Even as investigators probe the possibility that driver fatigue was linked to a fatal bus accident in Oregon that killed 9 people, the company denies that the driver was working beyond the maximum hours allowed, and was fatigued at the time. Investigations are going on into the accident near Pendleton, Oregon, that killed 9 people, and injured ...

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The U.S. Senate has approved a key piece of bus safety legislation that would tighten requirements for bus drivers as well as motor coach companies. The bill had been introduced after a deadly bus crash in Atlanta in 2007 that killed seven people. The bill is the brainchild of Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Democrat Senator Sherrod Bro...

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An explosion at a fuel storage and intermodal terminal near the Port of Galveston about 7 p.m. Thursday was heard across the island and into parts of the Galveston County mainland. Firefighters responded to the 3-alarm fire that shut down the road to Pelican Island and left Texas A&M University at Galveston students on lockdown. There were abou...

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A fire at the Marathon Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City on Thursday started around hoses connected to one of the tanks, a spokesman for Marathon Petroleum said. No injuries were reported in the fire, which sent thick smoke into the air that was visible from miles away. No shelter-in-place was ordered because of the direction of the wind, Te...

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At least 15 people are missing or dead and more than 150 injured after an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, on Wednesday evening.  The explosion at West Fertilizer Co. began with a fire around 6 p.m. Volunteer firefighters were attempting to extinguish the blaze when an explosion ripped through the plant about two hours later. The...

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No blanket ban on texting while driving for all motorists, poor laws against drunk driving - these are just 2 of the reasons why a national safety group has ranked Texas at the bottom of the pile for highway safety. Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety conducts an annual review of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, based on whether th...

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A new report by the Governor’s Highway Safety Association indicates that there has been little reduction in the number of speeding-related fatalities over the past three decades. This is in spite of the fact that automobiles are much safer, and seatbelt usage rates are higher than ever before. High-speed accidents are high-impact accidents that...

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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited a Texas-based shipbuilder for safety violations. The agency has proposed penalties against the company, Sneed Shipbuilding Inc. in Channelview, Texas. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Houston office, the agency began its investigation of the company on J...

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A number of earlier studies had indicated that children who suffer from a traumatic brain injury may suffer from increasing impairment levels as the child gets older. That may not necessarily be true. According to new research, children with a brain injury who are exposed to a healthy home environment and professional rehabilitation and therapy...

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Air Liquide has released the identity of a worker killed in an explosion at a La Porte plant on Saturday. Javier Ortiz was reported missing after the blast and was found by search crews after about 12 hours. Another employee remained hospitalized in serious but stable condition with burn injuries. Fire investigators were looking for the cause o...

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Investigations have found that over a period of 2 years, Dallas police officers were involved in as many as 162 preventable accidents. In spite of this, the Dallas police has failed to implement policies that expressly prevent officers from typing while they're driving. An investigation by NBC 5 Investigates found that over a period of 2 years,...

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A train in Fort Worth, Texas ran over railroad employee Paul Young, a 28 year-old BNSF Foreman, today.  Mr. Young remains in serious condition at John Peter Smith Hospital after the train ran over him, amputating his legs and an arm, according to railroad officials.   Young was working on the train Monday night when he was hit by it, say BNSF...

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In Texas, boating accident fatality numbers per 100,000 registered boaters are more than twice the national average.  It is these statistics that have resulted in the drafting of legislation that would require mandatory boater education. A new piece of legislation that has been proposed by Representative Dan Parker, Republican-Flower Mound, wou...

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Two chemical tankers collided in the Gulf of Mexico early Wednesday about 70 miles south of Galveston, according to U.S. Coast Guard officials. Both vessels were en route to Houston at the time of the crash. The Chem Sea, a 385-foot tanker, and Bow Kiso, a 557-foot tanker, collided about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday. The double-hulled Bow Kiso, a Panama...

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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Transportation, shut down a Louisiana trucking company Friday as a result of multiple safety violations. Gordon’s Tree Service was instructed to halt all transportation services immediately because of serious safety violations that pose an imminent hazard to pu...

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Authorities on Friday raised the count to 12 dead in the West fertilizer plant explosion. Most fatalities have been firefighters and other emergency responders who arrived on the scene first. About 200 were injured in the blast that rocked this small Texas town about 20 miles north of Waco. Search and rescue operations are continuing as crews s...

