Personal Injury Cases – Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone & Morelli

For children, families and seniors, a pet can be an important part of the family and a daily companion. Many seniors who live on their own outside of nursing homes or residential communities have pets and studies have even shown that having a dog can extend your life for as long as seven years. Unfortunately, however, new data shows that bringing your pet in the car can be very dangerous. This is true for people of all ages, but especially for senior citizens.

Our New Haven, CT accident attorneys know that bringing a pet in the car with you can be a distraction, especially if the pet is on your lap or is unrestrained in the vehicle. Now, a recent study shows that a pet in the car with you can significantly increase your accident risk.

Pets are a Dangerous Distraction

Highway safety advocates advise that it is dangerous for a driver to look away from the road for more than two seconds. This means that anything in your car that causes you to look away for longer than two seconds will increase the chances of a traffic crash occurring. Cell phones are one of the most common distractions and a lot of attention is paid to talking and texting as a primary cause of preventable traffic collisions. However, having a pet in the car can also cause you to look away for at least two seconds.

For seniors, any type of distraction in the car that causes an increase in cognitive or physical workload can be risky because older drivers have slower response times and cognitive performance than younger drivers. This means that while a pet in the car can be risky for anyone, the situation is even worse for a senior who will take longer to focus again after being distracted and who will be slower to respond if something unexpected happens on the road.

To get more information on how a pet in the car might affect a senior’s car accident risk, researchers at the University of Alabama-Birmingham interviewed more than 2,000 seniors who lived on their own rather than in a nursing home or assisted living community.  NBC News reported that a total of 691 of the seniors who were interviewed had pets, and more than half with animal companions said they took their pets with them at least occasionally when driving. When pets went along for the ride, they usually sat either in the front passenger seat or on the back seat.

These pet co-pilots unfortunately had a major impact on whether a senior would be involved in an accident In fact, the crash rate for seniors who had a pet in the car was around double the accident rate of those who had no pets or who said that they never drove with pets.

This data shows that seniors need to be very careful when traveling with animals. Restraining the animals properly in the vehicle could be one important way to reduce the accident risk.

Most people–including 83 percent of the seniors surveyed–agree that riding with an unrestrained animal is dangerous. Yet, only 16 percent of those who traveled with their pets said they used restraints. If more seniors would crate or otherwise secure their animals when driving, then there may not be such an increase in the accident risk associated with traveling with a four-legged member of the family.

Contact the Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone & Morelli, by calling  1-800-WIN-WIN-1 or 100 Farmington Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105.

On March 14, the CT Post reported that five people were injured at the UConn Health Center in Farmington. The CT Post did not indicate how serious the injuries were; however, emergency personnel were reportedly on the scene of the accident. The incident was described as a construction accident and those injured were performing work.

Our Hartford, CT accident lawyers know that construction accidents can often cause very serious injury. In many cases, when an injury happens on a construction site, significant legal complications can also occur as a result.

Construction Accident Injures Five

The March construction accident at UConn occurred in the school’s Research Development Center. A spokesperson for the school interviewed by the CT Post indicated that the Research and Development Center is currently in the process of being remodeled. Workers were making progress on the remodeling work when ceiling tiles started to come down. Five of the workers suffered injury as a result of the falling ceiling tiles, necessitating medical treatment and a response from emergency personnel.

The CT Post reported that no one was evacuated, even after the ceiling tiles began to fall, because the building is considered structurally sound. While the building as a whole may be sturdy and present no risk to other workers, the fact remains that five people got hurt on the job and may have financial and other losses because of it.

Construction Accidents and Workers’ Rights

When someone gets hurt on the job, the law aims to make sure that he or she is not left financially ruined as a result of a work injury. The law established a workers’ compensation system, which is considered an exclusive remedy system.

Basically, under workers’ comp, you can get compensation only through workers’ comp, and you cannot sue. Your coverage is a little broader because you don’t have to prove your employer was negligent, but you also don’t get damages for things like pain and suffering.With many construction accidents, however, there is an alternative to workers’ compensation. If there was any third party who was responsible in any way for causing the injury as a result of negligence, then a work injury claim can be made against the third party. This can take the form of a standard personal injury lawsuit, with its broader financial recovery as compared to workers’ compensation.

