Motor Vehicle Accidents

CNY Injury Lawyer Fighting For Hard-Working Nicaraguan Immigrant.

April 26, 2017 | by Michael Bersani

I tend to get a lot of immigrant and Spanish speaking clients. Could be because I speak fluent Spanish and am married to a Guatemalan. I hope it is also because word spreads in the immigrant community that I get good results.

Anyway, the guy standing with me in the photo above is from Nicaragua. One day as he was riding his bicycle to work (on the shoulder of the road, just as he was supposed to) near Rochester, NY, a car swiped him from behind and never bothered stopping. We call that a hit and run. The next thing he remembers is waking up all bloodied in a ditch, with a piece of broken car mirror next to him.

My Nicaraguan friend had bad injuries but also has a tough, fighting spirit. He got back to work only five months after his accident so he could put food on the table for his wife and two children. Hard working Nicaraguan immigrant! I admire him and all the other hard-working immigrants I have had the privilege of representing.

Can you be held liable in New York for texting to a driver who then crashes into another vehicle while reading your text?

November 12, 2016 | by Michael Bersani

I blogged sometime ago about a New Jersey case where a Court found that someone sending a text to someone else who he knows is driving can be held liable — along with the driver — for the resulting crash and injuries caused to others. What was new was the Court extending liability to include the outsider – who may be thousands of miles away — who is participating in the texting with the driver.

A Pennsylvania court soon followed New Jersey’s lead. In that case, a volunteer firefighter was stopped to make a turn on his motorcycle. A texting SUV driver rammed him from behind, causing him to die. The man’s family sued not only the driver, but also the person who had sent the driver the text. (The police obtained a search warrant and found the text still open on the texting driver’s phone). A Pennsylvania judge allowed the legal theory that the sender of the text was also liable to go forward to a jury.

In Pennsylvania, however, sending texts to a driver can now be a crime. Last week Gov. Tom Wolf (D) signed a bill that criminalizes the practice, and allows courts to mete out penalties of up to five years behind bars for a non-drivers texting with drivers involved in fatal crashes. So we are talking not only about civil liability, but criminal liability as well.

Secret Safety Tip for Left-Turning Vehicles: Central NY Car Accident Lawyer Reveals.

September 23, 2016 | by Michael Bersani

Ok, maybe “secret” is not the right word, but I am always surprised by the vast number of people who don’t know this simple safety tip. Here it is (drum roll please): When waiting to turn left at a red light or while waiting for oncoming traffic to clear, do NOT turn your wheels left until you are actually going to turn. Wait with your wheels straight.

The reason should be obvious, but just in case it isn’t, there are two very unpleasant things that can happen to you if you are rear-ended with your wheels turned left:

You can be pushed into oncoming traffic and get clobbered by an oncoming vehicle

Powerful Anti-Texting-While-Driving Video Goes Viral

September 8, 2016 | by Michael Bersani

Here is a powerful new video to show your friends and family that will — we hope — convince them to never, ever text-and-drive again:

Keep safe!

Who Can Take the Car Keys away from An Elderly Family Member Who Has Become An Accident-Waiting-To-Happen On The Road?

August 21, 2016 | by Michael Bersani

One of the most difficult conversations to have is with a parent, grandparent or elderly spouse who has – through aging or age-related losses – become a danger to others on the road is the “give-up-the-car-keys” conversation. In the U.S.A., we have a deep emotional attachment to driving. Driving equals freedom. When the elderly consider this loss of independence, particularly in rural and sub-urban areas where good public transportation is lacking, they will resist giving up the keys even when they recognize their own physical or mental barriers to safe driving (which they often don’t). When this happens, what is a son/daughter/spouse to do?

First, let’s be clear on the legal duty. The family member of an elderly person who may be unfit to drive has no legal duty – or even the right — to take the keys away (unless they have legal guardianship of the elderly person). But family members have the right – but not the duty — to report the elderly family member’s suspected inability to safely drive to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). From there, DMV will take over.

But should you snitch on grandma?

What Is A “Textalyzer” And How Can It Help End The Texting-While-Driving Crisis: Central NY Injury Lawyer Explains

May 5, 2016 | by Michael Bersani

I have blogged about texting while driving so many times I have lost track. (Though I never blog while driving. Just thought I’d mention that!)

