San Diego Car Accident Lawyer Blog

A 40-year old man lost his life in an Orange County truck accident that took place on February 20, 2010, in Fountain Valley. The deceased was a passenger in a Toyota Tacoma and was travelling south on Bushard Street when the Toyota pickup was struck by a Ford Ranger that was eastbound on Heil Avenue. This accident happened at 8:22am.

The victim was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. The drivers of the two pickups suffered minor injuries.

Our office wishes to convey our thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of the victim. The loss must be devastating. We repeatedly urge all Californians to be careful while on the road and ensure that you are driving responsibly--not just for your sake but for others as well! It is unclear from the Orange County Register news story whether one of the vehicles ran a red light or stop sign. However, that seems like a very safe conclusion since both trucks cannot legally be in the intersection at the same time. Entering an intersection against a red stop light is a violation of California Vehicle Code section 21453(c) which states that it is illegal for a motor vehicle to enter an intersection or proceed through the intersection against a red traffic signal.

Continue reading "Orange County Truck Accident Leaves Man Dead" »

Four people, including two small children, were killed in a six-vehicle pileup that took place on the interstate leading to San Diego County. This tragic accident occurred on February 13, 2009, during the afternoon hours, on Interstate 15 (I-15) Freeway that connects San Diego County with San Bernardino County.

According to California Highway Patrol Officer Jeff Briggs, the four victims were in a car that was found sandwiched between two tractor-trailers in Ontario, CA. The two adults and two children were killed at the end of a long chain-reaction of car crashes. Though there was no immediate word on a cause, the car in which the victims were traveling is reported to have caught fire. The victims, whose names had not been released till late Saturday, were all declared dead on the scene.

Our office wishes to convey our sincere prayers and condolences to the family and friends of the deceased. We understand how tragic it is to lose a loved one, and especially children!

Ross Jurewitz is an Ontario auto accident lawyer and the managing attorney of the Jurewitz Law Group, a California law firm dedicated to representing people seriously injured and the families of people killed by the negligence of others. If you or a loved one has been hurt or killed in a Interstate 15 auto accident, please call Mr. Jurewitz at 888-233-5020 for a free consultation.

In addition, if you would like more information to help you or your family following a San Bernardino car accident, please order your free copy of Mr. Jurewitz's book, The Ten Biggest Mistakes that can Destroy Your California Accident Case. It is free to all California residents.

A San Diego native was killed last week in North Dakota in an auto accident that occurred between his car and a semi-trailer on the road.

According to authorities, 45-year old Ray Gibbons, Jr. of San Diego was on the road when a motor vehicle crossed a center line while driving south on North Dakota's state highway 3 around 9:30 a.m. last Thursday. The state Highway Patrol of the northern United States reported that the northbound tractor-trailor truck braked and turned right before striking the car head-on. Gibbons was pronounced dead at the scene about 10 miles north of the city of Harvey. The semi driver was treated and released.

If you or a loved one has ever been injured or killed in a San Diego auto accident, contact San Diego commercial truck accident lawyer Ross Jurewitz and the other San Diego car accident lawyers at the Jurewitz Law Group at (619) 233-5020. You may also contact these San Diego, CA personal injury attorneys online here.

A Valley Center man was the center of a fatal truck accident in San Diego that left him dead last week. The accident took place in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego. It is suspected that the man suffered a medical emergency while behind the wheel.

The truck motorist had been driving southbound near Robinson Avenue around 12:45 p.m. on August 4, 2009, and lost control of his 2002 Ford F350 when it veered off the left-hand side of the roadway and struck a guardrail. The truck then came to a stop at the center median of the road, according to the California Highway Patrol. Medics that arrived on the scene did perform CPR on the man before taking him to the nearby Scripps Mercy Hospital, but was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival. His name was withheld pending notification of his family.

If you or anyone you know has ever been injured or killed in a San Diego truck accident, contact San Diego truck accident lawyer Ross Jurewitz and the other San Diego injury attorneys at the Jurewitz Law Group at (619) 233-5020. You may also reach these San Diego personal injury lawyers online here.

