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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.

Articles Tagged with personal injury nyc

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e-scooter-4496668_640While e-scooters can be a very convenient way to commute in big cities, e-scooter accidents can result in very bad injuries including head trauma. In New York, it is now legal to ride a E-scooters but by-the minute rental which are already popular in many cities around the world are still not available in the Big Apple. However things are about to change and the city has been recently receiving offers from rental companies to  start providing services to New Yorkers next March.

NO RENTAL IN MANHATTAN

Manhattan will still be off-limits for e-scooter rental companies. The city will favor areas that are not well served by other transportation options. While the idea to favor areas with less transportation options might sounds like a good idea, it would be interesting to know how the city is planning to protect e-scooter users in these areas.  As a reminder, Citi Bike started to implement their program in the Bronx recently while the DOT has been too slow at installing protected bike lanes in the borough.  The result is an increase of 40% of bicycle accident injuries in the Bronx since the beginning of the year.

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Construction Accident Injuries in New York City in May 2020To reduce construction accident injuries and deaths in New York City, Local Law 196 was signed in 2017. The law requires that hard hats working on most New York City construction sites obtain a SST card in a specific deadline. To obtain this card, construction workers must complete at least 40 hours of OSHA or DOB approved safety training while their supervisors are required to complete at least 62 hours of safety training. Because of the Covid-19 situation, the deadline to obtain the SSD card was extended to March 2021.

The NYC Department of Buildings announced that as of today 100,000 nyc construction workers completed their training and obtained their SSD card

The DOT believes that the safety training led to a reduction of more than 20% of work site injuries in New York City last year.  The DOB also announced that construction companies with more than 15 employees can now file an application to receive a one-time grant to help reduce the cost related to training.

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A moped rider and 2 pedestrians were struck by cars in New York City in less than 24h.

In the first accident a driver hit a 94 year old man in a motorized wheelchair. The accident occurred yesterday afternoon on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The elderly man was crossing 5th Ave at the intersection of 95th street. He was in the crosswalk when a 32 year old driver struck him. The victim was critically injured and was rushed to the hospital. He is now in stable condition according to the NY Daily News.   The driver stayed at the scene of the accident and wasn’t charged as police indicated that it was not clear who had the right of way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6In0OUvQm8

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protected bike lane saves livesWhile bicycle accidents injuries in New York City went down by 3.6% during the last 3 months compared to the same period last year, bicycle accident injuries in the Bronx increased by 35 %. Bicyclist activist organization, Transportation Alternatives has been asking the city to install more bike lanes in the Bronx but instead the DOT is planning to use more police enforcement.

At the beginning of the summer the NYPD organized a four-weeks enforcement blitz to tame down speeding and failure to yield at Bronx high crash corridors such as Bruckner Boulevard and is planning to organize another one soon.

However while the blitz was  effective in preventing pedestrian accidents, it didn’t curb the soaring number of bicycle accidents in the Bronx this summer. On June 11th, a 24 year old cyclist died from his injuries  after being hit by a car on on Willis Avenue and E. 138th Street. The same day, a 38 year old cyclist was fatally struck by a truck on Park Avenue near 138th Street. Then, on June 20, a 43 year old man riding a e-bike in Pelham Bay Park died after being struck by a vehicle. Last week a cyclist who was hit by a car near East 175th street on August 5th and fought for his life for almost a month, died from his injuries. As mentioned above the number of bicycle accidents injuries is also soaring in the Bronx and a police blitz will have little effect on changing this dangerous trend. In an article in StreetBlog, Edwin Figueroa, a senior organizer at Transportation Alternatives, is asking for permanent measures allowing cyclists to be safe when commuting in the Bronx. “What cyclists from all over the city, but especially in the Bronx, need from this administration is more protected bike-lane infrastructure. The Bronx needs redesigned streets that are self-enforcing, not streets that are reliant on NYPD enforcement to ensure safeness,” he said.

