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A recent rash of hit-and-run and wrong-way collisions highlights the importance of reviewing your automotive insurance policy to make sure you have adequate uninsured motorist (UM)/underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage.Boston Car Accidents

The Insurance Journal reports 1 in every 8 drivers is driving without insurance. While Massachusetts is among the states with the lowest percentage of drivers on the road without insurance (6.2 percent, according to the Insurance Research Council), a significant number of drivers remain on the road with mandatory minimum insurance limits that are inadequate to cover losses in the event of a serious or fatal traffic collision.

A disproportionate number of these collisions involve vulnerable road users, including bicyclists and pedestrians, who typically suffer very serious or fatal injuries in a collision. Our Boston car accident lawyers urge you to review your policy carefully.

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More than 20 million visitors come to Boston each year, where they join thousands of local residents in using taxi cabs and an increasing number of ride-sharing services to get around the city. Such rides are not without risk, and resulting collisions increasingly require significant knowledge and experience in determining liability for serious and fatal injuries.

There are more than 5,000 taxi cabs in the City of Boston, and new ride-sharing services like Lyft and Uber have exponentially increased options for traveling throughout New England, whether you are visiting or are a life-long resident just trying to reach your destination as safely and conveniently as possible.

Western Mass News reports a Boston man is headed to prison after a St. Patrick’s Day crash that claimed the life of a 39-year-old woman who was riding home from the airport in a taxi cab. The 43-year-old driver will serve up to 8 years in prison after rear-ending the taxi at more than 120 miles an hour. A little more than a year ago, a Boston taxi accident made the The New York Times after a taxi jumped the curb at Boston Logan International Airport, sending 10 people to the hospital.

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Like truck drivers and other  types of commercial drivers, taxi cab drivers are paid fares based on mileage, which often incentivizes speeding and other dangerous or negligent driving behaviors. Motor vehicle collisions involving taxi cabs in Massachusetts should always be reviewed by an experienced Boston car accident attorney. While additional insurance may be available compared to a collision involving a private automobile, these types of claims are often complicated by a number of factors, including a driver’s status as an independent operator.’

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Winter weather may be an Act of God, but the resulting traffic collisions are usually the result of human error.

Worcester is the snowiest city in the Commonwealth, averaging more than 64 inches of annual snowfall, with average January temperatures below freezing (16-31 degrees Fahrenheit). But many other areas of New England see more dangerous winter weather than most areas of the country. We all know how quickly Massachusetts weather can turn dangerous and motorists must do their part to reduce liability and avoid unnecessary accident risks.snowremoval-225x300

Recently our Boston injury lawyers wrote about  snow-removal liability for businesses and property owners in Massachusetts. But once out on the roads, winter-weather risks are even more severe.  Continue reading

A tragedy has put parking lot safety in focus as we enter the holiday shopping season after a toddler was run over in a parking lot accident.

Boston News 7 reported a 2-year-old walked away from her mom in a YMCA parking lot. The little girl sat down in a parking space, where she was run over by a motorist who didn’t see her. She was rushed to the hospital, but died from her injuries. Posters on Facebook suggested the parking lot was not big enough to accommodate traffic, which they contended was partly to blame for the tragedy.parking-lot-1442053-300x200

We recently wrote about the risk of storefront collisions in Boston. Parking lot accidents are another significant risk. Auto insurers report claims spike on Black Friday at the start of the holiday shopping season.

December is the busiest shopping month of the year and nowhere are shoppers more at risk than in parking lots. Parking lots are dangerous places and by some estimates are the scene of 1 in 5 traffic collisions. The National Safety Council reports more than 50,000 parking lot collisions occur annually, resulting in more than 5oo deaths and 60,000 injuries.

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A Newton man is standing trial for crashing into the front of a Newton restaurant in 2016, in an incident that killed two people and injured several others.

Such crashes are a hidden risk at strip malls, restaurants, bars, and other neighborhood shops throughout the Commonwealth. In fact, they are surprisingly common, and among the leading causes of death at business locations.

