Personal injury attorney Adam Kutner knows there is a good reason that state and federal officials closely regulate and monitor the trucking industry. An 80,000-pound tractor-trailer in the hands of a distracted or tired driver can be a destructive force. No sane person would deliberately pull in front of a fully loaded truck traveling at highway speeds and hit the brakes. No one except a group prowling Nevada’s highways that law enforcement officials believe is responsible for at least 25 staged accidents involving tractor-trailers within an 18-month period.

According to the Nevada Highway Patrol, the organizers of these staged accidents target large commercial trucks because of the insurance they carry. The scenario usually involves a car with passengers pulling in front of a large commercial rig and hitting the brakes. The surprised truck driver usually has little time to react before hitting the car. The occupants of the car file claims with the trucking company’s insurance carrier for injuries they allegedly received in the accident.

Adam Kutner is a personal injury attorney who understands the dangers that large commercial trucks can pose. When these behemoths are driven at excessive speeds or drivers tailgate other vehicles, death and serious personal injuries can occur. Stopping distances increase tremendously in proportion to the size and weight of the vehicle. An 80,000-pound tractor-trailer needs a lot of room to come to a complete stop.

Federal and state regulations impose special licensing rules on truck drivers. Operation of a tractor-trailer requires that a driver possess a commercial driver’s license of the class required for the particular size rig. Also, the number of hours a driver is permitted to operate the vehicle each day is limited. Drivers must keep a logbook in their trucks to record the time and mileage, including for when they started and stopped driving each day. This logbook must be available for inspection by a police officer or state and federal inspectors.

Other regulations address mechanical failures by requiring commercial trucks to submit to roadside inspections. These inspections can identify vehicles that are overweight or require repairs or replacement of such vital parts as brakes, tires, and other mechanical and safety equipment. Trucks that do not pass inspection can be ordered out of service until repairs are completed. The drivers also risk substantial fines.

Police are actively searching for the organizers of the staged-accident scheme that uses unsuspecting day laborers to increase the value of the accident. The workers are told they are going to a job site when, in reality, their lives are being risked as passengers.

Real accidents involving tractor-trailers require the services of personal injury attorneys like Adam Kutner who assists accident victims in obtaining compensation. Whether the cause of the accident was driver distraction or mechanical failure, Kutner has the experience to take on trucking companies to make certain his client’s medical expenses lost earnings and pain and suffering are compensated.

Grandpa has this habit while reading the dailies: he would put a cigar on his mouth without actually lighting it. He just loves the feeling of an unlighted cigar on his mouth while reading. I can picture him now on his rocking chair with his cigar and just passing the time looking out his property…

I am always reminded of him whenever I see a cigars humidor at the neighbor’s veranda. It is always there ready for the man of the house to use. It actually made me smile thinking of the neighbor and my grandpa together with their cigars. I just know they will enjoy each other’s company.

I should bring my grandpa to the neighbor’s house and introduce the two men.

Wow, it’s been more than half a decade now that this blog is in existence. May 10, 2007 was the day I bought this domain for this blog. It was supposed to be sashasays.com but someone managed to grab it before I did. Another blogger suggested I put a dash between sasha and says. So it became Sasha-Says.com!

Six years. This is the very first domain I owned. This is the very first blog I hosted in the WordPress platform. And this is the very first domain I hosted in my own web hosting account! So many things have happened between then and now and this blog has withstood the test of time. It has given me so much more than what I expected from it, and is still continuing to give me so much more.

I haven’t had a giveaway hosted on this blog and for its blog anniversary. I wish I had one prepared but I am just really busy with so many things right now I was not able to prepare anything. But I promise to do something for my 7th blogoversary. I have more than a year to prepare for it so I will make sure it will be something grand.

I am praying for more years of blogging especially on this blog of mine.

Most map tools on the market today are anywhere from 5% to 40% inaccurate. This lack of attention to detail inspired Brooks-Range Mountaineering to develop a line of mapping tools that meet or beat USGS standards. This is not surprising considering that Brooks-Range is a small company of mountaineers who take their passion and knowledge for backcountry adventure, and use it to develop products that allows them to share their passion with others. Founded by Matt Brooks, an award winning mountaineer, Brooks-Range is dedicated to providing the highest quality mountaineering products with the best service. Brooks-Range orienteering tools are considered a “gold standard” in the industry.

A good example of their industry leading products is the All-In-One Map Tool that has been featured in several publications. It is designed to work with most topographical maps of the United States, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and Japan. The non-glare plastic not only works great in direct sunlight, but is strong enough to hold up against corner breakage and cracking in cold temperatures. Its 4×7 inch size lets it fit easily into a pocket making it easy to access while you are on the go. There are eight distance scales along the outer edges of the tool that are set in miles, three in miles and kilometers, and they range from 1:25,000 to 1:250,000. It is all accurate to 1/50th of an inch. There are also six slope indexes and eight UTM scales. The compass rose has 360 degree and 64 degree notations. It also can act and an inclinometer. For those who need a little more mapping power, there is the All-In-One Map Tool Pro and the All-In-One UTM Reader.

To make the All-In-One Tools work even better, Brooks-Range has some other products to work along with it. For example, the Emergency Latitude / Longitude Ruler can help you to translate location coordinates to rescue crews so that they can do their jobs more effectively. There is also the Field Book #311 that makes it easy for you to keep notes of your journey. It is made out of a special paper that works in wet weather with pen or pencil. Brooks-Range makes other prompt cards and resource cards that all can fit inside the bright yellow, waterproof Field Organizer.

It really doesn’t matter if you are just a casual hiker, a mountain climber, a backcountry skier or an adventure racer; it is critical that you always know where you are and where you are going. This not only makes you and your group safer, but it can make any journey more efficient and more fun.

Share in the passion that our founder and our staff have for the great outdoors. We test our products doing the activities we love to do, such as mountain climbing, backcountry skiing and hiking. Most of our products are made in the USA and are designed to hold up under the harshest of conditions. Brooks-Range Mountaineering should be your first choice for all of your map tools needs.

We always have a choice. We can either continue walking on the same road leading us nowhere or we can pave a new road that will lead us to success. It’s our choice. Think about it.

As for me, I am starting to pave a new road because the one I am walking on is no longer giving me the satisfaction it used to give me.

What about you?

Happy Tuesday everyone!