Butler Personal Injury Law Blog

In the old days, truckers would stop and use payphones when they needed to get in touch with co-workers or loved ones. When they were on the road, they were essentially out of contact for hours at a time. They did use radios to talk to other truck drivers, but part of the reason for their stops was so that they could have phone access -- along with gas, food and other essentials.

Those days are over. Payphones are obsolete and nearly impossible to find. The cellphone industry completely crushed them, right along with house phones. These days, most people carry their phones everywhere they go and they can get in contact with others at any time.

We're all familiar with the 18-wheeler hauling cargo down a major freeway. Since they are so commonplace, the average person may become desensitized to their potential danger. However, that false sense of security can come to a screeching end when a person or a loved one is involved in a truck accident and suffers serious injuries. The truth is, commercial trucks can have a life-changing impact if a person is involved in a truck accident.

Did you know that commercial trucks are regulated by federal guidelines? Because of their size, potentially dangerous cargo, the speed at which they travel and other factors, commercial trucks are expected to follow strict regulations that regular passenger vehicles do not have to think about. These include regulations on the truck driver, including the amount of time they can drive before legally taking a break. There are also regulations on the truck itself.

An everyday errand or walk with the dog could suddenly take a turn for the worse. This could happen quickly, in the blink of an eye, in a slip-and-fall accident. There really is no need to decode the term 'slip-and-fall' as it is exactly what it sounds like. Slip and falls can be complete unforeseen accidents, or they could have involvement in terms of another's liability and/or negligence.

With cooler weather and winter weather officially here, slip-and-falls can happen outside on slick ground or ice. If the slip-and-fall happened on another's property (especially in the constraints of a public area, like a sidewalk) or in the entryway of a business, it could mean the property owner shares some level of accountability and responsibility for that person's injury. Property owners are expected to uphold a standard of care, a reasonableness, concerning the safety of their property. For instance, a wet floor, left un-mopped in the entryway of a store could easily render a person to slip-and-fall causing injury.

As soon as the summer ends, we enter a string of holidays that makes the fall and beginning of winter fun and exciting. It's really a festive time for family and friends. The run of holidays lasts all the way until New Year's Day, when we move forward into the next year with those warm holiday memories now behind us.