Terry A. Tolbert Law Blog

Child death rates from unintentional injuries decline, according to reportWhile any serious injury or fatality can be devastating, it’s particularly difficult for families to experience the death of a child who was injured in an accident.... Read More

Texting and driving more dangerous than driving while intoxicated.... Read More

Results from the recent study conducted by the Texas Transportation Institute revealed some shocking statistics. Using a closed road, the scientific test involved drivers attempting to read or write a text message while driving on an open road and a section of roadway lined with construction barrels. Throughout the test, drivers who were texting reacted much slower than the test subjects who were not texting. “It is frightening,” the researchers wrote, “to think of how mu... Read More

Pedestrian injury accidents happen far too often. More than 59,000 pedestrians are injured each year in accidents nationwide. In 2009, a total of 4,092pedestrians were killed in accidents, according to statistics compiled by the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration. Certain cities are more dangerous than others. In the Midwest, cities like St. Louis, Kansas City and Oklahoma City are among the most dangerous cities in America for pedestrians, according to a recent New Y... Read More

Children drown more often than you may realize. Among children 1 to 14 years old, drowning is the second leading cause of accidental deaths nationwide.  And among the 3,443 people who died nationwide from drowning, one out of five victims was under 14 years old. Just recently, a 5-year-old boy drowned and died in a swimming pool in southwestern Missouri. Swimming pools are magnets for children on a hot, summer day. But children can drown just as easily in streams, lakes or even... Read More

Tractor trailer trucks can be intimidating. These large, 18-wheeler trucks tower over our cars and weigh 30 times more than the average vehicle. There seems to be more of these massive trucks than ever as well – and you’re right. In the last 40 years, the number of tractor trailers has more than doubled. In 1970, there were 905,082 tractor trailers. By 2008, that figure had skyrocketed to 2,215,856. The number of all large trucks (vehicles over 10,000 pounds) has also... Read More

A staggering number of pedestrians injured and killed are under 15 years old. In 2008, pedestrians sustained 69,000 injuries and 4,378 deaths in accidents, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Those statistics include 15,000 injured and 316 killed under 15 years old. But the statistics are even more startling for bicycle injuries and deaths for children. Cyclists under 14 years old account for 24 percent of all bicycle-related deaths and 50 percent of all b... Read More

Drivers falling asleep at the wheel might seem rare. But it happens all the time. And people get hurt. Each year, driver fatigue causes 100,000 car accidents nationwide. That’s one accident every five minutes. Sleeping driver accidents result in roughly 71,000 injuries and 1,550 fatalities each year across the country. More than 60 percent of adult drivers have admitted driving while feeling drowsy in the past year. Even more shocking, 37 percent or 108 million drivers nationw... Read More

Missouri voters approved a ballot measure strengthening dog breeding regulations statewide. The measure will limit the number of breeding dogs allowed in a breeding operation, increase space requirements for animal enclosures and expand requirements for veterinary care. Specifically, the regulations will require anyone who has more than 10 breeding dogs to meet certain standards for housing, food and veterinary care. Owners will be limited to no more than 50 breeding dogs.... Read More

Passengers often sustain injuries in car accidents. But what if the injured passenger was riding with a drunk driver? What would you do? How would you obtain compensation to pay your bills caused by the accident? And are the laws different in one state compared to another?... Read More