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Posted On: November 23, 2009

Maryland Pedestrian Accidents: US 40 Considered a Leading Danger Zone for Injuries and Deaths

According to the Baltimore Sun, since January 2003 at least 29 Maryland pedestrian fatalities have occurred in the 52-mile section of US 40 where it merges into Interstate 70 in Western Howard County. At least 8 of the pedestrian deaths occurred in Baltimore City, and except for 2 fatalities, the other pedestrian deaths occurred in West Baltimore. 21 pedestrian fatalities occurred in Baltimore County, Howard County, and Harford County, with the 3-4 fatalities that took place in the Maryland cities of Rosedale, Ellicott City, and Aberdeen occurring within a few hundred feet of each other.

Maryland State Highway Administration spokesperson Dave Buck says US 40, a main arterial highway, was constructed before pedestrian safety was considered a priority. A recent report by Surface Transportation Policy Project and Transportation for America recently pointed to highway design as one of the main causes of pedestrian deaths.

The report noted that 56% of pedestrian fatalities occur on roads that weren’t designed with pedestrian safety in mind. The report says arterial roads usually have multiple lanes, high speed limits, and few (if any) crossing signals or crosswalks.

Other arterial loads linked to Baltimore pedestrian accidents include Ritchie Highway, US 1, Reierstown Road, Liberty Road, and Mountain Road. With so many pedestrians continuing to die and get hurt in US traffic crashes each year—4,378 US pedestrian fatalities, 69,000 pedestrian injuries, and 116 Maryland pedestrian deaths in 2008—local, state, and federal entities must make sure that roads are properly designed to limit the number of pedestrian injuries and deaths.

U.S. 40 among top danger spots for pedestrians, Baltimore Sun, November 23, 2009

Pedestrians, NHTSA (PDF)

Related Web Resources:
Read the Report (PDF)

Maryland Department of Transportation

Continue reading " Maryland Pedestrian Accidents: US 40 Considered a Leading Danger Zone for Injuries and Deaths " »

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Posted In: Pedestrian Accident

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Posted On: November 19, 2009

Toddler Dies in Maryland Entanglement Accident Involving Drapery Cord

A 2-year-old boy has died after becoming entangled in a drapery cord in his Damascus, Maryland home. Thapelo Andre Kwofie’s parents found him unconscious at around 3pm. They administered CPR to him before an ambulance arrived to take him to the hospital. He was pronounced dead soon after his arrival at Shady Grove Hospital.

Montgomery County, Maryland police are investigating the tragic accident.

Window Cord-Strangulation Accidents
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, about one child (7 months to age 10) dies and another is nearly strangled in window-cord strangulation accidents every year. Window cords for blinds and drapes are considered a strangulation hazard for kids.

Young kids can easily get entangled in either the inner cords for raising blinds or pull cords. The cord can form a loop around the child’s neck that can cause strangulation.

Drapery cords that cause serious injury or death can be grounds for suing the drapery maker for products liability. Product manufacturers are supposed to make sure their products do not pose an injury hazard to anyone. An experienced Maryland products liability lawyer can help you determine whether you have grounds for an injury case.

Just last August, the CPSC recalled some 5.5 million window shades and blinds following several reports of child strangulation deaths and injuries.

Other products that have been known to cause strangulation injury or death to kids:

• Cribs
• Strollers
• Clothing with drawstrings
• Toys or infant products that come with cords or strings

Strangulation injuries can also result in traumatic brain injuries for those who survive.

Damascus toddler dies after caught in drapery cord, Gazette.net, November 4, 2009

5.5M window covers recalled after child deaths, MSNBC, August 26, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Window blind or drapery cords, .docstoc.com

nsumer Product Safety Commission

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Posted In: Injuries to Minors , Products Liability

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Posted On: November 16, 2009

Maryland Man Dies from Burn Injuries Sustained in Frederick Gas Station Fire

A 26-year-old Germantown, Maryland man has died from burn injuries he sustained in a fire at a gas station pump in Frederick. Ainsley Gordon caught fire, as did his sport utility vehicle and the gas pump that was next to the vehicle. Gordon was filling up a gas can when the fatal burn accident happened.

Investigators are trying to figure out what happened. They are saying that the victim wasn’t smoking or using his cell phone when the fire broke out.

