Truck Accidents

May 21, 2009

Maryland Car Bike Accident Injures Two on Bike to Work Day

According to the Annapolis, Maryland police, two bicyclists were hospitalized last Friday for injuries suffered in an Anne Arundel County bicycle-car accident. The accident took place when a motorist parked on Main Street in Annapolis opened his car door into the path of the oncoming cyclists. One injured cyclist was taken to Anne Arundel Medical Center and the other to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.

The accident occurred on Bike to Work Day, a national and regional event to promote bicycling as an alternative means of transportation. The event attracted more than 1,000 riders in Baltimore. An experienced Maryland car accident lawyer helps families of a bicyclist injured or killed in a traffic accident determine if they have a legitimate claim against the operator of a motor vehicle.

Maryland Bicycle Traffic Accident Statistics and Helmet Laws

May 15, 2009

Cecil County, Maryland Truck Driver Dies in Conn. Highway Accident

by Jeff Butschky

A trucker from Cecil County has been killed in a commercial truck accident on Connecticut’s Interstate 95. According to news reports, Woodrow Phelps Jr., 68, of Elkton, Maryland, was killed May 13 when his tractor-trailer rig, heading northbound on I-95 in Milton, Connecticut, around 5:30 a.m., struck an SUV, setting off a chain-reaction.

News reports say six vehicles were involved in the chain reaction accident, including one other tractor trailer. According to State Police, Phelps, who had been driving a 2005 Freightliner for Penske Truck Leasing, struck an SUV that was merging onto the highway from a right-lane on-ramp. Phelps was pronounced dead at the scene. The SUV driver, who complained of leg pain, was taken to an area hospital.

The Associated Press reported that stretch of highway where the fatal motor vehicle crash occurred was undergoing work by the Department of Transportation, with traffic reduced to one lane. Police reported that the work crew was picking up from an overnight project when the accident occurred. Highway traffic was closed for eight hours following the crash. State police are investigating this fatal highway accident.

April 14, 2009

Baltimore County Motor Vehicle Accidents: Fatalities Down for Cars & Trucks (But Up for Motorcycles and DUIs)

by Jeff Butschky

Last week, NHTSA announced that projected numbers of motor vehicle fatalities across the U.S. in 2008 will fall to a near 50-year low (the actual counts will be released this August). A continued drop in Maryland traffic accident deaths is expected, in keeping with trends across the country. Let’s look at some Maryland car crash statistics available today:

In 2007, a total of 614 people died in motor vehicle accidents in Maryland, down from 650 fatalities in 2003.
Of those 614 fatalities, 179 involved alcohol-impaired driving and 216 involved speeding.

April 7, 2009

Maryland Car Accident Statistics: NHTSA Reports Fatalities Down to 1961 Level

by Jeff Butschky

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) predicts that the nation’s motor vehicle traffic fatalities for 2008 will have declined to a level not seen since 1961. NHTSA projects that the total number of traffic-related fatalities for the U.S. in 2008 will be 37,313 deaths — down 9.1 percent from the 2007 statistic of 41,059 fatalities. (NHTSA will report the actual numbers in August 2009.)

NHTSA attributes the decline in car crash deaths to a number of factors, including…

improvements in motor vehicle technology

February 19, 2009

Maryland Car Accident Emergency Responses Questioned after Fatal State Helicopter Crash

by Jeff Butschky

Have you ever been stopped in highway traffic while a medical helicopter lands to transport victims of a Maryland car crash to the hospital? It’s a heart-stopping sight, and we can only hope that the helicopter gets the victims to the hospital in time. Now Maryland lawmakers are reevaluating the state’s emergency medical services since a crash involving a state helicopter claimed four lives last fall.

The Maryland State Police medical helicopter program has been under scrutiny since a Sept. 27, 2008 crash killed four people in Prince George’s County, Maryland. The helicopter was on its way to a hospital 25 miles away when it was diverted to Andrews Air Force Base in foul weather and crashed — killing the pilot, a paramedic, a medical technician, and one of the car accident victims. An 18-year-old injured in the Charles County Maryland traffic accident survived the helicopter crash. Legislation is now being proposed that would separate Maryland law enforcement from rescue functions.

The subject of medical helicopter accidents has received national attention lately, as such accidents have been on the rise since the 1990s due in part to the closing of emergency rooms in rural areas and an aging US population. National and state safety officials are reconsidering whether some patients would be safer and just as well served by using regular ground ambulance transports. Triaging methods used by emergency responders are also being questioned.

