A 67-year-old Muskogee man has died in a motorcycle accident on a rural McIntosh County highway.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says David Gray died about 9:45 a.m. Thursday when he slumped down and his motorcycle ran off the road and struck a guardrail on State Highway 9.

The accident happened about 10 miles west of Eufaula near the tiny community of Raiford.

Gray died at the scene.

Source: kten.com

Source: jaspernewsboy.com

A single-vehicle accident took the life of a popular West Sabine High School athlete Tuesday, Aug. 19.

Emily Conner, 16, of Bronson, was declared dead at the scene of the rollover accident on State Highway 184 in Sabine County.

“Everybody is pretty well torn up about it, including faculty and staff. Everybody knows everybody here,” said West Sabine Athletic Director T.D. Stark. “This just reminds us how precious life is and how short it is and how we are so blessed to be alive and in God’s hands.”

Conner was a junior on the cross country, basketball and softball teams at West Sabine High School.

“She was a good girl who was very well liked,” Stark said. “She was one of our athletes, one of our students. She was fun to coach and real outgoing, just a great personality.”

According to Department of Public Safety accident report, the accident occurred at 9:56 a.m. just west of Hemphill on State Highway 184.

Conner was eastbound on Hwy. 184, crossed over to the westbound lane of traffic and left the roadway and struck a culvert.

According to the accident report, the vehicle rolled over several times before coming to a rest in a ditch. Conner was ejected from the vehicle.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says alcohol was a factor in a single-vehicle crash that killed four people in Sequoyah County.

Troopers say 35-year-old Jerry Walker of Roland, 20-year-old Shawna McCoy and 26-year-old Manuel Smith of Muldrow and 22-year-old Earl Walker of Oklahoma City died in the crash.

Investigators say the four were in a sport utility vehicle driven by Walker when it went off a county road west of Roland about 1:45 Tuesday morning and slammed into a tree.

Troopers say Walker apparently was driving under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident.

If you are hurt in an auto accident in Texas, contact The Law Office of Stephen Johnson.

Lufkin Police say an elderly woman died Tuesday morning following an accident at the intersection of Atkinson and Myrtie St.

According to police, a Dodge Neon driven by  Patricial Collier was turning left onto Atkinson from Myrtie when she failed to yield the right of way to a pickup that was heading east on Atkinson.  The pickup was driven by Ronald Hunter of Frankston.

A passenger in the Neon, 86 year old Sennie Collier, died as a result of injuries recieved in the collision.

The pickup apparently struck the car on the driver’s side rear door.

Source: KTRE.com

If you are in a motor vehicle accident that appears to have injured or killed someone, Texas law requires that you stop and remain at the scene until you have done several things:

* Given your name, address, the registration number of the vehicle you are driving, and the name of your motor vehicle liability insurer to anyone else involved in the accident.

* Shown your driver’s license if you are requested to do so. 

* Provided assistance to anyone who appears to have been hurt in the accident, including either taking them to receive medical treatment, or making arrangements for transporting them to a doctor or hospital (for example, by calling 911).

The failure to do these things is actually considered a criminal offense under Texas law.

If you are in this type of accident, you also must report the accident to the local police department or sheriff’s office and, if a law enforcement officer does not investigate the accident, the law requires that you make a written report of the accident, no later than ten days after the accident.

On the other hand, if you are in a motor vehicle accident that has not resulted in injuries, but only appears to have damaged one or both of the vehicles involved, Texas law requires first, if the accident has occurred on a main lane, ramp, shoulder, median, or adjacent area of a freeway in a metropolitan area, that you move your vehicle as soon as possible to a location on the frontage road, the nearest suitable cross street, or other suitable location so as to minimize interference with freeway traffic (that is, if your vehicle can be normally and safely driven). The law then requires that you stop and remain at the scene until you have done these things:

* Given your name, address, the registration number of the vehicle you are driving, and the name of your motor vehicle liability insurer to anyone else involved in the accident.

