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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Amanda Miner killed in a NYC drunk driving accidentA 26 year old NYPD traffic agent was charged with drunk driving, vehicular manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide this morning when he appeared at his arraignment. Stefan Hoyt was drunk when he crashed his car into a divider of the Williamsburg bridge on March 16th around 3:15 am.   21 year old Amanda Miner who was sitting in the back seat (see previous blog ) was killed in the accident. While the speed limit is 35 mph, Hoyt was driving at a speed of 111 mph when he lost control of his vehicle. Videos from that night show Hoyt drinking at least 10 drinks including 8 shots of vodka. Hoyt’s bail was originally set at $100,000 but the judge reset it at $250,000.

Read more in the NY Daily News  

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A 3 year old girl died in a crash involving a garbage truck in the Bronx, NYC. Sophia Aguire was riding in a car driven by her 52 year old grandfather. She was sitting in the back seat with her 27 year old mom. Her grandmother was in the passenger seat. They were driving on Bruckner Boulevard near 142nd street when the accident happened. The road was stripped for resurfacing. The driver swerved to avoid an exposed  manhole cover and got into the path of a garbage truck in the adjacent lane.  The truck hit the car, propelling it into a concrete pillar of the elevated highway just above the road. (see picture below).

The car was completely mangled. The firefighters had to cut the doors to get the victims out of it. All passengers were transported to the hospital. 3 year old Sophia died an hour later. The 3 other family members who were in the car with her only suffered minor injury.

The garbage truck driver wasn’t injured. He stayed at the scene of the accident and wasn’t charged.

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Every year in the US approximately 10,000 people die in car accidents caused by drunk drivers.  In an effort to prevent these types of accidents, states have been introducing Ignition Interlock Laws.  The ignition interlock is a device that is connected to the ignition of a car. When a driver wants to start a car with this type of device he has to breath in the ignition interlock. If alcohol is detected and is above the legal BAC limit for the state, the car doesn’t start. All states now have ignition interlock laws but some are more permissive than others. Globally there are 3 types of laws. “Permissive” laws are at the discretion of the judge or other sentencing authority. “Partial Laws” apply only to a certain type of offenders for example only repeat DUI offenders. Mandatory Laws apply to all drivers convicted of DUI. At the beginning of last year, 26 states had mandatory laws, 22 had partial laws and 2 had permissive laws.

A recent study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that states with mandatory ignition interlock laws had a 7% decline in fatal crashes related to DUI.  The study was conducted by Emma E. McGinty, PhD, MS; Gregory Tung, PhD, MPH,; Juliana Shulman-Laniel, MPH; Rose Hardy, MPH; Lainie Rutkow, JD, PhD, MPH; Shannon Frattaroli, PhD, MPH; and Jon S. Vernick, JD, MPH all from  Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Colorado School of Public Health.

The researches analyzed crash data  from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) over a 32 year period. They compared the number of alcohol related fatal crashes before and after the ignition interlock laws were adopted by the various states. The study demonstrates that mandatory ignition laws are much more effective than the permissive or partial laws at preventing drunk driving fatal accidents.

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old woman using cell phone behind the wheelDistracted driving is the number one cause of car accidents in New York City  and in the US.  While teenagers and young drivers are often perceived as the most susceptible to use their cell phone while driving, a new study indicates that seniors are indeed as bad or even worst than the kids.

While previous statistics indicate that around 50% of young drivers recognize that they are talking on the phone while driving, a new study found out that nearly 60% of seniors say they are doing exactly the same.  Conducted by a group of researchers from the Training, Research and Education for Driving Safety (TREDS) program at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, the study looked at the driving habits of 397 Southern Californians age 65 and older. Among the 82% of them who said they  owned a cell phone, 60% said they spoke on the phone while behind the wheel.

These statistics are extremely alarming as when people get older their driving can be reduced by additional factor such as a medical condition or medication use. Alertness and mental processing also often decrease as people are getting older.

