Maryland Trucking Accident Lawyer Blog

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.

Maryland Commercial Trucking Accidents: Recognizing the “False Security” of a “Large” Passenger Car

May 31, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Anybody who has lost a parent or child, friend or loved one in a fatal car crash has no doubt looked back many times on what could have been, rather than what is now likely an emotionally painful void in one’s life. Being a survivor is not an enviable position for many people who must carry on in the absence of a significant person in his or her life. As Maryland personal injury lawyers, I and my colleagues understand the finality of a fatal traffic accident; and the senselessness of the whole incident.

As car, truck and motorcycle accident attorneys who represent victims of severe and fatal traffic collisions, we understand all too well the automobile, motorcycle and trucking-related roadway collisions, I and my legal staff have first-hand experience with people whose pain may take years to go away, if ever.

Here in the Baltimore area, as with parts of The District, Cumberland, Annapolis and Bowie, MD, hardly a week goes by that there isn’t a news report of a car crash involving a cyclist or pedestrian. These types of accidents are almost always “one-sided,” in that the person on foot or on his or her bike has little protection against a 3,000-pound car or even larger commercial delivery truck or 18-wheeler. In these instances, closed-head trauma, spinal cord injuries and broken bones can all be quite common.

Four Separate Maryland Semi tractor-trailer Accidents Result in Deaths of 4 Passenger Car Drivers

May 23, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As commercial trucking accident attorneys, we make no bones about the number of innocent people killed each year as a result of negligent driving on the part of truckers operating 18-wheeler rigs and other heavy commercial vehicles. The very nature of these huge motor vehicles — such as fuel tankers makes these vehicle more than a match for the average passenger car, SUV or family sedan.

As such, the drivers of these vehicles are trained and licensed by the government to operate their machines in a responsible and safe manner. And while most truckers do treat their jobs as positions of great responsibility, there are others who tend to give the entire industry a bad name. The same can also be said about trucking line owners, a small percentage of whom seem to thumb their noses at the rules and regulations that have been established to protect the road-going public from harm.

Whether through unwritten policy, direct acts of negligence or outright dangerous vehicle operation, numerous big rig drivers and trucking companies throughout the U.S. are fined or imprisoned each year as a result of poor business practices or injury-related traffic accidents caused by trucker in their employ.

One Person Dead After Tractor-trailer Crashes into School Bus North of Maryland State Line

May 16, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

We doubt that many parents place much stock in hoping that their children have a safe ride to and from school. Preferably, most parents would likely want to be assured by a consistent safety record of the bus drivers that work in their school district. Unfortunately, while a school system can more or less control the quality of the drivers they hire, other external factors affecting the safety of school kids riding in those buses can be much more random and have a sometimes dangerous effect on the number and frequency of traffic accidents involving those school buses.

It’s certainly a tragedy when any innocent child is hurt or killed in a mostly preventable accident. When that accident involves a loaded school bus, more than one child can be affected. As Maryland personal injury attorneys, our concern is for the victims and their families, especially in cases where negligence likely played a part in the confluence of such a roadway collision.

From time to time, we read of situations that place our most precious of resource — our children — in harm’s way. Whether an incident takes place here in the Baltimore area, over in Columbia, or even in Washington, D.C., a victim of a car, truck or motorcycle crash can face a long road back to full health. As injury lawyers, our job is to help victims and their families recover costs associated with a bad auto accident. Of course, recouping monetary costs may not help heal the emotional and psychological scars, but it can go a long way to easing the burden on a family whose world has been turned upside down by a traffic wreck.