Personal Injury Cases – Metzger Wickersham Attorneys at Law

Texting while driving is still legal in Pennsylvania. But not for long. State lawmakers have recently placed restrictions on texting and driving. On November 9, 2011, Governor Tom Corbett signed a bill into law which prohibits texting while driving in Pennsylvania. The new law, which will go into effect March 8, 2012, bans the use of any kind of hand-held texting device by a person at the wheel of a moving vehicle. Pennsylvania is the 35th state to enact a “texting-while-driving ban“ such as this.  Texting while driving will be a primary offense, which means that the police will have the authority to pull over and cite a texting motorist on sight, for that reason alone. “There is no text message that is worth the value of a human life,” Governor Corbett said.

Texting while driving is undoubtedly dangerous, but just how dangerous? A recent scientific study revealed some startling information about the effects of texting on a driver’s reaction time. According to the study conducted by the Texas Transportation Institute, drivers react twice as slow while texting. Further, the Texas Transportation Institute says, “Federal statistics suggest that distracted driving contributes to as much as 20 percent of all fatal crashes, and that cell phones constitute the primary source of driver distraction.” Texting can be a deadly distraction while driving, because it involves visual, manual, and cognitive distraction simultaneously.

Texting auto accidents can happen in the blink of an eye, but the effects can last a lifetime. If you’ve been injured in a distracted driving accident you may no longer be able to work, and your entire life can change. There are bills, medical appointments, insurance companies and perhaps auto repairs or even child care issues to deal with. If you’ve been the victim of a distracted driving accident, it is wise to contact an experienced personal injury lawyer who can guide you in the right direction. Contact Metzger Wickersham for a free consultation with one of our Harrisburg auto accident attorneys.

Warmer weather has arrived in Pennsylvania, which means motorcycle season is upon us. It’s a good time to remind all drivers to watch out for motorcycles. A recently released report serves as a stark reminder about the risks bikers face every day.

Motorcycle fatalities in Pennsylvania increased by 6 percent during the first nine months of 2010, compared to the same period in 2009, according to a report by the Governors Highway Safety Administration (GHSA). Pennsylvania unfortunately was one of the states that bucked a national trend. Nationally, motorcycle deaths dropped 2 percent from 2009 to 2010, the second straight year of a decline in motorcycle accident fatalities after 11 years of steadily increasing fatalities.

At Metzger Wickersham, we have represented clients who have coped with the devastation of a motorcycle accident in Pennsylvania. Motorcycle accident fatalities unfortunately occur throughout Pennsylvania, especially during the warmer months. If your loved one died in a motorcycle accident, it’s important to contact a motorcycle accident lawyer in Pennsylvania to learn about your rights. Our law firm has experience helping families pursue the compensation they need and deserve when they have lost loved ones in motorcycle accidents.

The GHSA report reveals that motorcycle deaths in Pennsylvania actually dropped during the first six months of 2010 (compared to the first six months of 2009). There were 96 deaths during that period in 2009 and 86 deaths in 2010. However, the trend reversed during the warmer months of the year. There were 186 deaths during the full first nine months of 2009, and 197 deaths during the same period in 2010.

The GHSA noted that the nationwide trend showing a decrease in the number of motorcycle deaths was concentrated in the early months of the year. Fatalities throughout the nation actually increased during the final three months of the nine month period.

The association raised concerns that the fatality trend may continue as more people are riding motorcycles because of higher gasoline prices. Also, authors of the report said motorcycle helmet use dropped at an “alarming” rate, from 67 percent in 2009 to 54 percent in 2009.

At Metzger Wickersham, we understand what motorcycle injury victims go through. If you were injured, or you lost a loved one in a motorcycle accident, choose a motorcycle accident attorney in Pennsylvania who is committed to fighting for clients. Let our aggressive personal injury lawyers fight for you. Contact a Pennsylvania motorcycle accident lawyer today for a free consultation.

The unemployment rate has finally started to decline in Pennsylvania, but the risk of a car accident with an uninsured motorist remains high.  What do auto accidents have to do with the unemployment rate?  More than you may think.  Each time the unemployment rate goes up 1 percent, the number of uninsured drivers increases by an estimated 1 percent, according to a 2009 study.

Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate reached 8.5 percent in February this year.  That’s down from the state’s 20 year high of 9.7 percent unemployment in February 2010.  But such figures are far higher than past unemployment figures, which ranged from 3.67 to 6.3 percent in Pennsylvania between 2000 and 2008.

An estimated 16 percent of drivers have no auto insurance.  Car accidents involving uninsured motorists can be complicated.  Your best option for protection is to purchase an insurance policy with uninsured motorist coverage.  That way, if you are involved in an auto accident with an uninsured motorist, you may recover money by making a claim against your own insurance company.

At Metzger Wickersham, our lawyers have years of experience helping drivers injured by reckless uninsured motorists fight to get the maximum compensation they deserve.  If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident with an uninsured motorist, contact our firm for a free consultation.

Old tires cause accidents, especially on busy highways like Interstate 81 and Interstate 83. Tread separation can occur. Tire blowouts happen. Worn tires also take longer to stop, costing drivers precious seconds and sometimes resulting in serious accidents.