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A crew member died after falling into the cargo bay of a cargo ship docked in the Houston Ship Channel on Thursday morning. The worker fell from the deck into the cargo hold about 12:30 a.m. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the ship was docked at Texas Terminal NO. 37 near Patrick’s Bayou. The man was pronounced dead after being rushed to Mem...

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The poor economy is causing more and more American drivers to postpone essential maintenance and repairs of their automobiles. This information, which comes from a survey by Consumer Reports, is alarming to Houston car accident lawyers, because lack of automotive maintenance and repairs increases the risks of an accident. The poll by Consumer R...

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On Houston freeways alone, there were seven incidents last year involving a truck hitting a bridge because their load was too high. The most recent incident, on Dec. 2 on a connector ramp between the Southwest Freeway and 610 West Loop, cause damage to a bridge beam. Danny Perez of TxDOT said that when extensive repairs are required in incident...

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If lobbying efforts by the trucking industry and shipping groups are successful, highways in several states, including Texas, could see heavier tractor-trailers plying their roads. A piece of legislation that is being supported heavily by the trucking industry would increase the weight limits on commercial trucks, making for bulkier and heavier ...

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Booster seats substantially reduce children's risk of injuries in a car accident. However, those risks may not be affected at all if the seat does not come with a proper safety belt fit. According to a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, close to 50% of children's car booster seats available in the market do not come with a good...

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An accident involving a minivan and a U.S. Postal Service 18-wheeler left one woman dead Friday afternoon. The woman was driving a Mercury Villager minivan south on Misty Willow near Willowbrook Mall around 3:45 p.m. when she failed to yield at a stop sign, a Houston Police Department spokeswoman said. The 18-wheeler, which was heading northbou...

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A contract worker died last week after a construction-related accident in a Galveston shipyard. The man was operating a backhoe from outside the cab at Southwest Shipyard when he was pinned by the boom.A crew was working on digging a hole at the time of the incident. The worker had gotten off the backhoe and was standing behind it when he went t...

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Investigators at the site of the West fertilizer plant explosion raised U.S. and Texas flags to half mast Thursday, followed by a brief moment of silence then the sounding of taps by a Texas Department of Public Safety honor guard. A week after the blast that killed 15 and injured more than 200, a memorial service was also planned for 2 p.m. tod...

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It's a given that that in any accident involving an automobile and a bicycle, it's the person riding the bicycle who is at a much higher risk of suffering serious or even fatal injuries. That is even more so in the case of a city in Texas, where bicycle safety measures are all too few and inadequate. In fact, bicycling safety is not much of a pr...

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A final set of federal safety regulations were issued last week for offshore drilling. The rules are a fine-tuning of the emergency measures enacted after the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent oil spill. The rules deal with how wells are designed and the testing of the cement and barriers that are used to secure them. The go...

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An important piece of offshore safety legislation that would have clearly defined how drilling safety plans in US waters should progress, is currently left hanging after lawmakers disagreed over revenue sharing payments to states.  The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee was debating legislation that would enhance offshore drilling sa...

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A passenger who suffered several broken ribs in the fatal Irving, Texas, bus crash has filed a negligence lawsuit against the company operating the vehicle. The lawsuit, filed Monday, names Cardinal Coach Lines Inc., of Mansfield. The accident Thursday killed two passengers and injured more than 40. The charter bus was on its way to an Oklahoma...

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A fire sparked by an explosion at a petrochemical plant near Baton Rouge, La., injured more than 30 people. Area residents were advised to stay indoors with windows and doors closed, though tests showed no signs of elevated chemical levels nearby. A spokeswoman from the Department of Environmental Quality said three or four people were transpor...

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Teenage motorists are notoriously averse to seatbelt usage, and seatbelt rates in this category of motorists are at unacceptably low levels. The Texas Department of Transportation wants to change that.  Every year, the agency makes a concerted effort to increase seat belt use among teenage drivers, and collaborates with schools across Texas to ...

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An explosion at a propane distribution company near Conroe on Tuesday left eight people injured. Two were flown to the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and six were taken by ambulance to Houston-area hospitals, the Montgomery County Fire Marshal’s Office said.  Firefighters responded to AmeriGas after an explosion was reported a...

