We’ve had a winter storm in Cape Girardeau this week – and snow and ice can often mean injury accidents in and around Cape G.
Automatic brakes are actually very helpful when driving on snow and ice . . . but only if you know how to use them, which many people do not.
If your car has ABS (an Automatic Braking System) and you’re not used to them, they can do more harm than good. If you do learn how to use them properly, they actually give you the ability to steer through a skid which can prevent an accident, injury or death.
The trick with ABS is to PRACTICE using them so that the weird sounds and sensations don’t cause you to take your foot off the brake. Especially for those of us who were taught to pump our brakes to slow down or stop during winter driving, practice is essential, because pumping is exactly what NOT to do with automatic brakes. Instead, you want to keep pushing down and steer through the braking.
An article in Shopping Sense this month reports that government statistics indicate that vehicles with ABS have more one-car accidents than non-ABS vehicles, but it contends that most of those are caused by incorrect knowledge of and usage of the brakes.
The article goes on to tell the sad story of a seasoned police lieutenant with extensive driver training who lost his life going around a curve because of his lack of experience with his vehicles ABS.
If you’re not used to them, the instinctive reaction to the “kick back” of an automatic braking system is to pull your foot off the brake, when what you need to do is the opposite. ABS stopping distances are also longer than with regular brakes, so it’s important to get used to that, too.
If you’re driving a car or truck or SUV that has an ABS system, please help prevent some Cape Giradeau accidents this winter by learning how to properly use your automatic braking system.
And please feel to share this post with anyone you know who might have ABS. Let’s all work together to keep Missouri roads and highways as safe as possible this winter.

A 14-year old Reed Middle School student died in a bicycle accident on Tuesday night at Clifton and High Streets in Springfield, MO when he collided with a pickup truck.

The accident report indicates that the young man was not wearing a helmet and had no light on his bike.

By all accounts an exceptional kid with a beautiful singing voice and great kindness, he had just hopped on his bike to run out to get some soda for the family, and now he is gone. It is a terrible tragedy.

The bicycle accident / truck accident is still being investigated but it appears at this point as if the bicycle did not stop before entering the intersection. Still, one can’t help but wonder if young Zhamar had been wearing a bicycle helmet and had had a light on his bike, would his family, his school, his neighborhood and the Springfield community be mourning his loss? Would the truck driver maybe have seen him if he’d had a light? Even if hit, could he have survived the accident if he’d been wearing a helmet?

It’s impossible to know the answers to those questions, but it can serve as a wake-up call to all Missouri citizens. Please have your kids wear helmets and light their bikes at night! Please!

Bicycle safety is a central concern of our firm, as is providing bicycle helmets for kids in Missouri. Follow this link to learn more about our bicycle safety community service programs. Let’s all work together to prevent bicycle accident tragedies and Missouri accident deaths in the future.

I’m a big fan of technology. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m attached to my i-Phone and have been known to send messages all hours of the day and night.
But technology and the Internet have their place . . . and it’s not on the dashboard of a car.
I’m a vocal opponent of any form of distracted driving because I see the Missouri auto injury accidents that distractions cause. If I’m against texting while driving, you can imagine how concerned I’d be about putting a computer in front of a driver.
Yet that’s exactly what many car makers are in fact doing, as evidenced by some of the displays at the famed Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas this week.
Really people? A computer screen with Internet access on the dashboard of a car? What are they thinking? I guess the answer is “increased sales.”
Road and car safety advocates are quite dismayed about this so called “advancement” — given the accident injuries and deaths that can already be traced to distracted driving, including the truck and semi-trailer accidents that studies have tied to drivers’ use of their computerized tablets. But many car companies — ranging from Ford to Audi to Jaguar– are proceeding anyway.
I’m all for progress, but this is ridiculous. A computer in the front seat of a vehicle is an accident waiting to happen. And that means human life is at stake.
How can sales and sizzle be more important than safety?
Quite simply, this should not be allowed.

Springfield, MO January 3, 2010 — The New Year is upon us and with it comes a new addition to the Springfield personal injury law office of Aaron Sachs & Associates. Tom Chappell, AIC joins the law firm as Lead Investigator, after a 25-year career in insurance and claims investigation.
Chappell is truly a dedicated, lifelong Springfield man. A native son of the city, he began his education in the Springfield public school system, spending his teen years at Parkview High School and completing his undergraduate degree in Business Administration and Economics at Drury University. He then went on to gain a large amount of claims investigation experience with major insurance companies located in Kansas City over a 16-year period, during which time he earned the Associate in Claims designation from the Insurance Institute of America, and served as a claims supervisor.
Returning to the Springfield area in 1996, Tom has spent recent years deepening his claims experience on the defense side of the insurance industry in a variety of capacities. Now, this venture with Aaron Sachs & Associates places him on the plaintiff side; a new departure in his career. In turn, his multiple decades of experience make him a valued asset and addition to the staff of Aaron Sachs & Associates.
Strengthening the ties that bind Tom to his native city of Springfield are his two daughters, both of whom followed in their father’s footsteps in graduating from his alma mater, Drury University.
Aaron Sachs and Associates’ personal injury law offices are located in Springfield, Joplin, Columbia and, most recently, Cape Girardeau. Their company activities, details of staff and services, as well as outreach and public service activities are covered detail on their website: www.autoinjury.com.
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