NY Lawyers Significant Experience with Subway Death and Injury Cases
New York City attorney Gordon Price Diefenbach has handled subway accidents and deaths cause by the negligence of the MTA. NYC’s MTA has the largest number of train stations of any transit system in the world. In NYC subway is a preferred method of transportation, but as it is so large, deaths and accidents do occur.
Manhattan Subway Accidents and Deaths Attorney
The Diefenbach law firm is poised to take on the MTA over its negligence which causes deaths and accidents. When they do, you need the advice of a top NYC lawyer handling subway death cases. The signs urge New York subway passengers not to become a statistic. In fact, the statistics surrounding subway accidents and deaths in New York City are less than reassuring. New York lawyers are seeing a continuing rise in subway accidents in Manhattan.
New York Subway Injury Lawyers: A Step Ahead
Our lawyers have significant experience with victims involved in serious railroad, subway or bus accidents in New York, Albany, Washington DC and other cities. 2013 is set to be a particularly inauspicious year for subway safety in New York City. A woman was hit while lying down on the tracks at the 34th Street Station in Manhattan a couple of hours after the New Year’s ball drop. On a single night, on April 15th, two separate subway accidents occurred within the MTA system. The average of slightly over 50 New York City subway deaths a year is projected to double this year. In addition to this death toll, about 150 people a year are struck by subways in non-fatal accidents.
Subway accidents often result in severe injuries. Victims who make contact with the third rail are electrocuted, and often die on the spot. Passengers hit by trains may lose one or more limbs. In more severe cases, injuries to a victim’s spinal cord can make the victim a quadriplegic, paralyzed for life. In the most serious cases, an individual is run over by the train and killed by its immense impact. No matter what the result, a subway injury leads to immense suffering for the victim’s family.
In the non-fatal cases, the victim’s quality of life is often severely impaired, and the serious injuries sustained require long-term medical care. A New York lawyer that handles subway accident lawsuits may help reduce the burden of these consequences for victims and their families..
For train operators, who are asked to examine the scene after a subway accident, the experience can be deeply traumatic. Operators have to undergo drug testing after a subway hit, and have to return to work between 1 and 3 days following the accident, the gruesome scene still fresh in their minds. One train operator lost all sensation below his waist after being involved in a fatal subway strike. All the same, MTA employees are told to expect one subway casualty per week, somewhere within the MTA system, with 47 deaths in 2011 and 55 deaths in 2012.
New York City’s Transportation Commission held emergency hearings earlier this year in an effort to address the growing rate of subway casualties. The Transportation Workers’ Union has been voicing its concerns as well, pushing the MTA to adopt additional safety measures, such as asking train operators to slow down when approaching stations. The TWU’s February campaign, which was publicized through handouts which resembled bloodied MetroCards, gained a lot of press attention.
At present, however, subway trains run at an average speed of 30 mph, making any impact with a passenger extremely powerful. The MTA was unwilling to adopt the slow-down suggestion, but has ultimately decided to work with the Union toward developing a more intensive passenger awareness campaign, expanding on the warnings already present within the system. New York subway accident lawyers continue to monitor developments in MTA subway safety.
Train impact is not the only danger present within a subway station. Muggings, rapes, or other episodes of violence may give rise to a civil lawsuit against the MTA for failing to provide adequate safety measures. Escalator accidents, which can sometimes be fatal, can give rise to a lawsuit against the manufacturer of the escalator. The bottom line is that subway stations should be a safe environment for the millions of people who enter them every day in New York. Our subway accident lawyers are here to fight for that ideal, and to obtain justice for the victims of dangerous incidents on the MTA.
