Articles Posted in Motor Vehicle Accidents

I’m sorry that I haven’t posted to this blog in a while; the combination of too much work, and a little too much travel.

So, what are you thankful for this Thanksgiving holiday? You must have a list, and for many, the short list probably includes being thankful that some kind of family argument didn’t erupt with a relative during Thanksgiving dinner. That, or you’re grateful you probably don’t have to work on Friday.

If you get to where you’re going and back without being in a Massachusetts car accident this weekend, you should definitely add that one to the list. Why? Because Thanksgiving is traditionally the busiest travel holiday of the year, with an unbelievably high number of vehicles on the road all over the country. In Massachusetts, all the major highways will be jam-packed over the weekend – especially Thursday and Sunday. Those highways include the Mass. Pike, Route 128, Routes 3 & 92, and Interstate 95. Thank God I’ll be nowhere near them!

You think Spooky World is going to scare you this Halloween?

As a Boston Massachusetts distracted driving accident lawyer, I can tell you three frightening stories of what happens when you practice distracted driving on the road. Texting and driving are two words that should never, ever be spoken together – and certainly never practiced in tandem. It’s a recipe for disaster. The Massachusetts Anti-Texting Law, otherwise known as the “Safe Driving Act,” also prohibits drivers from texting, emailing, and reading from handheld devices such as Smart phones, and devices such as iPads, when on the road. That should be enough warning for us all. But for some people, it’s not. For some shock value, consider these three horrific stories of how some people think they can “drive safely.”

My wife Debbi Kickham has told me three absolutely true horror stories about people she has met in her lifetime, who told her about what they do when they drive. Each story is so unbelievable, that Debbi never forgot them. And when I heard them, my jaw dropped.

Birthdays, especially for kids, are supposed to special days; days of happiness, a present or two, and carefree thoughts. They are cause for celebration, not mourning. Tragically, all that became reversed yesterday, when a 12 year-old Brockton boy by the name of Nazair Nunes-Escobar was killed when a tractor-trailer truck hit and killed him. Making matters worse, was the fact that the boy was killed while using the roller-blade skates that he had received just moments before, as a birthday present.

Young Nunes-Escobar was about to begin the seventh grade at the Oscar F. Raymond Elementary School in Brockton in September. “He was a very nice kid,’‘ said Jocelyn Meek, a spokesperson for the Brockton public school system; “He had a very nice smile and a great sense of humor. They are very sad at the Raymond (school) today.” Neighbors and friends placed candles and flowers at the accident site, creating a makeshift memorial at 35 Brattle Street in Brockton. Several persons familiar with the boy described him as a cheerful presence at the Roosevelt Heights apartment complex where he lived. One neighbor said young Nunes-Escobar, so active at just 12 years old, would have one day become a great athlete.

The Brockton Police Department and Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz’s office are investigating the accident, but at this point in time no criminal charges have been filed. However, Cruz’s office said that the driver of the tractor trailer, identified by Massachusetts State Police as a 33-year-old Hanover man, has not presently been charged with any crime or cited for any violations. The tractor-trailer unit is reportedly registered to M.J. Cimildoro Trucking in Hanover. However, the company that owns the trailer that was being hauled, Spiegel South Shore Scrap Metal of Brockton, was cited by State Police Friday for excessive air loss rate from the truck’s brake system, and a cracked lift hinge assembly frame, according to a Massachusetts State Police spokesman. State Police also reportedly notified Spiegel and the driver of other violations, including three inoperable lamps on the trailer and an inoperative horn. It’s also unclear whether those citations were a factor in the accident.

I’ve blogged here repeatedly about the dangers of texting and driving. So today’s post isn’t so much about the inherent and obvious dangers of texting and driving – or phoning and driving – or web surfing and driving – or any form of distracted driving. For anyone who still doesn’t get it, those dangers are OBVIOUS, and I don’t need to restate them here.

No, today’s post is about arrogance and shallowness and vapidness. And of how those far-too-prevalent personality characteristics pervade this world, even outside the United States. Click here to see a video story from the Huffington Post about this type of stupidity, from as far away as Australia. Note: If you can appreciate an impression of how a vapid young woman talks, you’ll really like this.

Stunning, isn’t it? But unfortunately, not exactly unwitnessed here in the good ‘ol USA: As a Boston, Massachusetts distracted driving lawyer, I see the sad and tragic effects of distracted driving all the time. The injuries that result from Massachusetts distracted driving violations are very often extremely severe – occasionally resulting in death. Whether due to texting and driving, phoning and driving, or web surfing and driving, the effects of a ton of steel and glass hitting someone else remain the same.