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Investigators say the driver was speeding when he plowed into the front of the Sweet Tomatoes restaurant in March 2016. The defendant’s attorney told jurors during opening statements that the driver suffered from multiple sclerosis and was having a medical emergency when he accidentally lost control of the vehicle, according to Boston 25News.

The driver has been charged with two counts of motor vehicle homicide. The first day of testimony in Middlesex Superior Court included a friend who testified the 57-year-old driver hurriedly ended a phone call with him in the moments before the crash.

“It was business as usual; the employees were going about their business, they were taking orders, they were serving their customers,” prosecutor Chris Tarrant told the jury, according to media reports. “They were waiting for food when, without warning, a silver SUV came crashing through the building that is Sweet Tomatoes at an extremely high rate of speed.”

Boston car accident lawyer know a premises liability claim may also be made in many such cases. Consulting a Massachusetts law firm experienced in handling collision claims involving businesses, property owners and other liable third parties will offer the best chance for obtaining a judgment for damages.

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FOX News recently reported a 3-year-old was killed in a stroller after being struck in a crosswalk. Boston police report the South Boston incident occurred when a car collided with a van and pushed it onto a sidewalk last Wednesday afternoon. The van then struck a woman pushing a stroller. The woman was not injured. Authorities continue to investigate and both drivers have been interviewed.

Personal injury lawyers in Boston and throughout Massachusetts understand children are at outsized risk of being accidentally injured or killed. Almost across the board, children face higher risks of bicycle and pedestrians accidents, car accidents, drowning accidents and serious or fatal injuries cased by dangerous or defective products.carseat-218x300

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Most serious or even fatal car accidents in the Greater Boston area involve one of more vehicles crashing into each other.  However, there are also some accidents that are the result of objects left in the roadway.  These objects, which can be quite hazardous, are typically objects which have fallen off the back of other vehicles, but can involve car parts left from an accident, or when a tire blows out on a large commercial truck.

car accident lawyer BostonWith respect to truck tires, they are typically from a large commercial truck, but it is quite possible for a rear trailer tire to blow out on a poorly maintained semi tractor trailer and the driver to be unaware he or she has lost a tire. There have been cases where a tire comes of the back of a truck and goes through the windshield of another vehicle immediately causing fatal injury or death. And there have also been cases where the truck tire has been on the roadway for some time before another driver hits it and is involved in a serious accident. Continue reading

The clear majority of personal injuries in the Greater Boston area do not result in death. But when they do, a wrongful death action is often appropriate.  This is true whether we are talking about a slip-and-fall, or a car accident in which the crash was caused by the fault of another driver.

Boston car accidentsIt would be hard to put into words the tragedy the family and friends of a victim will experience following a fatal car crash, so we will focus on the legal implications involved. In a typical Boston car crash caused by an at-fault driver, the plaintiff will have various claims for damages. Continue reading

The police are there to serve and protect the citizens of Boston.  While there has been a lot of negative press about problems with some police officers across the nation, there are many good police officers who are trying to do the best they can to help the public.  This is especially important in cities such as Boston, which have felt the devastating effects of both terrorism and crime over the past several decades.

Boston car crashHowever, with so many police vehicles on the roads and streets of Boston, it is not a question of if, but rather when a police officer in an official vehicle will be involved in a motor vehicle crash.   Continue reading

From time to time we hear about single-vehicle car crashes. As the name implies, when first-responders get the scene of a car accident, they only find one vehicle. In the event the single-vehicle Boston car crash proves deadly, it is easy to assume the driver of the only vehicle found at the scene was at fault in the accident. We often hear news stories including a police statement indicating the single driver involved in the crash lost control of his or her vehicle and went off the road, followed by a standard line saying the cause of the crash remains under investigation.

car accident BostonThis happens because news organizations and even police do not want to blame a deceased driver, but they do not believe there will be much more follow-up or investigation into the matter as most times, this will be the only story ever published on the topic, unless there is a brief follow-up identifying the victim.  In the case of a Boston single-vehicle car accident where the driver survives, it is easier to find out exactly what happened, assuming driver is able and willing to speak about the accident and gives a truthful account. Continue reading

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