Archive for the ‘consumer safety’ Category
Tuesday, August 12th, 2008
Good article in the Houston Chronicle today about how the recent bus wreck tragedies in Texas, Nevada and Mississippi have brought bus safety to the forefront of the politicians in D.C. and Austin. Among other things, there are bills being floated that will require buses to have seatbelts for passengers. That sounds reasonable and somewhat of a no-brainer. I would also suggest that bus carriers be required to carry vast amounts of liability insurance, something on the order of $25 million or thereabouts. Because when a tragedy occurs like the one we just saw in Sherman, dozens of lives are affected and I’ll bet there will be little - if any - insurance to help compensate victims.
One striking statistic in the Chronicle article is that in the past six years, 52 people have died in passenger bus accidents in Texas. That is appalling.
As an aside, Chronicle writer Clay Robison has had some great articles in the past exposing the plights of injured consumers. Tip of the hat to Clay.
Tags: bus accidents, bus wreck, legislation
Posted in car wreck, consumer safety, personal injury, truck accident, wrecks | Comments Off
Friday, August 8th, 2008
What a terrible bus wreck early this morning in Sherman. 14 dead and at least 40 injured, according to recent reports, after the bus lost control and ran off a highway overpass. Many of the victims are described as Vietnamese Catholics from the Houston area on their way to a religious meeting in Missouri. It was reported on the radio today that the charter bus company may have been operating without a license, which it apparently lost several weeks ago. Over 20 ambulances and 18 helicopters were needed to transport victims to trauma hospitals in Dallas and elsewhere. What a tragedy.
Tags: bus accidents, bus wreck, Sherman
Posted in Trucking Accidents, consumer safety, truck accident, wrecks | Comments Off
Tuesday, December 4th, 2007
Good article about the dangers of amusement park rides.
Hey, I’m not opposed to the well-run outfits, but even the most-professionally run parks have had some problems. What really scares me to death are the traveling carnivals that set up in mall parking lots, at county fairs, and such. I worked on a case years ago involving a machine called the “Gravitron” at a state fair. It broke apart and spun kids all over the midway. Seems the carny who assembled the ride had not followed the set-up procedure in the instruction manual…then we learned during his deposition that the carny could not read.
Why such little safety oversight by the government? Follow the money (see the industry’s lobbying efforts described on page 3 of the article).
If you’re interested,
this consumer safety organization deserves a look.
Tags: consumer safety
Posted in consumer safety | Comments Off
Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006
Caps on damages, legislative protection, shifting responsibility, immunity from lawsuits…the list just goes on. Here in Texas, it’s a bad time to be an injured consumer looking for relief through the civil justice system. Criticizing the effects of “tort reform” legislation passed by the Texas Legislature in 2003, a recent editorial in the Houston Chronicle summed up the problem well:
“If Texas was once a playground for litigious plaintiff’s attorneys, the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of their corporate counterparts. Instead, citizens are now being shut out of the civil court system by laws that effectively immunize special interests from responsibility for the consequences of their actions and products.”
Equally as bad, where the Legislature didn’t stick it to injured consumers, the Texas Supreme Court usually does. A recent study released by the pro-consumer group Texas Watch gave failing grades to all nine justices on the state’s high court when it comes to consumer cases. In the court’s latest term, it ruled against consumers 84% of the time.
Tags: consumer safety, consumers, lawyers, texas
Posted in consumer safety | Comments Off
