So, what steps can you take to protect your social media presence during a trial?

1) Suspend your Facebook and Twitter accounts – Although this is the easiest way to help prevent information for being used against you, some may not feel comfortable getting rid of their social media accounts completely…

2) Take care when posting status updates – Even something as little as a smiley face can be taken the wrong way and used against you.

3) Monitor comments – Be careful when commenting on friends’ statuses or photos – even a comment that sounds angry or irritable toward another person can be used as evidence.

4) Watch what friends post about you – Monitor what’s being posted on your wall to make sure nothing will contradict the claims you’re making or could be misinterpreted.

5) Double-check your preferences – Facebook’s default privacy settings allow people who live in your area or network to see your information, even if you’re not friends. Change this right away.

6) Shut down your blog.

7) Monitor photos – Keep a close eye on photos that you post or are tagged in. If you feel any of these could incriminate you, untag yourself or ask the person who posted it to delete it right away.

8 ) Consider your entire online presence – Although Facebook, Twitter, and blogs are the most targeted, don’t forget about the rest of your online presence. Are you on MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube, Tumblr, or Flickr? These may all be other sources of information for lawyers.

9) Ask the question: “Who am I really sharing this information with? Could it be used as harmful evidence?” If your gut tells you yes, it’s probably a good idea to refrain from posting it.

10) Google yourself – After taking all of the above steps, you should also Google yourself to see what’s out there. Use a “web” search on your name as well as an “image” search, as the results could be different for each. If you discover anything that may could damage your case, tell your lawyer and then find the site it’s posted on and do your best to get it removed.

Even if you consider yourself a social media addict, using the above pointers to guide you during a trial can be a great help – and can increase the likelihood the case will go in your favor… For more advice, check out this accident injury blog.

“On “Dooring” of Bicyclists and Experts’ Fees

Cyclists sometimes call it “the door prize,” or simply being “doored.”

And in a city where the tension between two- and four-wheeled transportation devices can sometimes seem as shrill as the sound of squeaky brakes, accounts of collisions between bicyclists and drivers are passed around on blogs, in newspapers and among members of various cycling clubs and organizations.

One compilation of episodes in which drivers opened the doors of their parked vehicles into the path of oncoming cyclists can be found on BicycleSafe.com and includes details of cases from places as diverse as India, Canada, Chicago, New Orleans and San Francisco.

Among the harrowing accounts is one about Dana Laird, 36, a “doctoral student at the Fletcher School of International Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts,” who was killed in 2002 as she rode along Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, Mass.

It said: “A motorist opened the door of a parked sport utility vehicle across the bike lane in which Ms. Laird was traveling. Ms. Laird swerved and lost control. According to eyewitness accounts, she yelled, `flew through the air,’ and apparently struck the door. She went under the right rear wheels of a passing transit bus, and she was killed instantly.”

Such collisions are not foreign in New York City — and they can lead to occasional charges being lodged by the police or prosecutors, depending on the circumstances.

In a crash on Atlantic and Washington Avenues in Brooklyn on Sept. 11, a driver opened her car door into the path of Jasmine Herron, who was bicycling by, sending her into an oncoming bus that struck and killed her, officials said. Among the charges filed against the driver, Krystal Francis, was “opening and closing vehicle doors,” a violation of Section 1214 of the State Vehicle and Traffic Law, according to a criminal complaint from the Brooklyn district attorney’s office.

The charge popped up again, this time phrased as “unsafely exiting a vehicle,” in a crash in East Harlem on Friday. In that case, the driver of a 2008 Honda was issued with a summons for “unsafely exiting a vehicle” for opening his car door and causing a bicyclist to fall into the path of an oncoming truck, which killed him, the police said.

The Honda driver, who was not identified by name, was in his parked car and opened his door as the rider, Marcus Ewing, 27, was pedaling his Cannondale bicycle eastbound on East 120th Street, just west of Third Avenue, about 8 a.m., the police said.

The driver of the truck that hit Mr. Ewing was issued five summonses, for equipment violations.

As for the driver whose door knocked over Mr. Ewing, the charge he faces — unsafely exiting a vehicle — “is a V.T.L. traffic summons” (Vehicle and Traffic Law) and not one found in the New York State penal code, according to one city official.

