Please remember Have fun tonight but be smart Don’t get behind the wheel and drive! Thinking is only 1 second of your life! Killing someone is forever!
Links to consider if you need a ride home!
http://www.operationnezrouge.com/
Happy New Year!
Andrew.
Northern France
Gräfin says, “I took this last November at a motel (the Val Moret) we stay at in Northern France; it’s just off the A5 motorway between Champagne and Burgundy. Our car is the red car in the foreground, and when we went to bed there were no other cars in the car park. When we went for breakfast, this was what we saw!
I think it’s bad parking because:
a) the car on the right has made it difficult/impossible for the silver car to get out, and/or
b) I suspect he got to be parked like this because he forgot to apply the handbrake!
We’ve stayed at this place lots of times, and always cars park as close to the rooms as it gets really cold/wet in winter. It’s a part of rural France where it’s still not unusual to go into a bar in the morning and;see one or two old boys starting their day with red wine or cognac, but this place is mainly used by business travellers or holiday makers breaking their journey to/from the South of France; but perhaps he had been on a champagne tasting.”
Audi has confirmed that the A7, scheduled for release in late 2010, will be launched in India immediately after the international debut. As Autocar India rightly puts it, the A7 is more of style and statement than practicality, features or comfort. Introduced in concept form at the 2009 North American International Auto Show, the A7 is expected with a 3.0-liter V6 engine coupled to a 9-speed tiptronic transmission. Many rumors circulating on the internet, the strongest of them all is that they are gunning for a Geneva 2010 premiere, which takes place in the first week of March. The Audi A7 is meant for the rich bloke who prefers to drive. His mates own cars like the Mercedes CLS, Volkswagen CC and dress stylishly.
1:13 A.M.
Tuesday, Home.
I don’t think Rebecca wants to be friends with me anymore. Honestly, I have no clue what I’ve might have done to make her want to push me away. I knew this was coming. She’s not the type of person to stick with people, but I thought she was such a great person that I didn’t care. It was fun while it lasted. Still, I’m going to try and talk to her tomorrow to see what’s up. If she doesn’t want to be friends then, well… Alright. I hope I helped her as much as possble. Although, I feel that I didn’t. Maybe that was it, because I wasn’t there enough for her. Now I’m ashamed.
I felt sad about it, but that feeling as passed. People come and go Diary. I’ll help who I can, and when their ready to move on they will. God brings particular people into our lives for a reason. So I hope I made a positive influence in her life, even if it was as tiny as a speck.
I need some sleep. I only got two hours yesterday, and I won’t get much today. If God wills, my mom and I are going to look at a car tomorrow, and if it’s alright my dad will go check it out. Then I’m taking my mom to work, my brother to practice, and myself to the music store. Hopefully, this band stuff will work out.
I need to pray.
P.S.
I almost wanted to cry. How lame is that? I’m alright now though, whew. I hate crying. It’s so…weak.
P.P.S.
This is why I don’t attach myself to people.
I don’t mean for it to sound like I’m dreading Athens. I’m really looking forward to it, but I’ve let the leaving part loom over my head and get the best of me lately. I resolve to enjoy my last week here and not let the sad parts of it ruin my time with people like it has been.
I drive a 2001 Fiat Seicento Schumacher in Broom Yellow. She’s called Marmite, and she currently needs a new exhaust, new brake shoes, a new battery, and a new head gasket. Joe is fixing her at some point in the next few weeks, during which time I will have to drive his horrible Vauxhall Astra (I’m sure there will be a blog post about this!). Despite the long list of things that need fixing, I’ll remain loyal to Fiat for the rest of my life: there is absolutely nothing like the rush of caning it down the Fosse Way (under the speed limit, of course) in a small, nippy, agile car. And yellow. Yellow ones go faster!
The car leasing market is growing ahead of the 2010 New Year as Vietnamese families look to lease cars for holiday travel.
Nguyen Huu Trinh is a car driver for a foreign director of a company in Thang Long Industrial Zone. However, Trinh does not have a car of his own. Therefore, Trinh has decided to lease a car so his family can journey to the countryside where his parents live.
“However, Trinh complained, if you lease cars at this time, you have to pay 50,000 dong or 100,000 dong more for rent per day”
A Matiz is now the cheapest to rent at 300,000-400,000 dong (20 dollar) per day instead of 250,000 dong per day at other times.
A Lacetti, which previously had a rental price of 350,000 dong per day, is now leasing at 500,000-600,000 dong (33 dollar), while a Kia Morning is leasing at 600,000 dong (33 dollar) per day.
The rental of a Vios or Altis has jumped from 600,000 dong to 700,000 dong (38 dollar).
Luxury cars have much higher rentals. Toyota Camry, Toyota Innova and Honda Civic are being offered to lease at 1-1.2 million dong (66 dollar) per day.
The car leasing service has been booming for the last two years with some 300-400 service providers.
While many Vietnamese families now have cars thanks to growing incomes, and taxi services continue to develop, the car leasing market is still expanding.
Now, some car leasers are saying they have run out of cars to lease.
Nguyen Dinh Binh, director of My Man Car Leasing Company in Hanoi said that all his 20 cars are now booked up. However, Binh says he still receives 40 calls everyday to ask about leasing cars.
A VietNamNet reporter called Trang Minh Company and found out that the company now only has a Kia Morning to lease at 600,000 dong per day in rental, while Toyota Vios or Lacettis are all booked.
Trinh, who is a driver and understands the market, said a lot of investors have spent large sums of money to purchase luxury cars to lease.
Clients need only deposit 10-20 million dong (555-1,100 dollar) to lease a car.
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First Kanye, then Emma Watson (‘Hermione’ in Harry Potter) now Eminem.
We won’t even waste time repeating the BS reports; instead, lets get straight to the point.
WHO THE HELL STARTS THAT KIND OF LIE?!
Imagine if you had the kind of job that takes you really far from home, and you had you’re entire family go through the stress of thinking you were dead?
What a Wastecadet
I never feel I am very good at doing rundowns of the year, because I always manage to miss out some insanely positive event and focus on the negative, or I feel I live too much in the moment to want to dwell on the past. Likewise, I don’t really bother making New Year’s Resolutions because I don’t really ever feel I have to change anything instantly. I don’t feel I have anything to give up in my life. I guess I would like to finally pass my driving test and get a car in 2010, but I’m not going to make it a resolution, I’m just going to try and do it! If that makes sense.
Having said all of that, I feel as we come to the end of 2009 that I’m a lot happier now than I was this time last year. As I’ve said before, this is my first Christmas not working in retail, and in terms of the lack of stress and not having to deal with customers (nor low pay), it’s been bliss! I’m away from the Perfume Shop and the people who work there, and that can only be a good thing. What’s more, I’m doing my Careers Guidance course at uni and I finally feel like my life is going somewhere. I have some fantastic friends whom I’ve made this year, and my friendships which have endured for the last few years only continue to grow. I feel like I’ve discovered more of myself as a person, and although I’m not 100% happy, who is? I nevertheless recognise the improvement in my life, both in the things that have happened to me and in the evolution of myself as a person. I hope it continues because I have plenty further to go and a lot more I want to accomplish! But compared to my despondency about myself and my life at the end of 2008, things are looking up.
In terms of a blast from the past, today I was in town catching up with Hannah and Alex (we still have a lot to talk about!) and enjoying a Christmas coffee. I treated us all to coffees in Starbucks (because it’s Christmas and I just got paid from the hospital – I think I have had a payrise! 
Hearing those untrue things said about me really hurt, but I have said my piece to my friends, and I’m over it. Life goes on, and if they were talking about me 4 months after I had left the shop, then that’s a compliment in a way – I guess I made an impression! But I’m over feeling mad, upset and angry about it – my life is a lot better now, and part of that is because the girls at the Perfume Shop are not part of it (excluding Henna, whom I see around uni from time to time). I am in a good place – even if I get down about Mike etc., his friendship has really raised me up and helped me uncover and discover more about myself. So instead of looking away, or storming past, I just smiled at her and went on my own way. I’m on a new path, and it’s Christmas – why bother perpetuating any bitterness or regret? If that’s what she wants to do – well, she’s older than me and it’s sad that she doesn’t just move on because she should have more important things in her life. I certainly have – and I know I’m talking about it now, but I really recognised that it just isn’t worth it anymore to cling onto anger. I wish most people nothing but the best, and what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. And I’m not dead yet!
So instead of being cheesy or cliché about Christmas spirit, I just wanted to say that even though this is applicable to any time of year (because hardship happens all year round), there’s nothing better than embracing the positive and letting go of the negative when you’re ready to and you feel you can. I have a long way to go, but I’ve progressed from before and despite my own personal ups and downs, I’m in a much better place. More than anything material, more than Juicy Couture iPod cases, that is the best gift I can give to myself this Christmas – allowing myself to be happy and to be proud. I wish you all nothing but the best, please be proud of yourselves and recognise the good in yourself. I know that Christmas is about giving to others and family, but we have to take some time to feel good about ourselves too. We are all deserving of that! So from the bottom of my heart, have a wonderful Christmas Day tomorrow, however you’re spending it – and take a moment just to look at yourself and appreciate who you are! Love always.
