Deadly Trucker Risks: Distraction and Drowsiness Recently, an 18-wheeler headed southbound on Route 394 near south suburban Crete T-boned a car headed eastbound on Steger Road. According to witnesses, the truck driver ran a red light right before colliding with the car, killing its driver, 32-year-old Kelle Ill. The semi driver was not injured. The cause of the crash remains uncertain and reports from investigators are pending. Large commercial trucks present a unique danger on the road because of their size, weight and lengthy stopping distance. Unfortunately, fatal ...

FMCSA Black Box Rule Challenged in Federal Court The United States Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) recently ordered JBS Carriers Inc. to install an electronic on-board recorder (EOBR) in every one of its commercial trucks -- over 700 in all -- by March 2011 or pay $81,780 in civil fines. According to an FMCSA press release, the agency cited the carrier for 102 counts of falsifying driver's hours-of-service (HOS) records and three counts of allowing drivers with a suspended, revoked or canceled commercial driver's ...

Stifling the Right to Remain Silent When arrested in the United States, we have the right to remain silent. Most of us know this without attending law school or interacting with law enforcement agents, as a result of pop culture representations of the Miranda warnings. However, one thing that many might not understand despite frequent repetition of the right to remain silent, is how to properly invoke this right. Consider the case of Van Chester Thompkins. Thompkins was arrested and sat in virtual silence for nearly three hours after he was read his Miranda rights. ...

Giving Bankruptcy Judges "Cramdown" Power To Address Foreclosure Crisis The downturn in the real estate market two years ago was a major factor in sending America into recession. The subprime mortgage crisis exposed a house of financial cards, and the first wave of mass foreclosures began. Today, a "new normal" of high unemployment and diminished property values has taken hold. The struggling economy itself, not overly fancy financial instruments, is pushing more and more people into foreclosure. And, for the most part, most of these home foreclosures no longer involve ...

A Family Approach to Estate Planning Talking about money, wills and possible inheritances is not always easy for parents or their children. Nonetheless, a family approach to estate planning has some surprising advantages, and it is an important part of a successful estate-planning strategy . Some people regard their estate plans as secrets to be kept between themselves and their estate planning lawyers. However, discussing the future of a family's wealth together and openly can minimize conflict and avoid hurt feelings when wills are probated . One benefit of ...

Issuing a Wake-Up Call to Colorado's Drowsy Drivers The AAA Foundation recently released a survey finding that 41 percent of drivers admitted to falling asleep behind the wheel, one in 10 within the last year. The survey release coincided with Drowsy Driving Prevention Week which took place November 8-14. The public awareness campaign is designed to educate drivers, especially younger ones, about the dangers of drowsy driving and forms of prevention. Teen drivers are a particular focus of the campaign. Fatigued driving is most common among young people who require ...

If a Golfer Fails to Yell "Fore," Does an Injured Person Have a Claim? Recreational accidents in New York City happen in every imaginable situation, from a boating accident on the Hudson to a bike crash in Central Park. A day of sun, fun and exercise can turn dark quickly when a serious injury or death results from a person's negligence or an equipment failure. Despite the best precautions and practice, a participant can suffer harm due to circumstances beyond his or her control, such as dangerous playground attractions, a faulty amusement ride harness or a lifeguard's ...

Driverless Cars? Ah, But Who Do You Sue? A recent news article discussed the development of the "Google Car." A Toyota Prius has been equipped with software that "drives" it. The car has logged 140,000 miles and the only accident appears to have been when it was rear-ended by another driver. The question raised by the article was, if there was an accident where the "Google car" was the cause, who would you sue? Google Cars--A Good Idea? The story provides a laundry list of the benefits of having driverless cars, such as "tuning the engine to coast as efficiently ...

State Senator Wants to Require Bike-Safety Training ... For Drivers In September, 23-year-old Jasmine Herron, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was killed while riding her bicycle when a motorist opened her car door into the bicyclist's path, knocking her off her bike and into the path of a bus. Since then, Herron's mother has teamed up with New York State Senator Eric Adams to propose a Jasmine Herron law that would require the state's mandatory five-hour driver education class to include ways to avoid accidents with bicyclists, skaters, skateboarders and any other mode of non-vehicle ...

The Next Step in the Foreclosure Mess: Congressional Hearings With the revelation that many big lenders were "robo-signing" documents -- signing them without verifying the accuracy of the information -- to move foreclosures through the process, several banks, including JPMorgan and Bank of America, temporarily halted foreclosures to ensure that all paperwork was in order. The resulting outcry has led to the executives of several large mortgage providers being called before congress to answer for their companies' actions. Many in Congress are seeking solutions that ...

Ongoing Arbitration for Mobil Oil Over Venezuelan Assets International commercial disputes of all sorts are designated by contract to be resolved by arbitration, from basic disagreements over the quality of goods shipped from suppliers overseas to complex claims with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake. One good example of a current high-value dispute is Mobil Corporation's claims against the national oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) over the expropriation of the assets of Mobil subsidiaries in that country's abundant oil fields. The Mobil/Venezuela ...

North Carolina Researchers Examine Prescription Drug Medical Errors Use of Prescription Drugs Not Tested in Children The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently announced an important new series of medical studies by the Pediatric Trials Network, a collaboration between NIH and Duke University's Clinical Research Institute, the world's largest academic clinical research organization. Researchers will study the effects of medical drugs and medical devices on children -- an important and often overlooked area of study. Surprisingly, clinical trials of prescription ...

Radisson Blu Hotel Tallinn, Estonia has announced that it now holds the Green Key eco-label certificate. The Green Key is an international eco-label for tourism and hospitality enterprises, recognizing their sense of responsibility for the environment and their local communities in general. To obtain the Green Key certificate an organization has to comply with a list of environmental and social awareness criteria. For Radisson Blu Hotels, the Green Key is a way of reaching out to guests and the community on how to attain in its business activities the harmony ...

