Distracted Driving - Eating while Driving

70% of drivers eat and drink while operating a vehicle and 83% of the drivers usually drink a beverage behind the wheel. Taking our meals on our travels is so common that we may not even realize how it impacts our driving ability.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) study, The Impact of Driver Inattention on Near-Crash/Crash Risk, explores how tasks that may seem insignificant to motorists (e.g. eating and drinking) could divert drivers' attention and potentially cause car accidents.

According to the study, inattentive driving contributes to over 45% of all motor vehicle accidents. The study found participants to be inattentive when they attempted to engage in "secondary tasks" while driving.

Many of us are familiar with the substantial effect that the secondary task of operating a cell phone has on our driving ability. But the study identified another secondary task, that hasn't received as much media attention, as a potential risk-factor to drivers: eating and drinking while driving.

Eating and drinking while driving causes a similar strain on a driver's attention as does using a cell phone because both activities cause cognitive, manual and visual distractions. Eating in our cars doesn't just involve putting food in our mouths—it involves manipulating packaging, inserting straws, and avoiding spills.

These actions aren't inherently dangerous by themselves, but a driver's ability to process new information becomes much less efficient when additional demands require their attention. Someone who has just spilled a hot beverage on themselves may not be able to react as quickly to an unexpected hazard in the road.

The study went on further to identify the types of car snacks that require the most attention.

The most risky foods to eat behind the wheel:

1. Hot beverages and liquids
2. Messy foods
3. Drinks without lids
4. Greasy and salty foods

Cruising through the drive-thru when you're swamped for time is convenient, but try to wait until you've reached your destination to enjoy your meal. If you must eat behind the wheel choose a less complicated car snack than what's listed above.

If a distracted driver ever injures you, contact the Pisanchyn Law Firm's accident attorneys for a free consultation at 1-800-444-5309.

Who is Responsible for Paying Medical Bills After an Injury?

Serious injuries require costly and sometimes even life-long medical treatment, and unfortunately, when those bills pile up, recovery is often an afterthought.

No matter the type of accident that caused your injury, if you have concerns paying your medical bills, and aren't sure who should be paying these bills, we can help you.

Remember, all cases are different and this is just general information. What is covered here is not legal advice and it is always best to contact our attorneys for a free consultation to have your specific questions about your specific case answered. 

Car Accidents

If you or someone you care about were injured in a car accident, the details related to the crash will largely determine not only if you have a case, but who is liable for paying associated medical bills.

Typically, after an accident your auto insurance coverage is always your first line of payment, regardless of whether you are the victim or the driver at fault. Your own auto insurance covers you, whether you were injured in your own car, in a friend's vehicle, or as a pedestrian. When those benefits max out, your health insurance benefits kick in. Don't have insurance? You could be eligible for Medicaid and/or Medicare.
Things get more complicated if you don't own a car and nobody living in your home has car insurance coverage. In these cases, the auto insurance company insuring the vehicle in which you were a passenger may apply.

Pennsylvania insurance rules are confusing and complex, which is why we recommend car accident victims never try to settle their claim alone. Our car accident injury attorneys can get you the money you deserve for lost wages, medical bills and more. Our team can also advise you on the best way to handle these bills and debts while your case is still active.

Work Injuries

If you've been hurt on the job, who is liable for paying your medical bills and compensating you for lost wages depends on the details surrounding your injury. In most cases, you will be eligible for Pennsylvania workers' compensation benefits, and in others you may be entitled to compensation from a personal injury case.

Workers’ Compensation is a very complex area of law and not having an expert in this field on your side could result in the loss of your rights as an Pennsylvanian worker.

If a company other than your employer caused your work-related injury, you could have a third-party claim. Examples could be the manufacturer of a defective machine or another contractor working on your job site. These are accidents that result in an injury that occurs at a work site, but are not the responsibility of your employer.

Don't attempt to handle workers' compensation or third-party claims by yourself. Instead, rely on our personal injury and workers' compensation attorneys. Contact us today for a free case review.

Slip-and-Fall Injuries

Slip-and-fall accidents can lead to emergency room visits, time off work and even life-long medical appointments, which is especially frustrating when it was due to the negligence of someone else.

