Not Paying Attention May Forfeit Your Right to Recovery

In Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC, unlike some other states, you have to prove that you had no responsibility for being injured. If a Judge or Jury is able to look at the facts of how you were injured, and establish that something you were doing may have contributed to the accident, they may not find in your favor.

With the prevalence of handheld devices and the use of headphones on the rise, these items increase your chances of being injured while out for a walk or a bike ride because they diminish your senses to your surroundings.You may not hear that vehicle approaching you, or someone honking their horn, you may have also forfeit your right to recovery because you weren’t paying attention. If you’ve been involved in an accident as a pedestrian or a cyclist you need an experienced attorney to prove you had no contribution to your accident. 

Pedestrian Fatally Hit By Driver Near Silver Spring, Maryland

           Yesterday morning, an 83 year old woman was driving down Randolph Road when she suddenly drove across three lanes of traffic.  As a result, she hit a utility pole and Maria Posadas as she was standing on a neighbor’s driveway.  Posadas died from her injuries, while the elderly driver only suffered minor injuries.  Montgomery County Police are still investigating what caused the 83 year old to swerve across three lanes and hit Posadas and a power pole.

            

           This accident brings up an interesting issue that many people worry about: how safe are elderly drivers on the roads?  Today, the population of licensed drivers over the age of 70 has increased 30% since 1997.  However, with more elderly drivers on the road, fatal crashes involving a driver 70 or older have decreased significantly since the peak in 1997.  Although many people believe that the elderly cause more accidents than any other age group, statistics actually show that is not true at all.  In fact, fatal crashes involving elderly drivers are much less than fatal crashes involving teen or middle-aged drivers.  Studies also show that requiring some sort of driver education for drivers when they reach a certain age has very little safety benefits.

            

            Pedestrian safety affects everyone at all times of the day.  Many pedestrian accident injuries and fatalities are caused by intoxication or inattentiveness (i.e. texting while walking) on the part of the pedestrian.  However, sometimes there are negligent drivers who run through a crosswalk filled with people, hit someone, and keep driving.  Out of all the fatal pedestrian-involved accidents in Maryland, about 70% of the time the pedestrian was at fault for the accident.  In this case, Posadas was not at fault because she was not crossing a street.  Instead, another driver veered off the road and hit her while she was standing in a residential driveway. 

If you or a family member has been injured or killed by a driver as a pedestrian and would like to consult an experienced Maryland personal injury attorney for free, contact our office at (301) 854-9000 to schedule an appointment at one of our office locations in Silver Spring or throughout Maryland or visit us online at http://www.portnerandshure.com/Personal-Injury/

Young Boy Hit While Crossing Street on July 4th, Driver Keeps Going

            Saturday night on July 4^th, a 10 year old boy was struck by a car while crossing the street with several people in a crosswalk.  The hit and run accident occurred near Waldorf, Maryland on St. Ignatius Drive near Bannister Circle.  While the child suffered serious bodily injuries, fortunately, these injuries are not life-threatening.

            

            Police are still trying to gather more information about the accident and the driver.  In this case, if police are able to catch the driver, the young boy could potentially recover compensation for his injuries because he was in a crosswalk and not contributorily negligent.  If the boy would have been crossing the street without a crosswalk, he would be contributorily negligent and not able to recover any damages. 

            

            Pedestrian safety affects everyone at all times of the day.  Many pedestrian accident injuries and fatalities are caused by intoxication or inattentiveness (i.e. texting while walking) on the part of the pedestrian.  However, sometimes there are negligent drivers who run through a crosswalk filled with people, hit someone, and keep driving.  Out of all the fatal pedestrian-involved accidents in Maryland, about 70% of the time the pedestrian was at fault for the accident.  When a driver has a green light at the same time that pedestrians have the walk signal, the driver must yield the right of way to the pedestrians.

If you or a family member has been injured or killed by a driver while crossing the street and would like to consult an experienced Maryland personal injury attorney for free, contact our office at (301) 854-9000 to schedule an appointment at one of our office locations in Annapolis or throughout Maryland or visit us online at http://www.portnerandshure.com/Personal-Injury/

Hit-and-Run Kills Pedestrian Near Laurel

           Last night, a 38 year-old man was killed and a woman was injured in a hit and run crash along the northbound lanes of the Baltimore Washington Parkway near Route 197.  The victim is from Washington, D.C. and his identity has not been released yet.

            Police are still investigating the cause of the accident, why the man and woman were walking on the Baltimore Washington Parkway, and the identity of the driver of the car.  It is believed that once the vehicle struck the two pedestrians, it continued driving north on the parkway.

            Unfortunately, thousands of pedestrians are killed each year in accidents and actually the numbers have been increasing nationwide in recent years.  2010 data from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) placed Maryland as the seventh most dangerous state for pedestrians with 1.75 fatalities per 100,000 residents.  However, the most recent statistics do not have Maryland ranked in the top ten for worst states for pedestrians.  According to the NHTSA, nearly 3 out of 4 pedestrian deaths occur in urban environments, at intersections, during the nighttime.  In addition, more than a third of pedestrian deaths involve alcohol.

            The most important determining factor in a pedestrian accident case is whether the pedestrian was lawfully crossing the street at the time of the crash.  In other words, was the pedestrian crossing the street against the signal, crossing outside the crosswalk, or texting while crossing, or was the pedestrian crossing with the “walk” signal and inside the crosswalk.  Because Maryland is a contributory negligence state, if the victim pedestrian is negligent in any way, they cannot recover in a civil lawsuit.

If you or a family member has been injured or killed by a driver while crossing the street, contact Portner & Shure for a free legal consultation or if you would like more information on pedestrian accidents at (410) 995-1515 or visit us on the web at http://www.portnerandshure.com/Personal-Injury/