Maryland Injury Attorney Blog

May 26, 2010

Bucks ‘n’ Clucks for Buckle-Ups: Maryland Praised for Novel Approaches to Promoting Seat Belt Use

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.

May 20, 2010

Kent Island, Maryland Chain Reaction Car Crash Under Investigation; Bridge Repairs Underway Near Accident Site

by Jeff Butschky

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.

May 14, 2010

Maryland Nursing Home Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease Increasing in Number

by Jeff Butschky

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:

Alzheimer’s disease affects one in eight people over age 65 (a total of 5.1 million senior citizens).
In addition, 200,000 younger people experience early onset of the disease, bringing the total number of Americans with Alzheimer’s disease to 5.3 million.

May 1, 2010

Maryland Motorcycle Traffic Accidents in the News, Though National Motorcycle Accident Death Rates Have Declined

by Jeff Butschky

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.

April 26, 2010

DWI Driver in Maryland Car Crash that Injured Judge May Go to Jail

by Jeff Butschky

Experienced Baltimore County, Maryland car accident attorneys know that when someone intoxicated gets behind the wheel, everyone on the road with them is at risk.

Anyone can be hurt or killed in drunk-driving traffic accidents-including justice and law enforcement officials who work to prevent such car, truck, and pedestrian accidents from happening. Last year on Aug. 21, a Maryland judge found himself in the path of a drunk driver, with serious consequences. It was not the first time the two had met.

The Washington Post reports that a retired Maryland judge and his wife, both in their 80s, were seriously injured when a man driving a Chevy SUV struck their Honda automobile. The car accident occurred in Montgomery County, Md. The judge’s injuries included a leg fracture and broken ribs, and his wife suffered spinal injury and multiple broken bones. Ironically, the judge had spared the same man jail time when he stood before him in court years earlier, on a different drunk-driving charge.

April 19, 2010

Trailer Truck Driver Killed in Maryland Accident When Cargo Slips and Falls

by Jeff Butschky

An industrial truck driver hauling cargo in Maryland was fatally injured when granite countertop slabs he was unloading from the back of a flatbed truck slipped and fell on him. According to news reports, the fatal industrial truck accident occurred Monday in Hanover, Maryland. The Baltimore Sun reported that the driver, a 41-year-old man from South Carolina, was delivering slabs of granite to a countertop company. As the driver unloaded his cargo, the granite slabs slipped and fell on him, killing him.

Anne Arundel County, Maryland police responded to the truck accident scene and identified the victim. The Maryland Occupational Safety and Health Department is reportedly investigating this construction work-related accident.

A Maryland construction accident lawyer may be consulted by workers or their families when injury or death occurs due to a work accident.

April 1, 2010

Maryland Workers’ Compensation Liens and Construction Accident Injury: “Can I File a Work Comp Claim AND a Third Party Lawsuit?”

by Jeff Butschky

Construction work in Maryland often involves long hours, hard labor, modest wages, and job security that’s entirely dependent on the season, the market, and the employer. As experienced Baltimore, Maryland Construction accident attorneys, we’ve represented many clients over the years who were injured while performing their construction jobs. One question we get asked all the time is…

“Can I file a claim under Maryland Workers’ Compensation and a lawsuit against the at-fault party (or parties) at the same time?”

The answer is YES. However, as with most things legal, there are many factors to consider.

March 10, 2010

Family of Cyclist Killed in Baltimore Truck Accident Files $5 Million Wrongful Death Lawsuit

by Jeff Butschky

The family of a bicyclist killed in a Baltimore, Maryland traffic accident last year is seeking damages against the driver and owner of the truck involved in the fatal accident.

According to The Baltimore Sun, the fatal truck accident took place on August 4, 2009. News reports state that a 67-year-old man, who was riding his bicycle south on Maryland Ave. behind a loaded fuel tanker, became caught in the truck’s wheels as it made a right turn onto Lafayette Ave. The man was run over and died at the traffic accident scene. A wrongful death civil lawsuit on behalf of the deceased man’s family has been filed in Baltimore Circuit Court seeking compensatory damages again the truck driver and the trucking company.

A spokesperson for the Baltimore police had previously stated that their investigation indicated the bicycle rider was at fault. No charges had been filed at that time against the truck driver, who did not stop following the traffic accident.

March 4, 2010

Maryland Brain Injury Association: March is Brain Injury Awareness Month

by Jeff Butschky

The Brain Injury Association of America announces that March is Brain Injury Awareness Month. The group hopes to raise awareness of the seriousness of head injuries and traumatic brain injury (TBI) — particularly in regards to school sports injuries. The group’s website offers resources about head injury, fall and accident prevention, and brain physiology, explaining that the brain can be injured even if the head isn’t struck (such as in a whiplash car accident, where the neck and head are jarred violently).

The Brain Injury Association of America has a Maryland office and plans to hold an educational conference in Towson, Maryland, in April.

As Baltimore County, Maryland injury lawyers know from experience with client families, debilitating and deadly brain injuries can result from a number of scenarios, including car accidents, truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, and pedestrian accidents. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that an astonishing 1.4 million people suffer a TBI in the U.S. every year, with some 235,000 people requiring hospitalization and 50,000 dying from their traumatic brain injuries. Primary causes:

February 25, 2010

Maryland Doctor Heads Panel to Lower Barriers to Colorectal Cancer Screening and Prevent Cancer Deaths

by Jeff Butschky

A doctor from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland is leading a national panel examining ways to increase screenings and prevent colon and rectal cancer deaths.

Though colorectal cancers are the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States (lung cancer is no. 1), barriers to getting life-saving screening tests remain. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) convened a panel earlier this month chaired by Dr. Donald Steinwachs, a Johns Hopkins University professor and head of the Health Services Research and Development Center.

Dr. Steinwachs is quoted in an NCI press release as saying that some people find tests such as colonoscopy “…to be unpleasant and time-consuming. However, we also know that recommended screening strategies reduce colorectal cancer deaths.” The panel convened earlier in February to discuss ways to eliminate the main barriers to getting screened for colon and rectal cancers — namely health insurance obstacles, having to pay for tests out of pocket, and not having a regular health care provider.