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To protect children from dangerous head injuries California’s state senate has placed a bill on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk that would require all skiers and snowboarders under age 18 to wear helmets on the slopes.

The bill, SB880,  passed by a bipartisan vote of 21-11 in the state senate. It was authored by state Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco). If signed into law, it will impose a $25 fine on parents any time their children ski or snowboard without a helmet. This is the same fine imposed on parents of children who ride bicycles without helmets in the state.

The ski helmet law also will require ski resorts to post signs about the law on slopes, in trail maps and on websites, according to a KCRA News report.

The legislation was inspired in part by statistics on children hurt in skiing and snowboarding accidents, said Yee’s spokesperson Adam Keigwin. Keigwin told CBS Channel 5 News that the California Psychological Association approached Yee with several studies that showed thousands of traumatic brain injuries per year.

“Helmets would severely decrease that number,” Keigwin said. ”Senator Yee, as a child psychologist, understands brain development and how malleable the child brain is,” Keigwin said.

“California’s ski slopes are perhaps the last area of recreation where we do not have basic safety standards in place for children,” said Yee. “Despite repeated warnings from public health experts, professional athletes, and ski resorts, each winter brings news of hundreds of unnecessary tragedies for the failure to wear a helmet. With this legislative package, we can significantly reduce instances of traumatic brain injury or death for such a vulnerable population.”

To further address snow sport safety, Yee teamed up with Assemblyman Dave Jones (D-Sacramento), who authored an assembly bill — AB 1652 — that would require ski resorts to develop and publish safety plans as well as submit a report to California’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal/OSHA) after any fatality at the resort. AB 1652 was approved by the Assembly on a 51-22 bipartisan vote and is headed for the Governor’s desk.

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have been representing injury victims since 1976, and have special expertise in cases involving traumatic brain injury.  The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

A watchdog group issued a report Monday stating that California Attorney General Jerry Brown is not going after nursing home and elder abuse as aggressively as did his predecessor, Bill Lockyer.

A California Watch review by Christina Jewett stated that Brown’s office “has dismissed an increasing number of criminal cases against defendants suspected of elder abuse, while cutting back on surprise inspections to investigate violence and neglect in nursing homes.”

The group says Brown has not only dropped cases that were already in motion, but has filed fewer cases than Lockyer did.

Under Brown, the report states, the department that handles nursing home and elder abuse cases is getting more funding than ever before, but has filed about 30 percent fewer criminal cases than were filed under Lockyer, has dropped surprise inspections by almost 80 percent, and has cut back on elder abuse training for ombudsmen, police and district attorneys without any immediate plans to provide future training.

But spokespeople for Brown’s Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud & Elder Abuse told California Watch the reason they are prosecuting fewer cases is that elder abuse has decreased.

“The office has seen a marked drop in reports of physical abuse and significantly fewer referrals from local ombudsmen, law enforcement and the public,” the report states.

Nevertheless, advocates for the elderly are concerned about the decrease in elder abuse prosecutions, according to the report.  Disability Rights California investigator Leslie Morrison fears that not aggressively prosecuting these cases “resets the tolerance for abusive behavior” and leaves perpetrators room “to slip through cracks and victimize other people.”

Top prosecutors say increased awareness of reporting mandates may mean that more cases are being resolved by local authorities rather than going through the state office, but Morrison believes that halting elder abuse training and surprise inspections has left local agencies ill-prepared to refer cases to Sacramento.

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have been representing injury victims since 1976, and have special expertise in cases involving nursing home abuse.  The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

A 27-year-old pool service worker died after being electrocuted on Thursday when a frayed extension cord touched the pool’s metal handrail at a Palm Desert country club.

Riverside County Sheriff’s Department deputy Herlinda Valenzuela told the Palm Springs Desert Sun that the fatal pool accident occurred at around 11 a.m. at The Lakes Country Club on Green Mountain Drive and Wagon Wheel Road.

Valenzuela confirmed in an email that 27-year-old Luis Miguel Jilote-Lopez of Indio was standing on the steps of the pool when an outdoor extension cord with exposed wires came into contact with the hand railing.

