Now that the holiday season is well and truly behind us, sobering traffic accident statistics seem to suggest that the trend this year was a decrease in drunk driving arrests, but an increase in alcohol-related crash fatalities.

In Sacramento, California Highway Patrol officers arrested 106 people for drunk driving this holiday season, which ended on the 2nd of January. Last year, a total of 130 people had been arrested for drunk driving during the same period of time. However, the number of people dying in alcohol-related traffic collisions this year was higher than last year. Last year, the number of deaths were 15, while this year, it had increased to 19. The statistics in San Diego County told a similar story. CHP officers arrested 109 people this year on charges of drunk driving, as compared to 122 arrests last year. However, the number of accident-related fatalities was five, compared to 2 last year.

In Los Angeles County, the number of DUI arrests as well as fatalities were down during this holiday season compared to the same period last year. The number of drunk driving arrests last year was 316, and this year, the number had dropped sharply to 276. The number of deaths in alcohol-related accidents was three, compared to four last year.

In Monterrey County however, the number of drunk driving arrests this year was up by a whopping 82 percent compared to last year. The county saw a total of 153 arrests during the holiday season, as well as one fatality as a result of a drunk driving accident. The credit goes to stricter drunk driving enforcement across the county this season. There were more numbers of DUI checkpoints, as well as in-city patrols, and this seems to have helped keep drunk drivers off the streets, as well as fatalities low.

Across the state, drunk-driving arrests continued to drop while fatalities in many cases, rose. Overall in California, more than 1300 motorists were arrested for drunk driving, down from about more than 1500 arrests during the holiday season last year. 30 people died throughout the state in car crashes while last year, the number of deaths had been 26.

The Christmas holiday season which ends with New Years is the most traffic accident heavy season of the year. It’s not just the fact that the peak season lasts for well over a week, and that thousands of people find themselves on the roads on their way to meet family and friends, but also the fact that celebrations get progressively more raucous until New Year’s. Celebrating the arrival of a new year is seen as one of the most alcohol-heavy parties of the year, which explains the increased number of accidents. Unfortunately, it’s also the most stressful period of the year for law enforcement agencies who find themselves entrusted with the responsibility of making sure that auto accidents, injuries, and fatalities are all kept at a minimum.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of drunk driving accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

A Santa Rosa motorist who was responsible for a multi-car accident earlier this week that killed her and another motorist had at least 4 previous convictions for drunk driving.

52-year-old Rosanne Starr Webb was also wanted on a warrant dating back more than three years, that had been issued for driving without a license. A look at Webb’s history after her death in the crash shows a woman constantly on the wrong side of the law. Back in March of 2002, she had been arrested on two separate occasions, once in Sonoma, and the other time in Santa Rosa for drunk driving. On both occasions, her driving privileges had been revoked. She had also had a previous conviction in 1996 for driving without a license. In 1994, she had received four violations for driving without a license, and for failing to provide proof of ownership of the vehicle she was driving. In 2004, she had been sentenced to a 10-day jail sentence for driving without a license. She failed to show up, and in March 2005, the Sonoma County court commissioner signed a non bailable arrest warrant for Webb.

At 2 pm on Monday, the driver of a Jeep called 911 to report that a woman was driving a blue Ford very erratically, and seemed to be disoriented or drunk. A few minutes later, Webb’s Ford clipped the Jeep, and then smashed into another car being driven by 77-year-old Beverly Rick. Both Webb and Rick were killed in the accident. With the main suspect in the accident dead, officers say it’s not likely that this case will see any charges being filed. Police are waiting for Webb’s autopsy results to be out. These will show if she had been under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the accident. There have also been witness accounts that seem to indicate that Webb was in a disturbed or angry frame of mind at the time of the accident. So, road rage or the need for anger management is also not being ruled out as a factor in this accident.

There seems to be plenty of confusion about the status of Webb’s license at the time of the crash. Her last case relating to driving without a license seems to have been dormant for the past three years, and there is also confusion about whether she completed a DUI course that she had been required to undergo as part of sentencing during one of her drunk driving offence cases. In short, her case seems to be one where a woman who was a probable danger to herself and others on the streets given her extensive records of violations and drunk driving offences, was allowed to slip through the cracks of the system. This has had terrible consequences for Beverly Rick whose family had to deal with the fact their mother or grandmother was killed at the age of 77 in a devastating car accident, with a woman who, by all accounts, had no business being behind a wheel.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of car accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

An El Monte man has been sentenced to one year in county jail and five years on probation for his role in a street racing related car accident last year in which his friend was killed and the passenger in the other car seriously injured.

