It’s Cold Outside but Is It Safe Inside?

Provided by New Haven, CT Personal Injury Attorneys of Williams, Walsh, and O'Connor, LLC

Winter storms can cause power outages and other emergency situations. To cope with chilly weather, when the power goes out, people often turn to alternative energy sources. Consider the homeowner who uses a gas stove to heat a kitchen or runs a generator within an enclosed and attached garage. While these backup devices may resolve immediate heating problems, they can also create new ones. Understanding the risks of using CO-emitting fuels and devices helps to prevent carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning and related fire hazards.

Focus on Fuels

Gasoline, propane, kerosene, natural gas, oil, charcoal and wood are all CO-emitting fuels. Devices that run on these fuels produce some level of CO gas during and following their use. Examples of such devices are generators, stoves, fireplaces, grills, furnaces, water heaters, space heaters, power tools and vehicles. CO gas may be released even when a device is turned off, so knowing how to detect it and its effects is important.

Raise Awareness

Public service announcements often describe CO gas as a silent killer. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this toxic gas is not only silent, but also tasteless, odorless and colorless. Babies, the elderly, and people with heart and lung problems are most vulnerable to the effects of CO. Depending on the length of exposure and CO concentration, symptoms vary. For low to moderate CO concentrations, major symptoms of gas poisoning range from headaches and dizziness to nausea, fatigue and fainting. At higher levels, these symptoms could result in a coma, brain damage or even death.

Lower Exposure

There are ways to decrease the presence of detectable levels of CO gas in the home. Gas appliances should be properly maintained and checked for leaks regularly. Never run vehicles and gas-powered grills, generators or other tools within enclosed spaces. Keep space heaters away from flammable materials and turned off when unattended. Invest in both smoke and CO detectors. Install these in every bedroom of a house, and replace the batteries regularly to help prevent accidents and injuries that can occur from increased levels of CO gas. If you or a loved one develops symptoms of CO poisoning, open windows or leave the house and call an emergency or appliance repair professional.

Safe and Healthy Homes

To escape extreme scenarios, such as the cold of a winter storm, people need dependable shelter. Minimizing CO exposure is one way to help ensure safe and healthy homes. Exposure to low levels of CO on a daily basis is not typically harmful to people, but CO can build up fast and lead to explosions or fires if ignited. Monitoring and managing its presence is essential. If you have been injured by harmful exposure to high levels of CO from an appliance, space heater or other device in your home, contact an experienced personal injury attorney near you.

Safer Winter Driving

Provided by Connecticut Personal Injury Lawyers of Williams, Walsh, and O'Connor, LLC

The hazards posed by winter driving should not be taken lightly. If you do have an accident, low temperatures and the dangers presented by other drivers on the road will put you at risk for more injury.

Drivers can minimize winter driving risks by keeping their vehicles in top condition, their tires inflated and by giving themselves enough time to get to their destinations. Packing a winter safety kit (including warm clothes, blankets, boots, shovel, cell phone, flashlight, food and water) can help keep you safe if you do go off the road.

AAA Winter Driving Tips

AAA offers a number of tips for safe winter travel, including:

• Do not use cruise control when driving on any slippery surface.
• Do not try to get moving in a hurry. And take time to slow down for stoplights. Remember: It takes longer to slow down on icy roads.
• Drive slowly. Everything takes longer on snow-covered roads. Accelerating, stopping, turning — nothing happens as quickly as on dry pavement.
• The normal dry pavement following distance of three to four seconds should be increased to eight to ten seconds.
• Know your brakes. Whether you have antilock brakes or not, the best way to stop is threshold breaking. Keep the heel of your foot on the floor and use the ball of your foot to apply firm, steady pressure on the brake pedal.
• Stay home. If you really do not have to go out, stay home. Even if you can drive well in the snow, not everyone else can.

Among the Worst Hazards: Other Drivers

Despite doing your best to drive safely in winter, you cannot always avoid the danger of a negligent driver. If you or a loved one has been in an accident caused by another driver’s negligence, you may be eligible to receive compensation for your loss or injuries. A qualified personal injury attorney can review your case to determine whether it is possible to pursue for damages.