Anyone who has has been involved in – or responsible for – a Massachusetts automotive backover accident knows all too well the horror that ensues from such a terrible event. First comes the shock of knowing that you have actually backed over an adult – or a child – with your car. Then comes the emotional pain of possibly being responsible for such a terrible accident – and one that seems so highly preventable. As a Boston backover accident attorney representing injured parties, I know all about the recriminations plus the guilt and grief that responsible parties experience, in the wake of backover car accidents.

But nothing can compare to the tremendous serious personal injuries — and deaths — that affect the victims of Massachusetts backover car accidents. The devastation that vehicle backover accidents experience can be overwhelming. You can only imagine the pain, suffering and deaths that occur when tons of steel hit a human being. Children are especially vulnerable as victims of car backover accidents, as they do not understand the danger of playing near a car. In addition, their small size makes it difficult for drivers to see them in the rear-view mirror. The elderly are also vulnerable. If you were to be hit by a car – even one going only five miles per hour or less — you would suffer broken bones, possibly a broken neck or back – and in many cases, death.

The most recent statistics, from 2010, indicate that every year more than 210 people die, while 15,000 more people are injured, in car backover accidents. These figures come from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. But the NHTSA has just issued a ruling to try and reduce those statistics. The new NHTSA ruling requires all light vehicles – which includes cars, trucks, SUVs and vans — to have “rear-view visibility systems,” which essentially means that these vehicles must have backup cameras. These cameras must afford all drivers a view directly behind the vehicle, measuring 10 feet by 20 feet. This rule would become final in the next two months or so, and would begin a two-year phase in period in 2016, becoming universally effective in 2018.

Rick James & Eddie Murphy used to have a hit song in the mid-1980’s called “Party All The Time.” Sometimes, I think it was written for the lifestyle I used to live in my 20’s. I remember backpacking through Europe one summer in my 20’s, and my friend and I would drink all night, sleep for 5 or 6 hours, get up and hike all day with a full backpack – no problem. But I’m not in my 20’s anymore, and I’ve known for a long time that I can’t drink and party the way I used to (in fact, those skills left a long time ago.)

The problem is, a lot of drivers who have “graduated,” shall we say, from those earlier days, don’t quite get that they can’t drink like they used to, and still drive responsibly. Too many people think that unless they feel a definite buzz, or feel “drunk,” they’re okay to drive. Not true, at all. In fact, it’s been shown that if you’re a driver who’s 55 years of age or older, a single glass of wine can render you a dangerous driver. No six packs needed.

A study published in the journal Psychopharmacology a couple of weeks ago, pointed out that for people aged 55 and older, the effects of even minor amounts of alcohol are drastically different from what they are for younger drinkers.

We’ve all been there. You’re driving your car after a significant snowfall. Roads are plowed. Ice is melting. Traffic is flowing. You’re humming to a tune on the radio. And then suddenly, out of the blue, a totally unexpected chunk of snow or “ice missile” smashes into your car windshield.

Where the heck did that come from? From the vehicle in front of yours – most likely the roof, or possibly the hood or trunk lid. That driver cleared all the snow off his car – except for the snow on the roof of his vehicle. What happens when a large amount of snow or ice is left on top of a vehicle that’s moving at any speed faster than 10 MPH? That snow comes off the vehicle – either in a blinding cloud of snow, or a huge chunk of snow. Airborne, it will crash into someone else’s windshield, obstructing that driver’s view of the road and creating significant danger.

The result? You’re startled. You slam on the brakes, swerve into the other lane, lose control of your vehicle and crash into another vehicle, likely resulting in serious injuries. If your car is struck by snow or ice due to another driver’s failure to remove that snow from the roof, hood or trunk of his vehicle, and you are injured in a resulting motor vehicle accident, you’re going to need an experienced Boston, Massachusetts car accident lawyer. You may be entitled to significant financial compensation for your injuries, based on the negligence of the other driver.

The lunacy of people using their smartphones while they drive, continues unabated. This problem has become far more than a “bad habit” – it’s almost as serious a problem as drunk driving. In fact, it’s very similar: A drunk or drugged driver is mentally, neurologically, and physically impaired. Someone using a smartphone is little different: Their mental acuity is reduced due to their concentrating on whatever phone conversation is taking place, or whatever other function or application they are using on the phone. Neurologically, their response and reaction times are reduced due to their focus being taken off the road, and physically, one hand is almost always either holding the phone or using it in some manner.

