Fatal Traffic Accidents

Maryland State Police See Road Rage as Possible Cause of Fatal Harford County Traffic Accident

November 26, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Once you have seen the aftermath of as many car, truck and motorcycle wrecks as we have, you too might be all the more cautious on the road as we would like all of our friends and family member to be. While most people never expect to become victims of a bad traffic collision here in Baltimore (or elsewhere across the state and in the District of Columbia), it’s a sad fact that many people who become involved in severe or life-threatening car or trucking-related roadway crashes never would have imagined their day ending on such a terrible note.

As Maryland auto accident attorneys and personal injury lawyers, our main concern is for those who have been injured or killed in a car accident caused through the negligence, and sometimes because of the deliberate actions of another driver. Placing blame is one thing, but understanding that a severe or fatal auto accidents are something that can affect anyone at one time or another might be a better course to alleviating the frequency — and hence the suffering — of many individuals in the future.

While it is true that many traffic accidents are just that, accidents, if there is anything we have learned through our years of litigation in courts throughout the state of Maryland it is that a lot of accidents could possibly have been avoided if one or the other driver was paying more attention to the road. Furthermore, knowing how accidents materialize on the street can make for some serious introspection on the part of many people who work in personal injury law. What is truly disconcerting is that a percentage of car and truck crashes are actually caused by drivers intent on causing some kind of damage or injury to another person.

Speed Blamed in Double-Fatality Single-Vehicle Traffic Accident in Baltimore County

November 5, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

We’ve all hear a lot about road rage here in Maryland, but that’s just one of many conditions that people can become involved in on our streets and highways, many times to someone’s ultimate detriment. While road rage can usually be accompanied by bouts of aggressive driving, driving in an aggressive manner is not necessarily accompanied every time by anger on the road. This may sound as if we are describing a medical condition, which would be for the healthcare community to decide; what we mean to discuss here is that aggressive driving on its own can cause serious and sometimes deadly traffic accidents.

As Baltimore area personal injury lawyers, I and my colleagues have enough experience with car, truck and motorcycle accidents to know that, for lack of a better phrase, speed kills. While the auto and traffic safety community is generally in agreement on this subject, many sports car enthusiasts and racing devotees would likely argue that speed doesn’t necessarily kill, but it makes a car or trucking-related collision that much worse, all things being equal that is.

Speed limits are established for one main reason: to keep speeds on public roads to a reasonable level while also maintaining quick, efficient and economical travel for members of the public who use the roadways. As we have said before, however, having laws and regulations in place is no guarantee that people will obey them, which is why we have police to enforce the laws and a judicial system to provide an unbiased forum for citizens who have been accused of a violation of those laws.

Street Racing in Maryland Communities: Does Aggressive, Dangerous Driving Threaten Innocent People on the Road?

October 26, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

We all know that driving while intoxicated, texting or talking on a cellphone, and screaming kids in the back seat — even tuning the radio in a car or truck — can all be potential causes of traffic accidents. Certainly these scenarios can contribute significantly to injuries and deaths in car and trucking-related wrecks. Whether leading to a single- or multiple vehicle collision, each and every cause of serious accidents is a concern to police and traffic safety experts.

As Baltimore personal injury lawyers, my firm is interested in the effects of car, truck and motorcycle accidents, not only because we want to help the victims, but because understanding the causes might help others to avoid tragic incidents in the future. Sadly, even with public awareness, car and commercial truck crashes occur with alarming frequency. Preventing the random and unexpected can prove difficult, yet cutting the number of preventable motor vehicle accidents is theoretically within our power.

As mentioned above, drinking and driving and texting, as well as other potentially distracting activities, are things which motorists have an active part in preventing. Getting a sober ride or designated driver can help to prevent DWI- and DUI-related traffic injuries and senseless automotive-related deaths; not taking a cellphone call, putting off texting on a smartphone until one’s car is safely parked; and even using presets on the car radio are all ways to protect oneself, one’s passengers and other innocent people on the roadway.

18-Year-Old Maryland Driver Dies in Multi-car Accident in Harford County, MD

October 21, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As ever parent learns, from the day your first child is born one’s mind is switched into what we might refer to as “constant worry mode.” This is not a choice that most parents have, instead it is an inevitable part of having children and being responsible for them throughout their developing years and on into young adulthood. While it is true that when kids become adults, responsibility for their actions actually shifts to the children themselves. But the worry and concern for the health and welfare of one’s offspring tends to continue ad infinitum.

