Boston Car Accident Lawyer Blog

November 7, 2012

Commonwealth Votes Yes on ‘Right to Repair’

In Tuesday’s election, voters in the Commonwealth overwhelmingly voted to pass question number one, the “Right to Repair” ballot question. Boston.com reports that 85 percent of voters approved the question with 98 percent of the votes counted at 2pm on Wednesday. Question number one passed with the highest margins of the three 2012 Massachusetts election ballot questions.

The new law requires that, by 2015, automakers must provide dealers and repair shops access to software codes and information which make the diagnosis and car repair easier for them.

According to the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, William Francis Galvin, the law will not force any manufacturer to reveal trade secrets and also will not interfere with any agreements made by the manufacturer, dealer or authorized repair facility. Any violation of the law will be treated as a violation of state consumer protection and unfair trade practices.
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October 24, 2012

Enforcing the Anti-Text Law in Massachusetts

by Altman & Altman

Everyone knows that it is illegal to text and drive. We hop in our car, we are pressed for time, and we pick up that phone anyway. There are people, however, who have found a loophole in the law that bans texting and driving. When one of these people get pulled over, the police officer may say, “Do you know why I pulled you over? You were texting on your phone.” The driver, well aware of the law against texting while operating a motor vehicle, quickly responds “No, officer, you must be mistaken. I was using the Maps application on my phone.” Unbeknownst to some drivers in Massachusetts, using your smartphone while driving is not illegal entirely but it is illegal to text. The specificity of this law has irked law enforcement as it is difficult for police officers to enforce this law.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (“NHTSA”) announced this week their approval of a grant of $550,000 for police departments in Connecticut and Massachusetts to test other another of enforcing the anti-texting laws – by spying on drivers. NHTSA chief, David Strickland, claims that the purpose of this grant is to find “real-world protocols and practices to better detect if a person is texting while driving.” This grant will fund “spotters on overpasses” as well as other roadways to find out if drivers are typing while they are operating their vehicle. Spying on motorists has already shown to work in North Dakota, where 31 tickets were issued in a matter of 2 days after police spied on drivers from unmarked vehicles.
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October 10, 2012

Busy Massachusetts Intersections Lead to Injuries

by Altman & Altman

People no longer have to be in a car to be involved in a motor vehicle accident. Victims are involved in such accidents when they are struck by a car, and they suffer substantial injuries. On September 28th, 52-year old Mark Theobald was walking on Center Street in Stockton, Massachusetts when he was struck by an oncoming car. He was rushed to Boston Medical Center to be treated for his serious injuries, and as of October 1st, he remains in intensive care. The driver, Timothy Poh, reported the accident and no charges have been filed against him. The police assert that the driver will not be charged and found during the course of their investigation that the driver was not speeding but instead had a visibility issue.

Unfortunately, Theobald is not the only one who is injured by oncoming traffic. Just days before Theobald’s accident, a 55-year old bike rider who was hit by a SUV on Belmont Street. The man rode his bike across the street where no crosswalk is present and was struck by a blue Toyota Rav4. He was picked up and flown by a medical helicopter to be treated for his injuries. His injuries, which included serious head trauma, appear not to be life-threatening according to the local police. He was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash. The yellow bicycle was crumbled on the floor and the SUV had a crack on its windshield. This accident is no surprise to local residents, as the area has been known to be unsafe for everyone. The state Department of Transportation claims that the nearby intersection of Lorraine Avenue and Linwood Street is famous for accidents-millions of dollars in improvements are needed to make it safer. State reports from 2005 to 2007 indicate that the same intersection “had 56 crashes, which ranked 68th statewide during the time period.” The improvements, which include pedestrian crossing and traffic light installation, are scheduled to occur in the year 2014.

Another accident, occurring at the same time, involved a boy struck by a car on Battles Farm Drive and Battles Street. The child was transported to Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital to be treated for his injuries. The police indicated that the boy was not seriously hurt. None of the drivers of these accidents are being charged by the police, as the police asserted that the drivers were not at fault for the accidents. The police did not even charge the truck driver who struck and killed a 3-year old girl earlier this month.
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October 8, 2012

East Boston Woman Involved in Car Accident with Police Cruiser

by Altman & Altman

There have been quite a number of auto accidents reported in the Boston area within the past year. Many residents within Massachusetts do not hop into their car expecting that an accident will occur, but they are not shocked when it happens, either. We pick up our keys and head fearlessly on to the roads of Boston, praying that we will avoid all of the possible mishaps. Have you ever traveled northbound on Route 93? Have you ever passed the Freeport Street exit? If this is a road that you travel frequently on, then you may have heard about or even saw what happened on October 3rd.

