What makes the morning commute so dangerous?
Crashes can occur at any time. Yet, when you look at crash statistics, you’ll see that a high proportion of them occur during the morning commute.
Why is this and what can you do to stay safe? Here’s some guidance that may help:
The volume of traffic is simply larger
A lot of people start work between 8 am and 9 am. That is when the standard U.S. working day starts. The more drivers you have to share the road with, the higher the chance that someone makes a mistake.
The volume of traffic leads to frustration
A lot of cars means a lot of hold-ups. People do not drive at their best when stressed about being late for work. It’s also the same time that a lot of schools start, so you have the additional pressure on parents to get their kids to school on time as well as get themselves to work on time.
The frustration can make people do stupid things, such as trying to overtake when there is not enough space, or undertaking someone they feel is slowing them down.
People are not fully focused on driving
Some drivers use their morning commute to have their breakfast. Others use it to start looking through work emails or making calls for the day. All such things take vital attention away from the road.
So, what can you do to stay safer?
If you have the option to take public transport to work, consider that. Or see if you can ask your boss to adjust your hours to start earlier or later and avoid the rush. Other than that, all you can do is take great care, and know that if an accident occurs, there are legal options available to help you recover from your losses. If you’re involved in a wreck during your morning commute, it’s always wisest to find out more about your rights.
How quickly should a grocery store clean a spill?
When you go to a grocery store, you expect to get what you need and leave. However, this may not always be the case, as you may be involved in a slip and fall accident. Different factors can lead to such an accident, including spills.
If you are injured in a grocery store, you may have grounds to file a premises liability claim. But you may need to prove the store neglected the spill.
So, how soon should they have cleaned it? Here is what you should know.
As fast as is reasonably possible
A spill may occur due to leaks from frozen fruits and vegetables or freezers. Also, a customer may spill a drink in an aisle, perhaps a kid fell while drinking juice, or someone took a torn packet of milk and moved around without knowing. A grocery store should have enough employees in aisles and restrooms to clean spills when they happen. If a spill is left unattended long enough, this may constitute negligence.
How can you prove negligence?
If you file a claim against the store, they may argue that the spill has just happened and an employee was rushing to clean it before you slipped. However, with legal help, the court may permit you to access the store’s video footage to compare the time between the spill and your accident.
Further, if after the accident you spoke to witnesses who attested they had noticed the spill for some time, and you took their details, their statements may also come in handy.
A slip and fall accident due to a spill can lead to significant injuries. And due to the aspect of proving negligence, this type of case can be complicated. Thus, you should seek out the right knowledge and experience to receive the compensation you deserve.
Injuries to the spinal cord can significantly change how a person lives their life. These changes often come in the form of learning to live with paralysis. While all spinal cord injuries are tragedies in their own right, they seem much more tragic when they’re caused by negligence.
Prompt medical care can sometimes help to mitigate the damage to the spinal cord. There are several factors that determine what type of long-term consequences there will be for the victim.
What factors affect the outcome of a spinal cord injury?
There are three primary factors that can impact the foreseeable outcome of the injury:
- Location: Spinal cord injuries affect the area below the damage. This means that a lower back injury won’t affect as much of the victim’s body as a neck injury will.
- Type of injury: A complete injury means all the nerves in the spinal cord are severed at the point of injury, which makes it nearly impossible for a full recovery. Some nerve pathways remain connected in an incomplete injury, so a better recovery is often possible.
- Other injuries: If someone is in an accident that’s serious enough to damage their spinal cord, they may have other injuries, as well. The presence of multiple injuries can make it harder to recover.
Anyone who’s dealing with a spinal cord injury must ensure they get the proper medical care. These injuries are very serious and the care can be costly. If the accident was the result of another person’s negligence, you have every right to ask for compensation. Experienced legal guidance can help you get the money you need for the years ahead.
2 unique risks truckers face on the road
While many people think that trucking is easy work, it’s anything but that. Being in the rig for many hours a day is exhausting, and it can take a toll on your health. Trucking is one profession that comes with some unique risks.
Most truckers do what they can to minimize the risks that they face. Unfortunately, it’s still possible for these hard-working men and women to suffer from injuries and illnesses that are directly related to their work.
Sitting is dangerous
One of the main risks of trucking is something that they can’t change. This is that they have to sit many hours a day. This puts them at risk of certain conditions, such as deep vein thrombosis, obesity, diabetes, and heart conditions. It’s possible for them to get up and move around when they stop for fuel, but that might not provide them with enough activity on a daily basis to remain healthy or avoid chronic health issues and repetitive strain injuries.
