Multi-vehicle Accidents

Maryland Motorists and Automobile Passengers Can Suffer Serious Head and Spinal Cord Injuries in Traffic Accidents

May 21, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Many people are amazed to learn of the numerous auto, truck and motorcycle injuries that occur every week here in Maryland. Throughout the state, as well as in the District of Columbia, we read and hear about dozens upon dozens of traffic and other injury accidents that happen every month as the result of another person’s negligence or just plain thoughtlessness. Many of these injuries are bad enough to require hospitalization and some may lead to permanent disability on the part of the victim.

Being Maryland automobile and trucking-accident lawyers, we know that there is no easy solution to eliminating the amount of accidents, save a total ban on driving. Of course, this would not even be a practical solution. Because of this, the next best thing would include education and awareness of the dangers of car and truck crashes. (And let’s not forget those individuals who are injured or killed in pedestrian accidents, including bicycle-car collisions.

As auto accident and personal injury lawyers, every day we see the results of car and truck crashes. Many automobile collisions are not fatal, however they can cause serious and long-term injuries to vehicle occupants, as well as pedestrians and onlookers. Scrapes and bruises, cuts and minor contusions are the least serious, but in high-speed or head-on crashes, head, neck and back injury can easily occur. Safety belts and airbags certainly help, but even these safety devices can’t always be counted on to fully protect victims of Maryland traffic accidents.

Maryland Driver’s Ed Vehicle Involved in Three-vehicle Collision near Salisbury, MD

May 14, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Driving in and around Maryland can sometimes be a treacherous experience for some people. With the number of motor vehicle collisions, not to mention bicyclists or pedestrians hit by cars or trucks, there may be a strong argument for staying home. And while becoming a voluntary shut-in is not a practical solution, there are things that people can do to reduce their chances of being caught in a crash with another car or commercial delivery vehicle.

As Maryland personal injury lawyers, I and my legal staff represent individuals hurt in all manner of accidents throughout Maryland and the District of Columbia. When it comes to automobile, commercial truck and even motorcycle accidents, we have heard the horror stories of victims and their families. One common thread is likely to be heard from most anyone hurt or seriously injured in a car or trucking-related wreck: “We never saw it coming.”
While this may be true in many instances, there are likely those individuals who may have realized, albeit all too late, that a collision was impending. One thing is certain; most anyone who has avoided being involved in a traffic accident most likely was keeping a watchful eye on the surrounding vehicles. This is not to say that being aware of one’s surrounding is a fool-proof method for staying out of harm’s way, but it could help.

Baltimore Auto Injury News: Several Marylanders Injured in Handful of Anne Arundel Traffic Accidents

April 23, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

For anyone who doesn’t believe that traffic accidents happen on a frequent basis in Baltimore, Annapolis, Rockville and the District, we have news for you: Auto, truck and motorcycle crashes happen all of the time in this state; and a fair number of them involve injuries and a few deaths every week, all through the year. Now, this may surprise a handful of readers, but a percentage of passenger car and trucking-related accidents are caused by negligence on the part of one of the drivers.

We take no pleasure in suggesting that many traffic collisions are caused by thoughtless or negligent actions on someone’s part. This is why we, as Maryland personal injury attorneys, offer our services to victims and their families to help recover the costs related to a severe and sometimes debilitating roadway accident.

We have seen it played out time and time again; an innocent driver and/or his passengers receive serious bodily injury following a bad car crash, which then necessitates days or weeks of hospital treatment followed by many more weeks or months of physical rehabilitation (especially in cases of severe closed-head trauma or spinal cord damage); and that’s just to get back to some level of mobility for a person to try to go on with their daily life. Naturally, there will be more challenges once the physical scars have healed, such as returning to work or trying to get along with a potentially permanent physical handicap.

Auto Injury News: Maryland Driver Arrested by Police Following Multiple Hit-and-Run Collisions in Annapolis

April 17, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Arguments for increased personal responsibility are always encouraging, whenever they crop up; however, human nature being what it is, there are numerous situations when individuals will “opt-out” of the civilized world and hide themselves for fear of being discovered by the police and society as a whole. Actions, as the saying goes, speak louder than words.

As Baltimore auto and trucking accident lawyers, we have been witness to numerous individual victims of passenger car, commercial truck and motorcycle collisions. What never ceases to amaze is how these victims manage to press on with their lives following what are typically violent and painful incidents that interrupt and sometimes permanently change the course of these individuals’ lives. Despite the pain and discomfort, victims of bike, truck and motorcycle accidents must persevere if they are to have a hope of returning to a normal semblance of life, at least as they knew it before the tragedy of a serious roadway wreck.

The other side of the coin is, of course, the negligent individuals whose actions placed their victims in a particular physical or medical situation. Many of these people do, in fact, own up to their mistakes or negligent acts that cause injury to another person. But there are certainly others who fail to admit fault and who, through the legal system, must be forced to account for their deeds. Of these individuals, there are some who run from their responsibility as well as the law. A few are never caught; others are arrested, eventually.