Another official said such citations were aimed at preventing drivers from opening their car doors into traffic in ways that would create “dangerous conditions for bicyclists or motorists” coming by at the same time.

“You cannot just swing your car door open,” the official said.

“It is not that often that officers issue those kinds of tickets,” the official said. And sometimes, it requires a patrol officer to witness the offending behavior for it to rise to a summons, or an inquiry by the Accident Investigation Squad when a death is involved. Then, that sole charge can carry similar penalties to other traffic violations, like going through a red light, the official said.

Whether termed “unsafely exiting a vehicle” or something else, Nick Cantiello, a spokesman for the State Department of Motor Vehicles, sent along a copy of Section 1214 of the State Vehicle and Traffic Law. It said:

Opening and closing vehicle doors. No person shall open the door of a motor vehicle on the side available to moving traffic unless and until it is reasonably safe to do so, and can be done without interfering with the movement of other traffic, nor shall any person leave a door open on the side of a vehicle available to moving traffic for a period of time longer than necessary to load or unload passengers.

Mr. Cantiello said the fine for the violation could be as much as $150. Asked about the number of “doorings” — in which people open a door into a bike or a car — he said that as of Oct. 22, there had been 147 tickets issued for that offense around the state.

In all of 2009, he said, there were 179; in all of 2008 there were 207; and in 2007 there were 164.

“So it’s not a lot,” he said. “You can see there’s not a real trend there.”

A spokesman for the New York Police Department said the department did not keep statistics on such incidents around the five boroughs.

Noah S. Budnick, the deputy director of Transportation Alternatives, a nonprofit pedestrian and bicycle transportation group financed by members, said the issue of cyclists being hit by doors had long been a concern.

“It’s always been a top complaint and, anecdotally, a major contributing factor to crashes in New York City,” he said. “If you talk to anyone who’s ridden a bike in New York, everyone has a story about, at best, narrowly avoiding a car door that’s been swung open in their path and bike riders quickly learn that one of the safest ways to ride is to take the whole lane, so they are not biking in the door zone.”

Of Fees for Experts

There it was in black and white on Page 103 of a new study critiquing the Police Department’s controversial stop-question-and-frisk policy: the hourly rate a Columbia Law Professor received for his work.

“I have been compensated for this work at the rate of $350 per hour,” the professor, Jeffrey A. Fagan, wrote. There was no total, but one can imagine it was high, as he spent 15 months over three years on the project.

He even scribbled in the date, as another contemporaneous bit of evidence: Oct. 15, 2010.

The study — for the Center for Constitutional Rights — found that in more than 30 percent of the street stops, officers either lacked the kind of suspicion necessary to make a stop constitutional or did not include enough data on the stop to determine whether it was legally justified.

Eleven days later, when Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly was asked for his response, he took the occasion to point out that Professor Fagan was paid well. (Still, he overinflated the price a bit, asserting that the professor was paid $375 an hour.)

“This is a document prepared for plaintiffs who paid that sort of money to have this document prepared,” Mr. Kelly said. “When you pay that sort of money, you’re going to get a view point that pretty much goes along with your view point.”

Mr. Kelly called Professor Fagan’s 217-page study (pdf) “an advocacy paper.”

“I wouldn’t take the position that this is an objective document,” he said.

But wait. Mr. Kelly acknowledged that the city was paying its own expert, Dennis C. Smith, a professor at the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service of New York University, to write its own study. He said Professor Fagan “had three years to develop” his study, while the city had “30 days to respond.” His point: It will cost less money.

Questions about Professor Smith’s fee hung in the air: At what hourly rate was he being paid? Over what time? And by whom?

Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman, responded in an e-mail: “unknown at this hour — but not $375 an hour for three years.” In another e-mail, on Wednesday, he said Professor Smith was not paid by the Police Department and referred questions to the city’s Law Department, which did not immediately respond to questions.

Professor Fagan, in this current effort, has been paid for about 15 months’ worth of work, according to people familiar with the arrangement. But he has done research, and published on the subject, for more than a decade. Before beginning on his work on the current study, he worked for the City Council under a contract to Columbia University, with the payments going to the school. It was the same arrangement when he worked for the state attorney general’s office under a contract to Columbia as part of that office’s 1999 study of the issue.

