personal injury claim

Crosswalks can still pose a danger to those on foot

How many of us who cross busy streets daily have been buzzed at one time or another in the crosswalk by a car whose driver apparently just couldn’t wait for the walker to clear the road?

Too many, it turns out. And most of the time, all you can do is shake it off, clench your teeth and bite your lip.
                                                
Unfortunately, pedestrians in our automobile-dominated culture are too often ignored in this manner. Sometimes the results are tragic. St. Louis is one of the U.S. cities whose rate of pedestrian injuries or deaths has grabbed the attention of the Federal Highway Administration. The agency has included it among its so-called “focus cities” that require extra attention to shore up safety.

“I think everyone is just starting to become aware of this pedestrian-safety issue,” said Meredith Klekotka, TravelGreen manager at Trailnet Inc. in St. Louis.

Americans are walking — and bicycling — more. So while motor vehicle crash fatalities are on the decline, the number of pedestrian and bicyclist injuries and deaths have been on the rise since 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Part of the problem can be traced to our culture and part of it can be linked to the construction of St. Louis roads, which were designed for a larger city, she said. Pedestrians who cross downtown streets, for instance, can spend 80 to 90 feet in a street. Meantime, pedestrians may have to go well out of their way to cross at a downtown corner. As a result, we see a lot of dangerous mid-block crossings.

Missouri’s pedestrian laws, meanwhile, are antiquated. They have been on the books since the mid-1960s, are not as tough as laws in other states and are “probably out of date,” Klekotka said.

Making our streets safer for pedestrians will take a multipronged approach, according to safety advocates such as Klekotka. Laws will have to give police more authority to enforce crosswalk safety. Streets can be re-engineered to reduce a pedestrian’s exposure. (We have seen curb extensions that reduce the actual driving surface that needs to be crossed on foot.) And there is plenty of room for public education.

On the national stage, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx has declared pedestrian and bicyclist safety a top department priority.

Tougher laws don’t necessarily mean pedestrians would be safe. A survey released last week by the Active Transportation Alliance showed that drivers stopped less than 20 percent of the time when pedestrians tried to cross a street within a marked crosswalk. Compliance was lower on unmarked crossings, the group said.

Chicago and the state of Illinois have “must stop” laws, requiring drivers to stop when someone is in a legal crosswalk.

“In Chicago, we’ve got a long way to go before a lot of drivers even are aware of this law,” said Ted Villaire, a spokesman for the alliance. “It is not very good compliance.”

Obtaining Compensations for Personal Injuries - Role of an Injury Lawyer

A victim of personal injuries can always claim for compensations from the faulty party. Injuries can be classified into many segments and compensations depend on the extent of injuries as well as on the expenses that have been incurred for its treatments. Compensations for the pain and trauma are also demanded. Getting personal injury claims settled is not as simple as it sounds. Therefore the best thing to do is to contact an experienced and trustworthy personal injury attorney in your area who can help with the entire process – from applying for the claim to making negotiations and so on.

                                               
Here are some cases where chances of getting personal injury compensations are high:

Cases of medical malpractice – What can be more pathetic than becoming a victim of medical malpractice? In case you do not get competent treatment at a hospital, laboratory or a clinic, or suffer some kind of injury due to unprofessionalism of doctors or nurses or develop some problems due to negligence of staff at the hospital, nursing center etc, you can claim compensations for all the losses. Both medical laws and legal rules will be under scanner in such cases. If the case is prepared in a proper manner and presented before the court, it is possible to obtain good amounts of compensations for the same.

Severe injuries – There are innumerable cases of severe injuries faced by victims of accidents. Most of the auto accident cases, bus accidents, truck accidents etc lead to severe injuries. Infact many patients have also succumbed to the injuries while undergoing treatments. Personal injury claims start rising when the injuries are serious and severe. It is also obvious that the time taken for the patient to recover from such injuries will be quite long and naturally medical bills will also be huge. In case there are problems in getting compensations for these losses, hiring a personal injury attorney is the best thing to do.

