Maryland Car Accident Attorney Blog

Maryland Auto Accident News: Woman Still Recovering after Baltimore Hit-and-Run Pedestrian Collision

July 11, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Getting over a serious traffic accident is no easy feat, and as a Maryland auto accident lawyer and personal injury attorney I know first-hand what people go through to recover from a car, truck or motorcycle crash. Being hit while in the relatively protected shell of a motor vehicle is usually much more preferable to being hit while on foot.

The human body is a wonder of biology and natural engineering, but our bodies where never meant to withstand the impact force of a 3,000-pound car, SUV or minivan traveling even as slow as 25 miles per hour. The injuries sustained by a person when confronted with a colliding vehicle can vary from amazingly slight to life-threateningly deadly. Broken bones, lacerations and traumatic head injuries number just a few of the resulting conditions after a car or truck crash.

Earlier this year a Baltimore woman was hit by a car while just outside of her own vehicle. According to a recent news article, that April 2 hit-and-run accident left 40-year-old Miki Scholtes with no income and hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills, since she did not have health insurance at the time of the crash. Three months later, she is still recovering, bound to a wheelchair with only the hope of walking again, while the driver of the car that injured her has yet to be located.

Dorchester County Man Arrested for Drunken Driving-related Injury Accident on Maryland’s Route 50

July 9, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Automobile injury accidents can be severe and cause tens of thousands of dollars in medical and related costs. It’s bad enough to be saddled with these costs without having them be caused by another driver’s negligence. As Maryland auto injury attorneys, my firm helps people who have suffered injuries from cuts and bruises to closed head injuries and spinal damage.

A recent news story showed what can happen when someone fails to consider the safety and wellbeing of others as a result of their own mistake. According to reports, six people were sent to the hospital following a car crash with a man running from the police in the early morning hours of July 4th. The chase began when a Maryland State Police trooper, already at the scene of a previous accident on Route 33, observed an oncoming being driven erratically.

The officer was sitting in his vehicle when he noticed the approaching vehicle obviously weaving and crossing the roadway centerline. Pulling away from the scene of the first collision, the trooper followed and then pulled over a Ford Explorer. While interviewing the SUV’s driver, the patrolman recognized the smell of alcohol on the driver’s breath. When the officer requested the man to exit his vehicle, the driver instead drove quickly away, nearly hitting the policeman in the process.

The 19-year-old driver, later identified as Armand J. Cornish, led the patrolman on a chase from Route 33 onto the Easton bypass and then onto Route 50 eastbound. Additional traffic enforcement patrols from the Easton Police Department and Talbot County Sheriff’s Office were called to assist in the pursuit.

News accounts indicate that the chase continued along Route 50 at speeds exceeding 100 mph, during which police reportedly saw beer cans being thrown from the fleeing vehicle. Officers attempted to stop the suspect using stop sticks on the eastern side of the bridge in Cambridge. The man’s Explorer rolled over the stop sticks and seconds later hit the back end of an eastbound Mustang. Cornish then apparently lost control of his sport utility vehicle, which traveled across the median and then across the westbound lanes of Route 50. It came to rest on an adjacent pedestrian sidewalk.

Owings Mills Driver Charged with Drunk Driving, Vehicular Assault after DWI Pedestrian Collision

July 6, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A Maryland resident was arrested by police following an out-of-state traffic accident that left a local man severely injured in an allegedly alcohol-related auto-pedestrian accident. According to a news article, local police took 38-year-old Pamela Currie into custody after an early morning pedestrian accident that apparently resulted in serious injury to a man was only crossing the street.

As a Maryland injury lawyer, I and my colleagues hear of these types of traffic collisions numerous times each month. In this case, the accident appears to involve alcohol, which indicates that the driver was impaired at the time of the crash. Local police said that the crash happened at about 1:00 in the morning on a Thursday in front of a city hall.

While this was thankfully not a fatal traffic accident, the victim was nonetheless left with multiple injuries and will need time to recover. Based on news accounts, an eye witness said that the 46-year-old man was thrown about seven feet onto the pavement. He reportedly landed on his left side, with one of his shoes being found another 15 feet from where he landed. Police accident investigators reportedly found skid marks at the scene that indicated the driver was probably speeding at the time of the impact.

