Wherever you live — Rockville, Columbia, Annapolis or the District — some roadways and intersections have acquired a bad name over years of traffic problems. Blind corners, hidden driveways, dangerous curves and ill-timed traffic lights are all blamed from time to time as factors in various local car, truck and motorcycle accidents. While not every accident can be blamed on road design or designated speed limits, there may be some legitimacy behind the bad reputations some stretches of roadway receive.
Given that fact, we as Maryland personal injury attorneys understand the many and varied causal factors linked to traffic wrecks that happen around the state. A passenger vehicle crash or trucking-related highway wreck may very well have something to do with the stretch of pavement itself. Sadly, it sometimes takes numerous injuries and even some deaths for people to sit up and really take notice; pushing their local municipalities or the state to do something to correct an obviously deadly situation.
Just last month, two woman were seriously injured in a multi-car accident along a stretch of Rte 214 in Anne Arundel Co. Based on the various comments following the brief news article we happened upon, one would think that this situation could have been predicted in advance. According to one local resident, the intersection where the accident occurred on February 2nd is itself a “death trap” where two lanes of traffic are required to merge prior to the crossroads.
One other commenter suggested that part of the problem is the so-called queue-jumpers who apparently pull out of the left-hand turn lane and attempt to pass dozens of cars waiting their turn and then try to merge back into line. Others suggest it is only natural to use the right-hand lane and merge before that lane tapers down to nothing. Whatever the cause, it appears on the face of it that this particular area breeds some possibly aggressive driving techniques, and even some aggressive reactions in retaliation.
It’s not too difficult to understand how flaring emotions and driver frustration can turn an everyday commute into a fight for dear life. But everyone has to ask themselves, Is saving a few minutes here or there worth the life and health of me and my family? Knowing the pain and suffering that a severe traffic collision can inflict on a driver and occupants of a passenger vehicle following a tragic auto accident, we suggest more patience to avoid the potential terrible consequences.
According to news reports, the accident in question occurred on a Thursday evening just after 6:30pm when the multi-car crash took place. Police, EMS and fire department personnel arrived to find two woman seriously injured as a result of the wreck. Based on reports, one victim — a 27-year-old woman — was found trapped inside her car. The damage to the vehicle was so bad that it reportedly took the local firefighters about 15 minutes to extricate the lady from the damager car.
Another victim, reportedly a woman in her 50s, received serious injuries that were apparently non-life-threatening. Even so, both of the female victims were transported by emergency response personnel to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. The accident tied up traffic in both directions for nearly two hours as Anne Arundel County Police investigated the crash scene and fire department personnel carried out clean-up of the wreckage.
Multi-Car Accident Shuts Down Route 214, Patch.com, February 2, 2012