Maryland Trucking Accident Lawyer Blog

Maryland Trucking Accident News: Drowsy Driving Suspected in Commercial Box Truck Crash Along I-695

August 19, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Police believe a truck crash on Maryland’s Interstate I-695 in late July was the result of a truck driver who fell asleep at the wheel. According to news reports, the accident was so severe that Maryland State Police had to shut down the entire inner loop during the morning commute. As a Baltimore trucking accident attorney and personal injury lawyer, I know that drowsy driving is one of the major causes of commercial truck crashes.

A semi tractor-trailer rig is a formidable piece of machinery when compared to even the largest sport utility vehicle or light truck. Passenger cars have little chance of escaping serious damage when hit by an 18-wheeler that is out of control. Even a fully loaded box truck can cause serious property damage and bodily injury if it hits another, smaller vehicle.

According to news accounts, 23-year-old Michael Angel Ocasio was driving a white 2006 GMC box truck along the beltway, a short distance south of the Baltimore National Pike. Authorities said the driver apparently fell asleep and ran into the back of a flat bed trailer around 6am in the morning.

Maryland Trucking Accident News: Big Rig Passenger Injured by Another 18-Wheeler’s Lost Load on I-70

August 10, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

When it comes to traffic accidents, a passenger car and its occupants are no match for a semi tractor-trailer that crashes into it. But even the driver or passenger of an 18-wheeler may be at risk on the highway when another commercial truck, such as a Kenworth, Peterbilt or Freightliner, gets into trouble on the road.

As a Maryland trucking accident attorney and personal injury lawyer, I know from professional experience the types of property damage and bodily injuries that can result from big rigs crashes. And the danger is posed not only by the truck itself but the trailer and its typically heavy load. When a semi trailer losses its load on the highway, a serious accident can be just split seconds away.

An example of what can happen when a commercial over-the-road hauler dumps its load onto the roadway occurred not long ago along a stretch of Interstate 70 near Maryland’s Rte 66. According to news accounts, the wife of an out-of-state truck driver riding in her husband’s rig was seriously hurt when steel beams from another truck smashed into the couple’s tractor-trailer on a Wednesday morning. It’s amazing that someone wasn’t killed as a result of the aaccident.

The woman, 45-year-old Evonne J. Whalen, was reportedly riding in the passenger seat of her husband’s Freightliner when a couple structural beams fell into the eastbound lanes of the interstate. Those two huge pieces of steel weighing thousands of pounds apparently crashed into the passenger side of Whalen’s Freightliner, seriously injuring the woman’s legs and effectively pinning her inside the cab.

Emergency responders arriving on the scene required almost 45 minutes to extricate the woman from the damaged vehicle. According to Maryland State Police, the operator of the boom truck was attempting to lift the support beams from the trailer bed when he somehow lost control of the load causing the large pieces of steel to spin into the travel lanes of the interstate. There was no mention of where the boom mechanism or some other equipment was defective or failed to operate correctly.

Maryland Auto Injury News: Washington, D.C., Metrobus Accidents Result in Numerous Injured Riders

July 31, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Anyone who rides on public transportation probably feels that there is a certain sense of safety when traveling in that manner. Whether it is a commuter train, a taxi cab or city bus, many people expect that by paying a fare they should be delivered to their destination in one piece and without serious injury to their person.

As a Maryland trucking accident lawyer, I know that reality can be very out of step with a person’s perceptions and expectations. The truth of the matter is that accidents can and do happen no matter what conveyance we choose to get us to our final destination. The Washington, D.C., Metro Red Line accident a year ago last June is one example of how dozens of people traveling with the expectation of safety can end up being seriously hurt through no fault of their own.

Some recent bus accidents in and around the District are an example of how factors can combine to cause injury, but thankfully in these instances, no deaths. According to D.C. police, the passengers on a Metrobus as well as occupants in another smaller vehicle were caught up in a serious accident early on a Monday morning in mid-June.