Injuries while loading are common
Another risk is that of suffering an injury while loading or unloading the truck, as well as when checking for proper load securement. Injuries due to crashes are also possible. While they might be able to avoid some crashes, the actions of other drivers are often the cause of wrecks involving big rigs.
Any trucker who suffers a job-related illness or injury should determine whether they qualify for workers’ compensation or not. If you’re working for a company as an employee, you should have coverage. This means your medical bills should be paid. It can also mean that you’re eligible for other benefits, such as partial wage replacement. Working with someone who’s familiar with truckers and workers’ compensation is beneficial so you can ensure you get your due.
Who is liable if a homeowner sets a booby trap?
If someone breaks into a home and the homeowner actively defends themselves, they’re generally within their rights. This leads some homeowners to believe that they can set booby traps in advance to injure someone who potentially breaks into the house or trespasses on their property.
However, doing so is illegal under U.S. law. Even if somebody is not supposed to be on the property, if the homeowner knowingly set up a booby trap with the intention of injuring a trespasser, that trespasser can then sue the homeowner to cover things like medical bills and other costs. The homeowner has violated their rights by injuring them in this fashion.
In other words, a homeowner may be able to injure a trespasser without liability if they are there in person, at the time, and they are honestly defending themselves from perceived harm. If they set up a trap in advance because they know they’re not going to be home, then they have violated that person’s rights, even if they were illegally on the property.
Why is it set up this way?
Some homeowners do feel that this is unfair because they claim they’re just trying to protect their own property and that someone who trespasses should never be there to get injured in the first place. However, the law recognizes that allowing people to set up booby traps could create serious risks for other individuals.
For instance, what if someone is given the wrong address by a friend and accidentally walks into the wrong house? What if a package delivery worker drops something off on the porch and accidentally triggers the device? All sorts of people could be hurt, so it is unsafe for homeowners to go around setting up these sorts of traps.
As such, those who are injured in this manner need to make sure they know about all of the legal options they have.
How truck driving can cause shoulder injuries
Truck drivers have an interesting job. They have job security, competitive salary, an independent work structure and the chance to explore the country. Research shows that they can work up to 11 hours before stopping for 10 consecutive hours.
Most companies have reliable structures that allow drivers to take breaks within the 11-hour work period, but some don’t. Accordingly, a driver is likely to have shoulder injuries. Here’s how this can happen:
Vibrations
Trucks vibrate when they are moving. These vibrations can be felt on the steering wheel, which means they affect the hands, arms and shoulders. After a prolonged driving session, a driver may feel pain in these body parts.
Repetitive motion
Driving for many hours means a driver is repeating the same actions. With time, their shoulder’s muscles, tendons and ligaments may strain, leading to pain, which may stem from tearing or inflammation.
Additional tasks
Additional tasks can injure a driver’s shoulders. For instance, if they realize a load is not well secured, they may have to do so. They will lift the box, which may be heavy, and secure them using tools that can be challenging to use.
Climbing into the cab
Truck drivers who depend on their arms and shoulders to pull themselves into the cab may injure their shoulders with time.
What should companies do?
Trucking companies should ensure drivers take frequent breaks during their shifts. It will also help to be strict with loaders to avoid giving drivers additional work. Further, a company should train drivers in the safest ways to get into the cab, for instance, using the core and leg strength to provide upward motion or using assistive devices, like handrails, that make it easier for them to climb.
If you are a truck driver injured while in the line of duty, you should consider your options to protect your rights.
A slip and fall can leave you nursing some serious injuries, from broken bones to concussions. As a victim, you are probably wondering how much compensation your claim is worth — and that’s fair. You’ve undergone some serious injuries.
It all depends on the extent of your injuries and the type of damages for which you seek compensation. Here are some things that go into the calculations.
The types of damages you suffered
The two main types of damages that will primarily affect the value of your claim are economic and non-economic damages. They are meant to make you whole again and restore you to the position you would have been in had the slip and fall not occurred. Economic damages are the countable losses you suffered, such as the cost of treatment and aftercare or your lost current and future wages.
On the other hand, non-economic damages are less-easily quantified losses, such as pain and suffering and emotional distress. While they may seem hard to quantify, a monetary figure is arrived at based on a formula that factors in several aspects of your injury.
