Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf is a New York Plaintiff's personal injury law firm specializing in automobile accidents, construction accidents, medical malpractice, products liability, police misconduct and all types of New York personal injury litigation.
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7th-waverly-perryThe installation of protected bike lanes all over New York City not only protect bicyclists from dangerous accidents but also drivers and pedestrians alike. According to DOT statistics, streets with bike lanes have 40 percent fewer crashes ending in death or serious injury. A study realized after the Ninth Avenue protected bike lane was installed showed that all injuries related to traffic accidents decreased by 50%. Pedestrian injuries decreased by 29% and cyclist injuries by 57%.

Better protection for cyclists and pedestrians

Last week the DOT announced that the many cyclists using Seventh Ave to ride South in Manhattan will now be able to use a protected bike lane from 30th Street to Clarkson Street. Half of the protected bike lane, from 30th Street to 14th Street was installed at the end of last year. The DOT finished installing the other part from 14th Street to Clarkson Street last week. The DOT still needs to paint the lane in green. The DOT is also planning to install five concrete pedestrian islands along the way as well as additional safety improvements for pedestrians.

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Crane in New YorkCrane accidents can have dramatic consequences and one way to prevent such accidents is to make sure crane operators are proprely trained and certified.  So far, operators of cranes and derricks have been receiving different levels of certification based on the rated operating capacity (ROC) of the machine they are operating. However  after multiple complaints from the construction industry  that the ROC was not a suitable indicator of a crane operator skills and experience, OSHA just released a new rule that removes the ROC-based certification requirements but instead put the responsibility of making sure that the crane operator is qualified in the hands of the employer. The proposed rule change “requires that every employer evaluate an employee first as an operator-in-training before permitting him or her to operate equipment without oversight.”

With this new rule, every newly hired crane operator would have to be proprely evaluated by his new employer before he is allowed to operate the crane. Therefore on their first days of work with a new employer, crane operators would be considered trainees and would be tested on their competency and skills.

Among others employers will have to make sure  newly hired crane operators know how to inspect the equipment, how to rig and to level the crane . Employers will have to test crane operators  on their judgement about wind speed and  other environmental factors.  They also will have to make sure that new crane operators know how to hoist loads of irregular size and weight, that they are familiar with personnel hoisting, that they can perform multiple crane lifts and that they are able to hoist blind picks. Additionally employers will have to test operators on their capacity of operating the crane in special conditions such as  tight space, near power lines or from a barge.

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accident sceneA 20 year old woman was killed in a hit and run car accident last Thursday  in Queens. The driver who hit her and tried to run away was arrested by the police. 19 year old Alfaheed Odesanya was driving North on  Guy R. Brewer Boulevard when he blew a red light at the intersection of Archer Ave. He struck another car driven by a young woman. After he struck the car Odesanya and a passenger abandoned the scene of the accident and tried to run away on foot. He was quickly caught by the police and charged with leaving the scene of a serious crash. The young woman was transported to the hospital in critical conditions. She later died from her injuries

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ocation of the fatal bus accidentA 7 year old boy on a scooter was fatally struck by a bus in New York City.

The accident occurred Saturday afternoon in the Bronx. 7 year old Shevon Bethea was riding his scooter when a MTA bus  driving south on Webster Ave hit him near the 184th Street intersection. Shevo who lived in Brownsville, Brooklyn, was visiting his dad in Fordham Heights, Bronx. According to his mother, Shevon was a straight A’s Student with a loving and caring personality. “He was always happy” she said.

Shevon’s brother, 10 year old DiShawn , witnessed the accident and he is completely traumatized. According to him, the bus driver ran a red light and dragged the young boy for a block.

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Bud FrazierBud Frazier is a surgeon who is recognized worldwide for his role in the development of mechanical heart pumps and  artificial hearts. Devices that are credited Today with extending the lives of thousands of people worldwide each year were tested at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center and its research partner, the Texas Heart Institute. However the doctor and his research team committed serious medical malpractice to develop the devices. According to a new investigation released by ProPublica, the surgeon is accused of violating federal research rules and ethical guidelines.

