Maryland Car Accident Attorney Blog

Baltimore Auto Injury Update: Beware Cheap Taxi, Limousine Rides; Uninsured Cabbies can Cost You Big

January 14, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

These days, with the economy still struggling to get a foothold, many people are cutting corners to make ends meet. Similarly, many retailers and service providers are cutting their prices to compete with the limited pool of discretionary monies in family budgets. While taking a cab or hiring a limo may not be something that many cash-strapped individuals are doing much of, there is still a need for these services and it’s a fair bet that a percentage of potential customers may be looking for the cheapest ride available; cue the unscrupulous cab operator or limousine company.

While the numbers may be small, at least when compared to the universe of automobile, trucking and motorcycle collisions, victims of taxi cab-related traffic accidents represent a smaller percentage of personal injuries. Nevertheless, as Maryland auto and trucking accident attorneys, my office is aware that many people put their well-being in jeopardy on a regular basis when riding public transportation.

Here in Baltimore, as well as Annapolis, Rockville, the District and Gaithersburg, accidents involving service vehicles are certainly not unheard of. In fact, taxi cabs, hire cars, limousines and shuttle busses have all been part of a traffic wreck from time to time. As personal injury lawyers and occasional passengers of these kinds of vehicle ourselves, we understand how easily one can be seriously injured in even the simplest of automobile accidents, not to mention ones that do not provide seatbelts for occupants’ use.

You don’t have to be a physics major to know that an unbelted occupant of a motor vehicle can receive serious bodily injury, such as broken bones, cuts and lacerations, and even closed-head trauma and other potentially debilitating injuries.

Montgomery County Auto Accident News: Maryland Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Fatal DUI Crash

January 10, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our judicial system has ways of dealing with those who have violated the laws put in place to make our land a safe and civilized place in which to live. Some individuals, whether through malice of forethought or through negligent actions, cross the line between good and bad; those people are often caught and brought to justice, where they face the penalties laid out by lawmakers and their fellow citizens.

As a Maryland personal injury lawyer, I have seen many families torn apart by the thoughtless actions of other people. Fatal traffic accidents, in particular, are instances where a life can be taken due only to the lack of consideration on the part of another driver. Whether the result of drinking and driving, distracted driving, aggressive or other thoughtless operation of motor vehicle, once a person is killed in a car or truck accident there is no bring that individual back to life.

A person found guilty of causing a fatal car, truck or motorcycle accident due to alcohol or drug use can many times be sent to jail for his or her offense. This may help the victims’ families feel that justice has been done, but the void left behind by the loss of those deceased family members can never truly be filled. When a person who killed a loved one out of negligence receives what the families of some victims deem a partial or incomplete criminal sentence, those family members may decide to bring a wrongful death lawsuit against the negligent individual.

Baltimore Automobile Accident Update: Certain Jeep Models May Hide Dangerous Mechanical Issues

January 7, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Every once in a while, one hears or reads of a potentially life-threatening situation or condition created by a faulty or poorly designed car, truck or motorcycle component; and, it’s not a stretch to say that some single-vehicle car or truck accidents are caused, at least in part, by a mechanical failure in on of the vehicle’s critical control systems.

One glance at some owner and enthusiast sports car, biker and off-roading websites and it’s easy to see that potential trouble lurks when people attempt to modify their vehicles beyond what the manufacturer intended. But problems can also crop up even without radical modification to a motor vehicle. In this respect, preventative maintenance is also important to follow, especially with older vehicles that may have many tens of thousands of miles on their odometers.

As Maryland personal injury attorneys, my firm has the skills to represent victims of automobile, truck and motorcycle accidents. One thing we know is that even seemingly minor mechanical or structural problems on a motor vehicle can easily lead to serious injury or even death. As injury lawyers, our job is to help victims and their families recover the costs and expenses from medical treatment and rehabilitation as a result of a passenger car or commercial vehicle accident caused by someone else’s negligence.

Baltimore Traffic Accident Update: Reviewing the Statistical Danger of Meeting a Drunken Driver in Maryland

January 6, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As Baltimore auto accident attorneys, we are always at odds with the actuaries and statistics people, not because we don’t believe the numbers, but because it’s a hard pill to swallow that X-number of innocent people will be injured in car and trucking-related accidents from one year to the next. Unlike those who tally only numbers, as Maryland personal injury lawyers, we are all too familiar with the pain and suffering of our clients.

