Washington DC Injury Attorney Blog

There were 11 pedestrian deaths in Montgomery County, Maryland in 2011 and five of them victims were Hispanic. Hispanics only make up about 17 percent of the county's population, therefore; this rate is alarming. According to the AAA Midatlantic and the Latino Advocacy group Casa de Maryland, the number of Hispanics that died as a result of pedestrian accidents is disproportionate when considering that Hispanics only make up a small percent of the County's population.

According to the AAA, Viers Mill Road is one of the deadliest and most dangerous streets for pedestrians. Out of the five victims in 2011, four of them were killed on Viers Mill Road.

Phil Andres, a Montgomery County Council member says that the county will continue its efforts to reach and educate Hispanics on traffic safety, but that it is also up to the pedestrian and drivers in Maryland to be more careful and follow traffic and safety rules more carefully.

Cell Phone use should be a minimum and texting while driving is now illegal in Maryland, therefore, one should not send, receive or view text messages while behind the wheel. Also, cell phone use is only allowed when using an ear piece/bluetooth or if your vehicle comes equipt with hands-free talking. If all drivers follow these rules and more pedestrians make sure and cross at intersections and crosswalks hopefully the number of pedestrian accidents and deaths will lower for all Montgomery County Residents.

The number of automobile accident related fatalities decreased by about 10 percent, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, from 2009 to 2010. In 2009, there were 549 automobile accident related fatalities and in 2010 there were only 493. The reason there was a decrease is because there are better air bags and anti-rollover technology in newer vehicles, drivers are using their seatbelts properly and more often and there has been an improvement in safe-driving campaigns in the state of Maryland, according to the AAA Mid-Atlantic.

Another factor for the decrease is that Maryland police officers and other law enforcement officers have been cracking down more on drunk drivers. Repeat offenders have had to install start up kits/breathalyzer machines in their vehicles that do not allow the vehicle to start/turn on if there is alcohol in their system.

Also, speed limits are followed more by drivers because of red light and speed cameras all over the state of Maryland. Therefore, drivers are respecting the speed limit in certain areas more. Another factor is that in the state of Maryland it is prohibited to use a handheld device while driving. Be it for talking on the phone, texting, viewing messages or communicating through media outlets while driving.

When you consider all these factors, one can better understand how there has been a 10 percent decrease in automobile accident related fatalities in Maryland. One can only hope that there has been a bigger decrease in 2011.

The University of Virginia researchers used information gathered by the National Highway Safety Administration on over 45,000 crash victims in a ten year span, to show that women have a higher risk of injury during car crashes in the United States. Their study was published in late October of this year. The study showed that on average, women are up to 5 and a half inches shorter then men, weight about 35 pounds less then men and drive sedans (more then SUV's). With these factors in mind it was determined that 47% of the over 45,000 crash victims were women who suffered severe injuries.

The researchers determined that men have more neck strength and are more muscular over all then women. Also, men sit differently in vehicles and therefore; their heads fit better against the head restraints in vehicle then women. Car safety devices, they determined, are designed largely for men, therefore women are at higher risk for injuries.

In the meantime, researchers at the University of Virginia are instructing women to continue to use seat belts properly and maintain proper seating posture.

In October 2011, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published its 2012 Vehicle Crash Test List. The NHTSA will be crash-testing a total of 74 vehicles for safety ratings. The vehicles that will be tested include 42 passenger cars, 22 crossovers and SUVs, 2 minivans and 8 pick up trucks. The crash-testing of these 74 different makes and models will result in consumer safety data of about 81% of all 2012 passenger vehicles available in the United States.

Rollover testing will also be conducted. The results will yield a safety rating for about 92% of vehicles available in the United States in 2012.

Some of the vehicles that will be tested are:
2012 Chevy Silverado
2012 Ford F-150 Supercab
2012 Toyota Camry
2012 Ford Explorer

Hybrid and electric vehicles will also be tested. For example: the 2012 Toyota Prius, the 2012 Honda Civic Hybrid and the 2012 Honda CR-Z.

Anti-collision technology of the 2012 BMW 328i, the 2012 Volvo S60 and the 2012 Chevy Equinox will also be tested for safety, making it the first time the NHTSA will be evaluating this type of technology.

