ALLENTOWN, Pa. — With winter weather settling into the Lehigh Valley, attorney Rose Harper said she’s already seeing the familiar uptick in crashes and cold-weather injuries that tends to hit the region each year — and she wants residents to understand the risks that come with the area’s unpredictable storms.
Harper, who owns her personal injury firm Rose Harper Law, handles cases across Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, but said winter in the Lehigh Valley consistently brings a wave of incidents. The region regularly experiences heavy snow, freezing rain and quick temperature swings that turn commutes hazardous. In previous winters, storms brought ice-packed roads and multi-car pileups across highways like Route 22 and I-78, while neighborhoods saw repeated rounds of refreeze overnight.
These conditions lead to over 1,300 deaths and more than 116,800 injuries each year in the United States…