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Current Legal News

If you want to find the current traffic or weather conditions for the Bakersfield and Kern County areas, click on the California Highway Patrol Traffic Incident Page or contact the California Department of Transportation for a recording on the phone at 1-800-427-7623. The Department of Transportation also has a web site where you can type in the highway for current information.

Mayo Clinic Announces New Chest
Compression Guidelines for CPR

The United States Department of Transportation has Created a Distracted Driving Summit

The United States Department of Transportation has announced a summit to address the dangers of text messaging, talking on cell phones and other distractions while driving. Some of the studies that you might find interesting are provided on their web site and here as well.

President Obama signed an executive order that bans federal government employees from texting or using cell phones and driving while on goverment business. As you can see in the Newshour video below, the Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood considers distracted driving a menace to society. Secretary LaHood wants to send "a very clear signal to the American public that distracted driving is dangerous and unacceptable."

The effect of distracted driving can be disasterous and a real threat to the lives of families. David Teater's son was killed when a driver of a hummer distracted by her cell phone ran a red light and slammed into the Chevrolet Suburban the 12 year old boy was riding in. Jennifer Smith's grandmother was killed in collision when a 20-year-old driver of the other car was talking on his cell phone. And two years ago, Weida Stoecker’s husband, Chuck, was killed less than two miles from home when hit head-on by a 17 year-old texting driver. Since then, Stoecker has been advocating for national distracted driving laws and, on Facebook, posting the license plate numbers of people she spots texting while driving.

ABC news reports that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that last year 15% of driver deaths in the US -- 5,870 people -- were as a result of distracted driving. It's unclear how many of those incidents were related to texting while driving, though the phenomenon is considered to be growing and serious. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says that drivers that use handheld devices are four times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves.

 

Here are two Fact Studies that are well worth looking at:

 

The VirginiaTech Transportaion Institute has recently published a study that provided insight into Cell Phone and Distracted Driving.

The Newshour with Jim Leher covered the Distracted Drivers Summit with on September 30, 2009.
Summit Aims to Put the Brakes on Texting While Driving

Text messaging while driving has been found to increase the odds of a crash by 23 times. Now, lawmakers and transportation experts are trying to find a way to stop the dangerous practice. Ray Suarez reports.

The New York Times has recently published an article about the dangers of running a mobile office from a car:
 At 60 M.P.H., Office Work Is High Risk

 On Wednesday, the Transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, called the broader phenomenon of distracted driving a “deadly epidemic” at a meeting on the issue in Washington. Real estate brokers, pharmaceutical sales people, entrepreneurs, marketers and others say they have little choice but to transform their cars into cubicles. In this merciless economy, they say, they have to make every minute count, and respond instantly to opportunities and challenges.

And they argue that the convenience of constant contact — and the chance to tick off items from an endless to-do list while driving — far outweigh what they think are slim chances that it could lead to a wreck. For white-collar employees, pressures to multitask are largely self-imposed. For blue-collar workers, the demands to stay connected while driving are often imposed by their bosses.
Truckers, plumbers, delivery drivers and others are tethered to dispatchers with an array of productivity devices, including on-board computers that send instructions about thTruckers, plumbers, delivery drivers and others are tethered to dispatchers with an array of productivity devices, including on-board computers that send instructions about the next job and keep tabs on drivers’ locations. Such devices can require continual attention — distracting drivers who are steering the biggest vehicles on American roads. The compulsion to work while driving often trumps clear evidence that such activity is dangerous. Studies show that someone who talks on the phone while driving is four times more likely to crash, even using a hands-free headset, than someone who is simply driving. The risks are even greater when sending text messages. For all the perceived benefits of multitasking behind the wheel — like staying a step ahead of competitors — the dangers have begun to take their toll on companies, leading some to ban the practice by employees.

 
 

Eight locals sue hip replacement manufacturer over alleged defects

BY STEVE E. SWENSON, Californian staff writer sswenson@bakersfield.com | Wednesday, Sep 16 2009 04:37 PM

A hip replacement was supposed to cure Mary Shelton's pain. Instead, the Bakersfield woman replaced one pain with another.

Shelton and seven other local folks are suing the manufacturer and distributor of a hip replacement system.

 Instead of being pain free, those suing felt strong pains in their groin areas for months, the lawsuits say. Even when they had replacement surgeries, most still suffer some pain, said their lawyer, Matthew Faulkner of Bakersfield.

All the suits are targeting the Durom Hip Resurfacing System. It's manufactured by Zimmer Inc. of Indiana and distributed in Kern County by an independent contractor, Roger Probasco.

The suits allege that the Durom system is defective because bone and tissues don't grow into them properly. A cup in the system has to be replaced with parts from another manufacturer, Faulkner said. Zimmer stands behind their product. It's not defective, said Irvine attorney Michelle M. Fujimoto.

In paperwork filed with the court, the company says any problems can be blamed on the doctors who implanted the product, or on unusual conditions in the patients themselves. She did not return a call Wednesday.

Faulkner noted that Zimmer stopped sales for a few months in 2008 until the company gave surgeons new instructions on how to implant them. The Durom system was first sold in 2006. Faulkner said he doesn't know how many have been sold in Kern County, but the company has reported that about 15,000 have been implanted across the nation.

Faulkner filed the first of eight lawsuits in December 2008. One patient is in his 30s while the rest are generally in their 60s, he said. The youngest one is Robby George. The others are Shelton, Annie Housden, Randin McDonald, Kathleen Lyles, Judith Hinds, Angela Glinton and Gregory Barnet. George has had the most improvement, Faulkner said. While the others have had some relief, they are still experiencing some levels of pain, he said.

The eight separate lawsuits against Zimmer and Probasco have been consolidated in Kern County Superior Court. A conference is set Oct. 22 before Judge William D. Palmer.

 

 
 

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