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Emergency Vehicle Accidents Lawyer in Manhattan

Emergency Vehicle Accidents are accidents in which people are injured physically and/or emotionally by or in emergency vehicles – including ambulances, fire engines, and police cars – and whose motor vehicles suffer damage as well. The personal injury laws relating to emergency vehicle accidents help determine which individuals were at fault for the incident, which individuals need to pay for medical treatment, and which individuals need to pay for vehicle repairs.

Types of Injuries

Emergency Vehicle Accidents can cause numerous types of injuries, commonly including:

Head and Back Injuries

These are the most serious of all car accident injuries due to their traumatic and long-term effects.

Victims of accidents wherein a driver and/or passenger(s) hit their head against various parts of the car – ranging from the driving wheel to windows to the dashboard – can suffer major medical repercussions as a result of the impact; such repercussions include comas, concussions, fractures, hearing and/or vision loss, and varying degrees of brain injuries.

Back injuries can be suffered wherein a driver and/or passenger(s) injures their back against various parts of the car and can suffer from spinal cord damage, reduced sensation in various body parts, varying degrees of paralysis, and a herniated disk.

Neck and Chest Injuries

Victims of accidents wherein a driver and/or passenger(s) lose control of their head and/or neck due to the impact and suffer major medical repercussions as a result of the impact; such repercussions include whiplash (most common), swelling, and even temporary vocal cord paralysis.

Chest injuries can be suffered wherein a driver and/or passenger(s) injures their chest area as a result of blunt force trauma; such trauma can lead to broken bones, collapsed lung(s), cardiac arrest, internal bleeding, and organ damage.

Arms, Legs, Hands, and Feet Injuries

Victims of accidents wherein a driver and/or passenger(s) injure their arms, legs, hands, and/or feet due to the impact can suffer major medical repercussions as a result of the impact; such repercussions include broken bones, severed limbs, ligament damage, scarring, emotional distress, and other psychological damage.

Common Emergency Car Accidents and Important Distinctions

Car accidents are commonly caused by negligence and are thus subject to negligence personal injury laws. Because the operation of motor vehicles comes with the duty to exercise reasonable care under the circumstances,” getting into a car accident due to a lack of reasonable care is deemed negligent. When it comes to emergency vehicle accidents, however, several special distinctions and caveats involved complicate the situation.

Special Privileges

New York’s Vehicle and Traffic Law 1104 covers the conduct of authorized emergency vehicles. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law 1104 states that authorized emergency vehicle drivers can exercise certain privileges while actively being involved in an emergency operation that “normal” drivers do not have. These privileges include:

Stopping, standing, and/or parking without regard to traffic laws.
Proceeding past a steady or flashing red signal and/or stop sign – but only after slowing down as deemed necessary for safe operation
Exceeding past the maximum speed limit – but only as long as the driver does not endanger life and/or property, nor disregard the official regulations that govern movement and/or turning in specified directions.

Caveat 1: Lights and Sirens

While all authorized emergency vehicle drivers, except police cars, may exercise the above privileges, they can only do so if/when their audible signals are sounded and lights are turned on.

Such signals, which we all are accustomed to, include bells, horns, sirens, electronic devices, and/or exhaust whistles. Such lights, which we all are accustomed to, must include at least one (1) red-lighted lamp that must be able to be seen from at least five hundred (500) feet away (a.k.a. normal atmospheric conditions).

Only when the above lights and sirens are not being used properly can someone subject the authorized emergency vehicle driver to negligence and/or reckless standard,

Caveat 2: The Duty of Safety

While all authorized emergency vehicle drivers, except police cars, may exercise the above privileges, they must also continue to exercise something that all motor vehicle drivers share: the duty to drive with due regard for the safety of all persons. Driving an authorized emergency vehicle does not exempt a driver from this duty, nor does it “cover” the driver from any and all consequences that arise if this duty was not exercised while driving.

Although it is indeed difficult to prove reckless driving with regards to authorized emergency vehicles due to the aforementioned privileges, there are established standards and protocols that drivers are subjected to, and expected to employ, while driving. Such standards and protocols include actions such as slowing down when arriving at an intersection to ensure that it is clear before proceeding through a red light. As such, if these standards and protocols are blatantly violated, it is clear that reckless driving took place.

Contact us today if you've been injured in an emergency vehicle accident.

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