Tag Archive: SUV

6 People killed in Greyhound Bus Accident near Fresno.

Fresno Greyhound Bus Accident

Scene of horrific Greyound Bus Accident

FRESNO, Calif. — A Greyhound bus carrying 47 people and traveling to Sacramento from Los Angeles crashed on a highway in California’s Central Valley on Thursday, killing six and injuring many others.

California Highway Patrol Officer Michelle Sigmond said the bus driver swerved to try to avoid another crash involving an overturned SUV and slammed into a concrete center divider and then struck another vehicle shortly after 2 a.m. just outside downtown Fresno. The bus went down an embankment, hit a eucalyptus tree and came to rest on a freeway off-ramp with its front end smashed and tree branches jutting into the vehicle.

Twisted pieces of metal, broken glass and torn clothing littered the ground around the accident scene.

Arlen Snider, who had been traveling from Phoenix to Sacramento to visit his mother, said he was asleep in the middle section of the bus when the crash occurred. She awoke to the smell of smoke and injured passengers all around her.

“I woke up on the floor of the bus and started helping people off the bus,” Snider, who escaped uninjured, said after arriving in Sacramento’s bus terminal Thursday morning.

In addition to the six dead – four women and two men, including the driver – several people were hurt with injuries that ranged from critical to bruises and cuts, said CHP Officer Kirk Arnold.

It’s unclear if all of the fatalities were on the bus.

“I had just woke up and I heard a boom once, and a boom again and the next thing I know we were down this embankment,” Linda Gee, a passenger on the bus, told KMPH-TV in Fresno.

“I’m alive and I thank god I’m alive,” she said. “There was just bleeding everywhere.”

The bus departed Los Angeles late Wednesday and stopped in Fresno before continuing on its route to Sacramento. It was on its way to Madera for one of about eight scheduled stops when the crash occurred, according to Greyhound spokeswoman Bonnie Bastian.

A relief bus was sent to take nine passengers who wanted to continue on to their destinations.

Northbound lanes of Highway 99, a major route through the San Joaquin Valley, have been closed since the crash.

Fresno Bus Accident Attorney Website

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A Fatal Napa Valley Accident Tied to Speeding

A Fatal Napa Valley Accident Tied to SpeedingFour people who died in a horrible SUV versus big rig truck crash on Jamieson Canyon/Highway 12 Thursday morning have been identified as three generations of a family from Oregon and two eastern states.

The Napa County California Sheriff’s Office identified the dead as Matthew Jay Smith, 48, of Ashland, Ore., Laura Katharine Smith, 19, of Downingtown, Pa., and Richard Smith, 80, and Sally Smith, 74, both of Simbsbury, Conn.

Napa Sheriff’s Capt. Tracey Stuart said Sally and Richard Smith were on vacation in the Napa Valley. They were returning to Napa after picking up their son and granddaughter when the deadly chain-reaction collisions occurred.

The California Highway Patrol said a westbound big rig driven by Gustavo Lopez, 42, plowed into the back of the victims’ Suburu Forester that was stopped in heavy rush-hour traffic.

The Forester was pushed into the path of an eastbound tractor-trailer hauling concrete pipe. The big rig, driven by Woodland resident Luis Marabilla, 44, crushed the car, pushing it back across the westbound lane onto the shoulder of the road.

Lopez’s truck continued west and side-swiped a Chevrolet flatbed truck that Hilario Trujillo Jr., 33, was driving.

The victims were declared dead at the scene, the CHP said. Trujillo and Marabilla were uninjured, and Lopez was taken to Queen of the Valley Medical Center with minor injuries.

It appears Lopez was driving too fast for the conditions, based on the slow traffic and the size of the truck he was driving, CHP spokesman Jaret Paulson said.

Lopez told officers that traffic was stop-and-go as he traveled along Jamieson Canyon Road. 

He had stopped just prior to the crash, then accelerated through his gears. 

When traffic stopped again ahead of him, he had too much velocity to stop in time, CHP Officer Ryan O’Day said.

Lopez likely wasn’t speeding, but he was going too fast for conditions, Paulson said.

“It just looks like gross inattention at this point as to what caused the collision,” O’Day said.

Under federal law, commercial drivers must submit to a chemical test if they are in an accident. There was no sign that Lopez was under the influence of alcohol or drugs, O’Day said.

