Maryland Car Accident Attorney Blog

Baltimore Personal Injury News: Maryland Pickup Driver Hits House in Anne Arundel County Traffic Accident

March 7, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Not attempting to be trite here, however it’s somewhat true that a car accident can happen anytime, anywhere; but in one’s living room? The fact is, every day automobile, commercial truck and motorcycle accidents happen all across the 50 states, resulting in property damage, personal injury and occasionally traffic fatalities. But how common is it for a motor vehicle to hit a house or commercial establishment?

Quite frankly, as Maryland personal injury lawyers, in our line of work it is not unusual for a potential client to walk through our doors complaining of pain or other injury-related problems resulting from a car or trucking accident. Some personal injury plaintiffs are actually hurt by cars and truck while seated in a restaurant, standing on a sidewalk, or shopping at a grocery store. It may not happen frequently, but nothing surprises us when it comes to so-called pedestrian accidents.

Of course, the distance that a building is from a roadway has a direct bearing on the odds of it ever being hit by an out-of-control car or semi tractor-trailer rig. Obviously, homes, apartments, motels and commercial buildings located adjacent to major thoroughfares are the most at risk. By extension, the innocent people inside those structures are also at risk, though they may not realize it until the unthinkable happens.

Harford County Auto Accident News: Maryland Motorist Killed after Car is Hit by Tractor-Trailer Rig

March 3, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Patience may be a virtue, but impatience can be downright dangerous, especially when one is operating a motor vehicle. Whether here in Baltimore, out in Gaithersburg or over in Washington, D.C., traffic control signals and traffic laws exist for everyone’s safety. When one person goes outside the boundaries of the law — whether due to selfishness, ignorance or outright neglect — someone is bound to be harmed. It may not happen today or tomorrow, but it will eventually happen.

Whether one drives for a living — such being a commercial trucker, school bus driver or a limousine chauffeur — or one is just a private car owner, following and obeying traffic laws is essential to safe vehicle operation. By extension, keep one’s vehicle safe means keeping one’s own self safe as well as any passengers that you may have traveling with you.

Being Maryland personal injury lawyers and representing individuals who have been hurt as a result of another driver’s negligence, we can say unequivocally that that lack of patience or ignorance of traffic safety laws and rules of the road can get a person injured or killed just as easily as stepping off the top ledge of a 10-story building. One difference between falling from a tall building and being hit by another vehicle on the highway is that it’s a great deal more obvious what is going to happen should one step away from the relative safety of that rooftop.

Study Points to iPods and Other Entertainment Devices Utilizing Headphones as Source of Pedestrian Injuries

February 29, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

We’re not ones to begrudge anyone their choice of entertainment or mode of personal escape from the daily rigors and stresses of modern life. Certainly it’s no surprise that living in cities such as Baltimore, Annapolis, Gaithersburg and Washington, D.C., can push many individuals to seek a pleasant source of diversion from the so-called rat race. But, regardless of the reason for choosing to isolate oneself from the everyday world, a recent study suggests doing just that — in the middle of a bustling urban environment — may actually be dangerous to one’s health; deadly, in fact.

As Maryland auto injury lawyers, we’ve represented numerous victims of car, truck and motorcycle accidents in their quest to recover costs associated with traffic accidents caused by another negligent party. Since a percentage of automobile and trucking accident cases involve people either on foot or riding bicycles, we found it interesting that the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine in cooperation with the University of Maryland Medical Center produced a study naming headphones and personal entertainment devices as leading contributors to pedestrian-related traffic injuries.

According to news reports, the study concluded that pedestrians who use various electronic devices that utilize headphones to listen to audio content have experienced a near tripling of their injury rate over the past six years.

Baltimore Auto Safety News: Honda Recalls Multiple Vehicles for Safety Problems Including Leaky Fuel System

February 26, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Over the years, the American consumer has come to expect a fairly high standard of quality in the products he or she buys. Part and parcel with this is the understanding — and in many cases explicit promises — that certain products will be safe at the time of purchase and continue to remain safe for the reasonable life of that product. This is important, because when something large like a home furnace system or automobile malfunctions, there is always a possibility of bodily injury or death.