I remember when I was little I would count down the days to Christmas Day so eagerly. About the 22nd December, I would be so excited I couldn’t sleep. And then on the day itself, I’d be up ridiculously early, eager to open my presents and be spoiled for the day before we would go to my nan’s for a big Christmas lunch, relax in front of the television watching one film or another while my mum and my nan chatted, my grandfather slept and my dad made a nuisance of himself in one way or another. Eventually we would go home to wait for the inevitable boredom that was Boxing Day. But overall, it’d be a lovely day and hold the type of memories I’ll always cherish.
I guess it’s called growing up, but I don’t feel at all the same now. Part of it is that those memories are irreplaceable – my grandfather is now dead, my grandmother is in Australia this year, and the year before last spent the day in hospital with my granddad, and my father is the one who cooks now (nowhere near as well, though it’s ok) and we eat here at home. There’s no eagerness to open my presents, and since my parents don’t seem bothered by what I get them, they wait until 11am or something ridiculous like that just so that I can see their faces and suss out whether they really like their gifts. In other words, the childhood traditions of Christmas are completely broken and gone; we do things differently now, and sometimes I wonder if I was the only one who ever enjoyed Christmas.
Nowadays, I dread the day itself. There’s nothing to watch on TV, there’s nowhere to go that isn’t parent-sponsored (my friends are all busy with their families, obviously; there aren’t any buses and as I don’t yet have a car – something which I’m looking to change in the very near future – I am essentially home-bound), the sanity of my nan’s conversation and the scrumptiousness of her cooking is poorly imitated by my father. And I feel bad for saying that, because it’s not that his cooking is bad; it’s not. It’s perfectly edible, but it’s not the same. I have a lot of my own issues with food, eating food and generally feeling guilty for it. (Another down side to Christmas – every cigarette I have is under surveillance, so I am currently eating more and smoking less. Not good for my figure, nor my state of mind!) But nevertheless I am always eager to taste my nan’s cooking – it is that good (I like to call it the Italian influence) that even though I exercise restraint in size of portions, I eat more than I otherwise would. Her food has a certain feeling of safety to it that is comforting and yet vibrant and actively tangible; my father’s food just feels fake and bland in comparison. That’s just Christmas Day – this year I plan to be talking to Mike (who is a real Scrooge! I’m certainly not as bad as he is – he actively hates it) and complaining in unison, and quite possibly working on my essay. Hell, there’s nothing else to do.
Nowadays, my favourite part of Christmas is buying everyone’s presents. I couldn’t really care less what people get me, as I appreciate anyone thinking about me enough to get me a present, and I don’t tell people what to get me as everything I actively want is invariably too expensive, and I wouldn’t be happy with people (not even my parents) spending that much money on me. I prefer to buy jewellery and expensive items with my own money, because then it’s my own decision and I’m not bound to being grateful to anyone. The thing I enjoy about buying people’s presents is the rush and buzz in the shops, the feeling that Christmas is here (maybe it’s left over from my days working in retail – which I am still so glad are over) and most of all, choosing the right gift for somebody so that it will genuinely make them happy and let them know I have not only put thought into what I’ve chosen for them, but that I value them as a friend. This year I have spent a bit more money than usual and than I intended, but since I have my bursary from university, I can afford it 
But the meaning of Christmas has changed. This year at university has been something I’ve enjoyed so much, I plan to go into the library over the holiday just to see Mike and do some work – it fills the time! I can barely stand to be at home anymore unless I have the house to myself, because I feel like I’m in a cage that isn’t allowed to co-exist comfortably in the same room as my parents. I go to Starbucks most days when I have free time just to work on my essay – it has the double bonus of allowing me to escape the house & have some cigarettes, and I actually seem to get a fair amount of work done there. (The unfortunate drawback is that I consume a beverage that contains calories – though I always go for skinny, so I guess it’s not too bad.) I like being around people, I like being close to my friends, and the fact that I have this essay to work on means that I have something to focus my energy on. I don’t know if it’s that my attention span is getting shorter as I grow older, but I cannot stand to simply sit in front of the television and vacate my brain. I need my laptop near me at the same time as I am watching anything just so that I can talk to friends and surf the internet – my nan jokes that I am constantly multitasking, but it is true! I don’t know if it’s that I don’t know how to relax, but most of the time I don’t really feel the need to relax, because I’d rather be on the go. And I guess that that’s at the heart of the problem – at Christmas, there’s just not enough to do that keeps me entertained! I don’t dislike Christmas, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve realised that the soft-focus memories of my childhood aren’t enough to hold my attention anymore, even if they were still able to be replicated (which they’re beyond not). I don’t need gifts anymore, and I don’t need to watch a silly film on the TV while eating x, y and z. That’s not me. Fundamentally, what I want from Christmas more than anything is to spend time with my friends, get out of the house and go somewhere and talk, be silly and have fun.
I had heard earlier this week about a storm that was supposed to bring a lot of snow to the area, but I thought that the prediction of 1-3 feet seemed a little extreme and unrealistic. Snow has been the last thing on my mind. Yesterday, however, I definitely gained a great respect for meteorologists and the meaning of Winter Storm Warning.
When I walked into my last class yesterday, my teacher was watching the Weather Channel. I saw a predicted Winter Storm Warning, but didn’t read the details. I began to wonder if my friends’ claims that we were getting a lot of snow were legit. I looked out the window and saw a very green landscape.
About the time I looked outside, an announcement came over the intercom cancelling all activites in the evening. I really thought everyone was truly blowing this out of proportion. They had even cancelled the girls basketball that of which I announce play-by-play. At about 2:20 P.M. I look outside only to find the green landscape evolving into a light snowfall.
What surprised me the most was how the snow was already sticking to the parking lot asphalt. Nevertheless, I didn’t think much about it as I left the school. I arrived home at about 3 P.M. I had two objectives: take care of some business at the bank and pick up a package at FedEx. I told Mom as I left that I should be back home by 3:45.
I knew as I was driving toward the town of Beaver that I was in for a fun commute home. I was passing what looked to be like New York City rush hour. Cars were lined up as far as I could see. When I turned into the bank parking lot, I was the only customer (lucky me). I managed to get in and out fairly quickly. Next stop: FedEx.
The route between the bank and FedEx is a steep, although, normally passable one. I saw my dad in oncoming traffic creeping down the hill at not more than 5 miles per hour. I started worrying. Not much later, I made it to FedEx and picked up my package. Now, to help you envision my short route from FexEx to my house, here is a map:
Another fun fact to point out is how the trip is estimated at 7.46 miles is predicted to take 15 minutes. As I leave FedEx, I am in first gear traveling at whatever speed the car travels when it’s idling. I call Mom and tell her I many be a few minutes late. As I drove down the same hill that Dad was creeping down minutes earlier, traffic came to a stop. It was about 3:45 as I’m stopped on the hill. Come to find out, cars were yielding to one of the many wrecks taking place in Beaver.
About an hour later, I made it to the intersection of Rt. 19 and Airport Road. I managed to swing through a shopping center parking lot to save around 20-30 minutes. At about 4:30, I decided to pull of at a convenience store and pick up some food. This wasn’t a bad decision. Mainly out of boredom and since I was basically parked on Route 19, I managed to have a chicken salad sandwich, Lunchables pizza, beef jerky, and a cup of hot chocolate. About every half mile I would pass a car in a ditch or a vehicle stalled on the road.
A little bit after 5 o’clock, I pulled off at a grocery store to pick up milk and donuts. I left the store at 5:30 and somehow made it home a little before 6.
All-in-all, it was a relaxed, peaceful drive home. I did come to find out later that evening that others had it way worse than I. From school children being boarded at the local fire station to cars stuck on the highways and byways throughout the state to people not having power, I considered myself very blessed to make it home safe and on the same day I departed.
I am quite far from it. That water stinks! It is black in color and is spread all across the place. Perhaps it has all the wet waste material disposed by the entire colony. The water there is indeed a result of the overflowing drainage canal. I see that all the houses are well-protected with the walls on their side, leaving the rush of this water on the road.
I am in an air-conditioned car preventing the hot sun who could hurt me. Going through that place seems to be a nightmare, but I have to cross it to go to the towns. I feel the flabby road under the car as I pass the most irritating part of the journey. With the traffic of flies that I encountered, I wonder how the people here manage to live. Don’t they need any hygiene? Curse the gods who make the earth, a dirty place in some patches like this. I move along with the discomfort I was feeling with what was outside.
Just as I thought my discomfort is ending with the trails I left behind, I see this little girl. She was certainly from the place I had just crossed. Her gown was enough knit for people to recognize it was a gown. It still needed some work though. Her hair was not oiled, may be for the last year. She could be barely five or six. She is more dirty than I could imagine any one from that colony would be. I guess she has no care takers too; she was all alone on that deserted road.
