Baltimore Area Drivers Are the Worst in the Country

No wonder our Maryland personal injury law firm is so busy. We have hundreds automobile accident victims call us each month. Where do they all come from? Well a recent study may shed some light on why my desk is surrounded by Maryland automobile accident case files. Allstate Insurance released its annual "America's Best Driver" report ranking the largest U.S. cities based on the number of auto accidents. For the second year in a row Baltimore City held the same rank, 192 out of 193. 193 being the worst.

In contrast, America's safest driving city is Fort Collins, Colorado, with drivers averaging around fourteen years between automobile accidents. In Fort Collins, drivers are 28 percent less likely to be involved in an automobile accident than the national average. In Baltimore, drivers are almost 89 percent more likely to be involved in an automobile accident than the national average. Baltimore drivers average about five years between car accidents.

So the obvious question is where are the worst drivers? Our neighbors to the south boast that title. Washington, D.C. has the worst drivers in the country. Lucky for Portner & Shure we also practice in Washington, D.C.; our experienced Baltimore car accident lawyers and Washington, D.C. auto accident attorneys are like roofers in Southern Florida during hurricane season. There is no shortage of clients who need help because they have been injured by a negligent driver. Our responsibility as Baltimore auto accident lawyers and Washington, D.C. accident injury attorneys is to protect our clients' rights against the insurance companies who, to often, take advantage of the innocent victim.

Bus Accidents, Unlike Car Accidents,Often Occur Without Any Collision

Obviously, the chances for other accidents to occur on board a bus loaded with passengers is greater. Such was the case in a recent accident in Timonium in Baltimore County, Maryland. In this incident, the bus was transporting a special needs child home, from a Baltimore County School, Villa Maria at St. Vincent's School in Timonium, Maryland. After getting in a fight with one boy, the child then tried to leave the bus via the front door. Aides stopped him, there were two adult aides on the bus. However, neither was apparently able to stop this speedy six year old from then running to the back, opening the door and falling out of a moving bus. Negligence may rise here not from a collision, but from the aides inability to apparently supervise and care for the children. Seems to be a real hot issue since they were on notice that the special needs child was upset and tried to get off the moving bus via the front door.

If you have been involved in an automobile accident or bus accident and would like a free legal consultation or if you would like more information on car accidents please feel free to contact our office or visit us on the web at www.portnerandshure.com. 

Negligence on a School Bus

More facts have been revealed concerning the bus accident in Timonium, Maryland, in Baltimore County which we blogged on recently. In the blog, we questioned whether a 6 year old special needs child could have been stopped before he opened the back door of the bus and fell to his death. We raised the question as to whether the aides on the bus were negligent for failure to provide adequate supervision.

Interestingly, the school system fired the two aides who were on the bus transporting the student from his Baltimore County School to his home. Further, the bus drivers license was also disqualified.

All these actions may help in the future but certainly don't do a thing to rectify the apparent negligent care of the adults on the bus. First, they were on notice that the boy was already trying to get out of a moving bus (he had tried to get out the front). Second, he wasn't in a harness that the state mandated educated plan required him to have. The family is seeking answers. A lawsuit in the Baltimore County Circuit Court will ultimately provide them.

If you have been involved in an automobile accident or bus accident and would like a free legal consultation or if you would like more information on car accidents, please feel free to contact our office or visit us on the web at www.portnerandshure.com.