavior, the “sedan veers to the left and briefly collides with the motorcyclist before losing control and crashing into the highway divider wall.”

June 28, 2017

Seatbelts Could Save Children’s Lives in Carlsbad

by Walton Law Firm

For families living in Carlsbad, it is extremely important to ensure that your children are wearing seatbelts and are properly restrained in the event of a car accident in Southern California. According to a recent report from NPR, 43% of kids who die in motor vehicle crashes are not properly restrained, which means that these children either were not wearing seatbelts at all or were not wearing seatbelts or other safety harnesses in the proper manner. What can parents learn from this information? It is extremely important to require your kids to wear seatbelts whenever they are in the car, and it is also necessary for parents to educate themselves about the proper restraints for children of all ages.

Traffic Accidents on the Rise

As the report explains, deadly traffic accidents are on the rise in the U.S., and many of them are preventable. In particular, in fatal crashes involving children, the simple act of properly restraining your child could prevent deadly injuries. We do know that some parts of the country have higher rates of child fatalities than others. All in all, however, more than 18,000 children across the U.S. were involved in car accidents between the years 2010 and 2014, and of those children, 15.9% died as a result of the car accident.

March 10, 2017

Speeding and Teen Driving in San Diego

by Walton Law Firm

What are some of the most common causes of fatal teen driving accidents in San Diego? According to a recent report from NBC San Diego, a survey conducted by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety showed that speeding, a form of aggressive driving, and distracted driving top the list for common causes of deadly, yet preventable, crashes involving teens. It is important for teens who are getting behind the wheel in Southern California to recognize their own limited experience and to take extra precautions to avoid a dangerous or life-threatening car accident, but the impetus should also be on parents to ensure that their teenage drivers understand the serious risks associated with aggressive and distracted driving.

Details of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety Report

As the report explains, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety recently conducted a large-scale study that aimed to determine the common causes of fatal accidents among teenage drivers. What did the survey determine? Over the last five years, “speeding was one of the top mistakes made by teen drivers in fatal crashes across the country.” The report indicated that teenagers have been drivers in around 14,000 deadly collisions during the time period, and of those crashes, about “4,200 involved speeding.” To put that number another way, around 30% of all fatal teen car accidents involved speeding. Yet it is often the other driver or drivers in the crash who suffer the consequences of the teen’s choices.

September 2, 2016

Road Debris Causing Car Accidents

by Walton Law Firm

When we are on neighborhood roads or highways in Southern California, should we be concerned about the risk of a car accident caused by road debris? Most of us are typically on the lookout for other drivers who are not obeying the rules of the road or distracted pedestrians who might inadvertently step into traffic, but according to a recent report from CBS News, dangerous road debris causes far more car crashes than you might expect. Between 2011 and 2014, more than 200,000 collisions have been attributed to debris already in the road or to debris falling from unsecured truck loads. What else should you know about crashes caused by debris, and what can you do to prevent them?

AAA Study Highlights Severity of Crashes Caused by Debris and Unsecured Loads

The CBS News report cites a recent study conducted by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, which determined that approximately 39,000 injuries and 500 deaths on the road between 2011 and 2014 resulted from debris. According to Tamra Johnson, a spokesperson for the AAA Foundation, “the really troublesome thing about all this is a majority of these crashes are preventable, if drivers would just take the necessary precautions to secure their load or maintain their vehicle properly.”

July 22, 2016

Using Crash-Test Dummies to Make Uber Riding Safer

by Walton Law Firm

If you live in the San Diego area, you are probably familiar with Uber and Lyft. These ride-sharing services have become extremely popular in Southern California, allowing residents and visitors to take advantage of quicker, and often less expensive rides than taxis. Easier than making a phone call or hailing a cab, Uber and Lyft users can simply use an app to catch a ride. But are customers at risk of serious car accident injuries while they are riding in the backseats of Uber vehicles?

According to a recent article from Digital Trends, in response to the increasing use of Uber, Lyft, and other ride-sharing services, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has decided to begin putting crash-test dummies in back seats within the next few years. Can a shift in car accident testing help to prevent severe and fatal injuries in traffic collisions?

Ride-Sharing Services Expected to Grow, Prompting Need for Testing

May 27, 2016

Reducing Alcohol-Related Teen Auto Accidents

by Walton Law Firm

According to a recent report from NPR, car accidents are the leading cause of death for American teenagers, and in a surprisingly high number of those crashes, alcohol plays a role. About 25% of all teenage traffic collisions involve alcohol. In states where there are substantial restrictions on alcohol usage and serious repercussions for impaired driving, the rate of teenage auto accident fatalities tends to be lower, according to a recent study reported by NPR. What do the findings of this new study tell us? California and states across the country should put policies into place that help to curb teens’ purchase and use of alcohol, and to take steps to make the consequences of drinking and driving more severe.

Regulations on Alcohol Sales for the General Population

When we talk about regulations aimed at limiting the purchase of alcohol and its consumption by underage teen drivers, what kinds of regulations are we thinking about in practice? According to the NPR report, there are a number of regulations that can accomplish these goals with relative ease, and all of them target the general population. In other words, policies aimed strictly at teens do not tend to have the results we want. Rather, it is important to consider regulations that would limit alcohol purchases for everyone, including San Diego residents who can legally purchase it. Examples of these policies include but are not limited to:

March 25, 2016

Google Self-Driving Car Accident

by Walton Law Firm

Whether you are driving along the I-5 or are moving at slower speeds through a shopping area and get hit by a Google self-driving car, are you eligible to file a car accident claim? If there is no driver in the self-driving car—as its name suggests—who can be held liable for the collision? According to a recent article in The Guardian, a traffic collision involving a Google self-driving car and a city bus recently occurred in California. While the accident report did not indicate liability for the crash, if Google is found to be liable, “it would be the first time one of its SUVs caused an accident while in autonomous mode.”

Self-driving cars might sound like pieces of technology that could not possibly exist today, but they do. While California state law requires that a self-driving vehicle’s test driver be in the front seat in the event that something goes wrong, more and more Californians are seeing these vehicles on the road. Are they safe for use? Or are they likely to cause more auto accidents?

Recent Incident Involving California City Bus and Self-Driving Car

January 22, 2016

Rising Highway Deaths in California

by Walton Law Firm

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Is it safe to travel on the highways in California? Whether you are commuting to work in San Diego on the I-5 or are taking a vacation that requires you to drive with your family along the I-10, it is extremely important to be aware of serious car accident risks. According to a recent report from The California Report and KQED News, highway traffic fatalities are on the rise in California despite a relatively steady national number of deaths on America’s roadways. What is happening on California’s highways that makes driving in our state more dangerous? What can you do if you have suffered injuries as a result of another driver’s negligence?

Federal Highway Traffic Safety Data Highlights Substantial Death Toll

As the recent report makes clear, new federal highway safety data shows that “the traffic death toll in California continues to trend upward even as the number of people who die on roads nationwide holds steady.” Last year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) identified nearly 33,000 auto accident fatalities and about 2.3 million accidents that resulted in injuries. While that death toll might strike you as shockingly high—and it is a high number, to be sure—it actually represents a decline in the total number of nationwide auto accident deaths from the previous year. Between 2013 and 2014, auto accident collisions caused 44 fewer fatalities.