” 
She smiles! She waves at me! I just don’t understand what makes her happy to smile. Or is it from that old saying that she is smiling because she chooses to be happy. Whatever, I am moving fast. On reaching the town, my friend casually sought to know how my journey was. Unconsciously, I gave him a reply:
“It was good. And she was cute – the little smiling girl…
Do we need logic and reason to choose to be happy?
Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chris Henry has died from injuries sustained in an automobile accident, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police announced Thursday morning.
Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chris Henry has died from injuries sustained in an automobile accident, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police announced Thursday morning.Henry suffered severe head injuries after falling out of the rear end of a truck Wednesday afternoon, and remained on life support before finally succumbing to his injuries at 6:36 a.m. ET Thursday morning at Carolinas Medical Center. Henry, who was 26 years old, leaves behind his fiancée Loleini Tonga, and three children: 3-year-old Seini, 2-year old Chris Jr. and 10-month old DeMarcus.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police detectives have been investigating Wednesday’s events, which were described as a “domestic situation” involving Henry and Tonga. According to police, a dispute at a Charlotte-area home led to Tonga leaving the residence in a truck. Henry jumped into the bed of the vehicle and then fell into the street nearly a half mile from the home. When police and paramedics responded to the scene, police said Henry had suffered life-threatening injuries, including severe head trauma… – Read full article…
Bo, the Obama family dog, sits in a District of Columbia police motorcade escort car on the South Lawn of the White House, Dec. 16, 2009. Bo jumped into the open car door after First Lady Michelle Obama returned to the White House following a visit to the Marine Corps Base Quantico Toys for Tots Campaign warehouse in Stafford, Va., December 16, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
Photo by oO-rein-Oo on DeviantArt
Everyone knows that parking in London can be a bit of a problem. Space is scarce and you have to compete with a whole host of other cars for that premium spot.
Yet living in Harrow, space is not a major issue. There are plenty of car parks in the town centre and plenty of room for all the shoppers descending on to the high street and shopping centres.
The problem comes when you move out of the town centre into residential areas, particularly those near tube stations. The roads surrounding stations such as Northwick Park and South Kenton are a haven for commuters. Free parking right next to tube lines that run straight into central London. This can cause havoc for the people who live in these streets. Nipping out to the shops at 9am is not a wise move, as by the time you’ve got back a businessman on his way to the city will probably have taken your space. The amount of cars parked on narrow streets creates problems for drivers in general. Having cars parked in every available space on both sides of the street can create traffic problems and leads to unnecessary knocks and scrapes to people’s cars.
The obvious answer to this problem is to introduce residential parking permits to the affected areas. Permits could be allocated by the council free of charge to people living in the affected roads. If ticket officers regularly patrolled the area, drivers would soon realise it was no longer an acceptable place to park. This already takes place in the roads surrounding the town centre to ensure shoppers do not interfere with the lives of the people who live near there.
Why has the same not been done for the streets around the tube stations?
This would ensure that residents would not find it impossible to park their car during the day thanks to the large number of commuters.
The problem is not just restricted to the residential streets. There has recently been a problem with the University of Westminster car park situated next to Northwick Park tube station. Commuters have been parking in the university car park meaning fewer spaces for staff and students.
If a residential parking scheme was introduced it would be essential that Harrow and Brent councils worked with Transport For London to ensure there was a good level of public transport to and from the main tube stations.
For example, a more regular bus service running from Northwick Park tube station would hopefully mean more commuters would be happy to leave their cars at home, safe in the knowledge that they would not be waiting long for a bus. This would also mean less traffic on the roads meaning everyone’s journey home would be quicker.
All this begs the question as to why Harrow and Brent councils have not taken a tougher stand on parking around tube stations when there are such effective schemes in Harrow town centre and around the Wembley complex. Surely if they can be successful in these areas, the same procedures could be implemented around tube stations in residential areas.
By Lynne Sloggett
Don’t be surprised if my posts get a bit sparse for the next 10 days. I’ll be, as far as I know, without steady internet during that time. I don’t have a backlog of posts, so I’ll just post when I can. I will try to get two or three posts written tomorrow before I leave, but there are other things that are more important to do before then.
So if I don’t “see” you all before then – Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!
~SS4BC
30235 b-sodertalje-sweden-058-marcus-wallenberg-hall-scania-museum-first-scania-car c 1024×768 picture
to view full size click 30235 B-Sodertalje-Sweden-058-Marcus-Wallenberg-Hall-Scania-Museum-First-Scania-Car C 1024X768 picture ( 30235 B-Sodertalje-Sweden-058-Marcus-Wallenberg-Hall-Scania-Museum-First-Scania-Car C 1024X768 picture )
URL : http://www.flashgame-girl.com/Racing/Hummer-Rally-Championship.html
Game description :
Real adrenalin for real racers! Show the best results among the racers of New-York, Monaco, London, Moscow and Tokyo and you will be the winner of the world race championship. Try to win the grand-prix in all countries in order to be number 1 in the international championship. Feel the Hummer power and show the rest who is who! Be careful and good luck
Game controls :
Arrow Up- Forward.
Arrow Down- Backward.
Left Arrow- Steer Left.
Right Arrow- Steer Right.
Spacebar- Brake.
Mehran is one of the most popular cars in Pakistan. Mostly it is driven in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and other big cities of Pakistan. The quality which it contains is that its like small dinky car but cool which attracts people towards itself. Other thing that its convertible and comfortable, and above all it’s affordable!
Torch, originally uploaded by Valerie Morrison.
079/365
When I left the house this morning, I purposely left my cameras at home. However, I feel so naked without them and went back in the house and grabbed my kid’s camera.
Later, I stopped by my mechanic’s shop and when I saw him using this “fire thingy”, I just had to get a photo. I asked if he was going to use the torch again and he said no, but later called me into the garage and let me take a few photos. Now, I want to go back.
I think anyone that loves cars wishes they were in Jay Leno’s position, minus the chin and the jokes that come along with it. But even that seems like a small price to pay for being able to live your dream. This time around, Mr. Leno gets behind the wheel of Mercedes SLS Gullwing AMG and hits the streets. Check out the video link below and pay special attention the exhaust note this car makes. To borrow a line from Clarkson, “It’s epic”. Join me back here at The Steering Column when I weigh in on this gem of a car.
http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/clips/2010-mercedes-benz-sls-amg/1182154/
Along with articles about micro pigs and pictures of Boris Johnson my parents also sent me an article on Monderman wondering if his schemes would work in Addis.
Monderman was a Dutch traffic engineer, who didn’t believe in traffic lights and would walk backwards across roads with his eyes closed to prove his theory that people don’t need rules and regulations to behave appropriately and considerately on the roads.
It is all very Dutch and liberal and sweet, but in order for it to work properly all road users need to be afforded the same respect.
This doesn’t happen in Addis or Ethiopia; the car rules.
There is a 15 year prison sentence for any driver who kills a pedestrian but you wouldn’t know it, cars don’t stop at pedestrian crossings, they rarely give way to people crossing the street at any junction.
50% of all road traffic accident deaths are people who definitely wouldn’t be able to afford their own car, and probably haven’t ever been in a private vehicle themselves. It is ridiculously unequal and unfair.
Children don’t learn the green cross code at school, and it is difficult to see them lying at right angles, with their noses touching the tarmac, to roads without speed limits that massive trucks come hurtling down.
Cars are still novel and cool, people will pull up outside cafes and order and drink coffee from their car, just because they can and because other people can’t.
So sorry Monderman I think it might take some time for Addis to be ready for you.
When California Vehicle Code Section 21654 is cited as being the primary collision factor for an auto accident in California, and the person found to be in violation of this Vehicle Code Section is the other driver involved in your accident, this can greatly assist a personal injury lawyer in settling your accident insurance claim for a substantial settlement or even the policy limits if your injuries are extensive. This is even more true in the case of fatal accidents which cause one or more fatalities. Although a traffic collision report is not evidence, insurance companies treat them as if they are as discussed below.
However, due to how insurance companies treat individuals without an attorney, a person injured in an auto accident should always retain an attorney to represent them at the earliest possible date after an accident. Unless you haven’t been injured and won’t be needing medical treatment, an experienced and reputable personal injury lawyer will almost always be able to obtain a considerably larger settlement from an insurance company and a larger amount for you, even after the attorney’s fees and costs are paid.
At the Law Firm of Sebastian Gibson, we work on a contingency fee basis, which means that unless we obtain a settlement or judgement in your case, there is no fee payable to us. Even if we’ve incurred costs, such as the costs of obtaining your medical records, no fee is payable to us, unless we obtain a settlement or judgement in your favor. Starting with the personal injury consultation which is also free, and which can be by phone or in person depending on our mutual availability, you never receive a bill from us on any case we take on contingency. Unlike other attorneys who ask you to pay the costs involved with your case, we simply don’t believe you should have to pay those costs yourself.
We’ll also advise you how to obtain reimbursement for your car repairs or if your vehicle is totaled, for the value of your vehicle, and any amount you receive for the vehicle is yours to be used by you for the repairs or to replace your vehicle. At the Law Offices of Sebastian Gibson we never take any portion of your property damage settlement and we can also advise you how to obtain payment for a new child safety seat if one was in use at the time of the accident.
