Westminster Law Blog

April and May are some of the most popular times for motorcyclists in California to take the covers off their bikes and hit the highways for the first time of the year. The temperatures are warmer, the daylight is longer and there is less snow and ice covering the streets.

Unfortunately, spring can also be a very easy time to get in a high impact motor vehicle accident. Even though there aren’t usually as many vehicle crashes as there are in winter and summer, motorcycle owners shouldn’t have a false sense of security when they take their rides out for a spin. Here are some factors that riders should check before taking off:

Most view estate planning as being limited to you stipulating how you want your assets dispersed to your designated beneficiaries in Westminster once you pass on. Yet another important element to the process is planning out how you wished to be cared for before you die. Many that we here at The Law Firm of Lan Quoc Nguyen $ Associates work with may wish to avoid the pain and suffering that can accompany an extended illness, preferring to instead instruct caretakers to not take extraordinary measures in order to extend their lives. If you share the same desire, then you will want to state that in the form of an advance directive. 

Advance directives are predetermined instructions that you create for healthcare providers that dictate how you wish to be treated in certain situations. Many choose to create them in lieu of assigning another power of attorney. Their basic purpose is to communicate your desires regarding your medical care if you are unable to do so yourself. Your advance directives are included in your medical record so that clinicians can see them whenever you present for treatment. 

Many in Westminster might think that car accidents are relatively simple matters for authorities to resolve: one party causes a collision that in turn effects a handful of others. Yet oftentimes the investigation into the cause of an accident is rarely that simple. When multiple vehicles are involved, sometimes it may be difficult to discover who actually was in fault. There may be instances in such occasions where multiple parties are to blame. Thus, assigning liability is often a very difficult matter. 

That is, however, the exact task that has been laid at the feet of law enforcement officials in Gorman after a massive multi-car pileup shut down southbound traffic on the I-5 freeway. While an investigation into the accident is still ongoing, officials believe that two separate crashes were what caused the melee. The exact cause of those initial collisions has yet to be discovered, yet it was reported that visibility may have been low due to fog. Officials estimate that as many as 50 cars were involved in the pileup, with an additional 100 ending up stuck between the two crash sites. While reports were that several vehicles were severely (with one even catching fire), amazingly only one critical injury case was reported (that of a young child). Several others suffered minor injuries, while a horse being towed by a vehicle involved in the accident was killed. 

Drivers in must obey traffic laws and show courtesy towards other motorists. Negligence behind the wheel can easily lead to injuries like whiplash, which can have a range of serious effects depending on the severity of the accident. The Mayo Clinic offers the following information on whiplash, including how it can be treated.

If you’ve been involved in a rear-end car accident, you could be at risk for developing this condition. While symptoms usually present within a few hours after the accident, it could also be days or even weeks before you notice issues. Symptoms of whiplash include pain and stiffness in the neck, and these symptoms can make it difficult to move. Other symptoms include dizziness, a feeling of numbness in the arms, headaches, pain in the shoulders, and excessiveness tiredness. You may also experience blurred vision or ringing in the ears.