Maryland Car Accident Attorney Blog
Law enforcement officials and accident investigators had been combing the site where a 22-year-old Potomac resident received fatal injuries following a recent single-car accident on Bradley Boulevard in Bethesda, Maryland. The automobile crash occurred just after 6 a.m. on a Saturday morning, according to police, when Pedro Pedro Ivo Sobral Canuto apparently lost control of the car he was driving. The 1999 Audi crossed the centerline, left the roadway and hit a tree on the driver’s side, which caused severe injuries to the driver.
As a Maryland auto accident and personal injury attorney, I have worked on cases involving fatal and non-fatal single-vehicle accidents. Barring driver error, many of these types of accidents are the result of defective equipment.
In this instance, a person nearby the crash scene said that the sound of squealing brakes could be heard moments before the impact. According to reports, the driver was wearing his seatbelt. When rescue personnel arrived, they were able to extricate Mr. Canuto, who was subsequently transported to Suburban Hospital with critical and life-threatening injuries. Sadly, the man died around noon the next day.
Vehicle defects can be very dangerous, especially when they are related to a car or truck’s steering equipment or braking system. In this case, police still don’t know the cause, however, it sounds as if the braking system may have been involved. This was a ten-year-old vehicle and older vehicles can have excessive wear in certain components including the braking system.
Depending on the speed and road conditions, if the vehicle’s brakes failed to operate correctly, it may have caused the car to go out of control and leave the roadway. But this is simply speculation, and until a definitive report comes from police accident investigators, no one can know for certain what caused this fatal crash.
It is not uncommon for poorly designed or improperly maintained vehicle systems to be the root cause of a crash that results in serious injury or death of the driver, passengers or bystanders. If someone you know has been involved in a vehicle accident due to defective equipment, there may be grounds to recover medical costs and other damages.
As Maryland automobile accident attorneys, Lebowitz-Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers regularly defends victims and their families in cases where an individual or company has been negligent in providing a safe product to the public. If you or a relative has been injured due to a possible vehicle defect, we always recommend you contact an experienced legal professional to determine your course of legal action. Feel free to contact our office at 1-888-311-HURT for a free initial consultation.
This Week in Potomac: 7/15/09, ConnectionNewspapers.com, July 15, 2009