Personal Injury Law Update

How to Spot and Report a Drunk Driver

This Memorial Day weekend, nearly 35 million Americans will hit the road. In addition to national campaigns regarding seatbelt safety – the Click It or Ticket campaign from the National Highway Transportation Administration is in full force – police departments around the country will be on patrol for drunk or impaired drivers.

Oregon State Police Department reminds everyone out there - bicyclists, pedestrians, motorcyclists and motorists - that we all have responsibility for keeping our roads safe. Here are the signs of a drunk driver from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (to see the full list please visit www.MADD.org)

Signs of a drunk driver:

• Stopping without cause, or erratic braking
• Drifting in and out of traffic lanes
• Signaling that is inconsistent with driving actions
• Slow response to traffic signals
• Straddling the center lane marker
• Swerving
• Driving slower than 10 mph below the speed limit

If you see a driver exhibiting these signs, your safety may be at risk. Drive defensively: stay as far back from the drunk driver as possible, and do not try to pass the vehicle. If you can safely do so, note the vehicle’s make, model, color and license plate number.

Pull over: call 9-1-1, or in Oregon 1-800-24DRUNK, or have a passenger make the call. Give the operator a license plate and/or vehicle description, the car’s location and direction of travel, and explain what the vehicle is doing.

Have a safe and happy Memorial Day Weekend.

 

You can check current Oregon road and traffic conditions at www.tripcheck.org, and Washington traffic at www.wsdot.com/traffic 

 

Parents and Dog Owners Can Help Prevent Dog Bites

National Dog Bite Prevention Week opened with the terrible news of the death of a newborn infant attacked by the family dog. 

More than 50% of children in the United States will be bitten by a dog before their 12th birthday. While some dog bites are relatively minor and don’t require ongoing medical attention, others can leave painful scars and do permanent damage to victims.

We all need to do our best to be safe, but there are extra steps that parents and dog owners can take to ensure the safety of children and senior citizens, who make up the majority of dog bite victims.

ASPCA safety guidelines for dog bite prevention:  

• Don’t walk up to an unfamiliar dog. If an unfamiliar dog approaches, be still. 
• Don’t run away from a dog, or scream.
• Avoid direct eye contact with a dog.
• Do not disturb a dog that is sleeping, eating, or caring for puppies.
• Do not pet a dog without allowing it to see and sniff you first.

For dog owners, the liability of dog bites is a serious concern. The Insurance Information Institute found that one-third of all homeowners’ insurance liability claims are related to dog bites.  State Farm Insurance paid more than $109 million on thousands of dog bite claims last year alone.

Most states, including Washington and California, have statutes imposing strict liability on dog owners: owners are responsible for injuries their dogs cause, whether or not an owner knew - or should have known - that their pet was dangerous. 

National Dog Bite Prevention Week partners offer tips on being a responsible dog owner:

• Obedience training can teach a dog to behave properly - and teach you how to control your dog.
• When letter carriers and others who are not familiar with your dog come to your door, keep your dog inside and away from the door.
• In protecting their territory, dogs may interpret harmless actions as a threat.
• Spay or neuter your dog.
• Dogs that receive little attention or are left tied up for long periods of time are more likely to bite.
• When you get a new dog or a shelter dog, don’t let it off the leash or bring it around children until you get to know it.

Learn more about dog bite prevention from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

 

Trampoline parks face critical safety issues

Indoor trampoline parks are under scrutiny after a series of high-profile injuries and deaths lead to questions about their safety.  

A 30-year-old man died after breaking his neck in a foam pit at Sky Park in Phoenix.  New York Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain sustained a career-threatening injury at trampoline center in Florida when he suffered an open dislocation of his right ankle, thrusting the bone through his skin and leading to a potentially life-threatening amount of blood loss at the scene.

And in this video, you can hear a young man’s leg snap as his flips on to a trampoline at at Xtreme Trampolines in Chicago.

A recent Inside Edition investigation on safety problems in trampoline facilities featured some alarming video footage of very small children jump on trampolines with adults and little or no supervision. The biggest problem? Trampoline centers are violating the “cardinal rule” of trampoline safety: only one person on the trampoline at a time.

Trampoline parks are inherently dangerous because trampolines are not meant for multiple jumpers.  The Trampoline Safety Association confirms this, and has several other recommendations for safety that are routinely ignored by trampoline centers.

• Do not allow somersaults. Interestingly, the vast majority of these recreational centers promote somersaults – check out the websites for Sky High Sports and Sky Zone Sports.
• The trampoline should not be used without shock-absorbing pads that completely cover the springs, hooks and frame. Even if the springs and hooks are covered, that space is exposed when people are jumping: it’s very easy to get caught between the frame and the pad.  
• No child under the age of six should use a regular-sized trampoline. Always supervise children who use the trampoline. It is pretty evident from the videos above that young children often jump, and kids are often unsupervised.

