Articles Tagged with Car Accidents

Many people hit the road almost daily in order to get to work or run errands. Most of those car rides will be uneventful and conclude with a safe arrival to the person’s intended destination. The possibility of a car accident may not even cross their mind as they take the same familiar route to work or to the grocery store. Unfortunately, accidents typically happen very suddenly and without little warning. This is especially the case when a vehicle is hit in a chain-reaction accident.

A recent chain-reaction accident in New York led to the injury of seven individuals. It happened on Monday around noon in Clay. According to police, the incident started with a driver leaving a grocery store parking lot. That driver tried to exit onto a road heading southbound. As the driver did so, another southbound driver swerved to the side to avoid hitting the first vehicle.

That vehicle then hit another southbound vehicle. Both vehicles on the road ended up in the northbound lanes, hitting yet another vehicle. The northbound car then hit another northbound car and a disabled truck that was on the side of the road. While five cars were involved in this domino-like incident, the car that was pulling out of the grocery store was not hit.

The holidays can be extremely stressful for some people. While most hope to spend the holidays relaxing in front of a fire, that is not always how it turns out. Many individuals are out running around trying to get presents, planning holiday parties and attending work events. There is a lot to get done and a lot of people to see.

Combine all these activities and the cold weather and you often end up with a variety of ailments. There are some pretty typical ways that people can hurt their health during the holidays. These ailments can even result in unfortunate consequences for others.

A typical health problem over the holidays is weight gain. It’s not uncommon for people to become more sedentary and to eat more food (especially sweets) during the holiday season. This can lead to overeating and eventual weight gain.

Losing a loved one any time of the year is difficult, but it can be especially hard during the holiday season. Most people are planning holiday get-togethers and thinking of what to buy each other. No one ever expects to suddenly lose a loved one in a senseless car accident.

An accident in a Brooklyn neighborhood recently took the life of a 30-year-old woman. The woman was apparently hit and killed by a driver at about 5:30p.m. on a Sunday evening. The driver of the car involved was apparently uninsured and unlicensed.

There were two other pedestrians that were seriously injured. The 30-year-old woman was taken to the hospital but was later pronounced dead.

Car accidents happen throughout Syracuse and the state of New York every day. While they are unfortunate, many of them are merely fender-benders that take up time and bring stress to the day. But for the truly unlucky, these accidents can bring severe injuries or even death.

Recently, a man driving a pickup truck in the town of Hannibal was killed when another driver failed to stop at a stop sign. The other driver, age 71, was headed down Route 7 just before 11p.m. on a recent Tuesday when he failed to stop. After the two vehicles collided, the situation was made even worse by an oncoming fuel tanker.

The tanker, being driven by a 31-year-old man from Weedsport, crashed into both vehicles and caused a fire. The pickup truck driver died at the scene of the accident. The 71-year-old man was seriously injured and taken to a hospital in Syracuse. The tanker driver got off with only minor injuries and was treated at the scene of the crash.

In New York City, there has been a recent flourish of pedestrian accidents which demonstrate how serious the consequences of a car crash can be. Over a dozen pedestrians have reportedly been killed in the Big Apple since Halloween, despite Mayor de Blasio’s ongoing efforts to completely eliminate traffic deaths in the city.

While these efforts have obviously not yet eliminated traffic fatalities, pedestrian fatalities are at least lower than they were in 2014. So far this year, a total of 109 pedestrians died in traffic accidents. Over the same period in 2014 there were 121. 

Mayor de Blasio’s plan to eradicate traffic fatalities, known as Vision Zero, has so far involved the reduction of speed limits to 25 miles per hour, increasing law enforcement presence setting up speed cameras, and changing traffic flow for particularly risky streets and crossings. Police have been focusing particularly on offenses like reckless driving, speeding, failure to yield to pedestrians, parking in traffic lanes and distracted driving.

