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Anyone who becomes involved in a road traffic accident is at risk of suffering from serious injury. The Highway Code states that it is pedestrians who are most vulnerable and at risk if they become involved in an accident. Unlike motorists or cyclists, pedestrians have nothing to protect them if the do become involved in an accident – they have no air bag or helmet to protect them from injuries.

As a pedestrian, there are a number of guides you can follow to ensure your safety on the road. The main guide is the Green Cross Code. It has been in use since the early 1970’s and is still seen as a useful guide for pedestrians to follow when crossing roads, and is still taught to children throughout school. It gives a number of steps to ensure your safety on the road:
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A hotel acts as a temporary home for anyone going on holiday, having a short break, or working away from home. They are like a home from home with sleeping, bath, & shower facilities, and hopefully have at the least a kettle to make a cup of tea, and a television in the room. There are hundreds of different hotels in the UK – some franchised ones such as the Premier Inns, and some independently run. Either way the hotel must provide us with somewhere safe to stay.

A lot of hotels, especially the franchised ones, are regularly inspected. This means that someone comes in each room and checks that there are no hazards in the rooms and that they stick to health and safety regulations. Unfortunately, some hazards may not become apparent at an initial inspection.

In a hotel there are a number of different workers, with each having a responsibility for keeping the hotel safe, and preventing any possible hazards. Cleaners are responsible for keeping the hotel clean and cleaning up any spillages, whilst maintenance workers are responsible for making sure that all electrical appliances are safe, and have been tested.
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The majority of motorists in the UK have a clear understanding of road safety; otherwise they would have instantly failed their driving test and shouldn’t be on the roads today. We are all aware that wearing a seat belt is not only part of UK law, but it also saves lives in the unfortunate event that your vehicle does become involved in a road traffic accident. With this in mind, you can imagine the shock on a police officers face when he opens the door of a 10ft caravan and ten people pile out…

The Daily Mail reports of a father who drove 100 miles towing a small caravan that shocked fellow motorists enough to result in them calling the police. Motorists alerted the police when they spotted children peering through the curtains of Sameer Mirza’s 10ft caravan on the A55 in north Wales.

Police finally caught up with him on the A4244 and pulled him over at a petrol station near Deiniolen, North Wales. Police officers noticed that the tyres on the caravan looked weighed down, and asked to look inside. The last thing they were expecting was for 10 people to emerge from the tiny caravan. The caravan had been carrying seven children aged five to 14 and their mothers, including Mirza’s wife.
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Making sure your vehicle is well lit is extremely important to make other road uses and pedestrians aware of your presence. It is especially important now the nights are beginning to draw in. The failure to light your vehicle can cause road traffic accidents which you may be held liable for.

To ensure your vehicle is lit properly you should regularly check that all of your lights are working properly. It is best to do this in a dark area such as in a garage, if on your own, or ask someone else to check for you.  If one of the bulbs on your vehicle is broken you should get this fixed as soon as possible. If the police see unlit vehicles or vehicles with lights out on the roads they are likely to pull them over.

When looking to fix a bulb in your vehicle, there are shops that will change the lights for you. If you are unsure what bulb you need simply ask an assistant in store to help you.
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Dog attacks on children are making more and more of an impact in the news. Yesterday, the Daily Mail reported on a story in Wales, where a 16-month-old girl was viciously attacked by a family dog. Medics said that the girl was lucky not to have lost as eye as the dog ripped into her face missing her eye socket by half an inch.

The family pet is believed to have attacked the child when she accidentally stepped onto its tail. The toddler needed 50 stitches to her face and had to under-go her first bout of facial surgery. Doctors said they think the scars on her face will heal because she is so young, but she will need to make regular visits to the hospital for checkups.

The dog that attacked her was a Cairn Terrier and the club that breeds the animal dubs it as ‘the best little pal in the world’. After the attack, the family pet was put down to prevent it attacking anyone else in the future.
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Been involved in a collision on the road is a worrying time for any driver. They may be in shock due to the impact of the accident, or just generally shaken up from it. Whatever the reason, they may not be thinking too clearly after the incident. Road traffic accidents have become a common occurrence on the roads of today. We constantly hear about them in the news, and we have all probably witnessed a few on the roads before.

