Recent Blog Posts
November 20, 2014 / Vehicle Accidents
Digging Out Safely
Last winter was a record-breaker for Indianapolis, when we received 55.4 inches of snow, only the second time in history that Old Man Winter delivered more than 50 inches of the white stuff to our city. I don’t have any facts or figures, but I’m guessing sales of snow blowers and snow throwers were also at record highs. And with winter once again blowing into town, it’s time to talk about snow blower safety. The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates 5,740 emergency room visits a year involve snow blower injuries, including broken bones, cuts, bruises and sprains. About 10 percent of these injuries involve amputation of the hand or fingers. These tips for safer snow blowing were gathered from Consumer Reports, American Family I[...]
November 10, 2014 / Personal Injury
Hear! Hear! FAQs About The National Hearing Test
At age 65, one out of three people has a hearing loss, according to the Hearing Loss Association of America. In older people, a hearing loss is often mistaken for a condition such as dementia. People with hearing loss are more likely to report depression, dissatisfaction with life, impaired function, and withdrawal from social activities. Thus, it is important for all adults to consider having a hearing screening. Have you ever heard of the National Hearing Test? It’s a screening test you can take over the telephone which will indicate whether you need to contact a professional in your area for a full-scale evaluation of your hearing. The test was developed by scientists at Indiana University with a grant from the National Institutes o[...]
November 4, 2014 / Medical Malpractice
Billion-Dollar Settlement For Stryker Hip Victims
About 120,000 hip replacement operations are performed each year in the U.S. For most people, this is an opportunity to escape the pain and disability caused by broken or degenerating hip joints. For thousands, though, the hip replacement surgery was just the beginning of increased pain and surgical procedures. Stryker Orthopaedics, a leading producer of joint replacement devices, announced on November 3, 2014, that they have reached a settlement agreement to compensate claimants who received a modular Rejuvenate or ABGII implant and were forced to undergo a revision surgery. The settlement is expected to reach nearly $1.5 billion. These Stryker medical devices were recalled in 2012 because of the number of patients who experienced wh[...]
October 20, 2014 / Vehicle Accidents
Dangerous Tires – How Old Is Too Old?
The automotive industry, including tire manufacturers, have known for years that tires more than six (6) years old, regardless of tread depth or outward appearance, pose a substantial safety hazard to consumers. Tires, like other rubber products, have a limited service life, regardless of whether the tire appears to be worn out or appears to be brand new. Over time, a tire's internal structure degrades, reducing the ability of a tire's belts to stick together which, in turn, can result in tread belt separation which can then cause a disastrous crash. This internal degradation occurs regardless of the tread use or wear of the tire. It is invisible and cannot be identified even by tire experts without destructive testing. A simple example of[...]
September 9, 2014 / Vehicle Accidents
Indiana Scores 4.5 In Dui Countermeasures
About 20% of Indiana’s traffic fatalities are caused by an alcohol-impaired driver, according to Indiana State Police statistics, and nationally that number is about 31%. Whether the stats are based on local, state or national accident rates, drinking and driving is a serious safety issue. So we are glad that at the Governors Highway Safety Association annual meeting, taking place right now in Grand Rapids, Michigan, one of the topics being discussed is DUI enforcement approaches which have been successfully implemented across the U.S. Last year the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published “Countermeasures That Work: A Highway Safety Countermeasure Guide for State Highway Safety Offices.” Let’s see how I[...]
August 26, 2014 / Personal Injury
Indiana’s Lifeline Law
Indiana’s Lifeline Law was first enacted on May 4, 2012; during the 2014 legislative session, it was expanded to save even more lives. If you have a teenager or college student in your family, you should make sure they know about the Lifeline Law. Universities and social organizations are teaming up to spread awareness through social media and public spotlights, so your teen might act like it’s old news, but it’s information that bears repeating. What Is the Lifeline Law? It’s basically a law that provides immunity for a minor who calls 9-1-1 to report that someone is having an alcohol- or substance-related health emergency. Party-goers are sometimes reluctant to seek help for a friend who has been injured while over-indulging or wh[...]
August 12, 2014 / Vehicle Accidents
Car Vs. Tractor: What Are The Odds?
One of the seemingly continuous tasks of summer is keeping the grass mowed. Busy homeowners have to factor in time for weekly mowing, or even more frequent grass cutting some weeks. If you just have a small patch of green, you may get by with a push mower; but many people have turned to riding mowers or tractors to do the job more efficiently. Tractors mowing the edge near a highway are targets for negligent drivers. And guess who is usually more seriously injured? Just last Thursday, August 7, 2014, one of Shelby County’s commissioners was hit while mowing on the south side of Michigan Road. A Jeep Cherokee crossed the road and struck the tractor head-on. Commissioner David Mohr, 73, was uninjured, but the 32-year-old driver of th[...]
August 11, 2014 / Vehicle Accidents
The Lessen Plan For School Zones
In many Indianapolis school districts, teachers and students are now back to school after a summer break. Drivers are cautioned to be on the alert for children walking to and from school and to observe the lessened speed limits in those areas. Nationwide statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reflect that, on average, 135 people are killed each year in school-transportation-related accidents, with 8 percent being school bus passengers and 21 percent pedestrians or bicyclists. About one-third of the accident victims are hit by passenger cars, trucks or motorcycles, not by school buses. Here are answers to some of the frequently asked questions regarding Indiana school zones. Q. What is the legal speed li[...]
July 17, 2014 / Vehicle Accidents
Wrong-Way Wreck
It’s sometimes hard to figure out how a driver could wind up driving in a lane going the wrong direction. And Wayne County law enforcement personnel are wondering how a man driving westbound in the eastbound lanes of I-70 came to be headed the wrong way on a portion of the interstate that is divided by a median with a cable barrier. Early on the morning of Sunday, July 13, 2014, Phillip Lloyd of Richmond, Indiana, was behind the wheel of a Mustang which collided with a Greyhound bus headed from St. Louis to New York City. Lloyd was killed instantly; the bus driver was airlifted to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis; and 18 of the 23 bus passengers were treated at Reid Hospital in Richmond. Fortunately, most of the injuries were relativel[...]
July 11, 2014 / Personal Injury
Food Truck Explosion An Eye-Opener For Indy Eaters
Indianapolis has seen a large increase in the number of food truck vendors in recent years. Every Thursday, you can savor tasty items from many businesses participating in Food Truck Friday on Georgia Street in Downtown Indianapolis. On Fridays, the west end of Georgia Street near the Indiana Convention Center is the location of various and sundry vendors prepared to satisfy your culinary cravings, from BBQ to pizza to something more exotic, like curried goat. Other than a random case of heartburn, did you ever question whether ordering from a food truck was a safety risk? Probably not. But you might be interested to know that in the state of Indiana, food trucks are not required to have fire safety inspections. And this matters, wh[...]