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Mother Accuses Police of Mishandling Investigation Into Son's Death

2012-02-02T15:03:00Z

The parents of a Canadian bicyclist, Mathieu Lefevre, who was struck and killed in a bicycle accident in Brooklyn last year, were forced to file a lawsuit to obtain the records of the police investigation into the accident. When the records were finally released last week, the victim's mother, Erika Lefevre, criticized the police for mishandling her son's accident.

]]> Among her criticisms were:

•· There were no photographs of the scene. The camera of the police photographer was apparently broken. However, there were pictures of the Lefevre family, suggesting that police were concerned about the family's efforts to obtain information about the accident.

•· They police failed to press serious charges against the truck driver, who fled the scene. He was charged with failing to signal and failing to exercise due care. He said that he had no idea that he had hit someone, a statement contested by Mr. Lefevre's parents.

•· The police failed to release records of the investigation in a timely manner. The family had to file a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to obtain the records of the investigation.

Ms. Lefevre stated that the driver's assertion that he was unaware that he had hit anyone was not credible. She believes that the police should have charged him with fleeing the scene or with criminal negligence.

Source:New York Times, "Bicyclist's Family Criticizes Police Handling of Fatal Crash", by Hannah Miet, Jan. 23, 2012.

New York's 911 System: Safer and Faster

2012-01-31T15:03:00Z

In early January, the City of New York announced the completion of its revamped 911 system which will allow police, fire and ambulances to respond more quickly to public safety threats, including car crashes, fires, illness and crime, keeping New Yorkers safer.

]]> Some of the features of the new emergency system include:

•· Call takers and dispatchers from police, fire and medical dispatch services are located in the same place and operating on the same technology

•· The system could handle 50,000 calls per hour, more than 40 times the current daily volume of calls

•· Call takers have on-screen maps of the caller's location

•· All call takers are using the same technology for the first time

•· The system provides directions and mapping so that responders can take the best route to the emergency

•· All emergency vehicles have locator software so that their locations are always visible to dispatchers

•· All calls are automatically recorded

The announcement, which was made by Mayor Bloomberg and leaders of the emergency services involved, represents the culmination of an eight year effort to streamline emergency call taking and dispatch operations.

The 911 system was first launched in 1968.

Source: The Yeshiva World News, "NYC: Overhaul Of 911 System Is Completed", Jan. 5, 2012.

http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/General+News/113916/NYC%3A-Overhaul-Of-911-System-Is-Completed.html

Safety Laws Up, Accidents Down, Says Mayor Bloomberg

2012-01-26T15:03:00Z

The number of construction accidents in New York decreased by 18 percent, with resulting injuries falling 7.8 percent. Mayor Michael Bloomberg says that this decline is due to safety measures enacted by the city since 2008, For example, falls related to construction declined to 128 in 2011, down from 157 in 2010.

]]> And this decline is real, states the mayor, and not because construction activity is down. In fact, construction activity was up by nearly eight percent in 2011. Among the safety improvements cited by the mayor are smoking prohibitions and improvements in "cocoons" used at work sites that keep materials from falling on workers.

Rules such as these were strengthened after a series of construction accidents in 2007 and 2008 resulted in at least five deaths because of safety problems. Crane accidents killed three workers in 20080, and two firefighters were killed during demolition of the Deutsche Bank building in lower Manhattan.

In 2011, the city issued more than 5,100 stop work orders after finding violations of safety regulations.

Source: Bloomberg News, "New York City Building-Safety Laws Cut Accidents 18%, Mayor Bloomberg Says", by Henry Goldman, Jan. 23, 2012.

Protecting Pedestrians From Truck Accidents

2012-01-24T15:03:00Z

A recent New York State law is intended to eliminate blind spots for truckers driving in New York City and reduce truck accidents involving pedestrians.

Since January 13, large trucks with New York registrations must have front-end mirrors installed if they intend to travel in any of the five boroughs of New York City. The new law applies to all trucks that weigh at least 26,000 pounds with conventional cabs.

]]> The effort to require front-end mirrors began after an accident involving two boys, ages 10 and 11, who were waiting to cross a street in Park Slope. The back wheel of a dump truck struck and dragged them several feet before the driver was alerted by witnesses. The driver had not seen the boys because of the blind spot and made no effort to avoid them.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 161 pedestrians in New York City were killed and 2,732 were injured in accidents involving trucks during the ten-year period ending in 2008. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said that the new law will "help protect pedestrians in our city streets, particularly children, from being injured or killed when a truck first begins to move.

