Trucking Accident Lawyer Blog

If there is one truth about traffic accidents, it is that anybody can become a victim within moments. Trucking-related crashes involving big rigs, delivery vehicles and other commercial vehicles are common occurrences all across the state of Maryland, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. Recently, musical artist, hip-hop performer and rapper, Beanie Sigel, was hurt when the car in which he was riding was side-swiped by a tractor-trailer rig.

As Baltimore, MD, injury lawyers and trucking accident attorneys, our job is to help victims of trucking collisions – as well as their families -- recover damages from accidents caused by another person’s negligence. This can include semi drivers, repair and maintenance facilities, truck manufacturers and even component and parts makers, if the cause is found to be defective or poorly designed equipment.

According to news reports, shortly after leaving a Baltimore recording studio the vehicle that Sigel was riding in was apparently forced off the road during the crash. The entertainer sustained a number of injuries to his arms, legs and face, however police reports indicate that Sigel declined medical treatment and eventually made it to a performance venue in Norfolk, VA on Sunday, December 20.

In Sigel’s case, he can count himself lucky. Many truck-car wrecks result in much more severe injuries including broken bones, lacerations, neck or spine trauma, and even traumatic brain injuries sometimes leading to death or permanent disability. Bumps and bruises are the least of the injuries that such an encounter can cause.

At the time of the reports, it was not known if anyone else in the vehicle was hurt during the collision. The accident investigation was ongoing at the time, but no additional details were available.

Beanie Sigel Injured In Car Accident, RTTNews.com, December 21, 2009

Based on recent news stories the state of Maryland has been named in a $7 million wrongful death suit in regard to a fatal car-truck accident that occurred on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in August 2008. Dozens of people are killed or injured every year in tractor-trailer accidents across Maryland; some of these victims are actually semi drivers themselves who have been killed or critically injured due to another person's negligence.

As trucking accident attorneys, the legal professionals at Lebowitz & Mzhen, LLC have the knowledge and experience to represent victims and their families in cases not unlike the one reported here. This time, according to news articles, the state of Maryland has been named as one of the defendants in a lawsuit growing out of a deadly traffic accident.

According to reports, a trucker died during the accident in question, which was allegedly caused by a 19-year-old woman who fell asleep while driving across the Bay Bridge. News articles at the time said that Candy Baldwin had been to a wedding earlier and apparently fell asleep while passing across the bridge. This caused a truck driver to swerve his rig to avoid crashing into the young woman’s car.

The family of the deceased truck driver, 57-year-old John Short of Willards, MD, to crash into a concrete barrier on the bridge. However the barrier could not stop the truck from leaving the bridge’s roadway and falling into the water where Short reportedly died.

The lawsuit, which was originally filed last June naming Baldwin as the responsible party, was amended earlier in December to add the state and the Maryland Transportation Authority. The suit cites deficiencies in the maintenance and the inspection of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge as significant factors in the death of Short.

According to news accounts, Baldwin was only charged with traffic violations; police determined the teen's blood alcohol level as 0.03 percent, which is below the legal limit in Maryland, however that measurement was taken hours after the crash, according to the civil suit against the teen. The trucker's family claims the young woman was drunk.

The suit also claims two-way traffic on the bridge at the time of the crash was inherently dangerous and had already led to numerous other fatalities. Since the accident, the state has reportedly spent $3 million inspecting and making repairs to the sidewalls of the bridge.

Md. Named In Fatal Bay Bridge Crash Suit Reporting, WJZ.com, December 12, 2009

Family Names State In Md. Bay Bridge Crash, HometownAnnapolis.com, December 12, 2009

Police recently reported a tragic pedestrian death along I-695 recently when a Parkville, MD, man was attempting to cross the busy interstate on foot. The incident occurred on December 5, when an Exxon tanker truck driving along the Beltway’s Inner Loop near Harford Road came up on a man attempting to cross the roadway just before 11am on that Saturday morning. According to Maryland State Police the pedestrian apparently died at the scene after being struck by the oil company’s big rig.

As Maryland trucking accident and personal injury lawyers, we have the ability to represent the families of victims killed as a result of another person’s negligence. In this case, police who were investigating the accident said that the tractor-trailer rig was hauling an empty tanker trailer at the time.

According to early reports, state troopers could not immediately give a reason as to why the deceased pedestrian was on the Beltway to start with, nor if weather conditions may have been a factor in the fatal accident. Initially the man’s identity was not provided, but following notification of his next of kin he was identified as 57-year-old Joseph Mark Scannell.

The Maryland State Police Crash Team and Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division were charged with investigating the accident. They determined that the truck driver, Jerry Lyn Brooks, 46, of Ellicott City, was not injured in the incident.

The Inner Loop was shut down briefly around the accident scene with a number of lanes being closed for several hours while the investigation took place. Police also said that alcohol was not a factor in the accident.

Pedestrian killed on I-695, ExploreBaltimoreCounty.com, December 7, 2009

Trucking safety requires a combination of professional driving and well-maintained equipment. While the majority of tractor-trailer rigs are serviced correctly and driven by responsible individuals, many are not. Sometimes a mechanical failure can cause a big rig to go out of control, which is one of the most dangerous traffic situations, especially along mountain roads.

As Maryland truck accident lawyers, my office represents motorists and bystanders who have been injured as a result of a semi-trailer collision. Fatal injuries are not uncommon in truck-related wrecks

A recent news article pointed up the quick thinking that truck drivers need to have to avoid fatal results. According to reports, a Virginia driver turned a potentially deadly situation on that state’s Route 135 into a happy ending. The incident occurred at Backbone Mountain after the man’s rig lost the use of its brakes as well as its transmission.

Bonzell Garland, 32, had apparently left Mountain Lake Park in his 1997 Kenworth tractor pulling a 2006 Cherokee trailer loaded with conveyor belt equipment. The rig, which is owned by Legacy Express Inc., in Richmond, was traveling down a steep nine-percent descent on Route 135 at around 12:30pm with 78,000 pounds of truck and machinery. Garland wad headed from Garrett County to Interstate 68 and eventually to his destination in Norfolk.

According to news articles, that steep stretch of Route 135 runs for about four miles from Swanton to Bloomington. Police reports indicate that the truck’s brakes and transmission failed along the decline, during which event the driver saw the lights flashing on the advance sign that signals an upcoming escape ramp, which he decided to utilize.

Reportedly, Garland told police that his transmission and brakes failed as he was traveling 45 to 50 mph when he ditched the rig into the escape ramp. Police investigators estimated that the rig was traveling close to 65mph when it hit the runaway ramp where a 3-foot deep mixture of sand and pea gravel finally brought the tractor-trailer to a halt -- more than 550 feet into the 1,800-foot runaway ramp.

According to the article, Backbone Mountain has been the scene of numerous fatal accidents over the last 30 years involving big rigs that failed to stop before slamming into the rocky embankment at the base of the mountain. Twenty or more crosses commemorating drivers who have died there are painted on the rocky hillside where Route 135 flattens out and abruptly makes a 90-degree turn past the NewPage paper mill.

Driver saved by escape ramp, Times-News.com, November 10, 2009