A Defective Tire? An Unstable SUV? Defective Seat Belts?
Posted by
IB ContributorJuly 22, 2007 2:14 PMWhat to do now?
Here is another one of those tire blowout, SUV rollover accidents with people ejected stories that may need a much closer look by the attorneys for the people involved.
According to a story reported on Sun-Herald.com an Isuzu Rodeo SUV blew a tire, flipped over and three people were ejected on I-75 in North Port, Florida, last Friday. The driver, Petr Jakoubek, 39, was extricated from the vehicle by North Port Fire Rescue. The three passengers, Jarka Jakoubek, 35, Michael Jakoubek, 16, and Petr Jakoubek Jr., 5, who was not in a child seat, were ejected, according to the report.
This is the type of accident that the Jakubek family will need to employ a personal law firm that are experts in "auto defects". An "auto defect" law firm representing this family, would immediately secure the Isuzu Rodeo and the blown tire as its primary pieces of evidence. The evidence would then be kept in a secure facility that ensures that the vehicle will be free from tampering or weathering. Early collection of evidence is crucial.
Next they will have their scene investigators inspect, measure and photograph the accident scene. As good as the Florida Highway Patrol is, they may not have had the time or manpower to do the type scene investigation that a team of accident reconstruction investigators would. This is critical.
Then a team of experts would go over the Rodeo and the tire looking for defects and component failures.
Was the tire defective? Did a defect in the tire cause the accident? There have been hundreds of lawsuits against tire manufacturers claiming that a defect in a tire caused an auto accident, seriously injuring and killing people. This may be one of them.
Most everyone knows that SUVs are more prone to rollover in an accident than regular passenger cars. The experts will be looking into the rollover propensity of the Rodeo when a tire blows. Was the Rodeo unreasonable unstable, such that the occurrence of a common event, blowing a tire, would cause it to roll?
Another area of inspection, why were passengers ejected. Were there failures in the seat belt systems or was there a failure to employ seat belts. Many times experts can determine if the seat belts were in use at the time of an accident even though people are ejected.
It takes a meticulous and high tech inspection of the evidence, the roadway, the vehicle, the vehicle's components and the injuries to the occupants, to formulate reliable expert opinions as to what happened and why.
Was there a failure of a child seat? The experts can usually tell. And if there was, the child seat maker can expect to hear from the family's attorneys.
Let's all keep the Jakoubek family in our prayers.
For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Car and Motorcycle Accidents.