In an urban community like New York City, injury lawyers must consider the real risks people face on a daily basis. Many of these are related to the busy, congested streets that residents have to navigate in all five boroughs and around the general metro area.
In a sense, evaluating public health and safety involves a very concrete kind of analysis of spatial areas. The city streets are so important because they’re used for so many things. Motor vehicles have to contend with bicycles and pedestrians. Service providers have to navigate areas to reach customers. Individual residents have to commute to and from work, run errands and otherwise travel through the same infrastructure.
Negligence In Using Curb Areas
One way to look at the city street is to separate out the vehicle transport area from the ‘living area,’ or, in other words, the sidewalk area that pedestrians share with vendors, bus stops and other installations along a city block.
In really looking closely at how these areas are used, you can see that the use of curb and sidewalk areas can be as important as the use of the actual street. Traffic collisions and conventional car accidents happen mostly in the actual lanes of travel, but many other types of pedestrian accidents and injuries happen away from the street in public areas.
A Cluttered Landscape
When individuals or businesses leave items unattended on a sidewalk, they are further complicating an already complex picture. One example is piles of garbage piled up on a curb area. These obstacles can limit sight distance for motor vehicles, present slip and fall dangers for pedestrians or otherwise endanger those who use the area regularly.
The same goes for loose construction materials, discarded or abandoned home goods or anything else that will pose an obstacle on a walkway. That’s not to mention the severe and sometimes tragic consequences facing those who throw an item out of a window onto the ground below, which is a flagrantly neglectful and reckless act that will lead to major liability.
When New York City personal injury lawyers are called on to represent their clients’ interests in court, they will look at all of these types of problems to determine if any negligence or inattention to public safety contributed to an accident. Parties responsible for leaving garbage, junk or unattended items on or near a street will often have some liability and responsibility to compensate injury victims.
Let New York City Injury Attorneys Help You
New York City residents who are injured in an accident in a public space can call the lawyers at Rosenberg, Minc, Falkoff & Wolff. We understand how to bring personal injury cases through local courts and we have experience helping New York City families to manage their affairs by pursuing money for care and recovery for a family member. Let us help you move a personal injury case forward in New York.