The contractor in charge of a construction site in Milpitas, California that was the center of a tragic trench collapse has had his license suspended. The Contractors’ State License Board has held that US Sino Investments Inc. failed to comply with state workers’ compensation insurance laws. In 2008, the contractor had allegedly filed paperwork claiming that it did not have any employees.

Over last weekend, a 39-year-old carpenter working for US Sino Investments was killed in a trench collapse at the site when a retaining wall collapsed on him. According to reports, at the time of the accident, the carpenter was working near an unsupported 13-foot retaining wall. The wall suddenly collapsed on him, effectively burying him under a wall of dirt.

Not surprisingly to Los Angeles construction accident lawyers, rescuers rushed to the scene, but were unable to reach the worker in time. He succumbed to his injuries. Rescuers could not even reach the worker's body, because the area was deemed unstable. Retrieving the body was a challenge, and emergency personnel had to draw up a safety plan to be able to retrieve the body safely without endangering any rescue personnel.

Just a few days before this construction accident, authorities had come down on the company for failure to obtain a state permit before digging a 30-foot deep trench. Under California laws, contractors who want to dig a trench that is 5 feet or deeper, must obtain a special license.

In fact, three days before the accident, city officials had inspected the property, and had slapped the site with a stop–work notice. The contractor was ordered to immediately cease work on the site. The inspector was especially concerned because of the rainy conditions, and because the foundation did not have shoring in place to prevent a collapse. The contractor ignored the stop-work notice. Barely 3 days later, the carpenter was killed.

Every Los Angeles car accident lawyer is aware of the fact that teenage motorists who are traveling with teen passengers in their car are at a high risk of accidents. Two new studies confirm this.

The 2 separate studies which were conducted by researchers at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm Insurance finds that teenage motorists driving with teenage passengers were more likely to be distracted in the seconds before the crash, compared to teenagers driving alone.

The first study included a total of 198 teenage motorists. The researchers found that teen motorists who were more likely to drive with multiple teen passengers in the vehicle identified themselves as ‘thrill seekers.’ These motorists also perceived their own parents as being less able to set standards, or monitor their children's activities. These teenage drivers were also found to have a poor perception of driving risks in general.

In the 2nd study, researchers analyzed a nationally representative sample of about 677 motorists. These drivers had been involved in serious automobile accidents. The researchers compared the risks of driver distraction and risk-taking behaviors just before an accident.

Among the teenagers who admitted that they were distracted just before the accident, 71% of male drivers and 47% of female drivers admitted that the distractions were directly related to the actions of the passengers.

Male teenage motorists were found to be 6 times more likely to perform an illegal driving maneuver just before an accident. These drivers were also found to be twice as likely to drive aggressively just before an accident, compared to teenage male motorists driving alone. This indicates that a male teenage motorist with teenage passengers has the highest accident risks.

Almost all American motorists are unanimous in their belief that speeding, drunk driving and the use of cell phones while driving are extremely dangerous behaviors. However, that belief doesn't seem to make a difference to their driving practices. A survey of more than 3,100 people by the AAA Foundation of Traffic Safety finds a wide dichotomy in what Americans believe about traffic safety and what they actually do on the road.

• Almost all respondents believed that driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs was dangerous, but 14% admitted to driving under the influence at least once the previous year.

• 94% believed that using cell phones and text messaging while driving is dangerous, but in the past month, at least one third of them had read texts or e-mails behind the wheel, while a quarter of them had sent text messages while driving.

• At least 72% thought it was dangerous to drive more than 15 miles above the speed limit, but more than 50% had actually done so.

• Approximately 90% of the respondents found driving at excessive speeds on a residential street hazardous, but at least 25% had driven at high speeds on these roads.

• Almost everyone seemed to believe in the sanctity of red lights, and said that drivers must stop, if possible, when they see a red light. However, in practice, 37 percent admitted that they had run a red light.

• 90% of the drivers believed that drowsy driving was dangerous, and persons should not drive while sleepy. In practice, at least one third of the drivers admitted that they had dozed off at the wheel.

• Similar such difference between belief and practice was seen in the use of seatbelts. Almost all respondents said that seatbelts are important safety aids, but 25% had not used a seat belt in the past month.

When it comes to traffic safety, Los Angeles car accident lawyers would like to see more people actually practicing what they preach.

The California Office of Traffic Safety has released its annual seatbelt usage data for the state of California. While the rest of the state is buckling up like never before, the Los Angeles area seems to be lagging behind.

According to the data, overall seat belt usage rates in California are approximately 96.6%. That is a record for the Golden State, and an accomplishment that Los Angeles car accident lawyers are definitely proud of. After all, California's seatbelt usage rates are some of the highest in the country. More numbers of drivers who are buckled in safely simply mean more drivers who enjoy basic protection against severe injuries.

