Not too long ago, I shared some things I would never do, all of which I learned from representing Plaintiffs in serious personal injury cases. When I finally put those together I realized they all had to do with elevators. This list of “never do” things are the non-elevator related things I have come to learn never to do.
- Never keep and drive a vehicle that is over 10 years old. This is because the last possible claim for a manufacturing defect would have to be brought within the Georgia Statute of Repose, which is 10 years. Drive an older car and something goes wrong that is the manufacturer’s fault, you are out of luck.
- Never jump on a trampoline. The percentage of cervical spinal cord injuries, that often result in quadriplegia, are due to a person breaking his/her neck (fracturing the neck leading to irreparable damage to the spinal cord) while falling off the trampoline. Just stay away.
- Never ride a scooter. My office is downtown and many thousands of visitors come to downtown for various conventions. Without fail, some old visitors, with no balance and no athletic skill, invariably decide to ride an electric scooter, many for the first time in their lives, without any instruction and without wearing a helmet. This is recipe for disaster. Also, the number one injury seen in emergency rooms in children is orthopedic injury from a scooter wreck. I never let my children ride a scooter (even non-electric) when they were young and they stayed out of the E.R.).
- Never ride a bike on a city street. Even for very skilled riders, the traffic is too heavy and too unpredictable. Bike injuries from being hit by a car are horrible and often deadly. Ride a bike only on a trial or in a park.
- Never ride an ATV. ATVs are poorly designed and have an inherent imbalance in them. This results in riders being thrown off constantly. Injuries from ATVs are often deadly, helmet or no helmet. Stay off.
- Never ride in a car on the passenger’s side with your feet up on the dashboard. That is where the air bag is. If you are involved in a front end wreck that will cause your air bags to deploy, your feet will be blown off by the air bag and your knees will be obliterated and also possibly your hips.
- Always wear your seatbelt (even on a tour bus). I often see injuries in a car wreck that can’t be explained, which alert you to the fact that the passenger probably didn’t have his seatbelt on. Often, in catastrophic car wrecks, such as a high speed crash into a tree, the passengers who were wearing a seatbelt survive. Those who weren’t, don’t. If you are not wearing your seatbelt you are more likely to be ejected from the car which exponentially increases your chance of death.
- Never stand on a bus or train and hold the hoops dangling from the top of the ceiling of the bus. If you are holding on to these loops at the time of a crash, you will be thrown into the front of the bus or train and most likely you suffer extremely severe shoulder injuries, e.g., torn rotator cuffs in both shoulders. Never use these things; instead, either sit down or hold a pole, and if you can’t do either one of those things, don’t get on that bus.
- Never allow a chiropractor to “pop” your neck. This is often the cause of a vertebral artery dissection in your neck. A Vertebral artery dissection (VAD) is a tear in the wall of the artery supplying blood to the brain, commonly causing stroke in young to middle-aged adults. Symptoms include severe neck pain, occipital headache, vertigo, and dizziness. Often triggered by minor trauma (e.g., sports, whiplash, neck manipulation), it can cause blood clots that lead to stroke. It is a life-threatening situation. It can result in paralysis or death. Do not permit a chiropractor to do that. Make it clear before he or she even touches you they are NOT to do this to you. Speak up before they “surprise” you with this maneuver.
I hope this helps you. Stay safe out there, Friends.
Robin Frazer Clark is a trial lawyer who pursues justice for those who have personal injury claims as a result of being injured in motor vehicle wrecks, trucking wrecks, defective products, defective maintenance of roads, premises safety, medical malpractice and other incidents caused by the negligence of others. Ms. Clark was the 50th President of the State Bar of Georgia, a Past President of Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, a Past President of the Lawyers Club of Atlanta and has practiced law in Georgia for 38 years. She is a Fellow of the International Society of Barristers, a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and a Fellow of the American Board of Trial Advocates. Ms. Clark is listed as one of the Top 50 Women Trial Lawyers in Georgia and is a Georgia Super Lawyer. Ms. Clark is the co-host of the podcast “See You In Court.”
Robin Frazer Clark ~ Dedicated to the Constitution’s Promise of Justice for All.