A nine-year-old girl from Los Angeles, identified as Violet Rosenquist, was the sole victim of a multi-car pile-up on Interstate 5 in Oceanside early in the morning of August 3, 2009. The driver of the car she was riding in was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and drunken driving, according to California Highway Patrol authorities.

The deadly Oceanside car accident happened just after 1 a.m. when traffic on northbound I-5 was heavy and slowing to nearly 25 mph. It took place north of Cassidy. A Lexus sport utility vehicle was traveling at 50 mph in the fast llane and needed to swerve to avoid the slowing Dodge Caliber in the lane ahead. Unfortunately, the Lexus' left side hit the right rear of the Caliber, cause the Lexus to lose control completely/ The right side of the SUV struck a Honda CRV and a semi-truck before coming to a rest on the freeway.

The girl who died had been a back-seat passenger in the Lexus and was taken by helicopter to Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The driver of the Lexus, 23-year-old Michael Wright of Commerce, was arrested on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter and drunken driving. Authorities did not release information about his relationship to the girl.

A 38-year-old man in the Honda did suffer moderate injuries and was taken to Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside. A 50-year-old man in the Dodge suffered only minor injuries. The crash briefly closed all lanes of the freeway and affected traffic until after 3 a.m., according to the CHP Web site.

If you or anyone you know has ever been injured or killed in an Oceanside car accident, please contact Oceanside car accident attorney Ross Jurewitz and the San Diego County injury lawyers at the Jurewitz Law Group at (619) 233-5020. You may also contact these San Diego personal injury lawyers online here.

A big rig truck wreck and car accident were involved in a large, fatal traffic accident in Orange County that closed both sides of State Route 57 in Fullerton last week.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the auto accident happened around 7 p.m. at the Chapman Avenue exit. The driver of the truck was presumed to be killed within the fiery wreck. There was also footage of firefighters tearing into the cargo compartment of the overturned truck to rid the flames.

Continue reading "Fatal Big Rig Accident Closes State Route 57 in Fullerton" »

The San Diego Miramar area saw a longstanding accident on Interstate 15 that involved an overturned truck and flatbed trailer on the San Diego County freeway. The June 8, 2009, accident happened very near the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and created a traffic jam lasting for hours. The trucking accident happened around 9 a.m. when the northbound big rig struck an overpass and the truck then fell over on the driver's side. The truck had been hauling a large cylindrical water tank and spilled approximately 10 gallons of diesel fuel along the 15, according to CHP public affairs Officer Brad Baehr.

Emergency crews arrived on the scene to free the trucker, later identified as 52-year-old Matt Ream of Valley Center. Ream suffered minor scrapes and abrasions and did not need to be admitted to the hospital. Hazardous materials teams were called in to clean up the spilled fuel, and Caltrans engineers were also requested to inspect the overcrossing, where they deemed it structurally sound. You can read more about this San Diego truck accident in this 10news.com story.

Continue reading "San Diego Truck Accident Traps Driver" »

After having crashed his truck close to Valley Center Road, a North County man who had been driving was pinned for hours inside his vehicle before he was spotted and rescued. The interesting twist was that by the time California Highway Patrol arrived to assist the man, they had found two open containers of vodka in the truck. However, it had been too long to determine whether or not to driver was drunk at the time of the crash or not.

The driver, who was indentified as Denis Gerdes, 49, of Vista, was in a Toyota Tundra on Saturday evening when he crashed, and spent the night pinned inside. The accident was not spotted until Sunday afternoon by a passerby. Verdes was apparently a little disoriented but overall uninjured by the time he was removed around 12:40 p.m. Sunday just below Valley Center Road. The story had been reported to Sgt Lewis Hall of the CHP to the North County Times. Gerdes had apparently called 911 on his own, but gave the wrong location. You can read more about this North San Diego County truck accident in this NBC San Diego story.

Continue reading "Vista Man Freed After North San Diego County Truck Accident" »

A San Diego California Highway Patrol motorcycle officer was struck by a truck on Tuesday after it veered into a center median on the Interstate 15 in the San Diego area of Mission Valley while the CHP officer was assisting with another accident. Both parties were injured.

