Between 2011-2016, more than 3,300 people died when driving in construction zones. Most of these crashes occur on roads with speed limits that are higher than 50. It’s common for drivers to maintain a high speed while driving in a construction zone, which can be dangerous and increase the risk of an accident. If you want to lessen your risk of being involved in a construction zone accident, the following offers helpful safety tips and guidelines that should bolster your safety while on the road.

Truck underride accidents occur when a small vehicle crashes into the back or sides of the cargo area of a large truck, typically an 18-wheeler. Underride accidents remain one of the most dangerous types of collisions you can possibly have. According to the latest data from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, an organization that collects data on automobile accidents, 3,436 deaths were linked to underride accidents in 2019.

As wrongful death attorneys with experience helping families recover after the unexpected loss of a loved one, we know there are many questions and uncertainties about the legal process. Filing a wrongful death claim can be intimidating, and often leaves families asking: How long does a wrongful death case take? It’s not an overstatement to say that every case is unique, and assigning an exact timeframe to a wrongful death case in some ways puts it at a disadvantage for a successful outcome. This is a complicated legal process that could take several months or years, depending on the circumstances.

Car accidents are a leading cause of death for children 13 and under. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics show that one out of every three children killed in a vehicle crash was not properly secured in a car seat. Deaths as preventable as these should not be allowed to occur. It takes the work of adults to make sure that children are kept safe in vehicles on the road.

Windshield wipers perform the essential service of clearing water, debris, dirt, dust, and precipitation from the windscreens of our cars. Although it’s a very simple act of car maintenance, you can actually prevent accidents by changing your windshield wiper blades regularly.

The benefits of using a bicycle for transportation are abundant. Fresh air. Exercise. Decreased stress levels. Reduced carbon footprint. A closer connection with the local community. Better heart and lung health. Enjoyment of the surrounding scenery. Efficiency. Improved navigational skills.

But those who take their bicycles on roads heavily populated by cars should rightly wonder: Is road cycling dangerous? There’s no doubt that a bicycle is highly vulnerable when surrounded by vehicles roughly 100 times its size in weight. A 20-pound open-air machine is no match for one ton of enclosed metal. There are certainly many dangers to cyclists on roadways. But riding a bike is statistically much safer than driving a car—only about 2% of vehicle crash deaths each year are bicyclists.

On average, over one-fifth of vehicle crashes are caused by weather. Rain—which decreases visibility and makes road surfaces slippery—statistically increases the chances of car accidents, truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, and even bicycle accidents. When rain is involved in high-speed travel, an accident that may have been less severe on a clear day can turn deadly. Bad weather is one of the most common causes of car accidents resulting in fatality.

One of the unanticipated cultural side effects of COVID-19 was a phenomenon that has been referred to as a “bike boom.” The city of Charleston has long been a favorite with bicyclists both local and tourist. And the rise in biking for transportations over the past two years has increased the number of bikes on our roads. But an increase in the number of bikes has brought with it a rising number of bicycle accidents. More than ever, it’s important to know how to ride a bike safely.

We need good systems of accountability for our hospitals and medical care facilities. In a country in which medical mistakes rank among the top three causes of death each year, we more than ever need ever-improving methods for identifying and fixing weaknesses in our state and national medical systems. Ranking and scoring hospitals on quality of care is one way to help hold medical institutions accountable. Although a shining report card does not eliminate the possibility of medical malpractice, it is an effective way to encourage responsibility, and a way for current and future patients to learn about a facility’s history of patient care.

There is a general public misconception that loss of consortium in a personal injury claim always refers to a relationship between spouses, and usually one of a sexual nature. But loss of consortium is a much wider term. So what does “loss of consortium” include? Loss of consortium covers several types of social and emotional benefits, and, in addition to relationships between spouses, can also include relationships between close family members, such as between parent and child. In short, loss of consortium is when someone is deprived of the vital benefits of a family relationship.

Let’s look more closely at the meaning of this term and how it applies to personal injury cases—in most situations, wrongful death cases.