Effective January 1, 2010 Oregon drivers are prohibited from driving and using a cell unless you use a “hands free” accessory as defined under the new driving law. Having handled lots of cases involving cell phone use it stands to reason that if the at fault driver is found to be using a cell phone without the accessory then not only would they receive a criminal driving infraction but the claim for statutory negligence in a civil context will certainly affect the money you can expect to receive on your Oregon injury claim. If you want more info on cell phone laws go to www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/cellphonelaws.html.

Oregon’s 2008 anti teen texting law

Texting and driving certainly don’t mix like a good mixer and I recently saw a report that the 2008 teen cell phone law which prohibits texting while driving has resulted in only two criminal infractions issued through the entire state. While laws without the beef to back them up end of being derided the effect on your civil automobile injury claim in the state of Oregon could end up getting you more money provided there is real proof that the at fault driver was texting and driving. Getting injured is certainly no fun and getting a serious injury from a texting teen at fault driver is an outrage for which more money should flow to you.

I just came across a recent survey which shows that texting while driving increases the chances of being involved in a car accident by 23 times. It seems that new technology only complicates things including the risk of getting injured in a car accident.

Texting is the next thing, which as supported by the survey, may entail increased crashes as reported annually by the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Certainly a crash by a texting driver will look bad to a jury so any car crash clients would benefit by a lawyer who can proof an aggravated liability claim which I would argue is exacting what texting would fall under when a car crash injury scenario follows.

Warm weather in summertime in the state of Oregon and Washington unfortunately means an increase of facial dog bites to children so says Dr. Ricard Polsky PHD in his Dog Bite Behavior & the Law summer 2009 newsletter.

Having handled dog bite injury cases over the last 18 years I know he is right and such tragic cases often involve children who happened to be out playing in warm weather where unsafe owners often let their dogs roam unleashed.

Kids often get facial wounds and bites from dogs because as children they are shorter and their faces are at the attack prone level of the dog doing the harm. My best advice is photograph the wound and get an opinion from a qualified plastic surgeon.

Plastic surgery procedures usually occur post bite but getting a qualified dog bite lawyer involved earlier is critical to a good monetary recovery. Because while the wound will heal the claim and its monetary recovery should be brought in certain cases before the wound is corrected by the plastic surgeon.