Maryland Car Accident Attorney Blog

America’s Roads Allegedly Safe as Ever

May 31, 2013 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Despite recent major traffic incidents across the country, the Associated Press is reporting that the nation’s roads are as safe as they’ve ever been.

According to their statistics, derailments and accidents at railroad crossings have been on the decline, despite an increased reliance on trains for transporting raw materials and finished products.

Purportedly, the numbers are as follows:

A 43% decrease in train accidents, to a total of 1,712 occurring from 2003 to 2012;

A 34% decrease in accidents occurring at railroad crossings, to 1,960 over the same period;

A 19% decrease in the number of deaths to a total of 705, which breaks down to an average of approximately 70-80 per year, nationwide.

Over time, railroads have made capital investments, strengthened employee training, and explored technological advances in order to anticipate the potential problems that lead to derailment.

According to the Federal Railroad Administration spokesman,
“Last year was the safest year on record for the railroad industry.” This may come as a surprise following the Baltimore accident this Tuesday, and the derailment of a commuter train in Connecticut earlier this month.

Failure to Observe Stop Sign Ends Tragically in Maryland

May 30, 2013 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this month, one Maryland driver’s alleged decision to run a stop sign resulted in the death of another woman, whose vehicle was struck in the collision.

The accident happened around 6 p.m. on May 9, according to Maryland State Police, at the intersection of Point Rocks and Lander roads. A driver of a Kia Sorento, which was traveling south on Lander road ran, the stop sign, and crashed into another woman’s Ford Escape, which was traveling west on Point of Rocks Road.

While the driver of the Escape was flown by police helicopter to Shock Trauma, she was pronounced dead upon arrival. The driver of the other vehicle was also injured, and taken to the hospital by ambulance. The accident led to the closure of Point Rocks Road for several hours.

This tragic accident is an all to clear illustration of the dangers that can result when drivers fail to obey traffic signals. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration, in 2008 alone, there were more than 2.3 million intersection related collisions, resulting in 7,770 fatalities and approximately 733,000 injuries. Additionally, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) found that red-light running crashes alone caused 762 deaths in the same year. At least 165,000 people are injured annually by red-light runners alone, according to estimates.

Tragic Accident on Md. 91 When Driver Crosses over Double Yellow Line

May 22, 2013 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

According to Maryland State Police, one man is dead and one woman is in critical condition, following a two vehicle crash that happened Wednesday morning on Md. 91, a mile north of Deer Park Road.

According to a Maryland State Police news release, the collision occurred at around 9:30 in the morning, when the man’s Chevrolet Silverado crossed over the yellow center line, and struck the woman’s Toyota FJ Cruiser head on, which was traveling in the opposite direction. Neither vehicle contained any passengers. The man was pronounced dead on the scene, and the woman was transported by ambulance to the Shock Trauma Center.

The cause of the crash remains unknown, but the Maryland State Police are investigating.

Maryland Junior Dies in Clinton Area Single-Vehicle Crash

May 9, 2013 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

According to reports, a 17 year old Maryland high school junior died earlier this month in a single vehicle car accident in Clinton. He was allegedly driving a car he had purchased just days earlier.

The young man reportedly crashed just before three in the afternoon near the 11900 block of Brandywine Road in Clinton. He allegedly ran off the road and crashed into a tree, and was pronounced dead at the scene. The cause of the crash remains unknown.

According to local residents, the twisting stretch of Brandywine Road is known for causing car accidents. One resident told a news agency that he had placed giant rocks in his front yard in order to protect his house from potential crashes.

While the cause of this particular tragic traffic accident remains unknown, statistics reflect the fact that young drivers are more susceptible to being involved in car accidents, whether as passengers or drivers, than their more experienced counterparts. According to a list compiled by the California DMV, in 2008 alone 103 teens aged 15-20 died in Maryland in car accidents.

Attention Maryland Mothers and Fathers: Double Check Your Child Safety Seats for Proper Installation

April 23, 2013 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As Baltimore personal injury attorneys, we can’t stress enough the importance of proper safety procedures when driving a motor vehicle on Maryland roadways. We have seen too many people, young and old, who have been seriously hurt as a result of a bad automobile, commercial truck or motorcycle crash. Taking any shortcuts when it comes to your safety or that of your passengers is only inviting potential tragedy.

Naturally, nobody expects to become caught up in a highway accident or a traffic collision on a street in any city such as Bowie, Gaithersburg, Washington, D.C., or Columbia, but keep in mind that if you don’t plan for the worst, you may pay a high price for it later. With that in mind, it may be a good time to remind everyone that auto accidents are one of the chief causes of childhood injuries or death in this country.

To this end, the law requires that kids under 40 pounds be strapped into an approved child safety seat whenever traveling by car, minivan, sport utility vehicle or other motor vehicle. Some new parents may even be surprised that the hospital where their baby was born will want to check out the family vehicle to be certain that it is equipped with the proper safety seat for a newborn infant. This is not just a thoughtful service; it reflects the law as well.

Baltimore Auto Injury News: Several Marylanders Injured in Five-Car Pileup on Merritt Blvd. in Dundalk

April 21, 2013 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

With the number of car wrecks that happen on a daily, weekly or even monthly basis here in Maryland, is it really a wonder that more people are not hurt as a result of some kind of traffic-related accident at least once in their lives? It’s a sad truth that as long as we have motor vehicles and roadways on which to drive them, that there will likely continue to be mishaps on city streets, in rural areas and on every stretch of interstate expressway in this state.