Qualifying trucks belonging to the City of New York already have these mirrors, known as cross-over mirrors.

Source: Landline Magazine, "Front end mirrors required for certain New York City trucks," by Keith Goble, Jan. 17, 2012.

Advocates for Highway & Auto Safety Give New York a Good Grade

2012-01-19T12:03:00Z

The National Safety Council (NSC) is a non-profit, non-governmental agency dedicated to protecting and promoting the health and safety of the public by preventing accidents and illness. To carry out its mission, it conducts its own events and promotes those of other organizations consistent with its mission.

]]> The NSC's current web site highlights the 2012 report of the Advocates for Highway & Auto Safety. The report lists safety achievements of the past year supported by the Advocates, including the passage of occupant seat belt laws, motorcycle helmet requirements and booster seat laws. Another important part of the report is the scorecard for individual states regarding their traffic safety laws.

New York State ranks relatively well, with only three areas of concern noted. The Advocates recommend that New York strengthen its restrictions on cell phone use while driving, raise the unrestricted drivers license age to 18 and implement a mandatory blood alcohol content test whenever a traffic accident causes a fatality.

Neighboring New Jersey fared similarly well in the Advocates' rankings. Connecticut, however, was shown to need additional safety laws, includimg an all-rider motorcycle helmet law, a booster seat law through age 7, an open container restriction, and a child endangerment law relative to reckless and drunk driving.

Source: Advoctes for Highway and Auto Safety, "9TH ANNUAL ROADMAP TO STATE HIGHWAY SAFETY LAWS", Jan., 2012.

Study Reveals Headphone-Related Deaths Increasing

2012-01-17T18:03:00Z

Researchers at the Univeristy of Maryland have found that accidents involving pedestrians wearing headphones are on the rise. Between 2004 and 2011, the number of accidents reported nationally rose from 16 reported in 2005-2006 to 47 reported in 2010-2011. In both instances, the majority of victims were males under the age of 30.

Ninety percent of the cases reviewed in the study occurred in urban areas such as New York City and Los Angeles; more than half of them involved trains. The study's lead author, Dr. Richard Lichenstein, said, "I saw this as an opportunity to -- at minimum -- alert parents of teens and young adults of the potential risk of wearing headphones where moving vehicles are present."

Dr. Lichenstein said that he undertook the study after a local teenager was killed by a train while walking on the tracks when wearing headphones. Witnesses said that the driver blasted the horn before hitting the youth, who apparently did not hear the warning.

Source: CTV News, "Accidents involving headphone-wearing pedestrians on the rise", Jan. 17, 2012.

Bronx Civil Lawsuit Awards in 2011

2012-01-12T15:03:00Z

Bronx juries awarded approximately $80 million in civil verdicts, according to the Daily News. The largest awards were made in personal injury cases involving construction accidents, medical errors and car accidents. Significant verdicts were also handed down in some wrongful arrest cases. There were more than 20,000 civil lawsuits filed in the Bronx in 2011.

]]> Some of the top awards included:

$18.6 million for a flooring contractor injured when the building he was working on caught fire
$13 million for the victim of a spontaneous fire that occurred while he was using a paint sealant
$2.5 million for a teenager whose physician failed to diagnose her appendicitis
$6 million for a maintenance worker whose hand was caught in a trash compactor

In addition to personal injury verdicts such as these, other plaintiffs received awards for wrongful arrest. For example, a mother was awarded $13 million after being charged with starving her baby daughter in 1998.

Plaintiffs may not receive these precise amounts, as appeals by defendants often result in reduced awards.

Source: Daily News., "Bronx civil juries awarded $80 million in 2011 in accident, wrongful arrest and medical mistake cases", by Kevin Deutsch, Jan. 10, 2011.

Bike Lanes: Do They Improve Pedestrian Safety?

2012-01-10T18:03:00Z

The improvement of bike lanes on Oriental Boulevard in the Manhattan Beach section of Brooklyn has infuriated local residents, even though the New York City Department of Transportation believes that the new signs are simply replacements of existing signs that will reduce pedestrian accidents and improve rider safety.

]]> Civic leaders have complained about the bike lanes for several years, saying that speeding drivers often ignore the lines. They have urged the DOT to move the bike lanes to Shore Boulevard, leaving Oriental Boulevard to motor vehicles. They say that the new signage indicates that the DOT has ignored their proposals and intends to keep the bike lanes on Oriental Boulevard.