For a complete list of vehicles that will undergo crash-testing, please visit www.nhtsa.com

As of October 1, 2011 Maryland Police Officers are allowed to pull drivers over for text messaging. Sending, receiving and reading text messages while behind the wheel will now be considered a primary offense. Which means, that Police, can now pull over and ticket drivers who are caught sending, receiving or reading text messages without their needing to be any other offense committed. Emergency 911 text messaging is exempt from this new law.

Under the new text messaging law, violators, can be fined up to $70 and receive one point toward suspension of a driver's license. If, an automobile accident or pedestrian/automobile accident is resulted from text messaging the fine will increase to $110 and three points towards the suspension of a driver's license.

This same law is in effect in the District of Columbia, but it is still only a secondary offense in Virginia.

Another new Maryland traffic law going into effect as of October 1, 2011, is that criminal prosecution will be allowed of drivers who are considered negligent in pedestrian and bicyclists deaths. Under this new traffic law, it will be considered a misdemeanor for a person to cause the death of another as a result of the person's driving, operating or controlling a vehicle in a criminal negligent manner.

These two new Maryland traffic laws are being implemented because the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that 20 percent of crashes in 2009 were cause by distracted drivers, of which, 995 fatal crashes involved drivers distracted by cell phone use.

Anne Arundel County, Maryland has had eight pedestrians and one bicyclist killed by motor vehicles so far this year. A study conducted by the State Highway Administration between 2006 and 2010 reported that 9 pedestrians were killed in 2006, 13 in 2009 and 12 in 2010. None were killed in 2007 or 2008. The number of pedestrians injured between 2006 and 2010 was reported to be 197.

The Anne Arundel Police will therefore start to stop drivers and pedestrians who violate the rules of the road, which include; jaywalkers, hit and run drivers, drivers who ignore bicycle lanes and drivers who run red lights and stop signs. Justin Mulcahy, Anne Arundel Police spokesman, said, "The goal is education and enforcement." The most troubling of these situations are hit-and-run drivers, because the drivers who flee the scene after a pedestrian is hit may be able to aid the pedestrian and keep the person from dying.

The roads where vehicle have struck pedestrians and bicyclists will be targeted, mostly. These areas include Hospital Driver near Crain Highway in Glen Burnie, Maryland, Fort Smallwood Road in Pasadena, Maryland and Jumpers Hole Road and Ritchie Highway. Other areas will also be in routes of patrol, but these are the major areas were fatal accidents have occurred in Anne Arundel and Baltimore City, Maryland.

It was announced Friday, September 2, 2011 by Montgomery County, Maryland officials that there will be a zero-tolerance program to crack down on minor moving violations for drivers and for pedestrians. Such moving violations include: failing to yield the right of way to a pedestrian in a crosswalk and jaywalking.

Drivers who block pedestrian crosswalks, fail to yield to pedestrians, run red lights, do not use turn signals and fail to use their windshield wipers in the rain will be ticketed. Pedestrians, on the other hand will be ticketed if they jaywalk, which is failing to cross at marked crosswalks, fail to obey crosswalk signals and for walking diagonally across intersections.

Each violation will have a fine of $50. The citations/tickets will be issued in high traffic areas and high incident areas, were police officers are more likely to enforce the law. The high incident areas include Piney Branch Road, Wisconsin Avenue, Georgia Avenue, Rockville Pike, Four Corners, Reedie Drive, Randolph Road and Connecticut Avenue.

This crack-down comes due to the fact that between January and June of this year, four pedestrians were killed and 174 collisions involved pedestrians in Montgomery County. In 2010, CountyStat (an oversight department for the county government) reported that there were 436 vehicle collisions with pedestrians and 13 pedestrians were killed. Montgomery County officials also distributed brochures and warned pedestrians of jaywalking in order to improve pedestrian safety. In 2010 alone, Montgomery County spent $8.5 million on pedestrian safety. Therefore, follow the law and remember that your safety on the road, be it as a driver or pedestrian, is your responsibility.

Virginia drivers, under the age of 21, could have their license suspended for a year if they get behind the wheel after drinking alcoholic beverages. These underage drinkers and drivers will face stiffer penalties for driving with a blood alcohol concentration of .02% or more. Violators will have their license suspended for a year and will receive either a fine of up to $500 or 50 hours of community service.

Ray LaHood, U.S. Transportation Secretary, stated that drivers are distracted by vehicle information and entertainment systems such as Ford's Sync and General Motors OnStar. LaHood runs the department that oversees the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), who has been developing guidelines, which will be published at the end of the year, for these in-vehicle systems.

