Fatal Traffic Accidents

Maryland High School Couple Dies in High-Speed Single-Car Traffic Accident on Prom Night

September 10, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Traffic accidents, like many unexpected events, can bring terrible and irreversible consequences to the victims involved in the roadway collision. For many people who are reading this right now, there is a rather good chance that you or someone you know will be caught up in some kind of highway wreck during your lifetime. Whether that accident includes serious bodily injuries, a fatality or maybe just bumps or bruises will depend on the circumstances surrounding the crash, but could have just as much to do with fate as anything else.

The unknown is always a difficult area to plan for, not to mention that predicting the future has yet to be perfected to any meaningful degree. This is essentially why insurance companies exist and why drivers and other owners of motor vehicles purchase insurance policies. As Maryland automobile accident attorneys and personal injury lawyers, my firm is dedicated to helping the victims of car, truck and motorcycle accidents recover what they can following a serious or even fatal car crash. With the cost of medical care and long-term physical therapy and rehabilitation, it’s easy for hospital and other related costs to mount up after a traffic collision.

Personal injury accidents can result in extensive bodily injury, which many people can eventually recover from physically and emotionally, but some do not. In the case of a fatal passenger car or commercial trucking wreck, the families of the victims must pick up the pieces emotionally as well as financially. And while the death of a parent can place a family in dire financial straits, the loss of a child or teenager to a senseless car crash is something that few family members ever get over.

Maryland Police Say Driver of County School Vehicle Responsible for Fatal Harford County Traffic Accident

September 8, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Hundreds of people all around the U.S. die in fatal head-on traffic accidents involving a range of vehicles, from passenger cars, SUVs and minivans to semi tractor-trailers, commercial delivery trucks and even motorcycles. The mere physics of a head-on roadway collision can spell danger to most any occupant who is unlucky enough to be riding in one of the vehicles involved in such accidents. As Maryland personal injury attorneys, I and my legal staff understand the stakes of such collisions.

When vehicles of equal mass, or weight, collide with each other, it is a fair bet that the drivers and passengers of both vehicles will experience similar effects of that crash. Modern passenger cars are better designed to absorb a significant amount of impact energy from a head-on traffic crash than those of even a decade ago. But depending on each vehicle’s speed at the time of the wreck, there may be very little margin for survival. Still, fate can sometimes intervene and surprise even the most pessimistic observer.

While many head-ons are fatal — killing at least one of the vehicles’ drivers and/or passengers — other collisions can result in multiple injuries of varying degree. Depending on a variety of factors, occupants in the vehicles involved in a head-on traffic collision may receive only minor injuries all the way up to head, neck and spinal cord injuries. Surviving these kinds of injuries can, for some victims, be a miracle in and of itself, but recovering from a massive head injury (also known as traumatic brain injury) can be a long uphill struggle with many individuals fighting a continuous battle for months or years.

Driver Arrested for Fatal 2011 Hit-and-Run Pedestrian Traffic Accident that Killed La Plata Man

August 29, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

One of the most traumatic assaults on the human body can come when one is, perhaps, blissfully unaware of the impending dangers all around. In urban areas, such as Baltimore, Rockville, Gaithersburg or Washington, D.C., we can see all kinds of personal injury scenarios just waiting to be realized. What many people do not understand is that the elements of a serious or fatal injury accident can come together at the most unexpected times; like walking in the city.

As Maryland automobile and trucking-accident lawyers, I and my staff are constantly aware of the hundreds of innocent victims who become caught up in life-threatening situations every year in this state. Whether looking at a slip-and-fall mishap or a high-speed car crash, every type of incident that leads to bodily harm or potentially fatal injuries can greatly affect a family and loved ones of a victim. Especially in cases where a person has done nothing more than go about their life or daily routine, but who is then seriously hurt through the negligence of another individual, this is where a personal injury lawyer can help.

As we said, even walking in the city or other urban center can expose a person to life-threatening hazards, including being hit by a taxi cab, city bus or passenger car. Pedestrians are extremely vulnerable, as evidenced by the fact that people have been injured or killed after being hit by a bicycle messenger, much less a family sedan or commercial delivery truck. And since the human body has no real protection against an impact with a large object, closed-head trauma and critical internal injuries can likely result and put that individuals life in jeopardy.

