Maryland Accident Law Blog
Three Elkton-area men were seriously injured last week in a single-car crash after a night of alleged heavy drinking.
William Ross Hawkins III ran a Dodge Intrepid off Cayots Corner Road near Route 213, where he struck a culvert and flipped his vehicle at least twice.
Hawkins and Christopher James Hunt, the passenger in the front seat, were thrown from the vehicle. Robert Clayton Hunt, the passenger sitting in the rear of the vehicle, became trapped in the car.
All three men were not wearing seat belts and according to police reports, Hawkins had been speeding. Beer cans and beer bottles had fallen onto the ground near the overturned vehicle.
Hawkins and Hunt were flown in separate helicopters to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Robert Hunt was driven by ambulance to Christiana Hospital in Delaware.
A motor vehicle crash qualifies as an alcohol-related accident if at least one driver or nonoccupant of the vehicle that was involved in the accident has a BAC of .01 grams or higher.
In 2005, According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:
-16,885 people died in alcohol-related crashes.
-The national rate of alcohol-related deaths in motor vehicle crashes was .57 per 100 million vehicle miles that were traveled.
The Loyola University Health System offers a number of facts related to drunk driving:
· Nearly two out of every five Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related traffic crash in their lifetime.
· Nationally, each year, about 534,000 people suffer injuries in alcohol-related traffic crashes, an average of one person injured every minute. About 40,000 of these are serious injuries.
· Each year, in the U.S., about 600,000 – 10 percent – of all police-reported motor vehicle crashes are alcohol-related.
If you live in Maryland or Washington D.C. and you have been injured in a car accident because someone was drunk, contact the personal injury law office of Lebowitz and Mzhen. We also represent clients who have been injured because of someone else’s negligence related to bicycle accidents, motorcycle accidents, boating accidents, and other types of personal injury cases. Contact Lebowitz and Mzhen today.
Single-car crash injures 3 in Chesapeake City, Cecil Wig, January 26, 2007
Traffic Safety Facts, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (PDF)
Transportation, Loyola University Health System
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