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Posted On: July 31, 2011

Maryland Commercial Truck Accident Update: Important Things to Remember Regarding Trucking-related Injury Accidents

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Things happen pretty fast in the case of a traffic accident, and it’s not always easy to remember how the event transpired or even what happened afterward. For this very reason it is always a good idea to consult a qualified auto accident lawyer or Maryland personal injury attorney following a serious car, truck or motorcycle crash.

Knowing what to do following a commercial truck accident, it is important to remember some other things. Especially where injuries or property damage are concerned, the victims may be approached by attorneys representing the trucking company’s insurance carrier. Do yourself a favor; do not talk to anyone until you have consulted a trucking accident attorney to better understand your situation.

For instance, as a person who has been hurt or seriously injured following a trucking-related roadway collision, it is your legal right in Maryland to present the police-issued traffic citation as one of the pieces of evidence should you decide to bring a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit against a commercial truck driver or cartage company.

As Maryland trucking accident lawyers, we know that being involved in a crash with semi tractor-trailer rig can present the victims with serious medical complications, some of which can manifest themselves as life-threatening or certainly life-changing problem. We know this from first-hand experience representing victims and their families.

Whether you live in the Baltimore, Rockville or Washington, D.C., area, whenever an individual is caught up in a serious collision with a commercial delivery truck, tanker trailer rig or even a commuter bus, the resulting medical treatments and physical therapy can present a financial nightmare to those affected.

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Posted In: Pedestrian Accidents , Truck Accidents

Posted On: July 26, 2011

Baltimore Personal Injury News: Tanker Overturns in Cordova, MD, after Truck Driver Loses Control

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Being injured in a trucking-related accident is no laughing matter. For those people who have been involved in a traffic accident with a commercial delivery truck or 18-wheeler and can still talk about it, they would probably tell you it was a harrowing experience. Anyone who can walk away from such a truck wreck without a scratch is lucky in deed.

As Baltimore auto accident lawyers and Maryland personal injury attorneys, I and my staff have represented trucking accident victims and their families for years. We understand the potential for serious injury and even death when a heavyweight motor vehicle such as a semi tractor-trailer rig, commercial delivery vehicle, tank truck or commuter bus strikes a smaller and more vulnerable passenger car.

One doesn’t need to be a physics major to comprehend how a motor vehicle ten or twenty times the mass of a small sedan or family minivan can wreck devastation on that smaller car or SUV. (We won’t mention the near fatal effect that a trucking-related collision can have on a relatively unprotected motorcyclist hit by 20-ton commercial vehicle.)

Suffice it to say that bodily injury is a typical result when a car is truck by an 18-wheeler, large box truck, cement mixer or other heavy construction vehicle. Broken arms and legs are common, while severe cuts and contusions are also typical. Some accidents cause the occupants of the passenger car to be trapped in their vehicle until emergency responders can literally cut them out of the twisted wreckage; all the while hoping to get to the hospital for possibly life-saving surgeries or other medical treatment.

Not long ago, a tanker truck carrying milk from local dairies overturned on a local roadway in the course of delivering its cargo. Although this was a single-truck accident, and therefore no other vehicles were involved, the example it makes as to the ever-present danger of commercial vehicle crashes is valid. It is road accidents like this one that should be a warning for any driver who approaches or follows a large commercial motor vehicle on Maryland’s roadways.

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Posted In: Single-truck Accidents

Posted On: July 15, 2011

Baltimore Personal Injury Update: Points to Remember for Maryland Drivers Hurt in Commercial Truck Accidents

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As professionals, commercial truck drivers are responsible for the safe operation of their rigs. However, this in no way should suggest that trucking-related traffic accidents cannot happen. In fact, tractor-trailers and commercial delivery trucks collide with passenger cars, SUVs, minivans and motorcycles with alarming frequency. The reasons are varied, but driver error usually tops the list of suspected causes of 18-wheeler wrecks.

As Maryland personal injury lawyers, I and my legal staff follow news articles and television reports regarding some of the more dangerous and deadly big rig road accidents. Aside from driver error, defective equipment can be a cause of some truck-car collisions. Due to the shear size and mass of a semi tractor-trailer, injuries and property damage resulting from a commercial truck wreck tend to be more severe and extensive than those encountered in passenger car or smaller motor vehicle traffic accidents.

As stated earlier, truck drivers are considered professional drivers and as such these individuals are required to obey specific federal and state commercial vehicle safety laws, including those specified by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR). As part of these regulations, there are a number of requirements that are supposed to limit or reduce instances of driver fatigue, which has proven to be a common cause of trucking-related accidents in the past.

When it comes the vehicles themselves, mechanical inspections mandated by state and federal law can also go a long way toward preventing a large number of traffic accidents involving trucks and other passenger vehicles. Because of their size, commercial vehicles typically have a large number of moving parts and carious safety components which need to work in concert to allow the driver to operate the vehicle safely on public roads.

Numerous cases of equipment failures that caused or contributed in part to serious or fatal trucking collisions have been litigated over the years. Under federal law, trucking operators are required to conduct pre- and post-trip vehicle inspections and also to record the results of those inspections in a log book for future reference. Should a trucker fail to adequately inspect every aspect of a commercial truck’s basic mechanical components for wear or defect, that driver may be guilty of negligence should one of those components fail and cause a serious or fatal roadway accident.

Continue reading " Baltimore Personal Injury Update: Points to Remember for Maryland Drivers Hurt in Commercial Truck Accidents " »

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Posted In: Trucking Safety News

Posted On: July 8, 2011

Maryland Commercial Trucking Accident News: Cement Mixer Truck Overturns on I-270; Four People Seriously Injured

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Big rigs, box trucks, commercial delivery vans and construction vehicles are all large vehicles with enough size and mass to do serious damage to another smaller passenger vehicle should a traffic accident occur. On Maryland’s busy interstates and surface streets, these huge motor vehicles must share the road with family cars, SUVs, mini vans and motorcycles, yet potential catastrophe is only a moment away for some motorists.

As Baltimore auto accident attorneys and Washington, D.C., personal injury lawyers, I and my legal staff are constantly amazed that more people aren’t seriously injured or killed by commercial vehicles, especially in light of the densely populated condition of our cities. So when an 18-wheel tractor-trailer or other large commercial truck is involved in a roadway collision in Rockville, Gaithersburg, Frederick or Bowie, MD, the carnage that results is not all that surprising.

Aside from the “normal” injuries that passenger car occupants can receive in a commercial truck crash, such as cuts, lacerations and heavy bruising, drivers and passengers alike can sustain serious and even life-threatening injuries. Compound fractures of the arms or legs can cause serious blood loss that if untreated can result in death. A person trapped in a severely damaged vehicle must be extricated as soon as possible and taken to a hospital for immediate medical treatment.

Other injuries pose longer term medical complications. Also the result of a car, truck or motorcycle wreck, spinal cord damage and closed-head trauma (also known as traumatic brain injury) can put a person in a wheelchair for the rest of their life, if they even survive those initial injuries.

Not long ago, a concrete mixing truck went out of control on Interstate 270 in Montgomery County, MD. According to news reports, the multiple-vehicle accident happened in Germantown just north of the exit for Father Hurley Boulevard. Police reports indicated that the crash, which took place about half past 2pm on a Monday afternoon, involved three vehicles including the cement truck.

Continue reading " Maryland Commercial Trucking Accident News: Cement Mixer Truck Overturns on I-270; Four People Seriously Injured " »

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Posted In: Trucking-related Injury Accidents

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