Three People Hurt in Alleged Road Rage Traffic Collision in Anne Arundel County, MD

April 13, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

While we’ve said it here numerous times in the past, it is tragic enough for someone to be injured or killed in a traffic accident, but to be hurt or die as the result of a preventable roadway wreck, that is something no family should ever experience. This is why car, truck and motorcycle wrecks that are caused by out and out negligence or reckless behavior are all the more egregious in the eyes of those who enforce our laws.

It must be said that road rage incidents fall into this area of preventable accidents. Unlike a situation where a car or truck has a mechanical problem that prevents a driver from avoiding a potentially deadly crash, a person who is bent on causing injury through threatening or unadvised driving behavior has it within their power NOT to carry out a possibly life-threatening act on the highway.

Of course, this is not a perfect world and there are, sadly, individuals who for no other reason than personal anger or lack of emotional control can turn on fellow motorists who they perceive as “the problem.” While many road rage incidents do not result in bodily harm, there are a percentage of occurrences involving “driving while angry” that do result in injuries and sometimes roadway deaths.

Anne Arundel, MD, Accident News: Three Sent to Maryland Shock Trauma following Edgewater Car Accident

April 6, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Surviving a car, truck or motorcycle accident can involve more than just luck; age, physical stamina and pre-existing conditions can all be factors that influence the outcome of a severe automobile injury. Just as young children can be hurt in a car crash, older individuals and the elderly can be injured or killed in a serious traffic collision. This is not to say that young, healthy adults have super-human qualities over the other age groups, but their bodies may have a higher tolerance for pain and injury.

As Maryland personal injury attorneys, I and my legal staff have seen the effects that car and trucking-related wrecks have had on the old and infirm. It’s one thing to have a slip and fall accident at a nursing home; it’s a something quite different when an elderly man or woman receives a traumatic blow in an auto wreck. Roadway collisions can take a toll on these individuals and may send them to the hospital for the rest of their lives, depending on the victim’s age and the seriousness of their injuries.

Older individuals are hurt in all types of accidents every week in Baltimore, Rockville, the District and Annapolis. Those who are sent to the emergency room following a traffic accident may face an uncertain future, with broken bones and head injuries that may never heal sufficiently for that person to return home.

Baltimore Auto Accident News: Two Teenagers Critically Injured when SUV Hits Howard County School Bus

April 3, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

When it comes to traffic collisions, it certainly doesn’t take much to send a person to the hospital emergency room. Whether one drives in or around Baltimore, Annapolis, Columbia or Washington, D.C., a week doesn’t go by when you might see at least one car, truck or motorcycle wreck on the street. For our part, as Maryland personal injury attorneys and drivers ourselves, we know all too well the hazards and potential dangers of driving in this part of the country.

Of course, one doesn’t have to live in the East to know that teenager drivers, at least as a group, are more prone to being involved in traffic accidents than other age groups. This may sound somewhat pejorative, but statistics from across the U.S. tend to bear this out, which is why parents all over the country tend to dread the day when their kids become drivers, if only because the family’s auto insurance premiums take a big jump up.

While nobody looks forward to a car or truck accident, parents especially can spend sleepless nights worrying about their teen sons and daughters borrowing the family car to drive friends to a movie or to go out to eat after high school sporting event. A phone call from the local police is a nightmare scenario that any mother or father would rather not consider, but they do occur, usually at the most unexpected times.

Baltimore County Traffic Accident News: Safety of Belair Road Challenged following Another Fatal Car Crash

March 31, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

We’ve already spoken previously about the potential accident risk posed by certain stretches of roadways throughout the state. It would appear that drivers and local residents near more than one road in Maryland have reason to be nervous, based at least on recent news stories covering a fatal crash that killed one woman.

As personal injury attorneys serving individuals in Baltimore, Annapolis, Gaithersburg and the District, I and my colleagues travel on streets and highway along with thousands of other motorists every day; any danger to one’s health and well-being is a legitimate concern.

Of course, passenger car and motorcycle accidents can occur any time without notice, but those crashes caused by a poorly designed roadway or badly regulated speed zone could potentially be avoided given the proper amount of attention. Sometimes all it takes is public outrage to bring the topic to the fore.

Maryland Personal Injury News: Car Crash Victim Given Three-Percent Chance of Survival Walks Again

March 29, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Running across inspirational personal injury stories can be difficult especially in cases of serious car, truck and motorcycle accidents that injure or maim their victims. As Maryland personal injury attorneys, I and my legal staff have met people who have had to suffer through weeks and months of medical treatment and corrective surgeries in the aftermath of passenger car and commercial trucking wrecks.

There is no manual or instruction booklet that can prepare a person to cope with a debilitating roadway collision; the injuries can sometimes be too extensive to leave any hope for a total recovery; yet, every once in a while, we read of an individual who has beaten the odds.

While these all-too-rare stories of near-miraculous recoveries from auto accidents are uplifting, they can also be instructive from the standpoint of understanding how a severe traffic collision can also be a life-altering event in anyone’s life. With spinal damage, closed-head trauma, ruptured internal organs and abdominal bleeding all being possible results of a high-speed car or truck crash, the odds can be stacked against a car wreck victim before he or she even reaches a shock trauma center.

Maryland Automobile Accident News: Injuries Reported in Rte 214 Traffic Collision in Anne Arundel County

March 25, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

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.