In 2012, there were nearly 1,000 people killed in motor vehicle collisions involving teen drivers between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Nearly half of victims who lost their lives during this time period were teenagers. According to CNN, the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day has been dubbed the “100 Deadliest Days” because of the high death toll during this time.

There are a lot of reasons why accident risks increase so much when young people are out of school for the summer. Often, accidents are caused by teen drivers who do not know how to be safe behind the wheel and who endanger themselves and others.  An experienced attorney at McGowan, Hood & Felder, LLC can help those who have been harmed to pursue a damage claim and obtain compensation for injuries or the death of a family member.

The 100 Deadliest Days Are Risky For Teens

When teenagers are out of school for summer break, they are more likely to spend time driving to unfamiliar places or simply joyriding  for fun. Often, they have limited supervision during the long summer days because their parents have to go to work. All of this helps to explain why the death toll rises between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

The National Safety Council also indicates that people drive more during the summer, exacerbating the danger. In 2012, for example, Americans drove more than 780 billion miles in the 100 Deadliest Days. Unfortunately, there were 327 motor vehicle deaths in June, 319 deaths in July and 286 deaths in August over the course of that year.

Teenagers are not just in danger because they spend more time driving and because they drive to more places. One of the biggest risk factors for young people is that they are more likely to have passengers in their car in the summer. The more people in the car with a teen driver, the more likely it is for an accident to happen. In fact, having passengers can increase the risk of a collision by as much as 44 percent.

Unfortunately, many parents who are aware of other risks that teenagers face do not know how dangerous it is for young people to have many friends in their cars with them.

Parents need to understand this risk, and they need to set rules to help keep children safe. Having a parent-teen driving agreement in place outlining limitations on driving privileges is a good idea to prevent kids from dangerous driving behaviors, and the agreement should specify a maximum number of passengers who will be in the car at one time. Parents should also make a rule to prohibit their children from driving with another young friend at the wheel if there are too many passengers in the car at the time.

South Carolina car accident attorney S. Randall Hood is ready to help victims. Contact McGowan, Hood & Felder, LLC at (888) 572-3800 or visit http://www.mcgowanhood.com for a free case consultation.

In Florida, Amendment 2 on the November ballot would legalize marijuana for medicinal use. As the Tampa Bay Times reports, parental consent would be required for minors to use medical cannabis products. However, college students could generally obtain marijuana without consent with a legitimate medical reason as long as they are over 18.

While medical marijuana has numerous health benefits, driving while impaired by marijuana is unquestionably dangerous. As the National Institute on Drug Abuse reports, between 4 and 14 percent of drivers who are injured or killed in traffic accidents test positive for THC, which is the active ingredient in marijuana. THC is the second most common substance found in the blood of impaired drivers, behind alcohol.

Unfortunately, while most young people know that it is very dangerous to drive while impaired by alcohol, many underestimate the dangers of driving after using cannabis products. Student accidents are common, and stoned drivers should be held legally liable to victims they injure if they cause a collision. Attorney David J. Glatthorn can help victims take legal action against impaired drivers.

Stoned Driving Increases the Risk of Student Accidents

A recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst provides plenty of reason for safety experts to be concerned that college students are in danger due to stoned drivers.

More than 640 incoming freshman were asked to participate in the study and 338 agreed to answer questions the researchers asked about drug and alcohol use. The majority of students admitted to using alcohol, drugs or both. Yet, there were significant discrepancies in the number of students who admitted to driving drunk versus admitted to driving stoned.

A total of 30 percent of men and 13 percent of women had used cannabis in the 30 days before answering the questions, compared with 67 percent of men and 64 percent of women who said that they had used alcohol. In addition, 23 percent of men and 9 percent of women had consumed both alcohol and cannabis products.

More students were using alcohol, but fewer students drove drunk. Only seven percent of students said that they had consumed alcohol and then operated their vehicles. By contrast, 44 percent of men and nine percent of women said that they had consumed cannabis products and driven afterward.

College students, and especially young men, were also more likely to get into the car with someone else who had used cannabis. A total of 51 percent of the male respondents and 35 percent of female respondents said that they had been a passenger in the car of someone who was stoned or who had consumed products with THC.

