Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Motorcyclists' Increased Fee to Support Medical Research - Thursday, August 30, 2007

In Indiana, some motorcycle owners are angry they have been singled out to pay an extra $10 registration fee to help fund new efforts to research spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries. This fee is estimated to generate approximately $1.6 million annually for the research efforts, but many motorcyclists are not happy.

Jay Jackson, executive director of ABATE of Indiana, a group that advocates motorcycling safety, says motorcyclists have nothing against medical research but don't want to be the ones solely responsible for funding it. He said if it were a fair tax assessed to everyone, then there'd be no problem.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, a motorcyclist himself, is against the fee and says it was "slipped" into the budget in the late stages of the budgetary process. The fee and the fund had been in the budget in the early stages but had both been later removed. Daniels asserts the fee was put back in during the last days of the budgetary approval process. Daniels states that he and other cyclists are not against spinal cord research but contends motorcycle accidents cause less than 1 percent of spinal cord injuries. Daniels stated, "It seems a little unfair to hit that particular segment of society to pay for that particular purpose."

However, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 5,000 motorcyclists are hospitalized each year with a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Representative Carolene Mays, who pushed the proposal, said that about 160,000 Indiana residents suffer from spinal cord or brain injuries, and the revenue generated from this new fee increase will lead to new research on those serious medical conditions and enable the statue to pursue part of $50 million in federal research funding for the injuries.

Mays said she chose to fund this program using motorcycle fees "because there is a proven link between motorcycle accidents and traumatic spinal cord and brain injuries." At the current time, there are approximately 160,000 motorcycles registered in Indiana and about 30,000 members of ABATE of Indiana.

Deadly Truck Accident Kills 1, Seriously Injures Another - Monday, August 27, 2007

A lawsuit over a deadly three-vehicle collision near Gloster, Louisiana that killed one and seriously injured another has been settled for $5.5 million. The agreement reached during mediation means the family of Allan Richard, 60, who was killed in the December 7 crash, will receive $1 million from the trucking company's insurance company and Henry Washington, 47, who will require 24-hour care for the rest of his life, will get $4 million from the trucking company's insurance company. The company is also paying an additional $500,000 to Washington.

The deadly crash happened when 18-wheeler driver Mike McCauley, 35, lost control of his oilfield salt water truck while reaching for a dropped cell phone as he rounded a curve. He was not ticketed or criminally charged. The tanker truck, owned by Steve Kent Trucking Inc. rolled over onto Washington's vehicle, causing him to leave the roadway and land in creek, and then struck Richard's vehicle, which was traveling behind Washington.

The case was settled quickly because of the evidence gathered in the investigation. An investigator found the truck cab within days after the wreck and documented an illegal radar detector glued to the dashboard. Radar detectors in 18-wheelers are illegal according to Federal Motor Carrier Safety regulations

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