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Road rage has become a phenomenon in the United States in recent years. Road rage can be as simple as an angry shout to a passing vehicle or as serious as someone tailgating or hitting another vehicle on purpose. A road rage accident can cause minor injuries, permanent disabilities, and death. If you have been injured in a road rage accident, you may be wondering if you can file a lawsuit for injuries sustained in a road rage accident.

Criminal Activity

A person who acts in a vicious manner when in a rage and follows up with certain acts is behaving in an intentional manner, which can be seen as a crime. For example, if a driver intentionally rams into your vehicle, that action can be classified as assault and battery. If a driver runs you off the road and then exits the vehicle to hit you, that person could be facing an assault and battery charge. There are several criminal offenses that could result from a road rage accident, including vehicular manslaughter, murder, reckless driving, and hit-and-run. The specific criminal charge depends on the facts of the case.

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Beautiful fall weather abound. It’s the perfect time of year for a bike ride in New England. Whether enjoying a leisurely bike ride with the kids or cycling competitively, the cooler temperatures are perfect. Riding a bike is a fun activity to do with friends or alone, not to mention the health benefits. Most times it is very safe as well. However, it can never hurt to be reminded to take extra precautions whether you are the one cycling or driving your vehicle near a bicyclist to prevent a bicycle accident. In Rhode Island & Massachusetts  people on bikes are required to follow the same traffic rules and regulations as other drivers. Simply put- drive your bike as you would any vehicle.

5 Safety Tips for Bicyclists to prevent a bicycle accident:

  • Ride on the right hand side of the road & with the traffic.

According to Coventry Police, a Cranston, Rhode Island woman is facing multiple charges.  The woman has been charged with texting while operating a motor vehicle in Rhode Island. She traveled over the posted speed limit and went off the road trying  to catch a Pokemon. Providence Journal Article August 31st 2016

Safety Tips for Playing Pokeman

Luckily, she was not injured.  Playing Pokeman caused a car accident in Rhode Island. The police have issued basic safety tips for people who play this popular cell phone based game. The first tip? “Do not ‘Pokemon Go’ and drive”.  We all know already not to text and drive.  Many car accidents occur when drivers text behind the wheel.  I have almost been hit by one of these distracted drivers.  If you have been in a car accident with a distracted driver in Rhode Island or Massachusetts here are some steps to take.  Steps to Take If You Spot a Distracted Driver in Rhode Island If you have been injured in a car accident with a distracted driver in Rhode Island or Massachusetts you need an accident lawyer.   David Tapalian is an experienced car accident lawyer serving Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

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According to The Providence Journal, a 30-year-old Cumberland woman walking to work on August 24 died after being struck by a Peter Pan bus. The bus struck Michelle Cagnon as she crossed East Approach in front of the Alex and Ani City Center ice skating rink. It appears that the Peter Pan bus was turning left onto East Approach from Washington Street when it struck Cagnon while she was in the crosswalk. This tragic accident is the fifth bus accident in Providence this year.

Pedestrian Deaths on the Rise

During 2013, 4,735 pedestrians were killed and 66,000 pedestrians were injured in pedestrian accidents throughout the United States. This equates to approximately one pedestrian death every two hours and one pedestrian injury every eight minutes. While this number represented a slight decrease in pedestrian deaths from 2012 to 2013 (a two percent decrease), a new study paints a much darker picture.

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A 17-year-old boy was recently killed on Block Island in a DUI accident when his 20-year-old uncle rolled a vehicle on Lakeside Drive. The driver had been drinking and his license had been suspended on a previous charge. He is now facing jail time, if convicted, and grieving the loss of a family member, which may be his fault.

Two lives and the lives of their family members were impacted by the influence of alcohol; one life forever changed in a way that will haunt him no matter what happens. If you are the parent of a teenager and you have not had a serious conversation about alcohol with your child, this tragic story should urge you to have a serious conversation with your teenager. While underage drinking may be a difficult topic, it is a topic that should not be avoided.

Get Your Teen Involved

AAA is reminding drivers that school is open so drive carefully. Each fall, thousands of children return to school. This results in increased traffic and additional responsibility for drivers. Drivers must take extra precautions when driving in school zones and other areas where children are present (i.e. playgrounds and neighborhoods). According to Safe Kids Worldwide, 444 children under the age of 19 years died in pedestrian accidents involving a vehicle in 2013. During 2012, roughly 19,100 children were injured in pedestrian accidents involving vehicles.

