Utah Department of Transportation’s Zero Fatalities campaign brought together the 25 families who lost a child in a car accident, reports Fox13 News. For those who have lost an child in a car accident, it can undoubtedly be a heart wrenching experience, and these family connected in hopes of alerting and educating Utahans be more alert to the dangers of inattentive driving.

My thoughts and prayers are with these families in dealing with their devastating loss.

Although many states have previously required a medical examiner to be at the scene of a fatal vehicle accident, Utah has previously not required one, which is likely to change reports KSL News. “The cause of death is not always apparent,” tell Utah Highway Patrol Maj. Michael Rapich.

Having a medical examiner on the scene of the accident helps Utahns in more than one way. First, they can help put the correct causation to the death, i.e. a toxicology report can help pinpoint whether the death was caused by chemical or natural causes. Second, it can help the family and relatives speed up the legal process. Getting a death certificate and an insurance payout can be a cumbersome process, especially if trying to get the necessary paperwork from a hospital emergency room, which are usually too busy with patients who have not already passed. Having a medical examiner present helps prevent the “legal limbo” that is created with a situation where the proper documentation wasn’t done soon enough, and also helps free up “time and resources at the hospital.”

Utah accident Victims can now order their accident reports online. Utahans, who have a history of being tech-savvy, have kept with this trend reports the Standard-Examiner. Utah Highway Patrol reports over 56,000 accidents annually, and are “very excited to offer this valuable service to our citizens,” said Commissioner Davenport of the Utah Department of Public Safety.

In the past, an accident victim has had to personally visit the law enforcement station in order to get a copy of their accident report. Now, after a few simple verifying steps, it can easily be accessed and printed online. Currently, all state-level accident reports are available at http://crashreport.utah.gov, but U.H.P. is hoping (and encouraging) county-level law enforcement agencies to join.

Kramer Law Group, is a personal injury firm who specializes in helping accident victims receive a fair amount of compensation from insurance companies. We offer free consultations to anyone with questions about their accident, and have also made available a free copy of The Utah Accident Book.

After being in a car accident, injured parties need to beware of the insurance adjusters, whose bottom line is to keep as much money as they can in the pocket of the insurance company. According to MSN, there is some inside information that can help an accident victim get a full and fair settlement.

1. The adjusters are trained (and likely paid) to question the victim with a “loaded” questions. In other words, these adjusters ask questions to help take some fault off their insured. If you don’t have a legal representative, make sure you talk with your own insurance agent first.

2. Many injuries sustained in accidents are soft-tissue injuries, or injuries that you may not feel until several days later. The adjusters know this, and therefore are likely to try to get the case settled as soon as possible. Take your time! There is no reason a case needs to be hurried along.

3. Do your homework. The internet is great resource for doing research. You can also call the Kramer Law Group, who gives free consultations to accident victims. The adjuster knows how the game is played, so make sure you have information to stay in the game. Also, be sure to request a copy of the Utah Accident Book, written by Ron Kramer, to help educate those who’ve been involved in car accidents.

4. Be prepared to negotiate. You should never take the first offer from the adjuster, unless they’re offering policy limits. Your negotiating will be more like bartering with a vendor at a side-walk sale. The amounts are not set in stone, and the adjuster is definitely likely to low ball you at the beginning.

Ron Kramer is West Jordan accident and injury attorney with offices in West Jordan, Orem, Bountiful and now in Ogden.

An Experienced Orem Utah Personal Injury Attorney Can Help You From Getting Injured Again — This Time by the Big Insurance Companies

The most experienced Orem, Utah car accident lawyers know that dealing with insurance companies can be treacherous. There are many traps just waiting to catch the uninitiated – including those accident victims who decide to go it alone. Those that drive in the Orem metro area know that accidents out there are just waiting to happen. Statistically, Orem is the sixth largest city in Utah and home to many college-age students. On any given day, there are auto accidents, motorcycle accidents, scooter accidents, pedestrian accidents, bicycle accidents, drunk driving accidents and text messaging accidents that injure people and send them to the hospital, and sometimes to the morgue.