January 15, 2009

Fatal Baltimore Beltway I-695 Ramp Van Accident Claims Two Lives

by Jeff Butschky

A fiery single-vehicle auto accident on a Baltimore Beltway interstate 695 exit ramp has claimed the lives of two people. The accident occurred at 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 9 as a 2002 Ford van drove off the Baltimore Beltway exit ramp for westbound Baltimore National Pike. The van hit a pole and a tree and caught fire. Tragically, the occupants were killed. As of our blog publication, the names of the two deceased people had not been released.

Highway ramp safety is a critical concern on the Baltimore Beltway and other highways in Maryland, Delaware, Washington DC, and around the USA. Highway on-ramps and off-ramps are frequently the sites of serious car and truck accidents. Drivers exiting the highway too fast can quickly lose control of their vehicles when hitting the curves and grades of highway off-ramps. And motorists who enter highways from on-ramps too fast or too slow, or who fail to yield to the flow of oncoming highway traffic, can also cause motor vehicle accidents.

Maryland car accident lawyers like my partner and I read about far too many bad accidents on the Baltimore Beltway and other Mid-Atlantic highways, such as this terrible case. A routine drive to work, to school, or to go shopping can turn tragic in a heartbeat. When you’re taking a ramp on the Baltimore Beltway or any highway, be aware of the road, the traffic around you, and take it slow. Your life and the lives of your passengers depend on it.

January 12, 2009

Maryland, Delaware, and Washington DC Listed in Nissan Recall of Truck Airbag Sensors

by Jeff Butschky

Maryland and other Mid-Atlantic drivers who own a Nissan Frontier, Pathfinder, or Xterra, model years 2005 through 2009, should drive carefully to their nearest dealership. Your driver and passenger airbags might not deploy if you’re in a truck accident with your Nissan.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), Office of Defects Investigation, reported that Nissan North America is recalling nearly a quarter of a million Nissan Frontiers, Pathfinders, and Xterras due to a faulty air bag sensor. Vehicles affected were sold or registered in 20 cold weather states — including Maryland, Delaware, the District of Columbia, and West Virginia.

According to the NHTSA website, a problem could occur if rock salt used to treat slippery roads, along with snow and water, gets into the Nissans’ front crash zone sensor housing. This could cause rusting and signal interruption — which could result in the airbags not opening in a motor vehicle accident. Air bag failure in the event of a crash could lead to personal injury or death.

December 3, 2008

Hagerstown Maryland Motorcycle Accident Death: Pickup Truck Driver Gets 10 Years for Vehicle Manslaughter

by Jeff Butschky

A Washington County Circuit judge has sentenced a Smithsburg, Maryland man under an Alford plea to 10 years in prison for manslaughter by vehicle, resulting from a fatal motorcycle crash that occurred in Hagerstown on May 25, 2008.

Debra Reed Fields-Jordan of Boonsboro, Maryland was riding her motorcycle east on Md. 77, cruising down the road to a hamburger stand in Thurmont, Maryland. Tragically, this 35-year-old wife and mother of five children never made it to her destination.

A pickup truck heading south on Pleasant Valley Road driven by Harry William “Billy” Shrader Jr. ran a stop sign at the intersection with Md. 77. Fields-Jordan, who had the right of way, crashed her motorcycle into the pickup truck on the passenger side. The truck went into a tree and the driver fled the scene. Shrader — who had a list of previous convictions including two DUIs, driving impaired, and possession of drugs — was arrested a short time later. He had been using hallucinogens at the time of the truck motorcycle accident and said he couldn’t remember what happened.

November 12, 2008

Maryland Recycling Truck Accident: Worker Dies While Collecting Paper

by Jeff Butschky

Police in Montgomery County, Maryland are investigating a recycling truck accident that resulted in the horrible death of a Rockville man. The fatal work accident occurred in the Aspen Hill, Maryland area on Nov. 12, 2008 during a morning recycling truck run.

Juan Antonio Rosales-Lopez, 26, of Rockville, Maryland, was working for the Potomac Disposal Company collecting paper for a recycling truck compactor. According to the truck driver, this terrible work accident occurred when Rosales-Lopez reached into the truck to clear the chute and was accidentally pulled into the compacting machinery. The driver says he tried to free Rosales-Lopez but was unsuccessful.

In addition to the Montgomery County Police investigation, officials from the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health Act were called in to determine potential liability in this fatal work-related truck accident.