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 new york personal injury

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776 pedestrians, 513 bicyclists, 1236 passengers and 1960 motorists suffered personal injury in motor vehicle accidents in New York City in September compared to respectively 714 pedestrians, 565 bicyclists, 1448 passengers and 2010 motorists in August and 751 pedestrians, 485 bicyclists, 1677 passengers and 1523 motorists in September 2014.

While the number of pedestrians injured in NYC traffic accidents  has been below 1000 since the beginning of 2014, the number of people injured in bicycle accidents stayed over 500 for the last 3 months. The number of motorists injured has also been unusually high and staying above 2000 for the last 3 months.

Personal injuries in motor vehicle accidents in NYC September 2015
4 pedestrians, 2 bicyclists, 2 passengers and 6 motorists died in motor vehicle accidents in September compared to 11 pedestrians, 3 bicyclists, 2 passengers and 5 motorists in August and 13 pedestrians, 1 bicyclist, 4 passengers and 8 motorists in September 2014. The Vision Zero Initiative is having a positive impact. Since the beginning of the year, it is the fourth month that the total monthly traffic fatalities are below 15. In 2014 it happened only twice and in 2013 the monthly number of people dying on New York City Streets never went below 15.

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Every 3 to 4 weeks one person will suffer personal injury in a bicycle accident on Amsterdam Avenue between West 72nd Street ans West 110th Street according to recent statistics. The actual design that includes 4 car lanes with one parking lane on each side is not adapted to the neighborhood and encourages bad driver behavior such as speeding. Manhattan Community Board 7  has been requesting action from the NYC Department of Transportation for the last 6 years. Finally, last night, the DOT unveiled a plan to redesign this specific part of Amsterdam Ave. According to the DOT, the new design will be implemented next spring. The DOT proposes to create a protected bike lane as well as pedestrian islands and several left turn treatments.

According to the DOT, in October 2007, an average of 217 people per 12 hours were recorded riding a bicycle on Amsterdam Ave between West 85th Street and West 86th Street. in October 2011 there were 515 and in October 2015 there were 609. This number is expected to grow even more with the expansion of Citi Bike to West 86th Street this fall and the plan to expand Citi Bike to 130th street by 2018.

Read more about the new design in Streetblog or look at the presentation from the DOT

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Three pedestrians died in New York car accidents over the weekend after 8 others already died during the week. Two of the accidents happened on the Upper West Side (see previous blogs here and here) and the third one happened in Ozone Park, Queens where a 68 year old man was struck by a car (read more here).  Several people suffered serious personal injury in NYC this weekend as well. A bicyclist in his 60s was struck by a car Saturday morning around 10:30 am in Hollis Queens. A pedestrian suffered severe leg injury after being struck by a fire truck  at E. 15th St. and Irving Place in Manhattan on Saturday night.   (Read more in the NY Daily News)

These accidents happened shortly after Mayor de Blasio told journalists in a press conference that it had been a “very tough week” and that Vision Zero has “never been more necessary”. The mayor indicated that since zero vision was initiated the number of speeding tickets doubled  and the number of failure to yield tickets tripled.  (Read more in the Gothamist).

de Blasio

 

 

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Qualified and competent OSHA inspector OSHA construction site safety inspectors play a very important role in preventing  workers from being injured or dying on construction sites. Unfortunately with the recent boom in the construction business in New York City, these inspectors are very hard to find and their rates have been increasing significantly.

Certified Site safety inspectors have taken a safety course with OSHA and must meet specific criteria before receiving a OSHA certification. However these last years many  unscrupulous workers just blew off the classes and presented falsified OSHA cards to contractors in order to become site safety inspectors.

Since the beginning of the year the City has been cracking down on these workers.