Luckily, maintaining your tires is easy. Here’s some helpful hints to keep you safe.

• Rotate your tires. Most tire manufacturers recommend rotating your tires every 5,000 to 10,000 miles. Rotating your tires helps them last longer.
• Properly inflate tires. Keeping tires inflated to the right amount lengthens the life of your ties. Improperly inflated tires reduces your gas mileage. Over the life of your car, that could mean hundreds of dollars in gas.
• Check your tire tread. Simply use a penny. Insert the coin, Lincoln head first, into your tire tread. If any part of Lincoln’s head is obscured by the tread, your tires should be ok.
• Check for any tire recalls. Your tires may have a manufacture defect. That’s why Firestone recalled millions of tires in 2001 on Ford Explorers. Check with the business where you bought your tires to make sure they are not subject to a manufacturer recall due to product liability concerns.

What would you do if you had an accident due to poorly-maintained tires? Is the accident your fault? Or are your tires to blame? You need a Harrisburg auto accident lawyer to help guide you through this difficult ordeal. You need Metzger Wickersham. Serving clients throughout Pennsylvania, Metzger Wickersham has a solid reputation as an experienced Pennsylvania car accident attorney. Let us put our years of experience and knowledge to work for you. Contact a Harrisburg car accident lawyer who gets results. Contact Metzger Wickersham.

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board recently sent a letter to beer and beverage distributors across the state asking them to stop selling high energy alcoholic beverages. Among the most popular of these alcoholic energy drinks is Four Loko. According to officials, this alcoholic energy drink contains four to five times as much alcohol as beer. Four Loko has proved especially popular among college students – and especially dangerous. In several instances, college students consuming this drink had to be hospitalized, according to news reports.

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is not the only organization to raise concerns about this potent alcoholic energy drink. Four Loko has received scrutiny from institutions nationwide, including the Food & Drug Administration. In response to the pressure, Four Loko’s manufacturer, Phusion Products, announced on November 17, 2010 that it will voluntarily remove caffeine and other stimulants from Four Loko.

This is a step in the right direction, but there are still other potentially dangerous alcoholic energy drinks on the market. The surge in popularity of energy drinks has been on the rise for some time now, and sales of energy drinks are soon expected to top one billion worldwide. Yet, no amount of caffeine can counteract the powerful effects of alcohol. Underage drinking is a serious problem nationwide. In 2005, 10.8 million people between the ages of 12 and 20 reported drinking alcohol in the past month.

Nearly 7.2 million were binge drinkers and 2.3 million were heavy drinkers. Many of these same teenagers sadly get behind the wheel of a car after illegally
consuming alcohol. Twenty‐eight percent (28%) of 15‐ to 20‐year‐old drivers who were killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2005 had been drinking. Sadly, sometimes teens and young adults feel invincible when drinking and decide to engage in risky behavior like driving under the influence. They take chances and put themselves at risk. And often, other innocent people suffer the consequences.

If you or someone you know has been injured by a drunk driver, you need the help of a knowledgeable, experienced legal team. You need someone who thoroughly understands the law. You need Metzger Wickersham. People throughout Pennsylvania know and trust Metzger Wickersham for their professional team of dedicated lawyers. We have years of experience helping clients who have been seriously injured in drunk driving accidents. We know the devastating effects drunk driving accidents can have on people’s lives. Don’t let someone else’s irresponsible behavior ruin your life. Take action. Contact Metzger Wickersham today.

Pennsylvania takes seatbelt usage very seriously. That’s probably why 85 percent of people in Pennsylvania wear their seatbelt. That figure puts Pennsylvania at exactly the same percentage for seatbelt use nationwide, according to 2010 figures by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Seatbelt usage was not always so common. In 1994, only 58 percent of people nationwide wore seatbelts when riding in vehicles. Since then, seatbelt usage has steadily climbed every year for the past 16 years. Why the increase? Many believe it’s due to tougher seatbelt laws in many states. Pennsylvania has secondary enforcement seatbelt laws. This means police cannot pull someone over simply for not wearing their seatbelt in Pennsylvania. Police in Pennsylvania can only issue a $10 ticket for not wearing a seatbelt if there’s another traffic violation.

States with primary seatbelt laws (meaning police can stop someone simply for not wearing their seatbelt) report that 88 percent of motorists wear seatbelts. States without such laws report that 75 percent of motorists wear seatbelts.

Even though seatbelt usage is on the rise, seatbelts aren’t perfect. Sometimes, a defective design can make a seatbelt not functioning right. A young professional baseball player, Brian Cole, was killed when his Ford SUV rolled over and his seatbelt failed to keep him in the vehicle. An investigation found Cole was wearing his seatbelt. Recently, a jury ordered Ford to pay Cole’s family $131 million, claiming the seatbelt did not work right.

Accidents happen fast and your life can change in an instant, even when you take precautionary measures such as wearing your seatbelt. What would you do if you were injured? How would you pay your medical bills? What if your insurance company refused to cooperate? Knowing what to do can be confusing. You need someone who understands Pennsylvania’s legal system. You need someone who will demand justice. You need Metzger Wickersham.

