In the present day, it’s no secret that anything you post online goes onto your digital permanent record. Deleted posts, while not visible to your friends or family, never fully disappear. Therefore, it is extremely imperative that those who enjoy sharing photos, status updates, and location information with their social media audiences be mindful about what they choose to post.

You wouldn’t want your boss to see your long-winded status update complaining about the new office policy, would you? Our guess is no. However, job security is no longer the only thing that can be threatened by social media – personal injury claims are too. Allow us to explain:

Inconsistent Images

Social media is not typically the most authentic place. Your feeds have given you the opportunity to present the most envy-inducing version of yourself to anyone who views them, and most people take advantage of that power.

Including defense attorneys.

If your life were dramatically altered after a car accident-related brain injury, chances are that you wouldn’t post or feel like posting when you were in the midst of dealing with painful side effects. Mental health issues caused by the accident will likely go unmentioned on your Facebook timeline, and details about the physical injuries you sustained will not be described in detail, if at all.

So how does it look to an opportunistic defense attorney, when on the one evening you decided to go to your friend’s annual Labour Day barbecue, multiple photos were taken and posted online that made it appear that you were out and about, having the time of your life?

This is where many sufferers who are seeking compensation for their injuries misstep. If you’re claiming the accident has dramatically affected your emotional life, but meanwhile, you’re trying to portray a carefree and happy image on social media, the defense could use that as evidence to have your case thrown out.

Proper Protocol

If you experience a personal injury, it is wise to avoid posting anything on social media from the day you are injured until the day your case has been settled in court. Despite your abstinence from social media, friends and family still have the power to post updates and images related to you. Therefore, it is highly advised that you speak to those within your inner circle about the potential risks associated with your social media presence, and ask them to avoid mentioning you online. Furthermore, while having airtight privacy settings is a good security step to take, the settings may not protect you from the defense gaining access to your posts.

Social media can be great fun, however, suffering after a personal injury is far from it.

Fast dial #1000 free from your cell and we’ll get you the support you need.

As far as cars go, there is a wide selection of technologically innovative models on the road right now that assist in elevating their driver’s socioeconomic image. For teenagers, having a vehicle is a symbol of independence that often leads to popularity, and as we look at older generations, there is little difference in the way having an expensive vehicle can affect social status.

However, carmakers can spend as many hours as they’d like creating newer, more advanced models to roll out onto the market, but no vehicle will ever provide its owner with the same amount of “The Effortlessly Cool Factor” that a motorcycle can.

Motorcycles, in all their glory, are a symbol. They’re relatively low maintenance, super fast, and even fuel-efficient. Unfortunately, motorcycles are far more dangerous for riders than vehicles are for drivers. In fact, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), motorcyclists are 30 times more likely to get into fatal collisions.

While many riders never get into a collision, the reality is that if you love riding your motorcycle, you should be doing so with caution. Here are some helpful tips for reducing your risk of injury or collision while you’re hitting the open road on your motorbike:

Don’t take Risks

It seems quite obvious, but for many riders, the appeal of speeding and weaving through traffic on the highway can be very strong. In fact, this dangerous behaviour not only puts your life in danger, but the lives of every other vehicle on the road. If you are riding a motorcycle, you are not exempt from the basic rules of the road. It’s as simple as that.

Buy Antilock Breaks

You’d presume that on motorbikes, which are proven to put riders at a higher risk than vehicles do to drivers, antilock breaks would be a staple. However, they are noticeably absent on a wide variety of bike models. This lifesaving feature prevents riders from experiencing loss of steering control due to locked breaks. According to IIHS, in fatal motorcycle collisions, antilock break systems are 37 percent less likely to be installed on the bikes that crashed. Do yourself a favour and make the investment. You’ll be thankful you did.

Wear a Helmet

No matter how many studies are published surrounding the lifesaving benefits of helmet use, there will always be individuals who choose to forego wearing one. It is our advice to not be that person. Even head injuries that are not fatal cause sufferers to experience life altering physical and mental health issues. As a rider, investing in and wearing a helmet that covers your entire face is the best way to practice prevention and protect yourself when you’re out on the streets.

While the aforementioned tips are far from the only steps that you as a rider can take to minimize your risk of injury, taking them will place you on the right path to becoming a defensive and cautious motorcycle rider. Motorcycle crashes can be devastating to riders and their families.

If you have been injured, and need legal assistance, call #1000 on your cell phone for free. We will offer you a free claim assessment.