The motorist was identified as Brian Joseph Andrews, 43, who had been driving a 2000 Toyota Tacoma and had just got on the freeway from the eastbound Interstate 8, and swerved across southbound lanes and struck the center divider. The truck then sideswiped a CHP cruiser before he hit the officer, who had been next to the freeway's barrier near his BMW patrol motorcycle. This happened shortly before 9 a.m. on Tuesday. The CHP officer was then reported to have tumbled with or was caught under the Toyota and was dragging some distance to the south in this San Diego area injury, according to CHP public affairs Officer Brad Baehr. The pickup truck eventually stopped, as the rest of the freeway came to a halt following the series of events, and four men jumped out of their vehicles to free the California authority.

The CHP veteran's identity had not yet been released pending notification of his family, but he had been transferred to Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest for treatment of his cuts, scrapes, and a bruised right lung. The San Diego resident Andrews was taken to the same medical center. He reported that he was stricken with chest pains just prior to the accident. You can read more about this San Diego motorcycle accident in this SanDiego6.com story.

Continue reading "CHP Officer Run Over in San Diego Truck Accident" »

The friends and family of those closest to a Santee woman recently started a memorial site online to preserve her memory and spirit despite her death.

The 25-year-old Santee woman, Melissa Ann Porter, was the victim of a deadly car wreck last Friday. Porter was exiting Interstate 805 at Clairemont Mesa Boulevard when the Chevrolet pickup she was driving crossed the lanes of traffic. Sergeant Ramona Hastings reported that her truck collided with a parked tractor trailer, and both caught on fire from the auto accident. Despite the help of a passer-by who pulled Porter from the truck, Porter still died at the scene.

Continue reading "Victims of Deadly San Diego Car Crash Immortalized" »

Interstate 5 in Oceanside was the scene of a fatal Oceanside car wreck that claimed the life of a 49 year-old Rosemead man on Tuesday, whose name has not yet been released. The Rosemead native was reportedly driving a box truck behind a big rig that had begun slowing down for the truck scales on northbound I-5 when he drove into the back of it. California Highway Patrol Acting Sgt. Brad Denham says that the accident occurred after the big rig stopped in traffic in the far right-hand lane at about 11:10 a.m.

While it is unknown at what speed the driver of the box truck had been driving at, investigators say that there were no signs of the box-truck driver having applied brakes before the impact took place. The Oceanside trucking accident caused several lanes to close for a few hours along the very popular and busy Interstate 5 in Oceanside which weaves on and off of the Pacific Coast. The driver of the box truck was pronounced dead before he could be taken to a hospital. You can read more about this fatal Oceanside trucking accident in this SignOnSanDiego.com story.

Continue reading "Fatal Oceanside Trucking Accident Takes Life of Rosemead Man" »

Michael Lee Moser, 54, was struck and killed in an El Cajon pedestrian accident by a pickup truck as he was crossing Jamacha Road, just north of Granite Hills Drive in El Cajon, California. According to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office, Moser was not in a crosswalk when he was hit at about 8:15 p.m. this past Saturday. You can read more about this El Cajon car accident in this 10news.com story.

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The driver of the pickup truck called 911. Unfortunately, Michael Lee Moser, well known by friends and family in El Cajon and Lakeside, was killed at the scene.

Continue reading "El Cajon Pedestrian Accident Claims Life" »

Every year there are a sizeable number of San Diego commercial truck accidents. Due to the size and mass of these vehicles, trucking accidents tend to be more violent and more apt to cause serious injuries and death due to the truck driver's negligence.

It is not surprising that one of the largest factors in preventing trucking accidents is the adoption of a "safety culture" by the trucking company. Recently, the Transporation Research Board published a study entitled called "The Role of Safety Culture in Preventing Commercial Motor Vehicle Crashes". You can download a .pdf copy of the study here.

Amongst the study's findings are:

• Culture and safety have a clear connection. • Safety culture is best defined by an organization’s norms, attitudes, values, and beliefs regarding safety. • Effective top to bottom safety communication enhance safety culture. • Terms such as “accident” and “mishap” are often replaced with the terms “crash,” “wreck,” and other more appropriate, straightforward terms in many safe cultures. • Recognition for safe behavior is an effective component of safety culture. • Driver experience enhances a safety culture • Many levels of communicating safety culture are necessary

The report also recommends trucking companies take the following actions:

• Develop internal definitions of culture and safety. • Determine what omissions in the management system contribute to accidents. • Identify and dispel myths, such as the tendency to always blame weather or outside factors. • Conduct institutional safety knowledge development. • Define or redefine employee safety roles from top to bottom • Assess the effectiveness of safety communication and reengineer systems of safety communication. • Create or enhance a system of safety record data collection and analysis. • Develop or redevelop motivational tools, such as tying driver compensation and advancement to safety. • Improve driver retention.

