Burnaby Personal Injury Law Blog

Injuries suffered due to a roadway accident can be minor, serious, critical or life-threatening. Even when minor, injuries can turn out to have fatal consequences. This is what happened when a mother of four was struck down while standing at a bus stop in Maple Ridge, British Columbia. Given the circumstances, a family bereaved in this unexpected way may consider pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit.

According to news reports at the time of the accident, the victim and one of her sons were transported to hospital with non life-threatening injuries. It's conceivable that the family were comforted by this information, which suggested that neither the woman nor her son were in danger of death. Sadly, as personal injury lawyers know from experience, serious medical issues can arise from even apparently minor injuries.

It's difficult to know for sure but statistics are ramping up against the value of daylight savings time. "Spring forward, fall back" is a catchy mnemonic that is now being questioned all across Canada. Except for Saskatchewan, all provinces adhere to this wartime tradition. On the Mondays following the seasonal time change, British Columbians are more likely to be the victims of a pedestrian accident than usual.

Experts continue to debate why this should be so. Some say that the loss of one hour's sleep significantly decreases alertness in drivers -- and possibly the vigilance of pedestrians. Others downplay the hour's loss, claiming that only someone who is already sleep-deprived lacks the reserves to handle the time change. It may seem like a case of "six of one, half-dozen of the other," but the victims of a pedestrian accident might well consider the assistance of a personal injury lawyer in determining cause.

It's all too often the case, or rather, the cause. Cell phone use while driving can cause a car accident in the blink of an eye. According to recent statistics, more accidents occur due to distracted driving than impaired driving. Reportedly, 78 lives are lost each year in British Columbia because of drivers' attention distracted from the road by talking or texting on a cell phone.

Pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists are most likely to be victims of a distracted driver than of any other -- a fact cited by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) only a year and a half ago. At the time, fines were doubled and driving demerit points increased from three to four. Cold comfort when one considers the vulnerability to serious injury or death by pedestrians and other roadway users.

As the old saying goes: courtesy costs nothing. Arguably, the opposite may be proved true when a lack of courtesy on the road causes a car accident. It seems trivial and may even sound trite, but excessive losses reported by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) are, in part, being attributed to discourteous drivers disrespectful of some of the most basic rules of the road.

According to a former director, cutting off another driver, excessive speeding and yelling at other drivers figure among the reasons that the province holds the nationwide record for poor driving practices. In a survey following a road rage incident that went viral, responses from British Columbia residents showed the highest incidence of bad driving, ranging from rude to dangerous. Even something as common as driving through a stop sign can cause an accident event.