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 Posted in Auto Accidents

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distracted driving can cause accidentsMost drivers who were using their cellphone and as a result killed someone in a car accident usually don’t get more than a few days in jail.

Fair Warning reviewed approximately 100 prosecutions of distracted drivers over the last 5 years and found that light punishment is usually the norm. Only in a few cases drivers were sentenced to serve for a month or two or were fined with amounts of more than $1000.

Fair Warning also found that the risk of going to prison is almost zero for drivers who were “only” using their phone before they killed someone on the road. Drivers who got sentenced to prison usually committed at least one additional illegal action such as drinking, taking drugs or using a hand held cell phone while driving a commercial truck.

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accident sceneThe passenger of a car died after the driver crashed into the back of a truck in New York. The accident occurred early Tuesday morning on Frederick Douglas Blvd near the intersection of 129th Street in Harlem.  A 35 year old woman driving a Mercedes crashed into the back of a milk truck that was double parked. The impact was so strong that the car then crossed over the entire boulevard and crashed into a tree. Paramedics who arrived on the scene of the accident, rushed the two car occupants to the hospital. The passenger, identified as 33 year old Angel Campana died from his injury. The driver only suffered minor injuries to her face. She was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.

Read more in The Patch

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accident sceneAn alleged drunk truck driver crashed into the car of a pizza deliveryman in Brooklyn, NYC. Thankfully the deliveryman had gotten out of his car seconds before the crash. The accident occurred around 3:30 am last Thursday morning in Williamsburg. The deliveryman had just parked his car on Borinquen Place near Rodney Street. As he just exited it, a white box truck slammed into it. The truck driver who was allegedly drunk previously struck a fence at Public School 319 on Rodney Street and was speeding away from this first accident. He then struck the car, took down a tree and ended into a scaffolding structure causing it to partially collapse. Read more in the NY Daily News

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crash locationA young man died in a car crash in Queens, NYC Saturday around 12:45 am.

The 21 year old man whose identity wasn’t released lost control of his vehicle while driving on Union Turnpike in Forest Hills near Woodhaven Boulevard. He hit a divider near the Stop & Shop supermarket and slammed into an edge of the supermarket’s loading dock (see picture from Google Map). His car burst on fire. By the time the emergency crew responded to the accident it was already too late. The victim was rushed to the hospital but he couldn’t be saved.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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accident sceneA driver who killed a pedestrian was previously told by his doctor not to drive. 41 year old Mark Antoine suffers from multiple sclerosis, a condition that can lead to partial or complete loss of vision as well as issues with limbs and lack of coordination. His doctor ordered him not to drive but he din’t listen to him and last month the worst happened. His foot got stuck on the gas pedal and he fatally hit a father who was going to pick his son up from school in Brooklyn NYC

Mark Antoine was indicted on second-degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, reckless driving and speeding. He was held on $50,000 bail after he pleaded not guilty. He is facing up to 15 years in jail. (read more in the NY Daily News)

Yesterday morning another pedestrian was hit by a car in Brooklyn. The victim suffered serious personal injury after being hit by a car while crossing Willmohr Street at E. 94th Street in Brownsville. The police are still looking for the driver who fled the scene of the accident (read more in the NY Daily News)

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accident scene

A 31 year old man from the Bronx was killed by a drunk driver in a car accident in New York City. The accident occurred Saturday around 2:50 am on Burke Ave. 54 year old Andres Mayora crashed into 31 year old Shiquam Dunn. Mayora was drunk and speeding when the accident occurred. Five vehicles were damaged during the accident and two other women suffered personal injury. Dunn was the father of an autistic son. (Read more in the NY Daily News)

A van crashed into a parked car in NYC after the driver suffered a heart attack. The driver, a 64 year old man, was driving a van belonging to the Gethsemane Temple outside Kings County Hospital on Clarkson Ave near E. 37th Street in Brooklyn around 5:30 am on Sunday morning. He went into cardiac arrest and lost control of his vehicle. Thankfully there wasn’t much traffic at this time on Sunday and except for the driver who passed away nobody else suffered personal injury. There was only property damage: the driver struck a car parked in the street and a light pole.  The emergency team brought the driver to the hospital and tried to resuscitate him but it was too late. (read more in the NY Daily News)