Quite frankly, with the literally millions of vehicle miles racked up every year all across the U.S., it shouldn’t be too surprising that there are on average five to six million automobile, motorcycle and trucking-related crashes annually. As Baltimore personal injury attorneys representing victims for traffic accidents — from passenger car collisions and commercial motor vehicle crashes, to motorcycle crashes — we have met many people who have received very serious injuries as a result of another driver’s negligent actions.

Whether through the other person’s negligence, thoughtless or careless actions, or even reckless disregard for anyone else’s safety or well-being, our job is to help the victims of these typically senseless incidents recover the costs of medical treatment, rehabilitation and even long-term care following a bad roadway accident.

Baltimore Auto Injury Update: Multi-car Accidents Can Result in Multiple Injuries or Deaths

April 19, 2013 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

When the average person reads of a “head-on” collision involving a crash between two cars, a motorcycle collision with a sport utility vehicle, or a wreck involving a commercial delivery truck and a minivan, the words are sometimes just that: words on a page. But for those victims of traffic-related accidents, the situation is all too real. Being caught in a sudden and violent head-on crash on almost any roadway is a serious incident, and not one from which everybody can walk away.

Of all the typical kinds of motor vehicle collisions, including rear-ending accidents, crashes where a vehicle is side-swiped by another, T-bone-type collisions at intersections, or interstate rollover wrecks, head-on collisions can be some of the most deadly. As personal injury attorneys and experienced trial lawyers, I and my legal staff have seen the aftermath of these extremely deadly and life-threatening events.

When it comes to a head-on automobile or commercial truck collision, these front-to-front impacts account for a large number of traffic fatalities on a percentage basis. That is to say, aside from rollover accidents, we have seen traffic accident statistics from past years that show head-on collisions resulting in 10 percent of deaths on the road, even though only two percent of the accidents were of the head-on type. Frankly, to have just two percent of accidents kill one in ten people, that is chilling.

Maryland School Kids at Risk? St. Mary’s County Police Say Drivers Ignoring School Bus Stop Signals

April 16, 2013 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

There are few things in life more precious than our youth. As the embodiment of the future of our world, children should be protected from the dangers that they have yet to appreciate. As Maryland personal injury lawyers, I and my colleagues are all too aware of the fragility of life. This view is based on the years of experience that we have representing victims of automobile and trucking-related traffic collisions, as well as pedestrian and bicycle injury accidents.

Through the decades, we as a society have developed laws and physical safeguards to protect the populace from physical injury or death caused by senseless and unnecessary traffic wrecks, not to mention other types of accidents that may result in personal injury. As motorists ourselves, we understand the dangers that every driver, passenger, pedestrian and bicyclist faces on our state’s roadways. For the children, this is doubly important because they do not always understand the hazards that you and I see as commonplace in everyday life.

Helping kids get to a stage in their own lives where they can recognize inherent dangers and avoid them is the job or parents, relatives, educators and our community leaders. Because traffic accidents are one of the leading causes of childhood fatalities in the U.S., it goes without saying that we should all obey the runs and regulations that protect not only these young lives, but also those of our friends and neighbors.

Maryland Highway Injury Update: Treat All Roadside Emergencies Seriously Due to Potentially Life-Threatening Consequences

April 13, 2013 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

We don’t have to tell anyone that being hit by a car as a pedestrian is a no-win situation. Aside from a handful of superheroes, nobody — or perhaps we should we say, no “body” — can very well survive the impact of a fast moving, two-ton lump of iron and steel. It is because a person on foot is no match for an motor vehicle, not even a relatively light-weight motorcycle — and being struck by a commercial truck is simply unthinkable in our estimation.

As Baltimore personal injury attorneys, we know that the chances of being injured to the point of partial paralysis or long-term disability are quite high when it comes to car-pedestrian collisions. In addition to broken bones and compound fractures, damage to organs and internal bleeding are possible results of these kinds of crashes. For those unfortunate victims, a significant percentage of car-bicycle and truck-pedestrian wrecks result in death.

It’s a fact that nearly three-quarters of fatal pedestrian accidents occur in urban areas like Baltimore and the District of Columbia, but this doesn’t mean that being on-foot in rural region is any less dangerous. The higher speeds in less dense portions of the state can mean the death rate among those hit by a car in more open areas is actually high as well. While rarer than injuries and fatalities suffered by drivers and passenger of motor vehicles, an average of 4,000 pedestrian fatalities each year across this nation is nothing to sneeze at.

Maryland Driver Seriously Injured in Talbot County Rollover Crash on Rte 50

April 10, 2013 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Living here in Maryland, it’s quite common to hear of traffic accidents that happen every day on our freeways, rural routes and city streets. While rear-end car crashes and side-impact automobile collisions can be rather common in cities like Baltimore, Bowie and the District, we don’t see many rollover accidents in-town, but that doesn’t mean they have never happened; it just takes a certain set of circumstances to result in that kind of traffic wreck.

As experienced trial lawyers representing individuals who have been hurt or seriously injured in a car, truck or motorcycle accident, we have gone to bat for many victims of auto and trucking-related collisions caused by negligence on the part of the other driver. In cases of multi-car crashes, it is usually found that the fault lies primarily with one driver. As Maryland personal injury attorneys, our job is to help victims and their families recover the cost of medical expenses made necessary by the thoughtless act of another person.

Sometimes a single-vehicle accident occurs, which may be caused by the failure of a critical vehicle part or component, such as the brake system, steering mechanism or one of the car or truck’s tires. One type of accident can be caused by the overall vehicle design. Rollover incidents, which tend to affect vehicles with high centers of gravity (such as a full-size van or sport utility vehicle). While the design of these types of motor vehicles provides a great deal of utility and convenience, that very design can affect the way they handle in emergency situations.