Panama City Florida Injury Lawyer Blog

School is back in session for Bay County and many of the other Florida Panhandle counties. Students are transported to and from school either by school bus, car, bicycles or they may walk. It's important for students to be reminded to observe safe habits regardless of their mode of transportation.

Parents work schedules don't always coincide with student school schedules resulting in alternative methods of getting the kids to and from school. Depending on distance, bicycles are often utilized.

In a time where many experts publish statistics of our over-weight youth, riding bicycles can provide the needed exercise for your child but there are many things to consider, such as the distance, the roadways your child will be traveling and whether or not your child will wear the recommended safety gear. Having a helmet hang from the handle bars will not protect their head from trauma in the event of a collision.

In 2008, there were 118 fatalities in the state of Florida involving bicyclists, a slight decrease from the 2007 statistics involving 121 fatalities. These numbers may seem low when considering it includes the entire state, however, it would be devastating if it were your child or loved one.

The number of bicycle related injuries were substantially higher with 4,748 bicyclists and passengers being seriously injured in 2008, a 2.4% increase over the 2007 statistics where 4,690 bicyclists and passengers were injured. Safety equipment, although does not guarantee to prevent injury, can certainly reduce the risk of a serious head trauma in many instances.

It is also just as important for cyclists to observe not only the safe rules of the road but the traffic laws as well. Depending on where you are riding will dictate the appropriate laws to follow. For instance if you are riding on a sidewalk, a bicyclist has the same rights and duties as a pedestrian. While riding in the roadway, you must ride in the same direction as the flow of traffic and ride as far to the right as practicable - meaning within the means and circumstances present at the time.

Continue reading "Florida Bicycle Safety" »

Previously, I asked, "When's the last time you reviewed the Florida Drivers' Handbook?" That's the little book you can get at the department of motor vehicles drivers' license offices. It's filled with good information about traffic laws and helpful driving safety tips. You don't have to be in line for a driver's exam to get one. Click the link above or go in to get a free booklet, learn some of the surprising things you, like everyone else, has forgotten. Let's go through some of what's discussed in it. I'll add a few things I've learned in thirty years of helping injured people in accident cases.

About seat belts, I've heard every excuse for not wearing one. Fear of fire, fear of drowning if trapped in a car that goes into a drainage ditch. Come on, people are five times as likely to be killed if they're not wearing a seatbelt than if they are. The front seat driver and passengers are required by law to wear them. Look for tickets if they're not worn.

What is the most effective way to wear the belts? Wear them as they're designed to be used, not by, for example, tucking the shoulder portion behind the back. That allows jack knifing across the belt into a steering wheel or the dashboard with the head. You can't hold yourself back with arms and hands in a thirty mile per hour wreck. Put the belt below the iliac crests. Those are the hip bones. That will keep the belt from digging into your abdomen and causing paralysis by compression of your spinal cord. Wear the belt snugly. If you're in a wreck, there's a moment before the belt locking devices will work, and the belt itself will give slightly. Both allow for more forward movement of the body toward the windshield, dash, or other hard objects in the car. By wearing the belt snugly, this forward motion is reduced.

The law exempts some people from wearing seat belts, including a person who is certified by a doctor as having a medical condition that makes wearing the belt inappropriate or dangerous; operators of farm equipment; employees of a newspaper home delivery service while delivering the papers; and persons in trucks with a net weight over five thousand pounds.

On another note, leaving children unattended in a vehicle can violate the law and can be very dangerous. One study found that with the windows up and the outside temperature at 94 degrees, sunlight caused the inside to be at 122 degrees in thirty minutes and 132 degrees at one hour. Those temperatures can be severely damaging or fatal for children. Animals left in vehicles can suffer the same fate in a short time. Dogs are not protected by the sweating mechanism that provides some relief to humans by the evaporation of moisture of the skin.

How can you avoid traffic tickets and wrecks? Usually, by following the law and using good common sense.

School is back in session for most students, which usually means participating in organized sports will soon begin. Whether it's baseball, football, soccer or cheerleading, high school or college, safety precautions need to be taken to avoid injuries for all.