California Vehicle Code Section 21654 provides:
21654. (a) Notwithstanding the prima facie speed limits, any vehicle proceeding upon a highway at a speed less than the normal speed of traffic moving in the same direction at such time shall be driven in the right-hand lane for traffic or as close as practicable to the right-hand edge or curb, except when overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction or when preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road or driveway. (b) If a vehicle is being driven at a speed less than the normal speed of traffic moving in the same direction at such time, and is not being driven in the right-hand lane for traffic or as close as practicable to the right-hand edge or curb, it shall constitute prima facie evidence that the driver is operating the vehicle in violation of subdivision (a) of this section. (c) The Department of Transportation, with respect to state highways, and local authorities, with respect to highways under their jurisdiction, may place and maintain upon highways official signs directing slow-moving traffic to use the right-hand traffic lane except when overtaking and passing another vehicle or preparing for a left turn.
When a Police or CHP Officer, or a Sheriff’s Deputy states in his or her report either that the primary collision factor in an auto accident was one party’s violation of a certain vehicle code section such as the one above, and that one of the parties is at fault for violating that code section, the Officer or Deputy is stating what he or she believes to be the underlying cause of the accident.
The reason insurance companies treat the collision reports as if they are admissible evidence is that they know if put on the witness stand, the investigating officer or deputy will almost always testify in a manner consistent with the conclusions in his or her report. That testimony becomes evidence and will often sway a jury in their determination of fault for an accident.
While an investigating officer’s job is to determine if there was a violation of the law and not to determine who should be at fault in a civil dispute such as a car accident claim, insurance companies often view these two determinations as one and the same.
A police officer assigned to investigate the scene of an accident does not have the role that a trier of fact does in a courtroom. The officer is not there to render a verdict and determine who is responsible for the damages. Rather, the officer is there to determine if any laws were broken. The officer makes such a determination based on his or her having seen the damage to the vehicles, and having spoken to the drivers and the witnesses when their memories are freshest. He or she is thus often in a position to make a well-educated determination of who caused the accident.
Unfortunately, despite the experience of most investigating officers who are dispatched to the scene of an accident, sometimes mistakes are made by these officers. Quite often one or both parties to an accident will lie to them and an officer or deputy will not always be able to determine which of the parties is telling the truth. The evidence from the scene, while important, may also be misleading as to what actually occurred to cause the accident.
If you’ve been injured in an auto, truck, motorcycle, bike, pedestrian or car accident, or if you’ve lost a loved one in a wrongful death vehicle accident, call our offices for a free personal injury consultation by phone. You can also e-mail Attorney Sebastian Gibson at sgibsonesq@aol.com Additionally, we invite you to visit the Sebastian Gibson law firm website for more information at www.CaliforniaAttorneysLawyers.com
Sometimes an Officer or Deputy cannot determine with any degree of certainty which party was at fault and will cite two possible Vehicle Code Sections, one for each party in a two-party collision, that may have been violated. In that case, the Police or CHP Officer or Deputy will often state that the primary collision factor is unknown.
Even if there are witnesses to an accident, the Officer of Deputy may discount the statements of some or all of the witnesses if they were friends or relatives of one of the drivers.
Although, as stated above, the conclusion of fault by an officer or deputy does not carry the same weight as a determination of fault by a judge or jury, the importance of the citation of this or any other California code section in the police report is that insurance companies treat the conclusions in these traffic collision reports in a great majority of cases as if the conclusions were written in stone and evaluate a party’s claim based on the findings of fault in these reports.
A traffic collision report may be amended by the police department or the CHP where it contains obvious mistakes, such as when the officer or deputy has mixed up the names of the parties. Supplemental reports are sometimes written when new evidence comes to light, such as when a hit and run party is located. But for the most part, most police departments, Sheriff’s offices and the California Highway Patrol will not amend a report when a party complains and states why he or she doesn’t feel they should have been found at fault for a collision. They will, however, in most cases allow a person to fill out a Counter Report, which, unfortunately simply does not carry much weight with an insurance company.
If the Primary Collision Factor for an accident is unknown, one should look on the traffic collision report to see if the Police or California Highway Patrol Officer or Sheriff’s Deputy cited any “Other Associated Factors” in the traffic collision report as having had a role to play in causing the collision. There may have been faulty equipment, as with some truck accidents, or the roadway itself may have been dangerous.
If you’ve been injured in an auto accident in California that has been determined by the investigating Police or CHP Officer or a Sheriff’s Deputy to be the fault of another driver as a result of his or her violation of Vehicle Code Section 21654, call the Law Offices of Sebastian Gibson as soon after an accident as possible before important evidence disappears, such as skid marks that are washed away with the rain.
At the Law Firm of Sebastian Gibson, we specialize in California auto accidents caused by violations of the California Vehicle Code, such as Section 21654, and will represent you to obtain the compensation you deserve for your injuries.
In over thirty years of practice, Attorney Sebastian Gibson has obtained millions of dollars in settlements and multiple million dollar or larger settlements. We handle auto accident cases on a contingency fee basis so there is no fee payable unless we win your case and obtain either a settlement, an arbitration, mediation, jury, judge or court award.
If you’ve been injured in an auto accident, call to speak with a lawyer at our offices for a free personal injury consultation by phone. You can speak to Attorney Sebastian Gibson personally by phone or you can e-mail Sebastian Gibson at sgibsonesq@aol.com or visit the Sebastian Gibson law firm website at www.CaliforniaAttorneysLawyers.com
Myths and Truths are the themes that are carried on since the earth might have started. Myths are not the facts but are the thoughts of a particular man or even the groups’ that has nothing to do with the realities and facts. Also these groups passes on the thoughts to mass and ultimately if not opposed strongly, these myths becomes beliefs for the coming generations!!
Is there scope for removal of these myths?
If the myths are stopped before they get spread in the minds and mouths of people, they can be tackled nicely. But, if they are not protested and the truths are not revealed in front of people, the myths are always stuck in the minds and ultimately they become a theory!! So, to have a strong opposes and to teach the people systematically about the myths with technical data is the best option to tackle and eliminate the myths from the roots!!
“Cheap cars for sale are having cheaper quality!!” is it a myth or truth?
Well, cheap cars are the cars that are sold by the dealer or even directly by the owners in quite lower rates than the regular as they are the cars that are resold and also are used by the persons for some whiles. Cars once used are always sold at lower prices as there are chances of defects or any of the problems after using. It is not compulsory to have the problem but the proximities make the prices lower. These are the cheap cars for sale!!
Some of the people believe that all the cheap cars for sale and used cars for sale are the cars with any of the errors and problems in the cars which is totally a myth!! As, the lower quality is not the reason of lower quality but the reused status is the cause of lower rates of cheap cars!!
Cheap cars for sale are the best deal for some buyers!!
There are some of the people that are the most suitable options for the cheap cars for sale as they are having the causes that can fit with these cars only!! Let’s have a brief of these reasons:
a) People with lower budget are having the best deal with cheap cars as they satisfy the needs of cars and at the same time they make it easier to have the buying within the limit of budget!!
b) Those people who are wishing to have a car just to have the learning process of cars and also to make the initiatives and beginnings with the cars.
c) Students who are having the use of cars just from the hostels or homes to the colleges can have the cheap cars as for them the car use is quite limited and is truly not practical to spend higher amount of money in the teen ages!!
NYCarsForSale.com. So, the thumb rule of the industry is that there is no devaluation of the quality of the cars but still are the best options for having a car. Long live cheap cars for sale!!
Ok so i am probably behind the times considering a post i had found about this car was dated a year old – just as the recession was starting to bite but either way i had not heard of it until now and i was intrigued.
Allegedly the Fiat Phylla is the answer to the fuel price crunch. The car is a hydrogen energized trail electric car also powered by solar cells. The concept is a forerunner to Fiats new Topolino mini family car resulting in an urban car costing 10x less than the conventional petrol powered vehicle.
Designed with 15 inch green coloured wheels the car reaches 30mph in less than 6 seconds showing off a respectable 72 horses under the bonnet. It can reach an impressive speed of 81 mph. It is a fine example of futuristic and economic design combined with unique pioneering engineering – it’s not quite the traditional car we’re used but solar powered and hydrogen fuelled makes this little car the perfect city car.
It can be speculated to hit the US market in mid 2010 at around $20,000 but with this slightly heavy price tag the environmentally friendly car is worth the wait.
Most North American cars have one set of bright lights on the back, of course those are the brake lights. But some American cars and most European cars have other bright lights on the rear: rear fog lights.
If you’re not familiar with this concept, then you probably assumed their lights were malfunctioning or their break lights were “stuck.”
Rear fog lights make it much easier for the vehicle behind you to see your car when fog, rain or snow is heavy.
Some rear fog lights are a pair of lights mounted low on the rear bumper. Other cars have a single light, mounted near the driver’s side rear turn signal.