Property owners need to ensure their facilities are free of hazardous conditions such as:

• Wet floors
• Improperly lit areas
• Tripping hazards

This is called premises liability, and there are three different kinds—homeowner liability, business owner liability, and renter and landlord liability.

Our skilled Personal Injury Attorneys understand the ins and outs of these different types of insurance policies and continuously help injured people get the money they deserve. If you or someone you care for has been seriously injured because of someone else's negligence, call our experienced slip-and-fall attorneys today for a free consultation.

Call Our Attorneys Now

When you're hurting, the last thing you want to do is navigate insurance, get hassled by insurance companies, or handle collections calls. The Pisanchyn Law Firm will take these burdens on for you so you can focus on recovery.  Call 1-800-444-5309 for your free consultation today.

Why is having a Workers’ Compensation lawyer important?

Insurance companies have in-house counsel and a lot more resources than almost any worker. They use surveillance, nurse case managers and investigators to try cut off your benefits if they don’t deny your claim outright.

 

Workers’ Compensation is a very complex area of law and not having an expert in this field on your side could result in the loss of your rights as an Pennsylvanian worker. Someone should be there to fight for you and advocate for your needs and well-being during this tough time in your life.

 

Our workers’ compensation attorneys & legal professionals deal with insurance companies, treating physicians, and opposing counsel to make sure our clients get what they need while recovering from their work injury. We also help clients get care from good medical professionals who accept workers’ comp. clients or will do treatments on lien.

 

In short, a workers’ compensation law firm will take care of you during your case and make sure that you get the benefits & money you are entitled to by law.

 

To learn more about Workers’ Compensation and what our attorneys can do for you, visit our Workers’ Compensation pages or call 1-800-444-5309 for a free consultation.

New Pennsylvania Driving Laws You Need To Know About

This week is Highway Safety Law Awareness Week in Pennsylvania, and lawmakers are spreading the word about some new rules of the road you should know about. Highway Safety Law Awareness Week runs from Feb. 19-25.

Here are four driving laws passed recently in Pennsylvania you should know about:

The “Child Passenger Safety” Law Update

In August 2016, Pennsylvania updated its Child Passenger Safety Law, making it mandatory for children to be buckled into a rear-facing car seat until they are age 2 or meet the maximum weight or height requirements set by the manufacturer of the seat.

Daniel's Law

Honoring motorcyclist Daniel Gallatin, who died in 2013, this law was signed in January 2017. It increases the penalty for texting while driving resulting in serious bodily injury or death.

Ignition Interlock Law

Second or subsequent DUI offenders will be required to install an Ignition Interlock system in every car they operate or lease for more than a year. Each system costs $1,000. The law will go into effect in August 2017.

Pedestrian Safety Laws

A driver of a vehicle emerging from or entering an alley, building, private road or driveway shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian approaching on any sidewalk extending across the alley, building entrance, road or driveway. Failure to do so could lead to a fine and three points on the driver’s license. It is illegal to overtake or pass a vehicle yielding to a pedestrian within a crosswalk. Pedestrians are also required to use the sidewalk and marked crosswalks where provided. When there is no sidewalk, pedestrians should walk along the shoulder or the road’s edge as far away from traffic as possible and in the opposite direction of traffic.

New laws like these are designed enhance the public’s safety on Pennsylvania’s roadways. If you or a loved one are injured as a result of a motor vehicle accident, our attorneys can help. Get your free consultation by calling 1-800-444-5309.

What is a Dram Shop?

A dram shop claim often represents one component of a vehicular accident case involving a DUI or DWI. For example, if you were injured by a drunk driver to whom a bar sold alcohol when he or she was obviously intoxicated, your dram shop claim would be against that bar. In fact, even if the accident is the persons fault who drank the intoxicating alcohol, on some occasions the entity who served the alcohol can still be held accountable. 

One American dies every 30 minutes in an alcohol-related traffic crash, meaning that drunk driving shows its face in 41 percent of the country’s traffic fatalities. Three in every ten Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some time in their lives. States enacted “dram shop” laws to help prevent some of these tragedies.

