Category: Car Accidents

A bus carrying a high school lacrosse team rolled over on its way to a game. The extent and number of injuries are unknown at this time. The bus rolled over in the Middletown area between exits 9 and 10 on Route 9 around 2:50 p.m., officials said. Injuries have been reported. The injured have been taken to local hospitals. The cause of crash is under investigation.

If you ride a motorcycle, always wear a helmet. Helmets are your best defense against serious and fatal brain injuries. The following tips, offered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration may also reduce your chance of injury:

• In addition to your helmet, wear eye and face protection. Many helmets have built-in visors or other face guards. Wear long pants, gloves, boots, and a durable long-sleeved jacket.
• Get licensed. All states require a motorcycle license.
• Never drink alcohol before operating a motorcycle.
• Follow all the rules of the road. Don’t speed 40 percent of motorcyclists who died in crashes were speeding.
• Watch for hazards on the road, such as large cracks, holes, and bumps. Keep an eye out for vehicles coming from driveways and side streets.
• Make sure your headlight is on every time you ride.
• Don’t let anyone ride with you until you are skilled at riding in all kinds of conditions.
• If you’re a new rider, take a motorcycle riders’ course.

When passengers ride with you, they must wear a helmet and protective gear. The tips that follow, gathered from several states’ motorcycle operator’s manuals, may increase the safety of your passengers:

• Insist that passengers sit behind you on the motorcycle.
• Make sure passengers’ feet can reach the footrests. Insist that they keep their feet on the footrests at all times, even when you stop.
• Don’t let passengers get on the motorcycle until after you start it.
• Tell your passengers to lean with you when you turn.
• Insist that passengers hold on to your waist all the time.
• Instruct passengers to keep their legs away from the muffler to avoid burns.
• Ask that passengers limit their movement and talking.

A teacher’s Jeep slammed into a school bus in Middletown this morning, sending several students to the hospital. A Jeep driven by a Morris Elementary School teacher collided with the school bus shortly after 8 this morning on Middletown’s Kaplan Drive.
Middletown police tell News Channel 8 that icy roads played a part in the crash.
As many as 14 people with minor injuries are being checked out at the hospital as a precaution. Most of them are middle school students
This is accident is another reminder of two things: 1) precaution must be taken when dirving in winter conditions even where the roads have been plowed, icy conditions especially black ice can still exist; and 2) school buses still are not required to have seat belts for the students riding on the bus. This needs to be changed to prevent injuries and/or the lessening of the extent of the injuries. Why are seat belts not required on school buses? Read this article for insight on the reasons. http://www.ncsbs.org/testimonies/seat_belt_background.htm

A 29-year-old New Haven man has been charged by warrant with manslaughter and drunken driving in connection with a wrong-way, head-on crash on I-91 Feb. 5 that left a West Haven man dead.
Israel Quintero, of 981 Ella Grasso Boulevard in New Haven was taken by state police upon his release from Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven Monday to Superior Court here where he was arraigned on numerous charges stemming from the crash. In addition to manslaughter and drunken driving, Quintero is charged with misconduct with a motor vehicle, driving the wrong way on a divided highway, illegal possession and use of a marker plate, operating an unregistered motor vehicle, and operating without a license or insurance.

This is yet another case where somone with reckless disregard for the safety of others gets into a car drunk and drives away leaving a trial of death and misery. Drunk diriving continues to cause countless injuries and death on our Connecticut roads and highways. In case where a person has been killed or injured due to a drunk driver it is vital for the injured person to contact a Connecticut personal injury?lawyer immediately. Why? because if the drunk driver became intoxicated at an establishment serving alcohol you have the right to bring a Dram Shop claim against the bar, club, restaurant, etc. However, notice of the intention of filing a Dram Shop claim has to made on the establishment within?120 days from the date of injury or death. If notice is not made within?120 days, the injured victim is prohibited from bringing such a claim. In many instances, the Dram Shop claim provides the most compensation to the injured victim due to adequate insurance coverage. In many cases, the drunk driver has little to no insurance and little to no assets to satsify a legal judgment.