Escalator accidents do happen more often than you think, just ask the fans of Disney star Selena Gomez.

According to TMZ, several fans of Gomez, who trooped to Emerald Square Mall in Massachusetts to catch a glimpse of the star, were involved in an escalator accident.

It was reported that the escalator abruptly stopped and some even claimed it started going backwards fast which sent several young fans flying.

Police and firefighters assisted dozens of fans who fell down and five people were injured. Three of them were taken to the hospital for medical attention.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, there were as much as 11,000 escalator accidents in 2007. Majority of escalator accident injuries are caused by falls but 10 percent are caused by hands, feet or shoes that get trapped in escalators.

Most escalator accident victims are children and several have lost limbs or have gotten killed because a shoe, clothes, scarves, and shoelaces have gotten stuck in gaps in the escalator.

5-year old Kerriana Johnson from Florida was awarded millions of dollars worth of damages after she lost three fingers when her hand got sucked into a gap in the store’s escalator.

Defective, poorly maintained, or badly designed escalators cause thousands of injuries yearly. Most of these could have been avoided had the dangerous conditions of escalators been remedied or repaired.

Under the law, the owner of the property where the escalator is situated or the manufacturer of the escalator can be held liable for injuries or deaths suffered by passengers of the escalator.

A personal injury lawsuit can be filed by the victim against the establishment or company whose defective escalator caused the injury.

In San Francisco, two major pedestrian accidents occurred in a single day, one of which was fatal.

The fatal pedestrian accident occurred in the area of Ocean and Miramar avenues near City College while a female pedestrian survived with serious injuries after a collision with a Muni Railway 9-San Bruno bus at San Bruno Avenue and Burrows Street.

Oakland City on the other hand, also had a fatal pedestrian accident when a 45-year-old woman was killed by a hit and run driver while crossing the intersection.

Pedestrian car crash fatalities account for nearly 12 percent of all motor vehicle deaths and while the percentage may seem insignificant, as many as 4,378 people died from vehicle accidents in 2008. Also, 20 percent of these pedestrian deaths are from hit and run crashes.

In a study by the Insurance Institute Highway Safety, it was revealed that pedestrians were more likely to be at fault in collision accidents.

However, while some drivers are let off scot-free from pedestrian crashes, there are several instances wherein they can be both held criminally and civilly liable for pedestrian accident injuries or death. Here are some examples:

• The driver was violating a law (traffic lights or speed limit) when the accident occurred.
• The driver was driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
• Distracted driving such as texting or talking on one’s cell phone.
• Road rage incidents wherein the driver deliberately hurts the pedestrian or uses his vehicle as a weapon.
• Hit and run accidents.

Under the following scenarios mentioned, the driver is deemed negligent and the pedestrian or in case of death, his family may sue the driver for damages.

Every driver, upon receipt of his license, has the duty and responsibility to exercise due care and diligence on the road, especially towards pedestrians.

A breach of this duty will give rise to civil liability wherein the injured pedestrian may rightfully claim compensation for his medical expenses as well as loss of wages, pain and suffering he endured as a result of the accident.

Since 1999, Toyota has received more than 2,000 complaints of unintended acceleration of some of its models. Six separate investigations conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration later only yielded the finding of “unsecured floor mats” — it took the death of an off-duty CHP officer and his family to shake the giant carmaker into a more exhaustive inquiry into its cars.

After recalling 4.2 million vehicles and suspending the sale of affected models, Toyota has announced it has found a way to fix the unintended acceleration. The problem with the faulty gas pedals were traced by the engineers to have been caused by a friction device in the assembly that is supposed to provide the proper pedal “feel” by adding resistance.

The repair, which is supposed to take about half an hour, consists of installing a steel shim a couple of millimeters thick in the pedal assembly, which will eliminate the excess friction between two pieces of the accelerator mechanism.

Toyota will shoulder the expenses of the repair and have shipped the steel shim out to the dealerships and customers with Toyota models the subject of recall are advised to wait to receive certified letters from Toyota before heading out to their nearest dealer.