Baltimore Trucking Accident News: 18-Wheeled Trash Hauler Overturns on Maryland’s I-95 near Columbia, MD

July 23, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Highway traffic accidents involving semi-tractor trailers and other large commercial trucks happen hundreds of times a year. Some of those crashes result in injuries to one or more people. Still others can cause death or permanent injury to occupants in smaller, less massive motor vehicles such as minivan, sedans, economy cars and motorcycles.

Statistics also indicate that larger vehicles, such as tractor-trailer rigs, are more likely to be involved in serious multiple-vehicle collisions than passenger cars. This data also tells us that injuries resulting from truck accidents can be much more serious and many times fatal. Common injuries include spinal cord damage, severe brain trauma, broken bones and other serious and permanent bodily harm.

As Maryland trucking accident attorneys, I and my staff know that any multi-vehicle accident can be fatal, with some causing mostly minor, yet significant injuries. Although people can physically recover from such minor wrecks, even those associated medical costs can become a burden to a family already strapped for cash.

Maryland to Pay Portion of $2 Million Jury Award in Highway Traffic Death Suit

July 16, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A Maryland jury recently found the state of Maryland and a commercial truck driver liable for more than $2 million in damages following the 2007 death of a prison inmate who was killed along a highway exit ramp while removing trash and garbage from I-495. The jury award of $2,025,000 will go to the estate and family of Rodney Jennings, who died after being run over by a dump truck driven by Wayne Goss — Goss is the owner of W.H. Goss Trucking, LLC.

According to reports, Jennings — who was 28 years old at the time of his death — was serving time for a drug-related crime at the Herman L. Toulson Boot Camp in Jessup, MD. Although Goss was not working for Maryland at the time of the traffic accident, the Jennings’ family’s attorney argued that the state was also responsible for the man’s death because it did not sufficiently ensure Jennings’ safety.

Based on court records, the plaintiff’s lawyer claimed that employees in Maryland’s Department of Corrections — as well as the State Highway Administration — did not correctly evaluate the traffic conditions near the exit ramp where the accident occurred. They should have, said the attorney, required that inmates traverse that particular portion of the highway by van, instead of on foot as Jennings was doing when he was struck. The family’s attorney also threw fault on the apparently poor training received by the state workers who were assigned to monitor the inmates work.

Maryland Trucking Accident News: Moving Van Causes Several Traffic Accidents

July 7, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Large motor vehicles such as semi tractor-trailers, dump trucks and tankers can inflict serious personal injury and property damage when operated irresponsibly. As a Maryland trucking accident attorney, I understand the shear power of these vehicles and the potential for injury or death during a traffic accident.

While most drivers of commercial vehicles use caution when operating these large and massive machines, any mistake can be an opportunity for disaster. Smaller vehicles, such as passenger cars, minivans and motorcycles are at greatest risk when a big rig 18-wheeler goes out of control on a highway or city street. The results of a collision with a heavy truck can range from broken bones and lacerations to full-on paralysis and even death.

Not long ago a man who was driving a moving van was taken into custody by Prince George’s County police following a chase that resulted in a number of traffic accidents along the way. The majority of the incident took place along the Baltimore-Washington Parkway on a Monday afternoon.

Maryland Truck Accident News: Dangerous Fatigue-related Trucking Accidents Partially Linked to Sleep Apnea

June 30, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

There are many different causes of trucking-related traffic accidents. From poorly maintained or badly designed vehicle equipment, to poor road conditions and driver error, most highway tractor-trailer accidents are hardly ever that… accidents. As Maryland truck accident attorneys, my office knows what to look for when it comes to injuries caused by the negligence of a truck driver or trucking company.

One cause of commercial truck crashes that is frequently in the news is that of driver fatigue. Government regulation limit trucker to a maximum number of hours behind the wheel, which ideally means that the driver then gets sufficient rest before the next day’s driving shift. What the law can’t easily address is how well truckers sleep and whether or not they are fully rested as a result.

