A motorcycle accident lawyer gives five tips to protect motorcycle riders  – and yourselves – on the roads this summer

We’ve all felt it. That scary, unsure-of-yourself feeling when there’s a motorcycle riding very close to your car.

“Will he make a sudden move and I won’t see him?”

“Will he drive too fast and cause a motorcycle accident?”

“Will he be safe around all of these cars and trucks on this busy highway?”

My partner Robert Raitt was in the Detroit Free Press this week. Bob, an attorney who handles auto accident cases, is past-president of the Michigan Assocition for Justice, and he was responding to a call for more “tort reform” in Michigan. Bob makes a lot of good points, and he touched on cases involving car accidents that the lawyers in this law firm have personal experience with.

For example, Michigan was ranked by auto insurance corporations as having the safest drivers in the nation combined with the hardest car accident threshold law in the country, and yet Michigan drivers pay some of the highest premiums in the country.

12 Mile Road and Dequindre & 11 Mile Road and Van Dyke have highest number of car accidents for 2009

Today wraps up my yearly series sharing the most dangerous intersections in Southeast Michigan, compliments of SEMCOG’s list of the 10 intersections in Southeast Michigan with the highest number of car accidents for 2009. Obviously, no one can 100 percent avoid being involved in a car accident, but hopefully we can all lower the likelihood by avoiding these dangerous spots or at the very least, exercising more care. Last but not least on my list are a couple of particularly treacherous intersections in Warren, which is located in Macomb County, Michigan.

Michigan personal injury lawyer shares 5 car accident safety tips

First, there is a great new development coming July 1, 2010: Our first text ban law designed to reduce distracted driving and therefore, serious car accidents and truck accidents. But just because there is a law taking effect that enables police officers ticket those drivers who text while driving, doesn’t mean texting will stop.

I can’t emphasize enough how dangerous texting and driving is, or how important this new text ban will be. As a car accident lawyer who has handled many heartbreaking, preventable crashes at the hands of distracted drivers, I see every week how dangerous texting and driving really is.

Lawyers welcome new law that will prevent car accidents and save lives

Come July 1, there are going to be a number of  Michigan drivers who will need to change their ways behind the wheel. Writing, reading or sending electronic text messages while driving a car will become illegal.

This ban on texting has been a long time coming.  And, as a car accident lawyer who has handled many preventable car crashes due to distracted driving and texting, I couldn’t be happier. I know the 18 other lawyers who handle car accidents from my firm feel the same way.

11 Mile Road West and Southfield Road & 12 Mile Road West and Telegraph Road make the list with the highest number of car accidents in 2009

My series of the worst intersections in Southeast Michigan continues today with dangerous car accident traps in Southfield, Michigan. Southfield is home to a bustling business district, with the Traveler’s Tower, the Southfield Town Center, and several other high-rise commercial office buildings. Combine all of the commuters speeding around with lots of strip mall shopping and subdivisions and you get traffic - lots of it.

West 12 Mile and Orchard Lake Road & West 14 Mile and Orchard Lake Road make the list with the highest number of car accidents in 2009

Farmington Hills is now home to some of the worst rush hour traffic in all of Oakland County. I know this personally because after 35 years in the Travelers Tower, Michigan Auto Law just moved our law offices to 30101 Northwestern Highway in Farmington Hills. Now I have the pleasure of dealing with simultaneous construction traffic on Telegraph, 12 Mile, 13 Mile, and Orchard Lake Road in my daily commute.

Ford Road and Haggerty Road & Canton Center Road and Ford Road lead the list with highest number of  car accidents in 2009

With 18 lawyers handling only serious car accidents and truck accidents throughout Michigan, we see hundreds of preventable crashes each year. Unfortunately, certain locations produce more auto accidents than others year after year. So annually, I share the most dangerous intersections hoping that readers, friends and clients share this information in turn.

Me and Norm Tucker

Last week, I spoke and moderated at the Michigan Association for Justice seminar on teaching auto accident lawyers “How to Settle Accident Cases for More Money.”

I stressed that lawyers must understand how computer claims software programs like Colossus, which are being used by the insurance industry today, are changing everything, and how they’re causing  a very real decrease in the value of many personal injury cases.

The seminar was a great success. I will be posting videos soon sharing some of my most important tips for Michigan personal injury lawyers. My own topic was “Five Tips to Maximizing Personal Injury Settlements.”

Auto accident lawyers featured in the State Bar of Michigan Negligence Law Section Quarterly, contending why McCormick must bring common sense to Michigan’s auto law

David E. Christensen

The Spring 2010 State Bar of Michigan Negligence Law Section Quarterly was recently sent to several thousand negligence lawyers who represent plaintiffs and defendants in Michigan lawsuits. In it is an article by Michigan Auto Law attorneys David Christensen and Alison Tomak on the Flint auto accident case of McCormick v. Carrier (Rodney McCormick v. Larry Carrier and Allied Automotive Group, Indemnitor of General Motors Corp.). Dave and Alison’s article also includes a brief summary of the arguments made in the Negligence Law Section’s own amicus brief filed in this case before the Michigan Supreme Court.