2009 September Archive

Motorcycle operators and their passengers are exposed to great bodily harm every time they take to the open road. The common misconception is that motorcycle owners are reckless and pose a threat of harm to others. However, statistics reveal quite the opposite information, confirming that automobile drivers often cause the collisions that results in serious personal injury to, or the death of, the motorcyclist. Each year, thousands of motorcyclists lose their lives in collisions caused by negligent and careless drivers.
Motorcycle helmets, leather and armored jackets, chaps and riding boots offer little protection against some of the most serious injuries, including herniated discs, traumatic brain injury, neck injuries, spinal cord injuries, and broken bones. Substantial medical expenses and lost wages can cripple the finances of the family of a motorcycle accident victim.

In New Hampshire, a motorcycle driver or passenger who sustains an injury from a motorcycle accident must file suit within three (3) years from the day of the accident. If you have been injured in a motorcycle accident in New Hampshire, you may be awarded past and future lost wages, past and future medical expenses and damages for pain and suffering. In some situations, particularly where alcohol is involved by the at-fault driver, enhanced compensatory damages may be awarded.

If you or a loved one has been involved in a motorcycle accident in New Hampshire, call Tenn And Tenn, PA. today for your free consultation to ensure that you make the smartest possible legal decisions during this critical time. The initial consultation is always free of charge. Call us today on our Personal Injury Help Line 1-888-511-1010. Feel free to review our case results at www.tennandtenn.com or on our Motorcycle-onlysite www.motorcycleaccidentlawyers.org.

The New Hampshire Department of Safety recently sponsored a bill that would have abolished the right of New Hampshire citizens to an independent breath test in DWI cases. House Bill 363, sought to remove an individual’s rights to obtain a sample of his or her own breath for independent testing at their own choosing.

The New Hampshire Senate Judiciary Committee votes 5-0 against HB 363. In so doing, individuals who submit to a breath test in a DWI case will still be provided a sample of their breath for independent testing and analysis.

If you or a loved one is being charged with a DWI crime, do not hesitate to contact the skilled New Hampshire DWI defense attorneys at Tenn And Tenn, P.A. Our lawyers will examine the circumstances surrounding your DWI and will provide you the strongest defense possible. Please call us today for a free consultation at 1-888-511-1010.

A preliminary breath test (PBT) is a small handheld breath testing device used by police officers to determine whether or not to arrest a person for DUI. In New Hampshire, the PBT used is the Intoxilyzer S-D5. Typically, the PBT is administered following field sobriety tests. Based upon a motorist’s performance of field sobriety tests and the results of the PBT, a police officer makes a determination to arrest or release the driver.

This preliminary breath testing device employs fuel cell technology that is not specific for ethyl alcohol. Some foods, medication and even non-alcoholic drinks may contain traces of alcohol which may produce a positive reading on the PBT. Moreover, the PBT cannot be adjusted for a person’s actual blood-to-breath ratio, body temperature, or gender. In addition, it does not have a “slope detector” to rule out errors caused by mouth alcohol and other interferents. And, when the AA batteries run low, results may vary. Despite its shortcoming, failure rate and inherent errors, the PBT, it is used by police as a “screening” device when making their DUI arrest decisions.

If you or a loved one is being charged with a DUI crime, do not hesitate to contact the experienced New Hampshire DUI defense attorneys at Tenn And Tenn, P.A. Our lawyers will examine the circumstances surrounding your DUI and will provide you the strongest defense possible. Please call us today for a free consultation at 1-888-511-1010.

In May of 2009, our client Drew was operating his motor vehicle in Allenstown, New Hampshire where he came upon a “sobriety check point”, otherwise known as a DWI road block. Although Drew was not operating his motor vehicle in erratic or improper fashion, he was promptly stopped by the police and asked for his license and registration and whether he had been drinking that evening. Drew was honest with the officer and admitted to consuming a few drinks earlier in the evening. Drew was immediately asked to step from his vehicle and perform field sobriety tests on the side of the road.

The arresting officer administered DWI field sobriety tests including the Horizontal Gaze Nastagmus, One Leg Stand, and Walk And Turn tests. Drew passed the Walk And Turn test and the One Leg Stand test. However, the arresting officer believed that Drew failed the Horizontal Gaze Nastagmus test (a test where you are asked to follow a stimulus with your eyes from the right and to the left). Drew was then arrested and charged with DWI.