This brings up an interesting topic that many have touched on over the years; that of drunken driving accidents, injury and fatal, which happen more than anyone would like to admit. Among the top candidates for senseless traffic collisions has to be drunken driving wrecks. This category of car, truck and motorcycle collision is by far the most preventable, since it usually involves a driver who more or less chose to drive in an impaired state.

Truly, victims and families of those killed in DWI and DUI car crashes must live with the memory for the rest of their lives; knowing that the death of their loved one in a sometimes terrible car or truck wreck need no have happened at all if it wasn’t for the thoughtless consumption of alcohol, or the reckless use of prescription or illicit drugs.

We’re told by many authorities that drunk driving arrest rates are down across the country, and by association the number of crashes have dropped as well. But the question that comes to mind amid all this “good” news is whether or not people are drinking and driving less.

Baltimore Auto Injury News: Firm Helps Maryland Drivers Peer into the Dangerous World of Traffic Accidents

January 3, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Unless one is a police officer, traffic accident investigator, or traffic reporter, it’s difficult to know all of the dangerous and potentially deadly intersections and roadways throughout Maryland. In fact, it’s likely that no one person can really know the location of the majority of accident-prone areas across the state.

As Baltimore car, truck and motorcycle injury accident attorneys, even we are aware of just a fraction of the more dangerous intersections here in Baltimore, over in Gaithersburg and out in Washington, D.C. With all of the many and varied automobile and trucking-related traffic collisions that happen every year, only a computer database can really keep track of this information with any accuracy.

And so it was, until recently, that the average person could not know for certain if they were constantly exposing themselves and their families to danger by driving through a highly accident-prone area on the way to school, work or the movies. This has all changed with the advent of new, online traffic fatality mapping information offered by UK-based ITO World.

According to news articles, individuals can now see how safe (or dangerous) the steets they frequently drive on or cross as a pedestrian actually are. Since almost nobody stands at a street corner for hours each day to observe traffic collisions and pedestrian accidents, the database offered by ITO World let’s one decide if an obviously busy intersection is really a hazard to one’s health.

Maryland Auto Accident Update: Beware of New Year’s Weekend in Baltimore and Potential Drunk Driving Wrecks

December 31, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Anyone new to the Baltimore area should be advised that the city’s bars and other drinking establishments get a special pass each year regarding their operating hours during the New Year. Specifically, state law will allow bars in the city to remain open literally “24-7” from New Year’s Eve through 2am on Monday, January 2. While law enforcement efforts to curb drunken driving are ongoing, we cannot stress enough the need for caution when driving in and around the city during the holiday weekend.

Quite frankly, although drunk driving has for decades been under attack nationwide by state and federal government and law enforcement agencies, the fact remains that the same people who drink still use a car to get around. Designated driving campaigns are helpful, but it’s not hard to imagine that more than a few drunken bar patrons are going to head home this weekend without a sober ride.

Traffic wrecks involving commercial trucks may not be the primary type of injury accident during the New Year’s holiday, but car-to-car collisions are likely to be the order of the day — and night. As Maryland personal injury lawyers, I and my colleagues have seen the result of alcohol-related car, truck and motorcycle accidents; none of which are particularly pretty.

Given the number of DWI- and DUI-related traffic incidents in any one year, it is a certainty that we will see our share of crashes in Baltimore, Rockville, Annapolis and the District this season as well. What we should all keep in mind is that the danger exists and should be avoided whenever possible.

Baltimore Auto Accident News: Maryland Driver Involved in Fatal Traffic Wreck that Killed Elderly Couple

December 30, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

It’s a fact of life; as we age, some of us become less attentive and less able to react quickly to emergency situations. Almost anyone who follows the local news can understand this, since we see numerous reports every month describing older drivers and elderly pedestrians who are injured or killed in traffic collisions throughout Maryland and the District of Columbia.

As Baltimore automobile accident attorneys and Maryland personal injury lawyers, I and my staff know the heartbreak of families who have lost loved ones in tragic, and many times, avoidable car, truck and motorcycle crashes. Even those who survive a car or trucking-related traffic accident can face weeks or months of hospitalization and rehab treatment in order to get back some semblance of normalcy in their lives.

Sadly, older people have a harder time when it comes to recuperating from a serious traffic wreck; even relatively minor car or truck accidents can leave an elderly individual in critical condition with sometimes life-threatening complications as a result of their age. Pedestrian injuries precipitated by a car crash can be particularly deadly for an older person with broken bones, sometimes compound fractures, and serious closed-head injuries commonly being sustained.