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Twelve contract workers were injured, three critically burned, after a fire in the processing unit of ExxonMobil’s Beaumont refinery this morning. The fire has been put out, company spokeswoman Kathleen Jackson said. The injured workers were transported by ambulance to Beaumont hospitals with a range of injuries. Helicopters could not be used b...

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An accident in front of a Los Angeles elementary school is once again bringing the debate about driving age to the forefront. A 100-year-old man backing his Cadillac out of a grocery store parking lot struck and injured 11 people, including nine children. The incident has rekindled a debate: How old is too old to keep driving? Some states requi...

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Intercity bus companies that provide low-cost bus services, and pick up or drop passengers curbside instead of at terminals, may have a much higher likelihood of being involved in accidents. That information comes from a report by the National Transportation Safety Board. The report finds that these curbside bus companies have a likelihood of b...

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Oil and gas crews are getting back to work in the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Isaac passed. The storm has reportedly caused only minor damage to rigs and platforms. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said Monday that more than 58 percent of daily oil production and 39 percent of daily natural gas production in the Gulf is sti...

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A man died after being injured late Saturday night in an industrial accident in Texas City. It appears Virgel James Stoker, 26, was injured while working on industrial equipment used to package products at the Dallas Group of America Inc.’s facility at the Port of Texas City. He died shortly after being taken to the hospital. The Galveston Cou...

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Living with a brain injury, as any Houston car accident lawyer can tell you, can be devastating not just for the victims, but also the people in their lives. Brain injury takes the highest toll on the spouse, who is now the caregiver of the person with a brain injury. Even a marriage with a strong foundation can give way when one of the spouses ...

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A female Houston port worker had a lucky escape, after she fell inside the hull of a vessel last week.  The maritime accident occurred in the Port of Houston.  The woman apparently fell into the cargo hold.  Emergency rescue personnel, including firefighters from the Houston Fire Department were summoned to the scene.   A total of 15 fire resc...

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Texas continues to lag behind the rest of the country in implementing laws against cell phone use and texting while driving. However, if you are a parent who wants to ensure that your teenage child is not texting while driving or using cell phones at the wheel, there are a number of technologies that can help you do so. Most such technologies i...

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Last Friday, a U.S. judge gave the final approval to BP’s settlement with individuals and businesses who lost money and property as a result of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that followed the Deepwater Horizon explosion. The settlement addressed only issues of economic and property damage claims and did not separate medical benefits s...

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Federal officials are finishing plans to give states incentive to toughen up drunken-driving laws, six weeks after Virginia joined 17 other states in implementing a law requiring interlock devices for first-time offenders. Interlock systems prevent a vehicle from starting if the driver has consumed too much alcohol. Federal data shows that drun...

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Summer is almost here, and that means bicycle riders will begin taking to the streets. Although many people enjoy a scenic bike ride on a wooded trail, more and more cyclists are sharing the road with cars, as a healthly, eco-friendly way to get around. With this prevalence of new bikers comes the question, "how can drivers and cyclists shar...

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A massive fire at a chemical plant in Waxahachie was about 90 percent contained, fire Chief David Hudgins said Monday afternoon. There were no reports of injuries. Waxahachie fire officials warned of possibly toxic fumes and smoke from the Magnablend plant, and emergency officials were wearing protective suits. Billowing black smoke at the plan...

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The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday continued to search for six missing fishermen after receiving a mayday call Sunday from the captain of a sinking ship. The call to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Houston-Galveston operations center cam about 1:15 p.m. and said the boat was taking on water. The captain was unable to report the vessel’s exact location, but ...

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The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and BP announced a partial settlement stemming from safety violations the company’s Texas City refinery was cited for in 2009. BP was fined $87.4 million in 2009 due to a series of safety violations, mostly stemming from changes not made at the plant after a fatal 2005 explosion. BP will pa...

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This month, federal agencies released data on accident fatality numbers for 2010. The good news for Texas car accident lawyers was that overall traffic accident fatalities across the country, and especially in Texas, are down. The bad news, however, is that pedestrian, trucking, and motorcycle accident fatalities have increased. In Texas, 2,99...

