Maryland Car Accident Attorney Blog
Statistics tend to bear this out, but it should come as little surprise that younger drivers have a higher incidence of traffic accidents than more mature drivers. This is not an indictment of young people or their driving habits, but is simply a matter of fact that most every insurance company knows, as evidenced by the typically higher policy premiums charged to families with drivers in their 20s.
As Baltimore auto accident lawyers and personal injury attorneys, I and my colleagues know how easily a traffic accident can take a person’s life. Car crashes, like commercial trucking accidents and motorcycle wrecks, happen with uncomfortable frequency throughout the state of Maryland and the Washington, D.C. area as well. One simply way of increasing one’s odds of surviving a serious car or truck collision is to wear a seatbelt. Combined with airbags, this can make walking away from a crash many times more likely.
Unfortunately, safety belt use is not always observed by young and old alike; but as fate doesn’t discriminate, these unbelted drivers and passengers run the risk of severe injuries such as broken bones, deep lacerations, internal injuries, spinal cord damage and closed head trauma. Not long ago a teenage girl died after the car in which she was riding went out of control and crashed into an oncoming vehicle.
According to police reports, 18-year-old Ashley Nicole Stewart was seated in the front passenger position of a Chevrolet Cobalt when the driver lost control. Based on news articles, 19-year-old Mark Buchanan was driving the Cobalt southbound along a stretch of Grier Nursery Road in Harford County, MD. The accident occurred around 1:30pm near Miller Road when for some reason the vehicle crossed over the centerline and then hit a 2001 Chevrolet truck head-on.
Neither Buchanan nor Stewart, both residents of Jerrettsville, were wearing their seatbelts, according to police. The force of the impact apparently trapped the young woman inside the vehicle until she could be extricated by emergency responders. Once rescued, she was Medevaced to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, but died a short time later.
Buchanan and the driver of the pickup, 32-year-old Jorge Velazquez, reportedly survived the crash with non-life-threatening injuries. Velazquez was transported via ambulance to Upper Chesapeake Hospital for treatment of possible injuries.
Charges against Buchanan were pending review, according to the article, by the state’s attorney’s office. Buchanan reportedly was found guilty last November of speeding on Rte 165 after being cited for driving 73mph in a 40mph zone, this based on electronic court records stated in the news article.
Jarrettsville teen dies of injuries suffered in 2-vehicle accident, BaltimoreSun.com, February 16, 2011
Recent North Harford grad killed in crash, ExploreHarford.com, February 16, 2011