Some critics and law enforcement analysts raised the same sort of questions when the Police Department — through the Police Foundation — commissioned the nonprofit Rand Corporation in early 2007 for an independent study of the stop-and-frisk issue.

The department was under fire because the increasing number of street stops were leading some critics to suggest that minorities were unfairly singled out, a charge that the police have repeatedly denied. The Rand study (pdf), in November 2007, found no racial profiling being done by police officers in New York.

At the time, the study was said to cost in the six figures — and at least $120,000 — a bill footed by the foundation, a charity that supports the department. The police on Wednesday reiterated that figure.”

Although helmets obviously dramatically reduce the risk of brain damage in motorcycle accidents, they have long been thought to raise the risk of spinal cord injury. However, new studies show that the latter may be false.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University say that they are debunking the common myth that wearing a helmet while riding a motorcycle can be harmful to your spine in the event of a crash.

For the past 20 + years, activists against universal helmet laws refer to a small study which claims that the weight of a motorcycle helmet could cause significant torque on the neck, which in turn, would severely hurt the spine. This 25-year-old study has been highly critized for its flawed statistically reasoning, as well as the fact that helmet technology has come along way since then - helmets are much lighter now.

The new study published in The Journal of the American College of Surgeons, shows that riders with helmets are actually 22 percent less likely to suffer spinal cord injury than those without helmets. The study reviewed and mined the National Trauma Databank, looking over facts and figures on more than 40,000 motorcycle accidents from 2002 and 2006.

This research found a reduction in the risk of traumatic brain injury in helmet wearers, as well as decreased odds of death. Still, the most compelling finding of the study is that helmets significantly reduce cervical spine injury, which can result in paralysis.

Wear Appropriate Attire

All people within the construction site should wear hardhats and other safety attire. Everyone should comply with this rule to avoid accidents and injuries. Attire depends on the specifics of the construction job. Consult your Atlanta accident attorney for further details.

Inspect Equipment

It’s vital that you do regular inspections of your construction equipment to ensure that it’s free of defects. If it’s your job to inspect the equipment, and you fail to do so, a co-worker may become injured. Then, you might have a construction injury lawsuit on your hands.

Use Proper Signage

There ought to be warning signs near falling debris, excavation sites, etc. This simple procedure can help prevent many potential construction accidents.

Implement Extensive Training

Proper training in construction machinery operation is extremely important for avoiding injuries of workers. Crane and forklift accidents often occur due to lack of training. Successful training significantly decreases the chances of injuries on the construction site.

Be Cautious with Harmful Substances

Remain cautious using and transporting hazardous materials. If you haven’t had the training in handling such materials, stay away from them!

If you’ve been injured in a construction accident, don’t hesitate to contact a premier construction accident attorney in Atlanta, Bruce A. Hagen!

Diagnosis of a spinal cord injury

Spinal cord injuries are often diagnosed by examining the vertebrae of the spinal cord to see if it was injured or disrupted.

Common spinal cord injury diagnoses

Spinal Stenosis - the narrowing of the spinal column that causes pressure on the spinal cord.

Quadriplegia - the loss of function and control of all limbs and torso.

Paraplegia - the loss of function and control from the waist down.

Most spinal cord injuries are caused by car accidents

spinal cord injury caused by traffic accidents - 44 percent

spinal cord injury caused by violence - 24 percent

spinal cord injury caused by slips and falls - 22 percent

spinal cord injury caused by sports injuries - 8 percent

spinal cord injury caused other activities - 2 percent

What can an Atlanta spinal cord injury attorney do for you?

Apart from helping you recover lost wages from your car accident, spinal cord injury lawyers can also help the victim deal with the pain and emotional hardship that goes along with a severe back injury.

If you’ve suffered a back injury in a car accident, don’t hesitate to contact Bruce A Hagen, your premier car accident attorney in Atlanta.

For all you fortunate bikers that haven’t been injured, here’s some facts you should know before you’re next ride:

1. In general, motorcyclists are more exposed to severe general bodily injury those in car accidents.

2. The death rate for motorcycle riders in 2006 was 5 1/2 times the death rate for passenger car occupants per registered vehicle, according to the latest data from National Highway Traffic  Safety Administration.

