Fort Worth Injury Attorney Blog

Super Bowl Week has begun in North Texas, with some of the activities occurring close to my office on University.

I was excited to see TCU's practice field, where I run some times, painted over with the Steelers logo in the end zone and players or personnel there. I also drove downtown to check out the monster ESPN set in Sundance Square and the giant logos on the Omni Hotel.

With 300 Super Bowl Week events throughout the Metroplex and 250,000 people flooding into North Texas this week, not to mention the icy weather predicted, it is even more important than usual to take precautions while driving on our roads.

First, remember whether you are attending the game or a Super Bowl party, have a designated driver or cab ready, if necessary, and remember that not everyone else next to you has done that.

Also,

•If you are hosting a super bowl party, stop serving alcohol during the third quarter

•If you are attending the super bowl, make sure you are consistently aware of the people around you, and report suspicious looking activities to the police

•If you are not attending the Super Bowl, avoid driving in and around Cowboys Stadium, in Arlington if at all possible

•Make sure to have a look at the Headed to the Game link at Star Telegram.com to get tips on area short cuts and construction delays and problems.

Have a safe and fun Super Week!

North Texas motorists waste 48 hours a year stuck in traffic! Although congestion has declined since 2006, freeways and city streets will become choked again once the economy improves, causing numerous delays and more unfortunate collisions.

Also with gas prices increasing, you may be startled to find out that Metroplex motorists burned an average of 38 gallons of fuel while stuck in traffic, either while idling or engaging in stop-and-go maneuvers. That was the seventh-worst amount nationally.

Traffic is one of the leading causes of severe accidents, especially when a negligent motorist is not paying attention and barrels through drivers who have stopped or slowed stopped as a result of the slowing traffic.

I have represented countless clients who were seriously injured as a result of being rammed into while slowing for traffic. For example, I currently represent a woman who was crashed into into by an 18-wheeler while she was stopped for traffic and the 18-wheeler was still going between 50-70 miles per hour obviously, not realizing that traffic had slowed in front of him.

If you have been hurt by a negligent driver, please call me. I will fight hard to recover your damages and punish the offending driver.

A Dallas man remained in jail Tuesday on charges that he assaulted another motorist during an alleged road rage incident on Texas 114 in Grapevine in which he reportedly drove away from the scene.

Thankfully, off-duty Grapevine police Officer William Lain was driving in his own car and witnessed the incident.

Alcohol was also listed as a factor in the incident, according to Grapevine police reports.

Grapevine police identified the man as James Darrel Wilson, 42, of Dallas. He was in the Grapevine Jail in lieu of $11,000 bail. He is expected to be charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, endangering a child and criminal mischief.

An unidentified man was driving with his wife, his 9-year-old daughter and their dog in their BMW when he was cut off by Wilson, who was driving his pickup truck. Wilson pulled up beside the other man and cursed at the people in the BMW. The two vehicles stopped on the side of the highway and the pickup driver and his passenger got out of their vehicle and continued to yell at the BMW driver.

Then, Wilson got into his truck, leaving the door open, and backed into the BMW driver with the door and the car!

After being hit, the BMW driver tried to get the pickup driver to stop, and was dragged about 100 feet as he was hanging on the door! The BMW driver eventually let go of the door and rolled onto the roadway. The pickup driver only stopped once he realized that he had left his passenger near the BMW.

Wow, what is going on out there? This frightening episode is an inexcusable offense, not only because of the incredibly idiotic road rage but also because, once again, a motorist was drinking and driving.

I have represented people hurt by road raging/drunk drivers and it infuriates me. In a resent survey, Dallas-Fort Worth was ranked second in cities with the worst road rage and most aggressive drivers, with New York City taking first place. Great.

If you have been hurt by a road raging or drunk driver, please call me. I will fight hard to recover your damages and punish the offending driver.

A police officer who was arrested in November on suspicion of DWI was found asleep behind the wheel on the job.She began laughing when police confronted her, according to Fort Worth police records.

Inside the car belonging to Officer Anastasia Brown, officers found drug paraphernalia with residue that they believed to be methamphetamine.

Four days after her arrest, Dallas Police Chief David Brown ordered Brown to submit to a drug test. She remains on administrative leave.

In the last year, several other officers have been accused of DWI, including Officer Domingo N. Martinez, Jared D. Cockerham and Bobby Brown of Fort Worth. And three officers were arrested for DWIs in 2009, including Ex-Officer Jesus Cisneros, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for causing a collision that killed Sonia Baker.

While almost all of of DFW's finest are obviously excellent hard working policemen and women, it is hard to believe that an officer would so blatantly engage in criminal conduct like the is, isnt' it?

After all, more than 1,400 people die in Texas each year due to DWIs. I call on our police -- who are hopefully not drunk -- to crack down on drunk or stoned drivers before they crash into you and me. Many of my clients have been hurt by idrunk drivers and it infuriates me.

If you have been hurt by a drunk driver, please call me. I will fight hard to recover your damages and punish the offending driver.

With Fort Worth and Dallas experiencing frigid temperatures, freezing rain, and in many areas, several inches of snow. follow the following precautions to help reduce the potential for damage to property as well as personal injury.

When driving, allow more distance when following, and be especially cautious on bridges.
Watch out for "black ice," an area of pavement that only looks wet but actually has a fine layer of ice on it. Obviously drive slower, and be ready for all the yahoos who don't.

Turn on the water faucets in your kitchens and baths so that water drips slowly. By doing this, the water in the line will not freeze, which will prevent any damage to your house and personal property. Before leaving water running, make sure that your drains are functioning properly and are not clogged.

Open the cabinet doors under your sinks to expose warm air to your pipes and supply lines.

Keep your thermostat set to at least 65 degrees at all times, including when you go out of town. The temperature inside the walls where the pipes are located is much colder than the walls themselves.

These are simple steps that can protect you and save you some money. Sometimes we forget the basic steps associated with cold weather,so hopefully this will help you keep from getting hurt or incurring damage.

A bus and car collided at the intersection of East Lancaster Avenue and Calhoun Street Tuesday night. The bus had the green light, according to witnesses.

The driver of the Nissan and 10 of the 28 passengers on the bus were taken to hospitals. Fortunately none of the injuries were serious. The Fort Worth Police Department and Fort Worth Transportation Authority are investigating the bus crash.

A thorough investigation is needed in crashes like this, especially to determine why someone would be so stupid as to cut in front of a bus! I am glad to hear that all of the injuries in both parties seemed to be relatively minor, as crashes involving buses account for 8% of fatalities.

My law office has handled several bus collisions like this one over the last 30 years. Just last week, I was retained by several passengers who on were riding on a Fort Worth city bus on Christmas Eve when it was struck by a Chevy Suburban which unsafely turned in front of the bus. Every body was taken to local hospitals and my clients have to undergo medical treatment due to their injuries.

Another client -- who I first represented 25 years ago - was seriously injured when a bus suddenly changed lanes and hit his car on Central Expressway in Dallas, causing him to careen into the concrete retaining wall.

If you or a loved one is involved in an accident on a bus or caused by a bus contact my office immediately at 817-885-8000 so I can fight for you and get you the financial recovery you deserve.