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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10 pedestrians died and 1220 suffered personal injury  in traffic accidents last December bringing the total number of pedestrian deaths to 135  in 2014 compared to 168 in 2013 and 130 in 2014 according to car crashes data recently released by the NYPD.  The total number of pedestrians injured in vehicle accidents for 2014 was 11,000 compared to 11,978 the previous year, a decline of 8%. While pedestrian deaths are back around the level of 2012,  deaths as a result of a bicycle accident increased by 73% with 19 fatal bicycle accidents in 2014 compared to 11 in 2013. The number of people injured in a bicycle accident decreased by 2% with 3960 cyclists injured in 2014 compared to 4043 in 2014.

Globally New York City roads were less dangerous in 2014 than in 2013 with a total of 250 people dying in crashes in 2014 compared to 286 in 2013 – a decline of 12% – and 50,896 road users suffering personal injury in 2014 compared to 54,818 in 2013 – a decline of 7%.

new york traffic accident deaths 2013 2014new york traffic accident personal injuries 2013 2014
Even though pedestrian deaths and injuries decreased in 2014, the number of pedestrians suffering personal injury in a vehicle accident was above 1200 in December, the highest monthly number for the last two years. Monthly pedestrian deaths never went over 15 in 2014, an improvement compared to 2013, a year during which the monthly number of deaths jumped to 25 in November and 20 in January.

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Sharing diabetes pens among patients is a gross medical malpractice that can lead to transmission of infections and viruses such as HIV and hepatitis viruses.  According to the FDA, since 2008 thousands of patients may have been exposed  to blood-borne pathogens from the sharing of multi-dose pen devices for insulin and other injectable diabetes medicines. In 2009 the FDA was informed that 2,114 patients  from a U.S. army facility had been injected with pens that had been used on other patients. Then in 2011, 2,345 patients from the Dean Clinic in Wisconsin were notified that pen and needles had been shared among patients. More recently in 2013, 716 patients from the Veteran Health Administration were notified of potential exposure to infections through the sharing of diabetes pen. Last March in New York, the South Nassau Community Hospital in Long Island contacted 4000 patients to be screened for HIV and Hepatitis after a nurse said she was using the same insulin pen for multiple patients (see previous blog).

Insulin pens and pens for other injectable diabetes medicines should never be shared among patients, even if the needle is changed. To promote safe use, the FDA is requiring that pens and packaging containing multiple doses of insulin and other injectable diabetes medicines display a warning label stating “For single patient use only.” Read the safety announcement from the FDA

multi-dose-insulin-pen

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thompsonLast December, Jean Bonne-Annee was crossing a road in Brooklyn,  when he was struck and killed by a New York City MTA bus making a left turn. The driver, Reginal Prescott, was arrested and charged with violating the Right of Way Law. The Right of Way Law was introduced last August in New York as part of the Zero Vision initiative to reduce personal injuries and deaths related to traffic accidents in New York City. After several bus drivers were arrested for violating this law, the Transport Workers Union, TWU Local 100, got  angry at the City Council. The union is currently lobbying for MTA bus drivers to be excluded from the law (see article in Transportation Nation).

Reginald Prescott was supposed to appear yesterday in front of the Broolyn Criminal Court but his arraignment was cancelled.  The spokeswoman for Brooklyn prosecutors only said that the case was still under investigation however Peter Donohue of the Daily News is questioning whether the District Attorney Ken Thompson may bow to pressure frrom the bus drivers’union and dismiss the case. Read more in the New York Daily News and in Streetblog 

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A construction worker was seriously injured on a construction site in TriBeCa, downtown Manhattan. The worker was trying to unload a sheet of drywall from a stack when 3 of them toppled on to him. Three other workers had to hoist the sheet off of him. He was taken to the hospital in serious condition. The construction accident happened inside the sixth floor apartment of 60 Beach street, a luxury condo building. The workers’ company is Noranda Special Projects. Read more in DNA Info.

