The National Transportation Safety Board is reporting that there was an increase in transportation-related fatalities in 2005.
According to preliminary figures released by the NTSB this week, from 2004-2005:
· Deaths from transportation-related accidents went up from 45,092 to 45,636.
Over 100,000 attended the Sixth Annual Delmarva Biker week that took place from September 14-17. The number of attendees from last year was slightly down due to bad weather.
The following motorcycle accidents took place over the weekend in Ocean City:
· Jason Bowen, 24, of Harrington suffered serious injuries while performing tricks on his bike on Friday, September 15, near 85th Street. He was flung into the air and traveled 82 feet before hitting a median.
Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police say that a 16-year-old Elkton boy was critically injured last week after the tube that he was being towed in hit the floating pier at 55 Knollwood Road on the Elk River. Susan Archibald was operating the personal watercraft (PWC) that was towing the tube on Tuesday, September 12. The teenager was taken to Maryland Trauma Shock Center where he was treated for injuries. The NRP are investigating the incident and deciding whether to press charges.
According to the Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation’s website:
· 12,290 people were treated in emergency rooms due to PWC-related injuries.
Last Thursday, hundreds of Maryland motorcycle riders paid tribute to fellow cyclist Marty Schultz who died in a motorcycle accident on August 30.
Schultz was the director A Brotherhood Against Totalitarian Enactments (ABATE) of Maryland, the largest organization in the state that advocates motorcyclists’ rights. ABATE of Maryland believes that motorcyclists have the right to decide whether or not to wear a helmet.
Schultz was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident. His fellow ABATE of Maryland members say failure to yield the right of way by the other driver was what caused his death.
Officer Robert T. Krauss, the Maryland Transportation Authority Police motorcycle officer who was injured when he was hit by a van in Baltimore while escorting a funeral possession on December 21, 2005, was given a hero’s burial last week after he passed away on September 1.
Krauss had been undergoing one of several surgeries for his injuries when he died at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Rodney Austin, the driver of the van that hit Krauss, has already been convicted for driving under the influence and was sentenced to time in prison. More charges may be pending now that Krauss is dead.
On the Loyola University Health System website, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:
A few of the 10 school children who were injured after being hit by a white Ford van while waiting for their school bus at a bus stop in front of Forest Park Apartments on Piney Branch Road in Silver Spring are still being treated for their injuries.
Montgomery County police say the accident took place on the morning of Friday, September 1, when Sebastian Vasquez, the driver of the van, lost control of his vehicle and hit a curb, a fire hydrant, and the middle school students.
The students were taken to Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park and Children’s Hospital in Washington D.C. Police are still investigating the cause of the accident, and it is not known whether Vasquez will be charged with committing any crime.
A 9-year-old boy and his mother have filed personal injury lawsuits against the Yellowbird Bus Company and the Cowan Truck Company after the school bus he was riding in collided with a tractor-trailer on I-95 in Aberdeen, Maryland on July 5. The bus had been returning from a field trip to the Baltimore Aquarium.
Manny Basco, who suffered a concussion, is one of just dozens of Kensington, Pennsylvania students attending the Norris Square Day Camp who were injured in the crash. At least 21 other people have filed lawsuits against the bus and truck companies.
According to Basco’s mother, Ruth, the boy is now too traumatized to ride a bus again.
In Maryland yesterday, diving teams recovered the body of a man who had been killed while participating in a boat race on September 3.
Maryland Natural Resources Police say Paul Henry Sohn had been racing his boat the Jumpin’ Jack Flash in the yearly Ragin’ On the River Powerboat Race on Sunday, when the boat split in half after bouncing off another boat’s wake and launching into the air. His body, recovered at the bottom of the Susquehanna River, was still strapped to the boat. Sohn’s son, 15-year-old Timothy John Sohn, who had also been on the boat at the time of the accident, was able to escape uninjured.
Volunteer dive teams from Hartford, Cecil, and Baltimore counties joined DNR dive teams and emergency crews from the powerboat association to look for Sohn.
Maryland State Police are cracking down on drunk drivers on the road. The effort is part of a nationwide initiative that will increase the number of blanket patrols and sobriety checkpoints.
The National Highway Safety Administration is also spearheading an $11 million national ad campaign called “Drunk Driving. Over The Limit. Under Arrest” that will air on radio and television.
The NHTSA says:
This month, the Charles County Sheriff’s Office announced that—as of August 8—the death toll on Charles County Roads had risen to 27 people. The accident toll was reported at 24 traffic crashes, with 12 of them DUI-related. Speeding, failure to wear a seatbelt, and other driving-related errors were cited as other reasons for the traffic accidents and fatalities.
The Sheriff’s office said that-this year-they have (so far) issued:
· 4,282 speeding citations.
Maryland Accident Law Blog
