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Each year, scores of Coloradans take advantage of opportunities to explore the outdoors. While many people are able to do so safely, Coloradans rely each year on the fine focus who work with the Colorado Search And Rescue Board to help us when we things get out of hand. A little bit of hiking safety can go a long way, and so we wanted to make sure we shared some basics.

TIP: If you are able, or particularly active outdoors, you may want to consider supporting their efforts by picking up a COSAR Card. You can do that at this website, here. You can also read more about the program.

One of the most important things you can do when hiking is to make sure that you understand where you’re going before you get there. For many recreational hikers, this means staying on a well-defined path in a park. For the more adventurous back country hikers, this might mean making sure to study a map while planning your journey.

Whether it’s your first trip alone or a jaunt with friends, it’s always important to tell someone where you’re going and when you plan to return. This one simple action can do more than ensure a bit of hiking safety, it lets someone else know that they should know to expect your return. If something happens and you don’t let that person know you’ve made it back safely, they’ll be able to work with the proper authorities to get you the help that you need.

It’s helpful to make sure that you always carry things like a flashlight or whistle with you. Safety devices like these can help you attract attention if you get stuck somewhere you don’t expect to be.

Bring enough food and water for your trip with you. You’ll want to make sure that you stay well hydrated and nourished while you’re outside. Conditions can always change quickly, and it’s important to be prepared.

It’s particularly important to take the time to prepare for the weather conditions you’re likely to experience while you’re outdoors. In a state like ours, the weather can change quickly and it’s very important to be ready for anything.

One of the most important tenants of hiking safety is to avoid taking unnecessary risks. When it comes time to hike, you should always let the slowest person in your group set the pace. By keeping this pace, you’ll be able to ensure that you aren’t pushing anyone to the point of exhaustion.

While you can’t prepare for every eventuality, following these hiking safety tips should make your trip outdoors a success.

There’s no single best way to go about finding a Denver, Colorado Personal Injury Attorney. In the past we’ve written about the how to get the most out of a free consultation, the qualities of a good personal injury attorney, and we’ve even taken a look at the different sorts of Denver attorney review platforms you can use to help find the right professional for you. We haven’t spent much time answering the question of how you can know you need to find an attorney.

When it comes to knowing if you should try and take a meeting with a Denver, Colorado personal injury attorney there’s just a few things you need to keep in mind.

Lawyers specialize in helping people to craft and prepare agreements, contracts and other sorts of official documents.

That’s why one of the easiest ways to know it’s time to look for an attorney is if you’ve been handed a document to sign that you don’t understand. While it may seem ridiculous to have an attorney evaluate every contract before you sign it, proper legal review can mean that you avoid any of the “fine print” so many don’t bother to read.

Coordinating treatment is one of the things that lawyers who help people who have been injured in automobile accidents with quite frequently.

If you’ve been involved in an accident and you have concerns about how you’ll repair the damage to your vehicle or cover medical expenses, that’s another good sign you should consider meeting with an attorney.

Lawyers who work on these sorts of cases in particular spend a tremendous amount of time coordinating payments between insurance companies and people who have been injured in automobile accidents.

That’s one of the reasons why you’ll find working with an attorney very helpful if you’re having difficulty negotiating with your insurance company. Attorneys are well trained in this practice and can help you get what you need to get your life back together.

The type of person who becomes an attorney that focuses in a cases like these also tends to be the sort of person who wants to help people stand up for their rights.

If you feel as though you’ve been injured through the fault of another, it’s very likely that you’ll find working with a Denver, Colorado personal injury attorney very helpful. While not every attorney that you meet with may be an expert in the details of your case, attorneys work very closely together. It’s very likely that any lawyer you meet with will be able to recommend you to the right professional.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of all of the circumstances in which you may find working with an attorney to be of value. The truth is, there are many situations where an attorney can be of benefit. One of the best ways to find out is to bring your questions to a free consultation. Nearly any attorney will be happy to hear from you.

In the past we’ve written about both whiplash and spinal injury–but whiplash back injury is something that many victims of auto accidents don’t realize that they are suffering from until it is too late to take advantage of the many treatment options that are available to someone who catches a tissue injury early.

Many people are surprised to learn that even relatively minor accidents can create an environment where automobile passengers suffer from the symptoms commonly associated with whiplash. But whiplash is actually one of the more common auto accident injuries. We collected a series of videos on whiplash, that explore each aspect of the condition.

If you’ve ever stopped suddenly in a car, you’ve likely experienced the sensation of being pulled in a few different directions at once.