Currently, there is very little regulation for these trampoline facilities, and it varies by state and even by county.  In 2010, there were 92,159 hospital emergency room-treated injuries from trampolines.

See also: Serious Injuries at Sky High Sports Trampoline Recreation Centers Lead to Concerns and Lawsuits  

 

One unexpected way your distracted driving could be tragic

It happens every year, usually starting in the spring. 38 children die each year in hot cars. Most were accidentally left in the vehicle by parents or caregivers.  

Parents think it can never happen to them:  how could you be so careless as to forget your baby in the car? But the majority of these tragic deaths are the result of something very common: distraction.

Distracted driving has been in the news lately – I’ve written and spoken about it several times – but only in regards to the dangers of distraction while actually driving your car. “Distracted driving” is anything that takes your mind away from the primary task of operating a vehicle safely – and getting yourself and your passengers to your destinations safely.

Many of these hyperthermia (very high body temperature) deaths seem to result from a busy parent trying to do several things quickly: take kids to school, run an errand, drop off the baby, and get to work on time.  A parent forgets to drop off the baby; the child falls asleep in a rear-facing car seat and is accidentally left in the car all day. The sad deaths of these babies aren’t a fluke: they are a symptom of yet another way in which our multi-tasking lifestyles are putting health and safety at risk.

KidsAndCars.org offers these tips to reduce the risk of hyperthermia:

• Put something you’ll need - like your cell phone - on the back seat floor. This is also a great way to curb the temptation to text while driving.
• Get in the habit of always opening the back door of your vehicle every time you reach your destination.
• Keep a teddy bear in the child’s car seat … when the child is in the car seat, put the teddy bear in the front passenger seat.  Anytime the teddy bear is up front, you’ll know your kid is in their car seat.

Child death from accidental hyperthermia is less common in Washington and Oregon than in states with higher average temperatures like California and Texas. However, the actual number of incidents in which kids are left in cars is likely much larger. Read the full story from MSNBC, Two children die in hot cars as risky season begins; or learn more about prevention at KidsAndCars.org.

 

Teen passengers increase risk of driver fatality

Recently, attorney Doug Oh-Keith and I have been talking to Oregon high school students about distracted driving as a part of the nationwide project EndDD.org. These teens shared personal stories about how they, their friends, and their parents have been distracted behind the wheel.  So I should not have been surprised to read a study that confirms what many have long suspected about teen drivers.

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found a very strong correlation between the number of young passengers in a vehicle, and the risk of a teen driver being killed in a car crash.

A young driver’s fatality risk quadruples when carrying three passengers younger than 21, compared to driving with no teenage passengers.

As a parent of teenagers, and as a personal injury attorney who has seen far too much senseless tragedy in more than 20 years of practice, the strength of the association between the number of young passengers and the risk of mortality is still pretty shocking.

It gets worse. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 9 out of 10 of us (correctly) consider it very unsafe for a driver to send or read text messages. However, the percentage who said they would express their concern to the texting driver varied drastically by age: the younger the passenger, the less likely to speak up for their own safety.  So not only are teen drivers at a greater risk, teen passengers are too.

What can you do?

• Educate your kids on being a safe driver, and a safe passenger.
• Encourage them to speak up for their own safety.
• If your state does not set limits for teen passengers – in Oregon, a teenager can have up to 3 teen passengers after being licensed for 6 months – set your own limits. 

And then set a good example. It’s up to all of us to keep the roads safe.

To learn more about the End Distracted Driving presentation for students, go to www.damorelaw.com or www.enddd.org.

Window Fall Prevention

Over the weekend, there was a breaking news story of a Vancouver toddler who climbed out a third floor bedroom window, made his way onto the roof, and fell to the ground.  The child has been listed in good condition as of Sunday evening.

Thankfully, this incident had a happy ending, but it could have ended in tragedy.  According to Safe Kids USA, window falls account for approximately 8 deaths and 3,300 injuries among children ages 5 and under annually.

Here are window fall prevention tips from Safe Kids USA:

• Do not rely on window screens to prevent falls.
• Keep windows closed and locked when not in use.
• Keep furniture that children could climb on away from windows.

Safe Kids USA also recommends installing window guards or window stops.  For windows on the sixth floor and below, install window guards with emergency release devices in case of fire. Window stops should be placed in windows to allow them to open no more than four inches.

For more information on fall prevention visit the Safe Kids USA website.  To find out about the campaign to stop window falls, visit the Stop At 4 website.  You can also find more information about window guards from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission by clicking here.

 

 

NFL brain injury lawsuits lead to questions about the league’s future

"This gladiator mentality may have allowed the NFL to generate enormous profits, but it has left its players with serious life-altering injuries, including various degrees of brain damage,"  - excerpt from complaint  

To date, more than 1,000 former NFL players are suing the league. Some of the plaintiffs claim that the NFL knowledge of the potential risks of repeated head injuries, and that not enough was done to inform players about the dangers of concussions.