Maura Bertolino, a 30-year old woman residing in East Boston, decided to have a number of alcoholic drinks in the morning. Afterwards, she took off in her car and up Route 93 for a casual drive. As she approached the Freeport Street exit in Dorchester, she moved out of the center lane and on to the right lane. She then entered back on to the center lane, sped up, and crashed directly into the back of an unmarked police cruiser. As if this was not dangerous enough, she then put her car in reverse and backed into another car. Thankfully, no one was hurt from her negligent actions but Bertolino was taken to the hospital to be treated for severe intoxication.
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September 19, 2012

Elderly driver crashes into home

by Altman & Altman

This past Saturday, on September 15, a car accident in Charlton, Massachusetts landed an elderly driver and her car inside a home on Sturbridge Road. The 82-year-old motorist, who has not been identified, was involved in a 2-car collision at about 5:40pm, according to local authorities. The second driver, identified only as a woman, 32, was injured and taken to Harrington Memorial Hospital. The older driver was transported to Umass Medical Center. The cause of the accident is presently under investigation.

I’ve written several blogs about various forms of car collisions. Cars landing in pools. Wrong-way drivers. Single-car accidents. The carnage of a collision when seatbelts aren’t used. I’m actually a little surprised that this is my first “Car crashes into building” blog. And I immediately became curious about how often something like this happens. Apparently, quite often. There was a rash of cars crashing into building late last year in western New York. Thirteen incidents in a matter of months. But nobody could ascertain why. There’s still no concrete data available to explain this kind of occurrence.

But there was also another personal aspect of this story that appealed to me because my father is officially an “elderly driver” now. His safety is a concern of mine. And I take comfort in knowing that, statistically speaking, as drivers become older, they become more conservative. Driving habits become adjusted through avoiding busy highways or abstaining from driving late at night. And yet, older drivers are still more likely to be involved in a multi-car collision than younger drivers. Research has also shown that not only do the chances of being in a car collision spike after the age of 65, but the risk of a collision becoming fatal rise at 75 as older drivers are more vulnerable to crash-related injuries and death.
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September 19, 2012

Man Charged in Case Involving Bicyclist Killed on Morrissey Boulevard

by Altman & Altman

A Dorchester man has been charged with striking and killing a bicyclist on Morrissey Boulevard last week. Michael D. Ahern, 46 years old, was arraigned in Dorchester Municipal Court for motor vehicle homicide, drunken driving, operating to endanger and speeding, to which he pleaded not guilty on all counts. His bail was set at $25,000.

State Police reports stated that Ahern was traveling in his 2011 F150 pickup truck on William T. Morrissey Boulevard at about 12:30 a.m. on September 14 when he struck Doan Bui, 63, of Dorchester, who was riding her bicycle southbound on the boulevard. Bui was announced dead at the scene. According to Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Patrick K. Devlin, the impact of the vehicle threw the victim “a significant distance.”
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September 10, 2012

Car crash destroys the front of nearly 300 year old Marshfield Home

by Altman & Altman

Brian and Patty MacKinnon will attest to the infamous perils of the length of road on South River Street that bends around a cranberry bog. Vehicular accidents have been occurring there frequently enough now to no longer surprise the Marshfield residents. Over the past three winters, the MacKinnons have lost three fences to cars sliding off the pavement and into their front yard.

And now the family two doors down from the MacKinnons, the Thayers, have their own tale of motor mayhem to share. Clifton and Dorothy Thayer, along with their son, Jonathan, were displaced from their home on an early Saturday, September 8, 2012, at around 2:47am. They were awakened to the roar of a young man and his car smashing into the left side of the house at the corner next to the roadway. The collision caused so much structural damage to the home, built in 1725, that officials declared it uninhabitable. Fire Captain Louis Cipullo described the destruction of the house as extensive and, by Sunday, the front of the residence was being held up by braces. Thankfully, the Thayers were asleep upstairs at the time of the accident, so none of them was injured.

The American Red Cross provided the Thayers with housing and emergency funds. Neighbors have said that they have been staying in Brockton and Weymouth, amongst other locations. When the MacKinnons were stirred by the crash they immediately called 911. Brian MacKinnon described the noise as a “thunderclap” and impossible to ignore. The driver sustained minor injuries but was up and on his feet though visibly upset over the incident.
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September 10, 2012

Second wrong-way driver of the weekend causes another collision

by Altman & Altman

This past Sunday morning, September 9, 2012, at approximately 5:35am, a Roxbury resident was killed in a car accident at the entrance of the O’Neill tunnel in Boston. What makes this incident more unusual than a typical vehicular tragedy is that the deceased man, Idefonos Barros, was driving down the wrong way of Interstate 95, and that this was the second incident of wrong-way driving on a Massachusetts highway just this weekend.