In October 2007, 19-year-old Fitzgerald Paragas had been racing with his friend 18-year-old Brian Ramirez. Just prior to that, they had been watching the street racing movie “The Fast and the Furious” and decided to have a race of their own. As the two continued to race on the streets, Brian lost control of his car. His Mitsubishi careened across the median and into incoming traffic. A Volkswagen Jetta carrying the Saavedra family was coming in the opposite direction, and the Mitsubishi crashed into it. Ramirez was killed instantly, while the Saavedra family suffered serious injuries. At the time of the crash, Ramirez’s vehicle was apparently going at 90 mph.

After the crash, Paragas tried to mislead police into believing that he had not been part of the car accident at all. His initial claim was that he was at home at the time of the car crash, and had received a call from Ramirez who said he would be coming over. After waiting for an hour, when there was still no sign of his friend, Paragas told police he had driven off to take a look. It was then that he came upon the car crash site where his friend was killed. Later however, Paragas broke down, and admitted that he had been racing too.

He was charged with one felony count of murder with the special allegation of causing great bodily injury, one felony count of vehicular manslaughter and four counts of felony reckless driving causing injury, as well as misdemeanor street racing. A judge has now sentenced him to one year in county jail. He will also be required to pay restitution to the Saavedra family, a $100 court security fee and a $20 restitution fee. He is also prohibited from driving while under probation, and will have to participate in a safe driving program. He will also be required to educate high school students on safe driving as part of his sentence. The judge admitted that Paragas’ lack of a prior criminal record and letters written to the judge by the young man’s school teachers had led to what can only be called a light sentence.

The district attorney asked the judge to impose a four-year prison sentence to be suspended. If Paragas violates the terms of his probation, he would have to serve time in jail. Paragas was facing a maximum of eight years and eight months, and the prosecution had asked for a sentence of four years to six years.

Street racing can be either spontaneous races, like the one that seems to have taken place here, or coordinated races that are planned ahead of time. In either case, they can cause serious injuries and fatalities. With the high speeds that are the norm during such races, many motorists’ lives are endangered simply because they were unlucky enough to be around the scene when a race was on. Considering the gravity of Paragas’ action and the death that it resulted in, a stiffer sentence would have given out a stronger message to would-be street racers.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of car accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

A celebrated Hollywood screenwriter is facing charges of vehicular manslaughter, as well as two additional charges of causing bodily injury while intoxicated, in a drunk driving accident that killed his friend and injured his wife.

Roger Avary, the screenwriter behind such hits as Pulp Fiction and last year’s Beowulf, was present at the hearing where the charges were formally filed. On January 13th of this year, Avary with his wife, and friend Andreas Zini were in his Mercedes sedan. Zini and his wife Maria were in Los Angeles to visit their friends. Maria was following in another car. At some point, Avary missed a curve and crashed into a telephone pole. Zini was killed at the scene of the car accident, while Avary’s wife Gretchen was ejected from the car. She suffered severe injuries, but survived the car crash.

Police who arrived at the scene of the accident found that Avary’s blood alcohol content was above the legally permissible limit. He has now been charged with felony manslaughter and two counts of felony causing bodily injury while drunk. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Despite all the progress that we’ve made with drunk driving in our state, we continue to see more car accidents related to alcohol than we should. Law enforcement agencies have done a great job with the kind of awareness programs that they have going, promoting the “don’t drink and drive” message among teens, and enforcing stricter controls at checkpoints. All these efforts have made California’s streets safer to some extent. But when people like Avary who really should know better, continue to flout the law and act as if the rules don’t apply to them, it seems as if there’s a lot of work to do.

Alcohol and drug use can impair your judgment while driving, and can slow down your response times, both deadly mistakes that can cost you your life. Although we normally consider drunk driving to be about drugs and alcohol, it can also be taken to mean driving under the influence of prescription drugs, and even over-the-counter drugs like cough medicine, anti-allergy medications, etc. Many drugs have the potential to leave you feeling drowsy, and some formulations that do have this side effect mention these on the label. Whether drugs, alcohol, or prescription or over-the-counter medication, driving without being 100 percent in control of your faculties can have devastating consequences.

