Ashli Brusnahan, a 20-year-old woman, was fatally injured in a TRAX train accident on Saturday, May 5, 2012 at approximately 150 E. and 8400 S. in Sandy, Utah. According to KSL News, Ashli was walking in an area that is not designed for pedestrian traffic. As she was walking, a northbound train passed by at close to 50 mph and struck her. Ashli was originally from Kamas, Utah, but was residing in Sandy at the time.

I send my sincere condolences to Ashli’s family for their loss.

Standing or walking close to where TRAX trains are is never a good idea. I wonder, though, if where Ashli was struck had become a regular pedestrian walking area. If UTA knew that pedestrians were now regularly walking in this area, a duty would arise to make sure that they were kept out. It may be beneficial for the family to look into this to find out why Ashli was where she was and if the negligence of UTA somehow contributed to this.

Ron Kramer is a Utah personal injury and wrongful death attorney practicing throughout Utah.

Kerry M. Oldham, 57 year-old motorcycle rider from Lehi, Utah, died from injuries sustained in a motorcycle versus auto accident occurring on May 3, 2012. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, this fatal motorcycle accident happened shortly after Oldham entered the I-15 from the Highland/Alpine ramp. According to witnesses, Oldham had just gotten on the freeway heading north and was intending to cross over several lanes to get to the left side of the freeway.

The first lane change went without incident, but when he merged into the middle lane, he found that traffic had stopped suddenly in front of him and was unable to avoid colliding with a GMC Yukon that had stopped in front of him. According to reports, after he struck the rear of the Yukon, another driver driving a Cadillac swerved to avoid Oldham, who was now lying on the highway, and drove off the right shoulder of the road and down an embankment. She was taken to a Salt Lake City hospital. Excessive speed or impairment were not said to play a role in this accident.

I send my condolences to the family of this man and best wishes for a fast recovery to those that were injured.

While speed may not have been a factor in this fatal accident, it appears the failure to keep a proper look out did. Lane changes should be made carefully and you need to be able to allow enough space between your vehicle and the one in front so that you can stop if those vehicles suddenly slow or stop. It appears in this case that there was not adequate space left between the motorcyclist and the vehicle stopped in front of him when he made the lane change. Riding a motorcycle is hazardous enough, but when you combine an unsafe maneuver with the lack of protection that a motorcycle offers, you have a recipe for disaster. Let’s all drive carefully out there, especially motorcyclists and bicyclists that don’t have a protective shell around them.

Ron Kramer is a Utah accident, injury and disability attorney handling cases throughout the state of Utah.

A man and a woman were critically injured when they attempted to dodge debris on I-80 on Wednesday, May 2, 2012. KSL News reported that two individuals were eastbound in a semi, a woman, who was driving at the time, and a man, who was the passenger. The semi-trailer in front of them lost a load of logs on the highway.

The woman in attempt to dodge the logs began to swerve, lost control of the vehicle, and crossed the median into the westbound lanes. After approaching the north side of the west lanes, the semi rolled over. Both of the people in the semi received critical injuries and were transported to the University of Utah Hospital. Four other vehicles were reported to have hit the logs as well, but no injuries were received. The driver of the first semi that lost his load was not aware of the accident when he was questioned.

I offer my best wishes for a quick recovery for those with injuries.

Accidents such as this can easily be avoided if just a little more precautionary protocol would be implemented. It would have taken the driver of the log truck only a small amount of time to check the load to make sure it was securely and safely fastened. Based on what I read in the story, it sounds as if the driver of the log truck as well as the place where the logs were loaded, shares responsibility for these logs falling off the truck and causing this accident. I would recommend that those injured consult with an experience Utah personal injury lawyer to find out what remedies might be available to them.