Drew was brought into the DWI Mobile Command Center and asked to submit to a breath test on an Intoxillyzer machine. Believing in his innocence, Drew submitted to a breath test which revealed a result beyond the prima fascia limit of .08 blood alcohol content (BAC). Drew retained Tenn And Tenn, P.A. to defend him against the DWI charges filed against him by the State of New Hampshire. His breath samples were immediately forwarded to and independent laboratory for testing. CG Labs, Inc.’s analysis revealed errors with the Intoxillyzer, and/or the operation of that machine by the State’s certified intoxillyzer operator. These errors were immediately brought to the attention of the prosecutor. Nonetheless, the State proceeded with prosecuting Drew for Driving While Impaired.

Attorney Tenn challenged the State at the Administrative License Suspension Hearing at the Department of Safety, Division of Motor Vehicles, and argued that there was no reasonable basis for his arrest. Attorney Tenn also argued that the Intoxillyzer machine in the DWI Mobile Command Center was not operating properly as demonstrated by the independent test results from CG Labs, Inc.

Following two (2) days of testimony, the Hearings Examiner ruled that the State was not able to meet its burden of persuasion that the officer had reasonable grounds for the arrest. Drew’s license to drive and CDL license were immediately restored. Thereafter, the Prosecutor’s office dismissed all DWI charges against Drew.

If you or a loved one is being charged with a DWI crime, do not hesitate to contact the New Hampshire DWI defense attorneys at Tenn And Tenn, P.A. Our lawyers will examine the circumstances surrounding your DWI and will provide you the strongest defense possible. Please call us today for a free consultation at 1-888-511-1010.

According to New Hampshire’s Union Leader, a 42-year-old woman from Campton was killed in a traffic collision on Interstate 93 when her vehicle was hit from behind, she lost control of her vehicle, and the vehicle crashed into a tree. The tree was located in the median, and the woman hit the tree with the driver’s side of her car. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

While investigation into this crash has essentially ruled out alcohol having been a factor, it is speculated that high speeds and adverse weather conditions could have played significant roles in this crash. While adverse weather conditions are hardly the fault of motorists, driving at excessive speeds is. When motorists refuse to adhere to the rules of the road, the results are often characterized by destruction created by traffic collisions, and incidences of wrongful death. Furthermore, even though dangerous road conditions do not appear to have played a factor in this particular crash, adverse conditions often can cause motorists to lose control of their vehicles. In the event that such conditions do cause an accident, even if just partially, then local municipalities are also at fault, and motorists can seek damages from those municipalities just as they can in regards to negligent motorists.

Further investigation will undoubtedly reveal some degree of negligence that helped cause the crash. For all victims of traffic accidents, and for the families of those victims that lose their lives, it is important to know that negligent parties should and can be held accountable in a court of law. Accidents need to be thoroughly reconstructed and all details need to be given proper consideration.

If you’ve been injured in a traffic accident, or you’ve lost a loved one as the result of another motorist’s negligent driving, don’t hesitate to contact the experienced New Hampshire car accident lawyers at Tenn And Tenn, P.A. Call us today at 1-888-511-1010 for a free telephone consultation. Our skilled attorneys will examine the circumstances of your case, and will seek monetary damages on your behalf.

Source Article:http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Campton+woman+dies+in+I-93+crash&articleId=2845d47c-9cc1-4f97-a497-9fb019530672

New Hampshire’s DUI Mobile Command Unit is advertised as a great aid in the fight against drunk driving. The Command Unit includes blood-testing and fingerprinting machines, holding cells for individuals found to have been driving under the influence, and even room for a bail bondsman. The Command Unit is designed to quickly process alleged drunk drivers at sobriety checkpoints.

The $500,000 DUI Mobile Command Unit was made possible by funding from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, with the price of gasoline being the only operating cost that local law enforcement agencies are responsible for. The Mobile Command Unit is under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Liquor Enforcement. The Mobile Unit’s purpose is threefold: to promote public safety, to protect public health, and to generate revenue that will further help curb drunk driving.

In addition to helping remove impaired drivers from the road, the DUI Mobile Command Unit is also used to present educational programs throughout the state, warning of the dangers of drunk driving. According to the coordinator of the New Hampshire Highway Safety Agency, driving under the influence “is without a doubt the worst problem we have on our highways. Thirty percent of all fatalities on our highways are related to drunk driving.”

Whether or not the NH DUI Mobile Command Unit serves its purported goals is yet to be seen. In the event that you are accused of driving under the influence, possibly having been processed at the DUI Mobile Command Unit, you’ll need a skilled DUI attorney in New Hampshire on your side to help sort through the details of your case and provide you with the strongest defense possible. Please contact a knowledgeable New Hampshire drunk driving defense lawyer at Tenn And Tenn, P.A. for a free telephone consultation. Call us today at 1-888-511-1010.

