Attorney
Eight Maryland highway workers have lost their lives in vehicle accidents over the past five years. Such accidents are typically more deadly for drivers than workers. In 2008, for example, work-zone crashes killed 700 people. About 90% of those deaths were drivers and their passengers. If a negligent driver in a construction zone injured you, a Maryland personal injury lawyer is available to fight for your rights.
Maryland recently suffered its first highway worker death since 2006. The 52-year-old man was working past midnight in the fast lane of a highway when a speeding car clipped him and left him in the middle of the center lane. A passing tractor-trailer then hit the man, as its driver could not react in time to avoid him. Investigators believe that the man may not have been following proper work protocol. They said the workers usually perform this type of work during the day and that he should have had a spotter out on the road with him and other state vehicles with flashing lights to alert drivers of the work zone. In this case, the man only had his pickup truck’s single yellow light, which was three lanes away.
States are cracking down on those who drive negligently through work zones. Workers, drivers and passengers are dying needlessly. Maryland is one of a group of states that have deployed mobile speed cameras in work zones. Others have used police officers dressed as construction workers to catch drivers exceeding work zone speed limits.
If an accident in a work-zone has hurt you, contact a Maryland personal injury attorney, at Koonz, McKenney, Johnson & DePaolis L.L.P for more information about your rights.