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Posted by Salvatore J, Zambri, founding member and partner.
As reported in the Washington Post, just a few hours before Clarksburg High School’s graduation ceremonies, three members of the school’s football team were sadly killed in a single vehicle crash in Montgomery County, Maryland. Officials indicated that speed and inexperience contributed to the crash, as the truck they were in ran off the road and hit a tree, snapping the front axle and killing all occupants. The operator had only been driving for a few months on a provisional license.
According to the commander of the traffic division for Montgomery County Police, “These young men took the full brunt of the force of the truck hitting the tree. This is one of those beginning-of-summer tragedies that hopefully resonates through the community so that people will proceed more carefully.”
According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, based on analysis of crash videos, distracted driving contributes to 58 percent of automobile crashes that involve teen drivers, four times the earlier estimates based on police reports alone. Peter Kissinger, president of the AAA Foundation said, “Access to crash videos has allowed us to better understand the moments leading up to a vehicle impact in a way that was previously impossible.The in-depth analysis provides indisputable evidence that teen drivers are distracted in a much greater percentage of crashes than we previously realized.”
The combination of inexperience and distraction is all too often a deadly pairing for teen drivers. Crash rates for teens are higher than any other group in the country. Federal data for 2013 shows 936,000 drivers between ages 16-19 were involved in crashes.
The Director of the Governor’s Highway Safety Association said the statistics indicate a call to action. “This research is a call to action to reframe the distracted driving issue, especially as it relates to teens. Distracted driving is broader than just texting. In fact, interacting with passengers led to more distraction-related crashes than cellphone use. This reinforces the need for states to pass better passenger restrictions as part of their graduated driver licensing program, and for parents to limit the teen passengers that can ride with their new driver, regardless of the law.” The District, Maryland and Virginia all have graduated driver’s license programs and restrictions on mobile device use by teenagers.
I represent people that are injured or killed in automobile collisions. I see first hand the devastating consequences that can result from careless driving. Please drive safely and enjoy life.
Do you have any questions about this post? If so, please email Mr. Zambri: [email protected].
About the author:
Mr. Zambri is a board-certified civil trial attorney by the National Board of Trial Advocates and a Past-President of the Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington, D.C. The association recently named him “Trial Lawyer of the Year”. Super Lawyers recently named him among the “Top Ten” lawyers in the Metro Area (out of more than 80,000 attorneys). He has been rated by Washingtonian magazine as a “Big Gun” and among the “top 100″ lawyers in the entire metropolitan area. The magazine also describes him as “one of Washington’s best-most honest and effective lawyers” who specializes in personal injury matters, including automobile accident claims, premises liability, product liability, medical malpractice, and work-accident claims. He has successfully litigated multiple cases against truck and bus companies, the Washington Metropolitan Area transit Authority, and other automobile owners. His law firm, in fact, has obtained the largest settlement ever in a personal injury case involving WMATA. Mr. Zambri has also been acknowledged as one of “The Best Lawyers in America” by Best Lawyers (2014 edition) and has been repeatedly named a “Super Lawyer” by Super Lawyer magazine (2014) – national publications that honor the top lawyers in America.