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construction workersTo prevent and reduce construction accidents injuries and deaths in New York City, Local Law 196 requires that most construction workers receive 40 hours of safety training and that their supervisor receive 62 hours of training.  Local Law 196 was passed in 2017 after construction accidents fatalities recorded by the DOB went from 3 in 2013 to 8 in 2014, 12 in 2015, 12 in 2016 and 12 again in 2017. The original deadline for workers to receive their 40 hours of training was September 1 2020 but because much of the “in-person training” was cancelled or postponed because of the covid-19 crisis, the Department of Buildings extended the deadline to March 1 2021. The classes can be taken in person or online.  Online classes are available in multiple languages.

Most construction workers and their supervisors must comply with Local law 196 to be able to work at their construction site

The only construction workers who are exempted from getting safety training are DCA-licensed Home Improvement Contractors and workers at job sites that only involve minor alterations as well as workers building a new 1, 2 or 3-family home. Workers who are not sure if their sites require safety training can consult the interactive site safety construction map.  Personal on these specific sites that do not require safety training are the site owners, the projects managers, the professional engineers, the architects, the developers, the delivery people, the construction managers, the flag persons, the general contractors, the people taking care of the concrete testing, the filing representatives, the security officers, the special inspectors, the service technicians and the consultants. All other construction workers at the sites including demolition workers, construction superintendents, site safety coordinators, site safety managers, forepersons, journey men, employees of DOB licensees or registrants must comply with Local Law 196.  Those who need to take classes can use the DOB”s map of approved course providers or go to the OSHA website to locate a course provider or take an online class.

 

 

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22 construction workers were injured in New York City during the month of May compared to 6 during the month of April and 51 during the same month a year earlier. As most New Yorkers were still required to stay home during the month of May,  more than 5,000 non essential construction sites were authorized to re-open at the end of April on the condition that they were following the Covid-19 safety protocol for the industry such as disinfecting tools, social distancing and wearing masks. The gradual opening of New York City construction sites lead to a small increased in the number of hard hats injured on the job in NYC. There were no deaths recorded during the month of May. So far since the beginning of 2020 only one worker died on a New York construction site in February. Manhattan had the highest number of injuries, followed by Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens.

Construction Accident Injuries in New York City in May 2020
Most injuries were minors and classified under “others” and the few others were related to falls. Fall is the most common cause of accident injuries and deaths in the construction industry not only in New York City but also in the US.

NYC construction accident injuries by categories May 2020
12 construction workers were injured on Manhattan construction sites. Some injuries were minors. A worker cut his finger  with a box cutter, another one punctured his foot after walking on a nail.

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location of the truck accidentSeveral people were injured in a pickup truck accident in New York City last week . The crash occurred in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, NYC.  The driver of a Ford pick up truck crashed into the barriers of  an outdoor dining areas erected on Fifth Avenue near 41st Street by L’Wren restaurant (see Google map Picture on the left). “Open Restaurants”, the city’s initiative to expand dining area into the street to reduce the risk of covid-19 propagation is allowing restaurants to create outdoors dining area on parking spaces. As a result cars are driving right on the side of people having food and drinks. Protective barriers are mandatory, however in the case of the accident that occurred at L’Wren restaurant, the 5000-pound pick up truck knocked them down onto the floor.  3 patrons were injured and taken to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries. A mother just had the time to scoop her two kids away to prevent them from being injured. The scene was really scary according to witnesses and it could have been much worse. The driver of the pickup truck stayed at the scene of the accident. The police found that he was unlicensed and he was issued a summon for driving without a license and let go. Read more in Street Blog.

This is the second time that a vehicle plows into the outdoor area of a restaurant in New York City

On July 13, a driver made a mistake and press on the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal and crashed into the outdoor seating of 12 Corazones Restaurant and bar on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. A waitress and 4 customers were injured and hospitalized after the car jumped the sidewalk and crashed into the restaurant at full speed destroying not only the seating area but also the indoor structure of the establishment. (see video here).

