2. Driving at the normal speed through heavy rain or snow.

3. Paying more attention to one’s passenger than to traffic conditions.

4. Failing to allow trucks to merge when they need to.

5. Tailgating trucks that may have to stop suddenly.

6. Not allowing trucks the room to make turns.

7. Ignoring the turn signals of trucks.

8. Staying in the blind spots of trucks.

9. Pulling in front of trucks to avoid traffic in your lane and then stopping suddenly.

10. Attempting to get truck drivers drunk at truck stops.

As you might imagine, we don’t endorse any of these techniques. In fact, some of these driving methods can be deadly. However, here are ten more useful tips of advice from a truck accident lawyer you should follow if you have been in an accident. You can also learn more about how to handle a truck accident in Tustin, or any city, by calling the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson at any of the numbers which can be found on our website at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com  and learning how we can assist you.

Obviously, if you have had an accident, and you are reading all of this advice, it’s probably been at least a few days since the accident. However, if it’s only been a few hours or if you ever have another accident, here’s what you should do the next time from the start.

First, take a look around and determine if you or anyone, are hurt. If so, taking steps like trying to prevent further injury or loss of blood are the most important thing you can do. Even if some other driver caused you to be injured, it’s just good manners to help the other driver if they are hurt. They may even be so thankful that they admit their fault to you. The worst thing you can do is get angry or start a fight.

Second, make sure everyone is safe from being injured further. If you are in the middle of traffic, and you are dizzy, sit down away from traffic. If your vehicle is a traffic hazard and you have accident warning devices like flares or triangles, put them out on the road to warn other drivers and get away from the car. Let the police an other emergency personnel investigate the scene with the vehicles in place and move them more safely at a later point.

Third, call the police. Accident reports are extremely helpful if the police will do such a report. Let the police know you are injured immediately. Answer the police questions honestly. But if you are dazed or confused, let them know you need medical treatment and answer only what you feel sure about. Remember, your statements can and will be used against you if you admit fault, and it will be too late and too fishy to later say you didn’t know what you were saying at the scene. Police know that your best recollection is immediately after an accident.

Fourth, get the other driver’s information including their names, addresses, driver’s license numbers, make and model of their vehicles, license plate numbers, and their insurance company name and policy number. If there are witnesses, get their names, addresses and telephone numbers as well. If the other driver makes any admissions of fault, write those down as well.

Fifth, if you have a camera on your cell phone or in the car and you aren’t too injured, take some photos of the vehicles and the scene. If you can’t do it right away, do it after you are released from the hospital.

Sixth, if you are hurt, obtain medical treatment. Don’t decline the ambulance or hospital examination to save your insurance company money or to be stoic. Take your valuables out of your car if you can and get checked out at the hospital. If you are not hurt, don’t get treatment you don’t need. However, remember, after an accident, you may feel a rush of adrenaline that causes you to only start feeling symptoms of pain a few hours later. If you have a health plan that requires you to obtain permission first, call them and find out where you are allowed to seek treatment.

Seventh, call a good truck accident lawyer as soon as you have had your initial treatment, so the attorney can gather other important evidence and prevent the insurance company from taking advantage of you and obtaining such things as recorded statements that you feel fine, when many of your symptoms have yet to manifest themselves. A good truck accident lawyer can save you from making a great deal of mistakes and can shoulder much of the hassle of knowing what to do about car repairs, car rentals, medical treatment, witness statements and the like. If you think you will save money by not having an attorney, think again. A good truck accident lawyer can almost always obtain much higher settlements, obtain reductions of medical bills and insurance liens and prevent you from making costly mistakes. Also, most truck accident attorneys advance costs of obtaining police reports, medical records and the like and are paid and reimbursed for these costs only out of any settlement.

Eight, you will need to report the accident to your insurance company, but since they will want to take a recorded statement from you, just like any other driver’s insurance company, it’s good advice to retain an attorney first. And if the other driver did not have insurance, remember that it is your own insurance company that will be your adversary. You will also need to report the accident to the Department of Motor Vehicles and your lawyer can give you the form for this.

Ninth, do not agree to settle your claim privately with the person at fault for the accident. This almost never works out to your advantage. Don’t agree not to call the police. Police reports that determine the fault for an accident are golden. Your agreement to not involve the police only affords an opportunity for the other driver to change his story and blame you when the police will no longer investigate the accident.

Tenth, don’t pay a traffic ticket without a fight if you weren’t at fault or agree to accept a small payment for your vehicle repairs without knowing that the amount will in fact cover the cost of all the repairs.

If you’ve had a truck accident in Tustin, Orange County, Yorba Linda, Westminster, Lake Forest, Fountain Valley, El Toro, La Habra, Cypress, Rancho Santa Margarita, Newport Beach, Anaheim, Irvine, Huntington Beach, Corona del Mar, Laguna Beach, Santa Ana, Orange, Fullerton, Costa Mesa, or anywhere in Southern California, we have the knowledge and resources to be your Tustin Truck Accident Lawyer and your Orange County Truck Accident Attorney. Be sure to hire a California law firm with auto, motorcycle, truck, bicycle, pedestrian, car, bus, train, boat and airplane accident experience, wrongful death experience and insurance law expertise who can ensure you are properly represented and get the compensation you deserve.

