Articles Posted in Personal Injury

Motorists whizzing close by to bicyclists are responsible for approximately 1.2% of all bicycle accidents every year, but about 22% of those accidents result in catastrophic injuries or death.A new piece of legislation in Georgia would require that motorists passing by a bicyclist maintain a space of at least 3 feet between the vehicle and the bicycle.As an Atlanta injury lawyer, I strongly support the legislation. The legislation would help prevent accidents in Atlanta and throughout Georgia.

House Bill 180 requires motorists to pass at a safe distance from a bicycle.The term “safe distance” is defined as 3 feet.Across Georgia, bicyclists have been exposed to accident and injury risks from motorists “buzzing” past them.These risks would be avoided if the bill is passed.Although the risks that come when motorists pass too close to bicycles are common knowledge, few states have laws in place that prevent motorists from such behavior.In fact, only 16 states in the US have laws that establish a specific distance that motorists must maintain from a bicycle.Georgia, if it approves the law, would become one of the states that prioritize bicyclist safety.

This piece of legislation is one of several bicycle safety bills that are currently pending in the Georgia Assembly.Another bill, House Bill 101 defines bicycle lanes and establishes the installation of bicycle lanes to national guidelines.The bill would also require motorists to yield to bicyclists.Yet another bill, House Bill 71 would allow Georgia residents to petition their local administrations to allow them to bicycle on sidewalks.Under current laws, only children below the age of 12 can ride bicycles on sidewalks.Riding on the sidewalk may help prevent serious bicycle accidents.

Last week, the American Burn Association commemorated National Burn Awareness Week, to highlight the dangers to children and adults from fire and burn hazards. Although the focus of the American Burn Association tends to be towards household burn hazards, Atlanta injury attorneys often come across victims who have suffered serious burn injuries in car accidents, truck accidents, and workplace accidents.

Burn injuries are easily some of the most traumatic injuries that a person can suffer. A burn injury victim can expect severe pain over the short-term, and scarring, paralysis and impaired nerve function over the long-term. The hours and days after a serious burn injury can be critical for a patient. In such cases, the skin may have been severely burned down to the deeper layers, and the patient may be at a high risk of infections.

Once the patient is discharged from the hospital, he or she could be looking at a long period of taking care of the injury and the wound site. The patient will have to be on medication for a few weeks, and will be asked to be on plenty of fluids. The injury site will be cleaned periodically, and, patients will have to take care to avoid contamination of the wound.

As Atlanta car accident attorneys, we believe minimizing texting or talking on the cell phone while driving requires cooperation not just from individual motorists, but also from society at large. To avoid as many car accidents as possible, employers have a big role to play in ensuring that their employees refrain from using a cell phone while driving. A new survey by the National Safety Council finds that one out of every five Fortune 500 companies has a policy in place that prevents employees from using cell phones while driving. These policies have a significant impact in decreasing the number of distracted driving auto accidents.

There have been increasing signs that more and more employers are taking the need for such workplace policies seriously. Out of the companies that responded to the survey, more than 50% had implemented such safety policies since 2008.

It was the federal administration which kick started the initiative to encourage employers to implement anti-distracted driving policies in the workplace. In 2009, the Obama administration announced a ban on cell phone use while driving for federal employees while driving government-issued vehicles, and using government-issued cell phones. Since then, private employers have followed suit, encouraging employees to switch off their cell phones while driving. Encouraging employers to implement such policies has become more important since the economy began sinking. Employees now are under more pressure than ever to stay constantly in touch with the office, even while driving.

Close to 600 auto accidents in Gwinnett County, Georgia, last week were blamed on hazardous road conditions caused by icy roads. These accidents included a 15-car pileup on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. Fortunately, none of these auto accidents ended in fatalities.

However, according to police, at least nine accidents resulted in occupants becoming trapped in their vehicles. They were 27 hit-and-run accidents reported. There was also at least one pedestrian accident that ended with injuries. In Cherokee County alone, police handled more than 300 accident cases. Meanwhile, in the metro Atlanta area, roadways were shut down, and schools were closed as a precautionary measure.

The hazardous road conditions were created after a mass of Arctic air collided with the moist air, creating a thin coating of ice on the roadways. Emergency rescue departments in Gwinnett County found themselves overwhelmed with thousands of calls for rescue, not just from accident victims, but also calls related to structure and wood fires.

Spinal cord injuries, which frequently occur during auto accidents, truck accidents and motorcycle accidents, are one of the most life-altering injuries. There is no complete cure for spinal cord injuries, but there have been very encouraging developments in possible therapies for spinal cord injury, all of them involving the use of stem cells. A California-based company has announced that it has received approval to begin nerve stem cell trials into the treatment of spinal cord injury. This study provides a reason for hope for auto accident victims who suffered this injury.

The trials will be conducted in Switzerland. Researchers believe that the country offers greater patient referral networks and a higher expertise of professionals. However, that isn’t only how these stem cell trials will differ from others. These are believed to be the first trials that will focus on treatment of older or chronic spinal cord injuries.

Earlier this year, another company, Geron Corporation announced the world’s first embryonic stem cell clinical trials into the treatment of spinal cord injuries. Those trials are partly being conducted in Atlanta. However, those trials will only focus on new spinal cord injuries. These Swiss trials will focus on injuries that are between three and 12 months older, and if these treatments are successful, it will offer hope to the more than 2 million spinal cord injury patients in the US, who currently live with these injuries. The Swiss trial researchers believe that older spinal cord injuries have been ignored, and too much of the research is focused on fresh injuries.

A new study shows an increase in the numbers of people being hospitalized after suffering a dog bite. Statisticians from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality looked at dog bite data between 1993 and 2008. They found that the number of people who needed hospitalization after a dog bite actually grew by 86%.

In 1993, 5,100 people had to be rushed to the hospital after a dog bite, and that number ballooned to 9,500 cases in 2008. Every day, an approximate 856 Americans are forced to seek emergency treatment after a dog bite. Of these, an average of 26 are admitted to the hospital for treatment of their injuries.

Other findings from the study:

Last year, Atlanta motorists were treated to an unusual experience – sudden and unexpected snowstorms that contributed to icy roads, poor visibility and an increased number of auto accidents, truck accidents and motorcycle accidents. Since Atlanta and Georgia in general only gets a snowstorm once every year or two, motorists are unable to deal with suddenly slippery conditions and accidents result. Winter has already begun much earlier than usual in some parts of Georgia, and it’s important for drivers to be prepared for any sudden change in weather conditions that can increase the risks of accidents.

Extreme winter weather means ice, snow and sleet on the roads, creating increasingly slippery conditions. Motorists driving in such conditions are much more likely to lose control of their vehicles. Even worse, if your car not been prepared for driving through snow, you can expect a breakdown. Stay safe this winter by being prepared for extreme weather.

Make sure that your car is primed for winter driving. Fluid levels, particularly anti-freeze fluids, must be topped. Keep your gas tank as full as possible. Last year’s snowstorms caught everybody by surprise.