* Shown your driver’s license if you are requested to do so. 

Again, the failure to do these things is considered a criminal offense under Texas law.

If the vehicle was damaged to the extent that it can’t be safely driven, you must also report the accident to the local police department or sheriff’s office. If a law enforcement officer does not investigate the accident, and if the accident resulted in damage to the property of any one person to an apparent extent of $1,000 or more, the law requires that you make a written report of the accident, no later than ten days after the accident.

 If you hit a parked car or any vehicle that is not occupied at the time you hit it, you have to stop and either locate the driver or owner of the vehicle, or leave a note for that person, in a conspicuous place stating your name and address, and describing what happened in the collision.

If you are injured in a car accident, click here to contact an experienced attorney in Texas.

Bastrop County officials continued to investigate a fatal car accident just west of the Colorado River bridge on State Highway 71. The wreck happened at 11:10 a.m. on Tuesday and backed up traffic for hours in both directions.

Currently, Bastrop police report that a mid-size Chevrolet sedan was traveling east on State Highway 71, lost control, crossed the media and drifted into the westbound lanes of the highway.

Witnesses claim the sedan hydroplaned on the wet road before skidding into the opposite lanes of State Highway 71.

The back, right side of the sedan was hit by the left front part of a tractor-trailer traveling westbound.

The driver of the sedan died at the scene, and the truck driver had minor injuries. No passengers were in either vehicle.

The identity of the victim is Christian M. Scrogum, 21, of Bastrop. He died on impact.

Though officials will not speculate on whether speed played a part in this deadly crash, they said they recommend drivers slow down and stay alert on rain-slick areas of streets.

Two people are in the hospital after a truck slams into their car on Highway 80 in Midland.

The wreck happened Tuesday afternoon in the 7700 block of west Highway 80, near the airport.

According to troopers, a pick-up was going east on the service road when it turned left and slammed into an oncoming car.

The two people in the car were taken to Midland Memorial with serious injuries.

The driver of the truck didn’t have to go to the hospital, but he got a ticket for failure to yield the right of way.

A 19 year old man accused of racing on a highway and causing the death of his 15 year old passenger faces new charges.  Jose Juan Rodriguez is charged with racing on the highway, causing death. Now, Rodriguez faces four counts of injury to a child for the other passengers in the pick-up. The accident happened early Saturday morning on FM 812 just east of highway 183.

Investigators say Rodriguez was racing another vehicle when he swerved into oncoming traffic and ended up in a ditch. According to police reports, the teens were leaving Club Imperial. A witness told officers she saw a Ford Explorer pick-up and Red Honda car race out of the parking lot onto FM 812 and that they were swerving at each other. Then the pickup suddenly spun out of control, crossed the road and rolled over into the ditch. All six passengers, between the ages of 11 and 16, were not wearing seatbelts.

Brenda Salazar, 15, was killed in the crash.

Another 13 year old passenger, who was riding in the bed of the pick up underwent surgery on Saturday and was last reported in stable condition.

Frank Selvera lives just down the road from Club Imperial.

“I feel bad. It’s bad, but it shouldn’t have happened,” said Selvera. “The driver should have been paying attention to who he had in the car.”

Club Imperial owners told KXAN that the club gets packed on Friday nights when they allow teens to come in with their families, but that some of the teens get out of control once they leave the club.

DPS officials say at this point it doesn’t appear alcohol was a factor in the accident, but it’s still under investigation.

Rodriguez is in jail on a one million dollar bond.

If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

If you are injured in an automobile accident you need an experienced attorney.

An accident involving two tour buses Friday morning in northwest New Jersey has sent two dozen people to hospitals.

State Police say the crash happened on Interstate 80 in the westbound lanes in Roxbury Township about 40 miles west of the George Washington bridge.

State police say one bus slid off the overpass and overturned.

At least 94 people were on the two buses.