A third party responsible for a construction site injury might include a non-employer project manager overseeing the construction; an architect or engineer responsible for design or construction supervision; or the manufacturer of equipment that malfunctioned and led to the injury. Those who have suffered more serious injury should be entitled to appropriate compensation, either through workers’ comp or through a lawsuit. Incidents like the ceiling falling on the workers’ head are not isolated incidents. Falling objects and workers who are struck by objects are among the most common causes of fatal work accidents each year.

Earlier this year in Avon, three teens were critically injured in a car accident when the 16-year-old driver with a learner’s permit slammed into a utility pole, splitting the vehicle in half.

Our  New Haven car accident lawyers understand this is sadly part of a growing national trend of young drivers increasingly involved in fatal accidents. It’s been well-established that motor vehicle crashes are the No. 1 cause of death for teens, and recent weeks have seen a sharp spike in the number of young lives claimed on our roads.

In fact, in a single week, 20 teens died in five crashes in five states. That doesn’t even count the number of accidents involving teen drivers in which injuries were severe or life-threatening.

USA Today reports that while the circumstances surrounding each crash varied slightly, the one common denominator was this: Teen drivers with teen passengers.

This is not unsurprising, considering the study released last year by the American Automobile Association, which found that the risk of a 16- or 17-year-old driver being killed in a crash increased with each additional passenger in the vehicle under the age of 21.

The report, “Teen Driver Risk in Relation to Age and Number of Passengers,” found hat teen driver fatality rates:

• Increase by nearly 45 percent when there is one passenger under 21 in the vehicle;
• Increase by 100 percent when there are two passengers in the vehicle under age 21;
• Increase by 400 percent when there are three or more passengers under the age of 21 in the car.

What’s more, having someone else in the vehicle who was at least 35-years-old reduced the risk of a fatality by more than 60 percent and the overall accident risk by nearly 50 percent.

This drives home the message that not only are graduated driver’s license laws restricting young drivers and teen passengers critical, so too is parental involvement.

Unfortunately, a recent survey by the Allstate Foundation and the National Safety Council revealed that many parents are lagging behind in this regard. The researchers discovered that more than 40 percent of parents of teenagers don’t realize that motor vehicle crashes are the top cause of teen deaths. Further, three-fourths erroneously believe that distractions and unnecessary risks are the main reason why teens have a higher accident rate. In fact, the main cause is driver inexperience.

This further underscores the role that parents need to take on while their teens are learning how to drive. It involves not only modeling good driving behavior – complete with limiting distractions – it’s also about putting in the time to ride with them and show them how to react to certain roadway hazards. Teaching them about assured clear distances and defensive driving tactics are also important.

It’s about ensuring that not only does your teen adhere to Connecticut’s graduated driver’s license laws, but that you set your own parameters. As it stands, for the first six months that one has a restricted license, the teen may have no passengers aside from a parent or driving instructor. In the six months after that, the same applies, except that the teen may drive younger individuals if they are members of his or her immediate family.

Contact the Law Offices of Salomone & Morelli by calling  1-800-WIN-WIN-1 or visiting 100 Farmington Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105.

Nearly three years ago, tragedy struck for the family of a 27-year-old immigrant, working on a renovation project on a $1.14 million home in Greenwich.

Our Connecticut wrongful death lawyers understand that the worker was powerwashing the foundation of the couple’s home when part of the porch foundation broke away from the primary structure, which collapsed the trench in which he was standing. He was buried alive.

Dozens of emergency workers frantically tried to save him by rushing to lift the slab off of him. Sadly, it was too late. A coroner determined he died of head injuries.

The lawsuit filed by the worker’s family alleges negligence by the homeowners and the construction and landscaping companies, as well as recklessness against the latter two entities. During the course of his work, the lawsuit states, the worker was given neither a ladder nor a helmet. Additionally, the trench in which he stood was not properly shored according to federal safety guidelines.