However, when it comes to the Los Angeles area, seatbelt usage rates decline to just about 95.6%. A 95% seatbelt usage rate may seem good enough, but the California Office of Traffic Safety doesn't think so. The agency has set a goal of requiring every person who gets into a car to buckle up. According to the agency, 100% seatbelt usage rates could result in as many as 1,000 lives being saved in accidents every year.

The need for Los Angeles motorists to wear seatbelts is even more severe now, because of the increased number of motorists on our streets. You need to buckle up every time you step into a car, but during the holiday season, when your risks of an accident are at their highest, it’s even more imperative that you and everyone else in your car wear safety restraints. It takes barely a couple of seconds to buckle up, but it could save your life. Even in moderate impact accidents, wearing a seatbelt dramatically reduces your risk of suffering serious injuries.

Most motorists in California are concerned about other motorists being distracted while driving, and specifically using cell phones while driving. According to a survey by the California Office of Traffic Safety, distracted driving is the number one traffic safety fear for most California drivers, much more than aggressive driving, speeding or drunk driving.

According to the survey, 39% of drivers cited distracted driving as a major safety problem on the roads. That was a dramatic increase from previous years. In 2010, drivers believed that speeding and aggressive driving were the biggest problems, with 22% of the drivers voicing such opinions. That was followed by using cell phones and texting while driving, and 80% of drivers were concerned about these practices. However, in 2011, the number of people who fear speeding and aggressive driving by motorists has dropped to 18%, while the number of persons who fear intoxicated drivers has dropped to 13%.

What Los Angeles car accident lawyers find really ironic is that distracted driving is the number one safety concern for teen and young drivers - a category of drivers that is at the highest risk for cell phone use while driving. Younger drivers are much more concerned about the risks of drunk driving. Older motorists, on the other hand, seem to be more concerned about cell phone use while driving.

Law enforcement in California will confirm that hand-held cell phone use in and around the state is high in spite of the ban on the use of hand-held cell phones. This is also in spite of the fact that there are a number of technological aids that are available to ensure that drivers do not have to use a handheld device while driving in order to remain in touch.

Any Los Angeles car accident lawyer would agree that one of the reasons for the reduction in car accident fatalities in California has been the advanced safety technology in so many automobiles now. General Motors is the process of developing a new auto safety device that could reduce the risk of accidents by as much as 81%, or so the company claims.

The technology was recently presented at the Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress in Orlando. The device is a portable one that helps communicate with similar devices in other cars in the vicinity. These devices can share information with each other about driver behavior and other factors, thereby alerting motorists in the neighborhood, and reducing the risk of collisions.

The device uses Dedicated Short-Range Communications technology to transfer data with other devices. The company is currently testing the technology in two forms. One is in the form of a transponder, and the other in the form of a smart phone app that can be linked to the display unit in the car.

The device warns motorists about factors that increase the risk of accidents, like slowing down of vehicles ahead. The device also warns about prevailing traffic conditions that increase the risks of an accident, like steep curves, wet and slippery roads, or even upcoming signs. The device can also direct information from the other safety systems in the vehicle, to other cars. For instance, when a driver activates the electronic stability control system, the device in his car can send that information to other motorists in the area, thereby possibly preventing a multi-vehicle accident situation.

It's not just motorists who would benefit from the technology. General Motors believes that pedestrians and bicyclists, who can download the app on their smart phones, can also prevent accidents. The data could be transmitted to motorists in the neighborhood, who could then look out for pedestrians and bicyclists based on the data that the device receives.

Intercity buses that pick up passengers from curbside are up to seven times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident. A study by the National Transportation Safety Board finds that these buses may also have more driver violations.

The National Transportation Safety Board report focused on safety of motor coach carriers that conduct trips that begin and end at a particular location other than a bus terminal. The report focused on more than 122 bus companies, and found that between January 2005 to March 2011, curbside buses were involved in 1.4 fatal accidents per 100 vehicles. That is about seven times the rate for conventional terminal-based carriers.

Curbside bus companies are also much more likely to have driver violations, including those linked to driver fatigue and fitness levels. Out-of-service rates for curbside bus carriers were 13.8 per 100 vehicles. For conventional carriers, it was just under 5 per 100 vehicles.

The National Transportation Safety Board report also focused on the increasing challenge that federal commercial carrier safety agencies face in maintaining motor coach safety. One of the challenges has been the few inspectors that federal agencies have at their disposal to conduct compliance reviews and audits of motor carriers. There are currently just over 2,300 state and federal inspectors to inspect more than 53,000 buses.