There are debates about the validity of rear fog lights. Some claim they can be confused with brake lights, others agree but believe that is still safer than not seeing the vehicle until it is too late.
In the photo of the instrument cluster, the icon on the left is the front fog light indicator and on the right is the rear fog light indicator.
Some cars have separate switches for front and rear fogs, other cars have one switch that activates both.
Studies have shown that in North America more people inappropriately use their fog lamps in dry weather than use them properly in poor weather
BrokenSecrets.com
Photo Credit: mroach (Creative Commons)
Sources: DriveAndStayAlive.com Wikipedia SAE
“Come on in, sit right down,” says Aunt Ida. “Sit! Bowzer, Sit!,” we tell our dog. Yet how many of us actually SIT … I mean really sit.
If you are used to working on your feet, sitting can become a huge relief to your legs, feet and back. But if you sit down on the job, unless you have a desk job, sitting down can be a ‘no-no.’
People in this world are used to going non-stop. Rarely do we sit, unless we sit at our jobs or in traffic or on some form of public transportation like a bus, train, subway or plane. But when asked to ‘sit’ – there is a bit of hesitance that comes with it, a bit of guilt, and yet after enduring a long, stressful week, where we dream of sitting and relaxing, we somehow don’t do as much of it as we should.
Lots of people don’t even sit down to eat anymore, they eat on the run. And some people don’t even sit down to watch TV – they are working out as they watch the tube. The other day, I saw a mother in her jogging suit, talking on her cell phone with one hand and pushing a stroller with the other, which happened to have the same hand holding a dog leash. The dog was also ‘not sitting,’ but running. Nearby was a lake with many ducks. The ducks were not sitting either, they were waddling looking for food, no one was sitting watching them.
Cat Stevens still may be “Sitting,” The Moody Blues may ask “Are You Sitting Comfortably?” and Otis Redding still may be “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” – but the great lost art of sitting and reflecting, not sitting and multi-tasking, seems lost.
When you sit down and stop your world, not only are you still, but your world can spin in a more positive direction if you take time to sit, enjoy, relax and be. Sometimes we don’t have enough time to think, sometimes we don’t have enough time to breathe and reflect. But most of all, we have learned to view the great art of sitting as a waste of time.
When you take a moment and talk to someone older, they will tell you that sitting is a wonderful thing. You can sit down and take the time to learn from others. You can sit down and get acquainted with new people. You can sit down and take a moment for yourself to reflect on how wonderful your day went or how beautiful tomorrow is going to be. But most importantly, you can sit down and simply be yourself. No one is expecting you to be anywhere, be anything to anyone, you are simply allowed to just sit there as you are.
And that’s worth sitting down for.
© 2009 Queena Verbosity 100% Real Words
Media Monster Communications, Inc.
Stacey Kumagai
http://www.100percentrealwords.blogspot.com
http://hubpages.com/profile/mediamonster
http://www.braingasm.com
Problem: Your car is beat. But the open road is calling.
Solution: Go virtual. Pull up Google Maps, set it on “street view” and off you go! The joys a road trip without spending $ on gas, food, or tolls… all without leaving your computer. Or go old school, and use a fold-able map.
As a Venice Wrongful Death Attorney with millions of dollars in settlements and multiple million dollar or larger settlements from over thirty years of experience in or around Venice, other nearby cities and internationally, I know many of you are attempting to settle your own personal injury, dog bite and wrongful death cases by yourselves for the maximum and the biggest settlement you can to save the cost of an attorney.
In this article I’ll tell you the secrets of how attorneys negotiate for top dollar and I’ll also tell you why insurance companies lick their chops and rub their hands together with glee when individuals try to settle their claims without an attorney and why, in most cases, you’ll receive a larger, much greater amount in your pocket or in the trust fund you set up for any children injured in the accident, even after an attorney’s fee and costs if you hire a reputable and experienced personal injury attorney.
If you’ve been the victim of a car, motorcycle, bike, truck, pedestrian, bicycle, or auto accident, lost a loved one in a wrongful death or been the victim of a dog bite or animal attack, you can visit our website at http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com for more information and call us at any of the numbers easily found on our website.
First, you need to know that insurance companies evaluate cases two ways. As soon as you begin negotiating with the insurance company yourself, they evaluate your case, unfortunately, in terms of a nuisance value matter. They’ve settled tens or hundreds of thousands of cases with individuals before for paltry amounts and they will expect they can settle your case for a measly amount as well.
Why do they look at you as if you’re chopped meat? As soon as you tell them you are negotiating your own settlement, they know you’re trying to save money. To them, that means you may even be desperate. They also know you won’t be as knowledgeable about their tricks and tactics and like those tens or hundreds of thousands of people before you, they know how they can play you until you either become so frustrated you settle for their bad offer or become panicked that your time is running out.
The second way they evaluate a case, namely one presented by a lawyer, is an analysis of what the case’s true settlement value is based on the attorney’s skill and experience, how prepared the case is for litigation in the event it doesn’t settle, and the actual value of the injuries and associated pain and suffering, wage loss and other out of pocket expenses.
To settle your case for the largest amount possible, which may be the policy limits of the insurance policy, depending upon the severity of your injuries, you need to get the insurance adjuster to evaluate your case in the same manner they would as if an attorney were negotiating with them. While most insurance companies, unfortunately, simply won’t do that, here’s what you need to do to try to obtain the maximum settlement value.
First, you need to obtain all of your medical records and bills. You can’t rely on the insurance company to do this. As soon as you tell the insurance company you want them to do this or agree to having them do it and tell you how much your medical bills come to and what your medical records say, you are giving up control of the situation. I can’t stress this enough.
You will need to sign authorization forms to obtain your medical records and bills and pay the cost of obtaining those medical records and bills (the cost of which can range from $15 to hundreds of dollars) from each hospital, ambulance company, doctor, chiropractor, radiologist, emergency room billing service, etc. Some medical providers require you to use their authorization forms. Some require you to agree to their using a photocopy service to copy your records at a higher cost. Some medical providers require one fee for your bills and another fee for your medical records.
Just obtaining all of your medical records and bills is one of the most time consuming aspects of handling personal injury cases. And, to make matters worse, you’re still not through with your medical providers. When your treatment is complete and you have all of your medical records and bills and the first settlement offer is made to you, you’ll need to call each of your medical providers or their billing offices again to learn if you have any balance owing (and you can expect to be on the phone repeatedly and for long periods of time to learn this information) and in many cases you will need to send them another authorization form before they’ll tell you this information.
You will need to obtain a copy of the police report. This is a much simpler process. Some police departments charge between $10 to $40 for a copy, while other departments provide them to you for free. You can pick it up at the police or CHP office yourself or request one by mail with an authorization form and a check for the proper fee.
You’ll also need to obtain your wage loss information on a wage loss form from your employer if you suffered any wage losses or had to use up valuable sick time, personal time, or vacation days.
You should obtain witness statements if there is any issue as to the liability of the other driver for the accident and you should take photos of the scene if there was something wrong with the road conditions or other unusual circumstances.
You will also need to obtain a number of good photographs of your car damage, copies of the vehicle repair bills and estimates and receipts for any items damaged in your vehicle.
Here’s a secret. In California you are entitled to the cost of a replacement child seat if one was in the accident. It’s automatic. Just tell the insurance company the make and model or find out the cost for the make and model child seat and the insurance company will send you a check for a new one, even if the old one wasn’t broken. Why? It’s in the California insurance code. The insurance companies, however, don’t volunteer this information. Why? They’re in business to make money, not pay it out.
Finally, when all your treatment is done, you will need to put together a demand package with a demand letter reviewing the facts of the accident and the negligence of the other driver that made him or her at fault, a summary of your injuries and medical treatment (from your medical records), an itemization of your medical bills, a discussion of your pain and suffering and how the injuries impacted your life, a discussion of your wage loss and how you determined the amount, and finally the amount of your demand and a time limit (40 days – the time allotted under the insurance code) for the insurance company to respond with their offer. The demand letter should be a minimum of four pages in length. Some of ours have been close to twenty pages. Accompanying the demand letter should be copies of all of your medical records and bills, color copies of the car damage photos, copies of the repair bills and estimates, any wage loss documentation and any other relevant items such as witness statements, etc.
If all of this is too much work for you to accomplish (and it is a lot when you are just trying to get better, get on with your life, raise a family and still go to work to put food on the table) you may want to hire our law firm to represent you.
The reason why, in most cases you will receive more, even after an attorney’s fees and costs are taken out, is that insurance companies offer much more to an attorney handling your case than when you are attempting to settle it yourself. In addition, an experienced and reputable lawyer can also obtain reductions from your health insurance company and from any medical providers with a balance with regards to what amount has to be paid back to them out of any settlement.
When you rely on the insurance company to pay your medical bills, and then simply pay you a skimpy amount on top, you are giving them the right to determine what bills they think were “reasonable” and to obtain any reductions in the bills to save themselves money. When an attorney obtains a reduction in your bills or your health insurance company lien, the amount the attorney saves increases the amount of your net settlement.
