Personal Injury Attorneys - Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island and the Bronx

May is NYC Bike Month. With the great weather earlier this month, it seemed like pedicabs, a tricycle with a 2-seated wagon, are coming out of the woodwork. As I cross the street from my office to Grand Central Station I see happy, relaxed passengers sitting in the back of pedicabs conversing with their driver. This is the first summer that the new rules concerning pedicabs are in effect. Taxi drivers and pedestrians have expressed pleasure with the results of the new rules that went into effect on November 30, 2009. But the industry itself may not be as pleased although its unhappiness may in partrelated to the economy. The rules require that all pedicabs be inspected, insured, registered, and equipped with seatbelts and tail lights and that all pedicab drivers be licensed by the Department of Consumer Affairs. T

For more than ten years, Taxi and Limousine Commission rules have prohibited drivers from using cell phones while driving. In May, 1999, the Commission was the first regulator in the country to ban hands-free cell phone use while driving. Now the TLC has gone further. Effective January 29, 2010, the ban against licensees using a telephone while operating a vehicle has been expanded to include portable and hands-free electronic devices in the hopes of reducing distracted driving that often leads to auto accidents. According to the TLC website, the rule makes four other changes to existing rules: Expands the definition of use from using a telephone to using any of the functions of any portable or hands-free electronic device, or having a device that permits the hands-free use of a portable or hands-f