Maryland Car Accident Attorney Blog

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.

Pregnant Maryland Woman Survives Being Thrown from SUV During Rollover Crash in Harford County

October 23, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

There are likely few more dreaded scenarios in the life of a woman than to be caught up in a serious car crash while pregnant with an unborn baby. Mother’s all around the country face dangers every day that could cause premature birth or other life-threatening complications to the mother and baby. Unnecessary and senseless car and trucking-related roadway accidents should not be something that places a woman or her unborn child in harm’s way.

As Baltimore personal injury attorneys, I and my colleagues spend our professional lives following the potentially life-threatening events that occur each year, many that affect parents and their children in ways that could have long-term effects on their health, livelihood and happiness. With bodily injuries resulting from car, truck and motorcycle wrecks happening daily all across the state of Maryland, it’s not surprising that a percentage of those collisions, which result in hospital visits, involve parents and children, not the least of which being pregnant mothers.

Having a child become hurt as a result of a traffic accident is one of the last things any parent wants to contemplate, but being on the verge of parenthood and being caught in a bad roadway collision is likely the worst case that a new mother could imagine. Nothing rocks a family to its core than a car or truck accident that takes the life of a young baby, much less an unborn baby. The shock and emotional pain felt by the survivors and other family members can take years, if not a lifetime, to recover from.

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.

Maryland Drivers Affected as Toyota Recalls More Than Two Million Vehicles for Electrical Fire Risk

October 16, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Being involved in a car fire can be one of the most frightening events in a person’s life. And because many automotive conflagrations occur as a result of a multiple-car crash or collision with a commercial truck, such as a tractor-trailer rig or large box truck, the chances of being trapped in a burning vehicle are even greater. As Maryland personal injury specialists, my legal staff is well aware of the potentially life-threatening traffic incidents that affect residents of Baltimore, Rockville, Annapolis and the District every day.

While electrical fires may not seem to be as common as some kinds of car fires, they are nonetheless serious from the standpoint of personal injury. Whatever the cause of an automobile fire, the risk of a person being terribly burned is always present. With gasoline and other flammable liquids and fluids contained within a vehicle, the threat that a fire, even a small one, presents is quite seriousness. Safety agencies, such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which handle complaints from people who have been injured in car, truck and motorcycle accidents as a result of possible mechanical problems, take any instance of potential vehicle fires as very serious and unacceptable hazards to the public.

That said, we recently learned that Toyota plans to recall about two and one-half million cars sold in the United States for a problem with window control switches. As a matter of fact, this recall extends beyond the U.S. to other countries where Toyota has sold the affected vehicles. Based on news reports, more than seven million vehicles are affected by this one problem. According to news reports, this particular recall is one of the biggest for Toyota, and the largest nationwide recall since a Ford Motor Company recall back in 1996.

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.

Maryland Driver Personal Safety Alert: Honda Recalls for Potential Vehicle Fires Exceed One Million Vehicles

October 11, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

If you thought that being injured in an automobile-related accident required you to be hit by another passenger car or large commercial truck, think again. A percentage of all the auto-related personal injuries that take place every year occur when no second vehicle is present, or certainly when no serious collision has happened. With the typical experience of seeing a pair of cars on the shoulder of an expressway or rural route many people can be forgiven when the first thing that comes to mind regarding traffic wrecks is car-to-car collisions. While these may be some of the more common ways in which people are injured or killed in their vehicle, they are not the only ones.

Consider that many people are still hurt by getting their hand caught in a closing car door, or when an individual receives a head wound, such as a deep gash or scalp injury thanks to a week hatchback strut that gives way at an inopportune time. Dozens upon dozens of people — drivers, passengers and bystanders alike — receive severe and sometimes life-threatening first- and second-degree burns when a car, minivan or SUV suddenly catches fire due to a defective component or design flaw. Of course, numerous car fires actually take place following a bad highway collision, but some of these fires actually take place when a vehicle is standing still, maybe not even running.

As Maryland car, truck and motorcycle accident attorneys, we know of instances where innocent victims have been injured or killed as a result of another party’s negligent behavior. In the case of spontaneous car fires, the blame for sudden and unexpected conflagrations can be the result of poorly designed automotive components, or badly maintained or serviced automobile components. Whatever the cause, when negligence is suspected, the victims should consult a qualified personal injury lawyer.