A total of 24 people were transported to local hospitals, but police say as many as half of them were taken as a precaution.

Police say the most seriously hurt victim appeared to have a moderate back injury.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

Television reports showed traffic backed up about a mile in the westbound lanes.

See also: Safety Concerns Involving Buses Exposed

How to hire a personal injury attorney.

Source: Mineralwellsindex.con

Palo Pinto, Texas resident Debbie Huddleston said she had a perfect driving record for more than 30 years.  She received no tickets, no violations, and no collisions.  That was until she was involved in a two-car crash in Mineral Wells, Texas last month with an uninsured motorist.

“I was in the center lane [traveling eastbound in the 500 block of S.E. 1st Street],” Huddleston recalled, when a pickup turned into her on July 28. “I saw her coming and honked. I sped up [to avoid collision] but not enough.”

The Chevy Silverado, driven by a 60-year-old Mineral Wells woman, turned to the right and struck Huddleston’s driver’s side door. The damage to her car “wasn’t that bad,” according to Huddleston but required repair. She dropped the vehicle off on Aug. 4 and got it back Wednesday.

Fortunately for Huddleston, her insurance took care of the necessary repairs but left her with some out-of-pocket expenses.

“I had to go rent a car out of my pocket,” she said which, combined with her deductible, totaled $500. “That would’ve made an extra car payment or another payment on something.”

Mineral Wells resident David Tolbert also has a similar situation after his granddaughter was struck by an uninsured motorist on July 25. Tolbert said he’s trying to get the other driver to pay for the damages to his Kia Sedona.

“I was so upset about that,” Tolbert told the Index. “My granddaughter was driving and he lied and said he did have insurance.”

When Mineral Wells police arrived at the scene, they learned that the other motorist didn’t have any insurance coverage.

Tolbert said the repairs to the sliding door on his van could be as high as $3,000. If he can’t get the other driver to pay for the damage, he said, “It’ll come out of my pocket. I don’t like having to pay it. He’s the one that caused the accident.”

For his granddaughter, Tolbert said, “It was her first accident. It shook her up. She was just going down the road and he decided to turn. He just came right on over.”

According to the accident report filed by the Mineral Wells Police Department, the two vehicles were traveling westbound in the 300 block of West Hubbard Street with Tolbert’s Kia in the far south lane of the road when the collision occurred. The other driver, a 32-year-old roofer from Fort Worth, attempted to turn into the same lane and struck the Kia’s back door.

“She saw the vehicle but apparently he wasn’t paying attention. There wasn’t anywhere for her to go,” Tolbert said.

The prevalence of uninsured motorists on the streets might be higher than expected. In July, there were six collisions involving uninsured motorists – five of which were initiated by the uninsured driver – in Mineral Wells alone.

Mineral Wells Police Chief Mike McAllester estimated that close to one-third of collisions involve an uninsured motorist.

Figures for local law enforcement agencies reveal hundreds of citations were issued this year to motorists without insurance.

According to the Mineral Wells Police Department, the officers issued 1,034 citations for no insurance from Jan. 1 through the end of July. Every month showed more than 100 citations per month, with May the busiest month so far with 231 no insurance citations issued – or another way to look at it is an average of seven citations per day in May.

Local Texas Department of Public Safety officials reported issuing 469 citations from January through June. Like MWPD, May was their busiest month thus far with 110 citations written.

McAllester said, “We don’t arrest all persons for no insurance – their card may be expired or not in the vehicle. [But] if they say ‘I don’t have insurance,’ they are arrested.”

According to DPS Sgt. Jason Dudley, “if a violator doesn’t have proof of financial responsibility – expired or not present at all – at the time of the traffic stop, a citation is issued. If the defendant did in fact have insurance or financial responsibility at the time of the alleged offense and provides proof to the court, the citation is dismissed.”