The community is very concerned about speeding, and believes that the existence of bike lanes simply encourages scofflaws. A four-year old boy was killed last year on Oriental Boulevard by a speeding driver.

The DOT says that the installation of bike lanes has reduced bike and pedestrian accidents city-wide. The agency cites its recent Pedestrian Safety Report and Action Plan, which indicates that streets with marked bikes lanes are 40 percent safer for pedestrians.

Source:Sheepshead Bites, "DOT Installs Bike Lane Signs On Oriental Blvd, Infuriating Manhattan Beach Civics", by Randy Rojas, Jan. 9, 2012.

OSHA Violations at Aqueduct

2012-01-05T15:03:00Z

Employers are required to abide by state and federal safety laws to prevent injury and illness to workers. When they do not, they can are subject to fines and other penalties. However, even with this incentive, employers still cut corners. An example of employer disregard for worker safety surfaced recently in a high profile New York construction project in Queens.

]]> Federal safety regulators have charged that five companies disregarded regulations while constructing the new Aqueduct racino in the summer of 2011. As a result, workers were exposed to dangerous conditions, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The agency imposed fines totaling more than $127,000. Some of the violations included:

•· Failure to provide protective clothing and breathing equipment to protect against airborne lead exposure

•· Failure to provide fall protection

•· Failure to provide safety training

The violations were considered "willful", the term used to describe deliberate violations that carry more stringent penalties. Each of the five companies has the opportunity to challenge the fines.

The construction phase of the $880 million project was completed quickly and Resorts World President Michael Speller previously noted that construction work continued 20 hours a day. Resorts World operates the racino.

Source: New York Daily News, "Aqueduct racino contractors fined", by Irving DeJohn, Dec. 21, 2012.

Who Is Responsible for Sidewalk Safety In New York?

2012-01-02T15:03:00Z

Who maintains the sidewalks in New York City? There are 12,750 miles of sidewalk in the City of New York, and the Department of Transportation (DOT) is technically responsible for all of them. However, in reality, DOT only repairs or replaces one percent of sidewalks each year and relies on property owners to take care of the rest.

]]> The city conducts inspections to determine whether sidewalks are safe and notifies property owners of needed repairs. In some parts of the city, notably parts of Brooklyn and Queens, the city may conduct the repairs itself in order to have the problem fixed in a timely way. Otherwise, the property owner is responsible for repairing the sidewalk.

The laws regarding liability for pedestrian sidewalk accidents continue to change. In 1974, a new law removed liability from the city for accidents and injuries unless the city had received reasonable written notice of a defect. In 2003, the law was further changed to make property owners entirely responsible for sidewalks abutting their property, with two notable exceptions: property owners of single family homes and those with three or fewer units, and property owned by the City of New York. The law no longer requires that written notice be given, except for property owned by the city.

Building Inspection System Flawed

2011-12-29T21:03:00Z

In our recent post about the elevator accident that took the life of a 41-year old woman in New York City, we noted that a recent inspection had revealed some problems with the elevator. One possible reason that the problem was not addressed may be the structure of the bureaucracy responsible for building safety, according to a recent article by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stinger that was published in the Huffington Post.

]]> Currently, the Department of Buildings (DOB) is charged with approving and monitoring new construction and existing building safety. In order to do this, the DOB contracts with private companies to conduct routine building inspections, such as elevator inspctions. These private contractors self-certify that their findings are accurate and have little or no supervision from the DOB.

This practice was implemented in 1995 to deal with the inspection backlog in the DOB. However, the NYPD's numbers show that in 2001 more than 36,000 people were rescued from elevators in the city, double the number in the previous two years.

The recent incident is associated with a maintenance company that performed work on the elevator last week just hours before the accident. The same company was associated with another tragedy in September 2011, when an elevator technician plunged 10 stories to his death.

The DOB will conduct a review of the work of the elevator company, Transel Elevator Inc.

Source: Huffington Post, "Fix Our Broken Building Inspection Process", by Scott Stinger, Dec. 21, 2011.

Doctor Left Baby for Dead, Claims Lawsuit

2011-12-27T21:03:00Z

A medical malpractice lawsuit filed in Tennessee revealed that a doctor left a newborn baby for dead in a plastic bag and only when a passing nurse noticed that the baby was alive was treatment provided. The baby was born early on June '13, 2009, apparently fighting for his life, with gasping breaths and an irregular heartbeat. The doctor is charged with failing to treat the infant, deciding on his own that the baby had no chance of survival.

