Protecting Yourself From Uninsured Drivers

The McAllen Monitor has an article today about a new program to try to catch uninsured drivers. According to the article, 20% of Texas drivers do not carry liability insurance. My experience leads me to believe that the number is much higher in the Valley. In fact, the article showed that DPS had issued over 10,000 citations for no insurance last year in the Valley!

So what happens when an uninsured driver smashes into you? Well, that driver will get a ticket, but you will be left with a damaged vehicle, and often with large medical bills. While the driver is technically responsible for the damages he or she caused, the reality is that people who cannot afford liability insurance rarely have enough money to pay for the harm they cause.

You can protect yourself from irresponsible, uninsured drivers, but you have to do it before you get in a wreck. Buy Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist insurance, which is one of the best insurance products out there. It provides coverage in cases where the other driver has no insurance, and also in wrecks where the other driver's insurance is not enough to cover all of your damages. Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage is suprisingly affordable, and if you are even in a wreck it may be the difference between getting compensated or having to file bankruptcy because you can't pay a massive hospital bill.

Trucking Companies Still Breaking Safety Rules

In early June, the Texas Department of Public Safety conducted its Roadcheck 2009 campaign. The DPS inspected 7,316 18 wheelers. Out of those, 1,636 of the vehicles and 202 of the drivers had safety violations so serious that the troopers took the trucks off the road. The drivers had violations ranging from driving too many hours without sleeping to having suspended driver’s licenses to being under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Many of the trucks that had problems with their brakes.

What makes these statistics even more frightening is that the DPS had announced months in advance that it was going to be inspected vehicles on June 2-4. That means that even though the trucking industry knew that its vehicles and drivers would be inspected, there were still over 1,600 trucks and 200 drivers who had safety violations so serious that the troopers took them off the highway.

At The Cowen Law Group, we handle a lot of cases involving 18-wheeler accidents. We have found that the majority of these crashes result from trucking companies choosing to ignore simple safety rules. Obviously, the threat of getting tickets from the DPS is not enough to get some trucking companies to be safe. We believe that by thoroughly investigating truck wrecks and making the bad companies pay for the harm they cause, we will force them to either take safety seriously or to find another line of work so that the good trucking companies which care about safety can get more work.

Helping Parents Keep Their Kids Safe

It is hard for parents to get the information they need on car seat safety. I thought I was knowledgeable on safety issues. I did a ton of research. When my son outgrew his car seat, I bought the best booster I could find (the Britax Frontier) and did my best to install it according to the directions. However, I recently learned that I didn't get it right.

I learned because I sent one of my employees to a training course to become a certified child passenger safety technician. When he got back, he inspected my booster and told me that it had too much slack. If properly tightened, it should not move more than one inch in any direction. So even though I had done my homework and spend good money to buy the best protection around, my son was still not fully protected because I did not know how to install it properly.

I did some research, and learned that at least 80% of the child seats in the US are improperly installed. That means that of the parents that are actually making the effort to protect their kids, only 2 out of 10 are getting the protection they deserve. In the long run, manufacturers need to figure out a way to make child seats easier to install, or to give us better instructions. In the meantime, I've decided to do my little bit to help.

The Cowen Law Group will provide free child restraint inspections to any parent who wants one. If any parent wants our certified child passenger safety technician to inspect their car seat, all they have to do is call our office at (956) 541-4981 and make an appointment. If the child seat is improperly installed, we will reinstall it at no charge. If the child seat is not the right kind of seat for the child, we will educate the parent about what seat is needed and, if the parent does not have the financial resources to purchase a new seat, we will provide information regarding programs that assist parents in getting child restraints.