60 Beach Street

60 Beach Street, source: Google Map

 

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A 52 year old man died in a construction accident in New York yesterday. The construction worker was helping to install the green roof of the Barclays Center Arena when beams that were just unloaded fell on him and crushed him. He was transported to the Hospital in critical condition where he later died of his injuries. In a statement, the construction company, Greenland Forest City Partners said “We are all devastated by what happened. All of us at Greenland Forest City Ratner Partners and Barclays Center extend our most heartfelt condolences to the worker’s family and friends”. Read more in the Gothamist

Barclays_Center

Picture: courtesy of Wikipedia

 

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A preliminary report related to the accident between a northbound Metro-North Railroad passenger train and  a 2011 Mercedes Benz ML350 sports utility vehicle (SUV) that killed six people in Valhalla, NY was published a few days ago by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The accident happened on February 3rd 2015 . The report indicates that witnesses saw the SUV stopped on the railroad crossing before the gate went down. As the gate lowered it fell on the back of the car. The driver exited the car, looked at the back and went back in the car. She then proceeded to drive forward when she was struck by the train. The driver of the train operated the emergency brake 300 feet before the collision and hit the SUV at a speed of 49mph. As the train and the car continued to travel northbound, a dozen large pieces of the electrified third rail detached, piercing the SUV, tearing into the first passenger car in two locations and setting it on fire.  The preliminary report doesn’t provide any information on how and why the third rail pieces were able to detach.  Furthermore according to the NTSB the warning lights, alarms and gate arms were functioning however the accident  has prompted new attention to the safety of such crossings around the New York City region. Read more in the New York Times

 

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A high speed chase across the Verrazano Bridge and Staten Island, NYC, ended with 2 police officers suffering personal injury  in a car accident between the fugitive and the police. The fugitive, 41 year old Anthony Mazza had failed to appear to a sentencing for aggravated assault in New Jersey and was tracked by a US marshal fugitive task force.  The fugitive, 41 year old Anthony Mazza, was charged with eluding and assault on police for injuring the two officers in the cruiser.  A video shot from an helicopter shows a very dangerous high speed chase across the Verrazano Brige. Thankfully no civilians were injured but such a chase still raises questions about how far the police should go without seriously endangering  New York road users and pedestrians to catch a fugitive. Read more in the NY Daily News

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Investigators in a  car accident that resulted in the death of 27 year old Pamela Pimentel determined that when Hernan Vega crashed into the victim’s cab he was driving at a speed of 107 mph in a street in the Bronx, NYC. Additionally a blood exam showed that the driver’s alcohol level was .14 and that he was also high on marijuana and ketamine a powerful animal tranquilizer. In a pretrial hearing, Vega was slapped with two counts of second-degree vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and two counts of operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol. Read more in the NY Daily News

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38 year old Daniel Cabrera was trying to cross Broadway at W 225th street in Marble Hill, NYC, when he was hit by a driver who sped away and left him dying in the street.  Daniel Cabrera is the second pedestrian to die in 3 hit and runs in two days. The deadly accident happened in a very dangerous area located North of the Manhattan bridge.  The area is busy with pedestrians visiting stores and restaurants on both sides of Broadway and cars are often speeding. 450 speeding tickets have been issue in this area since the beginning of the year. The area is prone to accidents. 58 pedestrians were injured last year according to DOT statistics .  Crashstat.org recorded 8 pedestrian deaths and dozens of personal injuries between 1995 and 2009. Read more  in Streetblog

 

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A woman in her 2o’s was crossing the street at the intersection of 76th Street and Woodisde in Queens, New York City, on Sunday night when she was struck and killed by  the driver of a box truck. The driver of the truck hit the victim as he was turning onto Woodside Avenue but he didn’t stop. He drove away leaving the woman to die in the street. A witness at the scene followed the box truck for a few blocks, stopped the driver and managed to hold him until the police arrived. The police arrested the driver, 27 year old Valentine Gonzalez and  charged him with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and driving without a license. Earlier in the day in Queens another woman was struck by a hit and run driver (see previous post)

Read more on ABC7 website