Keep in mind that as soon as you start negotiating your claim by yourself, it’s almost impossible for an attorney to persuade the insurance company to evaluate your case in the higher category type of claim. At our law firm, while we’ll take on a case that may be months old where the injured victim has simply been receiving medical treatment, we won’t take on the case in most cases if the victim has already received a bad offer from the insurance company. At that stage it’s usually too late for an attorney to make much of a difference.
Hopefully, this article has provided you with some insights as to how to obtain the maximum settlement from an insurance company for an auto, car, motorcycle, bicycle, pedestrian, truck, dog bite, or wrongful death claim. There is much more that an experienced attorney does, especially in the negotiation stage to maximize the settlement and this is where an attorney’s experience kicks in.
An attorney such as Sebastian Gibson who has been negotiating these cases with many of the same adjusters for decades, knows the tactics and negotiating style of them and their companies and knows how refute the talking points their insurance companies train their adjusters to use in negotiations.
What causes many attorneys to be unable to settle their cases and who then find themselves with no alternative but to file a lawsuit in court and face two to five years of litigation before the matter settles or goes to jury, is to get angry (some even scream and yell) with the adjuster, box themselves into a corner and tell the adjuster something along the lines of, “If that’s the best you can do, we’re filing suit.” The adjuster’s response to this is naturally, “go ahead.”
An insurance company doesn’t really care if they have to dump your case onto the case load of their attorneys who are already handling tens of thousands of such cases. One more case, makes no difference to them at all. They also know, you may give up or settle for even less when you learn from an attorney how much just the court costs will be. Just to file a lawsuit in most courts alone incurs a $350.00 or larger filing fee. Depositions can cost over a thousand dollars if they are lengthy. And all such court costs come out of your settlement, even if you have a contingency fee attorney handling your case.
Sadly, many of these same lawyers take this step or let their improperly trained staff members (secretaries and clerks) force the matter to such an impasse and then file suit without properly informing the client of the negotiations that took place and led them to that point.
If you are negotiating with an insurance company yourself, there’s no need to be unpleasant. Yes, you are probably going to hear that the insurance adjuster has evaluated your case to be worth much less than you think it’s worth. But you’re forgetting that, that’s just their first offer. Communicate with the adjuster. Tell them how the injuries affected your life and tell them what you still go through today with the pain you still have. You’ll be surprised how many adjusters will actually relate to what you tell them.
Unfortunately, just as there are bad attorneys out there, there are also some lousy insurance adjusters and insurance companies to deal with as well. They’re supposed to get back to you in 40 days with an offer after you present them with your demand package. Some take longer. Some will sound unpleasant, even snotty. And once they make their first offer, it can take weeks sometimes to reach the adjuster again to make your counter-offer. Sometimes the negotiations can take months. If you want to get the most you can for your case, you need to be patient. Your job, just as it is the job of your attorney, is to get these unpleasant insurance adjusters to warm up. I ask them how the weather is, how they’re doing, if their busy, anything to get them to open up to me. You’d be surprised how far a little kindness goes.
We wish you good luck and a speedy recovery from your injuries. You’ll find that your health, in many cases, will drastically improve, once you remove yourself from the stress of handling your case and resolve it either yourself or with the assistance of our law firm by way of settlement. If on the other hand, your case goes into litigation, as do the cases of many lawyers who don’t have the settlement experience or negotiating tools to settle their cases advantageously for their clients, your stress level will almost certainly rise.
The law firm of Sebastian Gibson handles personal injury cases in Venice, and throughout Southern and Central California and handle wrongful death cases throughout the state. To learn more about Sebastian Gibson and the other areas of law handled by the law firm, visit the Sebastian Gibson website.
We invite you to visit our website at http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com and call us if you’ve been seriously injured in a personal injury auto, motorcycle, car, truck, pedestrian, or bicycle accident, lost a loved one in a wrongful death or been injured in a dog bite or animal attack in Venice.
As a Lompoc Auto Accident Lawyer with millions of dollars in settlements and multiple million dollar or larger settlements from over thirty years of experience in or around Lompoc, other nearby cities and internationally, I know many of you are attempting to settle your own personal injury, dog bite and wrongful death cases by yourselves for the maximum and the biggest settlement you can to save the cost of an attorney.
In this article I’ll tell you the secrets of how attorneys negotiate for top dollar and I’ll also tell you why insurance companies lick their chops and rub their hands together with glee when individuals try to settle their claims without an attorney and why, in most cases, you’ll receive a larger, much greater amount in your pocket or in the trust fund you set up for any children injured in the accident, even after an attorney’s fee and costs if you hire a reputable and experienced personal injury attorney.
If you’ve been the victim of a car, motorcycle, bike, truck, pedestrian, bicycle or auto accident, lost a loved one in a wrongful death or been the victim of a dog bite or animal attack, you can visit our website at http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com for more information and call us at any of the numbers easily found on our website.
First, you need to know that insurance companies evaluate cases two ways. As soon as you begin negotiating with the insurance company yourself, they evaluate your case, unfortunately, in terms of a nuisance value matter. They’ve settled tens or hundreds of thousands of cases with individuals before for paltry amounts and they will expect they can settle your case for a measly amount as well.
Why do they look at you as if you’re chopped meat? As soon as you tell them you are negotiating your own settlement, they know you’re trying to save money. To them, that means you may even be desperate. They also know you won’t be as knowledgeable about their tricks and tactics and like those tens or hundreds of thousands of people before you, they know how they can play you until you either become so frustrated you settle for their bad offer or become panicked that your time is running out.
The second way they evaluate a case, namely one presented by a lawyer, is an analysis of what the case’s true settlement value is based on the attorney’s skill and experience, how prepared the case is for litigation in the event it doesn’t settle, and the actual value of the injuries and associated pain and suffering, wage loss and other out of pocket expenses.
To settle your case for the largest amount possible, which may be the policy limits of the insurance policy, depending upon the severity of your injuries, you need to get the insurance adjuster to evaluate your case in the same manner they would as if an attorney were negotiating with them. While most insurance companies, unfortunately, simply won’t do that, here’s what you need to do to try to obtain the maximum settlement value.
First, you need to obtain all of your medical records and bills. You can’t rely on the insurance company to do this. As soon as you tell the insurance company you want them to do this or agree to having them do it and tell you how much your medical bills come to and what your medical records say, you are giving up control of the situation. I can’t stress this enough.
You will need to sign authorization forms to obtain your medical records and bills and pay the cost of obtaining those medical records and bills (the cost of which can range from $15 to hundreds of dollars) from each hospital, ambulance company, doctor, chiropractor, radiologist, emergency room billing service, etc. Some medical providers require you to use their authorization forms. Some require you to agree to their using a photocopy service to copy your records at a higher cost. Some medical providers require one fee for your bills and another fee for your medical records.
Just obtaining all of your medical records and bills is one of the most time consuming aspects of handling personal injury cases. And, to make matters worse, you’re still not through with your medical providers. When your treatment is complete and you have all of your medical records and bills and the first settlement offer is made to you, you’ll need to call each of your medical providers or their billing offices again to learn if you have any balance owing (and you can expect to be on the phone repeatedly and for long periods of time to learn this information) and in many cases you will need to send them another authorization form before they’ll tell you this information.
You will need to obtain a copy of the police report. This is a much simpler process. Some police departments charge between $10 to $40 for a copy, while other departments provide them to you for free. You can pick it up at the police or CHP office yourself or request one by mail with an authorization form and a check for the proper fee.
You’ll also need to obtain your wage loss information on a wage loss form from your employer if you suffered any wage losses or had to use up valuable sick time, personal time, or vacation days.
You should obtain witness statements if there is any issue as to the liability of the other driver for the accident and you should take photos of the scene if there was something wrong with the road conditions or other unusual circumstances.
You will also need to obtain a number of good photographs of your car damage, copies of the vehicle repair bills and estimates and receipts for any items damaged in your vehicle.
Here’s a secret. In California you are entitled to the cost of a replacement child seat if one was in the accident. It’s automatic. Just tell the insurance company the make and model or find out the cost for the make and model child seat and the insurance company will send you a check for a new one, even if the old one wasn’t broken. Why? It’s in the California insurance code. The insurance companies, however, don’t volunteer this information. Why? They’re in business to make money, not pay it out.
Finally, when all your treatment is done, you will need to put together a demand package with a demand letter reviewing the facts of the accident and the negligence of the other driver that made him or her at fault, a summary of your injuries and medical treatment (from your medical records), an itemization of your medical bills, a discussion of your pain and suffering and how the injuries impacted your life, a discussion of your wage loss and how you determined the amount, and finally the amount of your demand and a time limit (40 days – the time allotted under the insurance code) for the insurance company to respond with their offer. The demand letter should be a minimum of four pages in length. Some of ours have been close to twenty pages. Accompanying the demand letter should be copies of all of your medical records and bills, color copies of the car damage photos, copies of the repair bills and estimates, any wage loss documentation and any other relevant items such as witness statements, etc.