]]> The baby suffered a brain injury and other injuries. The lawsuit claims that the doctor failed to provide "timely and appropriate diagnosis, intervention, treatment, and care."

After being resuscitated, the baby was transferred to Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, where he received specialized care for three months. The doctor involved is no longer practicing at NorthCrest Medical Center in Robertson, and has let his medical license lapse. This is the first malpractice claim filed against him, according to Tennessee Department of Health records.

Source: The Tennessean, "Lawsuit claims Robertson doctor neglected newborn", Dec. 22, 2011.

NTSB Advocates for National Rules on Cell Phone Use

2011-12-22T15:03:00Z

A growing cause of motor vehicle accidents is cell phone use. According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), distracted driving, including driving while using a cell phone, was responsible for more than 3,000 fatalities in motor vehicle crashes in 2010. Texts, emails, and phone calls force drivers to take their eyes off the road for a second or two, with disastrous results.

]]> Many states ban cell phone use to some degree. New York and New Jersey have some of the most restrictive laws in the country and prohibit even hands-free cell phone use. In short, drivers cannot even use headsets in this region of the United States. However, researchers have found that simply talking on the phone while driving - even if the driver is able to stay focused on the road - is distracting. Because of this and because of the patchwork of laws at the state level, the federal government should ban cell phone use entirely, argues the NTSB in a recent report on December 11, 2011. The Chairman of the NTSB, Deborah Hersman, said in a statement that, "No call, no text, no update is worth a human life."

However, until the federal government acts, the NTSB says that states should enforce the safety laws already on their books. It also recommends that states conduct publicity campaigns about the dangers of cell phone and texting use.

Source: PC Magazine, "Agency Calls for Nationwide Ban on Cell Phones While Driving", by Chloe Albanesius, Dec. 13, 2011.

Inspection Report May Have Hinted at Elevator Defect

2011-12-20T15:03:00Z

Fatal elevator accidents are uncommon - fewer than 30 in the United States annually. As a result, most of us seldom think about the possibility of an accident. However, they do occur, as evidenced by a grisly elevator accident that occurred Wednesday at a building on Madison Avenue.

]]> The elevator rose as a passenger, a 41 year-old woman, was stepping into the cab. The victim was crushed between the elevator and the shaft wall. Two witnesses were being treated for trauma after seeing the accident. A similar accident occurred in California last week.

The building, which houses the famed advertising agency Young and Rubicam, was last inspected for compliance with elevator regulations on June 16, 2011. In its inspection report, the department of buildings noted that a defect was found. However, the nature of that defect was not described in the report. The building is owned by Young and Rubicam's parent company, WPP PLC.

There are approximately 10,000 non-fatal elevator accidents in the U.S. each year.

Source: ABC News, "Woman Crushed in New York Elevator Accident", by Richard Espositor and Christina Ng, Dec. 14, 2011.

Bike Accident Reveals Difficulty of Getting Information

2011-12-15T15:03:00Z

After their son Mathieu was killed in a hit and run bike accident, the Lefevres journeyed from Canada to Brooklyn to identify his body and collect his personal effects. It sounded like a sad, but simple enough task. What they experienced, however, was anything but simple.

]]> They went to the morgue to identify his body. The detective at the morgue told them to go to the 90^th precinct to get an accident report as well to recover Mathieu's personal items. The detective also told them that they would need a lawyer and gave them a card. The Lefevres threw it away, not understanding why they might need an attorney.

When they arrived at the 90^th precinct, they were told that there was no accident report, that Mathieu's clothes and other belongings were not there, and that there was no detective available to talk with them. They waited for four hours, but spoke only with a detective who told them that he could not help them. Five days later, they heard from a detective. A week later, they received their son's belongings, which had been at the precinct house all along.

The Lefevres have received conflicting and ambiguous information about the accident that killed their son. Some reports suggested that Mathieu had run a red light or had passed the truck that killed him on the right as the truck was making a right turn. However, the detective they spoke with told the Lefevres that there was no evidence to support that claim. The accident report identified the driver, who would neither confirm nor deny that he was behind the wheel. Some say that the driver had no knowledge of hitting Mathieu. However an attorney for the family, whom they hired to help them gain information, said that a diagram in the accident report showed that Mathieu was struck from behind.

Mathieu moved to New York from Montreal in 2010 and joined the 3^rd Ward artist collective in East Williamsburg.

Source:New York Times, "After a Son Is Killed, Facing a Police Runaround", by Jim Dwyer, Dec. 6, 2011.