Articles Posted in Winter Accidnents

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The feature article in this Saturday’s Globe & Mail was titled “The End of Winter: What We Lose When We Lose Winter“. To lose the season to climate change seems cataclysmic. I would agree.

The article dealt with skiing in Rockies in Western Canada. There are challenges skiing when the weather is too warm and there isn’t enough snow to get in proper ski runs.

Last week in Toronto, we hit temperature highs of around 16 degrees. This week, we have seen lows of around -6 degrees. That’s quite the temperature swing.

When the weather gets hot, we change our clothes and footwear accordingly. The same applies to when things get cold. But we we see wild weather swings which go from spring/summer weather back to winter weather, it can be a bit dangerous because many people have problems adjusting.

I can’t say I blame them. How does one go to a summer mindset, back to a winter weather mindset in 24hrs? Just yesterday, kids were outside riding their bikes (some in shorts) and playing on muddy fields in shoes (or sandals). Yet today, we’re all back to wearing parkas, mittens and snow boots?

To suggest these changes in temperature don’t effect our behaviour or patterns is out of touch. What our personal injury lawyers see is that these spikes and drops in temperatures cause an increase in claims. This means that more people are getting hurt, in part, because we are going from a summer mindset, and expected to get back to a winter mindset.

Do you drive differently when the roads are clear than you do when then roads are snow and ice covered?

Do you wear different footwear in the winter months, than you would in the spring/summer months?

Are you outside more when the weather is nice and pleasant, as oppose to when it’s cold and windy?

Are children more likely to walk or ride their bikes to school when it’s nice outside, as oppose to when it’s freezing?

What happens when the temperature fluctuates in a 24 hour period, such that it feels like spring and then reverts back to a cold weather winter climate? How would you dress, or would your dress differently than you normally would? How would this change your commuting pattern?

For many Canadians, changes in weather have a large impact on how they get around. Are you walking to work in a giant snow fall, taking transit, riding a bike or driving? Is your boss letting you out of work a bit earlier knowing that a big storm is on its way? Perhaps your employer is more likely to let you work from home knowing that some in climate weather is on its way.

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Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, you have to love this time of year. Holiday meals, celebrations, gifts and good vibes galore. That’s what the holidays are about. A bit tone deaf given the political climate? Sure. But the focus of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog isn’t politics. Let’s keep that debate out of it and focus on the intention of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog which is to educate the public on the ins and outs of personal injury law in Ontario.

The holiday season can get ruined by anyone who makes a bad decision and jeopardizes their life, and the lives of others because they weren’t thinking or showed a wanton disregard for the health and safety of others. Those sort of people exist. You know, the people who make selfish decisions which impact the safety of others. The people who can’t say “no” to the next drink, or are too proud to call a taxi after a few too many drinks.

So, without further ado, here are Goldfinger Injury Lawyers quick hitter tips on how to keep the Holiday Season a safe one. While following these tips can’t guarantee safety, following them certainly can increase the odds of making this holiday season a fun and safe one, as oppose to needing to consult with a personal injury lawyer on account of a serious accident resulting in injury.

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February is traditionally a bitter cold month in Ontario. When I say bitter cold, I mean bitter cold. It’s on record as the second coldest month of the year, trailing only January by around a degree or so. February is dark, windy, cold, icy and snowy. It’s known to be depressing, grey and overall, a very blah month. I think everyone is glad that February is the shortest month, because the February weather in Ontario is not all that pleasant.

So, when we see weather above the freezing mark, getting up to 6 or 7 degrees; with sunshine, all we can do is smile! It’s like it’s springtime in February. Getting up to 6 or 7 degrees in February would be a record for warmest dates recorded.

But with the warm weather at such a early time, and so quick after a month or two of steady below zero temperatures, we need to be careful. The snow and ice is melting. This impacts the streets on which we drive, the walkways where we walk, the water levels of our rivers and streams, and those not so frozen lakes where we may be accustomed to ice fish or snowmobile around this time of year.

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Winter time means slip and fall accidents on account of snow, ice, sleet a slush.

These slip and fall cases can cause serious injuries to innocent visitors to public (or private) spaces.

Think of a parking lot at a school, university, grocery store, or a shopping mall that isn’t properly plowed, sanded or salted. Or perhaps a local gas station that hasn’t been maintained after some serious winter weather.

After a Plaintiff slips, falls, get hurt; begins the rehab process; what happens next? What happens behind the scenes of such a case.

