Baltimore Personal Injury Law Blog

Bicyclists who share the road with cars and other vehicles undergo risk every time they pedal out into the street. They are much less protected than motorists and therefore more prone to serious injury in the event of an accident. But that doesn't mean they don't have to right to travel safely. Maryland law says that drivers must treat bicycles like any other vehicle on the road, and leave at least 3 feet of space between a vehicle and a bike. Drivers should also reduce their speed when passing bicycles.

Unfortunately, accidents do happen. And when they do, motorists are expected to take the same actions as they would in a crash with another car: They should pull over safely and check in with the other person involved, making sure to render aid or call for help if necessary.

There's no question that pedestrians are some of the most vulnerable people on the road. Without so much as a helmet to protect them from cars skidding around in bad weather or distracted drivers, they can be injured in a car accident quickly and seriously if they don't see a vehicle approaching. Why wouldn't they? Perhaps because many of them are distracted themselves.

A new study from the University of Maryland School of Medicine has found that headphone-wearing pedestrians are the biggest road hazard facing drivers today. Serious injuries to pedestrians wearing headphones have more than tripled in the past six years. And because their music drowns out most train and car horns, pedestrians have died in almost three quarters of 116 accident cases over seven years.

What price would you pay to get in better physical shape without even trying? The cost of a pair of shoes? How about the cost of treatment for injuries you suffered from wearing those shoes?

You may have seen advertisements for Shape-Ups, which are special shoes made by Skechers that promise to tone muscles by changing the way you walk. The company's patented design features a rounded sole that forces you to use different muscles and firm them up. But some consumers are complaining that the shoe's design has caused serious injuries. One shoe buyer said she slightly twisted her ankle twice, then was hurt more severely, tearing tendons and ligaments in her left ankle.

If you drive on a regular basis, you may have experienced it: that overwhelming fatigue that can creep in as the hum of traffic on a busy roadway lulls you. Your head starts feeling heavy and your eyelids begin to droop. You might try to open a window or turn up the stereo to snap yourself out of it, but the fact remains: Drowsy driving can be as dangerous as drunk driving, and leads to countless accidents that injure or kill people. This is especially true for commercial truckers who drive long distances on little sleep.

This week, a truck driver was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide. The charge stems from an accident in 2010 on the Ohio Turnpike that killed a Maryland woman and seriously injured her two children. The woman, a professor at Stevenson University, was returning to Cockeysville with her sons after visiting relatives. According to police, the truck driver fell asleep, causing his tractor-trailer to crash into the family's car and slam into five other vehicles just outside Cleveland.

You might expect that if a surgeon, nurse or other health care worker at a hospital makes an error, it would be reported, both to inform hospital managers and to avoid making the same error twice. But according to a study by the health inspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, hospitals recognize and report only one out of seven errors, accidents and other events that harm hospitalized Medicare patients. Such events often lead to medical malpractice lawsuits, and could lead to more if they aren't caught the first time they happen.

As a condition of being paid under Medicare, hospitals are supposed to track medical errors and adverse patient reactions, analyze their cause, and improve care as a result. Most hospitals do have a system for employees to report these errors and their results to hospital managers. But according to the study, hospital staffs didn't report most of the events that harmed Medicare beneficiaries, including some that caused patient deaths.

A 20-year-old Maryland man who fled the scene after a car accident that killed three of his friends has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. With the criminal case complete, the young man could soon find himself the defendant in multiple wrongful death lawsuits, as well as a personal injury lawsuit on behalf of his lone surviving passenger.

The wreck happened as the man and his four friends were driving home after attending two late-night parties. Witnesses later told police they saw the driver stumbling and wobbling before leaving. After the car crashed, he fled the scene, later claiming that he didn't know there were people in the car when he ran off. Otherwise he would have stayed, he said at his sentencing hearing. But according to court documents, when told that three of his friends were dead, he claimed that "they were fine when I left."

You might assume that if you're killed in an accident, no one will hold you liable for any damage you or your vehicle might have caused. But a recent court case is blowing that assumption out of the water.

An 18-year-old man who was killed in a horrific train accident is being sued posthumously. In 2008, he was running to catch a train in the pouring rain. The train struck him, severing some of his body parts, which then went flying toward a woman. As a result she broke her wrist and leg. In her court case against the young man's estate, the court found it was "reasonably foreseeable" that the train would kill the man. The woman's lawyer said the lawsuit should be treated like any other negligence case. If a train passenger is injured in an accident after the engineer hit the brakes, the lawyer said, that person would have a solid personal injury case, and that this was no different.

Like a lot of states, Maryland has a ban on handheld cellphone use while driving as a means to cut down on the number of cellphone-related car accidents. Enacted in October 2010, the law isn't quite as stiff as neighboring Delaware's. (For example, a Delaware motorist can be pulled over for that offense alone. In Maryland it can only be enforced if a driver is pulled over for another offense.) The penalties are also slightly lower in Maryland.

The National Transportation Safety Board now recommends a ban on all cellphone use, even hands-free, along with other electronic devices. Studies show that distracted driving happens in the brain, not just the hands. Even with the use of a headset, drivers need to look at the phone to dial, may take their hands off the wheel while gesturing, and can easily become engaged in the conversation to the point that they stop paying attention to cars or pedestrians around them.