A lawsuit filed last week asks the National Football League to make players aware of the short-term and long-term dangers of traumatic head injuries. The players say that the problems are indicative of a culture that has left them and other ex-players with debilitating conditions.

The claimants may have to prove that the NFL had knowledge of the lasting impact of concussions on players' lives and covered them up, or that the league promotes a culture of violence that significantly increases the risk of injury or death. The recent allegations of bounty operations that paid cash to players who caused significant injury to opponents certainly help to make a case for a culture of violence. 

 An NFL spokesman said there is no merit to the claim that the NFL intentionally sought to mislead players, and that  "It stands in contrast to the league's actions to better protect players and advance the science and medical understanding of the management and treatment of concussions".

Last year – a full two years after Congressional hearings on the link between football and brain injuries, and a couple of well-publicized player deaths – the NFL began a study on concussions and brain injuries in its players.

Some fans make the argument that athletes assume the risk of brain injuries just by playing the sport. That may present a bigger problem for the NFL in the long run: as athletes become bigger and stronger and the stakes become higher, more and more players will suffer serious head injuries while the NFL rakes in the profits. If there is an inherent risk of brain injury for these athletes, is this the beginning of the end for the NFL?

Learn more about brain injuries here. 

Teaching Children to Walk Safely

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2009, an estimated 13,000 injured pedestrians were age 14 and younger.  That same year 4,092 pedestrian were killed. That year children 14-and-younger age group accounted for 244 of those fatalities.  These children are typically injured near their home or in a neighborhood setting.

Now that the warm weather is here, children will be spending more time outdoors.  So now is a good time to brush up on some safety tips.  Here are safety tips from NHTSA for teaching children to walk safely.

• Hold an adult's hand when walking.
• Walk on the sidewalk.
• If there is no sidewalk, walk facing traffic.
• No pushing or shoving while you walk.

When crossing the street, follow the below tips.

• Stop at the edge of the street.
• Look left-right-left for cars.
• Don't cross if a car is coming.
• Use a crosswalk if you can.
• Keep looking for cars as you cross.

Children learn from watching what their parents do, therefore it is important to demonstrate the correct walking behavior daily with your child, pointing out correct and incorrect safety behaviors.  Walking is a mode of transportation used throughout one’s life, therefore helping a child to develop proper safety behaviors and sound judgment while walking is an important process.

For more helpful tips on how to teach children to walk safely, I encourage you to visit the NHTSA website.  The Safe Routes to School Online Guide is also an excellent resource for tips on teaching children to walk safely.

 

The most important thing you can do for your family today

It’s very simple.

Check your smoke detectors.   

Let the recent spate of home fires in Oregon and Washington remind you to take this one simple step for the safety of your home and family.

• A Milwaukie family lost everything in a fire that decimated their home. The Clackamas fire department said the family’s lives were saved because of working smoke alarms.
• A Portland home was saved when a neighbor heard a fire alarm go off and called 9-1-1.
• Faulty wiring started a fire in Vancouver, Washington: a sleeping baby and grandmother were saved by a newly-installed smoke alarm.
• In Jackson County, Oregon, a fire roared through a home in a matter of minutes. The woman who lived there heard the smoke detector, and escaped safely.
• In a similar situation in Medford last year, the fire department said working smoking detectors saved a woman’s life – and noted that several recent fires in the Rogue Valley have not set off smoke detectors because of dead batteries.

Smoke detectors can’t prevent a fire from damaging your home and property, but they will more than double your chance of surviving a fire. Learn more at the Oregon Office of the Fire Marshal.  

 

Your car is making you a distracted driver

This week I was speaking to high school students about the dangers of distracted driving, and I was stumped by one of the questions they asked me.

How do you keep from being distracted by your car itself?

Of course, you have to pay attention to what’s happening on the dashboard in addition to what’s happening on the road. But how can you be visually, manually, and cognitively focused on driving your car when you see THIS?

The answer? It is impossible.

Next time I am asked that question during a distracted driving presentation, I’ll have a better answer. The U.S. Department of Transportation has issued voluntary guidelines for automakers to develop less distracting in-vehicle electronics, and to factor in how drivers see and control those electronic systems with their hands. 

The distraction guidelines include recommendations to reduce electronic system complexity, to limit off-road glances to no more than 2 seconds, and to limit unnecessary visual information in the driver's field of view.

Consumer Reports' auto test center called the federal guidelines a "very good first move" and plans to urge the government to rate the safety of cars based on how distracting they are to operate.  

Contact D'Amore Law Group to learn more about the distracted driving presentation, which is being presented in conjunction with EndDD.org.