Additionally, there are increasing challenges from changing business models within the bus industry. For instance, many consumers buy their tickets online, and may not even be aware of the bus company that they are using. These online ticket brokers are not regulated by federal agencies, and therefore, are not required to furnish the names of bus companies.

Besides these challenges, there are other problems that are all too familiar to Los Angeles bus accident lawyers. These include continuing issues with bus companies that continue to operate under an assumed name and address soon after they have been shut down. Such illegal activities have been linked to a fatal accident in New York which triggered the NTSB report.

If you have been involved in a car accident in California, you can expect a call from a car insurance adjuster soon after the crash. Often, California car accident lawyers find that drivers involved in an accident unknowingly behave in a manner that affects their claim. Talking too much, admitting responsibly and signing papers in a rush - these are all common mistakes any Los Angeles car accident lawyer is familiar with.

If you speak with an insurance representative, be sure that you are not committing one of these five deadly sins:

• Giving out too much information - when you give an account of the accident to a car insurance adjuster, give only only as much information as is necessary.

• Accepting blame for the accident - this one of the most common mistakes made by persons involved in California car accidents. Do not even apologize after an accident - it could be misconstrued as admitting responsibility for the car accident.

• Assigning blame - do not start blaming the other motorist involved in the accident. Remember that there may be witnesses who could contest your account, and this can undermine your credibility and your claim.

• Relying exclusively on the car insurance adjuster to translate your policy - after an accident, go through your car insurance policy to find out exactly what it covers. Don’t rely on your insurance adjuster to translate the fine print for you.

• Accepting the first payout from an insurance company - in most cases that Los Angeles car accident attorneys come across, first offers are rarely fair to the car accident victim.

Remember that an adjuster is an employee of the insurance company, and his best interests lie in saving the insurer as much money as possible. If you have been involved in a traffic accident in Los Angeles or elsewhere, the safest action is to contact a California car accident lawyer before talking to any insurance adjuster. Your car accident attorney can speak to the insurance company on your behalf, avoiding these deadly sins completely.

For years, occupants of smaller cars involved in traffic accidents with SUVs and pickup trucks have been at a much higher risk of suffering fatal injuries. Fortunately, the situation is improving. While occupants of smaller cars are still at risk of suffering fatal injuries when they are involved in traffic accidents with SUVs, those risks have declined sharply.

According to a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, these accidents are now much less likely to result in fatal injuries to occupants of smaller cars and minivans. Sports utility vehicles were involved in accidents that resulted in car and minivan occupant deaths at a rate of 44 deaths per million registered vehicle years in 2000-2001, and those rates dropped to only 16 in 2008-2009. In fact, that rate was actually slightly lower than traffic accidents involving cars and minivans with similar vehicles.

In other words, the risk to occupants of passenger cars and minivans in accidents are not that much greater if the other car involved is an SUV and pickup truck, than if the other car involved is a car or minivan.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, one of the reasons for the reduced number of fatalities in SUV accidents is the fact that passenger cars and minivans now include greater safety features, like side airbags and stronger crash-proof structures. Los Angeles car accident lawyers believe that the bigger factor is better bumper height design between larger and smaller vehicles. These designs come as part of a collaborative effort between the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and some of the biggest automakers in the world. Better bumper height alignment has taken away much of the risk to smaller car occupants in these accidents, making these crashes more survivable.

The driver of a truck that crashed in the city of La Canada Flintridge, California, killing two people, has been sentenced to seven years in prison. In April 2009, Marcos Costa was driving a 25-ton commercial truck carrying automobiles when his truck went out of control. The brakes had failed as the truck came down through the Angeles Crest Highway and into a busy La Canada Flintridge intersection.

The out-of-control truck crashed into several cars, including one occupied by a 12-year-old girl and her father. Both of them were killed in the accident. Several other people were injured as the 18-wheeler crashed into other vehicles and came to a stop inside a building.

Earlier this month, Marcos Costa was sentenced to seven years and four months in state prison. During trial, authorities blamed the crash on Costa’s decision to use Angeles Crest Highway, a steep and winding mountain road, to get to Los Angeles, instead of using the freeway. He had been warned that the Angeles Crest Highway was too dangerous for his truck, but did not heed those warnings. As he was traveling down the highway, his brakes began to smoke, and even then, Costa did not stop. He simply poured water on the brakes, hoping to cool them down.

The role of Angeles Crest Highway, a treacherous stretch of road that has been the scene of several accidents also came out at the trial. Los Angeles truck accident lawyers have also found that this stretch of road has been the scene of several accidents. Defense lawyers for Costa also blamed the California Department of Transportation for failing to respond to safety concerns that had been raised about accidents involving commercial trucks at that intersection.