Often times, after an auto accident an insurance adjuster will contact you on behalf of the at fault party who caused the collision. The insurance adjuster is looking to take advantage of your vulnerability because they know that it is easier to convince you to take a lower settlement during a stressful situation.

It is your decision whether to handle matters on your own or to contact a personal injury attorney. The following is four criteria as to why you should speak with a personal injury attorney.

1. You have been seriously injured, or a loved one was killed as a result of an accident.
2. The actions of the insurance company involved are unacceptable to you.
3. Your injury claim has been denied.
4. The at-fault party doesn’t have insurance.

A personal Injury Lawyer can help alleviate stress by dealing directly with the insurance company adjuster and stop harassing phone calls from collection agencies about your unpaid medical bills so that you can finally focus on getting well. Additionally you will have someone to explain your legal rights in a language that you can understand.

The Cunnane Law Office has provided this content for informational purposes only. You should refer your questions to a personal injury attorney.

www.cunnanelaw.com

Your dog loves car rides. He loves feeling the wind on his face as his head sticks out the window and the privilege of going everywhere his owner goes.

Pets are a common driving distraction. Unrestrained cats and dogs inside a car can be just as distracting as swatting an insect or changing the radio station.

In the event of a crash, an unrestrained pet can become a serious hazard to everyone. In a 35-mile-per-hour accident, an unrestrained 60 pound dog will carry the force of a 2,700 pound projectile when they are sent flying. Additionally, they are more likely to be harmed or even thrown from a vehicle in even minor fender benders.

According to the Humane Society of the United States, dogs don’t have to be locked up in a carrier to keep them safe while traveling in a car. A restraining harness can be purchased from a pet store. There are several products to protect traveling pets including mobile pet beds and dog seat belts.

Cats are typically best kept in a pet carrier since they are uncomfortable riding in a car or being restrained.
To find out more about pets and distracted driving, visit: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/pets-and-distracted-driving/

The Cunnane Law Office has provided this content for informational purposes only. You should refer your questions to a personal injury attorney.

www.cunnanelaw.com

In Washington state, where marijuana is legal, many people might not realize that D.U.I. laws apply to any mind altering substance. While approximately 88% of drunk drivers can be identified through a field sobriety test, only 30% of people under the influence of THC failed the same test in a 2012 study published in the journal Psychopharmacology. The determining factor seemed to depend heavily on whether or not the driver was accustomed to being stoned.

This raises the question, how dangerous is it to drive while stoned. Independent researchers estimate that the risk of an accident doubles when there is any measurable amount of THC in the bloodstream. Compare this to 20 times more likely for 20-year-old drivers with alcohol of .08% and 9 times more likely for older adults, up to age 34. Although driving under the influence of marijuana is less dangerous than driving drunk, there is still a present danger.

While drunk drivers have a tendency to drive faster and over estimate their skills, the opposite is true for stoned drivers. Additionally, in laboratory tests, most people who are stoned can pass memory tests with some added effort. The problem comes into play when a stoned driver needs to multitask because their brain is processing information at a slower rate.

To find out more about the risks of driving under the influence, visit: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/18/health/driving-under-the-influence-of-marijuana.html?_r=0

The Cunnane Law Office has provided this content for informational purposes only. You should refer your questions to a personal injury attorney.

www.cunnanelaw.com

Americans eat more in the car than any other country. As a matter of fact, a study in 2009 published in the Daily News found that 80% of U.S. car accidents are caused by distracted drivers who are preoccupied with eating and driving.

Eating is problematic while driving because drivers are unable to react quickly and tend to be unable to turn sharply while one hand is on a burger. Additionally, drivers take their gaze off the road to look down and see if anything has spilled. Speaking of spillage, our love for wide cups doesn’t align with our love for European cars which typically lack wide cup holders. What does this mean? We are constantly doing a balancing act between our food, drink and steering wheel.

This is why New Jersey has even gone as far as to ban eating while driving. Offenders could pay up to $400 on a first-time offense.

Distracted driving will cause accidents. What habits are you practicing to avoid being distracted while driving?

The Cunnane Law Office has provided this content for informational purposes only. You should refer your questions to a personal injury attorney.

www.cunnanelaw.com

More than 15,000 lives are saved each year in the United States due to seatbelts. However about 20,000 lives are lost as a result of not wearing them.

There are five ways that seat belts protect us when we are in a car accident:

Seatbelts keep occupants of a vehicle inside. Otherwise your body could be thrown from the vehicle, increasing the likelihood of fatality by four times.

The strongest parts of the body are restrained. Contact is made at the strongest parts of your body (hips and shoulders).

Force from a collision is spread out. This means less stress in put on any one area of the body. The shoulder strap additionally keeps your head and upper body away from the dashboard and steering wheel.

Seat belts slow down the body. The change in speed during a collision jerks the body causing injury. Seat belts give the body more time to react.

Seat belts protect your spinal cord and brain. The two most critical areas in the body are the spine and brain; injuries to both have serious consequences.

Buckle up correctly. Putting your seatbelt on correct is just as important as wearing it. The strap that fits across your lap should be snug over your hips and upper thigh. If your seatbelt rides over the stomach, this can cause serious injuries. Shoulder belts should rest across your shoulders and chest between your breasts. If your shoulder strap falls across your neck or face, it can cause serious or fatal injuries. Additionally, never place the strap under your arms or behind your back.