When a person has been injured, or has lost a loved one as result of an auto accident where the other motorist was clearly under the influence of alcohol or drugs, he or she has the right to bring a civil claim against the offending driver. In such cases, damages can be claimed for the medical bills incurred, as well as future medical bills, pain and suffering that the victim has undergone. In the case of a death resulting from an alcohol-related car accident, it’s possible for family members to claim damages in a wrongful death lawsuit. A California car accident lawyer will be able to help you build your case.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of car accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

There was more than one reason to be thankful during the holiday season this year, traffic accident fatalities were markedly down across California as compared to last year.

According to the California Highway Patrol, a number of counties saw a significant drop both in the number of car accidents, as well as the fatalities resulting from these. In Santa Cruz County, there was just one fatality from a car accident over the weekend. A 44-year-old man was killed in a head on collision, and apart from that, there were no other serious auto accidents. In San Diego County, the story was similar with three car accident deaths over the holiday, compared to five deaths last year.

In San Francisco, the number of deaths from car accidents over the four-day holiday weekend, was 2 this year, the same as last year.

The statistics were reflective of a wider sense of safety across the state, as the usual crash-heavy Thanksgiving holiday season drew to a close. The season has typically been a busy time for CHP officers who work overtime to keep drunk drivers off the streets, and casualties and injuries to a minimum. The combination of alcohol and family can lead to high spirits, and considering that this is the season that most people are driving across the state and cross-country to gather with family for the holiday, the potential for accidents and fatalities has always been huge. The statistics this year from just about every county are pointing to a decrease, and we have our committed CHP officers to thank for it.

Across the state of California, the number of fatalities in auto accidents was 33, a drop from 41 during the same period last year. Out of the victims, at least 10 were found to have not been wearing seat belts at the time of the crash. Drunk driving arrests were also fewer this year, with about 1530 arrests compared to 1628 last year. According to the CHP, the focus of the agency over the holidays was increased monitoring of drunk driving, seat belt violations and speeding, which together form the three main reasons for fatalities in car accidents.

Besides, there is the fact that people have been traveling lesser this year than they did last year. Traditionally, Thanksgiving has been the time when there are more vehicles on the road than at other times of the year, with the possible exception of the Christmas season. However, this year, a slow economy, stubborn gas prices, and a general gloomy economic outlook led to experts forecasting a drop of about 2 percent, in the number of cars on the highways this year. With fewer people inclined to step on the gas, and fewer vehicles on the highways, the resulting drop in congestion could have contributed partly to the drop in accident rates. Even so, credit is due to the California Highway Patrol for the way the holidays have gone by with fewer accidents and deaths to report.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of car accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

A Yuba City, California driver can expect to be charged in connection with a drunk driving accident in which two of his close friends were killed.

The accident that occurred on Highway 99 near Live Oak, California on November 16th, is just one more reminder of the needless risks we take with the lives of those closest to us when we drink and drive. The driver in this car crash, 20-year-old Abdul Umar Hay, was returning from an all-night party with his friend Rafael Courtland Walker and Matthew Stephen Fair. Initial reports say that Hay must have dozed off at the wheel, causing the car to zip though a stop sign. A short while later, it was broadsided by a Ford Explorer. The impact of the crash caused Hay’s car to be pushed over into a nearby orchard. Both Walker and Fair were declared dead at the scene of the car accident. Both were 20-years-old.

Hay was the only survivor, and was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. He can now expect to be charged with felony vehicular manslaughter and felony driving under the influence causing injury. He doesn’t have a previous criminal record, but could be looking at a minimum of 6 months in prison, if found guilty.

The reactions of Walker’s and Fair’s parents were a study in contrast. Fair’s father remains indignant at the thought of a six-month sentence for the man he holds responsible for killing his son, while Walker’s mother, who is a member of MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), insists that prison time is not an appropriate sentence. Last Friday, the families of the two victims took part in a memorial service that celebrated their lives.

You have to understand Richard Fair’s anger. Matthew was his only son and whether the two victims in the car had also consumed alcohol or not, the fact is that only Hay was in charge of driving them home. At 20, Hay is looking at an irredeemable stain on his record. This young man has a lifetime ahead of him, and has voluntarily cast a pall over his ambitions and his future through his negligent actions. Hay will have to deal with a lifetime of guilt for the deaths of his two friends.

