Maryland Trucking Accident Lawyer Blog

Commercial Trucking Crashes Occur Frequently in Maryland, Injuring Motorists, Bicyclists and Pedestrians Alike

August 22, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As personal injury attorneys serving victims of car, truck and motorcycle accidents, I and my colleagues are sensitive to the pain and suffering that can result from even the most innocuous of traffic accidents. Whether a person is injured in the Baltimore area, or over in Gaithersburg, Rockville or even Washington, D.C., we are available for consultation with victims of slip-and-fall mishaps, automobile collisions and even pharmacy errors and injuries received at nursing homes in the area.

For those who have been unlucky enough to be caught in a roadway wreck with a large commercial vehicle, such as a semi tractor-trailer hauling heavy loads, or an urban delivery vehicle such as a UPS or FedEX box truck, we understand how serious and even life-threatening injuries can easily happen to a driver or his passengers. And regardless of whether the injured parties are adults or children hurt in a car crash, the serious of the situation is never lost on personal injury lawyers like ourselves.

While many people go through life relatively unconcerned about their safety on Maryland roadways, the fact remains that there are many drivers currently on our streets and highways who have little or no regard for the well-being of others with whom they may be sharing the road. Aggressive drivers, taxi and hire-car drivers, and even professional truckers may be among those whose actions can spell danger and certain injury to many innocent motorists throughout our state.

Two Truck Drivers Injured in Collision between 18-Wheeler and Commercial Box Truck in Frederick, MD

August 17, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

We won’t go into great detail here, but it is instructive to remind people that being involved in a traffic accident with a larger and more massive commercial vehicle can have a significant effect on the extent of one’s injuries following a roadway collision. As Maryland personal injury attorneys, I and my colleagues understand the law as it pertains to personal injury caused by a collision with an 18-wheeler tractor-trailer rig, commercial box truck, cement mixer or dump truck, even a city bus or airport shuttle.

How often do these types of accident occur? From our perspective, often enough to merit extreme caution when driving with one’s family along Maryland roadways, not to mention dense urban areas. Based on statistics compiled over the years, trucking accidents involving passenger cars can result in extensive, if not serious bodily injury to the automobile’s driver and occupants. Even large, so-called safer sport utility vehicles are not much of a match for a 20-ton tractor-trailer rig carrying a full load.

So what happens when truck meets truck on the highway? Unlike the mismatch between commercial vehicles and smaller autos, two trucks of near equal mass will likely suffer similar damage, depending on the circumstances. In these types of cases, the drivers and passengers in either vehicle could be at risk of bodily injury such as broken bones, cuts and abrasions, deep lacerations and internal injuries. Because these trucks would be equally matched, the results of a roadway collision can be quite spectacular.

Maryland Driver Killed in Worchester County When Her Car was Hit by 18-Wheeler in Pocomoke

July 31, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Dozens of traffic-related personal injury accidents take place every month across this state and it doesn’t make much difference whether you live in an urban area like Baltimore, Rockville and The District, or in a less populated portion of Maryland. A bad car, truck or motorcycle crash will likely put one or more people in the hospital. Occasionally, fate plays the unenviable part in a roadway collision, resulting in an untimely death for a driver or passenger of a motor vehicle.

As automobile accident attorneys, I and my staff of experienced legal professionals understand all too well the extent of bodily injuries that can occur as a result of a really bad accident. From compound fractures, collapsed lungs, ruptured spleen or even closed-head trauma, the range of life-threatening conditions that can precipitate from a car or commercial trucking accident are many and varied. What we do know is that recovery, in many cases, will long and drawn out; some people may never fully recover, requiring daily or near-constant care for months or even years.

Car-to-car wrecks can be quite serious, to be sure, especially in the case of head-on accidents or high-speed T-bone crashes at highway intersections and access roads. Speed and size of the vehicles involved play a large role in the potential outcome of most any traffic wreck.

Commercial Trucking News: Federal Motor Vehicle Carrier Safety Administration to Look Into Truck Accident Accountability

July 24, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The FMVCSA (Federal Motor Vehicle Carrier Safety Administration) appears to be taking the first steps toward determining if police accident reports covering commercial trucking collisions are truly sufficient to prove conclusively who or what caused any particular traffic accident. To support this effort, the FMVCSA would reportedly set aside approximately three million dollars annually to cover the costs of such an endeavor.