It is estimated that 30 million kids and teens participate in some form of organized sports in the U.S. The number of injuries among high school students is estimated at 2 million injuries, 500,000 doctor visits and 30,000 injury related hospitalizations this year. For kids under the age of 14, the injuries are estimated to reach 3.5 million with a majority occuring during practice.

Each sport has its own safety gear. Football requires helmets, mouth protection and shoulder pads. In baseball, helmets are also essential along with gloves for grip and athletic cup protection. Whatever the sport is that your child chooses to participate in, be sure you are also ensuring that the proper safety gear is also being used. Strains, sprains and bruising are the most common injuries, many of which could be avoided by taking the time to stretch and limber up prior to playing the sport.

Coaches play a vital role in teaching each participant not only the rules of the sport but also the safety precautions as well. As a parent, it's important for you to get involved with your childs activities and know that the coach is taking the precautions necessary for that particular sport. Stretching excercises and other warm-up activities are just as important as the safety gear itself.

Sports that make physical contact, such as football, obviously need to take more safety precautions. The athletes of today are bigger and faster, meaning the collisions can cause a lot more damage over time. Spinal cord injuries and traumatic brain injuries can affect your child's life into adulthood.

Sports Trauma and Overuse Prevention (STOP), a national campaign, aims to reduce the number of sports related injuries among our young athletes. Sports related injuries have reached epidemic proportions.

High school and college sports injuries occur all the time. Some more serious than others. Many you will never hear about on the news or read in the newspaper but to the families they affect, it is devastating.

One of the more publicized college sports injuries occurred back in 1985 when Marc Buoniconti, son of Nick Buoniconti, the legendary former Miami Dolphins linbacker, sustained a spinal injury during a tackle. He has been paralyzed from the chin down since. Over the last 20 years, he has been an inspiring figure, along with his father, on a mission to find a cure for paralysis.

No family ever wants to experience the devastating effects of this type of injury. Although, sports safety gear can't guarantee prevention of injuries, they are designed to reduce the risk.

Florida is among nine other states that offer 'No fault' auto insurance. New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Kentucky allow drivers to choose from either no-fault or traditional coverage. The main idea behind the No-fault insurance law, also known as Personal Injury Protection (PIP), is to compensate the insured party in a car accident, regardless of who is at fault. The insurance coverage limits and each particular situation will determined what the pay out amount really should be. Individuals injured in an accident with a no-fault insured driver can expect their medical bills, cost of rehabilitation and lost wages to be covered by the policyholder's insurance. For this reason, they may not sue the driver or vehicle owner for pain, emotional distress or suffering, except under certain predetermined conditions known as thresholds.

In Florida, the minimum required liability just $10,000 of personal injury protection and $10,000 of property damage liability (PDL). These limits are barely sufficient and obtaining more coverage is highly recommended.

There are a few things regarding Florida No-fault Insurance that you may not realize. For instance, suing the at fault driver is an option. Although, no-fault insurance law is intended to mean less litigation, it does not necessarily mean you cannot take the at fault driver to court. Obviously, specific conditions or thresholds must be met. Death or significant disfigurement are under verbal threshold, huge medical expenses belong to the monetary threshold.

Continue reading "Things You Need to Know About Florida's No-Fault Insurance" »

Some homeowners insurance companies who are profiling specific dog breeds as dangerous has induced a wave of breed-specific legislation by state and municipal governments to curb dog attack. The SB 1276 in the Florida Senate was intended to allow municipalities to place limits or to deny coverage based on the breed of the dog. The effort appears to have been expunged recently in committee leaving the existing law in place.

Several highly-publicized, pit bull attacks in the 1980s resulted in many communities and dog owners objecting to breed discrimination, which has fueled the legislation.

According to the American Kennel Club, only Ohio has a breed-specific dog law, in this case aimed at pit bull owners. However, a handful of states prohibit breed-specific legislation by local governments, including Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia. Only Pennsylvania and Michigan have laws that prohibit insurers from canceling or denying coverage based on breed, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

It is essential for homeowners who are also dog owners to carry insurance that will cover the cost of injuries your pet should cause to another person or property, with a personal liability limit of $100,000. Because the dog owner's own relatives, friends and neighbors are the most likely victims of a possible dog attack, having insurance means protecting the people who are closest to the dog owner, thereby protecting valuable relationships and ensuring proper treatment of loved ones.