If you have a personal injury legal matter, a dog bite or if you’ve lost a loved one in a wrongful death accident, call the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson, or visit our website at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com  and learn how we can assist you.

Typically, a teenage driver will battle to get affordable car insurance through the teen years until around the age of 25 at which point things begin to normalize. The reasons for the unreasonably high premiums are not very hard to find.

To begin with, the lack of driving experience coupled with the young age poses a very high risk for most insurance companies. In addition, insurance claim statistics show that the bulk of accidents are concentrated to people between the ages of 17 and 25 years of age.

However, there is definitely something that can be done to ensure affordable car insurance for teenage drivers. Let’s look at a few of the strategies that can turn the situation around in a positive manner.

The starting point to low teenage car insurance is to ensure that the teen driver gets a vehicle with a very low engine capacity. Insurance companies know very well that a high performance vehicle in the hands of a teenage driver is bad news.

Infact, some insurance companies will deny cover to a person who is under 25 years of age who drives a vehicle with an engine capacity of above 1.8 litres.

So, it is abundantly clear that the focus in purchasing a vehicle for a teenage driver should be confined to engine capacities of 1.6cc and below. The lower the engine capacity, the better the insurance rate.

Closely related to the above factor is the need to purchase a vehicle with inexpensive replacement parts. The bulk of insurance claims revolve around collision damage and this has a very huge impact on the premiums.

A car with expensive replacement parts will attract very high premiums even if its levels of theft are low. This is because vehicle theft only accounts for less than 10 percent of vehicle claims.

Generally, a car that is cheap to buy will also have cheap replacement parts. Additionally, if car components have to be imported, you can also be certain that the parts will be expensive.

Now, the above two factors will go a long way in ensuring low car insurance premiums for teen drivers.

Another key strategy for low teenage car insurance is to get as many quotes as one can possibly get. Insurance companies look at the same risk differently which explains the huge variance in premiums. The differences in premiums from one insurance company to the next can be as much as 30 to 40 percent.

The implications for a teenage driver are very clear. Get as many quotations from different insurance companies as you possibly can. This is your ticket to low car insurance premiums. With the advent if insurance comparison sites, it is now very easy to get a multitude of quotations on the internet in no time at all.

Are you driving one of the most expensive cars to insure?

Factors That Determine Car Insurance Rates

There are a handful of factors that determine how much a person pays for insurance, including gender, age, driving record, location of residence, annual driving mileage, credit scores (in most states), and most importantly, the car we drive. Although common-sense holds that the more expensive a car, the more expensive the insurance, this is not always the case. Insurance rates differ greatly between makes and models. If a car performs well in crash tests, it’s not frequently stolen, and has additional safety or anti-theft devices, it will generally cost less to insure it. On the other hand, if your car is flashier, attractive to thieves, and doesn’t wow anyone in the crash tests, it will cost more to insure.

10 Most Expensive to Insure
1 Aston Martin DB9
2 Bentley Continental
3 Dodge Viper
4 Porsche 911
5 Chevrolet Corvette
6 Porsche Cayman
7 BMW X5
8 Cadillac Escalade
9 Land Rover Range Rover
10 BMW 128I

10 Least Expensive to Insure
1 Mercury Grand Marquis
2 Buick Lacrosse
3 Toyota Avalon
4 Kia Sportage
5 Chevrolet Equinox
6 Ford Escape
7 Kia Optima
8 Subaru Tribeca
9 Buick Lucerne
10 Ford Ranger

To create each list, we carefully analyzed rate data for every driver with a 2009 model vehicle who visited InsWeb.com for an auto insurance quote this year. After combing through tens of thousands of quotes, we came up with an average rate for each make and model and sorted the results by price. Each make and model must have had at least 50 quote requests to qualify.

What’s the Fastest You’ve Taken It?

If you drive a high performance vehicle with more horsepower than General Washington’s Army, insurance companies have no other choice but to assume that you will use it and practice riskier driving. Should you get into an accident, regardless of fault, the cost of returning your vehicle to its original condition can be extraordinary–even for a seemingly harmless fender bender.

Bigger Is Safer, But Causes More Damage

Although SUVs, large trucks, and other large road warriors might be safer than compact cars in accidents, they tend to foster a more expensive liability coverage rate given the fact that they inflict more damage than most standard cars in accidents. On another note, there are still many SUVs that have inherent safety flaws in their design, specifically with rollover tests. Accordingly, insurance companies share these additional financial risks onto the driver in the form of higher premiums.

Car Insurance Companies Love Family Cars

Cars that are particularly associated as “family cars” tend to have lower insurance premiums. These types of cars include minivans, family sedans, and station wagons. Cars that are used primarily to transport a family are generally involved in fewer accidents, due to safer driving habits associated with those who transport family members.