Montgomery County Man Goes Away for Barely 5 Years Following Fatal PCP-related Traffic Collision

August 24, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Kill someone on the road these days and you may not be facing hard time, or so it would seem following the sentencing of a Burtonsville, MD, man who was charged with the death of one person in connection with a 2011 car accident. The charge in question was involuntary manslaughter, according to reports, which happened when the driver reportedly lost control of his vehicle before it struck a guard rail, left the roadway and smashed into a stand of trees back in June 2011.

As Maryland personal injury attorneys, I and my staff of experienced automobile and trucking-accident legal professionals are all too aware of the potential injuries, pain and suffering that victims and their families experience following a severe car, truck or motorcycle wreck. These can range from the mildest of injuries, such as bruises, cuts and abrasions, to neck and head injuries, as well as wrongful death at the hands of a negligent driver. It goes without saying, as usual, that medical costs these days can be quite high, especially for serious injuries that require extensive or costly medical procedures.

And one needn’t be hurt or killed by someone they do not know. Many victims have been riding in the vehicle driven by a negligent driver; someone they know or trusted with their life. Hurting, injuring or killing a stranger is tragic enough, but to cause harm to a relative or close friend is, frankly, unforgivable in many people’s eyes. We bring this up because of the case that was recently closed on a man who reportedly was instrumental in the death of one individuals and the injuring of two others traveling in his vehicle.

Failure to Yield Results in Death of One Driver in Fatal Howard County Car Wreck

August 16, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

It seems that at almost every turn we run into examples of poor driving causing death and injury on Maryland roadways. It’s not so surprising as it is disheartening to see the numerous victims of these senseless car, truck and motorcycle crashes. Not only the victims, but their families are affected by the devastating effects of a bad injury accident, never mind the awful irreversible results of a fatal highway collision.

As auto and truck injury accident lawyers, our firm helps the victims of accidents here in the Baltimore area, as well as the rest of the state and over in the District of Columbia. Because so much is at stake when a loved one is sent to the hospital by the negligent act of another driver, we understand the financial, emotional and psychological hurdles that a car, motorcycle or trucking accident victim must deal.

Whether a driver or passenger is due to the negligence or thoughtlessness of another individual, the range of medical complications can be vast depending on the kind of crash, type of vehicles involved and the rapidity with which emergency responders arrive at the crash site to lend aid. From economy cars and motorcycles to sport utility vehicles and large full-size vans, occupants can suffer minor injuries such as bumps and bruises to cuts, deep lacerations and traumatic brain injuries.

Why Seatbelts? Occupant Safety Still Relies on Simplest of Devices in a Car Crash

August 14, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

We’ve all seen this happen; children, teens, 20-somethings or full-grown adults — who, we might remind, should know better — riding in moving vehicles without the benefit of a safety belt. Parents are responsible for their children wearing seatbelts or using approved safety seats in the family sedan, minivan or SUV, but what happens when the adults don’t use seat belts? Sometimes very bad things.

As Maryland personal injury attorneys, I and my team of legal professionals have seen more than our share of car, truck and motorcycle accident victims. What everyone of us knows is apparently a well-kept secret among a small, but unnerving percentage of the driving public. What could be so mysterious? That seatbelts save lives and reduce the potential for serious injury in the event of a bad roadway collision.

It may come as a surprise, but there are grown, thinking people who either through stubbornness, arrogance, or mere lack of foresight actively choose NOT to wear a safety belt when driving or riding in a motor vehicle. Never mind the fact that a high-speed crash between a couple passenger cars, or even a medium-speed impact with a commercial truck, can turn an unbelted occupant into a 150-pound missile heading right for the windshield.

Maryland Man Charged Following Car Crash and Fire that Killed Three Passengers in Montgomery County

August 6, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Aside from the old saying that crime doesn’t pay, we also know that nobody deserves to die in a car accident due to the actions of another individual. As Maryland personal injury lawyers, I and my staff of experienced legal professionals have a fair amount of insight into the range of catastrophic results that a traffic collision can impart to occupants of a motor vehicle that crashes at high speeds.

In our line of work, we know that fate, luck, destiny — or whatever term one chooses to describe the random effects of a serious accident — can have in store for the hapless victims of a car, truck or motorcycle wreck. Even for those people who travel on foot, pedestrian-related traffic accidents can happen more often than one would expect, either here in the Baltimore area, out in Columbia or Gaithersburg, or over in Washington, D.C. Anyone who has seen the aftermath of a car-pedestrian or car-bicycle collision knows that being hit by a 3,000-pound passenger car is not something one rebounds from quickly.