Continue reading "Florida Breed-Specific Legislation" »

The Florida Drivers' Handbook isn't a legal document that can be used in court, but it is full of information about driving laws and common sense suggestions about how to avoid grief on streets and highways. We'll review parts of it now and in the coming weeks.

First, who is required to have a Florida license? Without going through all the legal exceptions, which in turn have their own exceptions, if you live in Florida and want to drive a motor vehicle, you have to have a license. If you've moved to Florida and have a license from another state, you must get a Florida license within thirty days of becoming a resident. The definition of "resident" can be trickier than it sounds. You're a resident if you enroll your children in public school, or register to vote, or file for a homestead exemption, or accept employment, or are a resident here for more than six consecutive months. Major exceptions are members of the armed forces and their families, although there are exceptions to that, and non-residents who attend school in Florida.

A licensed driver has only ten days to complete a change of address form after moving. If pulled over by an officer after that time, and the address on your license is incorrect, you may get a ticket. Those laws are pretty mundane, so let's consider some laws and ideas that can help you avoid a wreck, an expensive traffic ticket, or jail.

One thing that comes to mind immediately involves passing. Passing on the right on a two-lane road, typically signifying that you're passing on the shoulder, is illegal. Why? Presumably the car you're passing has slowed or stopped to turn left. If that driver decides to cancel that left turn and proceeds straight ahead, you're going to hit that car or get hit. Instead of passing on the right, have patience. Slow down. Stop if necessary. When the way is clear, proceed ahead. It may be comfortable to steer with one hand or a wrist thrown over the steering wheel, but if you hit a pot hole or have to swerve, all comfort vanishes. A driver steering that way won't have full control of the vehicle. Once an emergency arises, it usually takes too long to get the hands in position to regain control.

Child protection is important in the law. All kids five years old or younger must wear an approved restraint while riding in a vehicle. The number one killer of young children in the United States is wrecks in which children were completely unrestrained. It's estimated that 9 out of 10 deaths and 8 out of 10 injuries could be prevented by using child restraints. The law requires that children five or younger be in child restraints whether or not the vehicle is registered in Florida. Infant carriers or childrens' car seats must be used for kids three and younger. Four and five year olds may be in a separate carrier, a seat integrated into the vehicle, or in a seat belt. Be safe and keep your family safe too.

Click the link for a list of approved Senior Driver Safety Courses.

SENIOR DRIVING COURSES.pdf">

As drivers mature, the time arrives when decisions have to be made about whether they can continue driving. The typical issues are independence and convenience, high insurance costs, and safety. They are intertwined, but let's talk about safety first, and, I'll tell you how to get a guaranteed reduction on Florida insurance premiums if you're fifty-five or older.

Why are insurance premiums so high for older drivers? One reason is that they have higher rates of fatal crashes than all but the youngest drivers. Older people are more susceptible than younger ones to medical complications after a crash, so they are more likely to die than younger drivers. And older drivers don't deal as well with complex traffic situations, so they are in more of the dangerous multiple vehicle collisions, like at intersections where confusion can occur. Vision, especially at night, fitness, flexibility to look to the side for oncoming traffic or over a shoulder when backing up, attention span, and reaction time decline with age. These are factors that contribute to more collisions.

You're probably ready for some good news. There's plenty of it for older drivers. Highway engineers and researchers are finding ways to make some of the areas that are tough for these drivers easier to navigate and negotiate. Places like curves, interchanges, merging lanes, passing lanes, and construction zones. Because of the post World War II baby boom, the sixty-five and older age group, which was 33.5 million in 1995, will exceed 50 million by the year 2020, accounting for about 1/5 of the population of drivers in the U.S. Couple this with increasing traffic volumes, and the demands on these drivers becomes apparent. Maintenance of independence, personal dignity, and the overall quality of life for older persons depends largely on mobility. That means driving, so until all the engineers and researchers can fix our highways to make them less confusing and easier for older drivers to negotiate, we have to find ways to make older drivers safer.