Getting What is Fair Can Be Difficult and Trying for the Uninitiated

Sadly, when someone is involved in a Orem, Utah car accident, either as a driver, motorist, or pedestrian, obtaining just compensation can be extremely trying. Sometimes the claim needs to be brought against a Utah governmental agency, such as UTA. Agencies such as this are not accustomed to giving injured victims the time of day, let alone justice. Getting fair compensation from these agencies and the big insurance companies takes real experience and dogged persistence. A knowledgeable Orem accident lawyer will tell you that big insurance, companies and governmental agencies just won’t pay over the compensation you may be deserving if they happened to have been negligent. So, unless there is a Utah advocate holding them accountable, they are likely to deny or severely minimize your valid injury claim.

The Secret Way Insurance Companies Make Their Millions

Let’s face it, the insurance industry is a highly-competitive industry. Every day, we hear and see countless commercials in Utah from car insurance companies that want us to switch over to them for our car insurance needs. Despite their insistence that we all become their customers and pay them premiums however, the insurance companies make most of their profit when they deny or minimize otherwise valid claims. What skilled Salt Lake City accident attorneys know is that as long as the insurance companies bring in more in premium dollars than they pay out, they are profitable. However, if the insurance companies can avoid paying out on valid claims, or only pays pennies on the dollar, the amount they avoid paying out is pure profit to them. So, for example, if they paid out $10,000 less than they should of on your claim, that is an extra $10,000 of pure profit to that insurance company. That’s where the BIG money is for them. This is the area that they really focus their business attention on.

Fight Fire With Fire:  Get a Good Lawyer!

Insurance companies hire the best lawyers to defend them so they can limit their payouts to the bare minimum. This is why you need to fight fire with fire by consulting with the best Orem accident and injury lawyer you can find. Such a lawyer will not bow to the manipulative games that these insurance companies play. They have trial experience and take cases to trial when necessary. They stand firm in the face of their claims that your case is worth less because you have “degenerative disc disease,” that you were in a car accident 10 years ago, that your accident was too minor to have caused you injury, etc. Since almost all accident and injury lawyers will offer a free consultation, make sure you consult with one who can explain what your rights are and what you can expect on your claim. Remember that it costs NOTHING to meet with an experienced lawyer. If you were seriously injured, you will be miles ahead if you do.

Learn All You Can To Get the Best Possible Outcome on Your Case

Finally, you should take the time to educate yourself as to what you are in for when you have been involved in a Orem accident and what mistakes you must avoid to get full and fair compensation for your case. Ron Kramer wrote the Utah Accident Book to give Utah consumers this very direction. This book is free to those who have been injured in a Utah accident. You can get one by calling our office or clicking here: http://www.MyAccidentBook.com.

If you have been injured because of someone’s neglect, we would love to meet with you or a family member. You can visit us in our office conveniently located in Provo:

Kramer Law Group
495 North University Ave., Suite 100
Provo, Utah 84601
801-374-7445

A SUV and motorcycle collision in Lindon, Utah seriously injured one person on Tuesday, March 2, 2010. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, this Utah motorcycle accident happened around 12:10 a.m., near 700 North and State Street in Lindon, Utah.

According to Lindon police, the driver of the SUV, a 19-year-old Pleasant Grove woman, made a left turn into the path of the 29-year-old motorcyclist from Provo, Utah. The accident left the motorcycle driver in serious condition. The SUV driver allegedly told police that she took a quick look at her watch before she made the left turn onto 700 North. She didn’t notice the motorcyclist coming from the south side of the street. The driver of the motorcycle was able to lay down his motorcycle, but still clipped the front fender of the SUV. The biker was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash and officials are not sure how fast he was going.

Emergency personnel responded and transported the motorcycle driver by helicopter, to Utah Valley Medical Center. He suffered serious chest and leg injuries. At the time of this report, no citations had been given.

I wish the man the very best as he recovers.

Unless the biker was found to be going an excessively high speed, the driver of the SUV will probably be found to be at-fault for this accident. She has a obligation to yield when making a left turn. The driver of the motorcycle will have a claim against the at-fault parties insurance.If the woman was actually texting as she made her turn, things will be much worse for her under Utah’s new texting statute which imposes minimum criminal penalties for those that injure another while they text and drive. Further, the woman is exposed to punitive damages for her role in causing this crash to occur.

Ron Kramer is a Utah motorcycle accident attorney who helps his clients recover costs of medical bills, receive payment for lost wages and be compensated for pain and suffering.

