Posted on March 30th, 2010
In response to a fatal school-bus accident in Montgomery County, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation will change its policy regarding information released to prospective employers of school-bus drivers in the state.
Officials for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and a spokesperson for the Montgomery County Perkiomen Valley School District announced the policy changes in a morning news briefing on Monday. The Pennsylvania DOT will change its policy this fall allowing private bus contractors and school district officials to access job applicant’s full driving records as well as a one-word description of the severity of any reported accident in a driver’s history. The three word choices are “Fatal,” “injury,” or “property,” meaning the driver caused death, injury, or property damage respectively.
That kind of information was not available to the private school-bus contractor that hired Frederick Poust last year to drive a school bus in the district. The version of Prout’s driving record that was made available to the company did not include the fact that in November 1999, while using a cell phone and driving a Ford Explorer, Proust ran a stop sign in Bucks County and killed a 2 year-old girl.
On February 17 the 38 year-old bus driver was at the wheel of a school bus that turned across traffic into an oncoming car. The collision killed a passenger in the car and injured the driver.
The victim of a Pennsylvania car crash and their loved ones can face serious financial, physical and emotional burdens in the wake of an accident. The Pennsylvania personal injury lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. are committed to helping victims of negligent drivers seek justice in court. Please call 215-329-3511 for a professional and realistic evaluation of your case
Posted on February 23rd, 2010
A Pennsylvania man has been charged with driving while intoxicated after a fatal single-car accident Sunday.
According to Pennsylvania State Police, Shekh Khan was traveling south on Crystal Brook Hollow Road, in a 2000 Audi, shortly before 2:30 a.m. Sunday when the vehicle struck a pole. The 20 year-old passenger, Natalie Juarez, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident by a physician assistant from the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner.
Two other passengers in the vehicle, a 24 year-old man and a 20 year-old woman, were transported to Stony Brook University Hospital Medical Center for treatment.
The 24 year-old Khan is under police guard at the hospital pending his release for arraignment.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a Pennsylvania car accident, please contact a Philadelphia personal injury lawyer of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. by calling 215-329-3511.
Posted on February 16th, 2010
A teenage boy was killed in an early morning truck accident Saturday.
The accident occurred shortly before 1:00 a.m. on Friday when Frank Branan was traveling west on Route 156 in South Bend Township. Brenan was attempting to navigate a trun onto Craig Run Road, when he was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer truck driven by Robert Gilette.
Gilette was not injured in the crash. Branan, however, and three pasengers sustained minor injuries. 15 year-old Justin Boyer was transported via helicopter to UMPC Presbyterian in critical condition. He was pronounced dead fifteen hours later.
According to the state trooper on the scene, Chris Lassen, the truck driver did not see that the vehicle in front of him had slowed to take the turn. Lassen said “Irregardless [sic] of what Mr. Gilette stated to the state trooper, there is no excuse for driving without paying full attention to the road… Tractor trailers are essentially lethal weapons on the road, and truck drivers should have a heightened duty to leave a safe driving distance between their trucks and vehicles in front of them.”
If you or a loved one has been injured in a Pennsylvania car crash, please contact a Philadelphia personal injury lawyer of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. by calling 215-329-3511.
Posted on February 16th, 2010
An annual report by the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety has ranked Pennsylvania among the ten worst states for driving safety legislation.
The alliance of consumer, health, safety and insurance groups’ seventh annual report finds Pennsylvania seriously lacking legislation for teen drivers. Of the 15 overall laws that the group believes are essential to reducing death and injuries on the nations highways, Pennsylvania has enacted only 6.5. The group recommends that Pennsylvania beef up legislation in the following areas: restrictions on the number of passengers a teen driver can have in a vehicle, nighttime driving restrictions, cell phone and text messaging restrictions, and regulations for unrestricted licenses.
The young driver laws in Pennsylvania have not been updated since 1999 according to the Department of Transportation.
Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said of the study “As a community, we have to recognize and accept the fact that teenagers are generally poor drivers, both in their ability to maneuver vehicles as well as their personal judgment… We don’t have to take these risks. There are some basic things we can do as a community, both individually as parents and things the Legislature can do to enhance safety on the roadway by addressing the weaknesses of teenage drivers.”
If you or a loved one has been injured in a Pennsylvania car crash, please contact a Philadelphia personal injury lawyer of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. by calling 215-329-3511.
Posted on September 1st, 2009
On Sunday, the iron railing on a fire escape broke away from the building at 16th St and Spruce St. As a result, two people fell four stories to the ground in front of the local business, Monk’s Cafe. The 16 apartment building had no previous problems of this type.
A 25 year old man died in the fall. A woman who fell with him was rushed to the hospital after the accident for treatment. She was released from the hospital on Monday. The city does not have any record of the condition of the building where the accident occurred.
If you have lost a loved one to an accident, contact the Pennsylvania wrongful death lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams at 215-329-3511.
