California Motorcycle Accident Attorney and Biker Lawyer Norman Gregory Fernandez

Well it is 3:51am on Thursday morning. I just arrived at my hotel in downtown San Francisco after an uneventful trip from Los Angeles.

I am here to give a speech at the American Bar Association Convention. For us lawyers, the ABA convention is the superbowl of nationwide attorney conventions.

 I received the honor to be asked to speak at this year’s convention. I could not turn it down. 

Stays tuned for videos and pictures, and wish me luck! 

By California Motorcycle Accident Attorney Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq., August, 2010

The post Hello from San Francisco first appeared on Biker and Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Blog.

Tiburon - California

Tiburon – California

Tiburon is a small town kind of place, with a small town kind of atmosphere. It is the kind of place where you get the feeling that everyone knows everyone else.

When one wanders through its little streets, just north of San Francisco, one gets the sense that a few of the residents, on seeing someone who appears not to be from around those parts, reach for their handkerchief and hand sanitizer.

How can one, therefore, be surprised that a meeting of the Tiburon Town Council voted on Wednesday by 4 to 0 to install cameras to photograph every single car that enters or leaves this little Disneyland? So much for the right of privacy eh?

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that this may be the first community in the country to have defended itself with cameras in such a way. The idea is to photograph the license plates of every car that treads Tiburon’s hallowed roads and compare the information with the police’s list of the stolen and nefarious.

The Tiburon police chief, Michael Cronin, told the Chronicle: “I think it makes the community safer.”

The Tiburon police–inspired, perhaps, by Google–promise that the information will be kept for only 30 days. Yea like we really believe him.

The strange thing is that Tiburon, a northern suburb of San Francisco, isn’t exactly Oakland. It doesn’t enjoy high crime figures. Indeed, some might say that the most criminal elements in the place are to be seen on the racks of its clothes stores.

The town is fortunate, however, in that it is on a peninsula, from which there are only two roads. So the total cost of putting up six cameras is estimated to be no more than $200,000, which works out at something near $20 per resident. (Tiburon residents enjoy, by the way, a median income somewhere above $125,000.)

I know there will be some who believe you can never have enough security cameras in this heinous and half-witted world. But perhaps some will worry that the police might make rather instinctive judgments about the provenance of certain cars and their intentions.

Others will wonder whether this decision might affect businesses in Tiburon. Still others will ponder whether the police might be willing to offer a Web site showing the movements of all its officers.

I merely wonder how many people, knowing they might have to go to Tiburon for a meal of organic Kobe beef, rosemary ice cream, and plenty of Stags Leap cabernet, will choose to remove their front license plates. You know, just to be on the safe side.

I for one think that it is un-American for any town in this nation to photograph every single car that enters or leaves a town. This is something you would expect from a communist country of some fascist country; not America.

I for one think that unless Tiburon changes its policy, I will not be spending my money in this town. I choose to not support what they are planning on doing. This is a bad trend.

Beware going to or leaving Tiburon, California, big brother is photographing you.

San Francisco California Motorcycle Accident Attorney and Biker Lawyer

The post Northern California Town to photograph every car that Enters and Leaves first appeared on Biker and Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Blog.

Elizabeth sitting on Norms motorcycle across from San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge.

On November 1, 2009, the city of San Francisco in California will implement a new policy that prevents city police officers from automatically impounding cars driven by unlicensed drivers. Unlicensed drivers will now be given 20 minutes to find someone with a valid license to drive their car. Only if an unlicensed driver is caught again within six months, is there an automatic 30-day impound, which can cost around $2,500.00.

This policy is aimed to protect so-called undocumented or I should say illegal aliens who are otherwise law abiding citizens, from having their vehicles impounded even though they are breaking State law by driving without a license and presumably also breaking State law by not having the required mandatory minimum liability insurance to protect others in case they hit them in their vehicles.

As a personal injury attorney and lawyer my only thought is what the heck? What about law abiding citizens and legal immigrants who follow State law and have a valid drivers license, and also carry mandatory insurance?

This new policy is absurd and an accident waiting to happen. As a matter of fact this new policy may violate State and Federal law to boot.

Look, I am all for protecting law abiding people, but by definition, those driving without a driver’s license are not law abiding are they? Hell, the protected class of citizens that Mayor Gavin Newsom is trying to protect are in fact breaking our laws by being here illegally in the first place.

I think that if someone is hit by an unlicensed and uninsured driver in San Francisco, the city of San Francisco should now be held liable for inviting this type of law breaker into their city by advertising the fact that they are not enforcing State law. It is reasonably foreseeable that law breakers will flock to San Francisco to take advantage.

What about the victims of this policy. Hell, I deal with personal injury victims on a daily basis, especially those that are hit by uninsured and illegal drivers. In the end we all pay for those that choose not to drive with insurance through increased insurance rates.

Furthermore, I do not think that it is wise to allow a major city like San Francisco to pick and choose which State laws it chooses to abide by or enforce.

This new policy is a disaster in the making. Mayor Gavin Newsom, you need to pull your head out of your ass and jump on the team here for the big win. You are endangering legal citizens and legal residents in order to protect those who are breaking the Law!

By California Motorcycle Accident Attorney and Biker Lawyer, Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq., © 2009

The post What the Heck? San Francisco’s Sanctuary City Policy is an Accident waiting to Happen! first appeared on Biker and Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Blog.

 One June 13, 2009, one week before my 46th birthday, my fiancé drove me to my house to pick up my Harley Davidson Electra Glide so that I could ride it to our new home. Well, I decided to take a major detour so to say…… You know how it is 🙂

I heard that the Angeles Crest Highway to Wrightwood, which has been closed for basically the past 4-5 years was recently repaired and finally reopened.

This is one of my favorite runs of all time, and it is local. I thought that with the budget crisis in California, and the severity of how the road was washed out during storms many moons ago, that there was a possibility of never being able to do this run again in my lifetime. I have heard people spouting off about roads with twisties; well let them ride the Angeles Crest and tell me what they think!

I shot the below first person perspective video with my cell phone camera, a Samsung Memoir, in one hand, and holding on to the throttle with the other. I do not ever recommend anyone ever trying this or doing this at home. Although I am a motorcycle accident attorney and a biker lawyer, I have been riding motorcycles for over 30 years and let’s just say that I think I am a decent rider.

The beginning of the video shows some video of the staging area, a traditional stop before Newcomb’s Ranch, Newcomb’s Ranch, my secret spot at 8,000 feet above sea level, and then some kick ass first person riding footage. The end of the movie is kind of a surprise.

Tell me what you think!

By California Motorcycle Accident Attorney, and Biker Lawyer, Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq., © 2009

The post California Motorcycle Accident Attorney and Biker Lawyer Rides the Recently Re-Opened Angeles Crest Highway. first appeared on Biker and Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Blog.