While the perils of drunk driving are apparent to everyone, the number of people who still commit this act is discouraging. In late December, an impaired driver claimed the life of a South Buffalo man just ten houses from the victim’s home. The driver, a West Seneca native, now faces upwards of seven years in prison, charged with driving while intoxicated and vehicular man slaughter. The victim was crossing a neighborhood intersection that he’d presumably passed an immeasurable number of times when the intoxicated driver struck. Paramedics rushed the man to the Erie County Medical Center where he died early the following morning.

Drunk-driving accidents can be prevented by both impaired drivers and pedestrians. If you’ve been drinking, avoid operating a vehicle at all costs, regardless of whether you’re below the legal limit. As a general rule, if you’ve had anything to drink, find a different ride home. For pedestrians, be aware that drivers do take the risk of driving impaired, so stay alert of your surroundings and avoid walking on roads, especially dim lit roads at night. If you’re interested in testing your BAC purely for informational purposes, consult the sources below:

• BloodAlchoholCaclulator.org
• BAC Estimates
• Erie County: Stop DWI
• Home Breathalyzer Kit

New York State Trial Lawyers Association President Leslie Kelmachter testifies at a city council hearing:

President Kelmachter stressed that there is no malpractice “crisis” in New York, pointing out that since 1991 insurance premiums have risen less than the rate of healthcare cost inflation. President Kelmachter advocated for greater efforts to reduce medical errors, stating that “the biggest driver of malpractice insurance costs is tragic and preventable medical errors themselves.”

A woman finds herself still at the mercy of her caretakers at ECMC five months after a car accident stole her ability to walk, speak, eat on her own or even move her head. The August accident involving an impaired driver and his 40-year-old female passenger resulted not only in the woman’s injuries, but a vehicular assault charge and a four-year prison sentence for the driver.

The pair was returning to Buffalo from Indiana. The woman drove from Indiana to Pennsylvania until she grew weary, at which point the man took the wheel. The man, driving under the influence of drugs, lost control of the vehicle between Exits 55 and 56 on a Hamburg highway and was struck by a passing vehicle. The passenger side took the brunt of the collision, resulting in the woman’s devastating injuries. In addition to his impairment, the man operated the vehicle with a suspended license.

In a statement to the Supreme Court, the driver said “I didn’t mean for this to happen. . . I cry myself to sleep every night. I’m sorry, that’s all I can say.” Despite the man’s remorse, in addition to the vehicular assault charge, the court charged him with aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and possession of marijuana. In a statement to the Buffalo News, the victim’s husband stated “Everything my wife loved to do, she can no longer do because of this accident… She can’t do anything by herself.”

You can avoid accidents like this. Do not drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or allow anyone in that condition to drive your vehicle. If you’ve suffered due to someone else’s recklessness, call James Morris Law today 716-855-1118.

In a world where we walk with computers in pocket, communicate with a single click and have access to infinite streams of information at our fingertips, finding an alternative to lead-based paint should have happened years ago. Unfortunately, much of Buffalo’s housing is stuck in a time-warp. The Nickel City’s unique architecture serves both as a spectacle and a burden. The New York State Department of Health estimates that 85% of Buffalo homes built prior to 1978 contain lead-based paint: the primary lead source in cases of lead poisoning. From 2006-2008, Erie County had the third highest percentage of new lead poisoning cases, 80% of which were children.

Children are more susceptible to lead poisoning due to an underdeveloped digestive system and ease of ingestion. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry suggest that a child’s digestive system absorbs up to 10 times more lead than that of an adult, and will excrete only 32% of the absorbed lead, as opposed to 99% excreted by an adult. Children ingest lead through everyday behaviors like sucking their thumb, eating with their hands or even playing with certain toys, making lead poisoning difficult to prevent.

Once a child ingests lead, diagnosis of lead poisoning can be costly and mistimed. There are few, if any, external signals alerting parents that a child has ingested lead. A doctor administered blood test is the only conclusive way to tell if a child’s lead levels are elevated. Through early detection of lead ingestion from lead-based paint or from another lead source, parents alleviate I.Q. decline, physical and intellectual debility, attention deficit disorder, delayed reaction time,  and kidney damage that may occur to the child later in life.

Don’t let your child fall victim to lead poisoning at the hands of lead based paint in your home. If your child has tested positively for lead poisoning due to exposed lead paint, call a Buffalo personal injury lawyer today. Contact James Morris Law at 716-855-1118.

Older New York State drivers are among the safest drivers. That’s the conclusion of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s analysis of accident data. The institute’s results were written about in The Buffalo News. The newspaper states, “The study reports that the rates of both nonfatal and fatal accidents have been declining faster among elderly drivers than among younger age groups.”

Sadly, accidents happen, even to the safest New York drivers. What would you do if you were injured in an auto accident in New York State? You need an experienced New York personal injury lawyer in your corner. You need the Law Offices of James Morris. Committed to serving our clients’ needs, a Buffalo personal injury attorney at our firm can work with you to build a case with one goal in mind: to get you the compensation you rightfully deserve. Accidents can be complicated. We can help. Put your trust in a New York personal injury attorney who puts people first. Contact the Law Offices of James Morris.

Nationally, the odds of getting in a fatal accident increase noticeably each year for drivers over 75 years old, according to statistics compiled by the Centers for Disease Control. But recent data offers a different picture, especially in Upstate New York. The Buffalo News reports, “In 2007 and 2008, drivers age 60 and older made up the largest percentage of drivers in each of the eight counties of Western New York. In just about every case, older adults caused proportionately far fewer fatal and personal injury crashes than any other age group.”

And here’s another surprising statistic – when older drivers have their grandchildren in the car, they’re less likely to be in an auto accident. That’s the conclusion of a recent study written about in Time Magazine. Specifically, children are twice as safe when their grandparents are driving instead of their parents.

Auto accidents happen fast. Don’t let someone’s reckless behavior ruin your life. Take back control. Contact the Law Offices of James Morris. We mean business!

The information contained in this communication is provided for informational purposes only and should not be constituted as legal advice on any subject matter.