Personal Injury Law Blog

Roadway surface conditions may have been a factor in a serious car accident that occurred on a Route 1 viaduct in Bath last week. Around 2:30 p.m., 37-year-old Melissa Medina was driving south on the upper level of the viaduct, when she lost control of her Mercury SUV and smashed through the guardrail, plunging over the side of the bridge.

Now that the first year under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) new workplace injury reporting requirements has come and gone, the agency is now assessing the implications of the data gleaned in the past 12 months and what it may reveal about employer-based safety initiatives and precautions.

Troubling statistics on pedestrian fatalities have been reported by the Governors Highway Safety Administration (GHSA). According to the GHSA’s most recent report, pedestrians made up 15 percent of all traffic fatalities in 2014 and will likely do so in 2015. GHSA estimates that the number of pedestrian fatalities will increase by 10-percent between 2014 and 2015.

Truck drivers who fail to adhere to their prescribed sleep apnea treatment significantly increase their risk of serious preventable crashes, according to a recently published study on the subject. The study compared 1,613 truck drivers with obstructive sleep apnea with the same number of comparable drivers without the condition.

A Durham woman has died from injuries that she sustained on Friday, March 11, during a head-on collision in Topsham. Christina Babnaw, 44, died in the hospital on Saturday night, March 12, as confirmed on Sunday morning by Topsham police Sgt. Mark Gilliam. The accident took place near the 800 block of Middlesex Road, according to town police.

With federal statistics estimating recent annual traffic fatalities at about 26,000, it is fair to say that the deaths affect hundreds of thousands of people each year. Earlier this month, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration concluded a series of conferences aimed at changing dangerous traffic behavior.

Sleep apnea poses many risks to those who are affected, but perhaps the most immediate danger is the threat of nodding off while driving – a side effect that often results in catastrophe. Chronic fatigue and sleepiness caused by obstructive sleep apnea is known to impair driving drastically, making motorists more susceptible to vehicle accidents.

A fatal Maine car accident on County Road claimed the life of 28-year old Matthew Spencer, reports the Bangor Daily News. On the morning of February 24, Matthew was riding as a passenger with his younger sibling Nicholas, 21, when his brother lost control of the vehicle and slammed into a telephone pole. The car rolled over and then caught on fire, says the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office.

The problem of distracted driving has become a common concern among law enforcement and motorists alike. Now, researchers at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute have identified the most dangerous culprits in distracted driving accidents and other factors that can increase a driver’s chances of a crash.

Even children who suffer a mild brain injury early in life are at risk of long-term functional impairments and learning disabilities, suggests new research published in JAMA Pediatrics.