Maryland Car Accident Attorney Blog
Whether one is walking to work or school, riding a bicycle along a public thoroughfare, or simply getting out of one’s car or truck, as a pedestrian being so close to roadway traffic it’s not unusual for one to be vulnerable to personal injury or death. In fact, these activities are so commonplace that most people don’t even realize the potential dangers that they face when on foot.
Forgotten or simply ignored, until something terrible happens — such as being struck from behind on a dark evening or clipped by a delivery vehicle while crossing a street — and most of us go through our day-to-day activities without a thought to being involved in a pedestrian traffic accident. As Maryland personal injury lawyers, we have met numerous individuals who have been struck by a car, minivan, SUV or commercial truck while on or near a roadway. Naturally, the opportunity for serious and sometimes fatal injuries is very great in such cases.
Although many people fail to lend the proper amount of caution to any action that brings them so close to possible injury or death, the simple act of getting out of a parked or disabled car, truck or motorcycle could have devastating ramifications should that person be hit by a passing vehicle. As is all too obvious, the human body is not designed to easily survive a collision with a motor vehicle of any size.
An aside here, but one that is important to note, motorcycle riders are by their nature highly exposed to injury as a result of a roadway collision, and therefore it is commonly said that riding a cycle is akin to taking one’s life in one own hands. But crossing a busy intersection on foot, or getting out of a taxi cab, can be just as hazardous to one’s health as riding a bike in rush hour traffic.
Nevertheless, as car and trucking accident lawyers serving Baltimore, Rockville, Gaithersburg and Washington, D.C., we must offer a word of caution to anyone who regularly exposes themselves to bodily harm, if only by stepping off a sidewalk and into a marked crosswalk on a busy boulevard.
Not long ago, news of a hit-and-run accident brought home the dangers of being a pedestrian on a roadside. As is often suggested by police and other traffic safety experts, it is better to stay inside one’s vehicle when one’s car breaks down on a thoroughfare rather than standing near the vehicle. Of course, those who try to fix their car or truck on the shoulder of a busy highway may be taking the ultimate risk.
As it stands, the person who was injured in mid-November had experienced car trouble and was standing outside her car when the accident occurred. According to news articles, U.S. Park Police responded to reports of a pedestrian injury along a stretch of the Baltimore-Washington Pkwy near the Riverdale Rd. exit. Based on police reports, the 27-year-old female driver survived the crash but was sent to the hospital with reportedly severe head and neck injuries following the early morning crash.
Police stated that a vehicle struck the woman around 4am on a Saturday morning while she was standing to the side of the along northbound lanes of the parkway, just south of the exit that leads to the East-West Hwy. At the time of the news report, Park Police believed that the woman was hit by a white or possibly silver minivan or utility van. According to news articles, the van did not have rear windows on rear access doors; additionally, the vehicle likely had some damage to portions of the vehicle’s right-hand side, including damage to the sideview mirror on the passenger side.
BW Parkway Motorist Severely Injures Pedestrian, Patch.com, November 12, 2011