Also, for consumers involved in any unintended acceleration accident with said Toyota vehicles, they may contact Toyota’s customer service at 800-331-4331 or file a complaint online with the NHTSA at http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq.

Another option, for victims who have been grievously hurt or whose family member had perished in a car accident due to car defects, they can file a personal injury lawsuit or a wrongful death lawsuit.

Currently, there are already a number of lawsuits filed against the Japanese automaker because of their dangerously defective cars. Some suits even claim that the defect is due to the car’s electronic system.

The Toyota troubles has however, spawned a number of “Toyota lawyers” but affected drivers should be wary before engaging the services of just any lawyer. Aside from taking into consideration the benefits of a contingency fee, lawyers must be experienced in litigating product liability or car defects claims. The track record of experience must likewise be sterling because the lawyer must be good enough to have won the cases he handles.

Every day, almost 12 people are killed in pedestrian and motor vehicle collisions according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Traffic Safety Facts. California is one of the top four states, including New York, Florida and Texas, in pedestrian fatalities.

In San Diego, a pedestrian suffered serious head injuries after he was struck by a Jaguar while crossing Federal Boulevard near Euclid Avenue in Webster.

According to the police, the accident happened shortly after 9:30 in the evening when the man suddenly stepped out from between two parked cars and walked right into oncoming traffic.

The Jaguar, which was driven by a man in his 30’s failed to stop his car in time from hitting the pedestrian. Police say that the pedestrian was drunk.

While drivers have the duty to exercise due diligence in operating their vehicles and to yield to drivers, pedestrians and bicycles who have the right of way – similarly, pedestrians have the same duty to exercise care and diligence on the road.

In a 2002 Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) study, pedestrians were judged to be more at fault in most pedestrian and car collisions than drivers. Most were always judged culpable in midblock and intersection dash crashes – the collision wherein a pedestrian appears suddenly in the path of a vehicle.

Also, aside from walking right into traffic or vehicles and failure to follow traffic signals, intoxicated pedestrians are also a traffic safety problem.

Based on IIHS statistics, alcohol is also a major factor in pedestrian accidents – with drunk pedestrians more to blame than drunk drivers. As much as 54 percent of pedestrians aged 16 and above who were fatally injured in nighttime crashes (9 p.m. to 6 a.m.) had high BACs.

Drunk, distracted, and impaired drivers are usually held liable for pedestrian deaths and injuries. But in situations where the roles are reversed, when the pedestrian himself is careless, distracted or drunk, there can be no valid personal injury or wrongful death claim.

Accidents can be costly, especially if you alone will bear the price for your negligence or folly.

Beef lovers beware!

According to the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, 864,000 pounds or 390 tons of ground-beef have been found to be tainted with E. coli and is now being recalled.

A batch of contaminated beef was found shipped by the plant from January 5 to January 15 and sold to distribution centers, restaurants and hotels in California.

Huntington Meat Packing Inc of Montebello, California produced the tainted beef. Fortunately for the company, there have been no reported illnesses or fatalities from the consumption of the product.

In 2008, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that there were as many as 18,499 laboratory-confirmed cases of food-borne illnesses from ten states, including California.

E.coli bacteria - in particular - are the very common causes of food-borne illnesses which can cause diarrhea, urinary tract infections, respiratory illness and pneumonia, and kidney failure among others.

Very young children and older people are very vulnerable to it and can become seriously ill or develop severe illness and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) by ingesting food or water which has been contaminated with microscopic amounts of cow feces.

Victims of food poisoning, especially those who have been grievously affected by the contaminated food, may file a claim for damages against the food manufacturer or distributor.

You can rightfully recover medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering especially if the manufacturer or distributor was negligent in handling the food product and failed to exercise care and quality control.

Consult a product liability lawyer to find out if you can file a claim against the manufacturer. Cases like this can be tricky as sometimes, a mere stomach ache or upset stomach would not amount to a valid claim for damages.