If all of this is too much work for you to accomplish (and it is a lot when you are just trying to get better, get on with your life, raise a family and still go to work to put food on the table) you may want to hire our law firm to represent you.
The reason why, in most cases you will receive more, even after an attorney’s fees and costs are taken out, is that insurance companies offer much more to an attorney handling your case than when you are attempting to settle it yourself. In addition, an experienced and reputable lawyer can also obtain reductions from your health insurance company and from any medical providers with a balance with regards to what amount has to be paid back to them out of any settlement.
When you rely on the insurance company to pay your medical bills, and then simply pay you a skimpy amount on top, you are giving them the right to determine what bills they think were “reasonable” and to obtain any reductions in the bills to save themselves money. When an attorney obtains a reduction in your bills or your health insurance company lien, the amount the attorney saves increases the amount of your net settlement.
Keep in mind that as soon as you start negotiating your claim by yourself, it’s almost impossible for an attorney to persuade the insurance company to evaluate your case in the higher category type of claim. At our law firm, while we’ll take on a case that may be months old where the injured victim has simply been receiving medical treatment, we won’t take on the case in most cases if the victim has already received a bad offer from the insurance company. At that stage it’s usually too late for an attorney to make much of a difference.
Hopefully, this article has provided you with some insights as to how to obtain the maximum settlement from an insurance company for an auto, car, motorcycle, bicycle, pedestrian, truck, dog bite, or wrongful death claim. There is much more that an experienced attorney does, especially in the negotiation stage to maximize the settlement and this is where an attorney’s experience kicks in.
An attorney such as Sebastian Gibson who has been negotiating these cases with many of the same adjusters for decades, knows the tactics and negotiating style of them and their companies and knows how refute the talking points their insurance companies train their adjusters to use in negotiations.
What causes many attorneys to be unable to settle their cases and who then find themselves with no alternative but to file a lawsuit in court and face two to five years of litigation before the matter settles or goes to jury, is to get angry (some even scream and yell) with the adjuster, box themselves into a corner and tell the adjuster something along the lines of, “If that’s the best you can do, we’re filing suit.” The adjuster’s response to this is naturally, “go ahead.”
An insurance company doesn’t really care if they have to dump your case onto the case load of their attorneys who are already handling tens of thousands of such cases. One more case, makes no difference to them at all. They also know, you may give up or settle for even less when you learn from an attorney how much just the court costs will be. Just to file a lawsuit in most courts alone incurs a $350.00 or larger filing fee. Depositions can cost over a thousand dollars if they are lengthy. And all such court costs come out of your settlement, even if you have a contingency fee attorney handling your case.
Sadly, many of these same lawyers take this step or let their improperly trained staff members (secretaries and clerks) force the matter to such an impasse and then file suit without properly informing the client of the negotiations that took place and led them to that point.
If you are negotiating with an insurance company yourself, there’s no need to be unpleasant. Yes, you are probably going to hear that the insurance adjuster has evaluated your case to be worth much less than you think it’s worth. But you’re forgetting that, that’s just their first offer. Communicate with the adjuster. Tell them how the injuries affected your life and tell them what you still go through today with the pain you still have. You’ll be surprised how many adjusters will actually relate to what you tell them.
Unfortunately, just as there are bad attorneys out there, there are also some lousy insurance adjusters and insurance companies to deal with as well. They’re supposed to get back to you in 40 days with an offer after you present them with your demand package. Some take longer. Some will sound unpleasant, even snotty. And once they make their first offer, it can take weeks sometimes to reach the adjuster again to make your counter-offer. Sometimes the negotiations can take months. If you want to get the most you can for your case, you need to be patient. Your job, just as it is the job of your attorney, is to get these unpleasant insurance adjusters to warm up. I ask them how the weather is, how they’re doing, if their busy, anything to get them to open up to me. You’d be surprised how far a little kindness goes.
We wish you good luck and a speedy recovery from your injuries. You’ll find that your health, in many cases, will drastically improve, once you remove yourself from the stress of handling your case and resolve it either yourself or with the assistance of our law firm by way of settlement. If on the other hand, your case goes into litigation, as do the cases of many lawyers who don’t have the settlement experience or negotiating tools to settle their cases advantageously for their clients, your stress level will almost certainly rise.
The law firm of Sebastian Gibson handles personal injury cases in Lompoc, and throughout Southern and Central California and handle wrongful death cases throughout the state. To learn more about Sebastian Gibson and the other areas of law handled by the law firm, visit the Sebastian Gibson website.
We invite you to visit our website at http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com and call us if you’ve been seriously injured in a personal injury auto, motorcycle, car, truck, pedestrian, or bicycle accident, lost a loved one in a wrongful death or been injured in a dog bite or animal attack in Lompoc.
Eid al-Adha, the cheery Festival of Sacrifice, is upon us here. This is not the jolly Eid that marks the end of Ramadan, this is the one that commemorates Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son, Ismael, as an act of obedience to God. Ismael may have survived that particular request but the sheep of Tripoli (much like the turkeys of Norfolk) continue to get it in the neck – quite literally – many years later. Prior to the festival empty pick-ups can be seen desperately criss-crossing the city in search of live sheep. Wild-eyed, tethered sheep totter around the back of careering, battered trucks and vans as their drivers then go in search of knives and charcoal. The plaintiff bleating of livestock, held in high walled concrete yards, hangs in the still evening air throughout the city. Little Leafy spied Moftah’s, the landlord, five sheep (“no daddy they are goats”) through a hole in the wall and formed an instant attachment with the wretched creatures. We forced our way into the yard and stood, at a safe distance of course, for what seemed an age examining the finer details of their anatomies. We were, in turn, examined in as much detail by the silent horde of Moftah’s doe-eyed grandchildren; was this, I wondered, a Libyan Stand-off? The ‘goats’ were later introduced to Mrs L. and were the subject of many engrossing conversations throughout the day; “Why is Moftah keeping goats in his garden?”, “You be a goat daddy, and I will be Moftah.” and “Could we have one on the balcony?”
The following morning I observe, from the balcony that Little L. had earmarked for rearing livestock, a small pit being dug in the yard directly below by a large sweaty man. Five imbecilic sheep stare at the activity with interest. “Daddy what is that man digging for?” My voyeurism was abruptly interrupted. Later in the day each of the sheep was led to the pit, tipped over and pinned to the dusty ground by a pile of squirming grandchildren. Moftah’s eldest brother wielded the largest knife I have ever seen and with a flick of his wrist, as if it were an envelope, opened the sheep’s neck. Blood poured into the large pit. “Daddy is that goat asleep?” Good-grief, where can a man watch a butchering in peace and quiet these days?
Soon afterwards billowing clouds of smoke replaced the bleating sounds as barbecues are fired up and the smell of roasting meat is, for a while, stronger than the smell of offal. As the day drew to an end West African immigrants emerged from side-streets with blow-torches and the heads of the butchered sheep and proceeded to burn the hair from the skull before they become useful. How a hairless sheep’s head is used I have yet to discover, but am currently quite comfortable with my ignorance.
Weight loss
The battered car stopped beside me and the window was wound down. “Could you help me sir?” came the request from the driver within. I bent down to see who needed my help. A man wearing glasses that were so thick it would probably be safest if he was not driving. He patted his large stomach. “I am 140 lbs, I want to be 80. What should I do?”
“Well, what about swimming?” I ventured, not sure what elaborate trap, cunningly disguised as a benign question, was being set for me. Would I be bundled into the back of the car with a blanket over my head to the screaming newspaper headlines Another falls victim to the weight question!
“No, I cannot swim. Am I eating too much?”
“Possibly. What about running or cycling?” I continued tentatively.
“I don’t have a bicycle, but I can run. What else?”
“Football is something I play,” I meekly offered.
“Football? How long should I run for? One hour?”
“Well perhaps not straight away. Try fifteen minutes to begin with and build up to an hour over time.”
“Fifteen minutes? How many times a day?”
“Just the once to begin with I think.”
“Excellent and what should I eat?”
Was there no end to this? “Fruit and vegetables are good.”
“I don’t like apples though.”
“OK. What about other fruit?” I asked in an increasingly exasperated tone.
“Yes I can eat other fruit. What is your name?” I told him my name. “Can I give you a lift anywhere?” I convinced him I was happier walking. “You have been very helpful my friend. Have a good evening.” And with that he sped off in a cloud of dust clattering into every pothole his poor eyesight could not see.
