According to the most recent National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports, nearly 7 million motor vehicle crashes are reported to police in the United States each year. By way of comparison, this number is higher than the total number of arrests each year in the U.S. for murder, robbery, theft, arson, fraud, vandalism, drug abuse, gambling, embezzlement, and prostitution combined. Chances are, you will be involved in a car accident in your lifetime. In fact, statistics show that most people are involved in a vehicle crash multiple times during their life, roughly once every 18 years.

If you’ve never been involved in a collision before, it’s good to familiarize yourself with what to expect after a car accident. And even if you have been in a vehicle crash of some kind in the past, you may have questions that would best be discussed with an attorney with experience in car accident law. Every car accident case is unique, and our legal team at Belsky, Weinberg & Horowitz, LLC is available to answer any questions you have regarding the specifics of your car accident case.

There are plenty of reasons you could be driving in Maryland, just like any other state. Whether you live here or were just visiting, a roadside emergency can take you by surprise at any time. Even if you knew your car wasn’t in the best shape, it’s still incredibly frustrating and worrisome when you’re stuck on the side of the road with a broken-down car or another emergency.

Since you likely weren’t prepared for this situation, you need to know what to do. Whether you’re trying to figure out what you need to do right now on the side of the road, or you’re reading up as a preventative measure, it’s crucial to know what to do during a roadside emergency in Maryland. Let’s take a look at some of the most important steps.

Assessing Your Situation in a Roadside Emergency

The first thing you need to do when you’re in a roadside emergency in Maryland, as with anywhere, is to get out of harm’s way. As best as possible, you’ll need to move your vehicle out of the way so that you are not in harm’s way or in traffic. Once you’re safe and have your hazard lights flashing, you can start to assess your situation, which is also crucial.

Although it is well-known that drunk and impaired driving causes thousands of unnecessary deaths and injuries each year, many people still choose to ignore the consequences and get behind the wheel when they are unfit to drive. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), roughly 28 people die every day in the U.S. in crashes involving drunk drivers. And in the state of Maryland alone, the statistics are tragically high. State law makes it illegal to drive with a blood alcohol content (BAC) at or above 0.08%, and there is a zero-tolerance policy for drivers under the age of 21. However, between 2009 and 2018, there were 1,515 people killed in crashes involving an alcohol-impaired driver in Maryland.

Substantial research has shown that cell phone use while driving is one of the leading causes of accidents on the road. Some studies have even concluded that the impairments associated with mobile phone use behind the wheel can be as extreme as those associated with drunk driving. Drivers who neglect their duty to keep themselves and others safe on the road put everyone at risk. In the state of Maryland, it is illegal to use a handheld phone while driving.

According to research conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), crashes involving stopped or disabled vehicles have been responsible for hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries over the past several years. Today, on average, 300 people are killed each year as a result of stopped-vehicle accidents. This statistic is particularly alarming in light of the fact that there has been an over 25% increase in stopped-vehicle accident-related deaths since 2014.

Tunnel vision, also known as peripheral vision loss (PVL), impairs your peripheral vision capability, or your ability to see to the side. People who are experiencing tunnel vision may say that they feel as though they are looking at the world through a tube. For this reason, tunnel vision is sometimes referred to as tubular vision. Like highway hypnosis, another visual phenomenon which may occur while driving, tunnel vision can come on suddenly and seemingly without cause, creating a dangerous situation and increasing the likelihood of a car accident.

After a car accident leaves you with injuries and damages that weren’t your fault, you could choose to file a claim against the person or party responsible for your damages. Hiring a car accident lawyer to represent you by fully investigating what happened and building a strong case would benefit you and ensure that you don’t have to take on the legal process alone. If your crash happened in Baltimore, then Belsky, Weinberg & Horowitz, LLC would be able to take your case and help you get the compensation that you deserve.

Car accidents can cause all kinds of injuries to drivers and passengers alike. Some of those injuries don’t present themselves immediately after the collision, though. It can take days, or even weeks, for some people to feel the pain of an injury from a car accident. This can delay the treatment that a car accident victim receives for their injuries and can cause the injury to get worse over time and could even lead to it taking even longer to heal.

Using a cell phone while driving in Maryland is against the law. While this is a step in the right direction for preventing deaths from smartphone-related distracted driving accidents, people still use their cell phones behind the wheel. In 2017, 14% of fatalities in distracted driving crashes were specifically caused by cell phone use, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Even though our state has these laws in place for the safety of everybody on the road, people still break the law every day.

Everyone knows that texting and driving is dangerous, but that doesn’t stop negligent drivers from doing it. When a person isn’t fully focused on the road in front of them, the chances of an accident happening skyrocket. While most states have bans on texting and driving, state laws don’t always seem to be a strong enough deterrent.

Wireless companies are well aware of the problem, as many of them have instituted safe driving campaigns to discourage distracted driving. Those companies, however, may be able to do more. Let’s take a look at the possibility of phone manufacturers creating a cell phone that prevents use while driving.