With years of dedicated assistance to serving innocent accident victims across Ontario, Goldfinger Injury Lawyers has seen countless of these cases. While no two cases are exactly alike; they do share a lot of commonalities. Each case is determined on its own set of facts. Many cases can be similar, but NOT the same.

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Cold weather!

Snow!

Ice!

Yikes!

Winter means that you are either really excited because you happen to be a winter sports enthusiast (most people who love the winter also ski, snowshoe, play hockey and can’t get enough of the cold weather) or you are dreading what’s yet to come.

Whether or not you like, or dislike the winter weather doesn’t matter. But what does matter is that you stay safe for when the sidewalks, walk ways, stairs and entrances get wet, slushy, icy and slippery.

Around this time of year, our lawyers see an increase in client calls relating to slip and fall cases dealing with icy or slippery surfaces.

There is a very good reason for this aside from the obvious that it’s cold, snowy and can be icy outside. The reality is that the first winter storm or frost can catch us off guard. We aren’t quite ready for it. All of our “snow stuff“, such as winter boots, winter coats, hats and gloves were all packed away at the end of last winter, and have yet to be unpacked for the upcoming cold weather season.

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It’s that time of year. Slip and Fall season is upon us in Ontario.

Before we get in too deep on this edition of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog, all of us here at Goldfinger Injury Lawyers would like to thank our readership for their support over this past year. We appreciate your positive and constructive feedback. In 2020, we hope to bring you more interesting to read legal content so that you can better understand the world of personal injury and disability law in Ontario. If there are any topics which you would like covered that we have yet to touch upon, send us an email to info@goldfingerlaw.com with subject title “Blog” and we will do our best to accommodate your request. You can always dig in to our archives on the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog page.

This week’s topic will cover slip and trip and falls. We always notice a spike in these sort of calls around this time of year. This year is no exception with the steady freeze, thaw, freeze, thaw weather we’ve had across the province, it’s kept everyone on their toes so to speak.

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This deep freeze, thaw, cold, warm, snow, rain, back to snow, then to ice weather cycle we have seen across Ontario this winter hasn’t been good for anyone. We’re not sure if it’s snowing, raining, or ice is falling from the sky.

All of the fluctuations in temperature have lead to slippery walking conditions on sidewalks, parking lots, entrance ways, walk ways and other paths.

Over the past week,  personal injury lawyer Brian Goldfinger has been asked for comment by the CBC, CityTV and quoted by Canadian Underwrite Magazine for commentary from a knowledgable lawyer regarding slip and fall cases in Ontario. You can find links to these articles here:

Canadians nurse winter wounds as cities grapple with icy sidewalks

 Latest Canadian statistics on slips and falls on ice

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/sidewalk-clearing-law-london-ontario-1.5046917

Over the months of February and well in to the beginning of March 2019, our law firm has seen a spike from the usual norm with respect to winter slip and fall cases resulting in serious injury. Injuries like broken ankles, broken wrists, broken arms, broken hips; even fractured skulls. We have been seeing some pretty significant injury cases of late.

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A few recent headlines caught my attention over the past 48 hours:

From Toronto/the GTA:

There were 350 Car Accidents in the past 24 hours in the Toronto area due to snowy and slippery conditions. OPP responded to 350 car accidents in the GTA due to slippery weather conditions in the past 24 hours.

From Kitchener/Waterloo:

Police to respond to fewer collisions. Under a new partnership with Accident Support Services Ltd., police will decide if they will attend collisions depending on the severity of the crash, injuries, and whether the collision is suspicious. 

What does this mean? It means that right now, there are a lot of accidents happening on roads across Ontario on account of winter weather and slippery conditions.

It also means that police will respond to fewer of those car accidents regardless of the conditions. Police can arbitrarily tell callers that if there doesn’t appear to be any injuries, and/or if the collision does not appear to be severe, that they won’t attend on the scene to investigate. This has significant consequences for a personal injury case. Here’s why.

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I looked outside my window today and saw SNOW! Yuck. That means it’s slip and fall season in Ontario. A large proportion of the personal injury cases at Goldfinger Injury Lawyers are slip and fall cases. A large proportion of those slip and fall cases arise from slip and falls on snowey/icey/slippery surfaces caused by lack of, or improper maintenance. In many of those cases there is no maintenance at all which adds significant exposure to the Defendant property owner.

Given that it’s slip and fall season in Ontario, the team at Goldfinger Injury Lawyers would like to keep you up to speed with some do’s and don’ts for your slip and fall case. On this list are some common misconceptions when it comes to handling these cases.

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