Because collisions in vehicles often generate a tremendous amount of force, it’s not uncommon for a passenger’s body to be exposed to extreme stresses. These stresses can cause the body to react in ways it ordinarily wouldn’t. Because of this it can be difficult to predict the effects of a whiplash back injury on different parts of the body. That’s why treatment for injuries like these often occurs in phases.

Whiplash is particularly common in car accidents where one car is rear-ended by another. Because many of the symptoms of whiplash are ‘silent,’ it’s not uncommon for people to neglect treatment until days, weeks or even months after an accident. Whiplash isn’t the only injury like this you can sustain after an auto accident. There are all sorts of soft tissue injuries that often impact victims of car accidents.

Because the spine is such an critical part of the body, it’s very important that you treat spinal injuries with great care. One of the most important things you can do is familiarize yourself with standard treatments after a spinal injury. Some patients also report great success from working with a chiropractor after an auto accident.

If you are suffering from this sort of injury, you may want to consider finding an attorney. This is because some insurance companies are notorious for defending against spinal injury claims.

You can learn more about finding an attorney in our guide to Denver attorney reviews.

One of the things we get asked about a lot by people who are just starting to search through our blog is what qualities make for a good accident lawyer. Good accident lawyers are hard to come by. That’s not because there’s a lot of competition or because there are many people who are willing to offer you advice. Good accident lawyers are hard to come by because the skills that make for a good attorney are very rare.

We’ve written extensively in the past about the qualities of a good accident attorney. While we were working on that project, we learned a lot about what people expect from a good attorney.

One of the most important things you should keep in mind when evaluating good accident lawyers is what some employers refer to as “culture fit.” You shouldn’t have to worry about being comfortable around the professional you’ve hired to represent your interests.

The best attorney client relationships are the ones where you can feel free to express the honest truth to your counsel. As you work openly with your counsel, your attorney will be empowered to better anticipate your needs.

Some of the best attorney client relationships involve clients who take an active role in their own defense. As we wrote in our article about some of the best questions you can ask a personal injury attorney, getting involved is one of the easiest ways to affect the outcome of your case. Most of us are more interested in working on projects that excite us rather than ones we feel like we have to complete.

While this shouldn’t always be true of attorneys, we’ve found that it often is.

It’s very important that if you’re looking for good accident lawyers you make sure that you ask questions about the average caseload and how the prospective counsel plans to represent you. These sorts of questions can go a long way towards increasing your comfort with your new attorney.

One of the important reasons to start your search by meeting with real professionals in the field, is that there are many different types of cases that attorneys like to work on. It’s not uncommon for a case to require the expertise of a number of lawyers. Because of this, good accident lawyers can be hard to find.

Once you’ve started your search for good accident lawyers, you may want to learn more about the litigation process. If you’re looking for a little more help conducting your search, make sure you check out our guide to Denver Attorney Reviews.

If you’re looking for a vehicle accident lawyer, it’s safe to say that you’re probably not having a very good day. While no one likes to think about the cause of an accident, it can seem like everyone you run into has an opinion to offer about what could have been done differently. As well intentioned as advice like this may seem, it often comes too late to make a difference.

Because of this mixture of overwhelming feelings, many people don’t ask for help–even if they really need it.

Many people are frightened by the prospect of finding a good attorney.

The truth is, lawyers aren’t involved in every car or vehicle accident.

In some cases, some people elect to negotiate directly with the other driver. Others work out an arrangement with an insurance agent.

But an attorney is a special kind of professional. Many lawyers–especially those who work in personal injury–care greatly about helping people in situations where they are outmatched. This is commonly the case if you are up against an insurance company.

Insurance companies often conduct secret investigations and have been known to ask prying questions. The insurance company might introduce you to concepts you don’t know about like subrogation that can make paying your medical bills after an accident seem overwhelming.

According to a recent update of Colorado accident statistics, there were more than 500 traffic fatalities in 2015 alone.

Fatalities aren’t the only kind of car accident injury, either. The severity of these injuries can range from soft tissue injuries to the more extreme spinal and brain injuries.

From making sure you know how your vehicle handles to ensuring you avoid driving in the worst of the rain there’s a lot you can do before your drive to stay safe. It’s important you learn to keep a look out for signs of reckless driving, and common causes of truck accidents. It’s important to be vigilant: even if you’re just biking to work.

But if you or a loved one has been injured, it’s time to consider looking for a professional who can help you shoulder the burden of recovering after an accident. Vehicle accident lawyers are often very experienced at negotiating with other drivers and insurance agents. Should you chose to retain one, you’ll likely find that your lawyer becomes a sort of trusted confidant–a central source of information to help you recover after your trying experience.

