Spring Safety

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Jarome Gautreaux

           Spring is in the air and summer’s almost here, and with warm weather comes lawn maintenance.  We read a lot about sun, swimming and bicycle safety, but lawn safety seems all too often to be overlooked.   Cutting the grass is more of a chore than summertime fun, and sometimes, in an effort to get the yard work done quickly, we forego safety.    

          According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, each year approximately 68,000 people are treated in emergency rooms with injuries caused by power mowers (this doesn’t even include injuries from other lawn equipment), with more than 9,000 of those being younger than 18 years old.  Injuries include deep cuts, loss of fingers and toes, broken and dislocated bones, burns, eye and other injuries, some very serious.  In my practice, I have seen firsthand how badly a person can be injured by a lawnmower.  It wasn’t my client’s fault that he was injured, but it confirms the need for people to be vigilant about safety when it comes to handling power equipment, even if you’re an expert. 

                I have found a website that gives an exhaustive list of safety tips for lawn maintenance.  I encourage anyone reading this article to visit the website http://juniorbiz.com/lawn-mowing-safety-tips

                Above all, remember this:

·         Make sure someone knows when you are working with power tools in the yard.  If you are injured you want someone to be able to call for help.

·         No Child younger than 16 should use a ride-on mower. 

·         No Child younger than 12 should use a push mower.

·         Make sure you know where children are at all times.  They should be a safe distance from the area you are mowing and safely away from any flying debris, such as rocks.

·         Wear safety goggles and sturdy shoes, not sandals. 

·         READ THE MANUALS AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR ALL OF YOUR POWER EQUIPMENT. 

                Be smart about keeping your yard looking nice this summer.  Think of all that can go wrong and take steps to prevent it from happening. 

 

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Texting Laws and Facts You Need To Know

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Jarome Gautreaux

 

Deaths and Injuries Involving Distracted Driving

In a recent entry I led you to a website that showed you the tragic stories of children who had lost their lives as a result of distracted driving.  Today I thought I’d share with you some of the nationwide statistics on auto accidents that occur as a result of distracted driving.** 

  •   20 percent of injury crashes in 2009 involved reports of distracted driving. (NHTSA).
  •   Using a cell phone while driving, whether it’s hand-held or hands-free, delays a driver's         reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent.   (Source: University of Utah)
  •   In 2009, there were 30,797 fatal crashes in the United States, which involved 45,230  drivers. In those crashes 33,808 people died.

        * *Unless specifically noted, distracted driving includes anything that may distract a driver while driving, such as but not limited to using a cell phone, eating, drinking, talking with passengers, grooming, reading, changing the radio station, using a navigation system or watching t.v.

       Georgia's Laws

        So what are the cell phone and texting laws in Georgia?  Currently, there is not an all out ban on handheld cell phone use while driving; however, there are some restrictions.

  • Bus Drivers and Drivers under 18 – Completely banned from using cell phones while driving.  In fact, you can be pulled over and cited for using a cell phone without any other traffic offense if you fall into this category
  • All Drivers – Completely banned from texting while driving.*  Again, drivers may be pulled over and cited for texting while driving even without any other traffic offense having taken place. *

There are some exceptions to these restrictions, which may be found by going to www.gahighwaysafety.org/textingsafety  and reading the law prohibiting texting while driving.  

*This information was obtained from the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) at www.ghsa.or/html/stateinfo/bystate/ga.html  

 Accident related statistics in Georgia may be found at www.gahighwaysafety.org/statistics/overall.html

 

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A Great New Blog for Trial Lawyers

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Jarome Gautreaux

      Trial lawyers have a great resource in the blog, wyzgaonwords, from Diane Wyzga.  Diane is a friend and an outstanding storyteller and litigation consultant.  She is passionately committed to the study of storytelling and the application of this knowledge to help lawyers understand best how to tell a story.  Diane has been an enormous help to us in conducting focus groups and crafting stories to best communicate our case to juries.

     Using Diane's work with us in focus groups, we have been able to reject certain stories that seemed plausible before we did the focus groups, and craft stories that addressed the points that really mattered to the focus groups.  This has been invaluable to us.  

     The concept of storytelling is not new, of course.  I had a philosophy professor, a man I deeply admired, who was fond of saying that there's been no really new intellectual discoveries since the Greeks.  He was (mostly) joking, but we can read a fairly sophisticated analysis of storytelling in the ancient Greeks, perhaps most clearly in Aristotle's Poetics.  

     But it seems that law school, with its heavy (and probably necessary) emphasis on facts and well-defined issues, can sometimes dampen our enthusiasm or willingness to communicate through story rather than a "stack of facts."   The art of storytelling is sometimes lost on us lawyers, and it's exciting that we are experiencing a renewal of interest in the art of storytelling. 

     For me, the study of storytelling is an ongoing, exciting and sometimes difficult process, as I try to create a story with the right perspective, the right sequence, the right point of view, the right beginning and the right ending, never knowing for sure if it is exactly right.  Diane is a leader in the resurgence of storytelling as an important form of communication, particularly for lawyers.  Please take moment to check out her blog.  

     

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