Gasoline Burn Accidents:

• 1.1 million burn injuries a year occurred because of gasoline fires.
• 4.500 gasoline fire-related fatalities are a result of burn injuries while 10,000 other deaths involve infections from the burn wounds.
• Approximately 4,700 gas fires occur in the US each year.

If you or your loved one sustained serious burn injuries from a gasoline fire that was caused by another party’s negligence, you may have grounds for filing a Maryland injury lawsuit.

A gas station is one of the worst locations for a fire to happen. Unfortunately, gas station fires are not as uncommon as we’d like to think. Just last March, a woman died when a pickup truck crashed into gas pump, causing the pump to explode. The woman, who was pumping gas, became trapped between the pump and another vehicle.

In another gas fire accident earlier this year, a man who accidentally lit a match caught fire, as did the SUV that his friend was pumping gas into. Fortunately, the driver was able to retrieve his baby from the back seat and another passenger, a woman, was able to exit through the back window. The burn victim sustained injuries on 20% of his body.

Some fires at gasoline stations are a result of customer carelessness or driver negligence. There also may be certain hazards at the station, which the station owner or gasoline company should have remedied, that caused a blaze to break out.

Man fatally burned in Md. gas station fire, Washington Times, November 5, 2009

Man Catches Fire At Gas Station, KPHO, March 30, 2009

Woman Killed After Gas Station Pump Explodes, Fox, March 17, 2009

Gasoline Safety, Mass.gov


Related Web Resources:
Burns, Medline Plus

Service Station Safety, National Fire Protection Association

Continue reading " Maryland Man Dies from Burn Injuries Sustained in Frederick Gas Station Fire " »

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Posted In: Burn Injuries

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Posted On: November 10, 2009

Multiple Human Errors Cited in Maryland Aviation Accident Involving Medevac that Crashed, Killing Four

According to federal transportation safety officials, multiple human errors contributed to the Maryland medevac crash that claimed the lives of four people in Prince George’s County on September 27, 2008. One of the people who died was 17-year-old Ashley Young, one of the Maryland car accident victims with low-level injuries who was being flown to a hospital. The other Waldorf, Maryland car crash victim, 19-year-old Jordan Wells, survived the Maryland medevac accident has undergone over 20 surgeries.

The helicopter Trooper 2, had bypassed Prince George's Hospital Center because of fog. It crashed in Walker Mill Regional Park.

According to investigators, air traffic controllers were not very helpful, not paying proper attention, and sloppy. The troopers who were monitoring the air rescue did not realize in a timely enough manner that the chopper was lost and did not conduct a thorough enough search. However, pilot error is considered the probable cause of the helicopter accident.

The National Transportation Safety Board says pilot Stephen Bunker brought the helicopter down too fast, crashing into the ground. The board says the 59-year-old may not have had the skills to safely land the chopper when having to rely solely on aircraft instruments during poor visibility.

Bunker, volunteer medical Tonya Mallard, and paramedic Mickey Lippy also died in the Maryland medevac accident.

Aviation Accident Lawsuits
Plane crashes, helicopter accidents, and commercial airliner collisions seldom leave survivors. When anyone does survive such a catastrophic accident, the injuries are usually quite serious.

Pilot error, aircraft malfunction or defect, air traffic control negligence, ground crew mistakes, and poor weather conditions are some causes of plane crashes.

Extensive failures found in medevac crash, Washington Post, October 28, 2009

NTSB: Several factors contributed to fatal Md. medevac crash, Baltimore Sun, October 27, 2009


Related Web Resources:
National Transportation Safety Board

Medevac Helicopter Crash Kills 4 in Maryland, Fox/AP, September 28, 2009

Continue reading " Multiple Human Errors Cited in Maryland Aviation Accident Involving Medevac that Crashed, Killing Four " »

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Posted In: Aviation Accident/Plane Crash

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Posted On: November 5, 2009

Maryland Jury Awards $2.5 Million Baltimore Lead Paint Verdict to Siblings

More than 15 years after Dontae and Searra Wallace’s mother moved them into a City Homes rental in an effort to protect them from additional lead exposure, a Maryland jury has awarded the siblings over $2.5 million for their Baltimore personal injuries caused by lead poisoning.

