When you see beautiful twinkling lights, green wreaths, and red bows, you know the holiday season is here. It’s busy, festive, and brings a lot of fun celebrations.

This time of year is meant to spend time with the people you care about most. Luckily, it’s easy to do this in Lexington, KY because of all the city has to offer. The city has holiday events, great stores to get holiday gifts, delicious bars and restaurants, and farms to get your Christmas tree. To get everyone in the Christmas spirit, we figured we’d share some of our favorites. Without further ado, here it is– Our 2017 ultimate guide to holiday fun in Lexington!

If there’s anything you feel we’re missing, do let us know!

When you’re driving, you should focus all your attention on driving safely. Your hands are on the steering wheel, your eyes are on the road, and you’re mindful of the speed limit and the other cars. You’d probably expect the other drivers to use safe driving behaviors, too, but not everyone does this.

Sometimes, people are negligent drivers and accidents happen. But these kinds of accidents do a lot of harm. While there are about 1.7 million rear-end collisions per year in the U.S., approximately 500,000 people are injured.

Most of our communication happens on a cell phone and it’s how people get a hold of you. It’s typical for people to always have their phones on them. When they bring their phones into the car, they might be tempted to immediately respond to any text they get. When this happens, they risk the safety of themselves and others on the road.

This probably isn’t the first time you’ve heard about the dangers of texting and driving. But for all the commercials and attention this behavior gets, texting and driving still happens. Texting and driving isn’t a skill and it’s not something you can get good at. This choice causes fatal car accidents that could have been preventable if the driver hadn’t looked at their phone.

Picture yourself driving on a highway. The wind is blowing through your hair and your favorite song is playing. Suddenly, the car in the lane next to you doesn’t look in their blind spot and tries to switch lanes. You beep your horn and slow down to try and avoid the collision. Luckily, the other car heard you and got back into their lane, and you continue driving safely. Unfortunately, not every scenario turns out like this one.

As of 2017, the Kentucky State Police reported 556 highway fatalities. Car accidents are all too common and can cause heavy emotional and physical trauma. You might feel confused or lost in the aftermath of a car crash, wondering how and why this happened. What you’re feeling is completely normal and understandable.

Todd W. Burris, personal injury lawyer in Lexington, Kentucky, loves to climb mountains. After he married his wife Lindsey in 2010, the couple made a goal to climb one mountain each year.

One year their mountain of choice was Mt. Whitney in California. Its highest peak reaches 14,496 ft. The mountain requires rigorous training and dedication, and Todd and Lindsey faced it head on. They trained for months. Their goal was to climb the mountain and get back down within 24 hours.

When it was finally time to hike Mt. Whitney, Todd and Lindsey weren’t going as fast as they had planned. The mountain included a lot of long trails that were difficult to navigate. Their route included vertical climbing of 1200 ft. Once they started the route, they could only continue to climb upward.

According to a driver safety poll conducted in February 2017 by the National Safety Council, more Americans share concerns about the inherent dangers of driving than the dangers of gun violence. The survey polled 2,001 volunteers who were at least 21 years old and had an unrestricted driver’s license.

One of the questions asked was, “How concerned are you about each of the following as potential causes of injury or death for your family?” 36% of those surveyed cited driving as a major concern whereas only 34% cited gun violence as a major concern. 47% cited driving as a minor concern while 38% cited gun violence as a minor concern.

Other options included severe weather/natural disaster (27% cited this as a major concern), infectious diseases (26% cited this as a major concern), prescription pain medication (18% cited this as a major concern), and commercial airline travel (16% cited this as a major concern).

When an individual is involved in a major car accident, it’s only natural for medical response teams and E.R. staff to worry about a victim’s injuries and the physical implications of the accident before anything else. A serious car wreck can cause serious damage to the human body and not every injury will be immediately apparent.

After a victim is on the mend and recovering from any physical injuries, however, there’s another type of health to consider—a victim’s mental health. When we’re not mentally healthy, it may become difficult to function on a day-to-day basis or achieve future goals. Our mental outlook and disposition can have a dramatic effect on our overall state of health and wellbeing.

According to research done by the American Psychological Association, being involved in a serious motor vehicle accident is a common cause of traumatic stress—one that isn’t often discussed. In our nation, it’s common to downplay mental or emotional trauma, but as individuals, we can all imagine how and why a serious car wreck could cause us to worry, grieve, or become anxious when we’re behind the wheel or think about the accident. Mental stress is more common than many believe.

Negligence is a concept that’s crucial to all types of personal injury cases. Car accident claims, truck accident claims, and wrongful death claims, for instance, all rely on proving that negligence was in place when the incident that caused injury or death occurred. Negligence, as defined, is any conduct that does not meet the reasonable standards for protecting a person from foreseeable risks of harm. In the cases of auto accidents, negligence can be defined as any reckless or careless driving behaviors or actions.

Inside the broader definition, there are many different forms of negligence that fit under the same umbrella. Here are three of the most common elements that define negligence in Kentucky and some examples of how each apply to certain situations:

Car accidents occur every day, without warning, and can involve even the most careful and cautious drivers on the road.  After an accident, you will probably be shaken up.  But it is important to begin collecting evidence right away.  Your memory of the crash and the events leading up to the crash are freshest in your mind in the immediate moments after it occurs.  Settlement of your claim may not take place until months later, and important details about the crash risk getting lost.  Here are four types of car accident evidence that are important to collect to help you build a strong case.

Photographs.  Take pictures of everything.  Visual evidence is invaluable when describing the event to someone who was not at the scene.  Vehicle damage, vehicle positions, the road itself, license plates, and injuries, such as cuts and bruising, are all valuable images to have when building evidence for your case.  Take pictures from several angles using a good quality camera.  Cell phone cameras today are more than capable of capturing clear images, and are usually on hand to capture the photographic evidence you need.

In 2015, 35,200 people were killed in car accidents in the United States. This was a 7.7% increase from 2014 and the worst death toll we’ve seen since 2008. During that same year, we also saw a huge rise in the number of pedestrian and cyclist deaths. There were almost 5,400 pedestrian fatalities in 2015 compared to the 4,800 we saw during 2014. This is a 10% jump.

In 2016, the numbers looked even worse. According to the 2016 report, there were almost 6,000 pedestrian deaths during that year. This is an unprecedented jump. This statistic was enough to make news headlines nationwide and even be reported on TV shows like the Today Show.