Maryland Trucking Accident Lawyer Blog
Traffic collisions can occur in a myriad of ways. And as varied as car, truck and motorcycle accidents are, the injuries sustained in these wrecks range from minor to severe. How people are injured, or killed, can also be affected by numerous factors, including being hit by debris thrown through the windshield, striking a hard surface within the vehicle upon impact, being tossed about (usually when a seatbelt has failed or not been used), being ejected from the vehicle during a rollover accident.
As Baltimore trucking accident attorneys and personal injury lawyers, our job is to help victims of automobile, truck and pedestrian accidents recover medical expenses, lost wages and other costs associated with a highway wreck or urban traffic collision. In some cases, when the victim has died as a result of the crash and is no longer able to speak from himself, we assist the victim’s family in recovering damages due to wrongful death.
Not long ago, an 70-year-old retired gentleman lost his life following a traffic accident along the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Anne Arundel County. According to news reports, the victim was former sportswriter, Harry Blauvelt, who had worked for numerous news agencies over the years. Sadly, the history of the Bay Bridge caught up with this individual as it has with others before him.
Based on reports, Blauvelt was apparently returning home to Kent Island on Monday morning around 10:30am when his Honda experienced some kind of mechanical problem along the center span. There is no breakdown lane, which makes for an extremely dangerous situation whenever a car or truck becomes disabled on the two-lane bridge.
Just as Blauvelt was getting out of his stalled vehicle to investigate the trouble, a 2003 International commercial truck slammed into the rear of the man’s car and threw him over an adjacent barrier wall into the water 50 feet below the roadway.
A police boat from the Maryland Transit Authority was called to the scene to help rescue Blauvelt. The man was taken to Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis, however he was pronounced dead that afternoon. According to new reports, the driver of the truck, Enos Sage, sustained only minor injuries and refused medical attention from emergency responders arriving on the scene.
There was no mention of whether the truck had a brake failure, or other possible equipment defect, that may have made it impossible for the driver to stop before striking the victim’s car. According to police, the investigation was ongoing at the time of the article. Once completed, the Anne Arundel County prosecutor’s office will have to decide if any charges should be pressed against Sage.
It’s interesting to note that the Chesapeake Bay Bridge has been the site of many fatal accidents over the years. Back in 1992, three people died in a head-on crash when a driver heading west along the bridge swerved, striking another vehicle which in turn hit an oncoming vehicle traveling in the eastbound lanes.
In 1996, three other individuals were killed when a tractor-trailer rig rear-ended a smaller passenger car on the span. Then, in 2007, a fatal multi-car accident took place when a small trailer being pulled by a sport utility vehicle (SUV) came loose from its hitch. Seven vehicles crashed on that occasion killing another three individuals. A year later a semi left the roadway, plunging into the bay below and killing the trucker.
Two apparent suicide attempts; One succeeds, CecilWhig.com, April 20, 2011
Man Killed On Bay Bridge Identified, MSNBC.com, April 19, 2011
Man thrown off Bay Bridge identified, ABC2News.com, April 18, 2011