A woman critically injured an 11-year-old girl while driving under the influence of alcohol on Sunday, April 29, 2012. According to KSL News, A 30-year-old woman and her two children were driving in a Nissan Murano at the intersection of SR-201 and 7200 West in West Valley, Utah when they were hit by 41-year-old Cheyanna Nemath in a Dodge Caravan. Their SUV was destroyed and Ms. Nemath was taken to jail.  See her rap sheet here.  The mother and her 8-year-old son were taken to a local hospital in poor condition, while the 11-year-old daughter was flown to the hospital by helicopter in critical condition. The 8-year-old boy was released from the hospital a short time later. The mother remained in fair condition. The drunk driver was also treated for injuries at a local hospital and then taken to the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of causing a serious injury and driving under the influence of alcohol.

I sent my best wishes for a fast recovery to the girl and her mother.

As a Salt Lake City personal injury lawyer, I would counsel this family to consult with an attorney in order to find out the best options to help get restitution for these injuries caused by a drunk driver. Legally speaking, claims should of course be made against the intoxicated driver and her insurance company as well as against the under-insured insurance that the mother and her daughter had on their vehicle.

A head-on collision in Logan, Utah takes the life of one man and injures another man on Sunday, April 29, 2012. The Salt Lake Tribune reported that the accident occurred when a man traveling south in his Mazda Protégé near 2350 South Highway 89/91 drifted into northbound traffic and smashed into a man driving a Chevrolet Cobalt. The driver of the Mazda passed away at the scene of the accident and the other man was transported to the Logan Regional Hospital, then flown to another hospital to receive treatment. The names and ages of the men are being withheld until their families have been notified.

I offer my sincere condolences to the family of the man that passed away and my best hopes for a quick recovery to the injured man.

Price resident, Larry Newby, 55, and two passengers, died in a plane crash on April 25, 2012. According to KSL News, the men were in a single-engine Cessna 185 airplane sightseeing near the Four Corners area when the plane went down.

Redtail Aviation of Price, Utah, who employed pilot Larry Newby, but who did not own the plane, contacted the sheriff’s office to report that an emergency beacon had been transmitting for several hours from the same location. Based on this, the San Juan County Sheriff’s office and the Utah Highway Patrol flew to the scene in a helicopter, where they discovered the downed plane. They noted that all three occupants of the plane had perished.

The plane was registered to Kyle Richardson of Midland, TX. He was on board along with his father, Wade Richardson, from Ozona, TX. Investigators are not sure who was piloting the plane.

Eugene Nelson, 51 years-old, lost his life in a Salt Lake City, 500 S. Main St., crosswalk on Wednesday, April 25, 2012. According to KSL News, Nelson was struck by William Ryan Fullmer, 21, from Tooele, who subsequently fled the scene after he collided with the pedestrian in the crosswalk. Fullmer was later located and taken to the Salt Lake County Jail, preliminary charged with leaving the scene of an accident and automobile homocide. Investigators say that Fullmer and his date were driving through Salt Lake City when Eugene Nelson, 51, was in a crosswalk at the intersection of 500 S. Main. Police say that Nelson was thrown approximately 60 feet into the intersection after Fullmer’s car struck him. Police say he died on impact.

According to reports, after the pedestrian was hit, Fullmer pulled over and went to the victim. He alleges that when he saw the deceased victim, he panicked and fled the scene, driving back to his home in Tooele, Utah. And he might have gotten away with it if Fullmer’s girlfriend didn’t step forward and report what happened to the police. She told police that they had consumed alcohol prior to and during the Jazz game they had attended. Police then dr0ve out to Tooele to confront Fullmer about this fatal accident where they found the damaged vehicle.

I offer my sincere condolences to the family of Mr. Nelson for this needless death.

Although the pedestrian was said to have been crossing against a signal, motorists are still required to be aware and look for pedestrians as they approach crosswalks and are required at all times to yield to them — even when their light is green. This story is similar to the sad Salt Lake pedestrian accident in November 2011 when a pedestrian was similarly hit as he was allegedly crossing against a signal. Click Here. In that case, however, the motorist was not arrested or even charged. Why? He didn’t flee the scene. Even if the motorist in this case had alcohol in his system, which may have been the reason why he fled, he still should have morally stopped to render aid to the victim. While it’s not clear that this motorist’s aid would have helped, it could have, and would have been the right thing to do after he inflicted massive injures on this pedestrian.