As anyone who has kids will heartily agree, there is no good age at which a parent’s concern for their child’s wellbeing subsides; but there are milestones of actual increased worry. These usually include first days at preschool, elementary school and, one of the biggest, the day your child begins to drive by themself. Setting a teenage driver out on the road of life can be an unnerving time for any parent, not only because of the potential increase in insurance premiums, but also the chance for a child’s injury and death. It’s not something any parent or guardian wants to dwell on. But the chance does exist.

It’s a fair bet that most mothers and fathers become somewhat desensitized to the constant threat of physical injury that a young and inexperienced driver can be exposed to. The problem these days is that many more distractions exist for our kids, what with electronic devices like iPods, iPhones and other smartphones, even the radio and other advanced controls in cars these days can divert an inexperienced driver’s attention at the wrong time.

Fatal Car Accident Claims One Life after Woman Dies when Automobile Drives into Restaurant

October 14, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

It’s easy to assume that car accidents only injure those in other vehicles or kill pedestrians trying to cross busy streets, but motor vehicles of all sizes and descriptions injure men, women and children every year who are neither car or truck occupants, nor individuals standing by curbside waiting for a traffic light. The fact is, automobile and commercial truck crashes can take the lives of almost anyone given the right circumstances.

As personal injury attorneys serving victims injured in car, truck and motorcycle accidents throughout the state of Maryland, we can feel the anger and frustration of individuals who are hurt as a result of another driver’s negligence. For those who are less fortunate, people who for no fault of their own have been killed in a senseless traffic wreck, we offer our help to the victims’ families in an effort to bring at least a modicum of justice to the grieving survivors.

Whether one is injured in Annapolis, Baltimore or Washington, D.C., our job is to find fault and help to correct any injustice to these victims of car and trucking-related collisions. One thing that we know, after helping numerous clients to recover damages from responsible parties, is that a motor vehicle can be a dangerous weapon in the wrong hands. Although nobody expects to be hurt or killed by a car in their home, this too has happened, enough to say it is a potential event depending on the particular situation.

Not So Rare, Deadly Car and Trucking-related Accidents Take Marylanders’ Lives on a Regular Basis

October 4, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Unless you or someone you know has lost a loved one to a tragic traffic accident, it would be hard to understand the shock, pain and anger that one can experience in a short span of time. As experienced auto, truck and motorcycle accident attorneys, I and my staff know that even good people can lose their cool under stressful and highly emotional circumstances. The wake of fatal car and trucking-related roadway collisions can certainly reveal an array of emotions that many people have yet to suffer through. We hope you never have to.

It’s sad enough when a spouse, parent, sibling or grandparent becomes badly injured in a highway wreck. Seeing a loved one who, just days prior was jovial, vibrant and full of life, lying in a hospital bed facing an uncertain future can be very disturbing. With injuries ranging from ruptured vital organs and internal bleeding to spinal cord damage and traumatic brain injury, the outcome for any individual who has been caught up in a bad car or commercial trucking accident can be nearly impossible to predict, at least at the outset.

Doctors, nurses, surgeons and other healthcare professionals can provide high-quality medical care to a patient suffering from serious injuries as a result of a motor vehicle crash, but even the best care can be provided in vain if the injuries are too extensive or the trauma to intense. And this is assuming that the victim of the car accident is lucky enough to make it to the emergency room. Sadly, many victims of traffic collisions succumb to their injuries right there, at the scene of the crash.

For Maryland Drivers Who Think that Traffic Accidents Are Not a Threat, Check the Stats

September 29, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Every year, here in Baltimore, over in Washington, D.C., and almost anywhere across this vast nation of ours, drivers and other occupants of cars and trucks, pedestrians, cyclists and riders of motorcycles are hurt or killed in traffic accidents every hour of every day for all twelve months of the year. As automobile and truck accident lawyers, I and my colleagues have met people who have received debilitating injuries thanks to a negligent drivers.