One of those ways is so effective that a Florida law provides for a reduction in insurance premiums of up to 10% for a guaranteed 3 years. How do drivers 55 and older get such a break on their insurance costs? It's very easy. If you're a licensed Florida driver 55 or older and you complete a motor vehicle accident prevention course, you will receive a mandatory reduction on your insurance rate for 3 years. You can do this online, and usually you can do it in sections at your convenience. It's only a 6 to 8 hour course, and one source I checked charges only $14.95 for its online course. You can also take the course in person. Either way, it's a bargain for independence and lower insurance rates.

New federal standards unveiled in June require doctors to start using electronic medical records routinely, including logging patients' diagnoses and visits, ordering prescriptions, monitoring for drug interactions and making records accessible to other medical providers. Advocates say meeting the "meaningful use" standards will save lives, prevent errors, reduce waste and save money.

Doctors who use electronic record according to the standards by 2015 can collect as much as $64,000 each in federal stimulus funds to help them buy hardware and software. Those who don't comply by that date will see their Medicare or Medicaid payments trimmed by one percent per year.

Health care experts have estimated the cost of not having electronic medical records at nearly $78 billion a year. This includes such costs as sending lab results between hospitals and outside laboratories, needlessly duplicating medical procedures and shuttling paper charts among doctors. It is also estimated that just eliminating the phone calls between doctors and pharmacists alone would save nearly $2 billion each year.

Having immediate access to patient prior medical history could also save lives. In an emergency situation, knowing prescribed medications a patient is taking who has never been to that particular hospital before may prevent prescribing counter-effective drugs or performing procedures on someone who may be on high doses of blood thinners without taking the necessary precautions.

But purchasing the system and maintaining it annually is not cheap and many beilieve the stimulus grants will not always offset the costs. Some are concerned older doctors may not want to spend the amount it will take or may not want to learn the new technology opting to retire or close their practice. Other concerns of whether the systems can protect patients privacy have been raised as well as how often systems may become outdated but many doctors are still focusing on the positive and are embracing the change.

During a conference, an auto accident client asked if he did the right thing when he moved his car out of the road after a wreck. His car, which was still driveable, was partially blocking traffic on Highway 98. He decided to move it when some of the other drivers, rubbernecking as they drove through the wreck scene, were nearly involved in collisions. I assured him that he had done the right thing.

Most people think they have to leave their vehicles exactly where they come to rest until the police arrive. They fear moving it, because they might be tampering with evidence showing who was at fault. That may be correct, but for the safety of the drivers involved and other people who are trying to get through the area, the law requires a driver of a disabled vehicle to make every reasonable effort to move the vehicle or have it removed if two conditions are met: (1) the vehicle is driveable, and (2) there are no injuries. If both conditions are met, neither the police nor an insurance company will assess a penalty for moving the vehicle.

Studies in Florida show some interesting things. Collisions cause more than half of the state's street and highway congestion. Depending on the type location where a wreck occurs, 13 to 33% of crashes are caused by earlier wrecks. Why? Because of the rubbernecking. Drivers passing through a wreck scene should go through without slowing unnecessarily. If they do, the chance of their being rear ended goes up astronomically. The studies also show that for every minute spent on the scene by fire and rescue personnel or police, five minutes of traffic congestion results. And injury to those who respond to a wreck is significant, accounting for 59% of police casualties in Florida. It's easy to see why getting a wrecked vehicle out of the way will improve response and clearance times at accident scenes. That in turn will reduce congestion, reduce subsequent collisions, and improve safety conditions for the drivers and responders like police, fire and rescue personnel. In fact it's the law to Move Over if you are able when approaching emergency vehicles at an accident scene.

A major part of my practice is devoted to educating people about how to recognize and avoid dangers. I would rather they be safe than to get calls from them after a wreck, so follow these steps after a collision.

1. Check for injuries. If someone's hurt, call 911 immediately, and wait for emergency personnel.
2. If there are no injuries, move the vehicles off the road to a safe place.
3. Also if there are no injuries, now call 911 to report the wreck. Follow the dispatcher's instructions.
4. Follow law enforcement's directives when they arrive, and report the wreck to your own insurance company.
5. Finally, remember this. Don't ever, ever talk to the other person's insurance company without first talking to a lawyer. It is the absolute enemy.

Continue reading "After a Wreck, Can You Legally Move Your Car Out of the Road?" »