San Jose Personal Injury Law Blog

Owners of property are responsible for ensuring that their premises are safe for anyone entering into their buildings. If someone slips and falls and sustains a serious injury, then he or she may have a claim against the property owner for premises liability.

Thousands of people flocked to a Walmart store back in 2010 hoping to score deeply discounted items during a Black Friday event.

The month of May is designated as Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month. The NHTSA wants to use the month of May to get across the message that safer motorcycle riding and sharing the roads properly with motorcycles will prevent motorcycle accidents all year round. 

Even though people can ride motorcycles year round usually in California, the use of motorcycles around the country goes up in the spring months when people are excited to get their motorcycles back out on the open road.

The fact that motorcyclists are exposed to the open air is one of the draws of riding a motorcycle -- the feel of freedom. This fact, however, also means that a motorcyclist is exposed to more dangers than a motorist who is protected by the metal of a car and its many safety features, such as air bags. A motorcyclist has nothing to defend him or herself besides the gear they wear and their riding skills.

Target is a well-known retail chain, known for its clean atmosphere and well-lit stores in California and elsewhere. But how clean must a store actually be to avoid liability for injuries resulting on a business owner's premises?

This is the question that a jury may end up deciding involving Target and a shopper who was injured during a slip-and-fall accident in one of their stores.

For California residents who have suffered a brain injury in an accident the consequences can be life changing. Currently, there is very little that doctors can do to limit the extent of the brain injury once the damage has been done.

However, research is currently underway that has some researchers in the field hoping to finally have a useful treatment for those who have suffered a serious head injury.

As discussed in the previous post, professional football players and parents and coaches of youth players have become more aware in the last couple of years of the importance of preventing brain injuries. A lawsuit has even been filed by former pro football players accusing the NFL and helmet-maker Riddell of concealing the true knowledge of how brain injuries could affect them long-term and not doing enough to protect them.

The knowledge that repeated concussions can lead to dementia, depression and other long-term problems down the road has caused players and coaches to rethink their approach to the game and the most important piece of protective equipment -- the helmet.

One new helmet model features gel-filled pouches that fit over the helmet and help it cushion a player's head from dangerous blows. Last year the pouches were provided to 600 players. None reported a concussion. Another company has developed a helmet that incorporates air-filled pads rather than foam.

High-impact collisions are part of the game of football. Today's players are bigger, stronger and faster than their counterparts of yesteryear. But their most important piece of equipment hasn't kept pace.

The first football helmets were little more than open-faced skull caps with leather padding. Later, a plastic shell with a foam insert and facemask became standard. The helmet's basic structure hasn't changed much since the 1950s.

But grim facts about head injuries have surfaced in recent years. And the past two years have seen professional players as well as parents and coaches of youth sports players begin to be more aware of the danger of repeated concussions and the importance of preventing brain injuries.

It's Work Zone Safety Awareness Week and the U.S. Department of Transportation wants drivers in California and across the country to hear the message: Don't barrel through work zones!

According to the DOT, 576 people were killed in 2010 in work zone car crashes. An additional 37,000 people were injured in car accidents in road construction zones. Of the people killed, 10 to 15 percent were road construction workers, while 85 to 90 percent were drivers and passengers passing through the work zone.

Even though fatal car accidents have been decreasing overall, there are still too many people dying on America's highways in car accidents caused by speeding and aggressive driving. According to a recent piece on "The Car Connection," most of the reduction in fatal car accidents can be attributed to improved safety features in vehicles, rather than improved driving skills or habits by motorists.

The Governors Highway Safety Association says that one-third of all fatal car accidents are caused by speeding. That's 10,530 lives lost in 2010 because a motorist was driving too fast. The GSA wants states to do more to curb dangerous speeding on America's highways in order to further reduce traffic fatalities from speeding-related car accidents.