Fatal Traffic Accidents

Passengers Beware: Serious Maryland Car Accidents Can Affect Not Only Drivers, But All Vehicle Occupants

June 22, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Listen to almost anyone who has been in a serious traffic accident, if they are even up to discussing it, and you may realize that victims of high-speed roadway collisions are subjected to a great deal of physical abuse in just a matter of moments. The kind of violent energy transfer from a moving vehicle to the human body in just a few microseconds can change a person’s life in the blink of an eye. As Maryland personal injury attorneys, I and my legal staff can appreciate the extent of physical and psychological trauma that an automobile or commercial trucking accident can have on the victims.

Automobile accidents, whether they occur in Gaithersburg, Columbia, Rockville or The District, can result in a range of injuries. From simple bumps and bruises to broken bones, internal injuries and closed-head trauma, there is nothing routine about a serious car, truck or motorcycle wreck. Even those who do everything to avoid and prepare for such an eventuality never quite expect the randomness with which a highway or urban auto collision can occur.

Being personal injury lawyers, trained in and experienced with representing victims of car and truck collisions, we understand how many families can be placed in a difficult financial position following a bad traffic wreck. Aside from the physical and emotional impact of a sudden and violent collision, individuals and entire families may be hit again with costs for extensive surgeries and other medical procedures, not to mention possible long-term rehabilitation, or worse, a lifetime of reduced mobility or other disability.

Young Mother Killed, Baby Injured in Police-related Car Chase in West Baltimore, MD

June 20, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Any death, especially a senseless one, is a tragedy no matter what the cause. There can be little argument about that. But the death of a young person who has yet to experience all that life has to offer, that is a tragic waste of life. Children who are hurt in automobile accidents or killed as a result of another individual’s negligence are certainly the most innocent of victims.

Here in the Baltimore area, as well as elsewhere across the state and even in Washington, D.C., it’s not difficult to see the aftermath of a car, truck or motorcycle accident without thinking of those injured in a serious traffic wreck. As Maryland personal injury lawyers, my firm is prepared to take up the fight for those who have been hurt in serious car or trucking-related accidents. When we see a child or young adult whose life has been unalterably changed, our sympathies go out to the entire family.

Of course, the legal aspects of a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit tend to be less compassionate than the thoughts and well-wishes of friends and relatives of the victims. Nevertheless, the law provides those injured by the negligent acts of another to sue for damages in hopes that in some small way the victims and their families can be made whole, or at least be given a fighting chance for a normal life after a tragic accident.

Harford County Schools Employee Killed in 3-Car Collision in Fallston, MD, on Maryland Rte 152

June 15, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A 59-year-old Maryland man died in early May as a result of a three-vehicle pileup on Rte 152 in Fallston, MD. According to news reports, Don E. Jones, Jr. was killed along with another person during the traffic accident. At the time of the news report, authorities from county stated that the sheriff’s office was still in the process of investigating the incident. As Maryland personal injury attorneys, we know that these kinds of investigations can sometimes be long and involved, depending on the circumstances.

From the information available at the time of the news report, it appeared as if the county-owned vehicle that Jones was driving crossed the roadway centerline and hit, head-on an oncoming sport utility vehicle heading southbound in the opposite direction. According to reports, the accident occurred on a Tuesday morning and also involved a Jeep that was following the SUV that Jones’ vehicle struck. There was no mention of whether the crash was caused directly or in part by defective vehicle control systems.

Based on preliminary police reports, the work vehicle that Jones was driving crossed over into opposing traffic and hit a ‘12 GMC SUV. That vehicle was then hit by a ‘94 Jeep Wrangler, also headed on the southbound side of the roadway. Police stated that the 46-year-old operator of the GMC truck, a resident of Essex, MD, died at the scene. Jones apparently survived the initial crash, however he, too, passed away upon his arrival at the Upper Chesapeake Medical Center, located in Bel Air, Maryland.

