New York Injury Lawyer Blawg

Halloween is a fun time for our young ones to dress up as spooky ghosts and goblins, but only by practicing a few safe Halloween tips can we avoid a serious accident on All Hallow's Eve. During Halloween, your child's risks for an pedestrian accident in New York skyrocket. As a matter of fact, your child is most likely to be involved in a pedestrian accident on October 31st than during any other night of the year.

Our New York injury attorneys and the New York State Police Department are here to offer safety tips to parents to help keep their young ones safe. Parents are urged to discuss these safety tips before heading out the door for trick-or-treating adventures this year.

Halloween Safety Tips:

-Never allow young children to go trick-or-treating alone. Children should always be accompanied by an adult.

-Make sure children are accompanied at the door of every house they trick-or-treat at.

-Children should only use homes driveways and sidewalks. Never cut across someone's yard.

-Parents should be familiar with the places that they're taking children trick-or treating.

-Children should be warned to never go inside anyone's house without parental consent.

-Children should not approach the vehicle of anyone they don't know.

-Costumes should have reflective tape adhered to them to make them more visible to passing motorists. Consider giving your child a flashlight, too!

-Children should consider using face paint instead of wearing masks. Masks can obstruct a trick-or-treater's line of vision.

-Make sure that all costumes are marked as flame resistant or flame retardant.

-Trick-or-treaters should never approach a house that is not well-lit. Only trick-or-treat at homes that have a porch light or an "outside" light on.

-Do not hesitate to report any suspicious activity.

-Teach children to scream if anyone tries to grab them or is forceful with them in any way.

-Be sure to look over children's goody bags before over the candy to them. Dispose of open candy or candy that appears to have been tampered with. Only factory-wrapped candy should be consumed.

-Consider throwing a small party for your children and their friends at your home as a safe alternative to trick-or-treating.

-Make sure children have comfortable shoes on.

-Keep jack-o-lanterns away from children and never leave them lit and unattended.

Halloween is a fun time of the year for all ages, but it can quickly turn deadly. Motorists are also asked to be cautious on our roadways during this time of the year. Be extremely cautious when driving through residential neighborhoods. As the nighttime approaches, young ghosts and goblins will be flocking the streets in search of sugary goodies. Avoid a potentially fatal accident and be on the lookout for these goblins. Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

Continue reading "Halloween: A Spooky Time for Child Accidents in New York" »

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has recently announced the launch of Chuggington, a children's cartoon designed to help educate our young ones about how to be safe around cars. This safety campaign was designed for children ages 2- to 7-years-old. Parents can also access Chugginton's website for downloadable safety tips and activities to use to join in on the learning process to help children avoid a potentially fatal accident in New York.

This young age group is some of the most vulnerable in traffic accidents. Help them to fight against these risks with the proper safety knowledge.

"Educating children at an early age...leads to a lifetime of good traffic safety habits," said U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Secretary Ray LaHood.

Our New York child injury lawyers understand that traffic crashes are leading cause of death for children in the United States. In 2009, there were nearly 1,315 fatalities and almost 180,000 injuries that occurred to individuals under the age of 15 in the U.S. Pedestrian accidents alone accounted for a good portion of these accidents. In 2007, there were nearly 300 deaths and almost 120,000 injuries that happened among pedestrians in this same young age group. Chuggington is here to help to teach children how to be safe when riding a bicycle, when riding the school bus, when walking near traffic and when riding in a car. In all of these scenarios, children are at serious risks for accidents if they're not careful and not properly educated.

Children should be taught that they should always wear a bicycling helmet when riding a bike, that they should always look both ways before crossing the street and that they should always wear a seat belt, regardless of if they're in a child's seat or not.

Throughout the cartoon video series, children will be able to earn badges from Chuggington and his friends for learning the proper and safe behavior to practice when in each of these scenarios. Ultimately, children will be urged to obtain their "Think Safe, Ride Safe, Be Safe!" traffic safety badge, which they can get after taking the pledge to practice these safe traveling habits.

The Chuggington video series was released to coincide with National Child Passenger Safety Week. National Child Passenger Safety Week is used to urge parents to take their car and their child's seat to a certified car seat inspector to make sure that the devices are properly installed in the vehicle. In the U.S., it's estimated that about 70 percent of all child car seats are installed improperly. Parents should take their child's car seat to a certified inspector. Through numerous studies, children's seats have been shown to be effective in saving lives in the event of a traffic accident and for these devices to work, parents must know how to properly install them.

We're urging parents to get involved in Chuggington's efforts to make our children smarter and safer travelers. Let's teach our children these safe habits early to better ensure a lifetime of safe travels.

