Category: Car Accidents

A 1994 Honda Civic was speeding east along St. John’s Place near Nostrand Avenue when it slammed into several parked cars. The 20-year-old man behind the wheel was racing along the residential street in the wee hours of June 2, around 3:50 a.m., when he lost control of the car.

A female passenger travelling with him was thrown from the vehicle, breaking the rear window. She landed in the roadway, where she remained until EMS arrived at the scene. It remains unclear whether she was travelling in the front or rear passenger seat.

EMS personnel transported the driver to Methodist Hospital, where he was reportedly listed in stable condition. A separate ambulance took the woman to Kings County Hospital, where doctors pronounced her dead upon arrival.

Police are still investigating the crash. They have not determined whether alcohol was a factor in the accident. It’s also unclear whether either of the victims were wearing seat belts at the time of the collision.

Poor road conditions can be extremely dangerous, and they cause accidents all over Brooklyn each day. Bad road conditions include:

• Broken traffic signals
• Erosion
• Faulty design
• Ice
• Missing guardrails
• Obscured traffic signs
• Pot holes

If you’ve been in an accident because of these or any other poor road conditions, you could be eligible for compensation for your injuries, pain and suffering, and other expenses.

According to a study by TRIP, a national transportation research group, New York has the sixth-worst roads in the country. The conditions of our roads cost each resident in the state an estimated $673 annually.

Who is to Blame for Bad Conditions on Brooklyn Roads?

Generally speaking, the city is responsible for keeping all of our roads serviceable and in good repair. In some cases, it’s the county or the state. Either way, there are governmental agencies who are supposed to take care of the roads.

However, in order to have a successful lawsuit against a governmental agency, you’ll need to prove that they are actually at fault. That’s where it really pays to work with a talented car accident lawyer.

Statutes of Limitations on Poor Road Condition Lawsuits

In the state of New York, you have a limited time to file a lawsuit based on your injuries from a car accident caused by poor road conditions. In some cases you may have longer, such as if you were under the age of 18 when the accident occurred; you’ll need to talk to an attorney about how the statute of limitations is applied to your case, because every case is different.

The Damages Bad Roads Can Cause

Aside from smashed-up cars and damaged property, bad road conditions can cause serious injury to anyone involved in the accident. You could suffer from broken bones, lacerations and worse.

If you were involved in a car crash because of bad road conditions, it’s probably in your best interest to talk to a personal injury lawyer who understands Brooklyn law.

Call us at 877-3D-JUSTICE today to talk to an attorney and get a free case evaluation.

We’ll let you know whether you might have a case, and if you do, we’ll help you get justice for what’s happened to you.

You don’t have to be a physicist to know that a massive SUV careening down the highway at high speeds carries a lot of momentum.

You don’t need to know how Newton’s Third Law works to understand that rolling an SUV can result in massive damage because the road, another vehicle or any other object might be stronger than the vehicle is on impact.

The Raw Data on SUVs

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Highway Loss Data Institute have data on SUV rollovers through 2013, when 7,067 people were killed in this specific type of accident. Breaking down that data shows us that:

• 53 percent of the people killed in single-vehicle accidents during 2013 were killed in rollovers.
• 12 percent of the people killed in multiple-vehicle accidents during 2013 were killed in rollovers (head-on collisions usually cause the most fatalities in multiple-vehicle car crashes, including those that do not include SUVs in the data).

Why Sport Utility Vehicles Roll Over

Although most of us picture a rollover accident with a cartwheeling SUV tumbling down the highway, the truth is that a rollover accident is any accident in which one or more cars tips onto its side or roof at any point.

An SUV is more likely to roll than a standard vehicle because they have higher centers of gravity. They don’t handle the way that traditional cars do, either, and they’re heavier than most other vehicles on the road; that translates into more force during a crash.

Some SUVs are more prone than others to rolling, too. Those that have after-market parts, including wheels and tires, are far more likely to roll over in an accident than SUVs outfitted with original factory parts. That’s because every vehicle is designed to work as a system, and when you change one component, you throw the entire machine off.

SUV Safety Features Help, But Don’t Do it All

Side curtain airbags and electronic stability systems can help lessen injuries during a crash, but the fact remains that SUVs are bigger, stronger and heavier than most vehicles on the road. They may protect their own occupants during collisions with smaller cars, but they can wreak havoc on everyone else.

If you’ve been hurt in an SUV rollover accident, whether you were in the sport utility vehicle or in another car, we may be able to help you get compensation for your injuries.

Call us at 877-3D-JUSTICE today for a free case evaluation and phone interview.

The aftermath of a car accident is confusing, and sorting out the details can take weeks, months, or even years. You may not even know who caused your car accident until you see police reports, talk to witnesses and put together the entire puzzle, piece by piece.

Before you try to figure out who’s responsible for causing your injuries and suffering, you need to understand how the state of New York looks at fault and legal liability.

Fault and Legal Liability: What New York Law Says

While some cases are open-and-closed when it comes to finding fault, such as those that involve a drunk driver, someone who was asleep at the wheel, or a pedestrian who darted out in front of your car, others aren’t so easy to figure out.

Sometimes multiple people, companies, or city offices are responsible. Sometimes it’s a combination of more than one entity, such as an impaired person driving a defective car. Even you could be partially at fault for your injuries.

New York law allows you to file a lawsuit against anyone (including companies) who have caused your injuries, but you may not know that the state allows you to sue people or companies that made your injuries worse.

Cases that involve airbags that failed to deploy, for example, could show that you may have avoided severe injuries if your airbag deployed when it was supposed to.

Determining Fault After a Crash

In many cases, it’s best to consult with a Brooklyn car accident lawyer who can point you in the right direction. Your lawyer will fight hard to get you justice if you do have a case, and he or she will pore over police reports, talk to witnesses, and scour their resources to help determine who was at fault for your accident and your subsequent injuries.

You don’t have to do this alone. As lawyers, this is what we do.

Call us at 877-3D-JUSTICE for a free consultation and a case evaluation. We’ll be able to tell you whether you might be entitled to compensation for what you’ve been through, and if you need help, we will be happy to assist you.