Worker Injured in Accident Rollover

A light rail construction worker was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center with a leg injury after he became trapped in an accident at a Central Corridor work site late Tuesday morning.

The accident happened around 11 a.m. at 15th Ave. S. and S. 4th Street, behind the Brian Coyle Center in the Cedar-Riverside area. Metro Transit spokesman John Siqveland said work was being done on the new Central Corridor line, not the existing Hiawatha line.

Laura Baenen, communications director for the Central Corridor Light Rail project, said a contractor for Ames Construction was operating a forklift on the flyover train bridge at Interstate 35W, where the Central Corridor and Hiawatha lines will connect. The forklift tipped over and trapped the worker’s right leg.

Crew members used a front-end loader to pull the forklift off the victim. The worker was conscious and alert when transported to HCMC.

Also see: Solicitor Liverpool

Construction Worker Killed, Another Seriously Injured

A car ran over two road construction workers along the shoulder of Interstate 35W in Burnsville early Thursday afternoon, leaving one of the men dead and the other seriously injured, authorities said.

Traffic on northbound 35W, where the crash occurred, has been halted, while the southbound side was running slower than normal.

The crash happened shortly after 12:35 p.m. north of the County Road 42 exit, according to the State Patrol. Also closed is the ramp from County Road 42 to northbound 35W.

The 21-year-old driver of the car from Missouri was not hurt and was cooperarting with investigators, the patrol said. Authorities have yet to say why the car left the interstate.

According to the State Patrol:

The car veered to the right and struck the two contract employees as they did electrical work associated with expansion of the MnPASS carpool system.

One of the workers was dead at the scene. The other was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center. Their identities have yet to be released.

The two were working for Egan Co. at the time, located in Brooklyn Park.

Egan Vice President Dawn Hofstrand said that her company has “a very good safety record. We’re just trying to get all of the information.”

A car with Missouri plates was off on the side of the road, with a white sheet on the ground nearby. Also nearby below the McAndrews Road overpass was a damaged road sign.

The fate of the driver was not immediately known.

The construction zone involves extension of the MnPASS carpool lanes.

The worker who was killed was employed by a private contractor, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The employer of the injured workers was not immediately known.

Two weeks ago, a car hit and slightly injured two construction workers in St. Paul on the ramp from southbound Hwy. 280 to westbound Interstate 94. The driver fled on foot and left behind two banged-up passengers and a loaded pistol.

Minnesota had more than 1,900 work zone crashes last year. That’s up from nearly 1,800 in 2009.

Auto Accident in Brooklyn Park

A crash has reduced traffic to one lane in Brooklyn Park, Minn. Thursday morning.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation says that a crash happened near 77th Avenue West and Highway 169.

MnDOT cameras showed a number of various emergency responders at the scene and a car that apparently crashed into the pole supporting road signs.

At about 8:30 a.m., a medical helicopter arrived at the scene to airlift the victim or victims to be hospitalized.

It’s not clear how many people were involved in the crash.

Six injured in two-car accident in Afton

Six people are recovering after a two-car collision in Afton sent them to the hospital Monday night.

Two of them, an adult and a juvenile from Woodbury, were listed in serious condition at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, said Sgt. Sara Halverson of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.

Four others were treated at Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater, where they appeared to be in stable condition with lesser injuries, she said. Those victims are a man and three girls from Lakeland, Halverson said.

The victims’ names were not released today by the sheriff’s office.

Deadly Accidents Saturday

Six people were killed on Minnesota roads in four separate crashes on Saturday:

• A two-vehicle crash at the intersection of County Road 40 and County Road 5 west of New London, left two dead and two injured, the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office said. One person was flown to a Twin Cities hospital and another was taken to Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar.

No other details were released.

• Three vehicles collided in Goodhue County, killing two men and injuring a third. That crash happened about 7:30 p.m. near Hwy. 52 and County Road 9.

The State Patrol was investigating and had no further details.

• A 37-year-old man died early Saturday when his pickup truck went off the road on Hwy. 169 on Minnesota’s Iron Range, the patrol reported.

The pickup was heading south on the wet highway about 3 miles south of Keewatin shortly after 2:30 a.m. when it went into the ditch and rolled over. The truck’s driver was thrown from the vehicle and the man died at the scene.

A passenger in the truck was taken to University Medical Center-Mesabi in Hibbing. The passenger’s condition was unknown.

Their names have not been released.

• Another one-vehicle fatality occurred shortly before 9 a.m. in Faribault, the patrol reported. A southbound car went off Lyndale Avenue near Division Street and hit a metal power pole, killing the driver.

His name wasn’t released.

Pedestrian, bicyclist deaths in Minn. down so far in ’11

Pedestrian and bicyclist deaths in Minnesota are down sharply so far this year, when compared with 2010, state public safety officials reported Friday.