And the injuries are not reserved for just the driving public; many, and we mean, MANY commercial truck drivers are hurt on the job as a result of someone else’s negligence, mistakes made by third parties, and even through their own carelessness or recklessness. But the statement is often made, especially by those who have never been involved in a car or trucking-related accident that roadway collisions only happen to amateurs and poorly trained drivers. Frankly, this is not quite correct.

As Maryland personal injury attorneys, we understand the ways in which an individual can be injured in even the most innocuous of fender-benders, not to mention a full-blown, head-on collision with another motor vehicle. These types of traffic wrecks can be quite unpredictable and tragically random, especially for those who are killed by a negligent driver or through the careless actions of another individual.

Insurance Company Finally Settles with Family of Maryland Woman Killed in Fatal 2010 Car Accident

September 28, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

To paraphrase an oft-quoted saying: “Automobile insurance companies can sometimes work in strange ways.” To most people who have ever experienced a car, truck or motorcycle accident first hand, that would have to be an understatement. As automobile accident attorneys, we might have to agree, at least from the standpoint that many laypeople do not understand the inner workings of auto, life and health insurance firms.

As Maryland personal injury lawyers, our job is to help victims of car and commercial trucking collisions (or their families) make sense of the law governing personal injury as pertains to traffic-related accidents. We are also here to assist victims and their families recover costs arising out of serious or fatal roadway collisions. Long after the initial pain and suffering of a car crash, many financial loose ends typically remain, making daily life after a bad car or truck wreck difficult at best to get through.

For families who have little or no savings, the cost of medical care and physical rehabilitation can be overwhelming both in terms of finding the financial resources to cover those costs as well as the psychological impact that such a monetary drain can place on the surviving family and relatives. Being there to guide a spouse through the maze of legal issues and fiduciary responsibilities is another part of the process.

Baltimore Injury Accident News: Single-Car Accident Sends Two Marylanders to Hospital with Fatal Injuries

September 22, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Police accident investigators, auto accident attorneys and traffic safety experts, among others, understand the many and varied causes of single-vehicle traffic accidents. As some of the top causes, driver error, weather conditions, road surface type and even defective equipment can be found toward the top of the list. When it comes to faulty vehicle equipment, this can also include tires, failure of which have been known to result in some serious accidents. In fact, a blown tire can actually precipitate a crash that can either injure or kill the car’s driver and/or its occupants.

Regardless of the category of traffic accident, be it a car, truck or motorcycle crash, investigators must always consider the entire range of possible causes in order to weed out the unlikely ones and home in on the more probable. While it’s possible to say that most of the motoring public is used to seeing multi-vehicle collisions, such as a car being hit by a commercial delivery truck or a motor scooter being struck by an SUV at a four-way intersection, single-car crashes are nonetheless fairly frequent occurrences.

Taking into account the human factor in a roadway wreck, a sudden medical emergency affecting the driver of a vehicle — like a heart attack or stroke — can cause the man or woman to pass out or otherwise lose control of his or her vehicle. On the highway this can certainly be a deadly occurrence, especially at interstate speeds. Yet, even on secondary roads where the posted speed may only be 35 or 45mph, losing control and leaving the roadway can also result in a potentially fatal crash.

Baltimore Personal Injury News: Fatal Car Crashes Take Two Lives in Separate Maryland Traffic Accidents

September 20, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In the area of personal injury there is often a question as to whether or not a seemingly inadvertent car or truck accident it exactly that, an accident. Many people are injured across the country in situations that could have been avoided or that were caused by the act of another individual. Whether malicious or not, negligence is cause of many a serious bodily injury and sometimes the death of one or more people. Sad to say, many people have died from another person’s careless or reckless actions; these cases sometimes call for a wrongful death lawsuit.

Although the victim may not be around to speak for himself, the family of the deceased individual can sometimes bring a wrongful death suit against the negligent party, or parties, in order to hold them accountable financially for the death of their loved one. In these days of uncertain and stressful economic conditions, many families are hanging on with both parents working. Should one of those individuals become injured or be killed as a result of an automobile accident, the impact to the family’s income could be very damaging financially.

Instances where a husband or wife dies following a car, truck or motorcycle collision, the family may not have sufficient means with which to carry on without falling behind on their house payments, car loan, and even medical bills from treatment of the deceased victim. Under such circumstances, family members may still be able to hold a negligent party responsible for the untimely death of that spouse, parent or child.