New York City Personal Injury Blog

Running a business or owning a rental property is a time-consuming and expensive venture. Physical stores and offices can cost a lot more than just providing remote or digital services. That's because of the risk involved with allowing people onto a property that you own or maintain.

Those who make physical locations accessible to the public not only have to worry about how those facilities represent their business but also the potential liability those facilities represent. If someone were to get hurt while visiting a business or a property, the owner of the building or the property manager could find themselves in a legally vulnerable position regarding the costs associated with that accident.

In New York and across the U.S., drowsy driving is becoming an epidemic. In a AAA survey, nearly one-third of respondents said that at least once in the past month, they drove while having trouble keeping their eyes open. Many drivers are not getting the seven hours of sleep every night that the CDC recommends, and some may have a disorder like obstructive sleep apnea that makes them tired even when they get seven hours.

Others ignore the side effects of medications like antidepressants, antihistamines and muscle relaxers. Others may take prescription sleep aids and yet ignore the direction that says they should sleep seven to eight hours afterward. A 2018 Consumer Reports survey found that one in five Americans who take sleep aids drive within seven hours of taking them. Some medications will interact with each other to induce sleepiness.

Car accidents in New York can be devastating and may cause people to sustain catastrophic injuries and even die as a result. Many factors, from increased distraction due to smartphones to outdoor weather conditions, can combine to make driving on the roadways a more dangerous experience. One study revealed that even light rainfall can significantly increase the risk for a dangerous or fatal crash. Rain, snow and ice can make roadway fatalities 34% more likely, according to a study from the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

Even simple drizzle, where pedestrians may not even carry umbrellas, could raise the risk of fatal car accidents by 27%. The study analyzed data from 125,012 fatal crashes that took place in the continental United States between 2006 and 2011. The researchers also assessed factors like the volume of traffic on the road in order to isolate the impact of weather. The researchers used precise radar data to determine the severity of the weather conditions when each crash took place. This enabled the researchers to detect the rise in deadly collisions linked to rain falling even at a rate of a 1/10 of an inch each hour.

Drivers in New York and across the U.S. are distracting themselves behind the wheel, even when they know it is wrong. Moreover, they tend to criticize others for the same reckless behavior they themselves engage in. This was the conclusion of Root Insurance's second annual distracted driving study.

For 47 percent of drivers surveyed, distracted driving was a top concern on the road. Ninety-nine percent acknowledged phone use as among the top three driver distractions. Yet respondents were found to use their phones for an average of 13 minutes a day behind the wheel. Nearly two in five drivers never put down their phones when they see police around.