Do damage caps apply in North Carolina personal injury claims?
General damages are not capped in North Carolina. It means that you can recover the actual cost of your injuries as long as you prove them. However, punitive damages, usually meant to punish the offender and deter future injuries, are capped at three times the remaining damages combined or $250,000, whichever is higher. (Punitive damages are rarely awarded and only for egregious situations.)
Depending on the circumstances of your case, it is in your best interests to maximize the payout since some slip-and-fall injuries may have long-term implications which may not be so apparent at the moment.
Common issues for long-haul truckers
Truckers are vital to the overall health of this country, so they deserve to be as safe as possible when they’re working. While there are some factors that are up to them since they’re working alone, there are also some that are up to their employer to ensure the company isn’t causing issues for the truckers.
One of the most important things that trucking companies can do is to ensure that their truckers are all properly trained. In many cases, simple things like putting on a seat belt and only driving when they’re mentally and physically capable of operating the rig can prevent injuries.
What else can truckers and trucking companies do to improve safety?
Complying with applicable regulations and guidelines can keep everyone safe. Truckers may skimp on safety measures, such as proper body mechanics or lifting techniques if they feel rushed. Because of this, it’s imperative that trucking companies set realistic delivery deadlines that empower truckers to put safety first.
There are limits to how many hours per day truckers can drive, but they shouldn’t ever feel pressured to always drive the maximum number of miles. Instead, they need to have realistic goals that let the truckers take breaks when they need or when road conditions dictate that they’re necessary.
Injuries that truckers face can be very serious. Some things, such as seemingly minor back injuries that wouldn’t stop others from working, can stop a trucker in their tracks. These professional drivers should always get medical care when something’s amiss. Truckers who work for companies should be able to count on workers’ compensation to provide them with benefits when they’re injured. Unfortunately, they may have to fight for what they’re due. Working with someone who’s familiar with this might be beneficial.
You can usually claim against your employer’s workers’ compensation policy if injured at work. To do so, you will need to visit a doctor to get a record of your injuries and a prognosis for recovery.
Sometimes the doctors may give orders that are more restrictive than you would like. Yet, if you do not follow them to the letter, you could put your compensation at risk.
Insurers base your compensation on what the doctor says
Essentially, your workers’ compensation doctor has a great deal of control over when you return to work and what you can do once you get there — but you can throw your doctor’s credibility (and your own) into question by not following their guidance.
Let’s say an insurer thinks a doctor has been over-cautious in saying you cannot return to your job for two months due to a back injury. They think you would be able to return sooner if your employer alters your role to take out the elements of heavy lifting.
Your doctor has written that all lifting is off the table for the next two months. So you should not try to do anything that could be construed as lifting, because the insurer might then decide that’s “evidence” that you aren’t as seriously injured as you say. Many of the insurers use private detectives to follow people around and check for them doing more than the doctor said they should.
One telephoto lens photo of you carrying the shopping bags from the car may be enough to jeopardize your claim. Insurers may also scour your social media for photos that suggest your injury is not as bad as the doctor thought.
Workers’ compensation claims can be challenging, so consider legal help to learn more about the pitfalls to avoid.
Can a wrist sprain be serious?
Humans rely on their hands for many of the day-to-day activities they carry out. The wrists play a key role in facilitating the movement of the hands. A wrist injury can be debilitating, especially if it is serious.
Sprains are commonly thought of as minor injuries, but this is not always the case. If you have sprained your wrist in a traffic collision, how long will it take you to recover? It depends.
Sprains are not always minor
Minor wrist sprains will typically start to improve after a day or two and could heal within a week when the wrist is allowed to rest. However, not all wrist sprains are minor.
If more severe damage has been caused to the soft tissue of the wrist and ligament, then longer recovery periods can be expected. In more severe cases, ligaments and muscles may be torn completely, meaning that surgery is required. This has the potential to increase the expected recovery period by several months.
How do you know that you have a sprain and not a fracture?
Sprain injuries can feel just as painful as fractures. It can be difficult to distinguish between the two types of injuries. If your wrist is very swollen or your arm seems to be at an unusual angle, then the wrist could be fractured. You should seek medical treatment if this is the case. Scans and other diagnostic procedures will be able to identify what the injury is.
A sprained wrist can prevent you from working for weeks or even months. If your injury was caused by a reckless or negligent driver, you should get legal guidance to help you seek financial compensation.
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