Trey Apffel was elected State Bar of Texas President-elect in the run-off election. Apffel received 14,721 votes, or 52.55 percent, and Fischer received 13,290 votes, or 47.45 percent.
Texas among states considering lower BAC standards
Drunk driving laws have drastically changed over the years to help curb a serious problem in the United States. The changes are a direct result of the high number of serious, sometimes fatal, auto accidents caused by people who were drinking alcohol just prior to driving. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the current blood alcohol content standard is simply not low enough.
The NTSB states that the number of car accidents involving alcohol have decreased by more than half since the current BAC minimum of 0.08 percent was introduced. They contend that the number of auto accidents involving a drunk driver is still too high. That is what has incited them to push for legislation that would lower the maximum BAC to 0.05 percent, the standard by which many other countries define an impaired driver. Texas is one of the states that might consider the lower level. If legislation for the lower limit is enacted, it could positively change the outcome in lawsuits for people bringing cases against a driver who has caused catastrophic injuries in the course of driving while impaired.
Texas woman pleads guilty to intoxication manslaughter
In Sept. 2011, a Texas woman left a bar in Austin with her 22-year-old companion. She drove the wrong way down Ben White Road and drove head-on into a delivery truck. Her passenger was killed in the car accident. It was not stated whether either driver was injured when the vehicles collided.
The woman reportedly turned herself in to local police and was arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and intoxication manslaughter. The woman, now 24 years old, appeared in court on May 2 to enter a guilty plea.
Texas car accident leaves 2 injured
A three-car accident in New Braunfels on May 2 left two people injured and a portion of Loop 337 closed for nearly an hour. The car crash occurred in the 2500 block of Loop 337 around 3:30 pm. Work crews had the scene cleared and the road reopened by 4:30 pm.
The accident happened when one car rear-ended the car in front of it, which then rear-ended the next car. The middle car was sandwiched between the two other cars, and emergency personnel reportedly had to remove all of the car's doors to remove the car's driver and passenger. Both individuals were listed in stable condition but were airlifted to a nearby hospital as a precaution due to possible broken bones.
TBIs can be caused by violence
In Texas, bar fights and other altercations are common events and many people tend to minimize the possible serious effects of these brawls. However, as one Georgia case shows, traumatic brain injuries can easily occur during a "routine" bar fight, leaving victims helpless and debilitated.
A Villa Rica, Georgia, bar fight ended with a 21-year-old hospitalized in a coma and three other men behind bars. The 21-year-old was placed in a medically induced coma so that doctors would have a chance to work on his brain injuries with the least possibility of damage to him.
Driver involved in two separate fatal bus accidents
The driver of a fatal bus accident that occurred in northern Texas also was involved in another fatal bus accident in 1998. During the most recent incident, the 65-year-old male driver was operating a bus with 46 passengers when he allegedly swerved the bus into a center median on a highway in Irving. This car accident resulted in the death of two individuals and injuries to several dozen. The bus driver was injured and received treatment in the ICU of a local hospital as a result of this accident.
According to court records, the bus driver was also behind the wheel of a bus that was involved in a fatal accident in 1998. A 22-year-old man was providing aid at the scene of an accident near Dallas when the bus driver's vehicle struck and killed the pedestrian. The driver was not indicted on a negligent homicide charge as a result of the 1998 incident.
New bill could affect personal injury cases in Houston
The Texas legislature is working on passing a bill slated to increase the hit-and-run penalty for any driver who is convicted of failing to stop and administer aid to someone that they have hit. The Texas Senate has already passed Senate Bill 275 unanimously. Before the bill can become law, however, it must also garner the approval of the House of Representatives before being signed into law by the governor.
Recently, a Texas woman fled a car accident scene that involved the death of a local artist who was renowned in the Houston area. The woman was subsequently sentenced to eight years in prison, which is two years less than the maximum allowable sentence in Texas. The deceased was traveling on a motorcycle around 9:15 pm on August 11, 2012 when the woman rear-ended his bike with her Ford Fusion, and the man died the next day.
Texas driver runs red light, causes fatal car accident
The Houston Police Department reported a fatal accident involving three cars at the Texas 3 intersection with Edgebrook Road. A Honda Civic traveling east on Edgebrook was making a left onto Texas 3 at the same time as an Isuzu Trooper headed west on Edgebrook was also making a left onto Texas 3. Both cars had the green light. A GMC Envoy moving south on Texas 3 ran the red light at around 1:20 a.m. and hit the Honda, which caused it to strike the Isuzu.
A 22-year-old passenger in the Honda was killed by the car accident, and the driver was taken to Ben Taub General Hospital in stable condition. A passenger in the Isuzu suffered injuries and received treatment at Bayshore Medical Center.
Sailplane wing breaks off midflight; 2 killed in resulting crash
A bizarre accident has claimed the life of an elderly man and a boy in West Texas. The pair, a 79-year-old man and a 13-year-old boy, were in a sailplane, a type of glider, when one of the craft's wings broke off at an altitude of about 2,000 feet. The incident occurred shortly after the glider had been released from being towed by another aircraft to get it into the air.
The crash happened at the Littlefield Municipal Airport, where the boy's grandfather happens to be the airport manager. Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating the crash, which could take several months. However, the family of one or both of the people on board might wish to file a wrongful death lawsuit against one or more parties.
Man indicted on DUI charges for crash that killed 2 siblings
Everyone in Texas knows that drivers who have been drinking are dangerous to themselves and everyone else on the road. However, someone who is ultimately charged with driving under the influence might not have used alcohol at all. Sometimes the "influence" refers to drugs or other intoxicants aside from alcohol.
This is allegedly the case with a man from San Antonio who has been charged with causing a fatal car accident in Mississippi. According to charges that were filed recently, the man was charged with two counts -- both of them aggravated DUI -- when his car crashed into one that was carrying to college students who were brother and sister. Both students -- a 30-year-old man and his 23-year-old sister -- were killed in the wreck.