Lopez had started his trip in Woodland so he likely hadn’t been on the road long enough for fatigue to be a factor, O’Day said. Lopez wasn’t carrying a load so he wasn’t in a hurry, he said.

The CHP will decide whether to forward the case to the Napa County District Attorney’s office for prosecution. 

“Being that four people are dead because of inattention, I would be surprised if they didn’t press some sort of charges,” O’Day said.

They could range from reckless driving to vehicular manslaughter, he said.

Thursday’s crash brings the fatality total this year to eight victims from five crashes on Napa County roads.

The last time four people died in one crash was on Nov. 15, 2008, on Deer Park Road near Sanitarium Road outside of Angwin, O’Day said.

Napa County hasn’t seen a crash that killed more than four people since it started keeping records in 1999, he said.

The last time someone died on Jamieson Canyon Road was in December 2004, Paulson said.

Napa Valley California Truck and SUV Accident Attorney Website

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Three Whittier California children killed in morning crash on the 5 Freeway

5 people killed in santa clarita / newhallSANTA CLARITA – Newhall,  California

Three of five people killed in a chain-reaction crash on the southbound 5 Freeway near the 14 freeway, early Monday were local children, authorities said.

Cynthia J. Hernandez, 9, Edgar A. Hernandez, 8, and Xochitl M. Hernandez, 5, all of Whittier, were killed after the car they were riding in collided with an overturned pickup truck at 12:14 a.m. on the southbound 5 just before the Balboa Boulevard exit, said California Highway Patrol Officer Jon Lutz.

Their cousin, Luis Villegas, 12, of Oakland was also killed.

The back of the Nissan the children were riding in caved in when the car was then rear ended by a Chevrolet Suburban, Lutz said. No one in the SUV was seriously injured.

The children’s mother, who is in her 30s, survived and was taken to an area hospital in critical condition. Another man in his 20s was also in the car and was taken to the hospital in critical condition, Lutz said.

John Blackburn, 54, of Frazier Park, who was the driver of the pickup truck that triggered the accident when it hit the center divider, spun out of control and overturned, was killed.

If you our your family has been injured in a car accident call us for a free consultation at 800-816-1529 x. 1.

Santa Clarita Car Accident Attorney and Wrongful Death Attorney Website

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Another Fatal Metrolink Accident, 1 killed, 3 injured as train hits truck east of Los Angeles.

Metrolink commuter train crash in Los AngelesLOS ANGELES — California

A Metrolink commuter train hit a maintenence truck parked on a set of railroad tracks in the San Gabriel Valley on Saturday, killing a railroad worker who was sitting in the truck and leaving three train passengers with minor injuries, authorities said.

The person killed was an employee of the Union Pacific Railroad who had been doing maintenance work with a crew on freight tracks, said Metrolink spokesman Francisco Oaxaca. The area where the collision occurred is a mix of Union Pacific tracks and tracks maintained by Metrolink.

When the commuter train hit the Union Pacific Railroad maintenance truck at about 9:20 a.m., it was on Metrolink tracks, traveling east of Los Angeles along the border of the city of Industry and the unincorporated community of Bassett.

Authorities said there were many reasons why the worker would be in the area, but investigators were trying to determine why the truck was on the tracks. They do not believe it was suicide.

“There is nothing to indicate that this person intended to be struck by the train,” Oaxaca said.

Union Pacific spokeswoman Lupe Valdez said the crash “appears to be an accident.

Three Metrolink passengers were taken to the hospital with minor injuries, said Metrolink spokeswoman Angie Starr. An engineer and conductor, two sheriff’s officials and 138 passengers were on board the train, Oaxaca said.

There was only minor damage to the train, which was led by a locomotive with another engine behind it.

Valdez said the employee has worked for Union Pacific for about 30 years. His name has not yet been released.

In recent years Metrolink has experienced several major crashes.

In December, a commuter train from the Southern California agency struck a pickup truck that drove into its path, injuring six people.

In 2008, 25 people were killed when a Metrolink train collided with a freight train. Investigators believe the Metrolink engineer ran a red light seconds after he was text messaging on his cell phone.

In 2005, 11 people died and about 180 were injured when a man who later claimed he was suicidal parked his sport utility vehicle on the tracks in suburban Glendale. The driver of the SUV was convicted of murder.