Exposure to toxic chemicals or elements – Pollution due to chemical toxins are increasing with each passing day. There are contaminants and pollutants in air, water, soil as well as in foods. It is actually very difficult to spot a particular source for such pollutions. Even if people fall ill or sick due to such pollutants, it is difficult to prove the same. Various kinds of scientific data and information are required to prove the toxicity and the harm that it does. It is understandable that gathering such data is pretty difficult. Chemical industries and other companies are well protected legally and so it is difficult to bring any case against them. In such situations, the best thing to do is to hire the services of an expert personal injury attorney.

Injuries that lead to disability or long term illness – Many injuries have long-lasting impact on people. While some injuries might lead to long term illness, some of the injuries can make a person handicapped and crippled for lifetime. Compensations for such injuries are quite high if proper claims are made for the same.

Choosing the best personal injury attorney is recommended for dealing with personal injury cases.

Alternative Claim Procedures

Accidents occur due to one’s negligence or the fault of the other person involved in it. In either case, there may be injuries caused. Injuries that are visible and those that cannot be seen.  But these invisible ones actually cause severe pain and discomfort for the person injured. These include strains and stress of the muscles. It also may be a ligament tear or a blood clot. All the mentioned injuries cannot be seen and thus it becomes difficult for the injured to claim insurance.

On the other hand, the insurance company may try to underplay this so as to settle for less. In this case, the question arises about how a claim can be made.  You can file a suit against the offender in the court. This may take a long time to settle keeping in mind that the intensity of the injury cannot be perceived by the judge. Arbitration is the best alternative.

Arbitration is an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). In this type of settlement, the settlement is done out of the court proceedings and traditional lawsuits. If both parties agree for quicker and less messy proceedings, they can go for arbitration system of settlement. 

How does it work?

When the claim is relatively less, (in some places it is less than $50,000) these matters can be subjected to mandatory court-annexed arbitration. The court appoints an arbitrator whose decision will be final. This procedure is inexpensive and relatively informal. A certain amount is fixed by the arbitrator and becomes final. But if one of the parties is dissatisfied, the trial court will hold a trial de novo.  Trial de novo means these appeals are not appeals at all, but mere “do overs” for someone who is unhappy with the result.

When can one adopt Arbitration?

Insurance companies have institutionalized policy of appealing these awards. This is because they need to pay less to the defender. Thus the amount that one may get from arbitration system may be accepted. Another major concern is regarding the jury. The jury has to take painful attempts to understand the injuries they cannot see. These include strained necks and backs. Many times these are the cases that go for smaller claims. So the jury’s work becomes tedious and time consuming and thus may discourage one from going into regular law suits. 

This choice of settlement can be adopted for speedier and less tedious settlement.

Compulsory Arbitration System in Personal Injury

Injuries sustained during an accident may be external or internal. External injury such as a broken leg or arm, or any bleeding involved is quite visible. But it is not that a person will sustain only a visible injury. Many a time a person may sustain a strain in the neck or back, a pull in the muscle or so which is quite invisible. This does not mean that this injury should not be counted as a personal injury. Though externally invisible these injuries are also eligible for claims.

The person injured often feel discouraged to impress the insurance company as this may be a petty claim. Or on the other hand may file a suit against the other offender for a claim. The insurance company may want to settle this for less. When a law suit is filed, again the jury fails to understand the extent of damage. This makes the jury’s work quite tedious and time consuming. 

Arbitration system can be the best alternative for such claims as this requires less time. When the two parties agree upon an arbitrator, the court appoints an arbitrator to settle the matter. The arbitrator looks into the matter and decides upon a particular settlement. It is not necessary that the parties have to agree to it. If any of the party is dissatisfied they can appeal in the court again. But it is rare that it needs a review. 

What is Arbitration system?

Arbitration system is a type of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). It is a way to settle matters outside the traditional lawsuits and court room.

Advantages

•  It is inexpensive and faster.
• One time hearing and decision taken. Doesn’t require trials again and again.
• The amount of settlement is within a pre-fixed range that the insurance company can pay.
• The insurance company also is compelled to pay some amount to the injured which otherwise may be high or low according to the insurance company.
• It will be beneficial as the arbitrator knows the law and the value of the case.
•  It also allows the parties involved to settle for this high or low amount.
•  Arbitrations are held outside courtrooms in private offices or conference rooms.
•  It is relaxed and comfortable.

