Maryland Accident Law Blog

Through Drive 2 Survive Program, Southern Maryland Teenagers Will Get Crash Course In Advanced Safety and Collision Avoidance Training

December 1, 2006 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A number of Calvert County organizations have teamed together to bring Southern Maryland young drivers the Drive 2 Survive training program. The Drive 2 Survive course will focus on giving teen drivers the “real world skills” to deal with unexpected situations they might experience on the road.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Board says:

· Teenagers are just 7% of all drivers.
· Teen drivers are responsible for 20% of all vehicle-related collisions.

· Young drivers are responsible for 14% of all vehicle-related deaths.

According to the program’s founders, Drive 2 Survive goes beyond basic driver’s education and is an advanced safety and collision avoidance training course.

Enrolling in the program costs $200 and is open to any teenager living in the tri-county, southern Maryland area who has a learner’s permit and has taken Maryland’s mandated classroom and in-car training. You can click on the link below to register and find out more information.

The Maryland Rookie Driver Program is a graduated licensing program that allows teen drivers to build their skills before earning their driver’s license.

1) The learner’s permit lets a new driver drive while accompanied by a supervised adult driver.
2) After completing the driver education course, driving with an adult for a minimum of 60 hours, and passing a skills test, a teen driver is given a provisional license. The teen driver must be at least 16 years and 3 months old.

3) In order to earn their full license, the driver must be at least 17 years and 9 months old and have held a provisional license for at least 18 months (conviction free).

The Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association provides the following teen driving statistics on their website:

· Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers.
· 16 year-olds have higher crash rates than drivers of any other age.
· It is estimated that 16-year-olds are 3 times more likely to die in a motor vehicle crash than adult drivers.
· 3,657 drivers age 15-20 died in car crashes in 2003, making up 14% of all driver involved in fatal crashes and 18% of all drivers involved in police-reported crashes (NHTSA).
· 25% of teen drivers killed in 2003 had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or greater. A BAC of .08 is the level which all states use to define drunk driving.
· $40.8 billion was the estimated economic impact of auto accidents involving 15-20 year old drivers in 2002 (NHTSA).
· Inexperience behind the wheel is the leading cause of teenage crashes.
· In 2001, two thirds of teens killed in auto accidents were not wearing seat belts.
· Almost half of the crash deaths involving 16-year-old drivers in 2003 occurred when beginner drivers were driving with teen passengers (IIHS).
· Statistics show that 16 and 17-year-old driver death rates increase with each additional passenger (IIHS).

· Graduated drivers license programs appear to be making a difference. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that the overall number of 16-year-old drivers fell from 1,084 in 1993 to 938 in 2003 despite an 18% increase in the 16-year-old population.

Washington D.C. And Howard University Hospital Are Sued By Family Of New York Times Journalist For Wrongful Death

November 28, 2006 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The family of retired New York Times journalist David Rosenbaum is suing Howard University Hospital and Washington D.C. for errors D.C. police and hospital workers made in their care of Rosenbaum after he was robbed and severely beaten in a Northwest neighborhood in January 2005. The wrongful death case also alleges that there were delayed ambulance response, further delays at the hospital, and misdiagnosis.

The lawsuit says that rescuers mistakenly diagnosed Rosenbaum as being drunk when they found him. Rosenbaum was classified as a low priority and an emergency room doctor didn’t see him until 90 minutes after he was attacked. Just last month, Percey Jordan, 42 was convicted of of second- and first-degree murder, robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, and five counts of credit card fraud in the death of Rosenbaum, 63. Jordan’s cousin, Michael Hamlin, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

A wrongful death case may be filed when a person dies due to the wrongful or negligent conduct of another person or persons. Medical malpractice can also be a reason for filing a wrongful death lawsuit.

CNN And TV Host Nancy Grace Are Blamed For Suicide Of Melinda Duckett In Wrongful Death Lawsuit

November 27, 2006 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

CNN and Headline News TV Host Nancy Grace are being sued by the parents of a woman who committed suicide after Grace interviewed her on her television show. Beth and Jerry Eubank say that Grace’s interview of Melinda Duckett regarding the disappearance of Duckett’s son, Trenton, caused the 21-year-old mother to commit suicide. The parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit last week.

Duckett had said that Trenton disappeared from his bedroom on the night of August 27, 2006. She remains the primary suspect in his disappearance.

The young mother taped a phone interview for Grace’s show after her son went missing. According to the lawsuit, Grace and her producers deliberately represented the reasons for the interview. According to the Eubank family attorney Jay Paul Derataney, “Within minutes of Melinda’s phone interview, it became quite obvious that Nancy’s questions weren’t about finding Trenton at all, but rather about impliedly accusing Melinda of murdering her beloved son.”

Melinda shot herself in her grandparents’ closet just hours before the interview was set to air. Her parents are seeking unspecified damages and funeral expenses.

