Maryland Car Accident Attorney Blog
Driver error appears to be the cause of a fatal traffic accident in Waldorf, MD, when a local woman turned left in front of another passenger car on a stretch of Rte 5. According to Maryland State Police, 80-year-old Mary Gertrude Wade Chandler was reportedly attempting to turn her Chevy Cavalier from the southbound side of Rte 5 onto Gallant Green Rd just after 4pm in the afternoon.
In the process, Chandler apparently failed to yield right-of-way to an oncoming northbound Olds Aurora carrying four individuals. Chandler was critically injured as a result of the car crash and was taken to Prince George’s Hospital Center where she later died of her injuries.
The other people in the Oldsmobile received injuries that were not life-threatening. The driver, 37-year-old Jennifer Rae Snyder of St. Mary’s County, MD, and her three passengers were likely treated by emergency responders at the scene before they were taken by ambulance to Civista Medical Center. All three were minors were riding in the rear seat of the Olds at the time of the wreck. They included two boys — 10- and 14-years-old — and a 13-year-old girl, all riding in the back seat, according to police reports.
While the elderly driver in this instance appears to have made some sort of judgment error, which caused the crash, there are times where a mechanical problem has been known to have resulted in collision. In such cases, a products liability suit has sometimes been brought against a third party, but this must be based on the facts coming out of a traffic accident and subsequent police investigation of the potential cause or causes.
Woman, 80, dies in car accident, SoMDNews.com, December 31, 2010