Enter the problem of sleep apnea. A common problem with the general public, this affliction can cause loss of concentration and has been known to result in motorists falling asleep at the wheel. But for the average office worker, sleep apnea is more likely to get him chewed out at work than cause him to crash his automobile into a family of five on the interstate.

Unscrupulous Maryland Repair Garages Can be Liable for Trucking Accidents Caused by Poor Maintenance, Fraud

June 22, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

To some repair garages, dishonest trucking companies and thoughtless semi tractor-trailer drivers, saving some cash now is worth the risk of causing a serious traffic accident in the future. Cause and effect are not always considered by unscrupulous garage owners and the semi truck drivers that employ them. But the dangers are real and the results can be deadly in many cases.

As Baltimore trucking accident attorneys, our office helps the victims of 18-wheeler and commercial big-rig accidents. For those unfortunate families who have lost a loved one as a result of another person’s negligence, emotions can run very high especially when deception and outright fraud are involved.

This was apparently the situation in a case where the owner of a repair garage allegedly sold inspection stickers for a 1997 Kenworth semi with worn brakes that killed a motorist along the Schuylkill Expressway in 2009. New reports say that the garage owner, 62-year-old Joseph Jadczak pled guilty in 2009 to vehicular homicide and also to permitting the operation of a motor vehicle equipped with unsafe equipment.

Drowsy Semi Tractor-trailer Driver Crashes 18-wheel Rig after Falling Asleep on Maryland’s I-81

June 15, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As a Maryland Trucking Accident lawyer, I know the unfortunate correlation between sleep deprivation and driver negligence, especially as it pertains to professional truck drivers and the sometimes careless operation of 18-wheeled tractor-trailer rigs. While not every over-the-road trucker pushes the limits of physical stamina, a percentage of semi drivers have been known to put in too many hours behind the wheel without sufficient sleep.

The results of sleep-related trucking wrecks can be serious, as news reports often depict. According to a recent article, a tractor-trailer accident caused apparently by an over-tired driver blocked a portion of Interstate 81 near Hagerstown, MD on a Monday afternoon last month. The accident occurred south of Showalter Road where Maryland State Police say the truck driver fell asleep, causing the rig with its 48,000-pound load of paper rolls to drift off the northbound lanes of the interstate, ending up on its side.

This is not an uncommon happening here in Maryland and across the rest of the country. A poll conducted last year by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) found that nearly 1.9 million drivers are involved in drowsy driving traffic accidents or near misses each and every year. Sadly, most drivers ignore the dangers that sleepiness can present when it comes to trucking and automobile accidents.

Maryland Injury News: Baltimore Commercial Trucker Killed in Fatal Single-vehicle Out-of-state Accident

June 7, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Single-truck accidents are not uncommon, however the causes can be very similar to multi-vehicle trucking accidents involving passenger cars and semi tractor-trailers. The force of such truck crashes can easily result in death of the passenger vehicle’s occupants, not to mention the truck driver himself. Whichever is the case, defective truck equipment should always be considered.

A sad fact of highway tractor-trailer and commercial truck wrecks is that lack of safety inspections can sometimes be to blame for a crash. These massive motor vehicles have a large number of moving parts and inter-related components that all need to work properly in order to keep the vehicle operating safely. Passenger car, SUV and minivan drivers, as well as motorcycle riders have died as a result of poorly maintained semi tractor-trailers.

As Maryland trucking accident attorneys, our staff has handled numerous personal injury cases in which one or more critical components have failed on an over-the-road truck, resulting in a serious injury or fatal traffic crash. State law requires truck drivers to individually inspect their vehicle assure that all major components, including safety equipment, are functioning correctly. But while the law requires this, many drivers will perform only perfunctory inspections, noting only nominal inspection times in their vehicle logs.