Posted on August 07, 2015 in Car Accidents

Driving in Virginia often means that the roadways are either foggy or covered in snow or mist. In the best conditions, if someone is driving distracted, he or she is putting everyone he or she meets on the road in danger. Texting and talking on a cellphone are the main reasons people are distracted at the wheel.

School bus drivers are prohibited to drive while using their cellphones for any reason. If they are caught, not only will they face a ticket, fines and a court visit, they may even be fired from their jobs so it makes sense to follow the law in this case. Fourteen states in the U.S. prohibit driving and cellphone use altogether. Virginia is not one of them.

However, if you are under 18, you may not use a cellphone while driving. This is for everyone's safety. An officer can cite you for a ticket if you are caught. In other words, he or she doesn't have to stop you for another reason, such as speeding, and issue you two tickets for both offenses. He or she can stop you — if the officer believes you are under 18 — for using a cellphone while driving in Virginia.

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 Posted on July 31, 2015 in Fatal Motor Vehicle Accidents

The Virginia Highway Safety Office recently put out a list of important crash facts and statistics for 2014. Analyzing it can help people understand how and why accidents occur. If you've been injured in a wreck, make sure you also know what legal rights you have. Below are some of the most important facts that were listed.

The amount of people who died in Virginia went down by 5.53 percent, as compared to the same states from 2013. In 2014, though, there were still a total of 700 deaths in traffic accidents.

On top of that, 63,384 people were hurt in accidents. Though this number seems quite large when viewed as a raw statistic, the reality is that this was also a decrease when compared to 2013. The amount of injuries fell by 2.66 percent.

Furthermore, the total amount of accidents-at least those that were reported to the authorities-also fell. It went down by 1.22 percent, reaching 120,282 total traffic crashes.

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 Posted on July 23, 2015 in Car Accidents

If you are ever in a car accident, one important thing that you should know about is accident reconstruction. Of course, the first thing to learn is what it is.

What is accident reconstruction?

Accident reconstruction is part of something called causation forensics. That means it is a way to determine how an event occurred. When investigators want to know how a car crash happened, they will often use this approach.

What does it involve?

Typically, accident reconstruction involves examining and interpreting physical evidence associated with an accident. That examination and interpretation process gives investigators the clues they need to come to conclusions about what occurred.

What causes do investigators endeavor to identify?

Investigators work to identify the whole range of possible causes of a particular vehicular accident. Those causes can include poor visibility, tire problems, excessive speed, disregarding traffic control devices or not wearing a seat belt. Investigators work backwards, looking at the end results of the crash and then working their way backwards to determine what caused the crash.

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 Posted on July 17, 2015 in Truck Accidents

The sleep cycle is very important for people, as they need to sleep at certain times and for certain lengths of time to really feel rested. It's not just about getting eight hours a day, but about sleeping long enough to get into REM sleep. When this sleep cycle is interrupted, people can still feel very tired, even if they technically got enough sleep in 24 hours.

This is a huge problem for truckers, who often don't get a stable sleeping pattern. They often look at sleep as something they'll get whenever they have the opportunity, but they really have to drive at certain times, and that dictates their schedules more than sleep.

For instance, a trucker may have a shipment that has to be delivered at a certain time, meaning he or she only has a few hours to sleep before heading out. The trucker will take it, but he or she can't put off driving to sleep for that full eight hours.

Part of the problem is that truckers have to make sure they are able to get more work. For example, if a trucker drops off a load at 6 a.m., but then he or she has no legal driving hours left for the following 10 hours-due to the regulations that are in place to make sure truckers take time off-then the trucker won't get a load at all. Jobs usually start in the morning, so the trucker could lose a whole day if he or she can't start until two in the afternoon.

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 Posted on July 10, 2015 in Drunk Driving Accidents

The number of people killed in alcohol-related car accidents in Virginia last year was 251. While this number is two less than 2013, the two years were much higher than 212 when 229 people were killed.

To put these numbers in perspective, there were 7,666 alcohol-related accidents in 2014. There were 5,003 injuries in those accidents.

The number of people that were convicted of DUI in 2014 in Virginia were 24,895. They had an average blood alcohol content of.14, which is almost twice the state's legal limit.

