We at The Injury Lawyers talk a lot about accidents in the news – being specialists in the area, we like to think we know a thing or two about it! And there are so many hazards out there in the world just waiting to injure us that we all have to take care to avoid obstacles and hazards in our way.

We can however help ourselves in many ways; in fact, according to sources from the Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1312656/Millions-putting-lives-risk-texting-walk.html), millions of us are putting our lives at risk by texting at the same time as walking!

To quote a statistic from the report, one in 10 mobile phone users have already been injured because they are concentrating on their handsets whilst texting, taking little or no heed of any obstacles or hazards on the route. Bollards, sign posts, lamp posts, cars – these are but a few of the many things we are likely to miss if we are not paying enough attention to our surroundings whilst “text-walking”. It makes sense I suppose – it’s illegal to use our handsets whilst driving for obvious reasons.
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We are all aware that asbestos is an extremely dangerous material, especially when it ages or becomes damaged. When it does age or become damaged it releases small fibres into the air. These fibres can then be breathed in, and may settle for a long time in the lungs.

If large amounts of fibres are breathed in they can cause diseases such as lung cancer or Mesothelioma. Both diseases are extremely dangerous and can be fatal.

Asbestos, although extremely dangerous, can take from 20-40 years to show its symptoms. This means that you could have come into contact with the disease a long time ago. Here at The Injury Lawyers we know how severe the disease can be and how it can affect the lives of thousands of workers in the UK. We want to make you aware or what types of material that may contain asbestos you come into contact with.
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The news headlines consistently cover stories of tragic road accidents. This next one from the Daily Mail is a particularly horrifying one, which many of you may have seen in the press recently.

According to reports from the Daily Mail, amongst many other press offices, (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1314227/Drink-driving-nurse-sentenced-8-years-killing-grandmother.html), a drunk driver has been sentenced to 8 years after killing a grandmother and injuring two young children when she drove on to a pavement whilst on her way to an alcoholism counselling session. It’s an absolute tragedy of a story – the report advises that 59 year old Judy De Gelas was killed from the impact, and her five year old granddaughter Libby was dragged across the road under the car bumper, suffering a fractured skull and a chest wound. Her 9 year old grandson Joshua also suffered a fractured skull.
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Whiplash is a common injury that occurs frequently after road traffic accidents. Whiplash injuries usually recover on their own, in time; however it’s always best to seek medical attention. If you damage your neck in an accident medics may advise that it is best to keep the neck moving and prescribe you pain killers to ease the pain. It is best that you inform your doctor how you encountered the injury, they will then put this in your medical records.
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Thousands of people are attacked by domestic dogs every year and a recent survey has revealed that 43% of school children have been bitten by a dog.

These statistics have led to new research by scientists at Lincoln University and following this, scientists have warned that the reason behind most attacks on children is because they are unable to recognize the signs of a dog becoming aggressive. Tests have revealed that children up to the age of six believe that a dog is ‘smiling’ when baring its teeth and that children only look at a dog’s mouth and ignore other signs of aggression that adults can clearly see.

The full results of the research will be revealed and discussed at the World Safety Conference taking place in London. Dr Kerstin Meints, one of the Psychologists involved in the study said: “When we probed a bit further, the children thought the dogs were happy and you could give them a hug and a kiss. That’s quite scary, obviously. The message needs to get out to parents, so they know their children can misunderstand dogs’ faces.”
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Road safety is a continuously debated subject – we are always thinking of new ways to make our roads safer and reduce accidents, which is all great to hear. And there are more ideas on the horizon; including one outlined in sources from the BBC suggesting that restrictions on newly qualified drivers could reduce road accidents.

According to the source (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11376809), a new proposed scheme would see newly qualified drivers having to adhere to night time curfews and restrictions on carrying passengers of a similar age, according to research from Cardiff University. It is suggested that a “graduate driving license” for drivers aged 17 – 19 could potentially save more than 200 lives and result in 1,700 fewer serious injuries each year. This is quite a statement.

The research suggests that one in five new drivers’ crash within the first 6 months of passing their test. This statistic doesn’t surprise me – it’s a common fact that you only really learn to drive once you have passed your test and you are out there on the roads by yourself. I’m sure many of you will agree that it’s an entirely different ball game; and many young drivers are known to be a little overexcited on the roads, if you get what I mean! The research indicates that some kind of a “graduate driving license” would reduce many accidents.
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Golf is a game that requires excellent concentration and skill, you need to know where to hit the ball, and how hard to hit it to get it to where you want it to go. When playing golf, even the most talented of players can make mistakes.

With golfers swinging their clubs left, right and centre there is bound to be some sort of accidents. They are hitting the ball in all directions, a near miss shot may result in someone’s car window been put through or a nearby green house. They may even swing the club and accidently hit someone with it, causing them injury.

There is now a new type of insurance cover for golfers; however this is an optional insurance cover. The chances are that not all golfers will be covered by this. If you do become involved in an accident on a golf course you may still be able to claim compensation. For example if you’re a spectator at a golf tour and one of the players misjudges their shot and hits you on the head with a ball then you may be able to make a compensation claim.
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Personal Injury – together with “No Win, No Fee”, “Ambulance Chasing Lawyers”, and “tripping up kerbs” is a common phrase in today’s society. And we at The Injury Lawyers are of course fully aware that our work is often misunderstood and joked about!

So, I thought I’d do a little article on the way it works – let’s face it, the press love a good “head shaker” story. In fact, the inspiration for my blog today comes from a story in the Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1313432/David-Cameron-plans-tear-mad-health-safety-regulations.html) this week about the PM’s promise to tear up health and safety regulations that have become a “music hall joke.”

According to the report, Cameron will “declare war on the mushrooming compensation culture”, with regulations on police, schools, and ambulance workers being lifted to encourage more common sense decisions, without the threat of a claim being made against them.
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The Highway Code is a series of rules created for all road uses in England, Scotland and Wales. The reading and understanding of it is essential for everyone including the most vulnerable road users:

• Pedestrians, especially children, older or disabled people
• Cyclists
• Motorcyclists
• Horse riders
• Drivers

The Highway Code is something all road users must abide by and if they fail to do so, some of the requirements can be a criminal offence and lead to prosecution. Knowing of the rules in the Highway Code is essential, especially for those driving on the roads, to avoid road traffic accidents (RTA).
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So, what do you do when you are in your local supermarket and you are suddenly forced to dive for cover because you hear an explosion? Well, I think most people would panic in the situation – and fear the worst, especially with terror alerts still being in the back of people’s minds over the past decade or so.

But you’d be even more confused when you find out that the explosion was caused by a coffee machine…

For those of you not familiar with this story, the press have being covering the exploding coffee machine incident that happened earlier this week at a Sainsbury store in the Kingsmead Centre, Farnborough. According to sources from the Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1311946/Sainsburys-coffee-explosion-injures-7-caf.html), the industrial sized coffee machine at the Sainsbury’s on site cafe exploded like a bomb, injuring 15 people and leading to a full evacuation of the store. It’s a bizarre story… and it’s also pretty scary stuff. You’d expect the last place to be in the firing line of an explosion would be your local supermarket cafe.
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