This is a reminder to all SoCal Drivers to stay safe in the rain! Statistics show that rain is one of the biggest contributing factors to car accidents.

How you react can prevent further injuries, reduce costs and accelerate the clean-up and repair process. Over 6.3 million police-reported motor vehicle crashes occurred in the United States in 1998. Almost one-third of these accidents resulted in injury. In 2001, nearly 42,000 people died on America’s roadways. Clearly, accidents are a part of life in America. So, if you are involved in a traffic collision, try to remain calm, and follow these steps:

Action Plan to Deal with Accidents:

1. Keep an Emergency Kit in Your Glove Compartment. Drivers should carry a cell phone, as well as pen and paper for taking notes, a disposable camera to take photos of the vehicles at the scene, and a card with information about medical allergies or conditions that may require special attention if there are serious injuries. Also, keep a list of contact numbers for law enforcement agencies handy. Drivers can keep this free fill-in-the-blanks accident information form handy. The DocuDent™ Auto Accident Kit ($19.95), supported by AAA and insurance companies, offers a comprehensive kit that includes a flashlight, reusable camera and accident documentation instructions. A set of cones, warning triangles or emergency flares should be kept in the trunk.

2. Keep Safety First. Drivers involved in minor accidents with no serious injuries should move cars to the side of the road and out of the way of oncoming traffic. Leaving cars parked in the middle of the road or busy intersection can result in additional accidents and injuries. If a car cannot be moved, drivers and passengers should remain in the cars with seatbelts fastened for everyone’s safety until help arrives. Make sure to turn on hazard lights and set out cones, flares or warning triangles if possible.

3. Exchange Information. Visit www.exchangeinfo.info to download our app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store from any web enabled cell phone. Or visit www.gatherinfo.info from any web browser.

4. Photograph and Document the Accident. Use your camera to document the damage to all the vehicles. Keep in mind that you want your photos to show the overall context of the accident so that you can make your case to a claims adjuster. If there were witnesses, try to get their contact information; they may be able to help you if the other drivers dispute your version of what happened.

5. File An Accident Report. Although law enforcement officers in many locations may not respond to accidents unless there are injuries, drivers should file a state vehicle accident report, which is available at police stations and often on the Department of Motor Vehicles Web site as a downloadable file. A police report often helps insurance companies speed up the claims process.

Auto accidents take a tremendous toll on everyone involved, both financially and emotionally. If you’re one of the lucky ones who have thus far avoided a serious accident, hopefully the tips on prevention will help keep it that way. The chances are high, though, that at some point you will be involved in an accident. Just keep your head focused and make safety your primary concern. You’ll have plenty of time to deal with the consequences later.

If you or someone you know has been involved in any type of car accident, contact the Friedman Law Offices today!

Ari Friedman
Personal Injury Lawyer
Los Angeles
323-596-1234

www.AFriedman.com

Mother Makes Visible Plea To Drivers: ‘Don’t Text And Drive’

Source:

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2015/06/04/mother-makes-visible-plea-to-drivers-dont-text-and-drive/#.VXFImSQ9GVo.facebook

The entire purpose of this mom’s campaign is to AVOID any accident to begin with. If the unfortunate circumstance arises wherein you or your friend or family becomes a victim, be sure to have Personal Injury Attorney Ari Friedman’s telephone number on standby. He’s successfully and diligently handled many car accidents involving misuse of cell phones.

323-596-1234

For more information about this campaign or to get involved visit driveeasy.com.

The driver in this video was about to be a victim of a car crash. The other person made an unsafe left turn, in violation of California Vehicle Code Section 21801(a), without yielding to oncoming traffic. Good job!

Please make sure you call our office if you are ever a victim of someone negligent driving.

We have handled many cases that involve situations similar to the above where one driver made a left turn into the path of another driver that had the right of way.

Attorney Ari Friedman
Personal Injury Lawyer
323-596-1234

I recommend carrying “Uninsured Motorist” coverage with your insurance carrier. But if for whatever reason you don’t have this coverage, this system should help victims of hit and run accidents:

City Officials to Announce Hit-And-Run Alert System in LA

Los Angeles is the nation’s capital of hit-and-run collisions.
ByIrene Moore and Kim Baldonado
City leaders announced new details on an alert system for hit-and-runs. When there is a hit-and-run with a serious injury and good descriptions of the driver or car, that information will be sent out to the public in the area. Kim Baldonado reports for the NBC4 News at Noon on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2015. (Published Tuesday, Feb 10, 2015)
Updated at 5:39 AM PST on Wednesday, Feb 11, 2015
In an effort to reduce the staggering number of hit-and-runs in Los Angeles, city officials joined forces Tuesday with the Los Angeles Police Department and the Department of Transportation to announce a city-wide alert system.
“The city of Los Angeles unfortunately has become known as the hit and run capital of the US,” said Damian Kevitt, who lost a leg when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver two years ago.

“When I was hit on the freeway on the streets of Griffith Park and dragged nearly a quarter of a mile underneath the car, I didn’t know my life would change so drastically,” Kevitt said. “All I knew was I wanted to live.”
Councilmen Joe Busciano and Mitchell Englander hope to reduce the epidemic of hit-and-runs in LA with the implementation of a mass notification system that would use social media accounts, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and Nixle to alert residents.
LA to Unveil Citywide Hit-and-Run Alerts[LA] LA to Unveil Citywide Hit-and-Run Alerts
The system is designed to provide notifications of fatal hit-and-run crashes, problem the city calls an “epidemic.” Vanessa Ruiz reports for Today in LA on Tuesday Feb. 10, 2015. (Published Tuesday, Feb 10, 2015)
“If we have year, make, model, description of damage to vehicle, the driver perhaps,” Englander said. “If we have that information, then it will go out geographically by division.”
Englander said they have reached out not only to Google and Waze, but also to any company with a dispatch system, including Uber, sanitation services, bus drivers, and metro and taxi drivers.
LA, California Leaders to Crack Down on Hit-and-Runs
Nearly 21,000 hit-and-runs resulted in 27 deaths and 144 severe injuries in LA during 2014, according to LAPD records. With nearly 50 percent of crashes classified as hit-and-runs in the city, LA soars over the national average of 11 percent.
There’s also an effort to create an alert system statewide, called a Yellow Alert. It would work like the current Amber Alert system, using electronic billboards and text messages to alert the public to hit-and-run drivers.
It’s modeled after a program in Colorado called the Medina alert, which has been successful — 76 percent of the hit-and-runs that were displayed on the billboards were solved.
“Anything to catch these criminals that are leaving people on the side of the road, that is what we are going to do,” said Stephanie Saporito, a spokeswoman for Englander.
Additionally, Busciano and Englander will also ask the City Attorney to draft an ordinance that would offer a standing reward for the apprehension and conviction of hit-and-run drivers.
Published at 9:12 AM PST on Feb 10, 2015
Source: http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/hit-and-run-bill-alert-system-Los-Angeles-reward-ordinance-291405541.html