For more information, visit: http://www.everydayhealth.com/healthy-living/wearing-your-seat-belt.aspx

The Cunnane Law Office has provided this content for informational purposes only. You should refer your questions to a personal injury attorney.

www.cunnanelaw.com

As distracted driving receives more attention by our local police departments, research is being gathered to potentially implement “distracted driving” laws. In a CBS2 News investigation in Chicago, cameras were installed in vehicles of drivers with a variety of situations. Some had no children, but talked on their cell phones and others had multiple children. Researchers watched for the amount of time drivers had their eyes off the road during an average trip and compared distraction levels among all participants.

They found that mothers of young children were the most distracted, frequently looking back to check on their children and to tell them to settle down. Drivers with children had their eyes off the road 21% of the time which is 12 times longer than the average amount of time distracted when someone is talking on a cell phone.

If you are driving with children, keep your eyes on the road while interacting with them and vocally check in with them rather than visually. Talking and singing to keep them well behaved is much less distracting then frequently looking away from the road.

The Cunnane Law Office has provided this content for informational purposes only. You should refer your questions to a personal injury attorney.

www.cunnanelaw.com

Do you get distracted while driving when you see a billboard? Emotionally charged billboards actually affect people’s ability to drive according to researchers at the University of Alberta. Driver distraction is the primary cause of car accidents and studies have shown that when subjects see emotional stimulus as opposed to a neutral one, they are slower in reaction times slower at visually searching.

A study involving 30 college students simulated driving past 20 billboards. Each one contained a series of words that were emotionally positive, negative or neutral. Positive words included excitement, fame, happy cash, love, sex and win. Negative words included abuse, poison, cancer, stress and war.

Researchers found that positive words lead to speeding though driving skills were not affected. Negative words caused participants to slow down, lose focus, drift and veer between lanes. Some actually crashed into simulated vehicles, trees and pedestrians. Age and gender did not influence the results.

The study shows that billboards can be dangerously distracting road hazards.

Read more about the study here: http://www.naturalnews.com/039204_billboards_driving_distractions.html

The Cunnane Law Office has provided this content for informational purposes only. You should refer your questions to a personal injury attorney.

www.cunnanelaw.com

As cliché as it might sound, honesty is the best policy. Do not fake or exaggerate information about your injury. Doing so is the best way to ensure that your personal injury claim is ruined because one way or another the lie will be discovered.

Some people believe that they will receive a higher settlement if they stretch the truth and lie to a doctor about their injuries, but the fact of the matter is that this type of mentality will destroy your case.

Insurance companies routinely employ private investigators to do video surveillance on people who are claiming to be injured. If an individual claims to have constant lower back pain that prevents them from walking long distances and a private investigator films them hitting golf balls at the country club then they can bet their case will be denied. If the case happens to go to trial, the plaintiff’s credibility will be completely ruined in the eyes of the judge and the jury.

The Cunnane Law Office has provided this content for informational purposes only.  You should refer your questions to a personal injury attorney.

www.cunnanelaw.com

Providing a recorded statement can have a negative impact on your case. The insurance company for an at-fault driver is not on your side nor are they looking to help you in any way. The insurance company will commonly request a recorded statement from the person who could potentially make an injury claim.  These companies know that the faster they can obtain a recorded statement, the easier it will be for you to make mistakes that could potentially damage your claim.

As an injured person you are under no obligation to give a recorded statement to a claims adjuster without your lawyer being present. They will stress how important it is to collect all of the facts while the event is still fresh in your mind. In doing so, their main objective is to have you openly discuss what took place without placing too much thought into how you answer.

Everyday conversation such as the adjuster asking you how you are doing and the response of “fine” can lead to conflicting information on a recorded statement. Another example of unethical tactics an insurance adjuster might use is to take a recorded statement while an injured person is still in the hospital and heavily medicated.

I fight to ensure that my clients’ rights are never intruded upon. If you are asked to give a recorded statement without the presence of your personal injury lawyer, simply say no.

The Cunnane Law Office has provided this content for informational purposes only.  You should refer your questions to a personal injury attorney.

www.cunnanelaw.com

You’re driving on the freeway in steady traffic and your exit is coming up so you look in your blind spot to change lanes. While your head was turned the car in front of you hit their breaks and now your fight or flight instincts kick into full gear. You couldn’t avoid the impact but the physical damage was minor. Months later you begin to feel anxiety every time you get onto the freeway. It worsens during high traffic, in unfamiliar terrain and at night. The effects of such anxiety can be crippling as your heart races and your hands shake in a cold sweat.

If you have experienced this type of anxiety while driving then you are not alone. Both fear and comfort while driving is a learned behavior. Here are some tips help with driving anxiety:

Take care of yourself. Avoid driving on an empty stomach, while experiencing blood sugar imbalances or while sleep deprived .

Cut out caffeine. This one might be difficult because it is after all the greater Seattle area. Caffeine is known to trigger anxiety.

Carpool. Engaging in conversation means that you are less likely to think anxious thoughts. However, choose your carpool buddy carefully to avoid distractions.

Manage your Stress. Exercise, meditation and yoga help to distress the body. Extended periods of overwhelming stress can trigger anxiety.

The Cunnane Law Office has provided this content for informational purposes only.  You should refer your questions to a personal injury attorney.

www.cunnanelaw.com