Restrictions Aim to Make Teenage Drivers in Connecticut Safer

Article provided by Williams, Walsh, and O'Connor, LLC

Beginning October 1st, 2009, first-time drivers in Connecticut will face new requirements to receive their driver's licenses, including a second driving test. These new requirements mark a departure from laws passed in 2008, which eliminated a test taken prior to licensure in favor of more time behind the wheel.

Lawmakers eliminated the second written test in an attempt to emphasize actual driving skills instead of the hypothetical situations posed by tests. Driving instructors discovered, however, that many students simply did not take their classes as seriously without the impending exam. Instructors worried that teens would not adequately understand the rules of the road and, having no test to study for, would be less inclined to try.

So, legislators brought the test back.

Prospective teen drivers in Connecticut now face two exams. Students must first pass a 25-question test prior to receiving a learner's permit. The second, reinstated exam is now required before a teen driver's final driving test with an agent from the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

Focus on Safety

Driver safety has been a main focus of Connecticut lawmakers in recent years. Since 2002, Connecticut has significantly upped restrictions on teenage drivers in an effort to curb driving fatalities.

Before they apply for their driver's licenses, teenagers in Connecticut must have had their learner's permits for at least six months and must have completed at least 40 hours of supervised driving practice. 16- and 17-year-old drivers may only transport their parents or a supervising adult over 20-years-old for the first three months after receiving their licenses and are not allowed on the road between midnight and 5:00am.

More Restrictions Possible

Even with the number of restrictions on teen drivers, some feel that more could be done to prevent fatal crashes. In April of this year, representatives from New York, Delaware and Maryland sponsored a bill that would create three tiers of licensing for teen drivers, beginning with a learner's permit, moving on to a restricted intermediate license, and ending with full licensure.

Under the proposed rules, teens would not be able to receive full licensure until the age of 18. Drivers within the first two tiers would be subject to more restrictions -- not unlike those already endured by 16-year-olds driving with permits.

Victim of Chimp Attack May Not Get Damages for Pain and Suffering

Article provided by Williams, Walsh, and O'Connor, LLC

Good trial lawyers tell compelling stories to juries in the courtroom. But if a court determines the Connecticut Workers' Compensation Division to be the proper legal venue for Charla Nash's story, no jury will hear it. On February 16, 2009, the 55-year-old woman was attacked by a chimpanzee named Travis. The chimp ripped off her face and hands. Now, Nash is blind, eats through a straw, and suffers partial brain damage.

Travis was a 200-pound chimp owned by Nash's employer, Sandra Herold. He turned on Nash when she tried to coax him back inside Herold's home office after he escaped. On the 911 call, there are screams. Travis grunts from exertion in the background. After Travis mauled Nash, the police arrived, and he opened the door to a cruiser. The police shot and killed him as he began to climb inside.

Nash filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Herold alleging, among other things, that Herold was negligent and responsible for her injuries. Herold, in turn, filed a workers' compensation claim on Nash's behalf, listing Nash as a full time employee of Desire Me Motors, Herold's towing company. The question is whether coaxing an escaped chimpanzee was part of Nash's job description. If so, the Connecticut Workers' Compensation Division -- not a jury in Stamford Superior Court -- would hear Nash's story.

ort law seeks to remedy injustices caused by negligence. It provides a means by which the injured may pursue remuneration from responsible parties. If Nash's lawsuit were to remain before the court, a jury would determine whether Herold was negligent for keeping Travis on the premises. The jury would also have an opportunity to award Nash damages for her pain and suffering.

Workers' compensation generally provides for the resolution of claims without regard to negligence. It caps an employer's liability while providing "automatic" compensation for employees injured on the job. Under Connecticut workers' compensation law, Nash's recovery may be limited to a portion of her salary for a set number of weeks and certain limited damages, as defined by statute. Connecticut workers' compensation law does not allow recovery for non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering.

The facts will be determinative. Nash lost her face, both hands, is blind, eats through a straw, and suffered partial brain damage. Can workers' compensation adequately address this? Perhaps -- if chimp duty was Nash's responsibility as a towing company employee.