Another summer has come and (nearly) gone. For parents, back to school season is one filled with both immense excitement and relief. But as the warm weather fades into your rearview, it’s imperative that you keep your eyes on the road ahead when dropping off and picking up your children from school. School buses are back on the roads, and children have been known to forget to look both ways before crossing the street. Plus, heavily crowded school drop off and pick up zones are known to be a nightmare for those navigating their way through them.

To avoid accident or injury, be sure to educate yourself with these useful “back to school” driving pointers:

Sharing the Road with School Busses

 They’re large, they’re yellow, and you can’t miss them. However, many drivers are unaware of these common safety precautions they should be taking when sharing the road with school busses:

• Increase the following distance between your vehicle and the bus, so that you have more time to stop if necessary.
• If passing a bus, do so with immense caution and keep and eye out for children who may walk into traffic without realizing the risks associated with their actions.

Drop off Zone Safety

 In the hours before and after school, rushed parents are often doing their best to navigate their way through densely congested pick up and drop off zones. Here are some of the best rules you should be following in order to safely move through a school’s drop off zone:

• Do not double-park.
• Opt to carpool if it’s a possibility, as it cuts down on traffic at the school.
• Do not pick up or drop off your children anywhere but the designated area.

A Word on Speeding

While speeding is frowned upon at all times, speeding within a school zone is especially reckless. As a parent, you are aware that children behave impulsively. Therefore, it isn’t difficult to imagine a scenario where a child crouching behind a parked vehicle on the road during a harmless game of hide and seek jumps out onto the road. You can never predict how children are going to behave, and this is why school zone regulations must be followed.

While the summer months may have been a well-deserved break from homework help, PTA meetings, and driving through the dreaded drop off zones – classes have commenced. As a driver, it is vital that you stay focused on the road and drive cautiously through student-populated areas. Unfortunately, not all drivers take the caution necessary to keep roads safe.

Fast dial #1000 free from your cell and we’ll get you the support you need.

The future has arrived. Due to powerful innovators, past pipe dreams of technologically advanced inventions are quickly becoming reality. Furthermore, the auto industry is a major innovative player. While it has produced awe-inspiring machinery advancements over the years, driverless cars will be the most groundbreaking product the public has seen to date.

In a typical vehicle, the driver controls everything from speed, lane changes, and direction. The margin for human error is so large that each week, millions of car accidents take place across the globe. Distracted driving is a becoming a serious issue that governments must combat, as too many lives have been lost or dramatically altered due to vehicle collisions that could have been avoided.

Driverless cars, on the other hand, will be safer due to the highly intelligent computers that will be operating them. However, there are ethical questions that car manufacturers must address quickly surrounding these autonomous vehicles that are set to hit the streets in mass quantities in the near future.

Programmed for Accidents

While there are presently already plenty of self-driving cars on the streets, they will be unable to be released en masse until auto innovators have made this ethically troubling decision: Who should the car save in the event of an unavoidable accident?

Let’s say that you went out in the next few years and bought yourself a self-driving car. In the months, even years after you’ve made your purchase, you’re completely satisfied with the vehicle and all the convenience it has brought into your life. Everything about the car is great, until one day while driving your typical route to work you find yourself approaching what will undoubtedly be an unavoidable collision. Five pedestrians have run out into the street, and the only way your car can avoid hitting them is to steer itself into the nearby brick wall, killing you in the process.

The Undecided Answer

This is where things become difficult. Of course, minimizing the death toll is important, but not many people will want to purchase a car that is programmed to kill them despite the risk of accidents being higher if they bought a regular vehicle.

Automakers will soon decide, albeit after conducting meticulous research, how to approach this ethical dilemma. Regardless of their decision, there will certainly be many more aspects to consider when seeking compensation for driverless car related injuries.

If you have been injured, and need legal assistance, call #1000 on your cell phone for free. We will offer you a free claim assessment.

What child doesn’t love going to the playground? It isn’t just the slides, swings, and sand pits that can provide hours of fun. The playground gives children opportunities to socialize with their peers, exercise, and simply enjoy their carefree age. However, as cheerful as children are at the playground, there is always a risk of injury when they are at play.

Each year, more than 28,000 children are injured on Canadian playgrounds. To help ensure that your child remains safe, the Canadian Safety Council advises that parents take note of the “5 S’s of playground safety”:

Structure

 Playground structures are evolving to be made out of higher quality materials. Many older ones, however, are less advanced. Before you allow your child to run free on a play structure, ensure that:

• All staircases or steps have good traction.
• Swing set seats are made of soft material with spacing of at least two feet apart.
• Swing sets are situated a good distance away from the main playground.
• The slides are not metal, as hot metal in the sun has the potential to burn skin.

