negligent driver

North Syracuse car crash remains a mystery

Published on: July 15, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Sometimes it is immediately clear who caused a crash, like when a tractor-trailer driver falls asleep at the wheel, crosses into oncoming traffic and smashes headlong into a car. Or, when a driver is busy texting and fails to notice a stop sign, plowing into a left-turning motorcycle. Sometimes, however, fault is a little harder to find, at least at first glance, yet this does not mean that the family members of those killed in fatal car accidents shouldn’t work with a wrongful death lawyer to file a lawsuit.

And that may be what the family of a woman who is believed to have been killed in a North Syracuse car crash will do once it is a bit more clear as to whose fault the accident was.

Although the North Syracuse police are saying that one of the vehicles involved in this two-car crash ran a red light, officers have not yet said if it was the minivan in which the woman was riding or an SUV.

Front crash prevention system may not help with negligent drivers

Published on: June 3, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

There are a number of new vehicles on the road these days and, as always, they are utilizing a variety of new technologies to keep drivers and passengers safer. These technological breakthroughs are certainly important, but they often fail to protect against negligent drivers. Yet having one of the newest safety features, front crash prevention systems, won’t necessarily keep a driver safe from a motor vehicle accident caused by a distracted or reckless driver.

Front crash prevention systems do what they say, they try to prevent crashes to the front of the vehicle. In essence, a system will let driver A know that his or her vehicle is getting to close to the rear of driver B’s vehicle. Sometimes there are warnings, sometimes the car automatically slows down. What the system does not do, however, is warn driver A that driver C’s vehicle is quickly approaching from behind and will hit the back of driver A’s car. It also would not warn driver A that his or her car is about to be hit on the right or left side by drivers D or E, respectively.

Although there are some amazing safety features out there, they have not yet gotten rid of the need for personal injury lawsuits. When a negligent, reckless or distracted driver causes a motor vehicle accident, it will be a personal injury lawsuit that then protects an injured victim, not a safety feature.

3 passengers injured in Oneida County accident

Published on: February 25, 2014 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Though many people in Oneida County may assume that the only way to file a personal injury lawsuit in a car accident is when there are at least two cars involved, they are wrong. Say you are riding in a car and someone else is driving. If that driver is texting, is drunk or is otherwise negligent and causes an accident, you can file a personal injury lawsuit. It does not matter how many vehicles are involved, so long as there is a negligent driver.

It is a driver’s responsibility to avoid an accident and to not cause serious injuries. Although the assumption is that he or she needs to avoid injuring other drivers, bicyclists, motorcyclists or really anyone else on the road, it actually means that he or she needs to avoid injuring anyone, including his or her own passengers. If an accident happens and it is the fault of the driver, he or she could be found liable.

Three passengers in a vehicle being driven by a 17-year-old Waterville boy may be looking into personal injury lawsuits after the teenager crashed the vehicle in which they were riding. The passengers, ranging in age from 20 to 39 years old are all from upstate New York. It is unknown how they knew the driver or why they were in the vehicle with him this weekend.