The outcome of the research indicates that students may not fully be understanding just how dangerous it is to drive stoned. The message has gotten across to students about not getting into the car with someone drunk, but more needs to be done to educate motorists about the risks of cannabis, especially if medical marijuana becomes legal in Florida.

Studies of more than 3,000 fatally injured drivers in Australia revealed that a driver with THC in his blood is much more likely to be at fault for causing a collision. Further, the higher the concentration of THC in the driver’s blood, the greater the chance that he is to blame for the wreck. College students who get stoned or who are in the car with someone who has used cannabis face significant risks.

If you or a loved one is injured in a traffic accident, visit http://www.davidglatthornlaw.com or contact David J. Glatthorn at 800-990-9394 to discuss your rights. Serving Palm Beach County and all of South Florida.

A University of Florida student recently won a contest with a prize worth $50,000. The contest was for a specially-equipped van that would make it possible for the disabled Florida student to fulfill his dream of continuing his education. The young man needs the van because he was permanently injured in a serious car accident in high school. Unfortunately, he is now experiencing difficulty paying taxes on his prize and is at risk of losing the van unless he can raise the money to cover the $3,000 in costs. WTSP reported the young man’s struggles, including the extra challenges he faced when going to college after his disabling injuries.

The story is an important reminder of the impact that student accidents can have on a young person’s life. Injuries are tragic at any age, but it is especially devastating when someone who has his whole life ahead of him suffers permanent injuries that change the course of his future. An experienced attorney at Gonzalez & Cartwright, P.A., can represent victims and their family members after student accidents that result in personal injury or wrongful death.

Accidents Can Cause Permanent Injuries to Young People

When someone is injured in high school or college, he faces a lifetime of medical expenditures, as well as the need for ongoing adaptive devices. A spinal cord injury, for example, can cause average yearly expenses ranging from $228,566 to $775,567, according to the Christopher Reeve Foundation. As a result, someone who is disabled at age 25 may spend more than $3 million over the course of his life. Those who are disabled even younger, in high school or college, will have even greater costs.

While disabled young people can no longer be turned down for health insurance due to a pre-existing condition, health insurance does not cover everything that a person needs to cope with a life of permanent disability. The young man who won the van, for example, needs this expensive equipment in order to be able to attend school. The costs of the necessary adaptive device should be covered by those who were responsible for causing the motor vehicle collision.

Damages from motor vehicle accidents are supposed to cover all medical costs and lost wages, as well as non-economic losses such as pain and suffering. The younger someone is when he is harmed, the more years of expenses and loss he will experience.

Unfortunately, once a case settles or is decided by a jury, the victim cannot get more compensation even if it turns out that his injuries are much more costly to treat or more long-lasting. The result is that a person who was hurt in a car accident in high school or college may run out of money well before the end of his life or before the impact of the injuries diminishes.

Accurately estimating the value of car accident claims and fighting for full compensation when negotiating with an insurer or in court is essential to ensuring that a person injured as a teen can have the best future quality of life. An experienced attorney can help.

Accident lawyers in West Palm Beach can help injury victims. Call Gonzalez & Cartwright, P.A., today at 800-608-2965 or visit http://www.gonzalezcartwright.com/ to schedule a free consultation.

Chemistry class is an integral part of the curriculum for many high school students as well as for science majors in college. Unfortunately, there are myriad risks that exist in laboratories that can put young people in danger of being seriously hurt or even killed.

When a lab accident happens, it is important to determine if the school is to blame for student accidents. An experienced injury attorney at Hagood & Neumann can help victims and their family members to take legal action if the school was negligent in a way that led to the incident.

The Dangers of School Lab Experiments

Scientific America published a comprehensive article about the dangers in school lab experiments and the impact on experimental science. One tragic accident occurred at the University of California, Los Angeles when a 23-year-old technician was working with a chemical called t-butyl lithium. The chemical requires careful handling because it can catch fire when exposed to air. The young lab tech who was working with the fluid had on a sweatshirt but no lab coat. She spilled some of the fluid, and the synthetic fibers of her clothing caught fire. Postdocs tried to help, but did not get her to the nearby shower in the lab. The young lab tech spent 18 days in a hospital before she died in the burn unit.