In our last post, we began speaking about recent data showing an increase in car accidents in the first half of 2015, which may be partly due to increase cell phone use. As we noted, distracted driving is a problem every state is currently grappling with, using a variety of means.

In terms of distracted driving legislation, most states have a special statute aimed directly at cell phone use by drivers. These laws vary from state to state, both in how cell phone by drivers is regulated and how police officers may enforce the laws. Here in New York, the law is fairly straightforward in both of these respects. 

First of all, New York prohibits drivers of all ages from texting while driving. Texting is probably the distracted driving activity most banned among the states, and for good reasons. The texting ban is classified as a primary law, meaning that police officers may enforce the law even when there are no other violations. Secondary laws, by contrast, may only be enforced when there are other violations. Second, New York law bans the use of handheld devices by drivers of all ages. This is also classified as a primary law.

Recent data released by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration showed there was an 8.1 increase in the number of fatal accidents in the United States in the first half of 2015 following a decrease in 2014. The increase was reportedly the biggest six-month jump in traffic fatalities reported since 1977.

It is speculated that the widespread use of smartphones may have had some role in the increase, though officials have said it is still too early determine exactly what factors are behind the increase. Regardless of what exactly was behind the increase, it is well known that cell phones continue to contribute to many accidents.

One reason for the prominent role of cell phones in car accidents is that they are a significant source of distraction for drivers. Even when a driver uses a hands-free device, talking on the phone while driving can significantly reduce the amount of attention a driver devotes to safe driving. Another reason is that the use of cell phones is so widespread. According to the Pew Research Center, almost two-thirds of Americans own a smartphone, which are particularly distracting when used for texting or surfing the Internet.

Imagine sitting on a bus one moment minding your own business and the next thing you know, you’re at the hospital being treated for an injury. That’s exactly what happened to an individual who was riding a Centro bus last month. The bus was stopped in traffic on Old Liverpool Road in Salina, New York when a Cintas company truck crashed into it from behind.

Both vehicles were heavily damages, but what’s worse is that two people were injured due to the crash. The driver of the truck apparently suffered leg injuries and facial injuries and was taken to Upstate University Hospital. The crash also left one of the five passengers on the bus with a facial injury. That passenger was taken to Community General Hospital for treatment. The driver of the bus was reportedly not injured.

The main issues that come into play in these types of accidents are whether the at-fault driver acted negligently and whether other individuals were injured. While at first the bus driver and the other four passengers may say they weren’t hurt in the accident, very often people begin to feel the ramifications of an accident days after it occurs. In this case, it’s important to turn to a medical professional and document any injuries that may have happened. It’s also important to work with a lawyer who has experience with personal injury claims in order to seek compensation for your injuries.

One moment you are on the road on your way to work and the next you are involved in a complicated car accident. No one wishes to be part of this scenario, but many people unfortunately experience it at some point in their life. When it does happen, the best case outcome would be a light fender-bender with no injuries. That was not the case in a recent accident in Syracuse.

The accident happened last week on southbound Interstate 81 just before 6 a.m. Police report that 11 cars were involved in the accident. The whole ordeal apparently started with a taxi cab. The accident happened near the Interstate 690 split. The roads were apparently covered with ice.

Oftentimes these kinds of pileups involve a lot of fender-benders at most, but in this case one man was critically injured. The man was apparently pinned under a vehicle when responders arrived. It’s unclear as to why the man was outside his car on the interstate. The man apparently suffered a serious head injury and was taken to Upstate University Hospital.

National legislators have long been trying to get car manufacturers to produce vehicles that are more environmentally friendly and that better protect their drivers and passengers, respectively.

At first blush, that might reasonably seem to be a bifurcated focus, with those topic areas not having any readily perceivable overlap.

Congressional members of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee have come up with an interesting twist, though, that has somehow managed to tie those two concerns together, while at the same time seeking to entice car makers to act through employment of a carrot-rather-than-stick approach.