The Federal government wants to know whether you’ve been texting and driving. They have authorized grants to two states, Connecticut and Massachusetts, for anti-texting enforcement programs. Each state will get $275,000.00.
This money will be used to train police officers on how to detect texters–not only from their patrol cars, but from highway overpasses and more covert locations. I’m not sure how this will work, exactly. One police officer on a bridge, watching traffic come toward him. That officer radios to another officer on the road below, and tells him which car to pull over. Maybe it’s as simple as that.
One thing is for sure–some people who flaunt Maryland’s cell phone use laws are getting crafty–many keep the phones down below window-level to avoid police detection. Of course, that makes it harder to see the road, which is more likely to cause crashes.
Maryland automobile accident lawyers should have an arsenal of discovery ready to determine when illegal cell phone use may have contributed to an accident. In some cases, this involves written questions, requests for production of cell phone records, and subpoenas to cell phone companies.
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How Much Will Maryland Save With Scooter Helmet Law?
Posted on October 03, 2012 in Automobile Accidents
We posted recently about the new law requiring moped and scooter riders to wear helmets, procure insurance and have their vehicles titled (Maryland Helmet Law Now Extends to Scooters). An interesting question is what this will do for Maryland’s finances?
One article cites that there are 3,500 scooters in Maryland–with a price tag of $25 for the title and decal, that means the state should get about $194,000 in net revenue.
But wait, there’s more! The requirement to wear a helmet means that some injuries will be prevented entirely, and others will be less serious. It is estimated that it will save Medicaid $120,000.00 per year. That’s money that they won’t have to spend on serious, long-term care of people who were injured. Though, one wonders if there might in fact be more injuries–a rider without a helmet might be killed, though a rider with a helmet in the same accident might have a severe and permanent brain injury. It’s hard to know where these estimates come from. Only time will tell, and that’s only if someone comes in and analyzes the data.
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Maryland Helmet Law Now Extends to Scooters
Posted on October 01, 2012 in Automobile Accidents
Effective today, moped and scooter riders must wear helmets.
Maryland has proudly required motorcyclists to wear helmets since 1992 (though, the law is not without its detractors, who try to repeal it at every opportunity).
This makes sense, of course: we require seatbelts, carseats and booster seats in cars, and the occupants there have two tons of steel to protect them other vehicles, trees, and the roadway. In a motorcycle accident, the sheer size and weight of any vehicle, compared to the slight size and weight of a motorcycle, can cause terrible injuries in what would otherwise be a minor impact. Motorcyclists are easily ejected from their bikes, and suffer a range of serious and permanent head injuries, if not death. There seems to me to be little difference between a motorcycle and a scooter or moped.
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Pedestrian Deaths in Maryland
Posted on September 27, 2012 in Distracted Driving
Oftentimes, pedestrian-versus-car accident cases are among the toughest to litigate. It’s rare that we see that perfect liability scenario:
The pedestrian, observed by traffic cameras, dutifully waited her turn to cross from one end of the street to the other. The approaching traffic stopped, she got the white “walking man” signal, and after looking both ways, she proceeded across the cross walk to the other end. At that point, the independent and disinterested witness observed, the defendant ran the red light at twice the speed limit, hitting the pedestrian.”
What we usually see is something like this:
The pedestrian, unobserved by anyone or anything, was crossing the road in the middle of the street, about 20 yards from the crosswalk. He said there was no traffic approaching at the time. When he was about 2 feet from the opposite curb, he felt the impact from a vehicle that “just came out of nowhere.” Of course, he was listening to iPod at the time of the collision.
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Proving The Defendant Was Texting While Driving
Posted on August 24, 2012 in Automobile Accidents
With so many accidents caused by distracted driving, it’s a fair bet that, in any given accident, the negligent driver was on a handheld phone or handling e-mail or text messages while driving. In many cases, that fact is not important: if the defendant admits liability, or if liability is clear (for example, the garden variety rear-end collision).
In other cases, though, proving that the defendant was distracted can go a long way toward showing that their version of events is likely wrong (if not an outright lie). Yesterday I deposed a representative of AT&T to find out everything I could about the phone usage of an automobile accident defendant at the time of the accident.
These types of depositions take a lot of legwork. When I get the transcript, I’ll post it on the website. If you have a case where you suspect illegal cell phone use at the time of an accident, here are some things to think about:
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$250,000 Per Leg: Texting Motorcycle Accident Case Settles
Posted on August 21, 2012 in Automobile Accidents
The New Jersey couple who were hit by a texting driver while riding their motorcycle settled their case against the driver for $500,000. Both Mr. and Mrs. Kubert, who were on the motorcycle, lost a leg because of the motorcycle accident.
We wrote about this story in May (Distracted Driving Lawsuits: Suing the Sender, and Lawsuits Against Text-Senders: Conclusion). There, the trial judge ruled that the plaintiffs did not have a case against the person who sent the text message, only the driver who read it. The lawyer in the case is appealing that decision, though I still wonder how he will get paid if he wins.
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