Underage drinking continues to be a problem, and is cited as a factor in too many California drunk driving accidents for us to take any debate on lowering the drinking age seriously, as proposed by many college deans. What’s needed to tackle the problem is not lowering the drinking age, and giving every 18-year-old in California carte blanche with alcohol, but a joint effort by parents, college administrators as well as the community. In Yuba City, for instance, many parents including Walker’s mother, Jean Hammonds, believes that the area just doesn’t offer enough recreation opportunities for the young to let off steam. The result is underage drinking binges like the one that took place here, and the tragic drunk driving accidents that result from these.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of drunk driving accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

An El Cajon, California man will stand trial in a drunk driving accident case that occurred in July of this year. 35-year-old Shannon Shimp is charged with two counts each of murder, as well as gross vehicular manslaughter in the deaths of Ian Kinney and Joseph Warren Edwards.

The accident took place on Highway 78 on July 22nd. 19-year-old Tessa Medearis was in a Lexus with her boyfriend, 19-year-old Ian Kinney. A pickup driven by Shimp attempting to pass three vehicles skidded out of control, and into the westbound lanes. It crashed into the Lexus, which was also westbound, ending up on top of the car. Ian was killed instantly. Also killed was Shimp’s passenger, 58-year-old Joseph Warren Edwards. Both men died at the scene. Ian left behind his parents, while Edwards is survived by his wife.

Tessa suffered moderate injuries, and had to be extricated from the wreckage. After the accident, Shimp, who had suffered injuries in the car accident, was taken to the hospital for treatment of his injuries, and then arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. He was found to have been driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.19 when tests were conducted two hours after the car accident.

On Wednesday, Tessa appeared in court to testify about the car accident that killed her boyfriend. The Superior Court Judge ruled that there were grounds for a trial. There will be a hearing on December 3rd to decide on a date for the trial.

For the two families that lost the most in this tragedy, it seems like justice gets nearer every day. They have had to face the pain of losing their loved ones though no fault of their own.

California has a multi-pronged approach to dealing with the DUI menace. Not only does it have some of the most severe drunk driving laws in the country, but it has also had a significant amount of success in bringing down accident rates in the state, through better awareness programs for motorists, stronger checks and monitoring of drivers, as well as graduated licensing programs for teens that encourage them to be fully educated before they are allowed to drive on their own. The stringency of these laws has led to criticism from groups who believe that license suspensions and the focus on passing breath tests, are unfair. When we continue to have drivers like Shimp who think nothing of tanking up with alcohol that’s more than twice over the legal limit, it’s clear that these criticisms are baseless.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of drunk driving accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

California’s Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) law, one of the toughest in the country has been a great success, the California Office of Traffic Safety claims, and has contributed to a significant drop in the number of teens killed in car accidents in the state.

The objective of having the GDL laws is to introduce young drivers slowly to the correct ways of driving responsibly. The law which separates the process that a driver has to go through to be able to hold a full-fledged license into three levels, may have frustrated teen drivers itching to break free of parental controls, but it has definitely kept them a lot safer. The law requires teen drivers to pass through an initial first stage when they can only drive with a parent, after they have reached the age of 15 years and 6 months. This Learner’s Permit must be held for at least six months before they can graduate to a Provisional License which allows them to drive without parental supervision, but forbids them from having passengers below the age of 20 in their car, unless another driver who’s above 25 years of age, is present. A full license is given only when the individual reaches the age of 18, and if he or she has been able to complete the first and second levels of the process.

Now, according to a study conducted by the Auto Club of Southern California, the number of teen car accident fatalities in the state earlier stood at an average of 81.5 at-fault car accidents that caused fatalities and injuries in the age group of 16-year-olds, between the hours of 11 pm and midnight. This was before the GDL laws were passed in 2004 and 2005. In 2006 and 2007, these same numbers were down to 54.

The Office of Traffic Safety is funding a number of other such traffic safety programs aimed at teen drivers, including the “Smart Start” teen driver safety classes, “Real DUI trials” in high schools, a seatbelt challenge program to encourage more teens to buckle up (an area where there are still concerns) as well as other programs to boost traffic safety awareness.

