A car driven by a 31-year-old man crashed in Cleveland on Thursday night, killing a 35-year-old passenger. The vehicle crashed into a ramp divider on I-71, then flipped onto its side. The driver told police that he and the deceased were driving the car's owner to the hospital after she swallowed prescription medicine. When the accident occurred, the victim suffered a cardiac arrest and died a short time later after being taken to the hospital. She was reported to be the daughter of a part-time police officer.

The driver has admitted that he and the other two in the vehicle had been drinking before the crash. He voluntarily submitted to a blood test. He was arrested for aggravated vehicular homicide, but has not been charged.

If you or a loved one has been injured in an auto accident, please contact an experienced personal injury lawyer in your area.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, responding to a 2008 law which required the tracking of data for incidents in which children (14-years-old or younger) were involved in "difficult to quantify 'non-traffic' deaths and injuries," has shown that 99 kids were killed when a vehicle backed over them. A further 2000 were injured. These accidents occurred primarily in the driveways of private residences. The study also looked at children who were strangled by power windows and those killed when left in hot vehicles. The NHTSA found that a total of 221 people were killed and 14,000 were injured when vehicles backed over them in 2007.

Calling these "unnecessary deaths," Judith Lee Stone, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety said that, "when vehicle safety is improved to address these issued with better ways of identifying children and other pedestrians in the driveway and the parking lot we will see these numbers go down." A Kansas-based auto safety group called Kids and Cars has estimated that two children die every week because a vehicle backs over them.

The legislation was sponsored by former New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, and requires vehicle makers to use additional mirrors, cameras or sensor devices to reduce blind spots in future models. By 2010, vehicles must have brake interlock systems to help prevent vehicles from shifting out of park unless there is pressure on the brake pedal.

If you or a loved one has been hit or run over by a car, please contact an experienced personal injury lawyer in your area.

A study out of the University of Alabama at Birmingham reports that children who are talking on cell phones as they cross the street are 43 percent more likely to be hit by a car. Because they aren't paying attention, children may inadvertently step out into traffic when they think it is safe to do so.

According to one of those involved in the study, which appears in the journal Pediatrics, children who attempt to multitask while on a cell phone may have "reduced cognitive capacity to devote to potentially dangerous activities such as crossing streets."

The Alabama study used virtual reality software and TV screens to test 77 children, ages 10 and 11. The simulated traffic and crosswalk was used to show children's reactions. They were told to cross the road when they felt it was safe to do so. This was done six times without the phone and six times while speaking with a research assistant. When the children stepped off the curb, a sensor captured their moves. The researchers found that children took more risks while speaking on the phone than without it. The research also showed children took 20 percent longer crossing the street, forgot to look both ways 20 percent of the time, and gave themselves eight percent less time when crossing into oncoming traffic.

The researchers wrote that their results "suggest that just as drivers should limit cell phone use while driving, pedestrians – and especially child pedestrians – should limit cell phone use while crossing streets."

If you or a loved one has been involved in a pedestrian/vehicle incident, please contact an experienced personal injury lawyer in your area.

Two children have died and a third critically injured after a restaurant delivery van jumped the curb in New York City's Chinatown yesterday morning. According to police and witnesses, the van jumped the curb and hit a line of preschoolers returning to their daycare after visiting the library with their escorts. Seven other children and four adults were treated for minor injuries in the accident.

The van's driver has told police he double parked to make a delivery. The surveillance video of the scene then shows the unoccupied van reversing across a double yellow line and hitting the children. Police believe the driver, who had a previously clean record, may have mistaken reverse for park.

The driver in obvious shock was lead away by police after a crowd quickly formed and began screaming at the driver. The driver's employer as well as the NYPD's top spokesman, have said this is nothing more than a tragic accident, but the employer adds that blame should not be assigned to the driver.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer says the accident should serve as a "wake up call" and that more needs to be done to protect pedestrians from traffic. Stringer says between 1995 and 2005, there were 25 pedestrian deaths and 1149 injuries in the same zip code as of the accident yesterday.

If you or a loved one has been injured when hit by a vehicle, please contact an experienced personal injury lawyer in your area.

An eight-year-old Pennsylvania girl was fatally mauled by a mixed-breed Rottweiler on Monday. The death has been ruled an accident due to bleeding from multiple dog bites to the girl's neck.

The second grader died en route to the medical center in Beaver County, Pennsylvania just after 6:30 pm. According to police, the girl was injured in the home she was staying at with guardians. Though the girl had been warned to stay away from the 100 pound dog that had been chained up, she had to pass it to enter the house. On Monday, when the male guardian went to check on her, he found the girl severely injured and dialed 911.

Police do not believe any charges will be filed against the guardians, but the dog has been taken by a dog warden and may be euthanized.

While dog attacks are not usual, large dogs can be a danger to small children. Dogs with a history of uneven temperament, or those deemed dangerous breeds, should be watch closely if they come into contact with children. Although this dog was chained up, it was still able to kill the girl.

If you have a child who has been injured by a dog, please contact an experienced personal injury lawyer in your area.

Two pileups in two states left several injured and four dead. In both cases, weather caused drivers to either stop or brake suddenly.

Just after noon on Monday in northwestern Maryland, snow and icy weather is blamed for causing a 40 vehicle pileup. More than a dozen people were taken to the hospital and there are two confirmed deaths. Police say that a minivan that may have been involved in the initial accident left the scene. A witness reports several trucks, including a tanker truck, leaving the road. The witness said she and her friends ran into the nearby woods to get away from all the vehicles crashing into each other.