At Locklin & Coleman, PLLC, we represent clients who have been injured in accidents that were not their fault. Many of these accidents were caused by an intoxicated driver. Although a DUI charge can make a civil case for damages easier, criminal charges are not required in order to seek compensation.

In many cases, insurance companies will try to settle the claim of the person at fault. If the at fault driver does not cover your losses, then we will either bring a claim against the intoxicated driver or pursue damages from your insurance company.

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 Posted on July 09, 2015 in Firm News

As of April 2015, attorney Locklin & Coleman, PLLC was recognized for his extensive and successful legal career by the Virginia Trial Attorneys Hall of Fame. We have included a scan of his official certificate.

Learn more about the organization - Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame

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 Posted on July 03, 2015 in Personal Injury

A traumatic brain injury can be minor to very severe. Such an injury can happen to anyone, although those in car accidents, slip and fall accidents and sports incidents are often affected.

The Glasgow Coma Scale is used by doctors and other health care professionals to determine how severe a patient's head injury is. There are three categories in the Glasgow Coma Scale: eye movement response, motor skill response and verbal skill response. Each category has specific responses that are attached to a number between one and six for verbal responses, one and five for motor skill response and one and four for verbal responses.

For example, a patient who follows commands will receive a six in the verbal skill response. No movement will receive a one. A patient who is able to answer questions correctly without difficulty will receive a five in the verbal skill response.

After determining a number for each category, they are added up. A score of eight or lower signifies a severe traumatic brain injury. A score of nine to 13 means that the patient suffered a moderate TBI. A score of over 13 means the TBI is minor.

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 Posted on June 26, 2015 in Truck Accidents

In the early morning hours of June 24, a Virginia state trooper was seriously injured when he was struck by a semi-truck and trailer. The accident occurred near Ladysmith on Interstate 95. The trooper, along with two others, was directing traffic around an area of high water.

A tractor-trailer heading southbound struck the troopers' patrol vehicles. It is not known at this time if the injured trooper was in or out of his patrol vehicle when it was struck. The patrol vehicles did have their flashing blue lights on when the accident occurred, according to a spokesman for the Virginia State Police.

Southbound Interstate 95 had two lanes closed until about 6:00 a.m. The trooper was transported to VCU Medical Center. According to reports, he suffered serious injuries, but those injuries were not life-threatening. The 67-year-old truck driver has been charged with reckless driving.

One truck driver said that there was a very bad storm that night that had traffic moving about 25 miles per hour. He said that he pulled off at a rest stop near the accident scene because the cars on the interstate were cutting him off.

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 Posted on June 19, 2015 in Drunk Driving Accidents

In June of last year, a three-car accident injured three people. Two of the injured were siblings, ages 14 and 17. They were headed home after swim practice when their Lexus was hit head-on. Another vehicle then crashed into the Lexus.

The man responsible for the accident was recently found guilty of DUI with an elevated blood alcohol content and two counts of felony maiming while driving under the influence of alcohol. His vehicle tipped over after the head on collision. It also caught fire, but he was pulled from the fire by bystanders. His blood alcohol level was.167. He was headed the wrong way on Interstate 81 when the accident occurred.

The 17-year-old suffered serious injuries, including torn arteries in his heart, dislocated vertebrae, a ruptured spleen, a concussion and several broken bones. He wears a leg brace today. His sister hurt her arm and had several cuts and lacerations. The driver of the third vehicle involved suffered lacerations and two leg fractures.

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 Posted on June 12, 2015 in Car Accidents

The National Transportation Safety Board was created by Congress with a mandate to remain independent and objective. The agency has a number of responsibilities, among which are conducting objective, precise investigations of motor vehicle accidents of all kinds, performing safety studies, and making recommendations to Congress and other federal agencies to promote public safety in transportation.

The NTSB doesn't have the authority to enforce its safety recommendations, but the government really ought to take them seriously. They're the result of careful study, statistical analysis and policy considerations.

Recently, the agency issued a 60-page special investigation report called "The Use of Forward Collision Avoidance Systems to Prevent and Mitigate Rear-End Crashes," which calls for collision-avoidance systems to be made standard on all new passenger vehicles and commercial trucks in the U.S.

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