The other day we ran across a news article describing a car crash that involved a stolen vehicle and resulted in the deaths of three passengers. Whether or not those other occupants were accomplices, it would be a stretch to say that they deserved to die in the fiery wreckage following a police chase. According to news reports, an 18-year-old man was allegedly behind the wheel of a stolen vehicle when it left the roadway, slammed into a tree and then burst into flames.

Driver Gets Three Years in Jail after Conviction for Fatal Olney DWI Car Accident

July 31, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

It never ceases to amaze us as we follow the number of alcohol- or drug-related traffic accidents, even in the light of increased DWI and DUI enforcement and multiple anti-drunk driving campaigns. Still, every year thousands of drivers, passengers, adults and children are hurt or killed as the direct result of drunken driving all across the United States. As Maryland personal injury lawyers, we understand that it is difficult to fight human nature, but at the same time one can only hope that people — drivers in particular — recognize the folly of driving while impaired by alcohol or prescription medication.

Not long ago we read that a 20-year-old man was sentenced to just three years in jail following the fatal car crash that killed several of the driver’s friends, thanks in large part to alcohol. Many people in that community seemed to be torn between feeling a modicum of forgiveness and throwing the book at the man for such a deadly and tragic car accident.

Reading of any fatal traffic wreck, be it a car accident, trucking-related collision or a motorcycle crash, is difficult for anyone who feels that after more than a century of automobile transportation the drivers of the 21st century should have a greater sense of responsibility when getting behind the wheel of a two-ton motor vehicle. But regardless of the number of professional driver training programs, parental admonitions, not to mention social stigma of being arrested or convicted of driving while intoxicated, it appears that a certain percentage of the motoring public has much yet to learn about personal responsibility.

Cecil County Man Found Guilty of DWI Death of Friend in 2010 DWI Car Crash

July 27, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

It took jurors just two hours to find a 61-year-old Elkton, MD, motorist guilty in the drunken driving death of his best friend during a traffic accident in 2010. The defendant was charged by authorities with negligent homicide by motor vehicle following the November 2010 crash that sent 66-year-old Kenneth Hampson to the hospital with fatal injuries; the victim died just hours later following the deadly alcohol-related collision.

As a Maryland personal injury attorney, my job and that of my staff of qualified legal professionals is to represent the victims of car, truck and motorcycle road accidents. Whether one is a driver, passenger or bystander, being hurt as a result of another person’s negligent actions can be grounds for a personal injury legal suit. Relatively minor injuries, such as cuts, bruises and lacerations, can be one thing, but serious bodily injury like compound fractures, internal organ damage, spinal cord injury or closed-head trauma can cause serious medical problems, not to mention life-threatening complications going forward.

The case described above is a good example of how a serious or fatal traffic wreck can happen just feet from one’s own home. It also shows that drinking and driving is not only foolhardy, but can be downright deadly, not only for the driver himself, but for the occupants of his vehicle as well. In this instance, the victim was riding with the defendant as a passenger in his car when the traffic collision occurred.

Use Care When Driving; Traffic Accidents Kill or Injure Marylanders Every Year

July 16, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Representing victims of automobile, motorcycle and commercial trucking accidents, we have seen the aftermath of these sometimes devastating traffic accidents. As Maryland personal injury attorneys, I and my staff of legal professionals understand that being involved in a traffic collision may be one of the most traumatic events a person has had to face in their lifetime. With serious injuries ranging from deep cuts and lacerations to internal injuries and closed-head trauma, many of these life-threatening conditions, a victim and his family are surely preoccupied with physical recovery.

But on top of all the medical treatments, physical rehabilitation and emotional counseling is the similarly large consideration of financial recovery. Depending on the type of insurance coverage and willingness of a carrier to cover a victim’s medical costs, there can many times be large gaps in monetary support for injuries sustained as the result of another individual’s negligent acts.

For those unlucky enough to end up with a chronic, long-term condition following a serious or near-fatal roadway collision, insurance may not satisfy the months or years of rehab and ongoing medical attention required to maintain a useful and rewarding life. In cases where costs exceed resources, it may be wise to contact a qualified personal injury lawyer for advice.