Ask Gordon Now | Colorado Springs Accident Lawyer | Law Offices of Heuser & Heuser

Attorney Gordon Heuser Discourages Road Hogs

Gordon Heuser — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:41:45 +0000

Drivers in southeastern Colorado will see increased traffic this Saturday when Bike with Pike Westcliffe Adventure launches its fall charity ride at 7 a.m. from the town of Westcliffe. An estimated 300 bicyclists are scheduled to make the 200-mile trip from Westcliffe to Colorado City by heading east on State Highway 96, south on State Highway 165, and back along the same route. With this event in mind, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) reminds all Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Canon City, Alamosa and Trinidad area drivers, "Don't be a Road Hog. Share the Road". Bicyclists have the same rights to Colorado highways as automobile drivers.

Attorney Gordon Heuser: Springs Police Department on a Three Week Crackdown

Gordon Heuser — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 17:40:34 +0000

How much antipasto does it take to counter the effects of a wine tasting? Think you can you handle two-for-one Saki before heading home after a long day at work? Did you take an antihistamine with your micro-brew while watching the game? Little, seemingly harmless, indulgences can add up to big impairment. A Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) of .08g/dL is all it takes to get arrested on a drunk-driving infraction. But a BAC of .04g/dL is all it takes to impair your brain function. So, before an after-work drink, check out this blood alcohol content chart and double check your assumptions. If you don't have a designated driver, it would be smart to wait and enjoy happy hour at home.

Road Rage

Gordon Heuser — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 17:44:09 +0000

One person’s bad driving habits are often another’s justification for endangering the lives of everybody else on the road. Have you witnessed drivers doing any of the following? Driving faster than the speed limit, Ignoring traffic lights, stop signs or yield signs, Tailgating or following too closely behind another vehicle, Passing on the shoulder or the break-down lane, Changing lanes without a turn signal, Flashing headlights at another motorist , Making rude or obscene gestures, Changing lanes erratically, Yelling at another driver, Deliberately blocking another vehicle, Physically assaulting another driver. Have you been responsible for any of those acts yourself? When you consider the statistics, it’s no surprise how many incidents there are on Colorado roads. A recent survey found 50% of drivers confronted with aggressive driving respond with road rage. Here’s the breakdown of how the surveyed drivers actually admitted to behaving:

Distracted Driving in School Zones

Gordon Heuser — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 13:12:36 +0000

Don't let walking into a school zone be the most dangerous part of your child's school day! Colorado Springs and surrounding school districts are starting soon, so pedestrian safety needs to be high on your family's back-to-school curriculum. Even in reduced speed zones, there are multiple causes for the car accidents that endanger child pedestrians. Firstly, vehicle drivers can be at fault. Safe Kids USA says that one out of six vehicles moving through a school zone is being driven by a distracted driver. The organization's 2009 study, called Characteristics of Distracted Drivers in School Zones: A National Report observed more than 40,000 drivers making their way through school zones. The distraction they observed most often was use of an electronics device. But observers also watched drivers attempting such common car accident-causing activities as eating, drinking, smoking, grooming, reading, or reaching for something. Those drivers are supposed to be watching out for your kids!

Booster Seat Blitz

Gordon Heuser — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 22:23:25 +0000

Most parents assume child restraint laws apply only to infant and toddler age groups. Years ago, they did. But, a new Colorado Child Passenger Safety Law now extends car seat or booster seat requirements to all passengers 7-years-old and younger and also maps out requirements for children up to age 16. Previously, Colorado law required only children 5 years of age and younger to ride in car seats or booster seats. But as of Sunday, Aug. 1, safety regulations encompass a much greater number of young people riding in passenger vehicles. According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, car wrecks are the greatest cause of accident injury deaths for children between age 1 and 14. In an attempt to decrease this statistic, the state's new passenger restraint guidelines address height and weight of child passengers to at least the same extent, if not more so, as the child's age.

Keep Texting Off Colorado Highways

Gordon Heuser — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:14:55 +0000

The most recent statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show a nationwide increase in the use of hand-held devices while driving. And here in Colorado, stats about texting and car accidents are reported over and over again. Legislators and media outlets have been quoting these numbers since just before and ever since the December 2009 activation of Colorado’s new cell phone laws. Interestingly, drivers in Western states show the greatest increase in this type of distracted driving: up from 0.6 percent of drivers in 2007 to 2.1 percent in 2008. No wonder Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter was eager to sign into law a ban on texting while driving in Colorado. It took just one month for the police to hand out the first ticket under the new law, to a 19-year-old woman who caused a car accident in Aurora, admittedly while texting, on Jan. 3 of this year.

Safety Recalls

Gordon Heuser — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:14:30 +0000

What already qualifies as a really bad year for Toyota seems to be getting worse. And the Japanese car maker's troubles should serve as an important reminder about vehicle safety and avoiding personal injury. Still reeling from last year's recalls of more than 8 million vehicles worldwide, Toyota agreed in April to pay $16.4 million, a record amount, over delays in issuing defect warnings about gas pedals that can stick. Now the world's largest automaker faces scrutiny of steering rods that may be defective.

Buckle Up, Colorado!

Gordon Heuser — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:52:58 +0000

Buckle up for safety! Seat belts save lives. You can learn a lot from a dummy. Buckle your safety belt. Hug your kids at home, but belt ‘em in the car! Buckle Up, Always Click It Or Ticket! The messages are more than catchy ad slogans and statistics prove the point: lives are saved every year because people took the time to fasten their seat belt and those of loved ones. For the fourth year in a row, the number of deaths from traffic accidents in the United States went down in 2009, according to estimates from the U.S. Department of Transportation. And reported traffic deaths were the lowest in 55 years.

Safe Driving is Everyone’s Business

Gordon Heuser — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 17:17:58 +0000

The Colorado State Patrol responded to more than 27,000 auto accidents in 2008. Auto accidents in El Paso County, including all of Colorado Springs, accounted for the second highest number of accidents in the state - behind only Jefferson County and Denver. Predictably, the statistics show traffic rush hours are the time when the most auto accidents occur. Obviously, cities with high-volume traffic make for riskier driving. Among the top five causes for wrecks listed in the 2008 Traffic Safety Crash Statistics were "exceeded safe speed," "inattentive to driving" and "following too closely."

Welcome to AskGordonNow.com!

Gordon Heuser — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:29:18 +0000

We are proud to launch our new website knowing it offers better opportunities to communicate with our hometown Colorado Springs, as well as Alamosa, Pueblo, the Arkansas Valley, Pikes Peak and elsewhere along the Front Range. Please take a look around the site. You'll get a little history about Gordon and Barkley Heuser, our approach to personal injury law, answers to some basic questions about each area of our practice and opportunities to communicate directly with an attorney. We have a reputation for great service to our clients when we take their cases and we want this site to be an extension of that service. We've made sure it's easy to get around, packed with lots of useful information and plenty of ways to get in touch with us for additional info.