Many families worry about their elderly parents who still drive. While there is no reason that a competent individual cannot continue to operate a motor vehicle into their 80s and 90s, the potential for accidents is known to increase for these individuals as a function of miles driven. Occasionally, very minor accidents — such as striking a mailbox while backing out of the driveway or knocking off a sideview mirror while parking in one’s garage — can portend worse incidents to come. It’s sometimes up to other family members to suggest to elderly drivers to perhaps scale back or even stop driving altogether.

Maryland Auto Injury News: Baltimore Mans Dies in Single-vehicle Crash near I-695/I-795 Interchange

December 27, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Single-car or single-truck accidents can be the result of many factors. Top on the list is usually driver error, distraction or fatigue, followed by poor weather or road conditions, and even poor roadway design or bad badly placed signage. In some cases, a mechanical problem with the vehicle’s brakes, steering, suspension or other critical components may be partially to blame for a wreck.

When an accident happens on a low-speed surface street, the out come can range from minor injuries to death of the vehicle’s occupants. While higher speed interstate crashes can be serious as well, the lesser number of obstacles immediately adjacent to the roadway helps to reduce the number of fatal accidents. However, this is not to say that people don’t die on a regular basis as a result of bad highway collisions.

As Maryland personal injury lawyers, I and my legal staff are well-versed in handling injury and fatal car, truck and motorcycle crashes. Certainly, when a multiple vehicle accident occurs, one or more drivers may be to blame. Filing a wrongful death suit against another individual based on claims of negligent or thoughtless acts is not uncommon here in Baltimore, or over in Rockville, Gaithersburg or the District.

In the case of single-car or truck crashes, the injured party is typically the driver himself. If the driver was found to be at fault, having caused the accident, other passengers may decide to file a claim against that driver to recoup the costs of medical care or other claims of pain and suffering which directly resulted from that particular traffic wreck.

Maryland Personal Injury News: Pedestrians Hit by Car in Fatal Home Depot Parking Lot Accident

December 24, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

It’s hard not to come across as trite, but the fact remains that automobile-related accidents can happen anywhere, anytime. And while caution is always a good defense, few drivers can be vigilant 100-percent of the time. It never fails to happen that when a motorist lets his or her guard down for just a moment, a roadway accident can be just around the corner.

Whether one drives to work or school every day, or just takes the family car to the supermarket once a week, as soon as we hit the road the odds begin to mount up. As Maryland personal injury lawyers, I and my colleagues know that for many people it is simply a matter of time before someone is involved in a injury-related road accident. Hopefully that is all; however, fatal car and commercial truck crashes are all part of the mix.

Occupants of passenger cars, SUVs and minivans are certainly more protected when compared to a motorcyclist involved in a traffic collision, but pedestrians and bicycle riders are part of the most vulnerable group when it comes to car accidents. Not only are people on foot or cycling not protected by a steel cage, but if and when they hit the ground, they are more likely to strike their head on a hard surface, like an asphalt roadway or concrete sidewalk.

Baltimore Injury Accident News: Suspected Drunk Driver Crashes Car into Light Pole, Occupants Trapped in Vehicle

December 22, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

From the standpoint of most people who drive on Maryland’s roadways, drinking and driving is an activity that we all wish was a thing of the past. But, sadly, as Baltimore automobile and trucking accident lawyers, I and my legal staff know that drunken driving will likely be with us for some time to come. With human nature what it is, it can sometimes take a long while for individuals to see the light even after society as a whole has accepted an idea or renounced a certain practice.

Without a doubt, over the past several decades the mixture of cars and alcohol has been a major contributor to highway deaths across the country. Locally, in Baltimore, Frederick, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, not to mention Washington, D.C., anti-drunk driving campaigns have slowly made inroads toward creating a safer driving environment for all concerned. Still, as we say, there is much work to be done to eliminate the threat.

Anyone who has been involved in a car or motorcycle accident caused by a drunken driver can relate to this subject on a very personal level. Anyone who has lost a loved one due to a fatal DWI or DUI traffic collision knows the pain and the emptiness that follows; a void in one’s life that can never truly be filled. While it is our job, as Maryland personal injury attorneys, to help provide a modicum of closure to those who have lost a loved one in a car or commercial truck accident, no amount of recompense can ever take the place of a deceased relative, spouse or child.