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Three people suffered personal injury in New York after a pane of glass fell from the 17th floor of a building.  A 33 year old woman, a 23 year old woman and a 25 year old man were walking on the street near a building on Fifth Ave and East 28th Street when a pane of glass fell next to them and shattered. Construction work at the building dislodged the glass from the window. Read more in the NY Daily News

This is not the first time that non construction workers were injured or died near construction sites this year. Last June 8 people were injured after a crane dropped a giant AC unit in the street. In April  two tenants died in a suspicious explosion in an apartment building where plumbers were working on gas lines. In March a pedestrian died after being hit by flying debris from a construction site in Manhattan.

Fifth Ave and 28th Street

The intersection of Fifth Ave and East 28th Street where the accident happened, picture: courtesy of Google

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Injuries and fatal crashes Woodhaven NYCBased on New York crash statistics analyzed from July 2012 to December  2014, the most dangerous intersections on Woodhaven Boulevard were:

  • 101st Ave & Woodhaven Blvd with 42 crashes, 62 injuries and 1 fatality
  • Jamaica Ave & Woodhaven Blvd with 38 crashes, 52 injuries and 2 fatalities
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4,737 people were injured and 21 died in 18,862 traffic accidents in New York City in August according to recent statistics released by the NYPD. The number of motor vehicle accidents has been increasing steadily over the last three years however the number of deaths and injuries are both on a declining trend in the city (click on graphs for a larger view) which indicates that New York City streets are getting a little safer.

Motor Vehicle Accidents Injuries Deaths New York City August 2015
Pedestrians are the most at risk of dying in a traffic accident in New York City. They represent more than half of the traffic fatalities. Last month 11 of them died after being struck by a vehicle compared to 6 during the previous month and 10 in August 2014.

While pedestrian fatalities are on a downtrend, bicycle accident fatalities have been increasing since the beginning of 2013. Last August 3 cyclists died in accidents. 3 cyclists also died in July bringing to 11 the total number of people who died in a bicycle accident this year. During the same period of 2013 and 2014  there were respectively 7 and 15 bicycle accident fatalities.

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Tenants at many building in New York City and particularly rent-stabilized tenants are being endangered and harassed by negligent property owners that are allowed to start construction work after they asserted that their building was empty when filing with the NYC Department of Buildings.

Despite Mayor de Blasio’s blue print to improve the efficiency of the NYC DOB, and pledge to preserve and create rent stabilized apartment, tenants and some elected officials are complaining that the lack of enforcement has created a climate of lawlessness. A recent article in the New York Times explains  how unscrupulous  landlords and developers are defrauding the DOB with false fillings, endangering the life and safety of tenants and harassing them into leaving their apartments. The author, Mireya Navarro is providing numerous examples of cases where residents complaints were ignored or handled lightly by the Department of Buildings and owners were allowed to continue their work.

The Department of Buildings is aware of the false filling problem and has been working on upgrading their technology.  Among the improvements, the DOB announced that it was about to launch Inspection Ready, a new online tool that is supposed to  dramatically simplify compliance and reduce wait times when scheduling appointments for inspections. The system will include the ability to request and cancel appointments online, as well as view inspection results and documentation.

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 Two construction workers were injured after they fell from a building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan yesterday afternoon. The construction workers where  working on the $50 million renovation of the World Diamond   Tower  building  on Fifth Avenue  and W. 47th St.   They fell from the second floor mezzanine inside the building.  The FDNY has asked the City Department of Buildings to investigate whether a partial collapse of the mezzanine led to the fall. Read more in  The New York Daily News 

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 The construction accident happened in a famous building of the Diamond District.  Picture courtesy of Google map 

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Since the de Blasio administration  launched The Vision Zero program to reduce traffic injuries and fatalities in New York, jaywalking tickets have been increasing significantly. By the end of last year, according to NYPD statistics, jaywalking summonses had nearly quadrupled the average for the previous six year.  In a long article, the Village Voice looks at the history of  Jaywalking in the city since 1920 and question the  manner it is being enforced by the NYPD these days.  Read the complete article here