Articles Posted in Car Accidents

According to a news feature from Rolling Stone, two people died and 23 more were injured in Austin when a car crashed into a music festival. Authorities say the street had been closed for an outdoor concert as part of the music festival and a temporary barricade had been erected.

Alleged at-fault driver drove through the temporary barricade and crashed into a large group of concert attendees. Police say they had set up a nearby sobriety checkpoint in which they were looking for suspected drunk drivers. When defendant saw the sobriety checkpoint, he is alleged to have swerved his car through a gas station, and then fled the scene, driving the wrong way down a one-way street.

At this point, officers activated their emergency equipment and went after suspect. As defendant approached the closed street, one officer standing in front of the barricade had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit by defendant’s car. The driver kept going through the temporary barricade and hit multiple people in the crowed street.
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Street racing is a very popular theme for Hollywood movie studios. With the tremendous box office success of the Fast and Furious franchise, it is obvious why that is the case. In the movies, street racing is portrayed as a large underground event with hundreds of spectators and gamblers, loud music, custom cars, and incredible action.

Unfortunately, real life street racing is not so glamorous. It usually involves two young drivers behind the wheel of slightly souped up cars driving at incredibly dangerous speeds in areas with pedestrians and other drivers and often ends with a serious crash. One recent example of this can be seen in a news article from ABC 7 News.

Authorities say a teenage driver crashed his Mercedes into a tree while participating in a street race in the Benedict Canyon area of Los Angeles. Police alleged teen driver lost control of his car and crashed. The car first hit the curb, taking out a large chunk of concrete, and then ran into a tree. After hitting the tree, car caught on fire. While on fire, the car deflected off the tree, skidded across the street on its side and took out a mailbox at a neighboring home. The car then hit a Prius parked in the driveway of the home.
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According to a recent news feature form NBC 7 Boston, a pedestrian was hit by a car and killed in Arlington, Massachusetts. Authorities say the 91-year-old man was walking in a crosswalk on Massachusetts Avenue when a car hit him. This World War II veteran rolled over the hood of a Honda civic after being hit and crashed into the car’s windshield.

The owner of a local diner at the scene of the accident said firefighters were already there, because they were in the process responding to what turned out to be a false alarm at his business.

Upon seeing the seriousness of the Massachusetts car accident, firefighters quickly turned their attention to the victim and attempted to offer medical attention. One witness has a dashboard camera running in his personal vehicle and caught the entire incident on video.
Witnesses also say this was not the first time a pedestrian was hit at this same intersection.

One man interviewed by a local news outlet said he was walking when he was hit by a car in that same place three months ago. That victim does not remember anything after the car hit him until he awoke in a Boston area hospital after what he was told was three days following the accident. He had two metal screws put in his leg, broke his hand, broke his nose, and injured his back in the serious pedestrian car accident. The he said “outside these injuries [he] felt great.”
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According to a recent news article from ABC News, United States House Representative Paul Ryan is facing a $100,000 personal injury lawsuit as a result of his aide allegedly crashing Ryan’s SUV, injuring two people.

This accident occurred a year ago. Authorities say Ryan, current chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and former Republican candidate for Vice President, was not in the car at the time of the accident. However, plaintiffs alleged Ryan’s aide, who was driving the car at the time of the accident, was working within the scope of his employment.

Meanwhile, plaintiff was driving his vehicle and had a passenger with him. Each occupant of plaintiff’s car is suing Ryan for $50,000 under the doctrine of respondeat superior. As our Boston car accident lawyers can explain, respondeat superior is a principle of law that allows plaintiffs to sue not only tortfeasors, but also tortfeasor’s employer, so long as tortfeasor was acting within the scope of his or employer.
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It’s kind of amusing to watch an old science fiction movie on Netflix and see the future is being portrayed in a year that has already passed or is only a few years away. For example, the date Marty McFly arrives in the future in Back to the Future is actually October 21, 2015. So it is safe to assume there will not be any flying cars traveling through Boston later this year. It is also safe to assume there won’t be flying cars for many years to come, if ever.