Country club security personnel attempted to save Jilote-Lopez, administering CPR until paramedics arrived. Paramedics continued to try to revive him as they transported him to Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, but he remained unresponsive. Authorities at the hospital pronounced him dead, according to the Desert Sun report.

California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) spokesperson Krisann Chasarik said the agency is investigating the workplace accident. She indicated that two employees of a pool company had been working on the site the day that Jilote-Lopez was electrocuted.

“They were changing out handles that you hold onto to get in and out of the pool,” she told the Desert Sun. “Somehow there were electrical cords being used as well. … I don’t know in what manner.”

Chasarik said Cal/OSHA was still investigating how the cord got damaged and how it ended up touching the railing while Jilote-Lopez was working in the pool.

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have been representing injury victims since 1976, and have special expertise in cases involving workplace injuries and fatalities.  The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

Rescue workers had to cut a trapped woman out of her SUV after it was hit by a driver trying to evade police officers in a chase that reached speeds up to 120 mph Thursday morning near Vacaville, California.

The suspect, 37-year-old Jason Patrick Rhodes of Concord, sped away from Benicia police who had tried to pull him over shortly before 9:30 a.m. on northbound Interstate 680 north of the Benicia Bridge, according to the San Jose Mercury News. He was driving a Toyota Camry.

California Highway Patrol officers saw the Camry speeding across all lanes of Interstate 80 near at Suisun Valley Road and tried to stop him, but he just drove even faster. That’s when his speed reached 120 mph, officers said.

Rhodes tried to get off the freeway at the Pena Adobe Road just south of Vacaville, but apparently lost control of the vehicle on the curving offramp and crashed into an SUV on a nearby onramp. Both of the vehicles rolled over onto the right shoulder of the onramp, according to the report.

Once rescue workers got the trapped driver out of her SUV, paramedics transported her to a hospital to be treated for serious injuries.

Rhodes tried to run away on foot, but officers caught him almost immediately and took him into custody. He was taken to the Solano County Jail where he was charged with suspicion of evading police and causing great bodily injury, felony hit and run, possession of drug paraphernalia, resisting arrest and driving under the influence of drugs.

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have been representing injury victims since 1976, and have special expertise in cases involving hit and run accidents.  The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

(Photo: Flickr | Creative Commons | Don LaVange)

A new survey from the American Automobile Association (AAA) shows that pets riding in cars are a dangerous distraction to drivers.

Nearly 60 percent of dog owners who participated in the survey said they had been distracted at least once by their dogs while driving, according to a report in the San Diego Union-Tribune.  That’s not surprising, considering that 55 percent said they pet their dogs while driving.

Dog owners put safety second when it comes to pampering their car-riding pooches. One in five said they let their dogs sit on their laps, 7 percent said they have fed their dogs while driving and 5 percent admitted they play with their dogs while behind the wheel of a moving vehicle.

To put this is perspective in terms of the danger this poses, looking away from the road for only two seconds doubles the risk of being involved in a crash, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that 6,000 people died in 2008 in crashes involving a distracted or inattentive driver; another half a million were injured. Many traffic safety experts believe the actual number is substantially higher.

And to make matters worse, Automobile Club of Southern California’s Traffic Safety & Community Programs manager Anita Lorz said, “an unrestrained 10-pound dog in a crash at 50 mph will exert roughly 500 pounds of pressure, while an unrestrained 80-pound dog in a crash at only 30 mph will exert 2,400 pounds of pressure. Imagine the devastation that impact can cause to your pet and anyone in the vehicle in its path.”

Driving with animals in the car can be a serious hazard, but is easily mitigated by the use of restraints. A variety of pet restraint systems are available, and most of them are comfortable for the animals. Yet only 17 percent of the dog-owners who participated in the AAA survey ever use any kind of restraints when their dogs ride with them in moving vehicles, and many allow them to ride in the front seat.  That’s bad for everyone — especially the dogs. ??The front airbag system in a vehicle can be deadly to a dog sitting in the front seat during an accident, even if it is restrained.

The message is clear. If you bring your dogs with you, keep them in the back seat in a restraint system — and wait until you have come to a complete stop to reach back and pet them.

