It is important to work effectively with your lawyer so you can have a satisfying working relationship with one another. This is an excellent article about the subject, which we wanted to both share and elaborate upon.

It is a good idea to bring a copy of your own insurance documents (declaration page), when you first meet with your attorney. Your attorney’s office can also obtain this information if necessary, but as the article above mentions, the client can sometimes access this information quicker.

You should also bring with you other information your attorney may need to begin working on your file. For instance, for a personal injury matter, this may include the names and contact information for all your treating physicians, or copies of police accident reports. There are often key deadlines early on in a potential lawsuit, so the more information your attorney has on hand from the outset of your case, the better.

Keep all documentation, including letters and bills from doctors and insurance companies. Discuss with your attorney early on what types of documents they may want you to forward to their office, and be sure to do so in a timely fashion. This will help to ensure the attorney will always have up to date information in your file when they need it. Sometimes it is as simple as mailing (or e-mailing) it to the office when you receive it, or leaving it with the assistant or paralegal in charge of your file.

Keep a list of questions you would like to discuss with your attorney, as well as notes about what happened since the last time you spoke, which will help you make the most of your next appointment.

For a personal injury or medical malpractice case, it can be useful to keep a calendar documenting symptoms and keeping track of all your medical appointments.

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An article appeared in the Buffalo News today about teen driving habits, specifically teens driving while texting and emailing. The statistics in the article are alarming. Over half of the teens surveyed in a national study, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control, admitted to texting while driving. That number jumps to 58% when the study is narrowed to high school seniors. As we mentioned in a previous post on texting while driving the practice can significantly increase your risk of an accident while driving. This point is reinforced by another stat line from the Buffalo News article: Distracted driving accounts for 16% of teen motor vehicle deaths.

While these stats are scary, the Transportation Department aims to do something about it. They are in the process of awarding grants in pilot programs in California and Delaware to deter the behavior through stepped-up enforcement and education on the dangers of texting while driving. If you have teen drivers in your household do your part as well. Let your teen know that texting while driving is a reckless habit that not only endangers their safety, but the safety of other drivers on the road. Consider having everyone in your household participate in a program like WGRZ’s ‘Pledge to Hang Up’, WIVB’s ‘thnk b4 u txt’ program, or any of a number of programs that advocate again distracted driving. More information, including quick facts and tips on how to stop, is also available through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration program, ‘Stop the Texts. Stop the Wrecks.’

Do your part to stop preventable car accidents. Be sure that you and your family are practicing safe driving techniques. Don’t text and drive. If you do find yourself in an accident due to a distracted driver, contact the law firm with over 100 years of combined personal injury experience in Buffalo. Call the Law Offices of James Morris at 716-855-1118.

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Texting while Driving threatens our safety behind the wheel. Unfortunately, little research exists to conclude the severity of damage texting while driving causes. The Governor’s Highway Safety Association (GHSA) however, released a definitive report last summer on distracted driving, pulling research from over 350 scientific papers published over the last decade. Much of their research focused on cell phone use while driving. Before we get into the conclusions of the GHSA’s research, here’s a brief overview of the different types of distracted driving.

Four types of driver distraction:

• Visual – drivers eyes focused on something other than the road
• Auditory – listening and focus attention to sound unrelated to driving
• Manual – physically interacting with something other than the steering wheel
• Cognitive – mental processes focused on something other than driving

Many distractions incorporate any or all of these types causing both sensory and mental distractions. The GHSA used these distractions as criteria for their study to determine when drivers were considered distracted. Now that you know what constitutes distracted driving, here are some of the most startling distracted driving statistics from the GHSA’s report (view the full report here: Distracted Driving: What Research Shows and What States Can Do)

1. Drivers are distracted up to 50% of the time while driving: based on observations of over 100 different drivers, drivers engaged in a secondary activity 25%-50% of the time. More specifically, evidence showed that two-thirds of all drivers surveyed reported cellphone use while driving
2. Fifteen to thirty percent of all crashes involve at least one distracted driver: this proportion may be even greater due to restrictions in generating data.
3. One eighth of all drivers admitted to texting and driving: the study also suggested that texting is likely to increase crash risk more so than traditional cell phone use.

Due your part to stop preventable car accidents by shutting out distractions while driving. Should you fall victim to a distracted driver, contact a buffalo lawyer from a law firm with over 100 years of combined personal injury compensation experience. Call James Morris Law, 716-855-1118.