Maryland Car Accident Attorney Blog
If there’s one thing that Maryland families shouldn’t have to worry about, it’s being killed in a traffic accident. But the fact of the matter is, all manner of accidents happen to good people, regardless of how safe they feel or what they do to avoid becoming statistics. This is especially poignant in light of a news article we ran across not long ago, which stated that fatal roadway accidents had taken a huge leap back in February.
As Maryland personal injury lawyers, as well as auto and trucking accident attorneys, I and my colleagues are painfully aware of the odds that an individual, perhaps someone’s mother, father, spouse or child, will be killed as a result of a highway collision caused by a negligent driver. If this wasn’t sobering enough, the shear randomness of some traffic accidents can be very nerve-wracking to some people.
Here in Baltimore, as in other cities like Gaithersburg, Howie and even Washington, D.C., car, truck and motorcycle accidents take place on a shockingly frequent basis. Protecting one’s family from a potentially life-altering and sometimes deadly occurrence can weight heavily on some parents. With not rhyme or reason to many automobile and trucking-related wrecks, all one can say is be aware of the potential dangers and drive defensively.
Car and commercial truck accidents are probably two of the most common roadway incidents that can happen to an individual; although pedestrians are also at risk in more densely packed urban environments. While it may seem indelicate to some, it’s definitely a truism that accidents, whatever their cause, can happen — almost anywhere and anytime.
The news of a spike in traffic deaths this past February may not seem too amazing, but when one reads that this short month represented almost a third of Harford County’s annual fatalities; well, that gets one’s attention very, very quickly. According to police traffic figures, from February 7 through February 20 — less than 30 days — fatalities in Harford Co. totaled seven individuals killed in automobile traffic accidents. While this figure is more than 30 percent of the county’s annual traffic death total, it is important to remember that only one crash occurred in January, which may have been a blessing in disguise.
According to police, the most well-known accident in Harford involved two brothers and their sister, all from Falston, MD, when the vehicle they were in crossed the centerline and collided with oncoming traffic along a stretch of Rte 543 on February 20th. In what has been called one of the worst accident scenes in recent memory, the family members’ car sideswiped an oncoming car, then spun around in the oncoming lane before being T-boned by another vehicle.
The two brothers were ejected from the vehicle, which was literally cut in half by the force of the impact, according to police reports. Two other people who were occupants of one of the other vehicle involved in the accident were taken to the hospital with reportedly serious injuries.
According to news reports, despite February’s unusually high number of fatal roadway accidents, the number of yearly auto and trucking accident deaths in Harford County has been relatively stable over the past half-dozen years. This comment was based, reportedly on a 2010 NHTSA report which pulled on accident statistics from Maryland’s Motor Vehicle Administration.
Harford highway deaths took huge spike in February, BaltimoreSun.com, March 5, 2012