California Injury Blog

A 17-year-old high school football player, who was reportedly drinking and driving a Subaru station wagon filled with teens who had been drinking and possibly using drugs, died after he lost control of the vehicle, which rolled over. Three of his classmates were seriously injured of which one girl is said to be critically injured and fighting for her life, according to news reports in the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Daily News.

Cody James Murphy, a running back on the varsity football team who was driving the vehicle, died after the 2007 Subaru Impreza rolled over and crashed on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. Investigators reportedly found a large, empty bottle of Jagermeister on the floor of the car, a glass pipe and a pill bottle containing medical marijuana. Investigators also reported that the teens were not wearing their seatbelts.

In a horrible ironic twist, the Ventura County high school these kids were attending, was going to stage a mock car crash as part of the “Every 15 Minutes” program, designed to show children the effects of drunk driving. It’s an elaborate exercise where students first look at the horrible drunk driving crash, attend the funeral of a “dead” student and even make a trip to the morgue. But now they have a dose of harsh reality. They will attend a real funeral and visit seriously injured friends in the hospital.
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A new study released by the Auto Club has found that crashes involving teen drivers ages 15 to 17 costs $2.8 billion annually in California and more than $34 billion annually nationwide. This is money that is deemed as “cost to society” – to all of us – and includes expenses such as medical, cost of lost work, property damage, quality of life loss and other related expenses for the year 2006.

These numbers were reportedly calculated based on 66,785 crashes that occurred in 2006. That includes 177 fatalities and 27,869 personal injuries, according to the report. Auto accidents involving teen drivers cause tremendous grief and trauma for the individual families involved as they deal with the deaths or serious injuries of their loved ones. But in terms of financial costs, the effects are felt by not only the families, but employers, the government and society at large.
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Two men are listed in critical condition after they were involved in a rollover accident in Walnut where they were both ejected from the vehicle. According to an article in the Pasadena Star News, both the driver and the passenger who have not been identified, were not wearing their seatbelts.

The men were traveling at about 90 mph on Amar Road when the driver lost control of the late model Toyota Scion, officials said. The car rolled over backwards, hit the center divider and two trees before coming to rest, the newspaper reported. Both men were thrown out of the car. Both had to be airlifted to an area hospital. One man is listed as “death imminent” and another is said to be in critical condition.
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A 63-year-old Orange County man died after he was struck and killed by a car on the 105 Freeway where he had pulled over to change a tire. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, Yong Sam Kim of Brea died on the scene after the driver of a pick-up truck veered into the shoulder and rear-ended Kim’s 1996 Nissan Altima near Paramount Boulevard. Kim, who was changing the tire at the time died on impact, officials say.

Investigators are still trying to determine whether Kim was struck directly by the 20-year-old college student’s 2004 Nissan Frontier pickup truck or killed by the impact of the truck rear-ending his car. Officials are still looking into how and why the woman came off the freeway and onto the shoulder.

California Highway Patrol officers say drugs or alcohol have not played a part in this accident. The woman, who reportedly suffered moderate injuries in this accident, is not yet facing charges. But, this is clearly a case that requires more investigation. The most important question of course is how the woman lost control of her vehicle and went onto the shoulder of the freeway.
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Continued from yesterday…

Can the city of Huntington Beach be held responsible for the death and injuries suffered in last month’s two automobile accidents at the intersection of Bushard and Banning?

Under the provisions of California’s Government Code section 835, a public entity is liable for the damages of a person injured because of a condition of public property when the injured person proves that:

1. There was a dangerous condition on the public property at the time of injury;

2. The injury was proximately caused by the dangerous condition;

3. The dangerous condition created a reasonably foreseeable risk of injury of the kind that occurred; and
4. Either (a) The negligent or wrongful action or failure to act of an employee of the public entity created the dangerous condition, or (b) the public entity had actual or constructive notice of the dangerous condition a sufficient time before the injury to have taken measures to protect against the dangerous condition.

A public entity may absolve itself from liability for creating or failing to remedy a dangerous condition by showing that it would have been too costly and impractical (unreasonable) for the public entity to have done anything else but what it did or did not do. (Government Code section 835.4).
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Is this a dangerous intersection? Is Huntington Beach flirting with liability for accidents at this intersection? What can be done to prevent future accidents?

Three people were taken to the hospital after an auto accident at a seemingly dangerous Huntington Beach intersection where a similar crash had occurred March 15, killing a 14-year-old boy. In the most recent incident, two drivers and a passenger were hurt after a Ford Mustang rammed into a Toyota Camry at Bushard Street and Banning Avenue after running a stop sign, officials told The Orange County Register.

This almost seems to be a replay of the March 15 incident when an Acura loaded with teenagers ran the stop sign and crashed into another car filled with young children. Phoenix Nguyen was killed in that crash and three others were injured. Officials say the 17-year-old driver of the Mustang, who ran the stop sign, was also speeding. There are four stop signs at that intersection and the speed limit is 45 mph, but police investigating the case say the teenager was traveling at a much higher rate of speed.

The Mustang driver’s name was not released because he is a minor. The passenger of the Mustang, 56-year-old Gregory Jackson, and the Camry driver, 76-year-old Malcolm McKenzie, both suffered multiple injuries but are said to be in stable condition. The teenager only suffered minor injuries.

It’s a miracle that this accident did not have the tragic consequences the earlier accident did. We’re happy for all involved that they escaped this crash only with injuries and are expected to recover. But this accident does leave a lot of questions unanswered, the biggest of them being ‘Is this a dangerous intersection?’ If the answer to that question is yes, did the city do anything to remedy that dangerous condition?
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