Now that the holidays are ushering their way out until next year, many Alameda County residents have made their way back to the stores from whence their gifts came, to return their items. However, as many of us know, parking lots can sometimes seem more like race tracks and as a result can be the […]

California has had more than its share of devastating bus accidents in recent years. Many of these crashes have resulted in multiple fatalities. Sadly, another fatal accident added to those statistics earlier this week. According to news sources, a Greyhound bus traveling between Los Angeles and the Bay Area overturned on the highway in the […]

It is ironic that in an age when cars are being more safely designed than ever, we are also experiencing unprecedented dangers related to vehicle defects. In 2015, approximately 51 million vehicles in the United States were included in nearly 900 recalls. Although last year's recall rate was higher than ever before, the recall trend […]

There are certain products considered so "cool" that manufacturers cannot wait to put them on the market. Unfortunately, the rush to make money often means that the products are not adequately tested. Companies don’t know how the products will be used – and abused – by consumers. But people can get hurt even when a […]

There’s no debating the fact that automobiles have become much safer in recent decades. New technologies not only make cars more fuel-efficient; they also help drivers avoid crashes. And when crashes do occur, they tend to be less fatal than they would have been in the past. But some new automobile technologies – especially those […]

At this point, Americans are quite familiar with product liability claims related to automobiles. The Takata air bag scandal is just the latest in a frequent string of recalls for dangerous and defective parts in cars and trucks. Sometimes these defects cause motor vehicle accidents and sometimes they make crashes more likely to be fatal. […]

Last month, we wrote about an increasing number of spontaneous fires associated with “hoverboards,” which became a fad just before the holiday season. These Segway-like vehicles are made by a number of different manufacturers (but not Segway), and many suffer from one very dangerous defect: Their powerful batteries can overheat and burst into flame. Some […]

We have previously written about the intriguing possibilities of self-driving cars. This topic is especially interesting to people here in the Bay Area, because Google's autonomous vehicle technology seems to be further along than that of other groups working on this important project. In December, we wrote about proposed rules issued by the California Department […]

Whenever an outdoor, temporary structure is built for commercial reasons (like a music festival, for instance), it is crucial for event organizers to take all reasonable precautions. A giant tent may not seem dangerous, but accidents involving wind or structural collapse can be deadly. Such a scenario seems to occur at least once each year […]

Riding a bicycle has become the preferred mode of travel for many in Oakland and around the Bay Area. The health benefits are obvious, and depending on where you work, biking can provide a faster commute than driving a car. But there are also some definite drawbacks and risks associated with riding a bike, including […]