Even though there has been a decline in pedestrian deaths for children over the past decade, even one life lost is one child too many.

Drivers must accept the responsibility of keeping children safe because most children do not have the maturity level to understand the risks and dangers associated with traffic accidents. The American Academy of Pediatrics cautions parents about allowing their children to be unsupervised pedestrians, especially under the age of 10 years. A child lacks the maturity to understand the risks and dangers associated with crossing the street. Therefore, a child is incapable of making safe decisions as a pedestrian.

Two different car accidents encouraged police to shut down I-195 East near exit 7 and 8 early last Friday morning. The first accident happened just after 1 o’ clock in the morning. Police would not provide any details about that accident, although a woman was taken away from the scene in handcuffs. Another crash occurred shortly after and this crash appeared to have an involved an East Providence police cruiser.

At this time, police are not releasing any information about either of the crashes and focused on opening the lanes as soon as possible after these accidents happened. These incidents illustrate just how dangerous it can be to have one car accident, particularly at night. This is because it is difficult for oncoming drivers to see that another vehicle has broken down or then an accident has already happened, making it more likely that a multi-car pile-up can occur.

Multiple car crashes can cause devastating injuries for all passengers involved. It can also lead to lane closures like those that happened in East Providence and multiple personal injury claims. If you are involved in an accident in Providence or in any other location in Rhode Island, one of the first things you should do is contact authorities and make sure that you have alerted other drivers to the situation.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving partnered together with Uber in a recent research study in order to examine the implications of the surge and popularity for ride sharing services. Ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft have heavily promoted their benefit of allowing individuals to contact someone to provide a ride when they are under the influence. Uber has experienced a surge in popularity since the service first became available. Since then, it has expanded into numerous cities and made it easier than ever to call someone to pick you up, whether you’ve been drinking or whether you just need a lift home.

This keeps individuals from getting behind the wheel of their own car and potentially injuring others. Uber recently released data on their impact in Atlanta as it relates to drunk driving. Since their introduction in the Atlanta area in 2012, Uber has experienced consistent growth and has around 583,000 active riders and more than 19,000 active drivers.

The Atlanta Police Department examined DUI arrests data to determine how beneficial or disadvantageous the ride-sharing service was for DUI arrests in drunk driving accidents. They looked at data over a five-year span, three years before the introduction of Uber and two years after Uber in Atlanta.

Early in July, a 19-year-old woman from Johnston sustained minor injuries when she slammed her car into a house in the Cranston area. After the accident happened, the city building inspector was dispatched to the scene and determined that the house and surrounding area were unsafe. The building inspector then ordered that the occupants vacate the premises, although none of them had been injured in the accident.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation but this is one example of how a one vehicle accident can render serious personal injuries to those inside a home. If a driver is not paying attention or is operating his or her vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs, he or she may slam into pedestrians, bicyclists, or property with people inside. Individuals inside the home will have no way to protect themselves against an incoming car and may sustain severe injuries that alter the course of their life forever. You might be curious about what rights you have when someone loses control of their vehicle and runs into a piece of property. Cars traveling at high speed can do a lot of damage in just a few seconds.

If you have been injured in an accident where you’ve been inside a facility when a vehicle slammed into that building, you may have cause to file a Rhode Island personal injury lawsuit. Property and injury damages may both be an issue in a lawsuit where a residential or business building is struck by a vehicle.

Although it’s clear that distracted driving has many different negative implications for other individuals on the road as well as bicyclists and pedestrians, it’s still a behavior that’s relatively persistent. According to the Governor’s Highway Safety Association, texting, and other electronic phone usage can contribute to up to one-quarter of all car crashes. This means that almost 5,500 car related deaths can be attributed directly to distracted driving, as shared by a 2009 study from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Those individuals who choose to text and drive behind the wheel of a car are 23 times more likely to be involved in a car accident. If you spot a driver engaging in texting and driving, it’s in your best interests to avoid interactions with this driver and report it to the police. Using your smartphone and texting is a form of distracted driving. Many of the warning signs of someone texting and driving behind the wheel are the same as those for a fatigued or drunken driver. Those warning signs include:

  • Drivers weaving through traffic
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