This is why, over the years, government agencies and other consumer watchdog groups have helped to influence the safety of all kinds of products. From low-tech, yet ubiquitous hand tools to slightly more complex home appliances, all the way up to car, trucks and commercial jet aircraft. As mentioned above, each one of us has come to expect a certain level of safety when operating, riding or even being near potentially dangerous machinery.

In the area of automotive safety, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is one government agency that is heard from on a fairly regular basis, especially in regard to vehicle safety recalls and other transportation safety issues. Car and truck recalls are sometimes issued voluntarily by auto makers themselves and sometimes ordered by the federal government in a effort to protect the public from injury or death due to a faulty automotive component or part.

Baltimore Traffic Safety News: Has Proliferation of Red-light Cameras Actually Reduced Maryland’s Automobile Accident Rate?

February 24, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Anyone who drives here in Maryland has probably seen one or more of the nearly 200 red-light cameras dotting the landscape all around our roadways. The trend toward adding these monitor cameras has no doubt raised drivers’ awareness of the ever-watchful eye of government, but it also begs the question of whether the addition of these devices has really contributed to a meaningful decrease in auto, truck and motorcycle accidents over the years.

As Maryland personal injury attorneys, I and my staff represent the victims of traffic wrecks — as well as the families of those individuals killed as a result of another person’s negligence behind the wheel. As many safety experts have already stated, it is up for debate whether or not drivers and pedestrians alike have benefited in a significant way with the placement of hundreds of red-light cameras in and around the state.

According to news reports, over the past 14 years since Maryland’s state legislature has approved the use of red light cameras, dozens of these electronic monitoring devices have been hard at work issuing traffic tickets for motorists accused of running red lights throughout the state. Based on information from AAA Mid-Atlantic, those nearly 200 cameras mentioned above do not include so-called speed cameras, which are also in use around the state — AAA does not have complete totals for those kinds of cameras.

Maryland Personal Injury Update: Keep Your Kids Safe from Non-traffic-related Automobile Accidents

February 22, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Try as they might, parents cannot protect their children from every single risk kids face during their lives. The best we as adults can do is to watch them closely as they grow up and teach them to be cautious and aware of the dangers around them. One of the more common dangers that youngsters face on a regular basis involves automobiles and commercial trucking-related collisions, especially in urban areas and near schools.

As a pedestrian, being hit by a car or truck can result in serious injuries, not to mention possible death. Adults are at risk when walking in or around vehicular traffic, and this goes double for children. Injuries sustained by children and adults include common bumps and bruises, broken bones and compound fractures, as well as closed-head injuries and spinal damage.

Head, neck and back injuries can lead to weeks or months of medical treatment and subsequent physical therapy, which can be costly for anyone, much less a family struggling to make ends meet during this poor economy. But being injured by a moving car, truck or motorcycle is not the only way that a child may sustain bodily harm; just being near a vehicle can present certain dangers that might cause injury.

Maryland Car Accident News: Two Children Die in Multi-vehicle Prince George’s County Traffic Accident

February 20, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Car, truck and motorcycle crashes can be horrendous events depending on the circumstances. For many people, a minor traffic accident can shake one up, cause some cuts and bruises, and leave the family vehicle in less than good-running condition; on the other hand, a bad highway collision involving a more than one car or even a commercial truck can result in serious injury and sometimes death.

As Maryland personal injury attorneys, I and my staff recognize the extreme physical and emotional damage that likely can occur following a terrible automobile or trucking wreck. In addition to potentially broken arms, legs and other bones, an occupant of a vehicle involved in a high-speed crash can receive head, neck and spinal injuries. In the worst cases, fatalities are not unheard of.

