Personal Injury Lawsuits in Ohio

We often hear from business leaders and politicians that there are too many personal injury lawsuits.  In Ohio, at least, the number of personal injury cases filed over the last ten years has been steadily falling, as shown by the Ohio Supreme Court's summary, below:

http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/Publications/annrep/10OCS/summary/14.pdf

Staying Focused While Driving

Based on  recent driving statistics, of the 33,808 car crash deaths that occurred in 2009, approximately 27,046 are suspected to have resulted from distracted driving. While drunk drivers are 7 times more likely to cause accidents, distracted drivers are 23 times more likely to do so. To date, only a handful of states have instituted distracted driving laws, but the majority of them are not very strict despite the increasing traffic wrecks and casualties.

Staying Focused While Driving  

Here are 3  simple things you can do to stay focused while on the road, and avoid becoming a distracted driving statistic:

• Don't use your cell phone or text  while driving. If it's important and can't wait, pull over. A good technique to avoid the temptation of using the phone is to keep it somewhere in the car that you cannot reach.
• Avoid  eating while driving, even on long road trips. Eat inside the restaurant, or visit a rest stop. Those few minutes rest may save your or someone else’s life.
• Program your GPS device before driving. If you must make an adjustment to your route, pull over.

MADD: Efforts to raise awareness about drugged driving

MADD announced Friday they are teaming up with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to launch a national coordinated effort to reach out to the underserved poly-abuse (both alcohol and drugs) and drugged driving victims in the country.  MADD reports that, although drunk driving remains one of the primary threats on America’s roadways, killing 11,000 each year, driving under the influence often involves both alcohol and drugs, or drugs alone.  The organization is teaming up to combat the following statistics according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:

- Roughly one in eight weekend, nighttime drivers tested positive for illicit drugs.

- In 2009, of the drivers who were killed in motor vehicle crashes, one in three tested positive for drugs.

- Once in ten high school seniors self-reported that in the last two weeks they had driven a car after using marijuana.

For more information about this campaign or to gather more information about drugged or poly-abuse driving please visit their website at http://www.MADD.org

Electric Blanket Fires

There have been more than 100 lawsuits filed against Sunbeam Products, Inc. alleging its electric blankets have caused fires.  Many of these fires caused significant property damage.  Some caused serious personal injury or death.  If you or someone you know has been victim of an electric blanket fire, please visit our website (www.KLHLaw.com) or call our office (614-224-7711) to further understand your legal rights.

FDA Recalls

For those of you interested in making sure that what you are eating, what medicines you are ingesting, and what medical products or devices  are  not subject to FDA recalls, the easiest and quickest way to locate that information is to go to http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/default.htm.