Yet, Massachusetts drivers go on with this dangerous, even deadly practice. The law that was passed here a few years ago has barely any enforcement teeth in it at all. Worse, the schizophrenic approach to the statute makes the same activity a crime for a juvenile, but not for an adult. I’ve blogged about this before. Recently, another state is taking some added measures to further penalize this conduct, and I think it makes sense. The Wisconsin state legislature is considering a bill that would prohibit drivers from using their smart phones while in a construction zone. That includes phoning, or texting. The ban would apply when workers are present in construction zones, the focus being protection of road crews. Drivers could still make 911 calls in those zones. Wisconsin law currently bans texting while driving, and bans new drivers who are on a probationary license from making calls on their phones.

As a Boston, Massachusetts cell phone accident lawyer, I think that such a measure should be passed here I Massachusetts. In fact, I think that all smartphone use while driving should be banned entirely, unless the phone call were made to 911, or the text involved an emergency. Unfortunately, I don’t think a near-complete ban on smartphone use in Massachusetts is likely, but it ought to be enacted. When will people “get it,” that driving a ton of steel and glass at speeds over 5 MPH, while talking on a smartphone, texting or searching the internet, is a prescription for disaster? Answer: When they are the ones who are seriously hurt.

My previous post on Christmas Day was about a horrific story of an auto accident, heartbreaking in its details. Tuesday morning, Christmas Eve, a serious car accident occurred at the intersection of Route 13 and Route 130 in Brookline, New Hampshire. Car accidents happen all the time, right? So what’s the big deal about this?

Because the woman who was killed, Katie Hamilton, was a young mother with a husband and three young kids, aged 2 to 9. Because she had just dropped her kids off at her mother’s house , before she headed to her job as a plumber working for her father, Steve Whitcomb, who owns Whitcomb Plumbing & Heating in the Brookline NH area. Because those three kids will forever more be without their mother. Because her husband Liam Hamilton will never see his wife alive again.

Oh, there’s one other “because” here: Because her father Steve Whitcomb, aside from being a plumber, is a firefighter in Brookline NH, and he answered the 911 call for the accident. And because the victim he helped extricate from the wreck with the Jaws of Life, was not the male victim that initial police reports indicated. Because the body he pulled out of the wreck was his own daughter. On Christmas Eve.

A local news item shows how tragedy is not an abstract concept – something that happens to “other people,” but not to “us.”

Right next door to our law offices here in Westwood, Massachusetts is the town of Norwood: A nice, fairly peaceful community, not known for tragic events. Until last night. Two people from nearby Wrentham were killed last night in an automobile rollover accident in Norwood, on Interstate 95, which borders and at some points runs through the town. At about 10:30 PM, state troopers in the nearby Foxborough Barracks received calls about the accident, and responded immediately along with members of the Norwood Police and Fire Departments. Officers found a single-vehicle rollover crash, and discovered that the two occupants of the vehicle, Jerome Blomquist, age 59, and Joan Pupi, 60, non-responsive. Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene, according to a press release from the Massachusetts State Police. The fatal accident occurred on the southbound side of Interstate 95 in Norwood, according to police reports. Mr. Blomquist and Ms. Pupi were traveling in a 1998 Ford Explorer that for reasons not yet know, crashed and rolled over several times just north of Exit 11B, leading to the famous “Automile” in Norwood, according to the police statement issued.

What caused this motor vehicle accident? While in theory, anything could have caused it, the practical reality is that the likely reasons aren’t that many. As a Boston, Massachusetts automobile rollover accident lawyer, I’ve seen, unfortunately, too many of these motor vehicle rollover accidents. The usual suspects in these accidents? 1) Sudden loss of control of the vehicle. This could be caused by distracted driving and smart phone use while driving; 2) A sudden medical event impacting the driver, such as a heart attack or stroke; 3) It may be that another vehicle cut the victim off suddenly, usually by changing lanes in an irresponsible and dangerous manner. Skid marks and/or witnesses would provide more information about this possibility; 4) Or, it could be something as commonplace as a sudden sneeze, which took the driver’s attention off the road for a split second. Obviously, police will not know exactly what happened here until a full accident reconstruction report is complete, which will include autopsy reports on the victims.