Searra, 17, and Dontae, 20, sustained permanent behavioral and cognitive disabilities. They are unlikely to graduate from high school or get a GED, and their IQ’s are below average. Dontae dropped out of school four years ago and Searra failed two grades.

Their mother, Tiffini, says that the family moved out of a rental that used lead paint into a City Homes Inc. home. She says the nonprofit group told her the Baltimore City row house was safe.

Witnesses for the plaintiffs, however, say that while the lead paint was contained to a certain degree, the kids were still exposed to lead. There were paint flakes and chips in several areas of the residence. One wall got wet during storms, and rats that chewed on walls left behind lead dust.

The defendants of the Maryland lead paint lawsuit, City Homes and its president Barry Mankowitz, have said that the home the Wallaces were living in were inspected before and after the family lived there. They claimed that the Wallace siblings have disabilities because they were exposed to dangerous levels of lead before they moved into the City Homes residence.

Tiffini moved the family into the home on Booth Street after joining a Kennedy Krieger Institute Inc. study. The study has been criticized for persuading parents to live in residences where lead was contained in varying levels so that researchers could find out whether there were less costly means to protect kids from lead poisoning.

We now know that even the smallest exposure to lead can cause children to suffer from lead poisoning, which can be detrimental to their cognitive and behavioral development. Lead paint in a home is a Maryland premises liability.

The jury found City Homes and its president Barry Mankowitz guilty of negligent misrepresentation and negligence. They awarded Searra $1.3 million and Dontae $1.2 million.

$2.5 million awarded in lead-paint lawsuit, Baltimore Sun, November 4, 2009

Baltimore City Lead Paint Lawsuit Results in $2.5M Verdict, About Lawsuits, November 5, 2009


Related Web Resources:
Environmental Protection Agency

What You Should Know About Lead Based Paint in Your Home: Safety Alert, Consumer Product Safety Commission

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Posted In: Injuries to Minors , Personal Injury , Premises Liability

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Posted On: November 2, 2009

John Hopkins University Student Dies from Injuries Sustained During Baltimore Pedestrian Accident involving Hit and Run Pickup Truck

Miriam Frankl, 20, died on October 17 from the serious head wounds and other injuries she sustained during a Baltimore hit and run accident that occurred the day before. Frankl, a Johns Hopkins University student, was struck by a white Ford F-250 moving at a high speed on St. Paul Street during a hit and run Maryland truck crash. Witnesses say that the driver of the truck, a man, did not stop. Instead, he allegedly made an illegal left turn onto East University Parkway.

Frankl was placed on life support at Maryland Shock Trauma Center where she died at 2:30am the next day. Thomas Meighan Jr., the 39-year-old truck owner, was initially arrested on at least 18 driving offenses.

Witnesses say that Meighan’s truck drove erratically for hours that day, tailgating, attempting to cut off other motorists, making abrupt lane changes, running several red lights, driving at high speeds on small roads and driving the wrong way.

Most of the lesser charges have been dropped. The remaining charges against Meighan include driving on a suspended license, failure to remain at the scene of an accident involving death, failure to stop vehicle at bodily injury accident, failure to stop vehicle at death accident scene, failure to render reasonable assistance to injured person, failure to furnish required ID and license, failure to stop after accident involving vehicle damage, and failure to remain at scene of vehicle damage accident.

Police are trying to figure out whether they can charge Meighan with vehicular manslaughter in the hit-and-run death of Frankl. Meighan claims he was not driving his car on the day of the deadly Baltimore car crash that claimed the 20-year-old’s life.

Prior to the October 16 Maryland pedestrian accident, Meighan already had 21 motor vehicle convictions. 8 of those convictions were for drunk driving. Over six of the offenses took place in Carroll County.

Driver's truck terrorized Baltimore before killing student from Wilmette, Chicago Tribune, October 27, 2009

Charges pared in hit-and-run, The Baltimore Sun, October 28, 2009


Related Web Resources:
Hit and Run Maryland, Deadly Roads

Maryland Department of Transportation

Continue reading " John Hopkins University Student Dies from Injuries Sustained During Baltimore Pedestrian Accident involving Hit and Run Pickup Truck " »

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Posted In: Car Accidents , Pedestrian Accident , Traumatic Brain Injuries , Truck Accidents

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