Motorists are required by state law to carry insurance on their vehicles with required minimum coverage of $25,000 per injured person, up to a total of $50,000 for everyone injured, and $25,000 for property damage. This was increased from $20,000/$40,000/$15,000 in April following the passage of a Senate bill in September, the first increase in minimum insurance coverage in Texas in 22 years.

Not having insurance can become expensive in more ways than one.

According to the Mineral Wells court clerk, a citation for no insurance is $312 for the first occurrence. Each subsequent citation for the same charge increases the fee by $50. In addition to the citation fee, the Texas Department of Insurance stated in a June press release drivers could also face “possibly hundreds of dollars more in court costs and additional fees. Repeat offenders also are subject to a two-year driver’s license suspension.”

The driver who struck Huddleston was issued two citations – one for unsafe lane change and the other for failure to show proof of insurance.

“I think there should be more penalties [for no insurance]. You have to have it,” Huddleston remarked. “The same laws apply to everyone. … You may have to do without to get [insurance] to drive.”

Tolbert said the laws are good but enforcement is lacking.

“I figure the fine’s high enough,” he remarked. “The laws we’ve got are fine but we need to do something to enforce it better.”

As a retired law enforcement officer, Tolbert recalled, “I’ve worked a lot of accidents in San Antonio. We ran into that all the time. It’s very frustrating.”

In an effort to crack down on uninsured drivers, state officials unveiled in June a new program called TexasSure to identify uninsured vehicles. According to a press release issued by the Texas Department of Insurance at the time of the program’s announcement, they estimated there were approximately 4 million uninsured vehicles in the state.

While officials stated the new database verification program will be implemented statewide later this year, they field tested the program in the Austin area. During the 60-day testing period that is expected to end soon, law enforcement focused on Travis County. Of the 5,012 drivers stopped since June 2, 25.5 percent were without auto insurance.

According to the TexasSure Web site, “it is expected to help stop the actions some motorists take in avoiding the law, such as using counterfeit proof of insurance cards or obtaining insurance to get a card and then promptly canceling the policy once they’ve renewed their car registration or had their vehicle inspected.”

While the program is still in the testing phase, insurance companies offer something called uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage for their clients.

“It’s very, very important to carry,” said Phil Luker, of State Farm Insurance. “It’s not only uninsured, it’s underinsured.”

He explained that when drivers carry uninsured/underinsured coverage, it helps in collisions when the other driver doesn’t have insurance or not enough.

“Say someone hurts you very, very badly. If they don’t have insurance, the uninsured/underinsured will step in and pretend it’s like the other insurance,” Luker illustrated. “If he has the state minimum of $25,000 and your medical bills are $50,000, after he exhausts his limits, your uninsured/underinsured coverage can step in and cover it.”

Even though motorists aren’t legally required to carry uninsured/underinsured coverage, insurance agents strongly recommend it.

“Uninsured/underinsured is not required by the state, only liability, but we’re trying to protect you,” said Pat Bazzel, of Farm Bureau Insurance. “If the driver has only liability and an uninsured motorist hits them, that car’s gone. If they have the uninsured coverage, we’ll fix it for them.”

Of his clientele, Luker said, “almost everybody carries it,” and if a driver doesn’t want the uninsured/underinsured, “we seriously counsel them” about it.

“That and liability are the most important coverages,” Luker added.

Bazzel remarked that they try to ensure every customer has uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage “because we see what happens here. We know that unfortunately, no matter how good a driver is, you can get hit.

“There’s been times when had it not been for uninsured/underinsured coverage, they wouldn’t have had anything left.”

In Huddleston’s case, she said her insurance took care of the repair costs, though she still had to pay her deductible and a rental car. Though Huddleston didn’t know if the July collision would financially impact her insurance costs, she noted, “It costs all of us.”

Tolbert didn’t have uninsured motorist coverage on his vehicle.

“I guess when you’ve just got liability, make sure you have uninsured [coverage], too,” he remarked. “I’m going to.”

If you were injured in an accident due to an uninsured motorist, contact The Law Office of Stephen Johnson today!