Santa Clara County Probes into Accident-Prone Drivers

Santa Clara County Probes into Accident-Prone Drivers

Campbell public employees among them

Santa Clara County performed an audit in 2009 that identified a small number a drivers whose poor driving records resulted in the most number of accidents. The San Jose Mercury News reported that in 2014, two-thirds of the 65 at-fault accidents were caused by drivers who had at least one prior crash. Perhaps most revealing about investigation behind the audit is that some of these drivers were public employees, among them park rangers. In Campbell, for example, a ranger’s county-owned pick-up truck collided with a parked Honda Insight, causing $2,200 worth of damage to the Honda. This was the ranger’s second accident in two weeks and the ninth in 11 years. According to the News, these statistics qualified the ranger as having been responsible for the most at-fault accidents of all county workers. Other public departments, including the sheriff’s office and the roads and parks division, have also accounted for a disproportionate share of accidents. Yet many of these drivers are still on the road causing accidents. Civil service bureaucracy and union contracts play a role in making it difficult to terminate unsafe drivers.

Steps to take if you’re involved in an auto accident with a publicly-owned vehicle

If the party that caused your car crash was operating a county or city-owned vehicle and is a county or city employee, more than ever you need act quickly to protect your rights. At Golden State Lawyers, our car accident attorneys meticulously research the facts in the case. We collect and process evidence quickly to make sure it does not disappear or is hidden to protect the reputation and livelihood of the other vehicle’s operator. Such cases may become complicated, but our attorneys have the experience and skill to persevere and navigate through the maze of county government. We recommend you take the following steps if an accident occurs:

• Take photos of the accident scene and vehicles involved
• Save any belongings, including clothing, that was damaged in the crash
• Write down your recollection of what happened, including terrain, weather conditions, time of day, day, month, and year
• Collect the contact information of anyone who was nearby and might be able to serve as a witness
• Seek immediate medical attention if you were inside the vehicle at the time of collision, even if you don’t think you need to. Some symptoms may not be readily apparent.
• Call Golden State Lawyers and tell us what happened. If we take your case, you pay no attorney’s fees or case costs unless we secure a recovery for you.