If you do become involved in a collision involving another vehicle there are a few things you should do:
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It’s official winter is finally here, with snow forecast to fall on the high grounds and temperatures to reach lows of freezing. In just over one weeks time the clocks will go back an hour, which means an extra hour in bed for those who see their glass as half full. For those who see it half empty, unfortunately it means that it gets dark an hour earlier.

Personally I love summer, and the cold dark nights are not my favourite. Winter can create some of the worst driving conditions. I love seeing snow fall on the ground, or to wake up to white covered grounds. What I don’t love is the thought of driving home in it. Last year snow caused madness on the roads. Not only did it create some of the worst traffic jams, but when it melted it uncovered hundreds of new potholes.

I’ve been driving for three years, so in my eyes I am a fairly experienced driver. However, on my drive home from work on one Sunday afternoon, after snow had settled on the ground, forcing us to shut early, made me realise that maybe I’m not as clued up as I may have once thought. Driving down a hill at less than 10mph and I still managed to skid into the curb, missing a near-by lamp post by centimetres.
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A repetitive strain injury (RSI) is caused when a person overuses a part of their body and their muscles in that area. A lot of RSI’s are caused at work, for example if someone is sat at a computer all day they may suffer an injury in their hand or wrist area. This is because typing can cause stress in the muscles around that area and the tissue may become damaged. If they do become damaged a chemical is released in the body to attempt to repair any damage. However, if repetitive movement continues, the body’s efforts to heal or repair itself may result to stress in the muscle tissue causing the RSI.

Anyone suffering from an RSI may get a disabling pain in the affected area, and feel tingling and swelling. For example, if you’re suffering from an RSI due to spending too much time typing then you will feel a tingling in your thumb and first two fingers; this is a key symptom of an RSI.

There are a number of RSI’s and they can be caused through a number of different activities. Any activity that requires a person to perform repetitive tasks puts them at risk of suffering from such an injury.
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OK, so not so much of an original topic given my last blog about road accident madness. But the “madness” theme spreads across all walks of life, and all forms of claims for personal injury. As a specialist firm of personal injury experts, we take on all sorts of claims, given the sheer volume of cases we take on daily; and sometimes we genuinely have to ask ourselves – “how was this allowed to happen?”

Health and safety laws, rules, and regulations are there for very good and very sensible reasons – to prevent people from coming to harm. Never mind what the ConDems say about “elf and safety gawn mad”, if you follow the practices and procedures in place, no one should come to harm. So when people and companies break rules and regulations to such extents that their actions can be classed as “mad”, you do have to ask yourself how on earth they managed to break the rules so tremendously bad.

Personally, I tend to class some of the more simple rules broken as madness. For example, councils failing to inspect and maintain their jurisdiction of highway on a regular basis. It only needs to be done every 3 – 12 months or so, dependant on the use of the road or pathway. A simple inspection can identify defects, and workman can be contracted to repair them. It seems basic enough to me. But there are still highways authorities that fail to follow the rules – meaning claims can be brought against them.
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Road accidents are a daily occurrence. We at The Injury Lawyers take on countless claims for victims of negligent drivers in their search for justice and the compensation they are legally entitled to receive. With the winter months setting in and the weather worsening, I expect a noticeable increase in the volume of road accident claims we take on; which is a common trend.

But every now and then, a road accident is not just a road accident. Sometimes, it seems like shear madness is the cause of negligence – so here’s a couple of stories from Sky News and The Daily Mail of incidents that certainly have an air of craziness about them.

According to one report from Sky News (Melbourne Mum Crashes Car Crammed With Seven Kids), a 35 year old woman from Melbourne, Australia, is being investigated by police after she crashed an unregistered ’92 Mitsubishi Magna which was carrying seven children; including three in the boot! She was allegedly over the drink-drive limit (which is not surprising, and certainly explains, but does not excuse, her actions) when she drove the car off of the road and in to a parked vehicle.
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