3. Motorcycles accounted nearly 3 percent of all registered motor vehicles in 2006.

5. 4,810 people perished in motorcycle accidents in 2006 nationwide, and in 2008, it was 5,290.

6. In 2010, 14 percent of all traffic accident deaths involved motorcycles.

7. There are 7.1 million motorcycles on the road today, about 1 million more than 5 years ago.

8. Motorcycle accident claims are sometimes awarded higher damages for pain and suffering beyond damages for actual medical costs or lost wages, than car accidents.

If you’ve been injured in a motorcycle accident, don’t hesitate to contact Bruce A. Hagen, your premier personal injury lawyer in Atlanta.

If you’ve been injured in a construction accident in Atlanta, don’t hesitate to contact your local Atlanta construction accident lawyer. Or, if you have a loved one that been killed in an Atlanta construction accident, please reach out to your local Georgia wrongful death attorney today.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Conyers Latex Construction Company for opening up their workers to construction injury risks while on the job.

Allegedly, the firm did not supply their workers with the proper protection against potential trench cave-ins. The workers went without this necessary protection while laying 12 miles of natural gas piping.

This is the second time that the company was fined with this particular OSHA violation.

Remember though, if an accident does occur, make sure you contact you local Atlanta bicycle accident attorney!

Be aware of the law - Brush on up your local bicycle laws, which have been put in place for your safety. Knowing what you can and cannot do while biking on the road is vital.

Purchase cycling attire - A sturdy helmet is a must. Also, wear bright colors so drivers can see you.

Test your bike parts regularly - Wheels, brakes, and handlebars ought to be closely examined to avoid injury on your ride.

Make comfortable adjustments - Fix the seat so that your legs fully extend when the pedals are close to the ground.

Lights - In addition to your reflectors, which come standard on most bikes, purchase a light that will shine in front of you, so that other bikers and drivers can see you, and so you can see them.

Stick to the bike lane - If there’s no bike lane available, stay as close to the curb as comfortably possible.

Right-of-way - Always give pedestrians the right of way.

Use proper hand signals when turning - Position your arm straight to the left to make a left turn, and bend it at a 90 degree angle, upward, for a right turn.

Distractions - Never listen to headphones while riding a bicycle, as this could serve as a distraction for you, and result in a serious bicycle injury.

If you’ve been injured in a bike accident, please contact Bruce A. Hagen, your top Atlanta accident lawyer!

If you’ve been injured in a truck accident in Atlanta, please contact your Atlanta truck accident attorney or Atlanta truck accident lawyer, today!

1. Illegal drug use - the most common cause of a truck accident, with 26 percent

2. Speeding - 23 percent

3. Unfamiliar with the area - 22 percent

4. Abuse of prescription drugs - 18 percent

5. Failure to check blind spots - 14 percent

6. Fatigue - 13 percent

7. Illegal maneuver of the truck - 9 percent

8. Distractions while driving (focusing attention on road work and ironically, other accidents while driving) - 8 percent

9. Difficulty maneuvering truck to avoid accidents - 7 percent

10. Road rage - 7 percent

“Police: Teen Killed in Crash with Unlicensed Driver

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A Lanier High School ninth-grader was killed in a crash Wednesday, Gwinnett police said.

Johnathan Campbell, 15, of Buford, was being driven to school by his older sister, Rebecca Campbell, 17, also of Buford, Gwinnett police Cpl. Edwin Ritter said.

Channel 2’s Amy Napier Viteri said police did not say whether the crash was weather-related, but the crash happened during a storm that caused several wrecks.

Rebecca Campbell was trying to turn onto First Avenue when they were hit by Jhony Velasquez, 34, of Duluth, who was driving a black Jeep, at Peachtree Industrial Boulevard in Sugar Hill, Ritter said.

Both drivers were taken to the Gwinnett Medical Center to be treated for injuries, Ritter said. Johnathan Campbell died in the crash.

“We just ask everybody to be careful and pay attention to their driving,” Ritter told Viteri.

Gwinnett Schools spokeswoman Sloan Roach said school leaders and counselors have met with the teachers of the students involved. A crisis team was headed to the school to assist any students who need additional help.

Velasquez has been charged with driving without a valid driver’s license.

Investigators are still trying to figure out how the accident happened.”