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 Wrongful Death

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mother texting while drivingDistracted driving has led to a surge in fatal car accidents and even parents with young children in their car admit that they use their phone while driving.

According to a study recently released by  the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and published in the Journal of Pediatrics, out of 760 parents or caregivers interviewed:

  • 47% talked on a hand-held phone
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A man died in a motorcycle accident in New York City early Saturday morning. Around 4:30 am, 45 year old Angel Cotto was riding his motorcycle on Gate Avenue in Ridgewood, Queens when he blew a stop sign and crashed into a car driven by a 75 year old driver. The impact was so strong that the motorcyclist was ejected from his bike and landed on the street. He was seriously injured but still alive when the emergency team arrived. He was rushed to the hospital where he died.

Among all road users in New York City, motorcyclists are at a disproportionate risk of death. According to a previous study by the NYC DOT, while motorcycles account for only 2% of all registered vehicles in New York City, they account for 14% of traffic fatalities. The fatal crash rate for motorcyclists in New York City is nearly twice the rate recorded for New York State motorcyclists. Fatal motorcycle accidents often occur to young riders: 56 % are under the age of 35 and nearly 100% of them are male. Most accidents occur during the summer especially during the afternoon or the evening hours and involved another vehicle.

Motorcycle Accidents in NYC May 2018

 

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5,569 people suffered personal injury in 20,551 traffic accidents in New York City last May. Among them were 2,534 motorists, 1,755 passengers, 430 cyclists and 850 pedestrians.

While looking at past statistics,  we notice a seasonal factor that causes the number of crash injuries to always increase during the month of May compared to the previous months of  February, March and April. Last May the auto accident injuries in New York City increased to a record number.

In May 2013, before Vision Zero, 4,988 people suffered injuries in NYC crashes.  Then the Vision Zero program started and the number of crash injuries declined to 4,621 in May 2014. It increased again slightly to 4,788 in May 2015 but stayed below the Pre-Vision Zero number of injuries recorded in May 2013. In May 2016, it peaked above 5000 and never went back below that level for the last 3 years. 5,415 crash injuries were recorded in May 2016 and 5,314 in May 2017.

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Sanitation Salvage, one of the biggest New York trash haulers has a history of fatal accidents. The company was all over the news recently after one of their truck drivers killed two people in less than 6 months and lied about one of the person he killed pretending it was a homeless man while it was an off-the book worker.

Propublica and Voice of America took an in depth look at how the company is running its business and they recently published the result of their investigation.

Ruthless brothers

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construction workers94.7% of the 38 construction workers who died on the job in New York State in 2016 were non unionized. In New York City 93.8%  of them were non unionized. These number speak for themselves.  The strength of the unions and labor movement has been on the decline for years and suffered another severe blow when the US Supreme Court barred public-employee contracts from requiring workers to pay union dues. Unions not only protect workers’ income but also workers health.

A new study analyzed occupational fatalities from 1992 to 2016 and found that 7,300 workplace fatalities could have been avoided  if union membership had not been undercut by right to work laws. The author of the study, Michael Zorobod, is a a PhD candidate at Harvard University’s Institute for Quantitative Social Sciences. Zorobod demonstrated that the uptick in workplace fatalities that started in 2013 is correlated to the increased number of States who adopted  right to work laws. In 2000, right to work laws were statutes in 20 States.  Now they are statues in 28 States.

Read more in Fair Warning

 

 

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Laundromat dangerous parkingA young pedestrian was killed and her mother was injured in a car accident in Brooklyn, NYC, on Sunday afternoon.

A 4 year-old girl was riding her mini scooter on the sidewalk of Wyckoff Ave near Hart Street while her mother was walking close by. At one point the little girl lost a shoe.  She picked it up, then the mother bent to help her. As the mother was helping her daughter, a car parked at a laundromat just next to them backed up, hit them both and continued on its way. The little girl died at the scene of the accident. Her mother survived but was injured.

The car driver and two passengers were stopped by the police two blocks away. It is not clear if the driver realized than she ran over the mother and her daughter. Residents have been complaining for a long time about the dangerous parking lot of the laundromat. In order to park or to leave the parking space, drivers have to cross the sidewalk.

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Staten Island fire injured 20 firefightersTwo elderly women died in separate fire accidents in Queens on Monday. The first accident occurred early morning Monday around 2:10 am in the Rockaways, Queens. A fire caused by careless smoking quickly spread through the 15th floor of  a high rise apartment located at 7-11 Seagirt Ave. There was no smoke alarm in the house. The 71 year old woman who was living in the apartment died in the fire.

Later on during the day another fire caused by an electrical  extension killed 82 year old Audrey Hebling. The woman was found unconscious in the kitchen of her house located at 252nd Street between 87th Road and 87th Drive in Bellrose Manor. Again there was no smoke alarm in the house.

Last week-end the FDNY also had to battle a massive blaze in Staten Island during which 20 of them got injured, including 4 seriously.  The fire that destroyed several properties on Steinway Ave was sparked by a kid who was playing with a lighter.

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Staten Island Pedestrian accident locationA pedestrian died in New York City on Sunday morning. He was hit by a drunk driver around 4:40 am. 32 year old David Bloomer, a father of four, was crossing Tompkins Ave at Broad St. in Stapleton, Staten Island, NYC when he was struck by a car. The driver tried to speed off but one of David’s cousins rallied a group of people to run after him. They were able to catch him a block away from the accident. The driver, identified as 25 year old, John Rudder was allegedly drunk.

During the accident, Rudder hit Bloomer so violently that the pedestrian went flying into the air and crashed through the windshield of a jeep that was parked nearby. The firefighters had to remove the roof of the jeep to try to save him. Unfortunately Bloomer died at the scene of the accident.

Bloomer left behind him 2 children, 17 year old Charlie Perez, 8 year old Mikayla Papon and 2 stepdaughters, 14 year old and 6 year old Yolanda and Dakota Makins.  He was a DJ and a beloved member of the Stapleton Community.

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12 people died and 4,578 were injured in traffic accidents in New York City in April. Among the fatalities were 7 pedestrians, 3 cyclists and 2 motor vehicle passengers. The number of fatalities recorded last April is the lowest number of traffic fatalities ever recorded in April since Vision Zero started. Last year during the same month 20 people died in NYC motor vehicle accidents. In 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013, there were respectively 14, 19, 21 and 15 fatalities.

Traffic fatalities NYC April 2018
Sadly, the number of people injured in accidents in the city was higher in April 2018 than it was in April 2017. It wasn’t as high as in 2016 but it was higher than in 2014 and 2015 and also back at the level where it was before Vision Zero was implemented.  While pedestrians and cyclists account for most deaths, motorists and passengers sustain most of the injuries.Motor vehcile accident injuries New York City April 2018

Motorists injuries continue to be on an ascending trend with a record number of 2,117 motorists injured last April compared to respectively, 1,922, 2,061, 1,363, 1,305 and 1,599 in 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013. Distracted driving might be one of the reasons why this number continues to increase.

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ATV on paved roadEven though driving an ATV on the road might be allowed in your town, the Consumer Product Safety Commission recently released an announcement urging ATV users to stay off paved roads.

According to the agency, ATVs which are designed for off road use are more difficult to control on paved surfaces and are at risk of over turning. Obviously there is also a higher risk of collision with cars and other motor vehicles when driving an ATV on a paved road.

ATVs are dangerous vehicles. Between 2010 and 2013, 430,000 people were treated for injuries related to ATV accidents and 2,400 died from these accidents. Among the 2,400 deaths, 770 occurred on a paved road, That’s more than 30% of all ATV deaths.