State Police are continuing their investigation as to what caused the three-way collision. Barros was driving a 1999 Dodge Dakota south on 93 North toward the O’Neill tunnel’s entrance when he collided into a 2006 Nissan Pathfinder, according to Renee Nadeau Algarin, the deputy press secretary for the Suffolk County’s District Attorney’s office. Algarin also stated that after the initial collision, the Nissan spun out of control and struck the left side barrier. Before the collision occurred, State Police received at least one phone call about a wrong-way driver and immediately launched a search for the vehicle.

Sadly, the police were too late to catch up with Barros. And during the time when reports of the incident were first surfacing, it was unknown whether Barros was ejected from his car because of the crash or if passing drivers helped him out of his vehicle. He was eventually taken to Tufts Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Firefighters removed a 45-year old woman from the Nissan Pathfinder. She was also taken to Tufts Medical Center though her injuries were not a threat to her life. Both drivers appeared to be wearing their seatbelts. There was no indication of drugs or alcohol playing a role in the crash. And the third driver whose Ford Eagle collided with the pile-up was fortunate enough to walk away without any injuries.
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September 8, 2012

Single-car crash spoils holiday weekend

by Altman & Altman

A woman from Groton and a Dunstable man were tragically killed in a single-car accident this past holiday weekend, early Sunday morning, September 2, 2012, at around 5:30am. A third person, the man who was driving the Ford pick-up truck, was transported to Lowell General Hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, according to police Sergeant Robert Romilly. The crash occurred on Great Road, just west of the intersection with Gilson Road. The truck appeared to have jumped off the road and hit a pole on the passenger side of the vehicle, flipping the automobile and ejecting the two passengers who were pronounced dead at the scene. Littleton State Police and the Middlesex District Attorney office are investigating. The two departed have since been identified as 21 year olds Taylor DeLuca of Groton and Richard Mitchell of Dunstable.

I’m normally disinclined to write a blog about a car accident that involves death. I’ve always found the saying “If it bleeds, it leads” to be distasteful at best. But an officer was quoted at the scene as saying that when it comes to determining what happened to these three people, “speed is going to be a factor.” The police also don’t believe that the two ejected passengers were wearing their seatbelts. But since the story was released, the possibility of drug or alcohol abuse playing a role has been eliminated. So what I’ve chiefly taken away from this incident is that this was an absolutely preventable calamity. That’s sad to me, especially since it happened over a long weekend where people get together to forget the daily grind to enjoy each other, to enjoy life.

In a way it feels trite to repeat the steps for safe driving but there are too many stories like this one. And so maybe, sometimes, trite is necessary.

Facts about seatbelts:
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September 8, 2012

Eastbound driver on Westbound lane causes car collision and pile-up

by Altman & Altman

As of late Friday night, reports were appearing on the internet about a head-on collision on the westbound lane of Interstate 90. The crash happened at around 8:30 pm on September 7, 2012, near exit 6 of the turnpike, close to mile marker 54. As authorities responded to the incident, traffic was diverted off the highway at exit 7, near Ludlow, Massachusetts, according to Trooper Kenneth Gaetz.

It had been assumed early on that the cause of the accident was a driver heading east on the westbound lane. Two other cars slammed into the first accident causing a pile up that snarled the weekend traffic. At least two people were taken by ambulance to Bay State Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts and the highway was shut down for roughly three hours. Area police and fire departments, state police crime scene and accident reconstruction units, and the State Department of Highways were all present on the scene. Authorities had gathered, but not yet confirmed, that a 2001 Honda from Connecticut was driving the wrong way down the westbound lane on the turnpike and crashed into a 1993 Subaru registered to an address in West Brookfield.

Tragically, new reports arose this morning saying that both men in the original pile up succumbed to their injuries and were pronounced at the hospital. David Procopio, spokesman for the State Police, asserted that there were other injured but he would not specify. The names of the deceased have been withheld. All that is presently known is that the man who was driving the wrong way down the westbound lane was 84 years old. The driver of the 1993 Subaru was 29. The investigation is now being overseen by Troop E of the Massachusetts State police along with the aforementioned organizations.
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