The Choose Safety for Life * Maryland Safety Campaigns has posted some interesting data on motor vehicle accidents in Maryland:
The Maryland Attorney General’s office issued a press release regarding sentencing in a recent case of nursing home abuse in Northern Maryland. While many nursing home abuse cases involve assault or neglect of a resident, this case involves something we hear less about, but is just as abusive — theft of pain medication from an elderly patient who needed it.
According to Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, a 34-year-old man from Hagerstown, Md., pled guilty to stealing a Fentanyl pain medication patch from a 94-year-old patient. The perpetrator was employed as a nursing assistant in a Washington County, Maryland nursing home.
Baltimore County nursing home abuse lawyers assist families who believe a loved one may be suffering from abuse or neglect at a Maryland nursing home.
The Washington Post reported that a construction accident near the Beltway claimed the life of a 27-year-old man from Bryantown, Maryland.
According to Maryland State Police, the traffic accident occurred early on July 15, 2010, on Pennsylvania Ave/Route 4 in Forestville, Maryland, near the Beltway. Reports state that a road construction worker was killed when he was crushed between two dump trucks. The victim was brought to a Prince George’s County, Maryland, trauma center, where he died shortly after.
Prince George’s County construction accident lawyers are well aware of the hazards to workers in and around highway and road construction zones. Road workers often perform their jobs at night, in narrow sections of the highway, with heavy construction vehicles moving closely alongside laborers on foot.
“Don’t drive too fast.” “Be careful with your mother’s car.” “Keep your eyes on the road.” “Be home by your curfew.” All typical warnings parents give to their teenagers when they hand over their car keys to them — and pray they come back home alive. Now, 21st century parents need to tell their teenagers, “No talking on your cell phone while you’re driving” and, more recently, “No texting and driving.”
Problem is, an alarming percentage of adults aren’t practicing what they preach.
A new study released by the Pew Research Center shows that adults are as guilty as youth of sending text messages while operating a motor vehicle (see link below). Scores of traffic safety reports show that distracted driving is a primary cause of serious and fatal car accidents in Maryland and around the country. Some scary statistics:
The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has released a report stating that by 2025, the number of drivers aged 65 and older will amount to 25 percent of drivers in the U.S. — a potential driving safety issue that states like Maryland might not be fully prepared to handle. Of note:
> Most states’ driver licensing systems and alternative mobility/transportation programs are not adequate to handle an influx of older drivers on the roads — drivers who may have medical or functional impairments (e.g., related to visual perception, speed of processing, navigation and maneuvering) and/or be on medications.
As any experienced Towson car accident injury attorney will attest — no one is a perfect driver. However, certain groups of drivers such as teenagers and senior citizens have special considerations when it comes to driving safety and avoiding serious traffic accidents in Baltimore County, Maryland and around the state.
Last fall, we posted a blog article on the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) preliminary results for its 2008 census of fatal occupational injury rates. The BLS recently released its final numbers, which were slightly higher than originally reported based on identification of new cases of work-related injuries and deaths. The final data offer the following insights regarding worker safety in the U.S.:
o A total of 5,214 work fatalities occurred in the U.S. in 2008 — the lowest number of work-related deaths since the BLS began conducting its census in 1992. This represents a national fatal work injury rate of 3.7 per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers.
o Private industry construction accidents causing death have declined (975 deaths in 2008 — 19% lower than in 2007); and the fatal work injury rate for this sector is down by 10%. However, even with these notable statistical gains — which translate to lives saved — construction remains one of the most hazardous forms of work, with a 9.7 fatal work injury rate (per 100,000 FTE workers).
Maryland is among the states being praised by the national Governors Highway Safety Administration (GHSA) for getting creative when it comes to promoting seat belt use, in an effort to reduce Maryland car crash injuries and deaths.
The Maryland Highway Safety Office (HSO) has partnered with 7-Eleven convenience stores and Chick-fil-A chicken restaurants, which have donated gift cards for buckled-up motorists checked at Maryland seat belt checkpoints. The HSO is running a second incentive program called “Buckle Up for a Buck,” where police give a dollar to motorists who are observed wearing their seat belts; banks donated the bucks. Both programs involve the charity of Maryland businesses and reward citizens for wearing their seat belts without draining federal or state dollars. (Source: GHSA Press Release, “States Launch Massive Seat Belt Use Crackdown,” May 24, 2010.)
Any experienced Harford County, Maryland car accident attorney will tell you: Maryland seat belt laws aren’t in place to encroach on anyone’s freedom or to wrinkle their neatly pressed work clothes. Seat belts save lives. They prevent serious injuries that can occur in Maryland traffic accidents, including devastating and often fatal spine and head injury.
Last week, a four-vehicle chain reaction car accident on Route 50 westbound in Kent Island, Maryland, sent three people to Anne Arundel Medical Center with injuries. While an accident reconstruction team investigation was underway, this case illustrates what can happen when morning traffic in Maryland meets up with road construction and bridge repair.
According to news reports, the accident occurred on Route 50 westbound near Romancoke Rd on Kent Island, before the Route 8 overpass. (Kent Island is on the Chesapeake Bay in Queen Anne’s County, Maryland, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore region.) Reports state that on Thursday May 13 around 5 a.m., a four-car collision occurred where a road construction crew was clearing out from doing bridge maintenance work.
The Maryland Transportation Authority reported that the accident occurred where traffic had been stopped to allow the construction crews to exit the bridge. Witnesses reported debris strewn all over the road, which was closed down during rush hour traffic for hours.
A new report by the Alzheimer’s Association reveals that Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, is on the rise. Some daunting statistics:
Maryland news media report that three fatal motorcycle accidents have occurred in recent weeks in the state, now that the weather is warm and more motorcycles are on the road.
According to Southern Maryland Online, a motorcycle accident that occurred on April 17 in the area of Prince Frederick, Md., is believed to have caused fatal injuries to a 53-year-old biker who died shortly after the motor vehicle accident. Police investigators reported that the operator lost control of his Harley Davidson motorcycle and struck a tree. While the man seemed uninjured by the crash and did not seek immediate medical attention, he was later found unresponsive in his home and was brought to an area hospital, where he died. The cause of death of this motorcycle accident victim remains under investigation.
Brain injuries can result from motorcycle and other car and truck accidents, and the severity of those injuries may not always be apparent immediately after the accident — particularly if the person who has suffered a head injury is able to speak after the crash. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that head injury is the number one cause of death of motorcycle riders involved in traffic accidents.
Maryland Injury Attorney Blog