Indignant
We took Mrs L. to have her hair done recently. Little L. and I dropped her and Baby L. off and then went to our favourite cafe. From the terrace, if you keep your head tilted at 45 degrees upwards, all you can see is the deep blue of the Mediterranean, and not the derelict seafront behind the large white constructor’s fence. Luxurious leather seats, cool jazz and delicious fruit juices have us beating a path towards it most weeks at some time or another. Little L. and I sat talking about goats and Lego, listening to Herb Alpert whilst sharing a strawberry juice and slice of cheesecake. The cafe is not cheap, but I was confident that I had picked up enough cash even for a place like this. I was wrong. I explained to our waiter that I was embarrassingly short, by one Dinar, and would not be able to settle the entire bill. As is always the way here my embarrassment was waved away. “No problem, no problem. Next time.” I thanked him and the proprietor, who was sitting behind the till, for their generosity and made to leave. Our mustachioed waiter caught us at the steps down to the street. Tapping his wallet pocket in a conspiratorial manner, he said “Sir, if you are short of money I have plenty and would be happy to give you some.” Being suddenly exposed like this, on an emotional landscape that was not at all familiar, was unsettling. Feeling both touched and indignant I said, probably too loudly, “No, no! I have plenty of money at home! I just came out with too little. That’s all. Many thanks all the same!” I grabbed Little L’s hand and hurried off. In all likelyhood too quickly.
Tiger Woods, billionaire golf master – to even say that is an attocity, got into a car accident near his home at 2:25am this morning but he is not seriously injured. Seems that Woosey Woods could not get out of his monstrosity of a vehicle and his “wife” had to use one of his golf clubs to smash the back window and pull him out.
So – now we know that Elin wears the pants in that family and it must be true that Swedish girls can impregnant themselves several times??? LOFLMAO – what a proofta. No alcohol was found but he had all the classic symptoms of a cheating spouse who was high on drugs. (My assessment)
What is yours?
—Bonju Patten
Ever since the national press devoured the story of a fellow in California whose Lexus accelerated off a roadway, triggering the recall of millions of Toyotas, I have expressed doubt about the risk of stuck accelerators in Toyotas. I see parallels between this recall and the unfounded claims of unintended acceleration by the Audi 5000 in the 1980s.
First, let’s put some information out there that has been overlooked by the national press, who is eager for a doomsday story affecting millions of cars. That Lexus that crashed in California was a dealership loaner car. I did not know this until I did some further reading – the national press has never mentioned this. The driver was likely unfamiliar with the car, and therefore panicked when the car exhibited odd behaviour. Another thing that has gone unmentioned by the national press is that the dealership had the wrong floormats in the car. Incorrectly-sized floormats from a different Lexus model were in place, which increased the risk of the floormat interfering with pedal operation. And lastly, why wouldn’t a highway patrol officer know to shift into neutral to keep the engine from driving the wheels and accelerating? I point to unfamiliarity with the loaner vehicle. Perhaps the driver, in the fog of confusion and panic, could not find or operate the shifter. As for turning off the car, confusion/unfamiliarity may have played a role there as well. The crashed vehicle may have had the push-button start system, but I don’t know for sure. The driver may not have known to hold the button down to turn the engine off.
This crash is what set the ball rolling with this madness, which is why I have taken the time to address it. I think the fault of the crash rests more with the driver and a poor understanding of how to handle the situation than it does with a design problem. So why do I think this recall is pure bunk? Let me explain, from a Prius owner’s perspective.
First, you need to have some really jacked-up floormats for them to trap the accelerator. In my 2007 Prius, there is a ton of room between the bottom of the accelerator and the floor.
I saw a video where a gas pedal was fully depressed and then it became stuck under the floormat. I don’t know how this is possible. I would expect the spring in the accelerator to offer more than enough force for the pedal to push back past the floormat, unless the floormat managed to cover up half the accelerator or the floormat was really heavy. But again, how would this happen? Who would have such heavy floormats, and who would be so sloppy as to allow their floormat to slide forward over the pedal? For years, I have checked the position of the driver’s side floormat before driving. It’s not out of concern about the accelerator, it’s a concern for cleanliness. I want to make sure the floormat is properly positioned so I don’t get the carpet dirty. Additionally, if the factory mats are used with the hooks, you have nothing to worry about. The mats won’t move. If you look at the above photos of my mats, you will notice I am using aftermarket Wal-Mart all-weather floormats that don’t connect to the hooks. If they are out of position, I just give the mats a little tug and move them back. They are never out of position by more than an inch.
I pushed the accelerator all the way to the floor to see if it could get caught on my floormat. My accelerator ended up pushing down onto the floormat. Absolutely positively no way the pedal could get stuck under the mat since it was pushing down on the mat. Could it get wedged against the mat? Maybe, but not likely. Even less likely considering it is rare to floor the throttle.
I took the factory floormat out of my trunk and installed it correctly, using the floor hooks. I was dumbfounded that this recall is even taking place. The floormat came nowhere near the gas pedal, and the floormat was securely anchored. Below are pics of the factory floormat correctly installed, and how the pedal is positioned relative to the floormat when it is fully floored. Apologies for flipping you the bird in one pic.
So to summarize point number one, I think it is really unlikely that your Toyota will get stuck accelerating unless you were silly enough to install the wrong-sized floormat or stacked your floormats.
Point number two – why don’t people know to put their car into neutral when it gets stuck accelerating? It’s just common sense. The [D]rive gear position means motive force is being sent to the wheels. Put it in [N]eutral, and the engine will just rev. The engine computer has a rev limiter and will not allow the engine to rev to the point of blowing up. With the engine still on, you will have full power steering and power braking, essential for getting your car safely to a stop on the side of the road. If you turn the engine off, steering and braking will be more difficult since you no longer have the power assist.
Point number three – people need to be educated about their car. Related to point number one, people should be aware of proper care and placement of floormats. The main jist of point three is that there is some unfamiliarity with the push-start buttons on newer cars. The Prius is the most widespread push-button car, but some Nissan Altimas, Lexuses, and the new Buick LaCrosse also have start buttons. There are probably more cars I am not aware of. I knew that simply hitting the power button on my Prius wouldn’t turn the engine off while driving. I knew I had to hold it down, but I didn’t know for how long. I’ll fess up to that. For the record, in a Prius you hold the button down for three seconds.
I don’t think there is a problem with these cars. It is more of a driver education issue. Make sure your floormats are installed properly, know how to put your car into neutral while it’s in motion, and know how to turn the car off if necessary.
Toyota is addressing the (unlikely, in my opinion) issue of floormats trapping the accelerator by trimming the bottom of the pedal to make it shorter. This will give more clearance between the pedal and the floor, but I think there is already sufficient clearance and this modification is therefore unnecessary.
On some cars, Toyota is reprogramming the computer so the brake supersedes the accelerator. If the brake is applied at the same time as the accelerator, the throttle will be cut off so the brake has maximum effect and doesn’t have to compete with simultaneous acceleration. That makes total sense to me, and the cars should have been programmed this way to begin with. However, the Prius is not among the cars getting this reprogramming. In reading up about this recall, I found this video in a PriusChat forum topic:
Amazing. With a floored accelerator, the Prius’ engine cut back to idle and the brakes brought the car to a stop. With the car at a stop, brake and accelerator pedals depressed, the driver let off the brake and the car lurched forward toward the end of the video. This confirmed the brakes were overriding the accelerator. Is this evidence that the Prius’ computer is already programmed to override the throttle when the brake is depressed? I don’t know, but it certainly looks that way. I would like to try this exercise myself sometime.
It would be nice if Toyota would explain why the Prius is lumped in with all these cars for the recall, but is only getting the shortened (eventually replaced) pedal but not getting the computer update or the modified carpeting. Does this mean the Prius’ engine computer is already smart enough to handle a stuck gas pedal? Do the Prius owners only need to keep an eye on their floormats?
In that case, it is not necessary for a full-blown recall. The drivers only need to be educated about their cars. Properly install and maintain your floormats to eliminate the slim possibility of the accelerator getting trapped. Know how to put your car into neutral while driving. And lastly, know how to turn off your car. In fact, Luscious Garage, the folks who made that earlier video, made two more videos about how to put a Prius into neutral and how to turn it off while driving.
Putting Prius in Neutral
Turning Prius Off
These are all driver education issues. The Camry, Avalon, and Lexus ES/IS models should have their computers reprogrammed under the recall, but the Prius seems to already handle simultaneous gas/brake pedal action correctly. Just have all the Prius owners watch the above videos, and tell us to check our floormats. We’re big boys and girls, we can do this. There is no need to trim or replace our accelerator pedals.
Personally, I will decline to have this recall work done on my Prius. My car works fine. I can maintain it and the floormats fine. I don’t want the pedal feel of my car to be changed. I know what to do in the highly unlikely event the accelerator gets stuck. Of course, I’ll get the work done when it is time to sell the car. If I trade it in, it’s the dealer’s job to make sure it has all recall work done.
In the end, I think Toyota will be vindicated like Audi. In Audi’s case, it was found that the cars did not randomly accelerate on their own. They simply had closely-positioned pedals. Drivers were hitting the gas instead of the brake before shifting, and were basically doing neutral drops when putting the car into drive or reverse. The press went to town digging up reports and interviewing people, and almost put Audi out of business. Fast forward two decades and now we’re hearing stories from people who think their Toyota accelerated by itself. All of these supposed cases of Toyota unintended acceleration are probably the result of driver negligence (improperly placed floormats) or driver ignorance (not knowing about neutral or shutting off the car). I wonder if Toyota is including the Prius in the recall as a CYA kind of thing, to show they are doing something for their halo car.
