Killeen, Texas, Personal Injury Blog | Michalk, Beatty & Alcozer, L.P.

A recent crash draws attention to school bus safety and liability

On behalf of Seth Alcozer of Michalk, Beatty & Alcozer, L.P. posted in personal injury on Tuesday, May 21, 2019.

Although children are generally safer riding buses than they are in cars, they don't escape every accident unharmed. The injuries your child suffers could lead to bills you can't afford - even with proper insurance.

Recently, a Killeen school bus was involved in a three-car crash at the intersection of State Highway 195 and Cactus Spur. Although the bus driver and students were all reportedly unharmed, the accident raises the question: Who pays for the medical bills if your child is injured in a school bus crash?

Are the high speed limits of Texas roads too dangerous?

On behalf of Seth Alcozer of Michalk, Beatty & Alcozer, L.P. posted in personal injury on Friday, May 3, 2019.

Here in the Lone Star State, highways are kind of our thing. You won't find speed limits this high in any other state. I-35 and I-14 don't quite match up to Highway 130-but you can still drive pretty fast around the Killeen area.

You might be interested in knowing how these speed limits affect safety. Faster driving leads to a higher chance of fatal accidents.

How pedestrians and drivers can avoid accidents

On behalf of Seth Alcozer of Michalk, Beatty & Alcozer, L.P. posted in personal injury on Wednesday, March 27, 2019.

Texas continues to rank among the national leaders in pedestrian deaths.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 5,977 pedestrians in were killed nationally in traffic accidents in 2017. In Texas, 607 pedestrians died in 2017, or 16.3 percent of all traffic fatalities in the state that year. Only California and Florida had more.

What to do if you suspect someone has a spinal cord injury?

On behalf of Seth Alcozer of Michalk, Beatty & Alcozer, L.P. posted in personal injury on Thursday, March 21, 2019.

Car crashes are a common cause for severe injuries. If you are involved in a car crash, the first thing you should do is to check if you or anyone else involved in the crash is injured. If someone is injured you should call 911 immediately and request an ambulance.

A spinal cord injury is one of the most severe types of injury that can be caused by a car crash. Because spinal cord injuries can become worse when not recognized right away, it is especially important to understand the signs of this injury.

Texas leads the nation for drivers falling asleep at the wheel

On behalf of Seth Alcozer of Michalk, Beatty & Alcozer, L.P. posted in personal injury on Tuesday, January 29, 2019.

Whether it be that Texas is just a very big state that can take a long time to drive through or because the people of Texas are just very hard-working, the state ranks at the top of the list in the country for drowsy drivers.

Statistics show that Texas drivers who were driving drowsy or fell asleep at the wheel accounted for 9,704 accidents in 2017. That breaks down to an average of 26 crashes each day. Out of those crashes, there were 160 fatalities.

Teens at greater risk of distracted driving than other age groups

By Michalk, Beatty & Alcozer, L.P. posted in personal injury on Thursday, January 10, 2019.

In 2016, almost 3,500 people were killed because of distracted driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also notes that teens are more often to blame for distracted driving than other age groups.

While many campaigns to end distracted driving focus on cell phone use, an AAA study indicates that cell phones are not the only distractions for teen drivers. Attending to something in the vehicle or attending to passengers were also popular distractions.

Moving to a different state means updating your will

On behalf of Seth Alcozer of Michalk, Beatty & Alcozer, L.P. posted in estate planning on Thursday, November 29, 2018.

You know your time on Earth is limited to an unknown amount of years, months, weeks and days. One of the best ways to ensure you are being responsible with your time and investments is developing an estate plan. Having a will is an important part of estate planning.

Creating a will at one point in your life may require updates and changes as circumstances in your life shift. For example, not all states have the exact same laws surrounding wills. When you move from one state to the next, you will want to make sure your will and how it is setup is valid in your new state. Invalid wills can cause problems when they are not resolved afterwards.

Studies show drivers are not seeing cyclists or pedestrians

On behalf of Seth Alcozer of Michalk, Beatty & Alcozer, L.P. posted in personal injury on Friday, November 16, 2018.

The outside world is in constant motion, and it can seem difficult to keep track of everything you encounter while driving. However, it is vital that drivers remain aware of their surroundings at all times, otherwise, the likelihood of a serious crash greatly increases.

Statistically, drivers repeatedly struggle to notice bicyclists and pedestrians. The number of pedestrians killed in traffic deaths across the United States has increased faster than the rate of all other traffic deaths in recent years. From 2007 to 2016, pedestrian fatalities increased 27 percent. The numbers have been grim for bicyclists too, as there were 840 bicyclist deaths nationally in 2016, an increase from the year before.

Don't make divorce financially harder than it is

On behalf of Seth Alcozer of Michalk, Beatty & Alcozer, L.P. posted in family law on Friday, November 2, 2018.

As this blog has discussed before, in the event of a divorce, a married couple's property will have to be divided according to the community property laws in force in Texas.

What this means is that a resident of the Killeen and Fort Hood area is going to have to live with the reality that they will be dealing with some financial challenges after a divorce since they will have about half of their assets. They will also be without the benefit of their spouse's income or other financial support, and they may be making alimony and child support payments.

Construction zones crashes on the rise nationwide

On behalf of Seth Alcozer of Michalk, Beatty & Alcozer, L.P. on Thursday, November 1, 2018.

With new communities and roadways seemingly popping up around every corner throughout Texas and across America, road construction is a constant presence, but road construction zones present a considerable threat for motorists. In fact, the number of car crashes occurring in the nation’s construction zones is on the rise, and as a result, so, too, is the number of injuries people suffer while navigating their way through them.

Per the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration, the number of car crashes that took place in the country’s work zones rose substantially between 2013 and 2015, with the number of construction zone crashes increasing more than 40 percent during that time period. Additionally, in 2015, at least 70 work zone crashes resulting in injury occurred every day on the nation’s roads, while 12 work zone crashes every week ended in at least one fatality.