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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NYC Construction accident injuries and fatalitiesConstruction accident injuries in New York are on the rise as the city is experiencing a boom in this industry. The de Blasio administration just released the Mayor’s Management Report that covers the fiscal year that goes from July 2015 to the end of June 2016. The report indicates that 526 construction workers were injured and 11 died in construction accidents in New York City during the last fiscal year compared to respectively 324 and 10 during the previous fiscal year. During the same periods of time the average number of employees in the construction industry in NYC went from 38,600 to 42,200. While the workforce on construction sites only increased by 9%, the number of injuries increased by 62%.  The number of fatalities increased by 10%.

These statistics only reflect accidents injuries and deaths that occurred after a violations of the city’s construction code. The real number of deaths that occurred on New York City construction sites during that time is 18 according to OSHA statistics (see previous blog). Therefore the real number of injuries related to accidents on NYC construction sites may be much higher than 526, not only because the city’s manner of reporting injuries is biased but also because  many injuries are simply not reported. Construction workers  are often pressured not to report injuries by greedy contractors who don’t want to see their insurance increase or be investigated by OSHA or the DOT inspectors.

To try to make NYC construction sites safer, de Blasio announced new safety measures at the beginning of the year. Among the measures, new inspectors have been hired to increase the number of sites inspections. Penalties for violations of safety standards increased from $2,400 to $10,000 and penalties for not having a supervisor on site from $5,000 to $25,000. Additionally after a giant crane crashed on pedestrians in lower Manhattan, the city ordered a special study to update the city’s crane regulations.

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truck speeding1,000 people die in truck accidents related to speed every year in the US. If truck drivers weren’t able to drive faster than 60 mph, the NHTSA estimated that half of these people would be alive. For almost 10 years most trucks in the world have been equipped with electronic technology that can limit their speed but so far US truck operators have not been legally required to use this system. Few of them are using them. Schneider National, a truck carrier from Wisconsin is one of the only companies to use them on all its trucks for two decades. Traffic safety advocates and industry trade groups have been pushing for truck and bus companies to use this safety device for years.

Finally last month, the NHTSA released proposed rules to mandate electronic speed limiters in all trucks and buses with a weight equal or bigger than 13 tons. The NHTSA is not sure yet if they also want to apply these rules to the vehicles already on the roads. They are also hesitant in the choice of the speed limit. Should it be 68 mph, 65, mph or 60 mph? Traffic safety advocates want the lowest speed because it potentially saves more lives but independent truckers who are paid by the number of loads delivered see the speed limiter as a decrease in their income. They argue that a truck that goes slower than the rest of the traffic also causes risks of accidents.

In the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, electronic speed limiters are mandatory and must be set at 65 mph. In Europe, electronic speed limiters have been mandatory since 1993 for big trucks of 13 tons and more. The European Commission is planning to introduce the same regulation for smaller trucks as well.

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samsung deviceDefective batteries in the Samsung Galaxy Note7 can potentially overheat and catch fire causing severe burns to users. On September 15 the smartphone manufacturer announced that it was recalling about 1 million Samsung Galaxy Note7 phones sold in the US and Canada before September 15th. The company received 92 reports indicating that the lithium battery was overheating. 26 people reported being burned and 55 others reported property damage including fires in cars and garages.  The recalled devices were sold in various colors and features a 5.7 inch screen. If you own one of these phones, please locate the IMEI number on the back of your phone. You can then go to the Samsung website to check if your phone is being recalled.

Read more about this recall on the CPSC website

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Gair Gair LawyersOur NY personal injury law firm is proud to announce that 11 of our attorneys have been named Super Lawyers. These top NYC personal injury attorneys are:  Ben B. Rubinowitz, Anthony H. Gair, Howard S. Hershenhorn, Jeffrey B. Bloom, Richard M. Steigman, Jerome I. Katz, Stephen H. Mackauf, Marijo C. Adimey, Diana M.A. Carnemolla, Peter J. Saghir and Seymour Boyers.  Additionally  one of our youngest attorneys, Christopher A. Donadio,  were selected to the Super Lawyer Rising Stars list.

7 of these talented lawyers have been selected for 11 consecutive years: Jeff, Seymour, Anthony, Howard, Jerome, Stephen and Ben are all senior partners at the firm and have accumulated invaluable  experience in the field of personal injury litigation. Richard has been  elected a Super Lawyer  five times.

Additionally Ben and Jeff were both listed in the Super Lawyers top 100  New York -Metro.

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construction workerThe New York City Department of Buildings announced earlier this year that 12 people died in  construction accidents in New York City in 2015 but the real number is 18. According to a recent article in Crain’s, the New York City Department of Buildings only counts deaths that are related to a violation of the city’s construction code.

Despite being featured by media and investigated by OSHA, all other deaths on NYC construction sites are not counted as construction accident deaths  in the DOB statistics. This obviously doesn’t make much sense. The DOB numbers are a distorted indication of the level of safety on New York construction sites.

