Maryland Car Accident Attorney Blog
Some auto collisions are preventable, others are not. When a driver becomes disoriented whether due to drug or alcohol impairment, or even from old age, the results can be devastating. As Maryland personal injury lawyers, my firm helps people recover the sometimes debilitating costs of a serious traffic accident, especially when another person’s negligence is found to be the cause.
Not long ago a Reisterstown resident died in a fatal head-on crash along Interstate 795 just south of Owings Mills. According to police, witnesses claimed that one of the vehicles, a Toyota Corolla, was traveling against traffic with no headlights on.
According to a news article, Maryland State police were alerted to the situation by several early morning 911 calls reporting that a car was going south in the northbound lanes of I-795. Unfortunately, MSP troopers could not turn around quickly enough to catch up with the Toyota and try to flag down the driver.
Based on reports the first 911 call came in just before 3am. That call fixed the Toyota at Franklin Boulevard, but by the time MSP officers had found the car it already south of Owings Mills Boulevard. Not long after that, police received calls reporting a collision.
According to news reports, the Toyota, driven by 33-year-old David Earl Patterson of Reisterstown, hit a northbound Volvo station wagon head-on. Police said that the driver of the Volvo likely had no time to when the Corolla running without headlights appeared directly in front of the driver.
Police reports indicate that the vehicles hit at about 60mph, with both cars coming to rest in the roadway. When police and emergency rescue personnel arrived the drivers of each vehicle were both in critical condition.
Paramedics rushed Patterson to Northwest Hospital, but he apparently died before doctors could save him. The Volvo’s driver, 28-year-old Mary Christina Medicus of Westminster, survived the accident and was taken to Shock Trauma Center. Police suspect that alcohol was involved, but were still investigating the crash at the time of the article.
Coincidentally, a second wrong-way vehicle was also seen traveling along I-795 earlier that same night. That vehicle was involved in a single-vehicle crash, according to Maryland State Police, and the female driver was subsequently arrested and charged with driving under the influence.
Reisterstown man dies in head on collision on Interstate 795, ABC2news.com, September 10, 2010