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location of the fire accidentAn overloaded power strip might have been the cause of a gigantic fire in a New York City residential building that caused 4 people to be critically injured. The fire occurred early last Friday around 12:15 am in a residential building located on 35th Ave near Rowan Street in Flushing, Queens, NYC.  When the firefighters arrived they were able to pull a 9 year old girl, a 24 year old woman, a 32 year old woman and a 56 year old woman from their bedrooms. They were all unconscious and required CPR. All 4 were rushed to the hospital with critical injuries. The young girl suffered smoke inhalation while the 3 women were treated for burn injuries and smoke inhalation. The firefighter also saved a small hamster that is now in the hands of the Animal Care Center of New York City.  Four fire fighters also suffered minor injuries while combating the fire and were also brought to the hospital to be treated.

According to preliminary investigations by the FDNY Fire Marshals, the inferno started on the first floor and might have been caused by a bad power strip to which an air conditioning unit was plugged into

Multiple extension cords plugged in with multiple devices might have overload the outlet and sparked the fire that quickly propagated to the entire two story building. The fire marshals didn’t mention if smoke alarms were installed in the apartments or not. In New York, the law requires that all apartments be equipped  with smoke alarms. They might not have been installed or might not have been working proprely.  Someone was seen on video throwing something at the home and investigators determined it was a good Samaritan trying to alert people inside that their house was on fire.

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29 people including 4 cyclists and 9 pedestrians died in crashes in New York City last June. While truck and bus accidents remain lower than usual, reckless car driving and speeding continue to be a cause of many injuries and deaths.

After dipping to a record low of 5 deaths during the Covid-19 lock-down, traffic fatalities peaked to 29 in June. Since Vision Zero started in 2014, this is a record high number of fatalities that was only reached once previously in June 2016. Injuries were on the rise too in June compared to the previous months of May and April but not as dramatically as the fatalities.  The total number of accidents increased as well. One of the main reasons why the total number of accidents dipped so dramatically is because since last March the NYPD doesn’t dispatch officers anymore at the scene of minor accidents. As a result the big drop observed since March is not only related to the Covid-19 crisis but also to the the fact there are no more NYPD reports for minor accidents.

Auto Accident NYC Injuries Deaths June 2020
New York traffic accident fatalities were on the rise for all categories of road users. 11 motorists, 5 passengers, 4 cyclists and 9 pedestrians died last June compared to respectively 7, 0, 2 and 2 during the previous month and 6, 3, 3, 8 in June 2019. Many of these fatalities are related to speed and reckless driving. While the city has slowly started to get back to normal, the traffic is not as heavy as it used to be before the coronavirus crisis and many motorists are driving over the speed limit.

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Satelite-view-of-Floyd-Bennett-AirportA tragic car accident resulted in 3 deaths and multiple injuries in New York City last Saturday night as a bunch of local teenagers gathered on a remote area of the Floyd Bennett airfield for some summer antics. Two 16 year old drivers with other young passengers on board crashed into each other while both were effectuating “donuts” on a runway converted into a road at the old Floyd Bennett Field airport.

Both drivers were 16 year old

According to the police report, 16 year old Emil Badalov was behind the wheel of a 2014 Kia Forte with 3 other people in the car: 11 year old Daniel Sidgiyayeva and his sister 18 year old Margarita, Sidgiyayeva as well as another 17 year old boy. Baladov was effectuating “donuts” when a Toyota Camry  crashed into them. The Toyota Camry was driven by another 16 year old boy who had two passengers: a 16 year old girl and an 18 year old boy. Baladov and the two Sidgiyayeva kids died while the other passenger is still hospitalized in critical condition. The 3 occupants of the Toyota Camry were all injured and hospitalized. They are in stable condition. No arrest were made.

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