The incident grabbed headlines and caused significant concern about whether school labs are practicing proper safety precautions. One safety expert wrote in the Journal of Chemical Health and Safety that “Most academic laboratories are unsafe venues for work or study.”

OSHA also found that the lab in question had life threatening safety violations and that the school had not reported similar but non-fatal incidents that occurred in the past.

Since schools sometimes do not report lab injuries and since injuries in school labs are not treated as a distinct category of incident, it is not clear how many student accidents happen in high school or college labs. However, since 1997, there have been recorded incidents at University of Chicago, Dartmouth College and Texas Tech University, among others.

School labs may be less safe than professional labs because of the difference in management responsibilities. While in most industries, the performance review of a supervisor has a line item related to safety and serious mishaps can damage careers, this is usually not true in an academic setting. Unfortunately, funding agencies and promotions committees may not ask about lab safety before awarding promotions or doing performance reviews in a high school or a college lab.

When the incident occurs in a high school lab, a student or his family members may be able to take legal action if they can make a case that the school was negligent. In college labs, however, legal cases can be complicated by the fact that student researchers may also work in labs. This can raise questions regarding whether they should be covered by workers’ compensation or whether they should make a personal injury or wrongful death claim when an accident happens.

An experienced attorney can help those who are victims of lab accidents to understand their rights and take appropriate legal action.

Accident lawyers in Houston can help after your injury. Call today at (800) 632-9404 or visit http://www.h-nlaw.com to schedule your free consultation with Hagood & Neumann.

An 18-year-old teen from Forsyth County has been arrested on charges of possession of marijuana, underage possession and consumption of alcohol, and maintaining a disorderly house. According to My Fox Atlanta, he is the second teen arrested in connection with a fatal drunk driving crash that killed another teenager. 

Vehicle accidents are a leading cause of death among people aged 16 to 19 and many of the collisions involve drugs or alcohol. Unfortunately, as laws become more lax surrounding marijuana use, these statistics could become worse. Both high school and college students are in danger of serious injury or death if they drive after consuming cannabis products or if they get into the car with someone who has used products containing THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

After student accidents, attorneys at Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C. can help victims to understand their legal rights. If you or a loved one was injured by a driver impaired by drugs or alcohol, that motorist should be held responsible.

Drug-Related Student Accidents Put Young People at Risk

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, alcohol is the most common substance found in the blood of impaired drivers, but THC is the second most common substance. Studies have found that as many as four to 14 percent of drivers who were either injured in motor vehicle collisions or who died in accidents had THC in their blood stream.

When THC is found in a driver’s body, there is a significant likelihood that the stoned motorist was at fault for the crash. A study of 3,000 drivers in Australia revealed that the higher the concentration of THC in someone’s blood, the more likely it was that the driver was to blame for an accident that resulted in injury.

This data is especially worrisome in light of a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The study showed that while the majority of college students seem to grasp the dangers of drunk driving and act accordingly, the same is not true when it comes to impairment by marijuana products.

Researchers asked 640 incoming college freshman questions about drugs and alcohol, and 338 answered their queries.

Of the students interviewed, 67 percent of men said that they had used alcohol in the 30 days before the survey. During the same time period, 30 percent of men said they had used cannabis in some form and 23 percent said that they had used both cannabis and alcohol. Among women, 13 percent said they had used cannabis, 64 percent said they had drunk alcohol and nine percent said that they had used both cannabis and alcohol.

Even though a majority of students drank, only seven percent of those surveyed said that they had been in the car driving after drinking. By contrast, 44 percent of men and nine percent of women said they had driven after using cannabis products. Further, 51 percent of young men and 35 percent of young women said that they had gotten into the car with someone who had consumed a product containing THC.

College students need to understand that driving stoned can be just as high-risk as driving drunk and they need to make better choices about avoiding all types of impaired driving in order to reduce the risk of deadly collisions.

Call the Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C. at 1-800-898-HAYS or visit http://www.garymartinhays.com to schedule a free consultation.