According to news reports, FMVCSA Administrator, Anne Ferro, described the proposed effort in a meeting of trucking executives yesterday out west. Part of that meeting included discussions on how the federal agency has been approaching the issue of commercial truck crash accountability determination over the years. Based on the history of the issue, according to news reports, this has been a major point of contention between the trucking industry and the government for some time.

As Maryland auto accident lawyers and personal injury attorneys, I and my staff have seen our share of commercial truck wrecks; and we know the extensive damage and serious injury that these events can inflict on people and property. Fatal crashes are not uncommon in this category of highway accident statistics, which makes the question of accountability all the more important to the families of those who have lost their lives in such horrendous accidents.

Injuries and Deaths from Maryland Traffic Accidents Continue Apace in the Old Line State

July 16, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Examples of roadway collisions can be found almost every day across this state. As the fifth most densely populated state in the Union, it shouldn’t be too shocking to read of car, truck and motorcycle wrecks happening all across Maryland every month. Still, being actually involved in one may bring the pain home.

Injuries ranging from simple bumps and bruises to broken bones, internal injuries and closed-head trauma are quite common in and around the state’s urban areas, not to mention our highways. There are few if any excuses one could think of for causing serious injury to another individual, and less so in cases of a fatal automobile accident.

As Baltimore personal injury lawyers, I and my staff of experienced legal professionals believe are dedicated to fighting for the rights of our clients following a car or trucking-related traffic accident. Whether one is injured in Gaithersburg, Columbia, Washington, D.C., or Bowie, the personal injury laws of this state give victims certain rights to pursue recompense for their injuries, emotional distress, current and future medical treatment and necessary rehabilitation.

Maryland State Police Look to Cut Down on Commercial Trucking Accidents with Safety Dragnet

July 7, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Say what you might about the efficacy of certain government programs, but the efforts put forth by our police agencies can sometimes surprise in a positive way when it comes to improving traffic safety across our state. Of course, one of the more deadly kinds of roadway accident is the ever-present danger of a semi tractor-trailer wreck that involves innocent passengers in cars, SUVs or even motorcycles caught in the crash.

With the size and weight disparity between passenger vehicles and commercial trucks, it should not come as any surprise that occupants of smaller, less massive sedans, minivans and sport utility vehicles are at high risk of injury or even death following a trucking-related collision. Combine this with the possibility of dangerous, hazardous, flammable or toxic cargo being hauled by these huge motor vehicles and you have the potential for a deadly accident should even a single 18-wheeler go out of control on a Maryland highway or interstate.

Naturally, state and local police agencies are well aware of the daily hazards facing the road-going public here in the Baltimore area, out in Annapolis and over in The District. Aside from the numerous pedestrian-related traffic collisions in our larger cities, multiple-vehicle collisions and other commercial vehicle wrecks can injure many people in the same crash, sometimes killing a few individuals as well. There is always a good argument for regulating the trucking industry when it comes to public safety.

Hollywood Actress Lindsay Lohan Heads to Hospital following Crash with Commercial Truck on PCH

June 30, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As physics has taught many a student, the greater the mass of an object, the larger a force is required to make it move or yield. When it comes to roadway accidents, it is often the vehicle with greater mass that comes out ahead, all things being equal that is. Still, at highway speeds, even a small vehicle can put quite a dent into a larger, more massive one, though the passengers will not necessarily fare any better either way. As Maryland personal injury attorneys, I and my colleagues are always ready to help the victims of car, truck and motorcycle collisions.

Whether one is injured during a traffic collision in or near Gaithersburg, Rockville, Annapolis or the District of Columbia, the range of injuries can be just as varied as the venue in which it occurs. Although the details of each commercial trucking accident or passenger car wreck are always different, the seriousness of various accidents can cause extensive injuries and require numerous medical treatments and a variety of rehabilitative procedures before a victim is back to a relatively normal life.