That’s why it’s so important (whether you’re looking for a vehicle accident attorney or any other type of lawyer) to spend some time researching your decision. Ask questions. Take a free consultation. There’s all sorts of tricks you can use to help guide your search!

It might seem strange to think of hiring a bicycle accident attorney after you’re involved in a bicycle accident, but the truth is that there are a number of situations where you may benefit from the services an experienced (and well-reviewed) attorney can offer you.

A few days ago, Rand Spear, a Philadelphia based attorney, pointed out some of the unique complexities of bicycle accidents. Mr. Spear put hosted a two part podcast all about some of the unique challenges presented by bicycle accidents.

In one Phoenix case, a woman intentionally struck her boyfriend with her vehicle. Because this was an intentional accident, it was prosecuted in a manner different than many other pedestrian accidents.

We’ve written in the past about startling pedestrian accident facts, and even offered some tips for pedestrian safety. One thing we found as we were preparing these articles is that insurance companies are very well positioned to defend drivers in these situations.

When an accident involves a bicycle and a motor vehicle, the consequences of such a collision can be very serious. These sorts of injuries can require a great deal of medical care–which often comes at a steep cost. You should be able to recover the compensation you need to fully recover from your accidents.

Over the past few years, a number of attorneys have begun to notice these discrepancies–especially in Colorado where many people enjoy outdoor activities like cycling.

The above video (from Denver’s own Foster Graham Milstein & Calisher LLP) underscores just how serious these injuries can be. We weren’t kidding when we said lots of Colorado lawyers care about bicycle accidents.

Because many personal injury attorneys claim to be experienced at negotiating with insurance companies, it can be helpful to use our guide to Denver Attorney Reviews to find a professional you can trust to work with.

That doesn’t mean that you’re totally at the mercy of the road when cycling.

We like this video, because like our article on avoiding motorcycle accidents, this video reminds viewers of just how important proper preparation is to a successful ride.

Proper preparation is crucial for a safe ride. This can mean understanding the unique challenges presented by the terrain you’re biking over. You can find lots of great resources (like the video above) online to help familiarize yourself with these challenges before you get out onto the road.

The video above (from the NHTSA) explains some of the rights and responsibilities that motorists have. That’s because in many states, bikes are actually considered vehicles. That can mean that a bicyclist is responsible for following all of the rules of the roadway like stopping at stop signs and being visible at night. As the video above asserts, nearly every state requires bicyclists to have one white light at the front of the bike and one red light at the back.

In some accidents, insurance companies will use a legal doctrine known as “contributory negligence” to argue that a bicyclist who isn’t following these rules of the road deserves some share of the blame for causing an accident. Insurance companies make this argument because doing so can lessen the amount that the insurance company of the driver who hit you will be compelled to offer you in a settlement. One thing that many cyclists do not know is that you can be protected for an accident caused by an action taken to avoid an accident. More often than not, making such a complex argument is beyond the ability of even the savviest of accident victims.

That’s one of the reasons you may want to consider taking a free consultation with a personal injury attorney. The driver who struck your bicycle will be represented by a powerful insurance company–don’t you want someone just as strong in your corner?

There’s one thing many people only realize once they’ve been involved in an accident with a commercial vehicle. The finance and funding mechanisms related to commercial drivers have changed dramatically over the years. That’s why finding a commercial vehicle accident lawyer is so important.

In the past, we’ve written a little about why finding good commercial accident lawyers is so difficult. The truth is that in the time since, these systems have only become more complicated.

Even more frustrating is that many of these accidents could be avoided if drivers were better about paying attention to the roadway. Watch what happens in this video below.

There’s no doubt that distracted drivers can cause serious accidents.

As the video above from the Tefteller Law Firm suggests, many times insurance companies can afford to hire experts to speak to the defense of the person whom you feel caused an accident.

Commercial vehicles undergo a wide array of evaluation and testing. You can see some of this crash testing in the video above. Clearly, companies that can afford this level of testing can also afford a host of experts to represent their positions.

But insurance offerings for truck operators are complicated as well. Check out this lengthy ad for commercial insurance:

Many commercial vehicles are driven by independent owner operators. These arrangements can be equally complex. The video below from Swift Trans explains one such arrangement at length.

These complexity of these sorts of arrangements can be a lot to navigate on your own. That’s why you need to find an attorney who understands these systems. Prepare a list of questions and use our guide to Denver attorney reviews to find the right lawyer today.