Three teenagers were killed recently in a high sped police chase. According to My Fox Detroit, a 17-year-old was driving a car reported stolen, and he took off when police approached. The driver lost control of the car and crashed, killing himself and two friends in the vehicle. While the circumstances of this accident were very unusual, the teen driver killed in the collision is not the only young person who will lose his life due to dangerous driving choices this summer.

Now that Memorial Day has passed, the risk of young people dying in a car accident is greater. This is because Memorial Day is not just the unofficial start of summer but is also the start of the 100 Deadliest Days for teen drivers.

Student accidents are a big risk over the summer months as young people are out of school and tend to drive more. An experienced attorney from Fraser & Souweidane P.C. should be consulted if a young teen is involved in a collision. Our attorneys can help victims to take legal action against a driver responsible for causing a car accident that causes injury or death.

The 100 Deadliest Days are a High Risk Time for Teens

According to CNN, there were nearly 1,000 deaths in crashes with teen drivers that occurred between Memorial Day and Labor Day in 2012. More than 550 of the people who were killed were teenagers.

The National Safety Council reports that there were 327 deaths in June 2012, as well as 319 deaths in July and 386 fatalities in August.

There are a variety of reasons for this significant increase in fatalities including:

• Teens tend to drive more during the summer when they do not have to spend their days in school.
• Teens tend to have more unsupervised time in the summer months as they are free during the daytime when their parents work.
• Teens tend to stay out later at night during the summer months since they do not have to get up for school the next morning, increasing the risk of night driving accidents.
• Teens tend to drive more recreationally in the summer, often going down unfamiliar roads.
• Young people often have more passengers in their vehicles during the summer months. Passengers can increase the dangers of a teen driver crashing by at least 44 percent.

Many parents know the risks of cell phone use and drunk driving and talk to their teens about these hazards, but are unaware of just how dangerous it is for young people to have multiple passengers in their cars.

It is important for parents to know the dangers that their children face during the 100 Deadliest Days of Summer and to take action to try to prevent injuries and fatalities. Parents should:

• Spend time driving with their children. It is a good idea to drive with your kids for at least 30 minutes per week, even after your son or daughter has his license.
• Establish clear rules and consider having a Parent-Teen driving agreement that specifies the behaviors that are permitted and forbidden.
• Explain the risks of certain behaviors, such as driving with multiple passengers, to young drivers.
• Limit the number of passengers that your child can have in the car with him at one time.

If parents are actively involved and advise their children on safe driving, hopefully the risks of injury or death will be reduced and fewer young people will be killed during these dangerous summer months.

A Detroit accident lawyer can help victims. Contact Fraser & Souweidane P.C. at (866) 465-9095 or visit http://www.fsattorneys.com to schedule a free consultation.

Stoned driving is becoming a big problem throughout the United States and college-aged men may be especially at risk. A driver who uses products containing THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, is not able to operate his vehicle safely and he is breaking laws against impaired driving. He puts himself and others in danger.

An experienced attorney at the Law Offices of Peter W. Summerill can represent victims of student accidents caused by stoned drivers. We can help you obtain compensation for losses that resulted when the impaired driver caused a collision.

College Students Taking Risks with Stoned Driving

A study from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst shows that many college students, and especially young men, are not acting responsibly when it comes to avoiding getting into a car with a drugged driver.

Researchers asked 640 incoming freshman to answer questions, and 338 participated in the survey. Among those who participated, 30 percent of men said that they had used cannabis products in the prior 30 days, and 67 percent of men said that they had consumed alcohol. In addition, 13 percent of women admitted to recent cannabis use and 64 percent of women indicated that they had drank alcohol over the past month. Another 23 percent of men and nine percent of women told the researchers that they had used both alcohol and cannabis products in the past 30 days.

Because so many more students drink than use cannabis, it would be expected that drunk driving would be the biggest risk factor for impaired driving accidents. The National Institute on Drug Abuse has indicated that the majority of drivers injured or killed in impaired driving collisions test positive for alcohol use, with THC use coming in second as the substance most likely to be responsible for collisions.