Continue reading "San Diego Commercial Trucking Accidents Could Be Prevented By Adopting "Safety Culture"" »

At about 8:30 p.m. on February 11, a semi-truck with a tractor trailor was cut off by another vehicle while travelling westbound on I-8 near La Mesa. The truck veered across all of the westbound lanes, smashing through the concrete center divide into the eastbound lanes. At that moment, a pick-up truck travelling eastbound crashed into the big rig truck, killing the driver of the pick-up truck.

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The driver of the big-rig tractor trailor was ejected from his vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene by California Highway Patrol.

Forty gallons of gasoline were spilled and HAZMAT crews were sent to the scene to clean up the mess.

Debris from the car crash caused several other car crashes. The two left lanes of both the eastbound and the westbound freeway were closed for several hours.

Video and photographs of the trucking accident aftermath, can be found here.

The California Public Utilities Commission suspended the license of a San Gabriel, California tour bus company following a fatal bus accident near the Hoover Dam in Arizona last week.

Seven bus passengers were killed and ten other passengers were injured in the accident. All passengers were tourists from China. Also injured in the crash were the driver of the bus and a motorcyclist.

The PUC stated that the company did not lose its' license due to the accident but because its' liability insurance lapsed on Monday. The company, DW Tours, also had been fined in the past for utilizing an unlicensed subcontractor operate some of its' bus tours.

The bus crash did not involve any other vehicles. The bus accident was caused when the driver of the bus veered towards the right shoulder of the highway, then flipped after the driver overcorrected his steering,.

Shortly before 5 AM this morning, a Riverside County fire engine responding to a car crash was involved in a car accident of its’ own when it collided with a pickup truck crossing the intersection of Etiwanda Avenue and Van Buren Boulevard near the Pomona Freeway in Mira Loma, California

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The fire engine, Engine 17 of the Glen Avon Station, was traveling northbound on Etiwanda Avenue andhad its emergency siren and lights on as it approached the intersection. However, the pickup driver, traveling westbound on Van Buren, may not have seen or heard the engine. A big rig tractor trailer had stopped in the left turn lane and obstructed the driver's vision.

Three firemen suffered injuries, The fire captain on the engine suffered a head laceration and two other firefighters were hospitalized. Unfortunately, a passenger in the pickup was killed.

The incident is still under investigation.

An Amtrak passenger train, the 701 San Joaquin from Bakersfield to Sacramento, collided with the trailer of a semi-truck Thursday morning near the intersection with Avenue 144 in Corcoran, California.

Fortunately, the train did not derail and nobody was killed due to the crash. The train came to rest nearly a mile from the accident scene.

Although the train track intersection is controlled, the tractor trailer had entered the intersection before the control arms had closed the intersection. The driver was forced to stop at the intersection with Highway 43 due to oncoming traffic, leaving the trailer on the tracks.

The Jurewitz Law Group is happy that no deaths or serious injuries resulted from this trucking accident. However, this accident serves as a reminder of a very important lesson--never enter or cross a railroad crossing unless you can safely proceed through the intersection. Often, car drivers are caught on the intersection with a train bearing down on them when they could not initially cross the intersection. It is far safer to wait until it is safe to proceed completely through.

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The Jurewitz Law Group has opened a second office in North San Diego County to better serve our North County clients, including people seriously injured in car accidents, motorcycle accidents, and trucking accidents.

Our North County office is located where Carlsbad, Vista, and San Marcos meet along Palomar Airport Road and is easily reachable from Oceanside, Escondido, and Encinitas.

Our North County office is located at 2768 Loker Avenue West, Suite 101, Carlsbad, CA 92010.

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Meetings at our North County office are by appointment only and can be made by contacting our office at 619-233-5020 or 888-233-5020.