Because most cars and trucks are powered by gasoline and diesel engines, the danger of a fire is quite common, especially if one of the vehicles’ fuel tanks is ruptured during the crash. Although automobile manufacturers attempt to design and build their cars and trucks to withstand certain crash forces, the fact that nearly every car or truck on the road is riding around with the explosive potentail of more than a few sticks of dynamite in our fuel tanks can be quite eye-opening to some.

Auto Injury News: Maryland Driver Hurt as Pickup Collides with Tractor-trailer Rig along U.S. 50

February 18, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Injury accidents happen all of the time here in Maryland; and there is likely no chance that they will ever completely cease. Save for a complete cessation of driving, which is highly unlikely here in Baltimore or anywhere else around the country, it’s a fair bet that people will continue to be hurt or killed on a fairly regular basis. As Maryland personal injury lawyers, we know how badly a serious traffic accident can impact a household, or entire extended family.

Every day, either in Annapolis or Rockville, Hagerstown or Washington, D.C., individuals receive bodily injuries as a result of car, truck and motorcycle accidents. Some of those injured may not make it to the hospital alive; others may be admitted to the hospital, yet medical treatment may still not be able to save their lives.

It’s a cruel fact of life that good people die in car and trucking-related traffic wrecks. Another rule, not one anybody would be find of, is that doctors can’t always change that main fact. However, we can all make inroads to reducing the chances of becoming just another statistic; but everyone must play an active role if it is to become even close to reality.

Annapolis Traffic Accident News: Four People Die in Deadly Head-on Collision on Maryland Rte 50

February 15, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Hundreds of people are killed every year in head-on traffic accidents all across the United States. Here in Maryland, we certainly have our share of tragic collisions where a vehicle crosses over the centerline of a two-way street or highway and collides with another car or truck. Depending on whether one is riding in a passenger car, commercial truck, city bus or motorcycle, the results of a head-on wreck can range from severe to downright deadly.

Fatal head-on collisions can occur for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is drunken driving; however, cellphone use, texting, fiddling with the radio, carrying on distracting conversations and other in-vehicle disturbances can draw the driver’s attention from the singly important task of operating a 3,000-pound vehicle on a public road. Especially at highway speeds, a moment’s distraction can easily turn out to be fatal. Being personal injury lawyers here in Maryland, as well as auto accident attorneys, I and my colleagues know the dangers that distracted driving can present.

While every driver has likely considered the almost unthinkable results of a head-on crash while traveling along an undivided highway or surface street, the odds of having a head-on wreck when driving on the interstate or other divided roadway seems rather remote. Yet, as we were reminded not long ago, this kind of potentially fatal car, motorcycle or commercial truck accident is possible, and does happen from time to time.

Baltimore Auto Accident News: Two Multi-car Crashes in Maryland Result in One Fatality, Several Injuries

February 13, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Being hit by another vehicle can, without a doubt, by a shocking and nerve-shattering event for anyone in a passenger car. Few traffic accidents are uneventful experiences, though fatal car crashes are, thankfully, not as common as those causing minor to severe injuries. Nevertheless, fatal and near-fatal roadway collisions are a sad fact of life these days; which can make driving in Baltimore, Gaithersburg and the District a nail-biting way of life for many commuters.

Injuries from car, motorcycle and trucking-related accidents abound and include a range of injury from minor cuts and bruises, abrasions and first-degree burns, to spinal cord damage, closed-head trauma and life-threatening nearly full-body burns. Motorcycle riders injured as a result of a car- or truck-collision make up one of the most at-risk groups when it comes to fatal traffic wrecks; even those who survive horrendous car crashes can face weeks or months of medical treatment, not to mention months of physical rehabilitation and possibly years of continuous care.

News of a couple traffic accidents caught our eye a while back. These two multi-vehicle collisions resulted in one death and a number of injuries. In Howard County, according to news reports, a three-vehicle collision out in Ellicott City, resulted in one person being critically injured along a stretch of Rte 100. The victim, a 31-year-old local woman, was taken to the hospital in condition following a Monday evening wreck.