Legally speaking, the family of Eugene Nelson, including, if applicable, his wife, children and parents, have a wrongful death claim against the motorist. And even though the deceased may have been crossing against a signal, a careful and prudent driver would have likely spotted the pedestrian and yielded to him. At a minimum, they would have slowed down significantly so that this story would be about an injured pedestrian, not a fatally-injured one.

Ron Kramer of the Kramer Law Group is a Utah attorney with offices in West Jordan, Ogden and Orem.

37-year-old Ricky L. Rush lost his life on Saturday, April 21, 2012, seven miles southeast of Moab following a single-car rollover accident. KSL News reports that Rush was traveling in his pickup truck on an unpaved road when he lost control of the truck and it swayed to the right approximately 30 feet off of the road. The truck hit into a large boulder and rolled over. Rush was ejected from the truck at the time of the accident. No other individuals were in the truck with him. Authorities are still investigating the cause of the accident.

I offer my sincere condolences to the family of this man.

As a Utah personal injury attorney, I wish I had more information about how Ricky Rush lost control of his truck. Perhaps he had a medical condition. There could have been a defect with the vehicle. Sadly, it sounds like Mr. Rush was not wearing a seat belt. There are unanswered questions here that make this crash very puzzling. I’ll keep my eyes open if any additional information surfaces.

Eva A. Trump, 41 from Morgan, Utah, lost her life on Monday, April 23, 2012. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, the woman was northbound on I-15 and is accused by law enforcement of driving recklessly. According to police, she veered off the roadway to the right into a construction area and lost control of her vehicle. She ended up overcorrecting and went through all northbound lanes to the left, though the median, off an embankment and into a southbound semitrailer. Her vehicle went under the tires of the trailer. At the time of the accident, Eva was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from her vehicle. Investigators say that she was not impaired at the time of the accident.

I send my condolences to her family for their loss.

The take away from this, is that reckless driving can kill. So can not wearing a safety belt. Construction areas are always marked with a slower speed limit and, unfortunately, require more patience to get through. Part of the agreement we made when we got our drivers license was to follow the rules of the road. The rules help make highways safer and, ultimately, make us safer.

The Utah Department of Transportation announced several closures along the I-15 in Utah County that will be an inconvenience to commuters beginning today, Monday, April 23, 2012. KSL News reports that UDOT is going to dive into multiple projects that will close several on and off ramps in Orem, Utah throughout the next few months. The Orem projects will be the first of many long-term closures.

Starting on Monday, half of the intersection at 1600 North will be closed for approximately 30 days which will include the northbound on-ramp to I-15 and the southbound off-ramp from I-15. This will be the first of two phases on that intersection.

Second will be the entire interchange at 800 North, which will remain under construction for a projected 42 days. Following this, UDOT will then close the entire Orem Center Street interchange for 30 days. Upon completion of the Center Street construction, they will be moving back to 1600 North for the second phase of the project, where they expect to close down the entire interchange for 15 days. We are told that these projects will be completed by August.

UDOT says they want to warn commuters to pay close attention to construction as it may impact the flow of traffic dramatically. The good news is that the University Parkway interchange will remain open as construction there will end in May.

These Utah county construction zones can pose great threats for Utah drivers. Believe me, I drive through this area daily during the work week. We all need to pay close attention to construction warning signs, look for other vehicles around us and drive with caution. Speed limits through these construction areas continues to be 55 miles per hour.

The attorneys at the Kramer Law Group represents the families of those left behind because of wrongful death as well as those who have received personal injuries throughout the state of Utah. Call today for a free consultation or with help with any question you may have regarding personal injury law.