These information and entertainment systems connect drivers to their mobile devices and the internet while driving. It also allows for audible GPS Navigation, Music (IPOD, CD and MP3) control and various other technological devices.

GPS systems are suppose to communicate directions to the driver and help the driver maintain their eyes on the road, instead of having the driver struggle to read from an open map. Even, if a driver misses a turn or changes course, the GPS systems immediately re-navigates and re-routes them. Therefore, there is no need to flip through a map while driving.

Automatic Crash Notification (ACN) is offered through OnStar and this device sends a signal to emergency departments when a driver is involved in an automobile accident. It allows the driver to make the call themselves and it also sends a signal when the driver is unable to make a call after an accident to contact an emergency department. ACN reduces the time it takes for the first responders to become aware of a crash, and this is critical to saving lives.

Other controls drivers have with Ford's Sync and GM's OnStar are automatic windshield wipers and headlights, Road Hazard notifications and being able to make and receive telephone calls while driving. This is called hands-free technology. It allows drivers to make and receive calls through the automobile's radio/speaker system and therefore keeps your eyes and hands on the road and steering wheel.

GMAC Insurance published the results of an annual National Driver's Test in May 2011 which ranked the state of Maryland 49th out of 51 states with the worst knowledge of the rules of the road. Maryland scored 73.3%. Hawaii was behind with 73% and the District of Columbia was ranked the worst. The state with the best results, of 82.9% was Kansas.

Maryland's test results for 2011 came as a surprise, seeing that the state ranked 20th in 2010 and 41st in the 2009 results. The 29 place plunge in this year results were only beaten by Alaska, which went from 10th to 40th place.

The GMAC Insurance Annual National Driver's Test polls 5130 drivers aged 16-65 nationwide. The test consists of 20 questions taken from each state's driver's license exam. The average results nationwide for 2011 improved from 76.2% to 77.9%.

The Chief Marketing Officer for GMAC, Mr. Scott Eckman, stated that drivers are forgetting some of the more basic rules of the road. Driver's are most commonly forgetting the distance a driver must keep between their vehicle and the one in front and also how to respond when a traffic light turns yellow just a vehicle reaches the intersection. The rule is to continue through the intersection, rather than braking abruptly. Only 15% of people answered the later question correctly.

Liability can sometimes be difficult to determine in automobile and truck accidents, when issues of fault are argued and when eyewitnesses are not reliable. That is why Event Data Recorders (EDRs, otherwise known as "black boxes") are important.

EDRs record data on a vehicle's speed, braking activity, engine RPM's, motorist's use of turn signal prior to accidents, and even seat belt use. A committee of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) created standards for EDRs. They recommend that manufactures be required to record 86 separate streams of data.

The information recorded can help investigators determine who was at fault for an accident, by determining if the driver was negligent, if there was an auto defect or if the accident occurred because of hazardous conditions. The Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2010 would have made EDR technology mandatory in all vehicles sold in the U.S. by 2015, but it never was approved by the House of Representatives. EDRs are however available if an automobile company voluntarily decides to install one in its vehicles. EDRs are not yet mandatory but the NHTSA does have 15 data elements mandated for their use.

EDRs and their advanced technology can prove extremely useful in motor vehicle accident litigation, but they are not the only tool used to determine fault or the injuries suffered by people involved in accidents. An experienced personal injury lawyer must also know how to use all available resources to demonstrate the harm a client has suffered and be able to assess and determine the long term medical care needs of each client. Technology is only one piece of the puzzle, so be well informed and researched when choosing an attorney.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that almost 3,500 people were killed in the U.S. as a result of heavy trucks collisions, in 2009. Truck accidents are cause by various factors, but for of the most common causes of truck accidents are:

Driver Fatigue
Commercial truck drivers have deadlines to keep, and so they tend to drive for long periods of time and travel further than is safe. When a driver travels for long periods of time it becomes harder to pay sufficient attention to driving conditions and to respond properly to changing circumstances.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) came up with a set of regulations for commercial truck drivers to follow. The Hours-of Service (HOS) regulations states that after 10 consecutive hours off-duty, a truck driver may only drive a maximum of 11 hours, if carrying property. Also, the FMCSA limits the number of hours commercial truck drivers can drive in a seven or eight day period. New regulations, however, will be published by July 26, 2011, by the FMCSA.