So far in 2011, there have been 18 pedestrian fatalities and three deaths involving bicyclists, according to the state Department of Public Safety (DPS). At this time last year, deaths totaled 25 for pedestrians and eight for bicyclists.

Officials said they are hopeful that 2011 could end up as one of the least-deadly years for walkers and pedalers in the past decade. When combining the two categories, the lowest yearly death total since 2001 is 37 (four cyclists and 33 pedestrians) in 2007.

This year certainly has an excellent chance of being less deadly than last year for pedestrians and bicyclists (45), a combined total fueled by seven walkers being killed in October.

“Drivers must treat every corner and intersection as a crosswalk, whether it’s marked or unmarked, and stop for crossing pedestrians,” Gordy Pehrson, of the DPS Office of Traffic Safety, said in a statement released with the latest statistics.

In a message for pedestrians, Pehrson added that a crosswalk’s “white painted lines don’t protect you from distracted motorists.”

The 36 pedestrian deaths last year represented a 12 percent decrease from 2009 (41). Of those pedestrians killed in 2010, 34 percent had blood-alcohol levels of 0.08 percent or higher, according to the DPS.

As a group, pedestrians and bicyclists comprise nearly 10 percent of all traffic fatalities each year. Seventy-one percent of fatal crashes involving pedestrians and bicyclists occur in urban areas.

Keep Kids in Rear-Facing Car Seats Until Age 2

Many American parents place their children in forward-facing car seats at too young an age, a new study indicates.

Rear-facing car seats should be used until children are 2, according to American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines.

But a national survey conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital found that 73 percent of parents of children aged 7 months to 48 months switched their child from a rear-facing seat to a forward-facing seat before the age of 2.

The National Poll on Children’s Health also found that 30 percent of parents placed their child in a forward-facing seat before the age of 1.

“Research has shown that riding in a rear-facing car seat is up to five times safer for toddlers than riding in a forward-facing car seat,” Dr. Michelle Macy, a clinical lecturer of emergency medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, said in a University of Michigan Health System news release.

“Parents want to keep their children safe, but they may not be aware of the safety benefits of keeping their child rear-facing beyond their child’s first birthday,” she added.

Rear-facing seats can help protect children from serous injury in the event of a front-end collision, Macy said.

“When a child is sitting in a rear-facing car seat, the stopping forces are spread out over their entire back. The back of the car seat is a cushion for the child,” she explained. “However, in the forward-facing position, all of the crash forces are focused on the points of the body that come into contact with the car seat straps. The child’s head and limbs keep moving forward, pulling against the seat.”

The poll also found that 72 percent of parents refer to the car seat packaging for information on when to use the seat in a forward-facing position, and 68 percent ask a doctor or nurse.

http://gma.yahoo.com/keep-kids-rear-facing-car-seats-until-age-130405916.html

1 Dead, 1 Injured, Motorcycle-Deer Crash

AVON, Minn. (AP) – One person has died and another has been critically injured in a collision between a motorcycle and a deer in Stearns County.

The sheriff’s department says 47-year-old passenger, Laura Ann Tenvoorde-Behrend, was killed the motorcycle hit a deer about 8 p.m. Wednesday in Avon Township.

The driver, 49-year-old David Behrend, was injured and taken to St. Cloud Hospital where a spokeswoman says he is in critical condition.

 

Minnesota Personal Injury Lawyer

 “ONE CALL – DOES IT ALL” 

Personal injury attorney Guy E. Mattson represents people seriously injured in car accidents all across Minnesota. Guy has helped hundreds of clients get the justice they deserve after a traumatic, life-changing injury. He also represents family members in wrongful death claims, who have lost loved ones due to the carelessness of others. If you need help getting medical bills paid, recovering lost wages, and learning more about your rights, contact Guy today.

One call really does do it all – With legal representation, Guy can stop insurance company and investigator calls, protect your rights, and begin immediately working to prepare your legal claims. Personal injury claims are all Guy handles, so you can be rest assured the proper steps are being taken to protect your rights. The insurance company has a lawyer working for them, get a lawyer working for you.

Always free consultation – By phone or in person, Guy is happy to speak with you about your case. He can arrange to meet you any place convenient for you or your family: home, hospital, or coffee shop at no charge. He is honored to represent the injured and their families when it matters most. Guy can usually meet with you within 24 hours of your first call to him. Call Guy today.

“No recovery, no fee” Representation -  There is no expensive retainer fees required to get serious personal injury legal representation. Guy is paid on a contingency fee basis. This means he only collects an attorney fee when he is able to make a successful recovery for his client. If for some reason, the claim cannot go forward, you owe nothing for legal fees. Guaranteed.