The family says that the landscaping and construction firms failed in their duties with regard to providing a competent person to inspect the ongoing excavation and also to maintain safe conditions inside that trench. The homeowners are also accused of not maintaining all the proper documentation with the town in regard to the full scope of the renovation work being conducted on their home.

The lawsuit seeks redress for the fear and harm that the worker endured, as well as the medical bills and other expenses that his family was forced to shoulder in the wake of his passing.

Fire officials at the scene reportedly told local news reporters at the time of the incident that it could have been avoided simply by ensuring proper trench shoring methods. In fact, just to extract the worker’s body safely from the site, responders needed to install wooden planks to hold the walls of the trench upright.

The U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration had been called in to investigate. Among the violations were failure to provide proper head protection for workers in the trenches and a failure to properly secure the excavation project.

Some of the actions OSHA requires of construction workers during trenching and excavation work are:

• A competent person has to inspect the excavation site and adjacent areas every day before the work begins, as needed throughout the shift and after every rain;
• Subcontractors must be notified of the trench location, precautions and the proper safe distance;
• Ladders and other means of egress are required.

Initially, OSHA fined the construction company $17,000 for violation of five different safety hazards. However, that fine was later reduced in half as a result of a settlement agreement.

An OSHA representative stated the agency “tries to work with” smaller companies, particularly given the tough economy. But an $8,700 fine does not seem to be much of a deterrent, and it does absolutely nothing for this worker’s family.

Contact the Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone & Morelli by calling  1-800-WIN-WIN-1. The Hartford office is located at 100 Farmington Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105.

The federal government provides funding to states for highway safety projects, including road improvement, bridge construction and public education. This federal funding, however, does not come without some strings attached. One of the things that states must do is comply with federal mandates intended to curb the number of drunk drivers.

Recently, however, an article in USA Today indicated that as many as two-thirds of states are not living up to their end of the deal as far as taking steps to combat drunk driving. These states could have some of their federal funds directed toward either anti-drunk driving programs or targeted highway safety improvement efforts. Our Hartford, CT accident attorneys were disheartened to see that Connecticut made the list of states that are not in compliance with federal requirements.

Connecticut Not Complying with Federal Drunk Driving Safety Requirements

According to the USA Today article, Congress updated the requirements last year that states must comply with in order to meet federal standards on efforts to combat drunk driving. The chief operating officer of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials also indicates that the federal government has now tightened the way in which requirements are applied, making it more difficult for states to fulfill their obligations.

Some of the different laws that the federal government looks at include state open container laws and laws on repeat offenders, both of which are important laws intended to curb drunk driving and to make sure that offenders face sufficient penalties to act as a strong deterrent for drunk driving.

When a state fails to comply, a certain amount of federal funds must be redirected toward drunk-driving efforts. For Connecticut, USA Today reports that the amount of money that must be diverted is $10.15 million. This is money that could otherwise have gone to general road or bridge construction but that now must be diverted as a result of the state’s lax drunk driving laws, which the federal government contends do not measure up.

Despite the federal government’s effort to force states to take further steps to combat drunk driving, USA Today also indicates that some locations are looking for a back door in order to put the money back to use for general construction projects. The vice president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, for example, indicates that it’s too easy for states to shift the restricted funds back into general construction work.

Some states may take advantage of this loophole, especially as there are certain locations that expressed anger to USA Today that their laws previously passed muster with NHTSA but are now being declared inadequate. Connecticut, however, was not one of the states that indicated displeasure within the article. The hope, therefore, is that Connecticut will tighten up its drunk driving laws to comply with federal standards and that it will put the restricted federal money to good use to improve highway safety and discourage intoxicated drivers from taking to the road.

If you’ve been in an accident, contact the Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone & Morelli, at 1-800-WIN-WIN-1.

Drivers are expected to obey all driver safety laws and also to be reasonably prudent when they get in their car and operate their vehicles. Many drivers try to live up to this expectation, recognizing that driving is a privilege and that bad drivers are dangerous. However, a surprising number of drivers regularly engage in driving behavior that they know to be risky.