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Texas’ graduated driver’s licensing program in Texas prohibits teen passengers below the age of 21 from traveling with teen motorists. New research confirms to Houston car accident lawyers the need for rules like this.  According to the research, teenage drivers, who are driving with passengers of the same age, have a much higher risk of accide...

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Millions of pounds of unexploded bombs deposited in the Gulf of Mexico after World War II are posing a threat to offshore drilling, Texas oceanographers say. The United States and other governments disposed of munitions and chemical weapons in the oceans until the practice was banned by federal law and international treaties in the 1970s. Now, ...

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The West fertilizer plant that exploded Wednesday, killing at least 14 people, was storing 1,350 times the volume of ammonium nitrate needed to trigger U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) safety oversight.  The company that owns the plant, West Fertilizer, had not informed DHS about the potentially explosive fertilizer as it is required ...

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As expected, there have been a number of questions raised about workplace safety in Texas in the wake of the West fertilizer plant explosion. Fifteen people were killed in the fertilizer plant explosion, and hundreds more injured. A number of public safety organizations have begun raising questions about workplace safety in Texas. According to ...

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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has been moving towards rules that would require drivers to be evaluated for sleep apnea, thereby helping reduce the number of accidents traced to driver fatigue. Last week, federal transportation authorities adopted recommendations related to sleep apnea diagnosis. The Federal Motor Carrier Safet...

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The widow of an Illinois State Police trooper who was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer during a traffic stop in November has filed a lawsuit against the company and the driver. Kyle Deatherage, 32, was standing along an interstate when he was hit. He died instantly. The wrongful death and misconduct lawsuit claims the driver should never ...

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Texas auto pedestrian accident lawyers know that auto-pedestrian injuries can be catastrophic. In recent weeks, there have been several accidents of this type in the Houston area, including a 67-year-old woman who was killed when struck by a car while walking her dogs. The woman struck by the car was walking down D’Amico street when she was str...

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After a law passed last September, Texas boaters born on or after Sept. 1, 1993 were required to have boater safety education when operating personal watercraft, vessels with 15 or more horsepower or wind-powered vessels longer than 14 feet. Until recently, the boater had to pay out of pocket for such a course, which started at about $20. Howeve...

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In an annual national road safety report released Tuesday, Texas is amongst the worst states in passing highway safety laws. The report graded all 50 states and the District of Columbia based on 15 basic traffic safety laws, and Texas joined about a dozen other states in the bottom tier of rankings. With 80,000 miles of state-run roadways, Texa...

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Every Houston auto accident attorney knows that the number of alcohol-related car accidents has been declining over the past decade. A new study by the CDC confirms the fact.  According to the CDC, the incidence of drunk driving has declined by almost 30% over the past five years. In fact, last year, those numbers were at their lowest levels in...

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The trial over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill is set to begin this morning in New Orleans before a federal judge, with no jury. Attempts to reach a settlement over the weekend failed, but legal experts expect that one will be reached, at least with the U.S. Department of Justice, within the next few months.  Eleven men were ...

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Texas reported a slight drop in the number of teen drivers killed in accidents during the first half of 2012, compared to the same period of time the previous year. During the first 6 months of 2012, there were 14 car accident fatalities involving teenage motorists in the state of Texas. That was a drop from 17 fatalities during the first 6 mont...

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It is not the kind of news that should comfort any Houston car accident lawyer. A new study finds that there has been an increase in the number of teenage drivers being killed in accidents. That increase was seen in 23 states, including Texas. In our state, there was a four percent increase in the number of 16 and 17-year-olds killed in accident...

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The pilot who was navigating an 810-foot tanker through the Sabine-Neches Ship Channel in 2010 was tired and suffering from a sleep disorder, while the second pilot was reading a newspaper, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report. Federal investigators said Tuesday that these factors, in conjunction with lax regulations, cont...

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A new toll road designed to relieve traffic congestion between Austin and San Antonio opens today, with the highest speed limit in the nation at 85 mph. Many Texas truck drivers, though, say they’ll avoid the road due to expense and a too-high speed limit.  Texas 130 will stretch from I-10 in Seguin to I-35 in Georgetown when it’s finished late...