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Vanessa Raghubar died in a drunk driving accident in NYCA 22 year old woman died from her injury  after a drunk driver crashed into her car in NYC. The drunk driver, 32 year old Neville Smith is a NYPD detective. He was off duty when he crashed into Vanessa Raghubar’s car.  The accident occurred around 4:00 am Sunday morning on the Van Wick Expressway.  Vanessa  was returning from her sister’s birthday party when the drunk detective crashed his Mercedes into her Honda. The impact was so strong that Vanessa’s car was propelled against a light pole and a tree. She and her two passengers, her sister and her sister’s boyfriend suffered critical injuries. All 3 were transported to the hospital where Vanessa died the following day.

Smith was charged with vehicular assault, assault, driving while intoxicated and refusal to take a Breathalyzer test. More charges are expected.

Vanessa who studied psychology was supposed to graduate in June. Her family wants justice.

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diatracted driving accidents prevention poster

Just is all it takes

In New York Sate, car crashes involving distracted drivers killed 160 people and injured more than 33,000 in 20015 according to a study from the Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research that was published a few months ago. The study estimates that around 20 to 22% of the fatal car accidents in New York State are related to distracted driving. The problem is not only in New York but all over The United States.  Nationally during the whole year of 2015, 3,477 people died and 391,000 were injured in distracted driving accidents.

April is “Distracted Driving Awareness Month” and during the whole month the National Safety Council (NSC) is campaigning to crack down on this epidemic. The NSC invites organizations and communities to share information about distracted driving. Various material is available to download on their website.

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accident sceneA 25 year old man died in a car accident in New York City around 4:00 am this morning. The man was riding a car driven by a 22 year old driver who may have been drunk or high according to the police. The car had  a Taxi & Limousine Commission license plate. So far it is not clear if the passenger knew the driver or if he was a customer.

As he was attempting to exit the Bronx River Parkway at East Gun Hill Road in the Bronx, the driver lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a concrete wall. Speed may have been a factor contributing to the accident as well.

Both the driver and the passenger where rushed to the hospital. The passenger didn’t survive. The driver is in critical condition.

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Car crashes are the leading cause of deaths among American teens. The majority of the serious teen car accidents are the result of a critical error committed by the driver.  Parents play an important role in teaching their teens how to drive safely and avoid dangerous driving errors.

The Center for Injury Research and Prevention at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CIRP@CHOP) has a dedicated team that specializes in improving teen driver safety. They have their own website  http://www.teendriversource.org/ and provide valuable resources to teens, parents and professionals working with teens.

Among the most downloaded resources is the “Teen Driving Plan Practice Guide” a guide for parents to effectively supervise their teens’ driving practice. Researchers have found that teen drivers whose parents were using that guide were 65% less likely to commit dangerous driving errors.  This popular guide is also available in a YouTube video format. The Teen Driving Plan Practice Guide You Tube Channel features 52 videos dedicated to parents who wants to effectively supervise their teens’ driving practice.

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A 21 year old man died and several other people were injured in a car accident in NYC last Saturday night.

Around 8:30 pm, 37 year old Terrance Smith was driving his car on Powell Street in Brooklyn, NYC. He was speeding while at the same time arguing with his passenger.  As he approached the intersection of Glenmore Ave in Brownsville he hit 21 year old Michael Joefield who was rollerblading in the street.  The impact of the accident was so violent that the roller-blades were ejected from Michael’s feet and flew into the window of a nearby van.

Michael’s body got stuck under Terrance’s car but he didn’t stop. He continued on his way dragging the body under his car and slamming into two others vehicles and into a stop sign.

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accident sceneA pedestrian was critically injured after an out of control SUV jumped the curb last Friday afternoon in Queens, NYC. The driver of the SUV was an elderly man who just came out of an appointment at a radiology center on Steinway Street in Astoria. His SUV was parked in front of the radiology center. As he was pulling out of the parking space, the driver suddenly accelerated. He mounted the sidewalk, hit the pedestrian violently and crashed into the wall of the radiology center. When the doctor came out he recognized his patient. The patient told the doctor that the accelerator pedal got stuck on the floorboard. The pedestrian was critically injured and was bleeding from the head. The driver also suffered serious injury. They were both transported to the hospital.

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