Highly unethical research leading to preventable deaths

Frazier is accused of implementing experimental heart pumps in patients who didn’t meet the criteria to be included in clinical trials.  Also, Frazier used his experimental pumps on patients who could have been treated with more proven  treatments. The surgeon tried to discourage the publication of research that showed that the first group of patients that were implanted with his device suffered from a high rate of strokes. Frazier never disclosed consulting fees and research grants that he received from the companies that made the pumps that he tested. According to the testimony of a nurse, Frazier also allowed an unlicensed researcher to treat heart failures.

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A motorcyclist was injured in a road rage accident on Wednesday morning on the west side of Manhattan, New York City. The motorcyclist and the driver got into a verbal argument. After that the enraged driver intentionally struck the motorcyclist with his SUV. The bike ended up mangled under the SUV and the motorcyclist was brought to the hospital to be treated for his injuries. He is expected to survive. The driver was arrested. The accident occurred on 57th street and 11th Ave.

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34 people suffered personal injury in an accidents involving two buses. The accident occurred in the center tube of the Lincoln tunnel that links New Jersey to Manhattan.  The two NJ Transit bus who were coming from Wayne and from Oradell were following each others when one of them rear ended the other one. 25 passengers were on board one of  the buses and 37 were riding in the other bus.  32 of them were injured. 8 of them suffered serious injury. Instead of ambulances, FDNY used a special bus that allowed them to transport dozens of injured passengers to the hospital at the same time.

The police are still investigating the exact cause of the accident.

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Speeding and maybe alcohol may have caused the death of two off-duty police officers who went for a joy ride in a rental Maserati after a wedding celebration. Last Sunday afternoon, NYPD Officer Michael Colangelo  married Katherine Berger at the Full Moon Resort in Big Indian, Ulster County. After the celebration was over, a little bit after 11:00 pm, detective John Martinez who had worked in NYPD’s special operations with Colangelo in the past and another unidentified passenger went for a joy ride in a Maserati rented for the wedding. Sadly they never came back, the car hit a tree killing both the driver and the front-seat passenger . The unidentified back-seat passenger was rushed to the hospital and is expected to survive.

The 31 year old groom was behind the wheel when he lost control of the vehicle and crashed in into a tree. He was speeding and neither he and his friend Martinez were wearing a seatbelt. The backseat passenger who only suffered injuries was wearing a seat belt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpmzEtZZo34

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Roadway fatalities in the USVision Zero is a road safety program that was first started in Sweden and then successfully applied in many other European countries. When Bill de Blasio became the mayor of New York, he also implemented a Vision Zero strategy for New York City which over the last four years led to a significant reduction of traffic deaths, especially pedestrian fatalities.

While traffic deaths have been decreasing in New York City, they have been increasing at the national level.  In the steps of Sweden and New York, the National Safety Council recently created the “Road to Zero Coalition“(RTZ) and just released  “The Road to Zero, A Vision for Achieving Zero Roadway Deaths by 2050” a comprehensive report on how to apply Vision Zero Strategies at the national level and end roadway deaths in the US by 2050.

Roadway fatalities which had been declining in the US between 1985 and 2011 started to increase again between 2011 and 2016. In 2016, 5,000 more people died in roadway accidents than in 2011. Young people aged 15 to 24, men and rural road users are the most at risk of dying in a car crash.

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School busFor years safety advocates have recommended that school buses be equipped with  3-point seat belts to protect children from injuries or deaths in case of a bus accident. Yesterday the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) joined in by recommending for the first time that all US School buses be equipped with lap and shoulder belts.

Based on previous studies, The NTSB also recommended  that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration mandate automatic emergency braking systems for all American school buses.

States such as New York, New Jersey, Florida and Louisiana that already have buses equipped with lap belts should also upgrade to lap and shoulder belts.