Salem Oregon Personal Injury Legal Blog

When a person gets behind the wheel of a vehicle, he or she is responsible for making safe choices. This includes avoiding distracted driving, not driving after drinking and adhering to the rules of the road. When you think about safe driving, you may not consider avoiding drowsiness as well. In reality, fatigued driving is a serious safety threat for all Oregon drivers.

Drowsy driving happens when a person gets behind the wheel when he or she is actually too tired to drive safely. Unfortunately, many people are unable or unwilling to admit when they may not be in a condition to adequately operate a motor vehicle. Like distraction or drunk driving, fatigued driving is dangerous and can lead to an increased chance of an accident.

When drivers decide to get behind the wheel when intoxicated or impaired, they put their lives and the lives of others at risk. That's what happened in one case in Oregon when a woman smoked marijuana before causing a fatal collision.

The 39-year-old woman pleaded guilty to causing the fatal car crash that resulted in one man's death and injuries to three others. She pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide, DUI and assault.

The aftermath of a car accident can be expensive and overwhelming. In fact, you may be unsure of how you will ever be able to reclaim your life and move forward after such a traumatic incident. If your accident was the result of the reckless or negligent actions of another person, you could have grounds to move forward with a civil claim. It would be wise for you to seek the full amount to which you are entitled.

It is not easy to determine how much an accident claim may be worth. There are multiple factors to consider, including the extent of your injuries and the amount of your financial losses. If you are considering a claim or the insurance company offered you a settlement, it is in your interests to know what your claim may be truly worth. 

Highway collisions involving large trucks are common, particularly in areas where these vehicles transport goods. Large trucks can be tens of thousands of pounds, which makes them some of the most dangerous vehicles on the road, if not the most dangerous.

The average passenger vehicle weighs around 4,000 pounds, while an 18-wheeler may weigh as much as 80,000 pounds. As you can imagine, getting into a collision with a vehicle of that size is going to do incredible damage to the smaller car.