A recent 2012 Traffic Safety Culture Index released by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety revealed just how many drivers aren’t practicing what they preach when it comes to driver safety. Our New Haven, CT personal injury lawyers were distressed to read of the findings on this recent survey, and we urge all drivers to carefully consider their own behavior to make sure that they are living up to reasonable driver safety standards and steering clear of risky behavior.

Drivers Answer on Safety Standards and Driver Behavior

The AAA survey asked drivers about their opinions on certain dangerous driving behaviors. The survey also asked drivers what they actually do when they are behind the wheel. As the results showed, many drivers think that certain driving actions are dangerous but still do those very same actions. For example:

• Drunk driving was viewed as very dangerous, and 80.5 percent of survey respondents supported requiring an ignition interlock device for all first time DUI offenders. Yet, 14 percent of drivers said they’d driven when they may have been drunk at least once in their lives and 2.1 percent said they’d done so in just the past month.
• Texting and driving was viewed as very dangerous, with most drivers considering the behavior completely unacceptable. Yet, 26.6 percent said that they’d texted or used a wireless handheld device to send an email while driving in the past month alone.
• Talking on a cell and driving was also viewed as risky. Almost half of drivers wanted to ban the practice outright, regardless of whether the talker used a hands free device. Yet, more than out of every three drivers said they’d talked on their phones in the past month while driving.
• Almost three-quarters of drivers expressed disapproval for going 15 miles per hour over the speed limit on a highway. Yet, 49.3 percent said they’d gone at least that fast in the past month.
• 89.1 percent of drivers felt it was dangerous and unacceptable to exceed the speed limit by 10 miles per hour or more in a residential area. However, 46.8 percent said they’d gone at least that fast in a residential area in the past month.
• 38.4 percent said they’d gone through a red light although the vast majority of drivers said this behavior was dangerous and unacceptable.
• Drowsy driving was almost universally viewed as bad news, but one-third of drivers said they’d had some trouble keeping their eyes open as they drove in the past month and 45.9 percent said that they had fallen asleep behind the wheel one or more times in their lives.

Clearly, therefore, drivers have certain standards and beliefs about what is unacceptable and dangerous when it comes to driving, and yet many drivers are not living up to their own standards. This is a dangerous disconnect, and we urge all drivers to start doing what they know is right behind the wheel.

If you’ve been in an auto accident, contact the Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone & Morelli at 1-800-WIN-WIN-1.

As anyone living in Connecticut knows, recent snow storms have made for some very nasty winter weather. In fact, the early February blizzard of 2013 was so bad that news reports indicated President Obama signed an emergency declaration for the state. Drivers were still digging out days later and were advised to stay at home and off the roads until the snow could be cleared.

While this blizzard, dubbed Nemo, hopefully will be the worst of the winter, our Hartford, CT personal injury lawyers want to remind drivers that this likely won’t be the last our state sees of snow or bad weather this season. As such, we urge all drivers to be prepared, practice their safe winter driving and follow some basic safety tips to avoid auto accidents caused by storms, snow and ice.

Staying Safe in Winter Weather

When a storm like Nemo comes along, the best and only way to stay safe is to stay home and off the roads. The most important safe winter weather tip, therefore, is to make absolutely sure that you listen to winter storm advisories and winter weather warnings. If there is a driving ban in effect or if the news is reporting that a blizzard is coming, don’t get in your car and drive anywhere unless it is an emergency. Instead, stay at home, make sure you have candles. Plan for a power outage and stock up on supplies.

When the weather is just run-of-the-mill winter weather, however, you may need to venture out with snow and ice on the roads. If you do, keep these tips in mind:

• Leave early for your destination so you will have plenty of time to get there without speeding. You never want to speed with slick or icy conditions as you could lose control of your vehicle, skid or spin out. In fact, in many cases you will want to drive below the speed limit when it is bad out.
• Refrain from tailgating. You want to leave a lot of space in between your vehicle and the other cars on the road. This is because ice can make it harder for your vehicle to stop. When you do need to stop with icy conditions, you need to  step on your brakes softly so you don’t skid.
• Have all parts of your car carefully checked over, including the windshield wipers and tires, and make sure that your car has enough fluids. Good tires are essential to good traction on slick winter roads and good wipers will help to ensure that you can see even when visibility is bad.
• Consider practicing winter driving in an empty parking lot. If you aren’t sure what to do when your car skids or spins out, you don’t want to find out on a highway. Instead, take your vehicle to an empty lot with someone who knows how to drive safely in snow and get plenty of practice.

