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A 28-year-old man who drove his 2012 Mercedes-Benz the wrong way in the eastbound lane of the Gerald Desmond Bridge in Long Beach remained in critical condition on Aug. 1. Authorities have not been able to determine why he was driving erratically. Earlier in the day, police had spotted the Mercedes crashing into event barricades…

California dog bite victims who believe that they are not entitled to punitive damages may find interest in a 2015 Pennsylvania court ruling. The case involved a dog with multiple incidents of alleged past aggression, including an incident in which the owners admitted to failing to restrain the dog after the animal had bitten a…

California is one of the few states to enact safety measures to protect passengers traveling in limousines. After a limo fire killed five women in 2013, California regulators took action by requiring limo companies to install emergency exits and provide safety briefings to their passengers. Now, a deadly limo accident in New York is raising…

California residents may be surprised to learn that 60 percent of the infectious diseases that affect humans originated in animals. Three quarters of all emerging infectious diseases are also zoonotic. Most people are aware of the dangers of zoonotic conditions such as rabies, but there are a number of other conditions that can be contracted…

Semi-trucks hauling containers of gasoline, flammable gas or crude oil are not an uncommon sight on California’s highways, and they are generally given a wide berth by passenger vehicle drivers. While the vast majority of these commercial vehicles arrive safely at their destinations, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration reports that over 1,300 such vehicles…

On July 10, a California man was sentenced to 18 years in prison for a deadly drunk driving crash early last year. The 26-year-old was convicted of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and DUI in June. According to authorities, the defendant’s blood alcohol content was between .10 and .18 percent when he lost control of…

Every day, a person in California or another state dies every 51 minutes because of an alcohol-impaired driver. This means that about 30 people die every day in this country in perfectly preventable accidents. In 2013, about one-third of traffic-related deaths were due to impaired driving with many of these deaths being of children age…

California parents of teenage children may be alarmed to learn that while drivers under age 21 account for roughly 10 percent of licensed drivers, they account for significantly more fatal alcohol-related accidents. Approximately 17 percent of alcohol-related accidents that result in a fatality are attributed to drivers in this age range. Teenage drivers are also…

If you’re like most motorcyclists, you’ve probably been told to take special care at intersections, because drivers often don’t notice motorcycles when they make turns. Another hazard is following or being followed by passenger vehicles, because drivers often don’t understand how quickly bikes can stop — or they themselves stop on a dime without any…

In our post last week, we began a discussion about safety features in automobiles. Specifically, the safety features we tend to take for granted (like seat belts and air bags) were once optional add-ons for which car buyers paid a premium. Through common-sense regulatory efforts, however, truly crucial safety features have become standard in all…