Woman Trapped in Car in Harford County, MD; Two Men Die in Howard County Traffic Accident

June 13, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As Maryland personal injury lawyers representing victims of car, truck and motorcycle accidents from Annapolis and Bowie to Rockville and Washington, D.C., I and my colleagues find that highway collisions and urban automobile crashes rarely discriminate. These “equal opportunity” accidents can involve individuals from every social strata and any age range.

For those individuals and families of less than modest means, an injury-related car or commercial trucking wreck can result in hefty hospital bills and potentially long-term rehabilitation expenses. What our firm does is to help people who are the victims of another driver’s negligence recover costs related to serious traffic collisions. Whether the victim is an adult injured in a crash or a child hurt while riding in a car, the law provides victims with the opportunity to sue the responsible parties for damages.

A while back an elderly woman was seriously injured in a Harford County roadway collision. Based on news reports, the accident occurred on a Tuesday afternoon near Fallston, MD, along a stretch of Rte 1. The police stated that the automobile collision involved two vehicles when it happened near Rte 152. According to the news articles, Harford County Volunteer Fire and EMS personnel found the victim trapped in her car at around 1pm.

Five Marylanders Injured, One Dead in Two Separate Traffic Accidents on Same Day

June 9, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The reasons for traffic accidents are not always readily apparent. This is not to say that car, truck or motorcycle collisions happen for no reason at all, but simply because the factors that influence certain automobile wrecks are too numerous or intertwined to be immediately obvious, even to professionals like those who work on police accident reconstruction teams.

As Maryland personal injury attorneys and auto accident lawyers, my firm is dedicated to representing our clients and to helping the victims of car and commercial trucking accidents recover damages owed to them as a result of another person’s negligence. Working together with police and other forensic analysts, personal injury lawyers gather the pertinent facts and evidence from an accident scene to better prove a client’s case against another negligent party.

This evidence can range from something as simple as the length of skid marks on a roadway, to the chemical analysis of a drunken driver’s blood-alcohol content following a fatal traffic wreck. Whatever the specific circumstances of an automobile or trucking-related injury accident, the facts are what support our client’s assertions that another driver or other person was responsible for the accident that may have injured or incapacitated them.

Following Tragic Head-on Traffic Accident Teenager Gets Prison Time for Texting-related Fatal Car Crash

June 7, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

We’ve seen these kinds of scenarios play out more and more across the country over the past several years; a driver using his or her cellphone losses concentration on the road and causes an accident as a result of a simple yet deadly moment of distraction. Was that phone call or text message really worth it? The answer is obvious — an emphatic, No! — yet roadway collisions, many fatal, continue apace with few signs of abating. What to do?

As Maryland personal injury attorneys, we have heard numerous pleas for a reduction in phone calls and texting while driving. Some legislators in many states all across the country have suggested making cellphone use while driving into an offense akin to driving while impaired. Some people may guffaw at such a notion, thought the danger of texting and other distracting activities by drivers is shown to be real and immediate.

Over the last several years, cellphone and, subsequently, smartphone use has brought a real and serious danger into the front seat of nearly every vehicle on the road. While not every driver is guilty of texting while driving, 36 states have already outlawed that activity. But laws can be broken and this has given rise to increasingly strident calls for stricter penalties to be attached to cellphone use when it can be shown to have contributed to a fatal automobile or commercial trucking accident.

State’s Licensing Laws Appear to be Working to Reduce Injuries and Deaths of Maryland’s Teenage Drivers

May 8, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As personal injury attorneys here in Baltimore, we’ve seen too articles detailing the tragic results of traffic accidents involving Maryland’s younger drivers. As adults, we can understand the difficulties involved with training and licensing first-time drivers, especially from the standpoint of inexperience and the dangers of youthful indiscretion. As driving has become a ubiquitous part of our American lifestyle, there is no practical way to increase the driving age, but many states including Maryland have instituted legislation that helps to ease teenage drivers into their driving careers with a graduated approach to licensing new drivers.

Any traffic accident that can be prevented is one that parents and family members would surely want to avoid. With the number of severe injury accidents and fatal car, truck and motorcycle collisions across our state, there is much to be said about saving our young people from possible injury or death as a result of a bad traffic wreck.