Continue reading "Chuggington Offers Safety Tips to Kids to Help Prevent Accidents in Manhattan and Elsewhere" »

As we recently reported on our New York Injury Lawyer Blawg, the new school year recently kicked off and school-aged children are gearing up to head to bus stops across the state. In addition to the bus riders, we would also like to draw attention to the number of teen drivers that will be hitting our roadways as well to make it to campus before the bell.

Teenage drivers are some of the most vulnerable drivers on our roadways. Car accidents in New York City and elsewhere continue to be the number one cause of death for teenagers. For this reason, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has been conducting numerous studies to get a glimpse into the driving habits of the young motorists to figure out exactly why they're at such high risks for accidents on our roadways. In the most recent study, AAA installed cameras into the vehicles of teen drivers in North Carolina to gather information regarding their driving habits in an attempt to create ways to help to better educate our young ones.

Our New York car accident attorneys understand that teen drivers need to be closely monitored by parents and guardians. Parents are some of the most influential people when it comes to educating young drivers. It's important for parents to get involved in their teen driver's learning process and to stay involved long after they've gotten their unrestricted license. Constant reinforcement of safe driving habits can help to reduce their risks of a potentially fatal traffic accident.

"The first six months after getting your license are the most important," said Vincent Payne of AGIC Insurance, Inc.

The recently AAA study determined that teen drivers are most at risk for an accident just 30 days after getting a full driver's license. Once a teen driver gains experience driving without supervision, their risks significantly decrease. Teen drivers are half as likely to get into an accident just a year after having unrestricted driving privileges.

Parents are urged to take hold of the following to implement with their newly-licensed teen driver:

-Practice. Practice. Practice! Teenagers can never get enough driving practice. Parents should ride along with their teen drivers as much as possible.

-Parents should limit the number of passengers that are allowed to ride with their teen at one time. The more passengers there are in a teen's vehicle, the higher the risks are for a serious accident.

-Teen drivers should be limited to their time spent behind the wheel at night. Consider setting a curfew. Teen drivers' risks for accidents increase significantly when the sun goes down.

-Create a parent-teen driving agreement to help lay down the rules of the road as a way to better enforce them in your household. Include consequences for breaking the rules in this contract.

Continue reading "Teen Drivers Back to School, Risks for Car Accidents in New York Increase" »

Distracted driving has become a serious problem on roadways across the country and these distracted drivers have contributed to far too many preventable car accidents in Manhattan and elsewhere. For this reason, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has decided to dedicate an entire week to help raise awareness and to educate drivers about the dangers that come along with driver distractions. The week-long campaign is called "Heads Up Driving Week" and is taking place from September the 26th through October the 2nd. Drivers across the country are encouraged to join the campaign's efforts and take the pledge to curb the distractions behind the wheel.

According to a recent study from the University of Utah, drivers just aren't wired to multi-task behind the wheel. Statistics reveal that roughly 8,000 car accidents happen every day because of distracted drivers. Still, far too many drivers are talking on the phone, sending text messages, applying makeup, surfing the web, eating, drinking and smoking, all while trying to drive.

Our New York car accident lawyers understand that a majority of drivers, 92 percent to be exact, feel that emailing or texting at the wheel is a completely unacceptable behavior. On top of that, roughly 80 percent of drivers say that they support anti-distraction laws, according to the AAA Foundation's 2010 Traffic Safety Culture Index. Still, drivers across the country are engaging in these dangers. Researchers point to the "do as I say, not as I do" attitude for these findings.

"Driving while texting, emailing or talking on the phone aren't perceived as egregious behaviors despite overwhelming scientific evidence of the serious crash risk these behaviors pose," said AAA Foundation President and CEO Peter Kissinger.

Dangerous driving facts:

-More and 1 million people have been killed in traffic accidents during the last 25 years. Nearly 35,000 people were killed in 2010 alone.

-Studies indicate that drivers spend at least half of their time driving while engaging in distracting behaviors.

-Drivers are four times more likely to get into an accident when using a cell phone behind the wheel.

-Distractions can include changing the radio station/volume, rubbernecking, emailing, surfing the web, talking on a cell phone, sending text messages, using a road map or a GPS device, eating, drinking and talking with passengers.

-Passengers are in fact the top reported cause of distraction-related car accidents.

In 2010, there were approximately 3,100 people who were killed in traffic accidents that involved a distracted driver. These types of accidents and fatalities are 100 percent preventable. The fight against distractions starts with you!

For "Heads Up Driving Week," AAA is asking all drivers to take the pledge to put down all distractions. AAA suggests you try it just for a week, and you're sure to see the real benefits of focus, uninterrupted driving. Drivers can take the pledge on the AAA website.

Continue reading ""Heads Up Driving Week" to Help Reduce Risks of Distraction-Related Car Accidents in New York and Elsewhere" »