4 kids killed in Pennsylvania crash weren't restrained, authorities say

EFFORT, Pa. –  Four children killed in a multi-vehicle crash in northeastern Pennsylvania were not in booster seats or wearing seatbelts when the car in which they were traveling caused a high-speed, four-car crash, police said Sunday.

The Saturday afternoon crash killed five, including the 23-year-old woman driving the car in which the children were riding, the Pennsylvania State Police said. Three other people went to hospitals.

Police did not disclose the identities of the children or their relationship to the dead woman, Destini Watson, of Blakeslee. An adult passenger in Watson's car, Monisha Roberts, 21, survived after being ejected from the vehicle.

Watson, Roberts and the drivers of the three other vehicles were wearing seatbelts, but the children were not restrained, police said.

Police say the pileup happened after Watson tried to pass another vehicle at a high rate of speed on Route 115 in Monroe County, about 70 miles north of Philadelphia.

Watson passed the car and began moving back into the southbound lane when she lost control of her vehicle and swerved into the northbound lanes. Her vehicle struck a second vehicle, flipped onto its side and struck a third vehicle. A fourth vehicle crashed into the third, police said.

Roberts and the drivers of the second and third vehicles -- Harold Roberts, 77, and Wade Hunter, 53 -- were taken to hospitals. The driver of the fourth vehicle, Patrick Mikolaitis, 41, suffered minor injuries, police said.

No Personal Injury Protection for Motorcycles in Maryland

If you drive a car in Maryland, your insurance must provide you with $2,500 coverage for personal injury protection. This is a small amount of mandatory no fault insurance coverage for drivers in Maryland. If you are in a car accident, your personal injury protection benefits (known as PIP) will pay your medical bills, and up to 80% of your lost wages. You can still file a personal injury lawsuit against the at fault driver, and recover your full damages in that case, but PIP will pay some immediate benefits in the meantime.
                               
However, Maryland law allows car insurance companies to deny this personal injury protection to motorcyclists. Consequently, almost no motorcycle policy in Maryland has personal injury protection benefits. If you are injured in a motorcycle accident, you will not receive the same level of benefits from your own insurance company as a driver of a car would receive.

Many lawyers think this is unfair, and I bet most motorcyclists would also think this is an unfair law. If they passed a law extending personal injury protection benefits to motorcyclists, it would not cost the insurers much money, and they would just raise their motorcycle insurance rates to cover it.

This has been the law for a very long time, and there are no signs that it will change anytime soon. Only the politicians in Annapolis can make such a change to the personal injury protection law. If you are a motorcyclist, you should write your delegate and state senator today and ask them where they stand on this issue. Chances are, they haven’t given it a moments thought. Maybe you could change their mind and change this rather unfair law.

Get the Settlement You Deserve with the Help of Accident Attorneys

If you have been involved in an accident, it will be of great benefit to seek the guidance of accident attorneys. After an accident, a number of unfortunate circumstances may result that place a hefty financial burden on you and your family. Lost wages, property damage, and medical bills may far exceed what you are capable of covering. To get fair compensation for your financial losses, it is important that you take advantage of the professional guidance provided by accident attorneys.

Accident attorneys have the knowledge and experience that is necessary to effectively deal with all of the nuances of lawsuits and insurance law. Getting compensation for lost wages, property damage, and medical bills requires the ability to deal with the different parts of law that these damages fit under. For this, you will need experienced accident attorneys.

When seeking fair compensation, one of your biggest battles will be with insurance companies. Insurance law is complicated and does not often work in favor of individuals involved in accidents. Accident attorneys will work past any barriers that insurance companies put up. The goal of insurance companies is to increase their bottom line, which means settling a case as early as possible and with the lowest compensation they can get away with. With the help of accident attorneys, you can be sure that you will receive the compensation you deserve.

Hiring accident attorneys to represent your case is a savvy financial decision. A case that is represented by accident attorneys will not be neglected by the courts. With accident attorneys at your side, you can be sure that the value of your case will be maximized giving you the greatest potential to receive fair compensation. Set up a consultation right away if you have been involved in an accident so that you can get your life back on track as soon as possible.