By following these safe winter driving tips, you can hopefully avoid becoming involved in an auto accident and you can make it through the winter safe and sound.

If you’ve been in an auto accident, contact the Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone & Morelli at 1-800-WIN-WIN-1.

If you live in Connecticut and you drove anywhere today, there is a chance that you may have been sharing the road with a drowsy driver. In fact, there’s a chance you may have been sharing the road not just with someone who was a little tired, but instead with someone who was actually closing their eyes and dozing off for at least a second or two.

Our Hartford auto accident attorneys believe that drowsy driving is a major danger for every driver in the state of Connecticut. A new Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study underscores just how dangerous this driving behavior is. We urge everyone who ever gets behind the wheel in Connecticut to consider the data on drowsy driving and to make a commitment to refrain from the risky practice.

Drowsy Drivers Put Connecticut Residents at Risk

The CDC’s recent survey is the largest that has ever been conducted on the issue of drowsy driving. To obtain information on driver fatigue, the CDC conducted a survey by telephone of adults in a total of 19 states in the U.S., as well as conducting a survey in D.C. In total, more than 147,000 adults responded. One of the states whose residents CDC contacted their survey in was the state of Connecticut, where they called 6,409 people.

According to the information obtained from these respondents, who are meant to be a representative sample of the population as a whole, 147 of the drivers indicated they had fallen asleep while they were driving in the 30 days immediately before completion of the survey.

This data means that around 3 percent of Connecticut drivers said that yes, they had dozed off as they drove. Sadly, this data may not even tell the whole story either. Many drivers might nod off for just a split second, which is long enough to get into an accident but not long enough for the driver to be aware of what happened. If a driver falls asleep behind the wheel and isn’t aware of it, he wouldn’t have reported yes to the CDC in their survey.

Still, even if there are only 3 percent of drivers falling asleep, this means that for every 100 drivers you encounter on the road, three of them may be sleeping. When you think about how many people you encounter on your morning commute, you’ll notice quickly that there a lot more than 100 people on your journey. This means that there is a very real chance you may be sharing the roads with a sleeping driver.

Connecticut’s average of 3 percent was below the overall average of 4.2 drivers responding in the affirmative to the question of whether they’d dozed off as they drove. Still, while Connecticut may have slightly less drowsy drivers than the national average, even a 3 percent rate means that there are many people engaging in dangerous behavior. Don’t be one of them- make a commitment today never to drive if you are too tired to be safe.

The holiday weekend is always a dangerous time for drivers. There are quite a few reasons why drivers may be at greater risk of becoming involved in a crash over the holiday season, including the fact that more people tend to drive during the holidays and the fact that people may be more likely to drive drunk. More people drive as they go on vacation or drive to visit family, while the drunk driving increase can be attributed to people celebrating the holidays and having a few drinks too many.

Unfortunately, the increased risk of holiday crashes can result in innocent victims becoming injured. Our Hartford injury attorneys urge all drivers to use extra caution this holiday season to avoid hurting yourself or hurting someone else when out driving.

Holiday Accidents a Very Real Risk

To understand the increased danger of holiday auto accidents, it is helpful to look at what happened over Thanksgiving just a few short weeks ago. According to the New Haven Register:

• Police throughout Connecticut responded to approximately 350 auto accidents over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
• 60 people were charged with driving under the influence over Thanksgiving.
• Almost 1,500 speeding tickets were issued by Connecticut state police over the Thanksgiving holiday.
• Two fatal car crashes occurred over Thanksgiving.
• Drivers were cited for more than 2,800 hazardous moving violations by law enforcement over Thanksgiving.
• More than 80 people who received tickets over Thanksgiving were cited for a failure to wear their seat belts.