Maryland State Police Step Up Traffic Enforcement at Dangerous Fredrick County Intersection on U.S. 15

June 30, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The phrase, “It takes two to tango,” may seem a bit flippant when referring to something as serious as traffic accidents, automobile crashes and fatal car and truck collisions, but the point to be made here — at least when driving your loved ones around — is always use your head because someone else might not be using theirs. As Maryland car accident attorneys, we make this statement with more than a little experience in representing victims of severe and sometimes fatal traffic accidents; passengers and drivers alike.

Anyone who has taken the wheel of a motor vehicle — car, SUV, minivan, pickup truck — knows that accidents can be lurking almost anywhere. One of the most important things a driver can do to avoid a serious auto wreck is to take the extra time to be sure traffic is clear when crossing an intersection or making a turn onto a busy, high-speed roadway.

Most driver education courses attempt to hammer this point home with students, but over time some drivers tend to forget those early lessons and in doing so may even create their own rules of the road. According to a recent article, police have increased traffic patrols along a stretch of U.S.15 at Hayward Road due to potentially dangerous traffic conditions. Apparently the high incidence of car and truck collisions in that area of Fredrick County has necessitated the added enforcement.

Maryland Auto Injury News: Distracted Driving Blamed in Baltimore Woman’s Death following Fatal Howard County Crash

June 26, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

If anyone needs an example of how distracted driving can result in senseless automobile accident injuries or traffic fatalities, look no further than the pages of your local newspaper. It seems that every day we read about one person or another hurt or killed by the negligence of another driver. As Maryland car accident attorneys, I and my staff recognize the need for better driver education and improved driving safety training.

Smart phones, iPods, vehicle navigation systems, even the lowly car radio; each of these devices and countless other distractions all conspire in their own way to take motorists’ attention from the primary task at hand… driving down the road in a careful and thoughtful manner. This is not just empty rhetoric; newspaper articles and television news anchors constantly describe terrible accidents that maim or kill dozens of Maryland residents every month on our roadways.

A recent story, which may not have gotten much press was that of a 30-year-old Baltimore woman who died following a bad three-car accident in Howard County as she apparently waited to turn left into a local neighborhood. According to reports, the accident occurred just before 8am in Fulton, MD, as Jasmine Ann Brisson was driving her Dodge Neon westbound on Scaggsville Road.

Drunk Driver Who Killed Two Maryland Men Gets 10 Years in Jail for Vehicular Manslaughter

June 24, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As auto accident attorneys practicing in the Baltimore area, I and my colleagues have seen the aftermath of some of the worst of Maryland’s car and truck collisions. Traffic accidents can kill and maim the occupants of a passenger in a split second. What is tragic is that many accidents could have been avoided if it weren’t for driver negligence.

A frequent cause of traffic accidents is drunken driving. To some, driving under the influence of alcohol is the height of driver negligence because it is something that should be in every motorist’s control not to get behind the wheel in an intoxicated state. To choose to drink knowing that one will be driving in an impaired condition is at least an irresponsible act, at worst it can be a death sentence to some unknown and unsuspecting victim.

To often it seems, the people whose negligence results in the death of another individual are punished only after the fact, which is cold comfort to the families of the victims. In the conclusion of a rather sad story that began last year, a woman has finally felt the hand of justice following the fatal drinking and driving accident that led to the deaths of two men in 2009.

Maryland Highway Worker Killed in Apparent Hit-and-Run on U.S. 50 in Anne Arundel County

June 22, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

It’s a sad fact of life that people die senselessly in car, truck, SUV and motorcycle accidents every year here in Baltimore and across the state. Pedestrians are the most vulnerable, since they are both difficult to see and have little if any protection from a 3,000-pound motor vehicle. Highway workers number as part of this group of individuals killed or maimed each month on Maryland’s roadways.

As a Maryland car accident attorney and personal injury lawyer, I know that many accidents can be prevented. Unfortunately, the statistics speak for themselves and show that severe injuries, such as neck and head trauma, are common in pedestrian crashes. We are never surprised, sadly, that such collisions can result in pedestrian deaths as well.

A recent news story shows how deadly a nighttime traffic accident can be for a lone individual on a dark stretch of highway. According to reports, a highway worker was killed in during a late-night collision, after which the driver of the car fled the scene. Even though Ghassen Sabra had an active warning light on the nearby work truck he was using, the 52-year-old was still struck and killed while doing highway maintenance work late at night in Anne Arundel County.

Based on police reports, Sabra was clipped by a car and left for dead in the center lane of Route 50. An 18-wheel tractor-trailer then ran the man over when the truck’s driver had no time to stop. The accident occurred around midnight in a non-construction zone. This was apparently the first fatal car accident involving a highway worker in Maryland since 2006. Sabra’s untimely death raised to eight the number of highway workers killed over the past five years.