Whether one lives in Gaithersburg, Annapolis, Rockville or Washington, D.C., no doubt you or someone you know has a family member who may have been hurt in a car or commercial trucking-related roadway accident. In the best of cases, a few minor bumps or bruises may be all that the victim suffered; others may not have been that lucky. With closed-head injuries, compound fractures and spinal cord damage all potential injuries resulting from a car crash, anyone would be happy to avoid a hospital stay and subsequent physical therapy.

How Can Trusting Another Driver Be One of the Deadliest Decision Anyone Can Make?

May 6, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

We all do it, and on a daily basis. We entrust certain aspects of our lives to individuals who we believe are competent, trained and conscientious. Now, some of what these individuals do has very effect on anyone of us, at least in terms of our physical safety. But others from whom we contract services do, indeed, have a direct effect on our well-being. This can also extend to family and friends as well. The scary part is that we don’t always consider the potential negative results that a basic lapse in judgment by one person may have on us in the long-term.

Every year I and my legal staff consult with individuals who were victims of a personal injury accident. These people, or their loved ones, could have been hurt by a doctor’s medical mistake, pharmacy error or even a simple slip-and-fall mishap on the job. Still others may have been permanently disabled due to a car, truck or motorcycle-related traffic wreck. Whatever the cause, as Maryland personal injury attorneys, my firm is dedicated to helping those victims and their families recover costs for medical care, rehabilitation, future long-term care and even compensation for financial loss or emotional distress.

Most every person that we see had no idea that they would soon be facing a life-changing event when they woke up on the morning of their accident. This is the nature of personal injuries; one can almost never see them coming, otherwise we would do all we could to avoid them. One category of injury accident that can take a huge toll on an individual’s health and future physical well-being is a highway or roadway automobile or commercial trucking accident.

Two Maryland Residents Killed in Deadly St. Mary’s Co. Car Crash; Speeding, Alcohol Blamed

May 4, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

When it comes to fatal car, truck and motorcycle accidents, it’s a said commentary when the signs point to drinking and driving as one of the possible causes. There is no winner when a driver takes his or her own life in a senseless roadway collision, much less the lives of the passengers as well.

As Baltimore car and trucking accident attorneys, I and my legal staff find it difficult to reconcile the possibly thoughtless act of driving while intoxicated with the deaths of innocent individuals. Whatever the reason, a preventable car accident — fatal or otherwise — is a tragedy. As occupants in another person’s vehicle, we as passengers assume a fair amount of risk. Trust is a precious commodity; sometimes one that is spent all too quickly on the wrong person.

As personal injury lawyers in Maryland, we see numerous stories of men, women and children who are injured or killed in traffic accidents that might have been avoided had a passenger spoken up or the driver exercised some discretion. Driving under the influence of alcohol is not only illegal, it is dangerous and can be life-altering. For those who survive a car or truck crash, whether here in Maryland or over in Washington, D.C., the road to recovery can be long and hard.

Baltimore Auto Injury Update: Poor Legal Decisions Can Limit One’s Ability to Recover Medical Costs, Damages

May 2, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Choosing the right lawyer following a serious injury-related traffic collision is an important step toward bringing a successful personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit against a negligent party. As Maryland auto, bike and trucking accident attorneys, we have the training and legal skills to represent victims of car, truck and motorcycle accident here in Maryland.

Whether one is injured in Baltimore, Bowie, Annapolis or the District, there is nothing enjoyable about being hurt, laid up in the hospital and then having to foot the bill for another person’s thoughtless or negligent act. More than one family has been hurt physically, emotionally and financially by a reckless or inattentive driver. With medical treatment costs going through the roof, it only makes sense to choose the right attorney when planning one’s strategy to recover medical, rehabilitation and other costs following a roadway accident.

As Maryland personal injury lawyers, we have seen enough post-accident carnage to know how shaken a victim of a car or truck collision must feel in the aftermath of a serious highway wreck. The same goes for cyclists and pedestrians who are hurt as a result of being struck by a car or commercial delivery truck. In cases where a victim is incapacitated or even killed, the family may need to bring a suit on their behalf to compensate for possible long-term care costs brought on by a careless driver.