Payson, Utah resident Karen Baker, 53 years old, died in a motorcycle accident while riding with her husband in California on January 1, 2010. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Ms. Baker was passenger on the motorcycle, which was being driven by her husband, just west of Lucerne Valley on Highway 18, when a car slowed in front of them to make a left-hand turn. Six other motorcycles in front of them, also slowed.

According to reports, her husband didn’t see the lead car and trailing motorcycles slowing down and veered off the road to avoid impacting them. He subsequently lost control of their 2008 Harley Davidson, causing the two of them to be thrown from the motorcycle. Although Karen Baker had a helmet on, it came off during the impact and she was pronounced dead at the scene. Her husband, Colton Baker, luckily suffered only minor injuries. She is survived by her husband, her parents, four children and five grandchildren.

My condolences go out to Karen’s husband and her family following this tragic motorcycle accident. It sounded like the two were out for a nice new year’s day drive when this happened. If there is anything to be learned from this crash, it would include the importance of always scanning the road in front of you and looking for hazards or changing traffic patterns and making sure when you ride, that your motorcycle helmet is securely fastened.

In this case, and based on the news account, it would appear that the parents and children of Karen Baker would be able to make a claim on the insurance policy taken out on the motorcycle. There also may be a possible claim against the car that initially slowed, if the driver of that car did so overly-abrubtly.

A motorcycle crash in Orem, Utah on Interstate 15 left one man critically injured. The accident happened on the I-15 Northbound on Saturday, May 30 at about 2:45 p.m. The man was riding with his 17-year-old daughter when they crashed after traffic slowed near University Parkway reports the Salt Lake Tribune. The motorcyclist could not slow down fast enough, so he sideswiped a car resulting in the crash.

The man was not wearing a helmet and suffered a severe head injury. He was flown to University of Utah Hospital. His daughter was wearing a helmet and suffered minor injuries. She was taken to Utah Valley Regional Hospital.

The takeaway from this motorcycle accident is that you should always wear a helmet. A helmet will help protect your head both when you are at fault in causing the crash to happen, as in this case, as well as when you are the innocent victim. Best wishes to these two as they recover from their injuries

A motorcycle driver was wedged under a pickup truck on Midvale’s Center Street at about 7720 South and 175 West at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, May, 20. The motorcycle driver was going the speed limit when an oncoming pickup truck didn’t see him and made a left turn right in front of him. He could not avoid the accident so he attempted to lay down the bike to minimize the crash.

The motorcycle rider, 52-year-old Robert Horn was wedged under the truck and dragged 40 to 50 feet reports KSL News. He sustained chest and head injuries but police officers say that the helmet he was wearing saved his life. Horn was taken to an Intermountain Medical Center in critical condition. His condition has since been upgraded to serious condition.

The driver of the pickup will likely be cited for failure to yield. He was not injured in the Utah motorcycle accident.

My take on this is that the driver of a motor vehicle has the obligation to keep an eye out for other traffic and to not turn left unless it can be done so safely. He really has no excuse in this case. As such, Mr. Horn has a claim against the driver and/or his insurance as well as a possible claim for under-insured coverage under his own insurance policy. Best wishes to Mr. Horn for a speedy recovery.

A motorcyclist died and his passenger is in critical condition following a crash Tuesday, May 19 in Murray, Utah. The motorcycle was traveling south on 700 East near 4500 South when another vehicle pulled into the road to make a left turn reports the Salt Lake Tribune. The vehicle was making a left turn from an apartment complex on the west side of the street and collided with the motorcycle.

Both men on the motorcycle were rushed to an Intermountain Medical Center where the driver was pronounced dead. The passenger, who was wearing a helmet, remains in critical condition.

No one in the vehicle was injured and the names of the two men on the motorcycle have yet to be identified.

We offer our sincere condolences to friends and family of the driver of the motorcycle. We also hope for the very best for the passenger as he continues to fight for his life.

From the facts in the story, it sounds like the driver of the vehicle failed to yield to the oncoming motorcycle. This is a basic rule, you yield when pulling out from an adjacent business or residence. The driver will therefore be responsible to the family of the man that lost his life and to the man who was injured. I would also look at any possible obstruction that may have limited the driver’s view of oncoming traffic. If there was an obstruction, there may be a possible claim on the property owner responsible for that obstruction. I would recommend that the families contact an experienced Utah personal injury and accident lawyer to find out the remedies available in this particular case