It’s gratifying to see that these measures are taking effect, although much more needs to be done. Still, we can take pride in the fact that the state of California is on the forefront of enhancing safety standards, not just for teen drivers, but also adults. The authorities have been seeing a decrease in the number of car accident fatalities involving adults, and now they are noticing the same trend with teen accident deaths.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of car accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

A family outing turned deadly for a San Jose family that lost its son in a car accident involving a teenage driver in Livermore, California on Saturday. The Alameda County Coroner has identified the boy as Jonathan Manzo.

Jonathan was in his mother’s minivan, along with his sister and bother, with his mother driving. According to reports in the San Francisco Chronicle, the family was driving along in their Mercury minivan when a teenage motorist heading in their direction, attempted to over take another car. In doing so, the driver of that car, a Toyota Corolla, lost control of his vehicle, and veered into oncoming traffic, and the minivan. The van broadsided the Corolla, leaving the occupants, and especially Jonathan, with severe injuries.

Jonathan was airlifted to an Oakland hospital, along with one of his siblings. He died in the hospital from injuries sustained in the car accident. His mother, and the other sibling who was in the car, were hospitalized for their injuries. There’s no information about their condition.

This is no doubt a terrible time for the Manzo family, and our hearts go out to the surviving members who have lost so much in this car accident.

The driver of the Toyota, a 17-year-old boy was also hospitalized for treatment of injuries he sustained in the crash. Alcohol is not suspected to be a factor in the accident.

Investigations are ongoing, and we will doubtless hear more details as the days go by. For instance, at what speed was the teen motorist driving? Was there reckless or aggressive driving involved? What about the possibility of street racing in this accident? A young boy has been killed, and the people in charge of driving him do not seem to have been at fault.

The Manzo family, including Jonathan’s two siblings, continues to be in the hospital for treatment. They deserve to be compensated not just for their heart-breaking loss, but also their own trauma and injuries suffered as a result of this car accident. There are medical expenses involved, and loss of earnings that must be accounted for. The family must seek the advice of an experienced California car accident attorney as quickly as possible, to explore the legal avenues they have.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of car accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

Most California drivers will tell you they get nervous when they share the roads with a big rig, and after the semi truck accident on Sunday on Interstate-40, it seems like that nervousness is justified. According to the Orange County Register, a total of four people were killed in a horrific pile up on I-40 that was caused by a big rig crashing into a Porsche.

In the Porsche was a prominent Fullerton surgeon, Dr. Stephen Wilson who has been working at St Jude’s Medical Center for more than 30 years. He was with his wife Faith, and the couple was on their way to Santa Fe for a short holiday. It appears that a big rig rear-ended the Porsche, pushing it off the Interstate, and into the desert. Dr. Wilson’s was treated at a hospital for severe injuries. He and his family didn’t have time to focus on his injuries, however. They had to grieve for Faith who was killed instantly in the truck accident.

The same big rig accident killed at least three other passengers in another car. The Ramirez family, Jose, Wendy, and Robert William were all from Canyon Lake, and were on their way to Nevada to attend a Western Region Clown Association Conference. Robert William was just 15-years-old. Their Toyota Avalon seems to have been pushed under another semi truck that was included in the pile up, after having been rear ended by another truck.

All in all, the accident involved a number of cars, as well as big rigs. With vehicles the size of these trucks involved in the crash, it’s no surprise that the fatalities were so many, and the injuries so severe. The scene of the car accident, California Highway Patrol officers say resembled a pile of wreckage, with several cars pushed under big trigs, and at least one truck ending up on top of a car.

According to CHP officials, they are still not sure what happened to cause a multi-vehicle collision like this. A Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team has been called in to investigate the accident. Police are now trying to piece together witness and survivor testimonies with skid marks on the ground, to ascertain the reasons for the truck accident. They are also looking into the possibility that weather conditions on that day, which were windy, could have played a part in causing the crash.

Since there are big rigs involved here, it would be worthwhile to look into how much of a factor speeding big rigs had a part to play in the crash. The California Highway Patrol might also want to look at the condition of the drivers who were behind the wheels of the big rigs. Were the windy conditions exacerbated by the carelessness of the drivers? Big rigs need to be handled much more carefully than an ordinary car. These massive machines can get out of control quicker in bad weather and road conditions, and can take longer to stop after the brakes have been applied, because of their gigantic bulk.

Unfortunately, all too often we see trucking companies sacrificing driver fitness and preparedness, for the sake of quick profits. Investigations into the roles of the semi trucks here may provide clues as to what caused this fatal truck accident.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of truck accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.