According to reports, Montgomery County emergency rescue crews arrived on the scene along with other responders to assist victims of a multiple-vehicle traffic accident along a stretch of the Capital Beltway recently. The accident occurred just before 2pm in the afternoon and included a commercial delivery truck, a semi tractor-trailer rig and several passenger cars.
As Baltimore car accident attorneys and Washington, D.C., personal injury lawyers, we know that these kinds of highway collisions happen every week in Maryland and around the country. The results of a car-truck wreck can range from minor to life-threatening, with injuries including simple bumps, bruises and cuts to serious neck and spinal cord damage. Sadly, many victims families receive a call from local police that a loved one has been critically injured and may not recover.
In all of these accidents, one common element is usually linked to the incident; that of a negligent party. This may be another driver, whose questionable actions may have triggered a series of events that led to the roadway collision; or, the cause can sometimes be traced to a defective component on a car or truck, such as a poorly designed steering or braking system part.
Even a car’s tire, something every driver relies upon for safe travel day in and day out, can have a manufacturing flaw that ultimately leads to a catastrophic blow-out and possible loss of vehicle control, especially at highway speeds. Whatever the reason, when it comes to defective vehicle equipment there is potential for third-party negligence and a possible lawsuit against the responsible individual or entity.
In the road accident recently reported, one of the drivers was trapped in her vehicle until rescue personnel could free that individual. According to reports, five people were involved in the Monday afternoon crash along the I-495 Beltway, near the American Legion Bridge. The horrendous traffic accident reportedly closed the expressway in both directions for miles.
Police reports indicate that a woman’s Nissan Altima had some kind of mechanical problem that caused the vehicle to break down in the right center lane of the southbound Beltway just after the American Legion Bridge. A Maryland box truck driver had to stop his vehicle directly behind the Nissan. In no time, a woman in a Honda Accord stopped behind the box truck, followed by another driver in Pontiac coupe.
Not long after state police received a call that a disabled vehicle was on I-495, the entire line of four vehicles was struck from behind by an 18-wheeler big rig coming over the American Legion Bridge. The semi hit the rear of the Pontiac sending that vehicle into the Accord. The force of the multi-vehicle collision caused the Honda to be pushed under the rear of the box truck trapping the driver.
Eventually, the Accord driver was cut out of her vehicle using the “jaws of life” and transported by ambulance to a local Hospital; her injuries were reportedly non-life-threatening. The driver in the Grand Am, which was crushed beyond recognition according to reports, managed to get out through the passenger side of that vehicle. The tractor trailer driver, who was unhurt in the wreck, was reportedly charged by police with reckless driving.
How it Happened: Five-Vehicle Accident That Closed the Beltway, Patch.com, May 25, 2011