Provo Personal Injury Law Blog

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can lead to permanent disability and even death to sufferers of the condition.

TBI contributes to nearly one-third of all injury-related deaths in the U.S. according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Of the estimated 1.7 million Americans that experience a TBI this year alone, 52,000 will die and 275,000 will be hospitalized, CDC reports.

Severities of TBI

TBI occurs in two distinct levels of severity. The levels are classified as either closed or open (penetrating) based on the actual trauma that occurs.

• Closed TBI: This head injury results from an actual blow to the head from striking an object or being struck. In a closed TBI, the object bludgeons but does not actually break the skull.

• Penetrating or Open TBI: This type of head injury results from an object breaking the skull and entering the area of the brain. Examples are usually related to high-impacts like gunshots or car crashes that result in headfirst launch through the windshield.

A fatal truck accident that received national attention last year is a major motivator behind a recent call by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for a nationwide ban on the use of cell phones by commercial truck drivers and bus drivers. A semi driver who had used his cell phone 69 times over a 24-hour period killed ten members of an extended family in a catastrophic accident in Kentucky when his semi crossed the median and hit their van head on.

The NTSB recommended a federal ban on the use of handheld and hands-free devices along with 14 other safety proposals to reduce the chance of future similar tragedies. The recommendations call for regulatory changes by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and various state highway safety agencies.

A 15-year-old girl was killed in northeast Utah in July when the highway she and her father were traveling suddenly collapsed, leaving a gaping sink hole. A second vehicle was swallowed up by the crater that measured 40 feet wide and 30 feet deep, according to Usatoday.com.

Sixth-grade honor student Justine Barneck was killed at the scene and her father, 59-year-old Michael Barneck, was injured near Tabiona, roughly 90 miles east of Salt Lake City, after a heavy evening storm overflowed a culvert and wiped out two-lane State Highway 35.

On June 5, two people were killed after their car collided with a large truck on Interstate 80 in Tooele County, Utah. The truck driver was uninjured. The crash occurred at approximately 5:45 p.m. about ten miles outside of Grantsville.

Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Ted Tingey reported that the car became stuck underneath the semi trailer and then caught fire. It took an hour for responders to extinguish the fire. Troopers shut down the eastbound lanes of I-80 for a few hours so that they could further investigate how the car became lodged under the truck and what caused the fire.