Source Article: http://forum.nhliberty.org/index.php?topic=525.0

Being charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs is no laughing matter. However, are all individuals accused of driving under the influence truly guilty? The question is a significant one, and should have a simple, clear-cut answer. However, when you factor in human tendency for error, the answer becomes relatively clouded, and the line between sober and impaired can often be quite blurred.

Roadside devices used to determine an individual’s blood alcohol content (BAC) level are commonly administered by officers who believe that the individual is operating a motor vehicle while driving under the influence. However, it is critical that officers are properly trained in order to provide the most accurate results in making such a life-altering determination. That is, officers must be properly trained to use a Preliminary Breath Test (PBT) device. The officers must be capable and skilled in handling and using such a device and must be familiar with its limitations. Finally, the officer must inform the individual being tested that refusal to submit to the PBT does not mean that the individual will not be required to take an additional test to determine BAC level after that individual has been arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.

As we all know, machines and electronic devices are not always accurate, especially when they are not used properly. This holds true for a PBT, which simply stated, is a battery operated hand-held device. Consequently, many people believe that results stemming from preliminary breath tests should not be admissible in a court of law. Aside from inherent machine error, improper procedure in administering a Preliminary Breath Test (PBT) can be argued that the results of said test are not accurate, and therefore not admissible in court.

In the event that you are accused of driving while under the influence, it is important to have a criminal defense lawyer on your side that will examine every detail of your arrest to determine if proper procedure took place. At Tenn And Tenn, P.A., our skilled DWI New Hampshire defense attorneys will provide you with the strongest defense possible given the circumstances of your case. Call us today at 1-888-511-1010 for a free telephone consultation, and one of our knowledgeable DUI defense lawyers will answer any questions you may have.

The Union Leader recently reported in a story about multiple crash instances near Bedford’s F.E. Everett Turnpike. The first car collision in New Hampshire occurred when a police cruiser was struck while the car was stopped and parked in the breakdown lane. The officer who had just issued a traffic citation to another motorist was sitting in his cruiser with the lights still flashing, and was struck from behind by a vehicle driven by a 42-year-old man from Manchester.

The second crash involved a fire truck that was on its way to the first crash site. As the fire truck was crossing over into the northbound lanes of traffic from a southbound lane, it was struck in the rear by another vehicle.

The Trooper was taken to Elliot Hospital and treated for his crash related injuries. He was later released. Damage to the fire truck was not substantial enough to cause serious injury to the fire truck occupants. However, a passenger from the car that struck the fire truck was also taken to Elliot Hospital for minor injuries.

Firefighters and police officers both perform dangerous jobs but that danger is greatly increased when negligent drivers do not take the necessary precautions when driving near emergency vehicles. Personal injury can easily result from driver inattention and disregard for the rules of the road.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident, please contact the experienced NH auto accident lawyers at Tenn And Tenn, P.A. Our skilled attorneys will examine the details of your crash, and take all steps necessary to hold the at-fault party responsible for your injuries and damages. Call us today at 1-888-511-1010 for a free consultation.

The Union Leader recently reported in a story about a car collision in New Hampshire that occurred on U.S. Route 2 in Randolph that took the lives of three motorists and injured three more. The crash involved two vehicles – a 2007 Nissan Altima driven by a 41-year-old woman of Lunenburg, Vermont, and a 2000 Ford Explorer driven by a 27-year-old man of Lewiston, Maine. The woman’s vehicle had two additional passengers, while the man’s had an additional three passengers. Both of the female driver’s passengers perished at the scene, as did one of the male driver’s passengers. The motorists and remaining passengers were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment.

The accident was deemed not to have been caused by inclement weather. At the time of the accident, the weather was partly cloudy, and the roads were dry. The accident occurred at a wide point in the road. Substance abuse does not appear to have played a factor. U.S. Route2 has been the scene of numerous accidents throughout the years, although most of those accidents occurred at spots where the road tended to narrow.

In taking these details into consideration, one can only wonder if dangerous road conditions, such as unevenly paved roads, could have played some sort of factor in causing the accident. Whether or not this particular stretch of road was properly planned out in the first place, or has become more and more dangerous over the years due to shrubbery and other plant life protruding out from curves in the road, is a valid question that should be taken into consideration when deeming what exactly caused the accident to occur in the first place.

At Tenn And Tenn, P.A., our experienced auto accident attorneys examine the details of accidents to help determine whether or not dangerous road conditions played any sort of factor. If you or a loved one has questions regarding dangerous road conditions, or believe that dangerous road conditions contributed towards your recent accident, please don’t hesitate to contact the skilled New Hampshire auto accident attorneys at Tenn And Tenn, P.A. today for a free consultation by dialing 1-888-511-1010.