Also on Monday in eastern Colorado, wind caused a "brownout" that may have been responsible for an accident involving 14 vehicles. Two people were killed and a third was severely burned. Six people were injured. The accident occurred 15 miles west of Limon in the westbound lanes. Investigators believe one of the vehicles either slowed or stopped and caused a chain reaction. Eight automobiles and six trucks were involved in the accident.

If you or a loved one has been involved in an auto accident or truck accident in your area, please contact an experienced personal injury lawyer in your area.

The Denver-area light rail commuter passenger system that runs through Arapahoe County, Colorado will be running late for the next ten following a train derailment about 1:00am on Saturday. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight was travelling on tracks that run parallel to those used by the commuter light rail line.

Authorities say 17 tanks on the train carrying liquid sulfur jumped the track, damaging the light rail track and a retaining wall. It will take the next two weeks to repair the damage. At least 100 gallons of liquid sulfur leaked from the tank cars. Because the liquid sulfur solidified in the cold air, there were no evacuations. The two crew members on the train were not injured. There is no word on what caused the train to derail.

The three stations affected the most by this derailment include the Mineral station, the Oxford station, and the Littleton station.

If you have been injured in a train accident, please contact an experienced personal injury lawyer in your area.

Insurance companies are sure to be busy this week after nearly 60 vehicles collided on a stretch of northbound I-93 in Derry, New Hampshire on Sunday. The accident involved 46 automobiles, eight trucks, three buses, and two semi trucks, and closed the road for five hours as the vehicles were removed.

The accident may have started when a bus full of Boy Scouts slowed to avoid hitting a car that had stopped in the middle of the road, which was covered with snow. This sent all the vehicles behinds the bus careening out of control at 50 mph.

Another bus carrying the University of Massachusetts women's hockey team was also involved in the accident, but none aboard were injured. However, the bus began letting some injured people aboard and was then used as a staging area for emergency equipment.

Emergency crews had to go from vehicle to vehicle to check for injured people. Seventeen ambulances were used to transport the injured to local hospitals. Most of the injuries were broken ankles and legs. A school bus was used to take those who were uninjured off the highway.

Tow truck companies from all over the area responded to the accident. They took the damaged vehicles once exit behind the accident and then come back for others. Witnesses say it began to look like a salvage area where all the vehicles were being parked. One person ironically hit the tow truck that wound up towing it.

If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident, please contact an experienced injury lawyer in your area.

A couple out for a walk with their two dogs in Anaheim, California were attacked by a pit bull Tuesday night. According to the couple and witnesses, the black and white pit bull came "out of nowhere" and jumped on the woman who was walking with the couple's Siberian husky, knocking them to the ground. The pit bull went after the husky, biting it in the throat and then latched itself onto the woman's hand as she tried to pull it off her dog. She says she thought the pit bull had severed her fingers when it bit her.

Neighbors who heard the commotion came to the woman's aid, kicking and punching the pit bull to get it to release the woman's hand. At the same time, the woman's husband, who was holding the leash of an American Eskimo, swung the leash around to get the dog away from the pit bull. Someone told him to release the leash so his dog could get away from the pit bull, which he did. However, as the dog began to run, the pit bull went after it, and began biting.

The man ran to a neighbor's house and asked for a knife. He was allowed to grab a knife and then ran back to the pit bull, stabbing it in the chest. The pit bull continued to grab onto the American Eskimo, so the man stabbed a second time. The pit bull then staggered away, collapsed and died.

The man suffered knife wounds to his hand. His wife didn't lose her fingers, but had eight bite wounds to her hand. Both dogs required veterinarian care, and the American Eskimo needed surgery. The couple spent over $2000 on vet bills as a result of the attack, money they had been saving to work on their house.

The pit bull had been in a backyard and somehow got out before the attack. People had been watching the pit bull for a friend for less than a week and had no idea it was aggressive.

If you or a loved one has been attacked by a vicious dog, please contact an experienced personal injury lawyer in your area.

While the holiday traffic accident toll in Georgia has upset officials in that state, officials in Iowa have announced that the traffic fatality toll there was down from the year before. Iowa officials have stated that, based on early preliminary numbers, 410 to 415 people were killed in traffic accidents in Iowa in 2008. This is the third lowest rate since World War II. The other two years are 2004 with 388 deaths and 2002 with 405 deaths.

While many across the country struggle to figure out why traffic fatalities occur and ways to stop them, a spokesperson from the Iowa Department of Transportation believes that high gas prices and the recession are the reason. Iowans are driving less and driving slower. He added that though Iowans may not have intentionally been more careful when they drove, the idea of saving money may have created a cautious condition.

It was just a few years before the gas shortages in the '70s that Iowa saw its deadliest year on the road. In 1970, 912 people were killed on the roads.

While people may be driving slower and more cautiously in Iowa, that doesn't mean that all people everywhere are doing this. If you or a loved one has been injured in an auto accident, please contact an experienced personal injury lawyer in your area.

The Georgia State Patrol and Georgia Department of Transportation were dismayed by the number of injuries and deaths as a result of traffic accidents over the Christmas holiday weekend. The DOT had estimated that between 6pm Christmas Eve and December 29, there would be 2,945 accidents resulting in 1,494 injuries and 19 deaths. However, when the results were calculated, they found there were 3,325 accidents reported across the state, which resulted in 868 injuries and 24 deaths. While the injury number is down from last year, both the number of accidents and deaths is up.

According to Georgia patrolmen, most accidents over the holidays are caused by drinking, speeding, and not paying attention. However, the increased number of accidents over the holidays may be attributed to icy roads and other weather conditions.

If you or a loved one has been injured in an auto accident, please contact an experienced personal injury lawyer in your area.