Boston Car Accident Lawyer Blog

According to recent news report from WHDH, a car was traveling at such a high rate of speed in Arlington, Massachusetts on Route 2 it completely left the road surface, drove up an embankment, left the ground entirely, landed on a guardrail, and crashed on top of another vehicle traveling on the Pleasant Street Bridge.

One Arlington Police officer said he had never seen a crash like this one is his entire 15 year career with the department. An accident reconstruction team was on scene to try to piece together what actually happened, and officers were tracing the assumed path of travel with their flashlights according to witnesses. Another police officer said every aspect of the crash from going airborne to landing on top of a guardrail, and then landing on another car was unbelievable.

The reason this accident was so unbelievable to officers is the car was traveling on a surface road 30 feet below the car on which it eventually landed. The car managed to go up the embankment and fly through the air for long enough to end up on the Pleasant Street Bridge above.
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Since the end of the Washington Nationals’ short post-season run, they have been getting a lot of news coverage this off-season. While much of the news has been related to trades involving big name athletes such as starting pitcher Max Scherzer, there has been much coverage regarding outfielder Jayson Werth and criminal charges against him related to reckless driving.

For those who haven’t been following, Werth was arrested in Virginia for driving his racing edition Porsche at 104mph in an area with a posted speed limit of 55mph.

Werth first elected to take his case to trial in a bench trial, where he was found guilty and sentenced to 10 days in jail. The judge said she was gravely concerned about his negligent and dangerous actions in which someone could have been seriously injured, and that was the reason for sending him to jail despite, this being his first offense.

According to the law in that jurisdiction, a defendant who has been convicted of a misdemeanor at a bench trial (judge instead of a jury) can appeal the trial verdict and request a trial by jury. This is what typically happens in cases involving reckless driving in Virginia. Pursuant to local law, Werth, through counsel, immediately appealed his verdict and sentence, and demanded a trial by jury.
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According to a recent news article from the Boston Globe, a Shrewsbury man died when he was involved in a crash involving his vehicle and a backhoe. The 79-year-old victim was taken to UMass Memorial Medical Center, where doctors pronounced him dead from his injuries.

The driver of the backhoe was also treated on the scene by first responders and transported to a local hospital where doctors say his condition is not life threatening. Westborough Police are not yet sure as to the cause of the accident, and an investigation is still ongoing. It has not been established if backhoe driver was in any way negligently responsible for this tragic accident.
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Many car owners choose (or can only afford) to purchase the minimum amount of insurance coverage required by state law. In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the mandatory minimum liability insurance required is $20,000 per personal injury per person, $40,000 per accident and $5,000 for property damage. Car accident attorneys normally express these figures as 20/40/5.

This means if there is an accident, and the at-fault driver has the minimum required insurance, the most the policy will pay any single victim for his or her injuries is $20,000. If there were two victims, the second victim could also be paid up to $20,000. If there are three victims, the third victim will not receive $20,000 because of the $40,000 per accident limit. There will probably be a third of $40,000 paid to each claimant assuming all had injuries of more than $20,000.

The $5,000 limit is the most the company will pay to fix the victim’s car. Obviously, this may be much less than the cost of fixing a car, but many also have comprehensive coverage on their own vehicles.
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According to a recent news article from Boston Herald, an 83-year-old man who was the victim of a serious car crash, was in an ambulance being rushed to the hospital when the vehicle was stopped by protesters who had chained themselves to 12,000 pound barrels of concrete.

Police say first responders had to cut the victim out the car and put in him in an ambulance so he could be transported to Boston Medical Center for immediate care in the emergency room. Boston emergency dispatchers were forced to detour the ambulance to another trauma center in Brockton.

The hospital to which they were headed is a Level One trauma center in Boston, which was in a position to provide the best and fastest access to trauma surgeons. Unfortunately, EMS workers realized the delay in getting to the hospital could significantly reduce his chances of obtaining timely treatment for his serious injuries, and decided to reroute to the further hospital.
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Ex Parte Robert Bosch, LLC. is a car accident lawsuit appealed to the Supreme Court of Alabama. In Bosch, plaintiff and her husband were passengers in a compact sport utility vehicle. Husband’s stepson was driving the car. While their vehicle was waiting to make a left turn, they were struck from behind by another car.

After being struck from behind, the force of the collision pushed their car into the intersection, where another vehicle struck them head-on. Husband was sitting in the front passenger seat. He was severely injured in the car crash and died from his injuries a few days later. During the crash, the front passenger airbag failed to deploy during both the rear and front-end impacts.

Additionally, the front passenger seatbelt “pretensioner” did not activate. As you may be aware, and can further discuss with a car accident lawyer, a pretension is the mechanism by which a seatbelt will lock if pulled quickly or with a greater degree of force than normal operation.
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In Lunsford v. Mills, a case from the Supreme Court of North Carolina, defendant was driving a tractor-trailer owned by his employer. While driving, he lost control of the truck while going around a curve. After losing control, the truck hit a concrete barrier in the median (Jersey barrier) and flipped over. Plaintiff, a volunteer firefighter, responded to the accident scene and found defendant injured and diesel fuel leaking from his truck.
Plaintiff attempted to get defendant out of harm’s way by lifting him over the concrete barrier, so he could safely assess any injuries. While plaintiff was standing in the highway, second defendant was driving westbound on the interstate.
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