The variable speed of traffic on the highway, going from 70 miles per hour down to 25 miles per hour or stopping for no apparent reason, is often the cause of car crashes. Drivers may not be paying enough attention to be ready to react to the sudden slow down of other vehicles. Often, a rear-end collision is the result of motorists following too close. This problem of being hit from behind is especially serious on busy urban highways like Interstate 64 (I64) which passes through Hampton, Newport News and Williamsburg, Virginia (VA) on the way between my hometown of Norfolk and the Richmond Circuit Court where I often have hearings in my personal injury practice.
Keep your spacing good between the cars in front of and behind you, if possible, to avoid being a part of a chain reaction collision. Always be ready for the traffic to slow down to a crawl or even fully stop, especially in those places where multiple lanes reduce to a lower number of through lanes.
Rick Shapiro has practiced personal injury law for over 30 years in Virginia, North Carolina, and throughout the Southeastern United States. He is a Board-Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (ABA Accredited) and has litigated injury cases throughout the eastern United States, including wrongful death, trucking, faulty products, railroad, and medical negligence claims. During his three-decade career, Shapiro has won client appeals before the VA Supreme Court, VA Court of Appeals, NC Supreme Court, SC Supreme Court, WV Supreme Court, TN Supreme Court, and three times before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, underscoring Shapiro’s trial achievements. In addition, he and his law firm have won settlements/verdicts in excess of $100 million. His success in and out of the courtroom is a big reason why he was named 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” in railroad law in U.S. News & World Report's Best Lawyers publication (Norfolk, VA area), and he has been named a “Best Lawyer” and “Super Lawyer” by those peer-reviewed organizations for multiple years. Rick was also named a “Leader in the Law, Class of 2022” by Virginia Lawyers Weekly (total of 33 statewide honorees consisting of lawyers and judges across Virginia). And in September 2023, Rick was selected as a recipient of the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) 2023 President’s Award. Although many nominations were submitted from across the country, Rick was just one of eight attorneys chosen by the prestigious National Board which certifies civil trial attorneys across the U.S. Rick was also recently named to Virginia Lawyers Weekly 2024 Virginia’s Go To Lawyers Medical Malpractice. The attorneys awarded this honor are nominated by their colleagues and chosen by a panel from the publication.
Comments for this article are closed.