This is not just another nag-post about the dangers of texting while driving (though it is that, too). It’s about a new proposed law and a new technology that may allow the police to “catch” driving texters and prosecute them in the same way they do drunk drivers now.

As you know, most states have banned texting (or even holding a device with one hand) while driving. Some States have spent loads of money on public service campaigns aimed at getting drivers to refrain from texting behind the wheel. If you are in New York, you have probably seen the “it can wait” ads, as well as the new signs on the Thruway announcing “text stops” (formerly “rest stops”). See photo above left.

The Three Worst Auto Insurers In New York According To Central New York Injury Lawyer

February 18, 2016 | by Michael Bersani

As a New York car accident lawyer, I have been on the other side of car insurance adjusters for decades now. So I know the score. I know our respective jobs. They are supposed to try to pay a little as possible to save their employer money. I am supposed to get as much for my injured client as possible. I get that.

But what I don’t get is why a few of the auto insurance carriers — not all — seem to believe that offering my client an unreasonably small amount of money to settle actually saves their employer money. Most of them understand that, if they offer me something on the short side of reasonable, but still within the range of reasonable, my client will probably take it to avoid having to go through protracted litigation and a stressful trial. This saves the insurance carrier money because they don’t have to pay a lawyer to defend a lawsuit and because they don’t have to risk a big verdict at trial.

But a few “bad” car insurance companies don’t get that. Instead, they feel that unless they make my client settle for 1/2 or even 1/3 the value of the case, they have not done their job. That just makes me sue them, and then they have to pay their lawyer to defend the case, and on top of that they have to pay my client the reasonable verdict the jury will likely give my client and which they should have offered me to begin with! So they end up making their employer pay more, not less.

Stronger Truck Underride Guards Cut Rear-Impact Deaths

January 25, 2016 | by Michael Bersani

In the last few decades, the way we build cars has drastically reduced deaths and serious injuries. As Central New York car and truck accident lawyers, we know. Our car crash case volume has gone down, and the injuries are often less severe.

Some of the greatest safety improvements are at the front of the car, which is now designed to absorb a great deal of crash impact — accordion like. This, accompanied with airbag deployment and seat belts, saves hundreds of lives per year.

But all these safety features are of no avail if the car you are riding in slides under the back of a tractor trailer or truck. The occupants’ heads get crushed against the back of the trailer (see second photo above). The structures designed to absorb the energy of a crash are bypassed, as they slide underneath. The airbags and safety belts can’t do their jobs at all. It is literally a “head-on” collision. That’s your head, not the car’s.

Say Goodnight to Drowsy Driving! Central and Syracuse NY Car Accident Lawyer Explains

December 21, 2015 | by Michael Bersani

Drowsy driving kills thousands of people in the United States each year. We’ve all been there: You are driving down a boring interstate highway at night. You start to nod off and, just when you about to enter la la land, you “snap out of it” and clutch the wheel, your heart racing. Scary, huh? And you were one of the lucky ones. Other drivers, succumbing to the sirens of sleep, crash and burn.

But a new device being developed may keep drivers like you awake and save your life. Here’s how it works:

A Bluetooth headset fits on one ear and points an infrared sensor toward the eye to detect blinking. (See photo). The driver’s blinking frequency indicates drowsiness. The data is transmitted by Bluetooth to a smartphone. If the sensor detects drowsiness, the headset vibrates, flashes and beeps to alert — and awaken — the sleepy driver.

New York Car Seat Inspections Reveal Most Kids Are Not Safely Placed in Car Seat.

November 23, 2015 | by Michael Bersani

I sometimes wax nostalgic about the “good old days” when my boys were toddlers: The petting zoos, the living-room wrestling matches, the cute things they would say. But one thing I definitely do NOT miss is struggling with car seats. What a pain! And I was never sure I had them in right.

Well, I was right to be unsure. Results from recent child car seat inspections throughout New York State revealed that out of 931 random car seats inspected only 112 seats were installed correctly. That’s only 12%! Nevertheless, most parents — 96% to be exact — BELIEVED they had their kids correctly installed in the car seat.

What was wrong with the car seat installation? In some cases, the seats didn’t fit the child, in others they weren’t fitted in tight enough, in still others they were installed or positioned incorrectly.