Among the deaths that the city didn’t count were a hard hat who fell to his death in an elevator shaft,  a safety coordinator crushed by a crane, a worker who fell from a ladder and a truck driver who was sucked into a concrete truck shaft. Following these deaths, OSHA issued safety violations for each case. However the DOB didn’t and also didn’t add them to the total number of New York City construction accident deaths in 2015.

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cyclists in New YorkBicycle accidents in New York City have killed more people in 2016 than in previous years. A recent article in the NY Daily News looks back at some of the accidents that occurred this year and how they could have been prevented.

Many fatal accidents took place in areas that have been designated by  Vision Zero  programs to be re-engineered because they were too dangerous for bicyclists and pedestrians. Unfortunately not every community board is pedestrian and bicyclist friendly. Some of the deadly bicycle accidents occurred in areas where community boards rejected Vision Zero projects to make streets safer.

When asked to comment about the steep increase of bicyclists dying in traffic accidents in the city, the Department of Transportation replied that the streets of New York City have never been as safe as Today. Statistically, compared to the estimated number of  daily bike rides, the number of severe injuries or deaths related to bike accidents is at its lowest.  According to DOT calculations cyclists were 72% safer in 2014 than in 2000. The DOT estimated that in 2014 420,000 people were riding a bike everyday in New York City. That is almost triple the amount of  2000.

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NYPDAn NYPD officer riding his motor scooter fell and was injured after he was run over by an ATV rider. The man who ran over him was part of a band of a dozen motorcyclists. The cop and another colleague, on a scooter as well, were responding to 911 calls related to the bikers group riding near the Brooklyn Bridge Saturday around 5:30 pm.

According to the NY Daily News, the group of motorcyclists were riding dirt bikes and ATVs. As they passed the two cops on their bikes one of them fell. One of the ATV riders ran over him. The other cop fell off his bike as well while the whole band fled the scene of the accident.

Both cops were transported to the hospital to be treated for injuries.

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accident locationA 39 year old old man suffered critical injury after he was hit by car in the Bronx, NYC. The accident occurred Saturday night around 3:00 am on East Tremont Ave near Waterbury Ave. The driver of the car, a 28 year old man, remained at the scene of the accident. He was later taken into custody by the police after he was given a breathalyzer test.

East Tremont Ave between Williamsbridge Road and Bruckner Boulevard is one the most dangerous corridors in New York City. According to the NYC Department of Transportation, hundreds of people were injured in car accidents on this specific segment between 2009 and 2013. Among them, 21 people were severely injured or died. Speeding is a major issue in this wide corridor  with undefined moving and parking lanes. Crosswalks are mostly very long diagonals or are simply lacking, making it difficult for pedestrians to cross safely.

In 2015, as part of  the Vision Zero Initiative, the DOT proposed to the Community Board to re-engineer East Tremont Ave to make it safer (see DOT proposal here). The proposal included a reduction from 4 to 2 traffic lines with a center turn lane as well as the construction of pedestrian islands.  The proposal which didn’t include any bike lanes was turned down by the community board. However after a bicyclist died on this segment last June, the DOT by-passed the community board decision and confirmed it would implement the safety measures. (see more in Streetsblog).

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In a previous blog, we wrote about  a bill that would extend NYC pedestrians’ right of way when the countdown clock is in progress at a crosswalk or when the signal is flashing.  This bill was unanimously passed by the City Council on Wednesday.  It was backed by the DOT and by The NYPD  and is expected to be enacted by the mayor as soon as possible.

With the enactment of this new bill, the NYPD and District Attorneys will have no more excuses for not bringing cases against drivers who strike pedestrians while they are in the crosswalk. According to Streetblog, in the past, many cases were not pursued because Section 4-03 of the Traffic Rules of the City of New York stated that “no pedestrian shall enter or cross the roadway” during the flashing “Don’t Walk” phase”.

The new bill intro-997, amends this section of the Rules of the City of New York and establishes the right of way for pedestrians “when a steady walking person, flashing upraised hand, or flashing upraised hand with a countdown clock is displayed on a pedestrian control signal”.

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child in strollerEvery year, thousands of infants and toddlers are diagnosed with traumatic brain injury or concussion after a stroller or carrier accident. A recent study by Erica Fowler, MPH, Christopher Kobe, MD, Kristin J. Roberts, MS, MPH, Christy L. Collins, PhD, Lara B. McKenzie, PhD, MA at the Center for Injury Research and Policy, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio analyzed strollers and carriers injuries from 1990 to 2010. The study was published in Academic Pediatrics.

The researchers found that over a period of 20 years, 360,937 children below 5 years old checked into the emergency room for an injury associated with a stroller or a carrier. The annual average of injuries was 17,187. However this average number didn’t mean much as the number of injuries significantly decreased over the years.

Most of the time, the injury was caused by a fall or a tip-over of the stroller or carrier.

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