For those not as lucky, the families of deceased victims can sue to recoup hospital and other costs, such as the victim’s lost wages, as well as the loss of that person’s companionship. Punitive awards can also come in the wake of a wrongful death lawsuit filed by a victim’s estate as well.

Tour Bus Bound for Washington, D.C., Crashes; Parents and Students Injured in Rollover Accident

June 23, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Anyone who uses public and/or mass transportation — and we include in this broad category chartered and school-owned buses — likely doesn’t consider for a moment that they might be seriously injured or killed during the trip. Unfortunately, even though we all would like to believe that every mode of transportation that we choose to ride aboard is the safest and most risk-free like any other, that is sometimes not the case. The fact is, people are hurt every day in traffic accidents involving city buses, school buses, taxicabs, hired cars and limousines.

As Maryland personal injury attorneys, I and my staff of legal professionals know full well that there are no guarantees in this life, but there still exists an expectation of safety from public carriers. Bus accidents can sometimes be very dangerous, if only for the fact that quite a number of tour buses, school buses and shuttle vehicles do not have seatbelts for every passenger.

Even so, hundreds of thousands of people use public transportation every year across the nation never thinking of the potential downside of a serious traffic accident. We are mentioning this due to the news article that we saw earlier this month, which described a tour bus crash that injured a number of kids and their parents in Kentucky. The bus was reportedly bound for our nation’s capital, but hardly got much farther than a couple miles before the driver apparently lost control of the vehicle.

Two Separate Maryland Trucking Accidents Kill One Driver, Send Others to Hospital with Injuries

June 12, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

For anyone who hasn’t noticed, traffic accidents involving commercial motor vehicles still continue to claim innocent lives and put otherwise healthy people in the hospital with serious or life-threatening injuries. These types of collisions, which by the very physical nature of large trucks and other commercial motor vehicles, tend to be biased in favor of the more massive vehicle. Putting even a good-sized sport utility vehicle up against an 18-wheeler or large box truck is a gamble that the passengers in the SUV may not win; never mind a mid-size sedan, economy car or a truck-motorcycle collision.

What this all means is that trucking-related accidents in and around urban areas, such as Rockville, Gaithersburg and The District, will likely continue to claim lives and maim individuals, causing grief to loved ones of the victims and financial distress to their families. As Maryland personal injury lawyers, our job is to help victims, their spouses and children to recover damages in cases of negligent driving and other thoughtless acts that cause harm.

It doesn’t take much effort to find examples almost every week. Take, for instance, a crash that occurred earlier this year when two people ended up getting a trip to the hospital care of a collision with a Maryland cement truck. According to police reports, a 53-year-old man was medevaced to the University of Maryland’s Shock Trauma Center following a collision between the man’s Dodge Dakota pickup truck and a cement mixer along a stretch of Md. 140 near Old Westminster Pike.

Maryland Farmer Injured after Tractor Hit by Big Rig 18-Wheeler Along Rte 1

June 4, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

While it’s probably true that most drivers who live in cities — such as Gaithersburg, Annapolis and the District of Columbia — feel that driving in the country is mostly relaxing and free from the stress and dangers associated with urban traffic, there are still significant risks for car, truck and motorcycle riders out in the more rural areas. For example, tractors and other farm vehicles that use the roadways here in Maryland and across the United States are usually slower and more ponderous than any passenger car or commercial truck.

The very nature of a farm tractor or hay wagon makes it a relatively slow vehicle compared to other passenger cars, SUV and even large over-the-road commercial trucks. These are such slow vehicles that owners are required to display a caution triangle on the rear of the vehicle to warn other drivers of the potential hazard. On country roads were speeds can range from 35, 45 and even 55mph, a farm implement moving from one part of a farm to another may only be able to hit 15mph or so. As Maryland personal injury lawyers, we know that one of the more significant causes of traffic accidents is speed disparity.

When a car, truck or motorcycle traveling at 50mph or more encounters a tractor along a country road, the speed differential can be as much as 20 or 30mph, sometimes more depending on the type of load being pulled by the tractor, as well as other factors. Cresting a hill to find a slow-moving farm implement, a driver may have only a couple seconds to either slow down or attempt to pass the slower moving vehicle. In such situations, especially is an oncoming vehicle is closing as well, a roadway collision could be imminent.