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have been representing injury victims since 1976, and have special expertise in cases involving motor vehicle accident injuries and fatalities.  The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

Huntington Beach has joined the growing number of cities in California — and across the country — who are seeking to replenish their empty coffers by charging out-of-towners hefty fees for emergency services already covered by local taxes.

The Huntington Beach City Council on Monday approved an “emergency services cost recovery program” that is expected to net an extra $100,000 a year for the city, according to NBC News.

Out-of-towners who are deemed responsible for car accidents will have to pay $2,000 any time rescue workers have to pry a trapped person from a vehicle — even if that person is the out-of-towner himself. They also will have to pay $750 if any car — including their own — catches fire plus $405 an hour for each fire truck that responds. These fees will be charged to insurance companies or directly to motorists who do not have insurance, according to the NBC report.

City officials say there are 70 other cities in the state with similar recovery fee schedules, but some of those cities don’t charge when there is no insurance.

Sacramento has proposed a similar plan that would add a hefty $2,275 whenever a helicopter is needed to transport a person with serious injuries to a hospital for emergency treatment. Again, that fee applies no matter who is receiving the services. The state capital also wants to charge a variety of “administrative” fees, including $435 every time a fire truck shows up at an car accident scene plus another $680 if they actually attempt to put out a vehicle fire, according to the Sacramento Bee.

One of the problems with this type of crash tax is that the city relies on insurance companies to determine who is at fault in the accident, the Bee editorial states — and many insurers would refuse to pay the fees. The Association of California Insurance Companies said most drivers would have to pay the fees out of their own pockets, according to the Bee.

Most municipal emergency services cost recovery programs are not run by the cities themselves. They are run by private, for-profit companies that skim a percentage off the top. In Willows, for example, Fire Recovery USA — a Roseville-based “billing consultant” — keeps 20 percent of all recovered funds, according to the Willows Journal.

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have been representing injury victims since 1976, and have special expertise in cases involving motor vehicle accident injuries and fatalities.  The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

Two people were injured Tuesday morning in a four-vehicle crash that would have been abated if San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge had a center median.

The accident occurred shortly after 9 a.m., according to the San Francisco Examiner. California Highway Patrol officer Diana McDermott said a northbound big rig rear-ended a Kia Rio. The impact forced the small car into a spin and across the bridge into oncoming traffic in the southbound lane, where it crashed head-on into a Porsche. The Rio continued to spin until it was facing south, when it crashed into the rear of a southbound Toyota Camry.

Two people were hurt in the crossover accident, including the Rio driver, who was hospitalized with serious injuries. The wreck closed the bridge in both directions for more than 40 minutes, grinding morning commute traffic to a halt.

Eric Somers, who was driving the Porsche, told the Contra Costa Times a center median would have kept the Rio in its own lane and prevented the collisions in the southbound lane.

“Suddenly the car was right in front of me and there was nothing I could do,” he said. “A barrier would have helped.”

Advocates have been pushing for a center barrier of some kind since the bridge was opened in 1937, according to the Examiner. At present, the only thing that separates north and southbound cars from each other is a line of traffic cones.

Robert Guernsey of Citizens for a Safe Golden Gate Bridge told the Examiner, “I don’t know why the bridge district continues to put off this [center median] project.”

Bridge district spokeswoman Mary Currie said the problem has been finding a design that will accommodate the directional fluctuation in morning and afternoon commute traffic. Finally, in 2008, the district approved a $25 million design for a 12-inch-wide barrier that can be moved depending on traffic conditions, the Examiner reported.

Now they’re waiting for an environmental impact report to be approved. Currie said it could be 2012 before the median is finally installed.

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have been representing injury victims since 1976, and have special expertise in cases involving injuries caused by improper road design.  The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

A suspected drunk driver ran down three teenage pedestrians in San Diego on Sunday evening and then crashed through a window into a cafe, injuring two patrons inside.

The pedestrian accident occurred at about 6:30 p.m., when a Chrysler New Yorker driven by 66-year-old transient Ronald Troyer veered onto the sidewalk on La Jolla Boulevard near Midway Street and hit the three teens, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

All three of the victims were hospitalized. Miles Polger and Ian Brininstool were released Monday and are recovering at home, but 14-year-old Alani Aguerre — who was carried about 20 yards on the car’s hood, thrown through a glass window and then pinned under the car — is still in the hospital awaiting surgery, her father said. She suffered a broken left leg, broken left arm, broken pelvis and other injuries.

