You may be unable to reasonably control the number of lighting fixtures and the brightness of these lights on another party’s property. Nonetheless, it may directly affect you as you attempt to navigate the premises safely. That is, a lack of sufficient lighting leads to a likelihood of slipping, tripping, and falling. Please follow along to find out how inadequate lighting can cause an accident and how a proficient New York City slip and fall injury lawyer at Mark L. Bodner, P.C., can help you adequately document it to seek justice.
How can inadequate lighting cause a slip and fall accident?
Simply stated, inadequate lighting may make it difficult for you to identify potentially dangerous conditions in your walking path. For example, it may mask the presence of a puddle on a tiled floor or ice on a concrete sidewalk. Or, it may camouflage the presence of raised carpeting, missing tiles, or abrupt changes in flooring (i.e., a declining slope) in a hallway. Lastly, it may conceal the fact that a handrail is loose or a step is missing in a stairwell.
Otherwise, even if a hazard is not present on the premises, poor lighting may inevitably cause you to lose your judgment capabilities. Specifically, you may be unable to calculate the height of a step or curb, and you may not lift your foot high enough to clear it. Or, you may be unable to assess which is the last step on a stairway, making you fall from a steep height.
How do I effectively report my slip and fall on the poorly lit premises?
Unfortunately, you may encounter a poorly lit area just about anywhere, whether it be a retail store, hotel property, gym facility, or the entrances, sidewalks, parking lots, and parking garages outside any of these establishments.
So, if your slip and fall accident took place at one of these properties, you must request that an owner, manager, or staff member file a store incident report on your behalf. For your legal purposes, this report may serve as tangible evidence that your accident occurred on the date, time, and location you claimed. What’s more, based on the provided description of the accident event, it may be established that the establishment’s negligence was the root cause.
But say you were the welcomed visitor on another party’s private property when you slipped, tripped, and fell. Well then, you should call a law enforcement officer to the scene and ask that they conduct an official accident report on your behalf. From here, you should allow an officer to dispatch an ambulance to the scene and transport you to emergency medical care. Similar initiatives should be taken if your accident occurred at an establishment, to supplement the store’s incident report.
To ensure your legal argument is well fleshed out, please seek the aid of a talented New York City personal injury attorney. You may rest better knowing that the team at Mark L. Bodner, P.C., will not let you enter this legal process without being properly prepared. So please pick up the phone and request our services today.