Another 64 year old man died in  a traffic accident last week-end in New York City. The man was crossing Little Neck Parkway at 83rd Ave in Queens when he was hit by a car. The accident occurred on Friday night around 9:00 pm. The driver stayed at the scene of the accident. He wasn’t charged. The victim was rushed to the hospital but couldn’t be saved. (read more in the NY Daily News)

 

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New York Car Accident Attorney Marijo AdimeyOur partner, NYC auto accident attorney Marijo Adimey is a Program Faculty Member for “Keeping Current with New York Automobile Litigation “, a yearly seminar organised by the New York State Bar Association. She will be speaking Today at the Long Island Melvin Marriott and on March 1st at the CFA Society in Manhattan. During her presentation Marijo will demonstrate how to take a meaningful deposition in an automobile accident case. Other subjects covered in the seminar include:

  • Update and refresher on no-fault litigation coverage,
  • New York’s no-fault threshold laws,
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Auto accident deaths NYC 2017In 2017, 102 pedestrians, 20 cyclists, 24 passengers and 63 drivers died in auto accidents in New York City compared to respectively 134, 18, 17 and 54 in 2016.

According to the traffic collision data released monthly by the NYPD, a total of 209 people died in traffic accidents in 2017 compared to a total of 223 in 2016 and 286 in 2013 before Vision Zero was launched. This is the lowest number of motor vehicle accident fatalities ever recorded since the city started to create statistics in 1910.

The decline in traffic fatalities is mostly due to the decline in pedestrian deaths that went down by 39% from 168 in 2013 before Vision Zero to 102 in 2017. During that same time fatal bicycle accidents almost doubled going from 11 to 20. Passenger deaths stayed almost stable from 23 to 24 and motorists fatalities declined by 25%.

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accident sceneA woman was injured in a truck accident in NYC after the driver of the truck, naked and high on meth, crashed into her car. 38 year old Stephen Walker had spent Saturday night inside his box truck on a parking lot doing meth and having sex with his lover. In the morning the pair was caught naked by a jealous boyfriend. The couple sped away with the box truck to escape the angry boyfriend. Both men in the box truck were naked from the waist down. As they were escaping, the driver still high on meth rear-ended a car on Old Rockaway Blvd. and North Boundary Lane in Springfield Gardens, Queens. The truck careened off the road and crashed through a fence.

Walker who was driving the truck first ran away and hid from the first respondents in an empty horse trailer at a nearby animal shelter. However a few minutes later, consumed by remorse, he returned half naked to the scene of the accident to let the responding officer know that his lover was stuck in the truck. First responders were able to use “jaws of life” to cut though the truck door and liberate the half naked lover. The two men as well as the woman who was driving the car were transported to the hospital. The woman suffered neck and back injuries.

The truck driver was charged with with reckless driving, leaving the scene of an accident, drug possession, driving under the influence of drugs and obstructing government administration.

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A 13 year old boy died in a bicycle accident in New York City last Friday. Kevin Flores, was fatally struck by an unlicensed truck driver at the intersection of Jefferson Ave and Lewis Ave last Friday a little bit before 6 pm. Emergency responders found Kevin lying on the road with critical head trauma. He was rushed to the hospital but he couldn’t be saved. The driver of the oil truck, 28 year old Philip Monfoletto of Deer Park, Long Island, NY, drove for one block before someone told him he had hit the cyclist. The police found out that not only Monfoletto was driving with a suspended license, it was the seventh time that Monfoletto’s license had been suspended. Monfoletto was also arrested several times including once for driving with a suspended license and also for marijuana possession as well as stabbing someone in the arm.

Monfoletto was driving an oil truck belonging to M&M Oil, an owner-operated company with a single vehicle and registered at Monfoletto’s home address. It is extremely concerning that Monfoletto was able to continue to operate an oil truck despite his history.  (Read more in NYC Streetblog)

In a press conference on Sunday, Brooklyn Borough Presidents Eric Adams and City Council members Antonio Reynoso and Robert Cornegy Jr. called for tougher criminal penalties for unlicensed drivers and the companies that hire them. In New York drivers who are busted with a suspended license receive a fine of $450 if it is the first time, $750 if it is the second time and $1,500 if it is the third time.  Currently, it is only a felony for drivers if they have 10 suspensions on their licenses  According to Adams these laws are just a complete mockery. They are antiquated and do not fit the actual times. The Brooklyn Borough president is urging Mayor de Blasio to explore regulatory actions to improve the situation. (Read more in the NY Daily News).