California Train Accident Attorney and Metrolink Accident Lawyer Website

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SUV overturns in Highway 101 Crash in Oxnard California, hurts 7 bound for CLU swim meet

Oxnard California Truck Accident AttorneySeven people were injured, including four Washington state residents, when a SUV rolled over Thursday afternoon while going south on Highway 101 near Vineyard Avenue in Oxnard.

The accident was reported about 1:45 p.m., said Steve Reid, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol in Oxnard.

The seven, and an eighth person who was not injured, were on their way to a swim meet at California Lutheran University when the vehicle they were riding in overturned into the dirt portion of the highway’s center divider, Reid said.

The incident started after a tanker truck traveling in the same direction tried to move from the third to the second lane, Reid said, causing the driver in the second lane to swerve into the first lane, where the SUV was.

Reid said Kyle Homad, the 23-year-old Seattle man driving the SUV, lost control of the vehicle and it overturned, landing on its side.

Homad received minor injuries, including cuts to his face, the CHP reported. He was taken by ambulance to St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard.

Six of the seven people riding with Homad also received minor injuries, Reid said.

Everyone in the vehicle was wearing a seat belt.

While the vehicle that swerved to avoid the tanker truck stopped at the scene, the truck continued south on 101.

Anyone who saw the accident is asked to contact the Ventura CHP at 805-477-4100.

If you or your family have been the victim of a truck crash, car crash, or other motor vehicle accident in Oxnard or anywhere in California call us for a free consultation at 800-816-1529 x. 1, or go to http://www.thepersonalinjury.com

Oxnard California Truck Accident and Car Accident Attorney

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Biggest Recall in Toyota History; Stuck Accelerators; Important Info for Toyota and Lexus Owners!

Toyota recallYou may have read an article we wrote below about a fatal accident involving a family test driving a lexus and allegations that there may have been a defect that caused the accident.

Federal investigators have said of the 102 accidents caused by stuck gas pedals on Toyota vehicles, there are four possible causes involving the floor mats: The mats are too long or too thick, they weren’t properly secured, the gas pedal design is flawed or the floor geometry is defective.

The wide array of causes presents a challenge to Toyota engineers who are trying to come up with a way to fix the problem that is leading to a recall of 3.8 million vehicles, including the Camry, the top-selling car in the U.S.

“We’ve evaluated a number of different years, makes and models of Toyota and don’t believe that there is a one-size-fits-all answer as to why these incidents are occurring,” said National Highway Traffic Safety Administration spokesman Rae Tyson on Tuesday. “I think Toyota is going to have a challenge on its hands to come up with a remedy that is going to address the problem.”

Toyota spokesman John Hanson acknowledged the problem is more complex than vehicle floor mats alone, but involves the way the floor mat interacts with other parts of the vehicle.

“Other factors may be coming into play here,” he said. “That’s why we feel that probably the remedy could be different from vehicle to vehicle.”

On Tuesday, the Japanese automaker issued a safety advisory urging owners of 3.8 million car and trucks — including popular models like Camry, Prius and Tacoma — to remove driver-side mats. It wants drivers to watch out for loose or incorrect mats that could slide out of position and cover pedals.

Toyota is still studying the problem. Once it comes up with a fix, it will issue a recall of the models. It will be Toyota’s largest-ever U.S. recall, accounting for about 15 percent of all the automaker’s vehicles on U.S. roads, the company said.

The safety advisory was prompted by an accident last month killing four people near San Diego. In that incident, a floor mat trapped the gas pedal on a 2009 Lexus ES 350, causing it to accelerate out of control, strike an SUV, launch off an embankment, and burst into flames.

NHTSA said it had received reports of 102 incidents in which the accelerator may have become stuck on the Toyota vehicles involved. The problem has led to 13 crashes, 17 injuries and 5 fatalities in Toyota vehicles, according to NHTSA.

Toyota’s warning affects the following vehicles:
2007-2010 model year Toyota Camry;
2005-2010 Toyota Avalon;
2004-2009 Toyota Prius;
2005-2010 Tacoma;
2007-2010 Toyota Tundra;
2007-2010 Lexus ES350; and
2006-2010 Lexus IS250 and IS350.

If you, your family, or friends have been in a Toyota vehicle, and had the accelerator stuck resulting in an injury accident in the State of California, you may be entitled to compensation, under California product liability laws.

Please call our Personal Injury Hotline at 800-816-1529 or click here now.

By California Product Liability Attorneys

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