House of Fraser, the premium department store is has introduced a toy collection from Hamleys online at houseoffraser.co.uk. The world's most famous toys store now offers a jam-packed collection that is full of specially selected toys made up of Hamleys own-brand and other favourite toy brands of popular toys and games for customers to purchase from the House of Fraser website. Founded by William Hamley in 1760, Hamleys currently operates out of its famous flagship store in London's Regent Street, airport stores, online at hamleys.com and a few concession stores in Denmark. ...

Barclaycard Freedom has announced that shoppers at House of Fraser can now earn Reward Money on purchases made at the department store*. House of Fraser is the latest household name to join over 20,000 retailers nationwide in one of the broadest customer reward schemes in the UK. Its customers will be able to earn 1% Reward Money with Barclaycard - just in time to cash in on Christmas shopping plus take advantage of any in store promotions. Sarah Alspach, marketing director of Barclaycard Freedom commented: "With 60 department stores across the UK, we're delighted ...

Bigmouthmedia's 2011 Travel Report has revealed that the sector's enthusiasm for digital marketing is set to continue in the face of extremely challenging trading conditions. While the travel sector has continued to be amongst the worst affected by events in 2010, the standout statistics from the bigmouthmedia Travel Report 2011 indicate that enthusiasm for the nascent social media and mobile channels is set to continue unabated, with social strategies taking a larger share of budgets than direct email marketing for the first time. Meanwhile smart phone enabled enthusiasm ...

The National Trust is launching a new campaign to encourage people to help secure the future of mistletoe in its heartland by buying sustainably sourced home-grown mistletoe in the run up to Christmas and the season of office parties.  The campaign is also encouraging shoppers to ask where the mistletoe they are buying has come from. The heartland for mistletoe is Somerset, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire, and this is where the plant is under threat as its main habitat of traditional orchards have declined dramatically in the last sixty years. Peter ...

Topshop will be stocking key pieces from the graduate collections of three of this year's most talented Central Saint Martins alumni for the first time. All three collections are available in-store from 8th December, while Lilly Heine and Matthew Harding's collections are also available on Topshop.com. Unavailable anywhere else in the world, customers can get their hands on one-off pieces by these talented graduates. Lilly Heine's graduate collection won her international recognition. Lilly is trained in textile design and her aesthetic is characterised by unusual ...

npower has announced the winners of its manager of the month and player of the month awards for the npower Football League in November. Port Vale manager Micky Adams has been named npower League 2 manager of the month. Vale picked up eight points during the month, conceding only one goal along the way. Former Charlton Athletic boss Alan Curbishley chairs the npower football league manager of the month judging panel. He said: "Port Vale maintained their consistent form which saw them top the npower League 2 table. Micky's side have the best defensive record in the ...

Reduce the levels of chronic stress in your body, extend your lifespan, boost your antioxidant levels, protect your nervous system (and sanity) while giving your endocrine system a much-needed rest. How? Download the original "That's What She Said" app and let the doctors' order go to work! Pranksters and jokesters alike can now have the world's most well-known sexual innuendo at their fingertips. The original Windows 7 Phone application for adding humor to any conversation is available now. Make your Windows 7 Phone the perfect conversation stopper (or starter) with ...

As your children open their latest electronic gadgets at Christmas time, do you ever wonder what the cutting-edge toys were like almost 100 years ago? Now you can see some at the DFW Elite Toy Museum in Fort Worth. The museum has recently acquired an extremely rare toy Christmas car. The tin car was manufactured by German toymaker Fischer in 1912. The toy is one of the rarest example of tin litho autos with Santa at the wheel. The toy is notable for its extensive graphic detail and die-cut stamping depicting teddy bears and toys on the sides of the vehicle. The back ...

TRIBAIR, a startup based in Montreal, Canada, is launching their global network of VOIP hotspots where members turn their personal or business WiFi into hubs for other members to use. When TRIBAIR users make paid long distance calls hotspot owners earn up to 20% of all revenues made over their hub. TRIBAIR aims to create the largest, decentralized VOIP community in the world. Anyone with a smartphone can download the TRIBAIR VoIP application for iPhone, Android or Blackberry and includes a starter credit of 25 cents, which represents 17 minutes of calling to over 50 ...

Spread-Betting.com introduces a newly launched trading guide bringing you the latest news and innovations in spread betting, offering practical, rigorous 'how-to' trading educational material on the intricacies of financial spread betting including trading strategies and technical analysis. If you have access to spread betting as a means of trading the markets then you absolutely must consider it seriously. The Spread-Betting.com website provides traders and investors alike with all the details and information one needs to open a spread betting account and start trading ...

Zedge, a leading mobile content discovery platform with 30 million monthly unique visitors, invites Android app developers to promote their apps on Zedge. Android developers will now be able to participate in an app promotional network that does not promote based on pay per click or pay per download. Rather, it promotes based on fair and open rankings available to all developers and not just the ones that have deep pockets to pay for promotion. Space is limited, but initial entry during the beta period is free to all developers who are accepted. "Independent app developers ...

Boss Creations has launched its CHRIST-mas Tree and "Christian Nation" CHRIST-mas Tree, featuring an illuminated cross in the center. The creator, Marsha Boggs, says Glenn Beck was her inspiration to make a difference in America. "I believe we need to take a stand and rescue our religious holiday," says Marsha Boggs, founder of Boss Creations. "The new tradition of celebrating Christmas with a CHRIST-mas Tree will help put an end to the secularization of Christmas while enhancing the family's celebration. We also hope to spark the curiosity and develop dialogue with ...