Texas Truck Wreck Attorney Blog

The federal government has developed a site that is devoted solely to keeping the public informed about vehicle collisions in the country. Known as the Fatality Accident Reporting System or FARS - it is operated by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) under the auspices of the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA).

FARS is strictly statistical in nature - drawing its information from a variety of sources including accident reports, vehicle registration and driver's license files, death certificates, coroner and medical examiner reports, and emergency service and medical record reports.

The purpose for this data gathering is to use facts that include weather conditions, time of day, speed and a determination of alcohol impairment and other factors to determine a cause of death. In addition, they consider such things as the age and sex of drivers and passengers and the type of vehicle or vehicles involved in the collision.

Finally, the type of accident is cataloged - such as whether it was a roll-over, rear-end or head-on crash.

Of course, much more information than this is available on the site. In the end, though, the hope is that through this fact-gathering trends may emerge that help experts determine ways in which further accidents - resulting in catastrophic injuries and/or death - may be prevented.

Too, it is an excellent resource for organizations that advocate safe driving habits and manufacturers who are consistently looking to engineer better safety devices.

Continue reading "FARS- Car and Truck Accident Statistics" »

There are a number of interesting things going on in the world of cars and trucks. For the purposes of this blog we will simply offer a recap of what's relevant and interesting.

No doubt higher gas prices are here to stay. 'They've' been threatening it for years and all of the signs have aligned to allow for what can pass as legitimate excuses to raise the prices at the pump. After all, there's unrest across all of the Middle East and besides, the economy has held in inflation for as long as possible so look out.

Therefore, if there ever was a time to consider buying a vehicle that gets good gas mileage there's no time like the present and according to one news source there are a variety of quality vehicles that offer the consumer up to 40 miles to a gallon - and all for a fair cost. If you're in the market for a new vehicle give this some serious consideration.

Other 'oil' news? Well, two things of note - in some remote areas of Alaska gasoline is supposedly ten dollars a gallon and there is talk that our US leaders will consider dipping into our own oil reserves to help temper the rising costs of oil. They do that mainly when they feel the price of oil is artificially high and they can later replace the oil at a lower cost. In other words in speculation driven markets.

Now, one more story of interest. Our current president predicted a revolution in the automobile industry - suggesting that there might be up to a million electric vehicles on the road within the next few years.

It appears this declaration will fall far short - but it is helpful to recognize that presidents for the last 25 years have all denounced our "addiction to oil" but none have done anything meaningful to move us in a new direction.

Continue reading "The US Addiction to Oil" »