Among college students, however, there was a far greater likelihood that they would drive stoned than drunk. A total of 44 percent of men said that they had driven after using THC products, and nine percent of women also said they had driven under the influence of marijuana. Men were not only at greater risk of driving while stoned, but they were also far more likely to get into the car with someone who had used drugs. A total of 51 percent of men and 35 percent of women admitted to getting into the car with a driver they knew had consumed THC products.

Studies have shown that the higher the concentration of THC in a driver’s blood, the greater the chances of the driver being at fault for a collision that causes accident or injury. Further, anywhere from four to 14 percent of drivers injured or killed in an accident test positive for THC.

College students, and especially college men, need to rethink the choices they are making when it comes to driving stoned.

Many young people are injured during the summer months when kids are on break from high school and college. When student accidents happen on-the-job, the Law Offices of Richard Flexner can help young people and their family members to protect their rights and ensure the resources are there for a full recovery. 

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has the important job of helping to keep workers safe, including young people working summer jobs. The agency has launched a multi-year Teen Summer Job Safety Campaign to help reduce the risk of teenage accidents at work. The campaign will be providing tips for young people and for employers within some of the industries where teens are most likely to work. This includes the landscape industry.

Keeping Teen Landscape Workers Safe

Other than restaurant work, landscaping is one of the most common fields where young people get summer jobs. Unfortunately, the landscaping industry can be very dangerous.

Child labor laws limit the jobs that young workers can do within the landscape industry. For example, workers under the age of 18 are prohibited from operating power-driven hoisting equipment including fork lifts. Underage workers are not allowed to use circular or band saws, nor are they permitted to use guillotine shears. Finally, they are forbidden from either driving a motor vehicle or from acting as an outside helper on a motor vehicle.

For younger teens age 14 and 15, there is also a prohibition against using weed cutters, lawn mowers and lawn trimmers on-the-job.

Employers can hire teens to do other non-restricted jobs but should ensure that proper safety precautions are taken to reduce the chances of the young person getting hurt. Tips to avoid workplace injuries include:

• Providing proper training to teen workers before any type of machinery is used.
• Providing ear-protection to reduce the risk of hearing loss. This includes ear muffs or plugs to be worn in high-noise zones.
• Reducing the risk of eye injury by providing and requiring the use of safety goggles in areas where flying particles could be present.
• Establishing a dress code to require teen workers wear appropriate clothing that is unlikely to be caught in machines and that provides adequate protection. This includes appropriate shoes.
• Providing and ensuring the use of gloves and other personal protective equipment necessary for a task.
• Establishing a rule that no employees should ride in cargo areas of pickup trucks.
• Ensuring that all machines have guards and safeguard devices and that the protective equipment is utilized.
• Requiring that equipment and machines be shut down and de-energized before the equipment is serviced.

Each year, between 60 and 70 teenagers die from injuries on-the-job and another 250,000 young workers are injured at work. It is imperative that employers who hire teenagers to understand the dangers that young people face and to help do everything possible to keep them safe.

A teen who gets hurt at work should be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits including payment for medical treatment costs as well as lost wages or disability benefits. Making a workers’ comp claim can be complicated with teen employees, especially if they are seasonal or part-time. An experienced attorney can help.

Help is available for accidents victims in Willmington, NC. Contact the Law Offices of Richard Flexner at 800-FLEXNER or visit http://www.getflexner.com to schedule a free consultation.

Schools often employ security guards to prevent injuries and avoid lawsuits for negligent security.  Clark County School District, however, may have made a mistake in the particular school police that were hired.   Parents of a teenager killed in a drunk driving accident have alleged that school cops participated in a party with a “bunch of drunken teenagers,” according to 8 News Now.   The school district, the police department and individual employees have been named in a lawsuit by the deceased student’s parents. 

When student injuries occur, Aaron & Paternoster, LTD can help.  Call today to learn more about how we can assist victims and their families to take legal action and recover monetary damages for accidents and injuries.

Nevada School District Facing Wrongful Death Claim

According to Watchdog Wire, the Clark County School District Office of General Council has incurred significant legal costs defending against a wrongful death claim for the death of the student killed in the drunk driving crash.

