Although a person’s chances of being killed in a car crash are less than the odds of an individual being severely injured as a result of an automobile collision, it’s a fact that thousands of people die in traffic accidents every year in the U.S. In cities like Annapolis, Rockville, Gaithersburg and Washington, D.C., fatal motor vehicle wrecks make up a definite percentage of all highway accidents.
While being injured or killed in a multi-car pileup is not uncommon, there are situations where a driver or passenger can die in a single-vehicle crash. When a passenger dies in a one-car wreck, the circumstances may call for an investigation, which can ultimately lead to a wrongful death lawsuit on the victim’s behalf.
As Maryland personal injury lawyers and practicing auto accident attorneys, we understand the heartache associated with a fatal traffic accident. Families of victims experience a huge loss, emotionally and financially, when the main breadwinner is killed as a result of another driver’s negligence. Nothing can truly make a family whole after such a devastating loss, but with medical bills and lost wages, a grieving family needs all of the help it can get.
Alcohol use is one of the possible factors in car, motorcycle and commercial trucking accidents. Not long ago, a resident of Middle River, MD, died as a result of a single-vehicle wreck that police believe was caused, at least in part, by drinking and driving. Based on news reports, the crash occurred in Baltimore County near the intersection of Honeygo and Ebenezer in Perry Hall.
According to police reports, two men where traveling in an Audi TT just before 2am when for some reason the vehicle left the roadway and struck a light post. Baltimore County police officers arriving on the scene found the victim, 23-year-old Greg Fuller, dead on the ground — he apparently had been thrown from the car on impact.
The driver, 23-year-old Jonathan Henry, a Perry Hall resident, had received a head injury as a result of the collisions and was transported to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. No other cars were involved in the crash and police were still investigating the accident at the time of the news article.
Based on police reports at the time, the crash may have been caused by a combination of drunken driving and speeds exceeding the posted limit for that stretch of road. As a result, the driver was charged with several drunk driving-related offenses, according to one of Baltimore County’s police detectives.
Middle River Man Killed in Accident at Ebenezer and Honeygo in Perry Hall, Patch.com, March 18, 2011