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Boston car accidents in which pedestrians are hit often result in serious personal injury or death. These cases often involve substantial pain and suffering and other types of legal damages so the plaintiff’s pedestrian accident lawyer will often have to look to all possible sources of potential recovery when fighting for a full and appropriate settlement or jury verdict should the case go to trial. To make matters worse, these incidents are on the rise.

Boston car accident lawsuitsAccording to federal data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), in one year alone, there nearly 5,400 pedestrians killed in traffic accidents across the nation, and this amounts to one pedestrian being killed every 1.6 hours on average.  As discussed in one article from WBUR News, these numbers seem to be increasing year over year all across the country, and we are seeing such an increase in Massachusetts as well.

Causes of Increased Pedestrian Deaths in Boston

Boston traffic accidents that result in burn injuries are among those that result in the highest damage awards. That’s because the injuries sustained are often severe, if not fatal.  A car is powered highly flammable gasoline and there are also various other fluids flammable and possibly combustible.  Even antifreeze, which is designed to cool the engine will ignite if exposed to a sufficient heat source since it mostly made from alcohol. The car is also filled with upholstery that can burn and melt following a serious Boston car accident.

crash in Boston accident There are various causes of burns such as electricity, but in car accidents, we are typically dealing with thermal burns. Chemical burns are also possible. According to a study compiled by Richard R. Edlich, PhD, FACS, FACEP, and published by Medscape, more than 2 million people suffer from burn injuries each year in the United States. Continue reading

In Boston, a troubling number of car accidents involve an at-fault driver flees the scene. Some of these are fatal crashes.  The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Highway Loss Data Institute (IIHSHLDI) keeps statistics by states on the number of fatal crashes by year.  According to their findings, in 2015, there were 291 fatal crashes resulting in 306 deaths.  The number of traffic fatalities is lower than the number of deaths because some fatal Massachusetts car crashes result in more than a single fatality.

Boston car accident lawsuits When a driver flees the scene of a crash, it can cause difficulties for those who are trying to obtain compensation for injuries. The good news is there are options (in particular, uninsured motorist coverage). As for the reason these drivers flee, it often comes down to either intoxication and a fear of being charged with serious crimes (such as vehicular homicide) by prosecutors. In other cases, it’s because the fleeing driver did not have a license or the mandated car insurance coverage.  Continue reading

According to a recent news report from CBS, two people were injured in an accident involving a car and dump truck in Dracut, Massachusetts. Authorities have said the collision, which occurred on Route 110, involved a woman who allegedly lost control of her vehicle and cross the double yellow line and then hit the dump truck head-on.

Boston truck accidentsThe collision was so violent that the dump truck rolled over and ended up on its side. When first responders arrived at the scene of the Boston area truck crash, they found the driver of the Toyota Camry to have suffered a serious personal injury. She was extracted from the vehicle and rushed to a local level one trauma center where she was listed as being in critical condition. The extent of the driver’s injuries have not been disclosed.  The driver of the dump truck was also injured, but his injuries were not considered life-threatening at the time of the accident.   There have been no charges filed as of this time and there have been no formal accusations of negligence on behalf of either driver. Continue reading

According to a recent news article from the Boston Globe, firefighters had to cut a woman free from a mangled car in Duxbury, Massachusetts. Authorities have said the vehicle was carrying a 31-year-old mother, her husband, and their eight-month-old daughter at the time of the serious Boston area car crash.

highway accidents BostonWhile the exact cause of the accident is still under investigation, initial findings indicate the driver of the vehicle lost control and spun out before entering the woods.  When the vehicle entered the woods, it was allegedly traveling at a high rate of speed and crashed into a tree.  Continue reading

Whenever there is a car crash in Boston, the drivers and occupants should call the police and exchange insurance information.  There are various components of a car insurance policy including liability to others for personal property damage (car), liability to others for personal injury, comprehensive coverage, and personal injury protection (PIP) for injury to one’s self.

car accident BostonLiability for injury to others including personal injury and property damage is the most important competent of defendant’s insurance binder when dealing with a Boston car accident lawsuit. When a car insurance policy is sold in the Commonwealth, there is a base amount of liability coverage that must be purchased by the policy holder who is called the insured driver. Continue reading

While just a few years ago, self-driving cars seemed more like science fiction than reality, it now appears they will be regular fixtures on the road sooner rather than later. While Google is still devolving its system that uses advanced radar, GPS, an an array of camera’s, the high end electric car company Tesla has managed to get its models on the road already.

Boston car accidentsThe Tesla version is not a true self-driving car like have seen in movies such as”Demolition Man.” In that movie, a person could get in the car, tell the car where they want to go and let the car do the rest.  This is what Google is working on, and they have taken some fully automated rides around California, but the company is not where it needs to be yet in terms of safety testing and reliability. Continue reading

Boston area car accidents often involve only  vehicles owned by private citizens, but on occasion, they can involve vehicles owned by a municipal  government.  If the driver of the government owned vehicle was responsible for the crash, the legal doctrine known as sovereign immunity comes into play.  In the Commonwealth, that doctrine is codified in Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 258, Section 4, which is the tort claims act.

Boston car accidentsThe tort claims act was designed to protect  state and local governments from liability in lawsuits, and to limit the extent of the damages awards in lawsuits that can be filed. This goes back to the time when there was a king of England and he did not want the crown to be sued.  Eventually this morphed into what we know today as the doctrine of sovereign immunity. Continue reading

It is the responsibility of every motorist to drive in a safe and responsible manner to prevent a foreseeable injury to persons and property.  Failure to do so is considered a form of  negligence. This act of negligence could be the basis for a Boston car accident lawsuit.

Boston Car Accidents While there is a lot of personal responsibility in preventing serious and fatal car accidents, there is also a lot the city can do to prevent car accidents.  This involves making the streets as safe as possible for everyone driving, walking, and riding a bike on the streets of Boston and the surrounding areas.  The city can also make sure signage is helpful and appropriate and drivers are properly educated.

Government agencies that fail to correct poor road design, maintenance or dangerous conditions may also be held liable if it contributes to a crash. These cases, however, can be more complicated than a typical negligence lawsuit because one must first overcome hurdles like sovereign immunity, which is waived under the circumstances outlined in M.G.L. Chapter 258, Section 2.

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The majority of Boston car accidents involve more than one vehicle. Many of these are fender-benders with two vehicles, though chain reaction crashes are fairly common on highways and other roads with heavy congestion. car accident

However, getting rear-ended or t-boned may by another car or truck may not be the most dangerous scenario you encounter. In fact, 1 in 5 fatal accidents involves a single vehicle that runs off the road, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Single-vehicle accidents carry their own challenges in terms of compensation. While multiple-vehicle accidents usually have multi-person/ business liability, the same is generally not to true for single-vehicle crashes. There is often only one person to blame – the driver. There may be exceptions in cases where the driver was impaired (per the principle of dram shop liability for violation of MGL Ch. 138 section 34), or in cases where the road was improperly maintained or the vehicle defectively manufactured.

By-and-large, though, single-vehicle crashes are the fault of the driver. In these instances, drivers may be entitled to compensation through their own insurer, while passengers could receive compensation from driver’s insurer and potentially their own uninsured/ underinsured motorist coverage carrier.

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