Maryland Personal Injury News: Late Night Car Accidents with Wildlife Can Be Serious

October 8, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As Maryland auto and trucking accident attorneys, we can appreciate the implications of striking another vehicle or stationary object at any speed. While automobile safety technologies have made remarkable advances over the past several decades, there is only so much one can do to design a conventional passenger car to be safe and still be useful and attractive to buyers. Although fashion should never trump safety, in a free market this is still a consideration for manufacturers of cars and light trucks.

Drivers and passengers surely benefitted during those early years following the beginning of an industry-wide effort to include basic seatbelts in most motor vehicles, starting in the late ‘50s. With the advent of airbags in the 1980s, occupants involved in traffic collisions had additional protection on their side, though some people incorrectly took that opportunity to forego seatbelt use altogether, assuming that the airbags in their automobile were the only protection they needed. Nevertheless, with additional education on the concerted use of safety belts AND airbags, most people car fairly well protected from most mid- to low-speed roadway accidents.

That said, as speeds increase, such as when driving on the expressway, there are still no guarantees. Especially at speeds approaching 70mph or more, expecting to walk away from any serious high-speed collision with another car or a commercial truck is more of a wish than a certainty. Since the dawn of the automobile, the physics of car accidents has always been a great equalizer between those who respect and follow traffic laws and those who flout them. Push the limits of reasonable driving and one could end up in the hospital, or worse.

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.

Teen Driver Returns Home to PA after Hospital Stay Following Maryland Single-Vehicle Car Crash

October 2, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Anytime someone’s child is hurt or killed, there is an unbelievable shockwave that goes through a family, their friends and relatives, even neighbors and the local community. While any serious injury or death is an unthinkable event, for an automobile or trucking-related injury accident to affect a young life is all the more tragic. Every week numerous Maryland families are touched in some way by car or truck crashes in which a family member or close relative is injured or killed in a senseless accident.

As Baltimore personal injury attorneys, we understand how members of a family hit by a tragedy as senseless as a roadway collision can feel numb for days, weeks or even months after the event. This kind of shocking event can also result in a relative paralyzing of the parents’ and siblings’ ability to function or perform even simple daily tasks. In cases of negligence in regard to a fatal or injury-related car, truck or motorcycle wreck, seeking the advice and counsel of a qualified legal professional can be helpful and many times necessary in order to pursue the responsible party(s) in a court of law.

Not long ago a teenager from out-of-state, who was seriously hurt weeks before, was finally able to return to her family’s arms. According to news reports, 17-year-old Malory Weller was discharged from the Rehabilitation Center at Kernan Hospital here in the Baltimore area and transported home to Pennsylvania. Based on news items, the young lady was apparently in good spirits as she left Maryland, no doubt happy to be going back home.

Maryland Auto Accident News: Could Distracted Driving Due to Loose Dogs, Cats Become Chargeable Offense?

September 30, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

While it’s not hard to think of all the potential distractions facing drivers these days, one area that probably slips under the radar — as far as the legal system goes — is the commotion caused in a passenger car, not by children or other noisy human passenger, but by pets. Now it goes without saying that dogs and cats are as often occupants of vehicles as one’s relatives, so the opportunity for relatively frequent disruptions inside a car, SUV or minivan is probably quite high. Still, it is interesting that among the myriad of legislative efforts to curb distracted driving, we haven’t seen much about cat and dog distractions… until now, at least.

With cellphone and smartphones, talking and texting while driving have become rather specific problems affecting traffic safety here in Maryland and across the United States. In fact, the threat of distracted driving has become such an serious issue that officials at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in Washington, D.C., issued a recommendation late last year to ban personal electronic devices in motor vehicles nationwide. With upward of 3,000 people a year killed as a result of these types of distractions, it’s not surprising that many safety experts have weighed in on the topic.

Being Baltimore personal injury attorneys at law, my colleagues and I have years of experience in helping victims of car, truck and motorcycle accidents recover costs and other monetary loses associated with traffic accidents that may have left them or a loved one seriously. Closed head injuries, trauma to the back, neck and spinal cord, internal injuries, broken bones and compound fractures are all results of bad roadway collisions between passenger cars and commercial trucks. Any opportunity to reduce the relative carnage on our highways and surface streets would to be a net gain for potential auto accident victims.