What is a Dram Shop?

In 18th Century England, thousands of so-called “gin-shops” sold homemade gin by the dram (about a spoonful). When the King of England decided to tax the sale of gin, these “dram shops” quickly went underground in an effort to avoid paying taxes. Today’s legal system considers any establishment selling liquor illegally as a modern day equivalent of these “dram shops” of the 1700’s.
Furthermore, the law holds these establishments responsible for the dangerous actions of an intoxicated person when they have illegally sold liquor to that person. In addition to bars and liquor stores, these establishments can include restaurants, social clubs, and even private events, public events, stadiums, golf courses, shooting outings and any place where liquor is sold.

When are Dram Shops Liable?

Generally, dram shops are liable when they have violated a law or regulation in the state where the liquor was served. While selling liquor to an obviously intoxicated customer represents the most common dram shop violation, the illegal sale of intoxicating beverages can take other forms, such as:

• Selling alcohol without a license to do so;
• Selling alcohol after hours; or
• Selling alcohol to a minor.

Our accident lawyers can help you determine if a dram shop violation played a role in your car, van, motorcycle or bicycle accident.

Dram shop laws vary state by state. While a few states impose no dram shop liability or restrict that liability to cases involving sales to minors or known alcoholics, most states do recognize some form of dram shop liability.

How Will We Protect Your Rights?

In order to protect your rights, we act quickly when pursuing a dram shop case. Verifying the obvious intoxication of a patron often relies on the eyewitness testimony of employees and other patrons who were present. By locating and interviewing these witnesses quickly, we avoid potentially losing track of the witnesses as well as the possible blurring of memory as time passes.
The statute of limitations governing the dram shop portion of an accident case can differ from those that apply to the rest of the case. If a dram shop claim is not made within that time frame, you can potentially lose the right to pursue the claim at all.
To contact The Pisanchyn Law Firm about a potential dram shop claim, call toll-free at 1-800-444-5309 or fill in our online-consultation form.

Personal Injury Myths - Lawsuits Make Consumer Costs Rise

Punitive damages, or exemplary damages as they are sometimes referred to, are noneconomic damages for things such as pain and suffering. Punitive damages generally fall under anything related to the case that doesn’t have a fixed bill.

Juries normally decide on the amount of punitive damages that are paid out to the injured party. If a judge feels the punitive damage amount is excessive the judge can reduce the amount.

Punitive damages are not meant to reward the victim (the injured party), rather they are fines for disregarding human safety. This could be against a business selling a defective or dangerous product, against a medical professional who didn’t practice up to the standard of care they are required to, or against a driver who was too busy texting to pay attention to the road.

History has proven that financial punishment is the best way to prevent future wrongful behavior and to encourage change to any current wrongful behavior. Punitive damages only punish the party who has participated in wrongful behavior; they do not affect the general public or the economy in any way.

Yes, punitive damages are taken from businesses at times, but only when that business has knowingly participated in wreckless outrageous behavior endangering the general public. Yes, their costs as a business can go up, but only to correct any defective device or product they are selling. Costs to consumers do not go up, generally, unless the fix has added an extra cost to the product.

There are limitations on punitive damages that help protect the cost of doing business so prices do not have to go up.

In addition consumer costs rising, it is also a common belief that medical malpractice lawsuits cause an increase in health care and health insurance costs. This is not true. 

In Pennsylvania, there are only about 1500 - 1600 medical malpractice lawsuits per year. Most of them are lost, despite medical negligence in hospitals being the 3rd highest cause of death in the United States.

Top 10 most frequently cited OSHA standards violated in 2015

The following were the top 10 most frequently cited standards by Federal OSHA in fiscal year 2015:

1. Fall protection, construction
2. Hazard communication standard, general industry
3. Scaffolding, general requirements, construction
4. Respiratory protection, general industry
5. Control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout), general industry
6. Powered industrial trucks, general industry
7. Ladders, construction
8. Electrical, wiring methods, components and equipment, general industry
9. Machinery and Machine Guarding, general requirements
10. Electrical systems design, general requirements, general industry