Preliminary investigation by police showed that Sabra was working in the left lane of eastbound U.S. 50, either setting up or removing traffic-counting devices, at the time he was hit. Sabra, who was wearing reflective clothing at the time of the accident, was thrown into an adjacent lane where he was run over by the big rig.

Maryland Car Accident News: Anne Arundel County Crackdown on Aggressive Drivers Kicks Off Summer Season

June 18, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Police can only do so much to curb the dangerous driving behaviors that we all see on our highways, rural roads and city streets. It’s not uncommon to have a bad injury accident or even fatal traffic collision caused by another driver’s impatient and belligerent actions on a public road. These kinds of crashes, which involve SUVs, sedans, pickup trucks and even motorcycles, can cause bodily injuries ranging from bumps and bruises to deep cuts and even fatal traumatic head injuries.

With the pace of everyone’s working and private lives ever increasing, it’s not difficult to see why people are in a hurry, but there is no excuse for endangering other drivers as a result. As Maryland automobile accident lawyers, we applaud law enforcement’s efforts to reduce the amount of aggressive driving on our streets and in doing so perhaps limit the number of accidents as well.

One area of note is a stretch of Interstate 97, which apparently is the focus of the latest police crackdown on aggressive driving. Anne Arundel County police officers and state troopers, 45 in all using vehicles and a police helicopter, were part of a month-long program to target and ticket offenders on the I-97 corridor in Anne Arundel County.

Maryland Automobile Accident News: Baltimore Ranks 29th Nationwide in Fatal Pedestrian-Car Accidents

June 16, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Depending on how you read the data, Baltimore pedestrians either have a lot to celebrate or a fair amount of caution yet to exercise when traversing the city’s crosswalks. According to Transportation for America, a pedestrian and bicycle safety group, more than 76,000 Americans have died over the past 15 years just crossing the street in their own communities.

My office provides legal services to individuals injured in pedestrian accidents caused by negligent passenger car drivers or as a result of a commercial trucking accident. As Maryland injury attorneys, we understand the pain and suffering that can follow a pedestrian-automobile accident, as well as the associated medical costs for treatment and rehabilitation.

The published report on pedestrian injuries and fatalities across the country ranked a number of metropolitan areas in terms of frequency of accidents involving persons on foot. In discussing the issue of pedestrian injuries, the authors of the study sum up the total number of deaths as being the equivalent of a jumbo jet crashing with a full passenger load once every month or so. It’s shocking to say the least.

Calling out the total number of deaths in this decade, Transportation for America points out that nearly 4,000 children under 16 years have been killed so far in the 2000s. Based on their figures, the authors observed that in children, elderly and infirm individuals, and ethnic minorities are over-represented in the totals.

The study is quick to address the fact that many pedestrian deaths are typically termed “accidents,” which indicates an error either on the part of the vehicle operator or the person on foot. However, the authors make a strong point that quite a large percentage of these so-called accidents occurred along roadways that were “dangerous by design.” In other words, the blame should perhaps be shifted to the poor roadway and sidewalk design, rather than to the users of those streets and walkways.

It has become more and more prevalent that communities are retrofitting poorly designed roadways into more complete streets. This is being done through the addition of sidewalks and bicycle lanes, reduction of crossing distances and the installation of trees and crosswalks to make walking and biking safer and more inviting.

Multi-car Traffic Accident on Maryland’s Route 50 in Anne Arundel County Sends Three to Hospital

June 13, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A four-vehicle automobile collision on Kent Island, resulted in four persons being hurt, one seriously. The chain-reaction traffic accident on Route 50 in Queen Anne’s County, which caused a backup to the Kent Narrows Bridge, occurred around 5am on a Saturday morning.

As Baltimore injury attorneys, our main focus is helping the victims of traffic accidents recover from potentially life-changing situations. While no one lost their life in this particular crash, the chance is always present that a family could lose a parent and provider. With lost income and possibly exorbitant medical bills, a family could easily be thrown into a downward financial spiral that may only get worse if medical and associated costs cannot be recuperated.

Many traffic accidents result from driver error, although faulty vehicle equipment such as the braking or steering system have been known to cause some very severe wrecks. In this case, news reports indicate that the pileup resulted from a pickup truck that slowed down on Route 50 to allow work crews to reenter the roadway.