In this WAKA CBS 8 and WBMM CW 22 segment, host Olivia Deas talks with Attorney Mike White from Floyd Hunter Personal Injury Attorneys about Spinal Injury Awareness Month. They discuss the significant issue of spinal injuries resulting from vehicle accidents and the impact of distracted and drunk driving.
WAKA CBS 8 and WBMM CW 22 host, Olivia Deas:
Welcome back. We are joined now with Mike White from Floyd Hunter Personal Injury Attorneys, and we’re talking about that it is Spinal Injury Awareness Month.
Attorney Mike White:
It is, Olivia. A really big problem, as far as injury cases go, is spinal injuries.
Olivia:
Right, and is this mostly people who are injured at work or falling in restaurants or something like that?
Attorney Mike White:
More than twice as many spinal injuries are caused by vehicle cases, almost half of all spinal injuries, and about half of those are a little bit more related to–alcohol is the primary concern.
Olivia:
And this causes chronic pain.
Attorney Mike White:
Well, it can cause chronic pain. It can cause paralysis, and both, a lot of people who have partial paralysis, have terrible pain.
Olivia:
Right, so a lot of people who are involved in these accidents, is it because the person was texting or someone was drunk driving or maybe even a truck driver as well?
Attorney Mike White:
Drunk driving is the biggest cause by far, alcohol being related. There are a great many cases for this type of auto accident case and truck case. With distracted driving by far, to me, that’s what I see more often than not.
Olivia:
Right, and so you deal with a lot of these?
Attorney Mike White:
We do. I would say a very large percentage of our cases are distracted drivers. Almost, I mean, we have a whole new generation, people have never not had a cell phone, and people can’t put them away, and they’re always looking down. It happens all the time.
Olivia:
And so you’re seeing a lot of people who were texting or who were just on the phone talking?
Attorney Mike White:
More often than not, they’re looking at the phone, or they’ll hear a buzz and look away for just a second.
Olivia:
And that’s all it takes.
Attorney Mike White:
Used to be people looking at their radio or something. Well, now it’s just a blink, and then they run a red light or hit the person who stopped ahead of them.
Olivia:
Alright, so if somebody–if you believe you’ve been in an accident like that where somebody was texting or the officer believes that the person may have been looking at the phone, they can contact you. And what’s the next step?
Attorney Mike White:
Absolutely. We would talk to them, meet with them in person. There is absolutely no charge, and we would work to evaluate their case, one, from who’s at fault sort of standpoint, liability.
Olivia:
Yeah.
Attorney Mike White:
And how to help them move ahead and get in recovery while we work to get them an economic recovery to cover their injuries.
Olivia:
Let me ask you this, and this is something I’ve always wondered: you know, if you’re going through a red light, you have, you know, the green light or whatever it is, and somebody ends up coming through and hitting you, how do you prove that you had the green light?
Attorney Mike White:
It’s getting easier. There are a lot of places that have stoplight cameras that help. Those are hard to sometimes obtain, but a lot of cases like that you just have to go by sort of “he said, she said,” depending on who you believe.
Olivia:
But you guys are the ones to be on their side?
Attorney Mike White:
Absolutely.
Olivia:
How can people get in touch with you?
Attorney Mike White:
You can call us at 334-285-4488 or check with us on the Internet. We have–you can text us to get contact. You can email us from our website, which is FloydHunter.com. We’re available anytime of day. If you call at late hours, we will get that information and contact you.
Olivia:
And you handle all kinds of personal injury, not just these spinal injuries?
Attorney Mike White:
No, we do a great deal of auto and truck wreck cases and motorcycle cases along with other fall downs and other types of injury claims.
Olivia:
Great. Thank you so much for being here.
Attorney Mike White:
Thanks for having us.