I mentioned in my latest article (Dangerous Dozing Drivers) that road traffic accidents are not uncommon – and we at The Injury Lawyers take on a great deal of new road traffic accident claims on a daily basis. But what should you do if you have been in an accident that wasn’t your fault? Well here’s a little friendly advice for you: -

1. Don’t Panic!

I know – this is a lot easier said than done! And of course is rather circumstantial if you have been involved in a big car accident… But try not to panic and try to remain calm. It’s likely you are in shock from the impact, and may be feeling a little dazed and unsure what to do. This is probably the hardest part – but if you can keep your head together, then the next steps might be a little easier.
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Road traffic accidents – they’re the most straight forward of cases to run when it comes to personal injury claims. In the vast majority of instances, the blame is easy to establish. And there are many ways a driver can be negligent and cause an accident – so here’s an example from the Daily Mail today!

According to sources from the Mail, famous British adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes has been allegedly involved in a multi-car head on collision after falling asleep at the wheel of his Jaguar (source)
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I don’t know about you, but I can sympathise with anyone who has ever been a little nervous stepping on to a plane. Let’s put it into perspective; that massive white metal barrel your stepping in is going to be flying tens of thousands of feet off the ground! So you’d like to think that airlines and airports take safety very seriously. But according to two separate report s from the BBC, we may not be as safe as we think…

According to a recent report from the BBC, a Swedish pilot was arrested by Dutch police just moments before he was to take off in a jet from Amsterdam to Turkey carrying 101 people – without a license! (source)

According to Turkey’c Corendon Airlines, the unnamed 41 year old mad has been flying for the airline for two years, and were quoted to have said the perjurious pilot “expertly misled the company with his false papers”. The man in question once had a license to fly small planes, however this was overdue, and doesn’t really  stand as much comfort for anyone to be honest either! According to the report, the man was “relieved his long deception was uncovered and tore off his pilot’s stripes in the cockpit.” He is now rightly in police custody  awaiting trial.
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The Sale of Goods and Services Act 1982; ever heard of it? It’s an important piece of modern legislation, and I think it’s safe to say it’s one that affects us all! Have you ever bought a product and it hasn’t worked the way it should? Or even perhaps it hasn’t lasted for as long as it should? I know I’ve certainly been on the end of that frustrating stick – and according to a BBC report, faulty goods are costing consumers on average £78 a year; a staggering £5,000 a lifetime! (source)

So why is this the case? Well according to the report, people are too worried about returning a faulty product through nerves, embarrassment, or fear of intimidation! The Poll from the Department for Business revealed that nearly half of those questioned had at least one faulty product at home. Low value items reportedly tend to be kept, and the highest complained about item were second-hand cars.

Personally, I have no qualms about returning a faulty product – but remarkably the results of the 3000 people spread indicated that men are losing more money than women in failing to return faulty goods! Costs for men was found to be at £89 per year on average, compared to £71 a year for women. Men apparently felt more intimidated, whilst women felt more embarrassed.
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Ok, so we all get it sometimes… Someone cuts you up on a roundabout, or pulls out in front of you from a side road; and you respond with a short expletive and a bash of the horn. But when road rage turns fatal, it’s an altogether different, and tragic, story. I’ve heard of some appalling instances of road rage before, but this story really is such a tragedy:

According to one BBC report, a man from a notorious Glasgow crime family has admitted killing a man in an act of road rage terrible road rage (source).

Twenty-eight year old Paul Lyons (28) rammed Mark Fleeman’s van on the M74 in an act of drink and drugs fuelled road rage, at a time when Lyons was serving a driving ban! Tragically, Mr Freeman suffered fatal injuries after his vehicle was overturned and taken off the road during the incident, just seconds after a desperate 999 call was made to police with the operator allegedly hearing the impact.
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Anyone a football fan? If you support a team like I do (Hull City AFC), then you may relate to the contents of this one – The saying “roller-coaster of a ride” is probably an understatement given my teams, highs and lows in the last two to three seasons! And a heart attack at a football stadium is apparently not uncommon given the emotional pendulum we fans endure through at a match; in fact, according to sources form the BBC, European football grounds lack the essential equipment required to save the life of a person suffering form heart attack on the premises (source)! 

The report quotes that most stadiums consider having this type of equipment to be good practice (Referring to Hull’s performance again, I would like to think KC Stadium has got a few of these!)  – However, the conclusions from a recent study indicate that more than a quarter of a 187 grounds analysed did not have defibrillators on site; and many didn’t even have any emergency planning in place.
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Yes, we saw the program; and of course I couldn’t stop myself from writing about it! For those of you that don’t know what I’m talking about, the title of this article is from a recent Channel 4 television program that takes a look at both sides of the business in claiming for compensation; the innocent victims, and those alleged to be at fault for their accidents…

www.channel4.com/scams-claims-and-compensation-games

And some of the contents of the program were certainly true! Unfortunately we personal injury lawyers do on occasion get a bad rep for the work we do. But it doesn’t half make us feel good when we get a top result for a victim of an accident that wasn’t their fault!

But to discuss some of the issues in the program:
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Asbestos  -we all know, and are all aware, of the hazards  of the silicate that has been removed from countless places over the last few decades since its dangers were discovered. And there can’t be much worse than asbestos worries in schools really, can there…

According to sources form the BBC (source), a snapshot survey of 16 schools has indicated that some British schools continue to fail in meeting the legal requirements to protect children from the dangers of asbestos. The report of 16 schools showed that none of them complied with safety standards in place for managing the harmful substance – which is a concerning fact!

Teaching Unions have since called for a full audit to be carried out on the dangers of the potentially cancer-causing silicate, since government policy in place is for the management of the substance, not its removal. Reportedly however, many schools lack the resources to effectively manage asbestos, leaving them open to serious potential dangers, according to Atac (Asbestos Training and Consultancy Association). Association of Teachers and Lecturers general secretary Dr Mary Bousted has called for an independent body to be set up, to monitor and advise on the management and removal of the substance.
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No action is to be taken against an Ayrshire surgeon who removed the wrong kidney from a cancer patient, leaving him facing a life on dialysis.

According to the BBC, the General Medical Council (or GMC) had been considering whether to strike Riza Murat Gurun off the medical register. However, it said that a combination of factors led to the mistake. It heard that pre-operative scans had wrongly identified the tumour in the right kidney.

The GMC decided that the surgeon’s fitness to practice was not impaired. It said that it was not necessary to issue the surgeon with a formal warning.
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According to the BBC, the Advertising Standards Authority (or ASA) ruled that the eight advertisements which aired during an episode of Sherlock Holmes were “excessively strident”.

However, it did state that noise complaints have gone down regarding advertisements over the last two years since the rules were tightened.

ITV3 stated that as the series was made in the 1980s it had many silent pauses so the commercial seemed louder. They also stated that the loudness of the advertisements were “appropriate and consistent in the context of the overall loudness of the channel”.
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