Surface

If a child falls from a play structure, what the ground surface is made of can be a deciding factor on whether a child gets injured. Surfaces should be shock absorbing, and ones made out of wood chips, shredded rubber, and sand can minimize the risk of falling-related injuries. Asphalt, dirt, concrete, and grass, however, are unsafe. Furthermore, surfaces should be 12 inches deep, and surround the entire playground radius.

Supervision

As a parent, you know that supervision is a critical part of keeping your child safe. Since children are not always aware, or ignore completely the risks of climbing unsafely on playgrounds, it is the parent’s job to ensure that their child is playing safely.

Site

Unfortunately, playgrounds are a common place for teenagers to go at nightfall. Once you arrive, be sure to scan the site and look for any broken glass, or nails and bolts from the equipment laying around.

Safety

Before allowing your child to participate in playground games with his or her friends, take the time to go over any playground rules posted at the park. By ensuring that your child understands the risks associated with playing on the structure before they take off, you can dramatically reduce their desires to engage in risky behaviours. Furthermore, most playgrounds have separate areas for different age groups, and parents of toddlers should make sure their child stays away from the larger structures designed for older children.

While parents can certainly do their part to keep their children safe at the playground, sometimes a child’s injury is simply due to lack of maintenance. There is only so much injury prevention a parent can practice, so cities must do their part to properly maintain their playgrounds.

Fast dial #1000 free from your cell and we’ll get you the support you need.

For your precious pooch, trips to the dog park can be a weekly highlight. Chasing tails, competitive fetch, and sniffing new scents make off leash parks ideal places for owners to stop by on their daily dog walks to help socialize their pet. However, things can go south quickly if owners fail to monitor their dog’s activity and temperament.

You see, dogs are mans best friend – until they’re not. A dog bite, whether the victim is a human or another dog, can be extremely painful to deal with depending on the severity and location of the attack.

If you’re planning on heading to the dog park anytime in the near future, be sure to brush up on everything you need to know about dog bite liability:

Don’t Rule your Pup Out

Don’t think your dog will bite another dog or stranger at the off-leash park? Canada sees 500,000 dog bites each year, and all of those offending pups were certainly just as beloved to their owners as your animal is to you.

Unfortunately, most people do not understand the responsibilities they have as dog owners, and the legal troubles that they can face if their canine bites. Even the most well-behaved and diligently trained dogs can pose a risk – as humans can never fully understand the behaviour of animals when they’re placed in unfamiliar territory.

Regardless of whether or not your dog is always on his or her best behaviour around loved ones, always be aware that things can take a turn for the worse when owners become too lax about supervision.

Know your Responsibilities

 If your dog bites another dog or owner, and there were witnesses to the event, the victim has the right to phone animal services. If contact is made, animal services job will then be to find out whether or not your dog is “vicious or dangerous.” This definition could mean any of the following:

• A dog that has attacked, bitten, or caused injury to a person or has demonstrated a propensity, tendency, or disposition to do so.
• A dog that, while running at large, has aggressively pursued or harassed a person.
• A dog that, while running at large, has aggressively pursued or harassed a domestic animal.
• A dog with a known propensity to attack or injure a person without provocation.

However, if your animal is found to be a threat, it doesn’t mean you will be ordered to put it down. In some locations, dog bite cases result in public muzzling rulings for the animal.

The Reality of Legal Proceedings

 Although Ontario used to judge cases based on the “one bite” rule, that allowed dogs one bite before their owner could be found negligent, things have changed dramatically.

The Dog Owner’s Liability Act in Ontario rules that proving owner negligence is not required of dog bite victims when seeking compensation for their injuries. However, if your dog has bitten someone, the liabilities you may be asked to pay can vary depending on whether your canine was provoked or teased by the victim.

At the end of the day, domesticated animals rarely attack unless they feel threatened. Before taking your dog to the park, it’s imperative that they are already adequately socialized with other dogs and animals to ensure they don’t become overwhelmed and fearful when faced with a plethora of new furry faces. Even once the dog park is part of your basic routine, stay diligent and never take your eyes off your pet.

If you or your pet has been attacked at the dog park, seeking compensation for medical expenses can be an important step on the path to full recovery.

If you have been injured, and need legal assistance, call #1000 on your cell phone for free. We will offer you a free claim assessment.