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Investigators on Sunday announced that they had located the epicenter of the tragic West fertilizer plant explosion. Assistant Texas Fire Marshal Kelly Kistner said investigators would be working inward from the least to most damaged areas as the search continues for the cause of the blast but provided no timeline for a report on the incident. ...

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According to a new federal study, teenagers whose parents drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs may be more likely to emulate these dangerous practices themselves. That is not exactly what Houston car accident attorneys would call a shocker, but the study does confirm that good parental influence is probably one of the foremost factors ...

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At least 12 have been reported dead as the hostage crisis continues at a BP gas plant in Algeria, including Texas resident Frederick Buttaccio. It is unclear how Buttaccio died during the standoff, but U.S. officials have said his remains had been recovered and family notified. More than a dozen al-Qaeda-linked armed militants attacked the dese...

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It’s no secret to Houston car accident lawyers that teens are among the biggest group at risk for being distracted while driving. Before letting your teenager hit the highways, review this list of the most dangerous driving distractions. 1. Cell phones, navigation systems and other communications devices2. Adjusting radio system3. Other vehicle...

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At least two were killed and dozens injured today when a charter bus crashed in Irving, Texas.  The Cardinal Coach bus was traveling east of Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport on State Highway 161, carrying 45 passengers, retired people on a gambling outing to a Choctaw casino in Oklahoma. The bus weaved across the highway, struck a concret...

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One person is dead and another injured after an explosion and fire at the Air Liquide cylinder plant in La Porte, Texas, on Saturday. Fire investigators still are looking for the cause of the explosion at the plant, on Fairmont Parkway near Bay Area Boulevard. A company spokesman said 20 employees were inside at the time of the incident. One pe...

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One of the most frequent reasons distracted motorists who frequently use cell phones while driving cite for these practices, is that they are very good at multitasking. A new study finds that that may not be true after all. Many motorists, who claim to be good at multitasking, are likely not very good at devoting their attention to more than one...

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GULF OF MEXICO — Air and sea search teams continued Saturday to hunt for 10 oil workers missing in the Gulf of Mexico after they abandoned a disabled research vessel. Five helicopters, a fixed-wing airplane and two vessels searched for the men in Mexico, said Brenda Taquino, spokesperson for Houston-based Geokinetics. Geokinetics contracted the...

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A British Petroleum executive is defending a report on the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion in federal court in New Orleans today. Mark Bly was in charge of the company’s investigation into the explosion that killed 11 people and sent millions of gallons of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. It’s the fourth day of testimony. The civil trial ...

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On Friday night, President Barack Obama issued an emergency declaration in the West, Texas, fertilizer plant explosion that killed at least 14 people and injured more than 200 on Wednesday. The president pledged disaster relief aid and authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief efforts in this small Texas to...

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Much of the debate on impaired driving tends to center on persons driving under the influence of alcohol. However, a person who smokes marijuana before driving can have his accident risks double.  Moreover, persons who smoke marijuana before driving tend to be less aware of their impaired driving compared to drunk drivers. Researchers at Dalhou...

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A coalition of environmental groups from five states filed a lawsuit Monday in federal court claiming the Environmental Protection Agency rules on chemical dispersants used in oil spill cleanups do not adhere to clean water standards. The lawsuit says the EPA has not published regulations on acceptable use of such dispersants in response to oil...

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Officials said Tuesday that the number of people who died in the West fertilizer plant explosion stands now at 15. At least 200 people were injured in the tragedy. Mayor Pro Tem Steve Vanek said that they believe all the blast victims have been found. "No more victims. Everything is searched," Vanek said in a news conference Tuesday. Investig...

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This week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is marking Teen Driver Safety Week in order to impress the importance of preventing accidents involving this group of drivers. To coincide with the commemoration of the week from October 17 to October 22, the American Auto Association has released the results of a study into the safe...

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Aggressive driving contributes to at least one third of accidents and injuries, and up to two thirds of fatal accidents every year. Now, a new study finds that drivers who perceive their car as an extension of themselves have a strong tendency towards aggressive driving. There has been little research conducted into the psychology of aggressive...

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It appears to Houston car accident lawyers that the steady progress that has been made in reducing car accident fatalities over the past few years is on the reverse. Preliminary estimates from the National Safety Council find that auto accident fatalities rose 5% last year, compared to the previous year. That is the first time auto accident fata...

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