After the car hit the three teens, it crashed into the Cass Street Cafe & Bakery, where it struck and injured Jeffrey and Sharon Macelli. Details of their injuries are not known, but authorities said they do not appear to be life-threatening, according to the Union-Tribune.

Troyer was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. DMV records show he was convicted twice in 2005 for driving under the influence and three times — in 2006, 2007 and 2008 — for driving with a suspended or revoked license. His license has been suspended seven times since 2004 and he does not have a current driver’s license, according to the DMV.

Alani Aguerre’s father said people with a history of drunk driving  should not be allowed to drive at all.

“It’s like releasing a serial killer from prison, handing them a gun and sending them off on their own,” he said.

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have been representing injury victims since 1976, and have special expertise in cases involving drunk driving accidents.  The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

The California Highway Patrol says it will not charge the driver of an off-road truck that went out of control and plowed into a crowd of spectators at a Mojave Desert race Saturday night, killing eight people.

The CHP said the fatal accident at the California 200 race is not within its jurisdiction because the race was a private, sanctioned event permitted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

The Bureau of Land Management, which does have jurisdiction, announced Monday that it has launched an investigation into the accident, according to the Los Angeles Times.  One of the issues they are looking into is how close spectators should be allowed to stand in these kinds of races.

The BLM said safety at the event was the responsibility of the race organizer, South El Monte-based Mojave Desert Racing, according to the Associated Press. Their permit required racers to travel 15 mph or less when they were within 50 feet of fans.

CHP officer Joaquin Zubieta said 28-year-old Brett M. Sloppy of San Marcos was driving his modified 2000 Ford Ranger 45 to 50 mph when he approached the “rock pile,” an area of the track that curves around giant boulders and up a small hill. Sloppy’s truck went airborne — as many other trucks did — but he lost control when he landed and “rolled over straight into the spectators,” Zubieta told the Times.

The spectators were standing so close they did not have a chance to get out of the way. Six spectators died immediately. Nine others were airlifted to area hospitals. Two of those died later in the evening. Sloppy escaped unharmed.

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have been representing injury victims since 1976, and have special expertise in cases involving wrongful death.  The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

Three people were killed and at least 15 injured Monday night in a fiery head-on collision between an SUV full of recent high school graduates and a van carrying college cross-country athletes to a high-altitude training in Mammoth Lakes, California. Some of the injured were still in critical condition on Tuesday.

The passenger van accident occurred shortly before 8:30 p.m. five miles south of Bishop, according to KFMB-760 News. Three white Ford Econoline vans carrying members of the California Baptist University (Riverside) cross-country team were traveling northbound, one after the other, on Highway 395, California Highway Patrol Officer Dennis Cleland said. Cheerleading coach Wendy Rice was driving the lead van.

A southbound 2004 Ford Expedition carrying graduates of San Diego’s Cathedral Catholic High School veered into the center median, crossed over into oncoming northbound traffic, slammed head-on into the Rice’s van, and then burst into flames, Cleland said. After that, a 2000 Subaru Legacy driven by a 19-year-old woman from Ashland, Oregon, crashed into the burning SUV.

Two of the recent graduates in the Expedition, Natalie Nield and Amanda Post, were killed. Another passenger in the Expedition, 19-year-old Derek Thomas, sustained severe burn injuries over most of his body. The driver of the Subaru also sustained third-degree burns and injured her left arm, according to the CHP.

Rice was pronounced dead at the scene. All of her 12 passengers were injured, including 20-year-old Rebecca Trupp of Riverside, who sustained severe head trauma and had to be airlifted to a hospital in Reno, Nevada. The 11 other students who passengers in the van were transported to local hospitals, including Northern Inyo Hospital, Southern Inyo Hospital, West Hills Hospital and Mammoth Lakes Hospital, according to the Riverside Press Enterprise.

The CHP is still investigating the accident. Bishop is about 290 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have been representing injury victims since 1976, and have special expertise in cases involving burn injury.  The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.