The lawsuit alleges that a UNLV honor student was killed when a teenager was driving drunk and slammed into her vehicle.  The student had apparently been drinking at a party with CCSD police employees.  The lawsuit also alleges that school police supervisors tried to cover up what had occurred and that CCSD lawyers directed police not to investigate either the death or the subsequent cover up.

The parents of the student who was killed have not only filed suit against the police and the school district but are also taking legal action against a police dispatcher, the teen who drove drunk, and the School Police Chief who allegedly authorized the cover-up.

The federal magistrate presiding over the case has ruled that there is sufficient evidence of a cover-up to allow the case to move forward to trial.

If the allegations are true, it seems clear that many of the parties involved breached their legal obligations. School police are supposed to keep students safe, and drinking at a party with them and allowing them to drive drunk falls far short of this basic obligation.

The school district and police department can be held legally responsible for the negligence and wrongful acts of employees on the job.   Many lawsuits against school districts and against police departments arise because of actions that individual employees took on-the-job. This is because government workers have limited protections from immunity for the work they do, and because workers are seen as agents of their employers.

The employer school district or police department is responsible for the actions of its agents, and can thus be held liable for negligence or wrongdoing. Since districts and police departments typically have more money to pay claims than individual government workers, parents of students who are injured will often try to hold the district accountable for the damages.

Cases against school districts and public employees are complicated because of the governmental immunity protections. An experienced attorney should be consulted to help when school is responsible for student injuries.

If you need to speak to an injury lawyer in Las Vegas, contact Aaron & Paternoster, LTD today at (702) 384-4111 or visit http://www.aaronpaternoster.com/ for a free case consultation.

Colorado became the first state in the U.S. to allow legalized marijuana for recreational use and over five months have now passed since the use of cannabis became legal for non-medical reasons. The New York Times reports that emergency room doctors and law enforcement officers in both Colorado and in neighboring states have begun to see the downsides.

College students in the Denver area are among those individuals likely to take advantage of legalized pot. Unfortunately, this means young people are at risk of student accidents after consuming marijuana. Young people are in danger if they make the choice to smoke on their own and get behind the wheel. They could also be harmed if they get into the car with someone who has used cannabis products, or simply if they are in the wrong place at the wrong time on a college campus where marijuana use has become more widespread.

An experienced drug driving accident lawyer at Bell & Pollock P.C. should be consulted for help when a young person is injured in student accidents caused by the marijuana use of his peers.

Legalized Pot Causes Problems in Denver

The New York Times reported on the problems that have begun to occur in Colorado as a result of legalized recreational cannabis products.

One man, for example, reportedly consumed marijuana-infused candy and then began raving about the end of the world before killing his wife.  A growing number of adults and children have visited ERs because they have become sick after eating potent doses of edible cannabis, and both local police and law enforcement in neighboring states are complaining about stoned drivers.

In January, the Colorado State Patrol started to track the number of people who were pulled over for driving while under the influence of marijuana.  Since that time, around 12.5 percent of all citations for driving while impaired have gone to individuals under the influence of drugs.

The bulk of the pot retailers in the state are in Denver, which means that young people at Denver-area colleges including the University of Denver, the University of Colorado at Denver, Metropolitan State College, and Regis University all have easy access to cannabis products.   This could create risks on campus, especially as a recent University of Massachusetts at Amherst study found that underage college men tend to discount the dangers of driving after marijuana has been consumed.

Because edible cannabis products have proved to be especially popular, some young people may also be put at risk without knowing it.  While at least nine children have ended up visiting children’s hospitals after accidentally eating marijuana foods, the bigger problem for college students may be that they are unaware when a friend has eaten cannabis-containing products.  This could lead to a student getting into the car with a person who is under the influence of drugs without even knowing about it.

Students injured as a result of drugged driving accidents or other dangerous incidents caused by their peers who have used marijuana should understand their legal rights. An attorney can help.

Contact Bell & Pollock at (877) 744-5900 or visit http://www.bellpollockinjury.com to schedule a consultation with a personal injury lawyer in Denver.