However, self-driving cars are something car companies and technology firms like Google are actually working on, and some have predicted most people will own a self-driving car by 2030. According to a recent news article from the Wall Street Journal, when self-driving cars become a reality, it could reduce car accidents by as much as 90 percent. This could also mean a savings of up to $190 billion in healthcare costs and property damage and a save thousands from car-accident fatalities each year. The article was based upon a study by a major consulting firm that predicts mass adoption of self-driving cars in around 15 years from now.

Firms leading the move to fully or semi-autonomous cars included Daimler, Google, and the ride-sharing company, Uber. While a fully autonomous car is still years away, current automobiles are more commonly featuring lane guidance, blind spot detection, and backup cameras that are said to be the backbone of this new technology.
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According to a recent news report from Boston.com, a 56-year-old woman was driving her car in Somerville when she suffered what has been characterized as a medical incident. At this point, police allege she lost control of her vehicle and crashed into a Honda Civic. The Honda Civil burst into flames after being hit by the woman’s car.

eThe 26-year-old driver of the Civic was treated by first responders and then transported to Massachusetts General Hospital, a level-one trauma center in Boston. A 16-year-old boy who was walking in the area of this chain reaction car crash was hit by one of the cars involved and suffered serious injuries. He was also treated at the scene and transported to Massachusetts General Hospital. While police listed his condition as critical, they believe he will survive the accident.

The driver of the Civic, a 26-year-old from Medford, was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital with serious injuries. The teen was walking in the area of the crash when he was struck by a car, according to police. He and the Somerville woman were also transported to MGH with serious injuries. Police said the teen’s injuries, while serious, are not believed to be life-threatening.
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While it should surprise nobody that this particularly brutal winter we have experienced in Boston contributed to numerous car accidents involving personal injury, the recent rise in temperature is now contributing to what the Boston Globe is calling a series of “freak accidents.”

Warmer weather of the past week has caused large amounts of snow and ice to partially melt and slide off Boston rooftops. This ice often falls off a roof in large heavy sheets covered with heavier damp wet snow. When these sheets of snow and ice land on a car, it can result in a significant amount of property damage and personal injury, if a car was occupied at the time.

The Cambridge Police Department is very concerned about this unexpected danger and has warned residents and motorists to take extreme caution, as the snow and ice can be deadly. The department has also set up roadblocks to close sections of streets throughout the greater Boston area where falling snow and ice has been particularly prevalent. In once incident, a large icicle broke off a roof and went through the windshield of a moving vehicle. Fortunately for the driver of this car, he was not injured by the potentially deadly incident.
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According to a recent article from the Milford Patch, a Sharron, Massachusetts woman was allegedly responsible for two-car accidents while under the influence of keyboard cleaner and marijuana.

Police first responded to a report of an erratic driver made by an off-duty officer. The off-duty officer said he saw defendant crossing the double yellow lines on Route 16. Around this same time, another caller told police someone hit her car as she was exiting a local supermarket.

A short time after this accident, defendant was allegedly involved in a second accident in close proximity to the first. Police arrived at the scene of the second accident. Defendant reportedly admitted to police she was huffing keyboard cleaner (normally compressed air with a propellant gas) and had smoked marijuana. Police found a can of keyboard cleaner and a marijuana pipe in her car at the time of her arrest.
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In what authorities are describing as miraculous, an 18-month-old child has survived being trapped upside down in a car seat after the car her mother was driving plunged into an icy river. According to a recent news article from CNN, first responders arrived at the scene of a Utah car crash they believe happened 13 hours before they got there.

According to witnesses, a man was going fishing in that particular area of the river when he waded out and saw an upside down car in the water. He said the car was not visible from the roadway. He immediately called 911. When police and firefighters arrived, they rushed into the water and got to work. One police officer says he doesn’t even remember any details about the rescue other than running to the car.

Due to the extreme low temperature of the river, seven first responders were rushed to the hospital to be treated for hypothermia. When they pulled the car onto its side, they immediately noticed the driver, a 25-year-old-woman, was deceased. What happened next was what made this story so astonishing. Rescue workers noticed a baby still strapped into her car seat. She had been hanging upside down from that seat as the car sat partially submerged in icy water for 14 straight hours.
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