As these statistics show, many people were taking dangerous risks over the holidays by driving drunk, going too fast or failing to wear their seatbelt. Unfortunately, these individuals who engaged in risky driving behavior put everyone on the road at risk- including innocent people who were driving safely and following traffic laws.

Staying Safe Over the Holiday Season

While Thanksgiving is over for this year, this doesn’t mean that the dangers of a holiday auto accident have passed. Most experts indicate that the elevated risk of holiday traffic accidents can extend through until January 2, with certain key dates including New Years Eve and the days shortly before Christmas representing the most dangerous days to drive.

If you intend to travel anywhere during the holidays, especially on peak travel days or for long distances, you should keep some basic safety tips in mind in order to reduce your holiday accident risk. Some safety tips to consider include the following:

• Refraining from going faster than is safe given the current traffic and road conditions. Obviously, you should also stay under the speed limit when driving- but you may need to go even slower than required to be safe.
• Don’t tailgate or engage in aggressive driving behaviors that could put you at risk.
• Pay attention to winter weather advisory warnings and try to avoid driving in bad weather whenever possible.
• Switch off drivers or take plenty of rests on long trips so you don’t drive drowsy.
• Have a designated driver so you do not drive drunk, and never let your friends or family drive drunk.

These safe driving tips help to ensure you won’t cause a crash and injure yourself or others. Of course, another person on the road might still injure you or even cause a fatal crash that kills someone you love. If this occurs, getting a lawyer is absolutely essential to understand your legal rights under Connecticut law.

Contact the Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone & Morelli, by calling  1-800-WIN-WIN-1 or at 100 Farmington Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105.

A 9-year-old girl was killed on a recent Sunday afternoon, pronounced dead at Hartford Hospital about an hour after a car accident on I-91.

Our Hartford car accident lawyers understand that investigators, in their preliminary reports, indicated the driver of the car, the child’s aunt, swerved off the road, though it’s not clear why.

Sadly, the National Safety Council estimates that more than 450 people in this country are going to die in traffic fatalities over the Thanksgiving weekend, while more than 48,000 are going to be severely injured. The Council bases these projections on figures from last year, accounting for fluctuations in road conditions and the increasing number of people who are taking heed to wear seat belts.

Both traffic fatalities and traffic injuries are about 10 percent higher over the Thanksgiving weekend than they are over a normal weekend. Most likely, a big part of that has to do with the fact that more people will be on the roads and for longer periods of time.

What is of particular concern is that many drivers may be heading out in snowy or icy conditions. Hartford forecasts during the day have generally been in the 40s and 50s this month. However, it hasn’t been uncommon for the temperature to dip below freezing at night, creating conditions that could result in sleet, snow or ice.

This is why it’s a great idea before you make that trek to “winterize” your car. This includes:

• Getting a basic check-up of the ignition, brakes, wiring, hoses, fan belts, battery, tires and antifreeze levels.
• Make sure that you have on hand a properly-inflated spare tire, a shovel, jumper cables, tow and tire chains, a bag of salt or cat litter, a tool kit.
• It’s also a good idea to bring along a flashlight with batteries, first aid kit, ice scraper and perishable foods and water.

If you do encounter icy conditions, practice caution by doing the following:

1. Slow down and give yourself plenty of room to stop. You want to give yourself at least three times more space than you think you need between you and the vehicle that is in front of you.

2. To avoid skidding, brake gently. If you find your wheels starting to lock up, ease your foot off the brake.

3. Keep both your lights and your windshield clean.

4. Turn your lights on, even if it’s daytime, so you can increase the chances that other motorists are going to see you.

5. Avoid using overdrive or cruise control.

6. Realize that overpasses, bridges and roads that are less traveled are going to freeze first. Use extra caution there. Even if it’s just wet in other places, these areas might have a layer of ice.

7. Don’t try to pass sanding trucks or snow plows. Even if it seems they are moving at a snail’s pace, these drivers have limited visibility and  the road conditions ahead of them are likely to be bad anyway.

Contact the Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone & Morelli, by calling  1-800-WIN-WIN-1 or at 100 Farmington Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105.