Distractions
When drivers are distracted, the likelihood of an accident increases. Most drivers in the U.S. are not allowed to send text messages while driving, according to the Governor's Highway Safety Association (GHSA). More than half of the United States has laws established forbidding texting while driving. The FMCSA, however, prohibits all commercial truck drivers from texting while behind the wheel.

Poor Road Conditions and Maintenance
When road conditions are bad, most drivers try and spend less time on the road. Truck drivers, however, have strong incentives to drive through all kinds of weather in order to arrive by their scheduled deadline.

Truck maintenance is also important. Properly maintained vehicles are safer to drive then those that have defects.

Other Drivers on the Road
Truck accidents are not always the result of the truck drivers fault; sometimes other drivers on the road contribute to truck accidents. Some vehicles try and go around trucks, or miscalculate when driving near or around trucks. You must remember that trucks have bigger blind spots than regular vehicles and therefore a driver must keep a proper distance between themselves and the truck.

Air Bags are not soft like pillows. In order for them to work and save lives, they come out of the dashboard at about 200 miles per hour, faster than the blink of an eye. The force of the air bag can hurt people who sit too close to it.

Child Safety:
- Children 12 and under should not ride in the front seat. They should ride buckled up in the rear seats.
- Infants in rear facing child seats should never ride in the front seat of a vehicle.
- All children under the age of 12 should ride in the rear seat and in approved child safety seats, according to their age and size.
Adult Safety:
- Every adult should buckle up with a lap and shoulder safety belt.
- The lap belt should be worn under the abdomen and low across the hips. The shoulder belt should come across the collar bone, away from the neck, and come across the breast bone.
- Both driver and front seat passenger seats should be moved as far back as practical, specially, for shorted people. Keep as much distance as possible between you and the airbag.

Public/Private Partnerships of automobile manufacturers, insurance companies, child safety seat agencies, health professionals, and child health and safety organizations together make up the Air Bag Safety Campaign, whose focus is on driver, passenger and child safety. They came up with a simple to teach and simple to remember air bag message they call the ABC's:
Air bag Safety -
Buckle Everyone!
Children in Back

In Summary, children under the age of 12 are safest when properly restrained in the back seat of vehicles. When a child under the age of 12 is properly restrained in the back seat they are up to 29 percent safer than those children that sit in the front seat.

For more information, please contact the Air Bag Safety Campaign at (202)625-2570 or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Auto Safety Hotline at (800)424-9393 or www.nhtsa.dot.gov

A report published in February 2010 shows, that in the last five years, fatal crashes at intersections with traffic lights have declined in Maryland and the District of Columbia, but have risen in Virginia. Experts have made the assumption that the drop in fatal crashes in MD and DC are due to the use of red-light cameras.

In Northern Virginia, only Arlington County and Falls Church, currently use red-light cameras. Between 2005 and 2009, fatal crashes in Virginia have increased. In 2005 only 39 fatal crashes occurred, but in 2009, there were 51 fatal crashes. Therefore, other counties in Virginia are seeking state approval to install more red-light cameras.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), between 2004 and 2008, 159 lives were saved in 14 cities nationwide by the use of red-light cameras. When red-light cameras are used for safety reasons and not just to generate revenue they have shown to save lives. People have a better understanding now of how important it is to not run a red light. The use of red-light cameras makes people drive safer and avoid running red-lights, and therefore, save lives. It is the heavy use of these cameras in Maryland and the District of Columbia that have caused the decline in fatal crashes. It is imperative that other cities and counties in Virginia do the same.

In the Nations capital there are currently, 30 speed cameras and 50 red-light cameras that control speeding and the running of red lights. A new program was introduced that will expand the number of cameras and increase the types of tickets/infractions that can be issued. The new cameras will be installed in the next year in areas that demonstrate a need for additional control and enforcement.

There are various studies that show that traffic enforcement and the use of speed cameras and re-light cameras save lives. Traffic fatalities in the District dropped to 25 in 2010 from 75 a decade ago. This is according to D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier.

The new cameras will use technology to cut down with vehicles blocking intersections, vehicles failing to yield to pedestrians on crosswalks, truck height-restrictions and weigh trucks along I-295.

The new program would be the most aggressive in the Nation, and studies have shown that the use of this technology reduces crashes and save lives.