Baltimore Children Injured In Burn Accidents To Be Treated At Johns Hopkins Children’s Center

November 22, 2006 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In Maryland, Johns Hopkins Children’s Center is now Baltimore’s regional pediatric burn center. The new designation, assigned by the Maryland Institute For Emergency Medical Services, means that the Children’s Center will take care of burn victims that are 15-years-of age or younger in the city of Baltimore and from the surrounding areas. Adults burn victims will continue to receive care at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

The new arrangement should help provide faster medical care for everyone involved. The Children’s Center offers nnumerous services, such as reconstructive and plastic surgery, pain management, anesthesiology, psychology, nursing, social work, injury prevention, psychiatry, rehabilitation, general surgery,

and infectious diseases.

Man Is Killed After His Service Truck Collides With Chicken Truck In Federalsburg, Maryland Last Week

November 20, 2006 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A 23-year-old Denton man died last week after the service truck he was driving crashed into a Perdue flatbed tractor-trailer loaded with chickens at the intersection of northbound MD 313 and eastbound Line Road last Wednesday morning.

According to Maryland State Police, Lee Albert Asbury III became trapped in his truck after his vehicle struck the left side of the Perdue truck. Roberto Cruz of Preston, Maryland, was a passenger in the service truck. He managed to evacuate the vehicle, as did the driver of the Perdue truck.

Police say a fire started right beneath Asbury’s seat not long after the accident. A FedEx tractor trailer driver and a Pave Master paving truck arrived at the scene to help. Asbury was taken by ambulance to Nanticoke Memorial Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Car Accident In Washington County, Maryland, Seriously Injures Two Children

November 17, 2006 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In Smithsburg, Maryland two children were seriously injured this week in a car accident at the intersection of Smithsburg Leitersburg Road and Rowe Road.

Audrey Marie Partlow, 41, was driving the car that the children, along with another juvenile passenger, were riding in when their vehicle collided with another vehicle, driven by Douglas Allen McCall II, 34.

Partlow, McCall, and the three juveniles, a 5-year-old, a 10-year-old, and an 8-year old were treated at Washington County Hospital.

In Maryland, According To AAA Mid-Atlantic Report, Motorcycle Accidents Have Increased By 70% Since 2001

November 16, 2006 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A recent AAA Mid-Atlantic Report says that the number of motorcycle accidents have increased over 70 percent in the last five years and have tripled over the last decade.

The recent increase in motorcycle accidents is due, in part, to the increase in motorcycle riders taking the street. In the last ten years, millions more people have joined the ranks of registered motorcyclists.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offers the following national statistics regarding motorcycle riders:

In Baltimore, A Police Officer And Another Driver Are Injured In A Car Collision

November 14, 2006 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In Maryland last week, Baltimore police officer Channon Rankin sustained a concussion and a fractured leg when the police car that she was driving collided with another vehicle at Belvedere and Beaufort avenues in the Pimlico section in Northwest Baltimore. The driver of the other vehicle, Omar Mooring, sustained the same types of injuries. Ranking was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center for treatment, while Mooring was attended to at Sinai Hospital. Both cars were severely damaged.

According to Baltimore police, Officer Rankin had been rushing to a call at the time of the accident, and her car lights and police siren were activated.

Whether you were involved in a vehicle-related accident where someone was injured or if you witnessed an accident where someone was injured, here are some suggestions for what you can do.

In Maryland, Car Accident Involving Ambulance Injures Patient And Ambulance Workers

November 10, 2006 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Last week, two Crisfield ambulance attendants and their patient were injured on the way to Peninsula Regional Medical Center when the ambulance they were riding in was hit by another vehicle at the Cedar Lane intersection on U.S. 13.

Lower Somerset County Ambulance and Rescue Squad’s ambulance 802 had just come from Marion Station where they had picked up their patient who had been involved in a vehicle-related accident. The ambulance workers, Angela Cvetko and Tim Collins, were also treated at Peninsula Regional Medical Center.

Common causes for vehicle-related accidents:

In Maryland, Family Of Mother Hit By A Police Car Fear They Could Loose Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against The City of Baltimore

November 8, 2006 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The family of Mary Jones, a mother who was killed when a police officer ran a red light on Northern Parkway on November 13, are worried that they could lose a lawsuit they filed against the city of Baltimore.

Police reports say that Baltimore City Police officer Antonio Reyes-Rodriguez was traveling between 62-82 miles per hour in a 30-mile zone when he ran a red light. Witnesses say that they did not hear a police siren during this time. The report concluded that Officer Reyes had violated Maryland Criminal Law by driving in a grossly negligent manner, which caused Jones’s death.

Just two months ago, however, the Assistant State Attorney wrote Jones’s family to say that there wasn’t any negligence involved on the part of Reyes-Rodriguez—who had been dismissed from the police force after the incident—and that the manslaughter charges were being dropped against him.