Articles by andrewtraub/page/6

A criminal flees the police at speeds topping 100 mph, crosses into oncoming traffic and smashes into a car.  Sounds like a nightmare?  It gets worse.  His insurance company doesn’t want to pay up on his $300,000 auto insurance policy. The Texas Supreme Court will soon decide who deserves the law’s protection – the family…

A study of red-light cameras in Houston showed that traffic accidents doubled at those intersections in the first year after they were put in. Mayor Bill White defended the use of the cameras, which he has favored, saying they prevented even more wrecks. Critics, however, said that the city-financed study supports their contention that the…

The American Association for Justice has published an interesting and helpful article titled Tricks of the Trade: How Insurance Companies Deny, Delay, Confuse and Refuse. The topics include: Denying Claims, Delaying Until Death, Confusing Consumers, Abandoning the Sick, Discriminating by Credit Score, and Canceling for a Call. Here is the summary of the article and…

A national safety group is advocating a total ban on cell phone use while driving, saying that the practice is dangerous and leads to fatalities. The congressionally chartered National Safety Council says that states should ban drivers from using hand-held and hands-free cell phones and that businesses should prohibit employees from using cell phones while…

The City of Dallas has begun in earnest with the new policy of towing the vehicles of uninsured motorists. I hope the Austin Police copy this tactic and that word spreads quickly and greatly reduces the number of drivers who don’t carry the mandatory auto liability coverage. This would be a great benefit to our…

Scrawl on the patient with a permanent marker to show where the surgeon should cut. Ask the person’s name to make sure you have the’ right patient. Count sponges to make sure you didn’t leave any in the body. Doctors worldwide who followed a checklist of such steps cut the death rate from surgery almost…

An Austin woman and two others claim in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Travis County that new Department of Public Safety driver’s license requirements for noncitizens discriminate against them, even though they are legally in the United States. The women, who are represented by the Texas Civil Rights Project are identified in the state District…

Austin police released an annual ranking of bars where motorists who were stopped on suspicion of drunken driving reported having their most recent drinks. Several bars in downtown topped the list including Rain, Oilcan Harry’s, and The Ranch.  Police are using the list to help target enforcement efforts. The rankings are based on information drivers…

Wesley Ray Marek, arrested August 11th, 2006, after a Round Rock officer stopped him over a possible traffic violation on Sam Bass Road, was sentenced in Williamson County recently to 25 years in prison after his 10th conviction on driving while intoxicated charges. The officer found that Marek was wanted in Brown County, almost 100…

As much as 25 percent of drug errors—when someone gets the wrong prescription, say, or the wrong dosage—occur when the name of one drug looks or sounds like another. Poor penmanship, sloppy pronunciation, and look-alike labels make the problem worse. In a report released earlierthis year, U.S. Pharmacopeia, the official standards-setting body for medications in…