Our lawyers have decades of experience successfully representing car accident victims in Pennsylvania. We know the scare tactics some insurance companies and car makers use to avoid paying victims. Show them you mean business by contacting Metzger Wickersham today.

Hunting season recently kicked into full swing in Pennsylvania. So did tougher state hunting regulations. Poaching now carries a fine of $1,000 to $5,000; up to three years in prison and the loss of hunting privileges for three years. The penalties for illegally shooting other big game animals or a number of deer also increase from summary offenses to misdemeanors, according to news reports.

The vast majority of hunters practice their craft with care and sensitivity. But a small number of hunters disregard established rules and regulations. Some ignore private property signs and trespass onto other people’s land. Others hunt out of season, at night or on Sundays – all against the law in Pennsylvania. Sometimes, the consequences can be deadly. On November 11, 2010, a state game warden was killed while apprehending a hunter who was poaching.

Hunting accidents happen every year in Pennsylvania. There were 56 hunting-related shooting incidents, including four fatalities, in 2004, according to the state game commission. That same year, there were 26 accidental deaths involving firearms statewide. Such statistics are typical, with figures ranging from a 20 year low of 20 accidental firearms deaths in 2003 to a high of 46 deaths in 1993.

No one ever expects a hunting accident to happen to them or to a loved one. Such accidents seem so rare. But they happen, sometimes to the most careful, conscientious hunters. If you or a loved one has been injured in a hunting accident, call Metzger Wickersham.

Our lawyers have decades of experience successfully representing hunting accident victims in Pennsylvania. We know how to thoroughly investigate every case and uncover information other firms might overlook. We know how traumatic hunting accidents can be for victims and their families. We can help.

Contact a law firm dedicated to working for you. Contact Metzger Wickersham today.

Passengers often sustain injuries in car accidents in Pennsylvania. But what if the injured passenger was riding with a drunk driver? What should the passenger do? How can they obtain compensation to pay for bills caused by the accident? And are the laws different in Pennsylvania compared to other states?

Any time passengers sustain injuries in a car accident, passengers almost always have a personal injury claim against one of the drivers. Drunk driving accidents complicate the situation, especially if the passenger knew the driver was drunk when they chose to get into the vehicle involved in an accident.

Another important factor to consider is who supplied the alcohol to the driver. If a bar or liquor store knowingly sold alcohol to the driver in an intoxicated state, you may be able to pursue a case against the bar or liquor store.

Pennsylvania’s liability laws also complicate the situation. Insurance companies in Pennsylvania offer two types of insurance: limited tort or full tort. Limited tort places restrictions on how much an injured person can recover after an accident. Full tort enables an injured person to recover the full amount, plus compensation for pain and suffering. If a passenger has limited tort insurance, they normally cannot obtain anything beyond covering their basic expenses. But drunk driving accidents can an exception to this rule and allow a passenger with limited tort insurance to receive additional money for pain and suffering.

Drunk driving accidents are complicated. Knowing what to do can be difficult. You need a knowledgeable, experienced legal team in your corner. You need someone who thoroughly understands the law. You need Metzger Wickersham.

Metzger Wickersham has decades of experience defending seriously injured clients. Our lawyers thoroughly investigate every case and will work tirelessly to obtain the full compensation you deserve. We understand how traumatic drunk driving accidents can be. We can help.

Don’t leave your future to chance. Take action. Contact Metzger Wickersham today. We’re on your side.

Pennsylvania drivers fall asleep at the wheel all the time. This year, a Pennsylvania school bus driver fell asleep and killed a passenger in a head-on collision.

Each year, fatigued drivers causes 100,000 car accidents nationwide. That’s one accident every five minutes. Sleeping driver accidents result in roughly 71,000 injuries and 1,550 fatalities each year across the country.

More than 60 percent of adult drivers have admitted driving while feeling drowsy in the past year. Even more shocking, 37 percent or 108 million drivers nationwide have confessed to falling asleep at the wheel. Of those who fell asleep at the wheel, 13 percent revealed they have done so at least once a month.

Who’s asleep at the wheel? Most people rightly realize that long-distance truck drivers often fall asleep. That’s why the Federal Highway Safety Administration has designated driver fatigue as the number one priority for truck safety. But it’s not just tired truck drivers causing accidents. Other drivers falling asleep include:

• Men, who are twice as likely to fall asleep while driving as women.
• Drivers on the road between midnight at 6 a.m.
• Adults 18 – 29 years old.

Driving while tired seems innocent. But tired drivers choose to drive. They refuse to take breaks. They ignore warning signs. They put everyone at risk on the road.

What would you do if you were injured by a driver asleep at the wheel? You need someone who knows how to deal with serious accidents. You need someone who will tenaciously fight for justice for you. You need Metzger Wickersham.

Our knowledgeable lawyers have years of experience handling accidents involving drivers asleep at the wheel in Pennsylvania. We know how to hold big trucking companies responsible and take on intimidating insurance companies.

Don’t let someone else’s reckless behavior ruin your life. Take action. Contact Metzger Wickersham today. We mean business.