Category: Accidents

Halloween: the Scariest Night of the Year for Personal Injury Lawyers

Halloween, steeped in its Celtic origins, has been embraced as a fun holiday by most Canadians, including children, teenagers, and adults. For those who celebrate Halloween, this is a wonderful time of the year. For an experienced plaintiff’s personal injury lawyer, however, Halloween can be a very scary night.

Young children, decked out in colourful costumes idealizing what they would like to be, or dressed as their favourite pop culture character, will run from house to house to gather treats from strangers, frequently in unknown neighbourhoods and in darkness. Teenagers will gather for raucous Halloween parties with their friends, frequently indulging in alcohol or drugs. Continue reading

The Real Costs of Distracted Driving

Distracted driving, as a contributing cause of serious accidents, is not new but the causes of distraction have increased as our society adopts new and more pervasive technology.

The RCMP considers distracted driving a form of impaired driving, because “a driver’s judgement is compromised when they are not fully focused on the road.” In Alberta alone, there were 23,546 distracted driving convictions in 2018. In an effort to reduce distracted driving incidents, as of January 1, 2016, penalties for distracted driving in Alberta began to include three demerit points in addition to a $287 fine.

Research released by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety indicates that drivers using mobile devices, whether hands-free or hand-held, are more than four times as likely to be involved in a crash. Continue reading

Drivers and Pedestrians. Do You Follow the Rules of the Road?

You’re out for a quick jog before work. It’s early and summer traffic is light, you decide to cut across a normally busy Edmonton street. Just like that—and out of nowhere—a car swerves into your path, missing you by centimetres.

Even if the above scenario has never happened to you, it’s increasingly possible in our fast-paced world. Even pedestrians who stay within the crosswalk may feel unsafe amid a sea of drivers who feel tired, distracted, or entitled to ignore the rules of the road.

Be proactive about preventing accidents; take time to refresh your memory and learn more about drivers’ and pedestrians’ basic responsibilities to each other. Continue reading

It’s Summer in Canada! That Means Boats and the Potential for Boating Accidents

Memories of a long hard winter fade into the past as Canadians begin to enjoy a favourite time of year – summer! Part of the fun includes water sports – sailing, power boating, water skiing, tubing, canoeing, kayaking, and swimming in our beautiful lakes. It’s never a bad idea to give some serious thought to water safety, and this is especially true when you are likely to be enjoying group activities that include young children.

Proactive Water Safety

Taking care to enjoy water sports safely means following basic safety protocols including the following:

  • Assess your swimming skills and the differing abilities of those in your group.
Continue reading

School’s out! Summer Safety Reminders for Drivers, Parents, and Kids

Summer is well underway, and school is out for elementary, junior and senior high school age children. The summer means more kids on bikes, skateboards, and on foot (plugged into their smartphones). It also means an uptick in young people learning to drive. All of these things increase the potential for injuries to children. For drivers, this means you need to tune up your “kid radar” and drive defensively with a view to doing your part to ensure their safety and to protect yourself against liability.

In Alberta, ss. 185 and 186 of the Traffic Safety Act create a reverse presumption against drivers, such that if there is a collision between a motorist and a non-motorist (for example, a collision between a car and a child walking or on a bike), the onus is on the driver of the vehicle to prove that the accident did not arise solely because of their negligent operation of the vehicle. Continue reading

Confused About Alberta’s Minor Injury Regulation?

In 2004, the insurance industry successfully lobbied the Alberta provincial government to “cap” damages payable to motor vehicle accident victims for minor injuries. Since that time, some insurance representatives have argued that the top damage award payable under the cap, is awarded only to those who have suffered the most serious “minor injuries,” and they then attempt to bargain down from this minimal sum. Some insurance representatives may also take the position that your injuries clearly fall within the “cap,” when in fact they do not, either due to the nature of the injuries or because the injuries resulted in a serious impairment. Continue reading