“With great power comes great responsibility”- yes, that’s good advice to Spiderman’s Toby Maguire but equally sound advice to Oregon and Washington homeowners. Oregon and Washington homeowners must ensure that they provide a safe injury free environment for young children and adults that may come onto their property to receive a piece of candy.

Homeowners by common and case law are made responsible to provide their invited guests a safe environment for people including children trick or treaters that are invited upon their property. In fact, in the invited guest (by defacto situation like Halloween) where the homeowners are inviting guests, the homeowner may even have an affirmative duty to inspect their own property for dangerous conditions which could injure young trick or treaters with images of sweets dancing in their minds.

Commonplace injuries to children and even adults when going upon a homeowners property may included compound fractures from falls, scrapes, facial contusions, cheek orbital fractures, facial scaring and even dog bites from dogs on the property.

Injuries to young children and adults in Oregon and Washington can be caused from any or more of the following household conditions which could be avoided with simple inspection of the yard as part of a regularly scheduled home maintenance program. They may include: slippery accumulation of leaves, broken beer bottles, upturned sidewalks, holes in tree lawns where a tree used to be, uncovered water connection boxes in the tree lawn area, hoses or kids toys strewn about ready for a tripping hazard. All of the forgoing homeowner property shortfalls are hazards which homeowners have a moral ethical and legal obligation to prevent.

Of course the tree lawn area in most urban lots in Oregon and Washington is a public right of way so homeowners have a legal obligation to ensure it is free from hazards. Here’s to a safe and hazard free fall and our upcoming Halloween season.

Today with our population on the increase (in Oregon and Washington state) more than ever it is important for people to protect themselves from dog bites so as to prevent unwanted injury and sometimes a lifetime of mental anguish..

Often we hear on the news a story of a child being bitten by a pit bull or bull mastiff or an adult having to beat a dog off; we rarely hear what could have started these tragic dog attacks. A recent study in Philadelphia covering some 111 cases of dog bites by 103 dogs revealed:

Children under 6 years are more likely to get bitten when a dog felt the kids were threatening to take the dogs’ food or toys. Older children, this study found, are bitten when the dog felt the kids were walking/playing on it’s marked territory. Children familiar to the dog further are more likely to be bitten while the dog was guarding its food while unfamiliar children on the other hand are more likely to be bitten while the dog is protecting its territory.

Dogs have a different emotions, just like humans. From my experience in handing many dog bite injury cases these last 16 years I think it is owners with poor judgment and foresight who are to blame not their dogs. All of us including dog owners have a profound obligation to protect everyone else from the potential harm when owning a dog. Certainly we can not predict a dog’s moods but is it the parent’s responsibility, or the person in charge of the area, to be extra careful. Especially when we know that the dog is either around his/her food, toys or territorial issue are in play. Studies further show that dogs are often also more aggressive if they are dealing with anxiety of being left alone or sounds of a thunderstorm, etc. If we learn these simple rules, the cases of dog bites might go down and certainly we would all be safer.

Does size matter with respect to dog bite injuries? Don’t ever let the size of the dog lull you into thinking it could not hurt you or your child. Even the smallest of dogs, like a Chihuahua could possibly break the skin during a bite with lasting consequences.

The best bet is to always ask the owner before you go to touch a dog, and remind little children the correct procedures when dealing with a dog. Sometimes the best response of a truly responsible dog owners is “no, its better and safer if you did not pet my dog in this situation for everyone’s welfare.”

If you or someone you know was bitten by a dog, call an experience attorney that has worked on such cases.

A critical issue to investigate in many car accidents involving two cars in the state of Oregon is whether one of the cars was speeding at time of impact. It is quite important, in my opinion, to always investigate the speeding issue in every car accident injury case because the eventual amount of your injury settlement may be depend upon whether the other car was going in excess of the posted speed at impact.

To determine whether a driver is going in excess of the speed a good investigator may evaluate whether the driving took place before or after the posted sign which tell drivers when the posted speed in that particular area ends. The next question is what is the speed limit then? ODOT regs provide that the speed limit is 55 unless posted higher or lower.

A good rule of thumb is always to ensure that one drives with traffic and not exceed the speed limit which is there for the protection of the drivers in the first place.

A 1987 ODOT study shows that deaths on the highways increased from 25% to 30% when the state increased the speed limit from 55 to 65mph. Some two years later there was an increase of car accident deaths of 19% whereas it even increased in 1999. This is why the speed limit is important to follow for all drivers. The higher the speed you are driving, the longer it takes to slow down for the driver in front of you.

There is always an exception on rural highways that post the speed limit at 65.

Police use many different forms to enforce speed limits. They use radar, speed cameras (photo radar), VASCAR (vehicle average speed calculator and recorder), Aerial speed measurement (aircrafts) and other speed measures.

As of today, these are the speed limits you should go by while driving:
Alleys – 15 mph
Business districts, school zones (when children are present) – 20 mph
Residental districts, public parks and ocean shores – 25 mph
Open and rural hwys, urban interstate hwys – 55 mph
Autos on rural interstate hwys – 65 mph
Posted speeds always override these speed zone standards.

The basic rule to follow is that a motorist must always drive at the speed that is reasonable at all times by looking at the other traffic, road conditions, weather and dangers that could come up.

Which these speed issues in mind remember that speed is an area that a skilled injury lawyer will address from the beginning of your injury case until the time you are fully compensated.