For some reason, wrong-way accidents are on the rise in Western Massachusetts. Between 2015 and 2018, our state experienced twice the national average in wrong way accident fatalities with 500 deaths per year. Springfield reported 315 wrong-way car collisions between 2010 and 2020, making it the second worst in the state for such accidents behind Worcester.
Read MorePrompted by the George Floyd tragedy in Minneapolis and numerous other fatal encounters by largely Black motorists with police during traffic stops, the Northampton, Massachusetts Policing Review Commission recently came out in favor of unarmed traffic enforcement. This would entail a non-police response to minor traffic law violations such as speeding, unlawful turns, expired plates, or equipment violations. In other words, utilizing a trained civilian corps for traffic matters that do not involve threats to public safety. Perhaps this is good for public moral, but how will this affect victims of personal injury?
Read MoreIt was a hit-and-run accident that left Yarmouth, Massachusetts police officers puzzled. A few months ago, police were alerted to the intersection of Swan Road and Circuit Road West after residents apparently reported a hit-and-run accident. Although no pedestrians or other motorists were injured, the fleeing vehicle left a fire hydrant and a scrub oak heavily damaged.
Read MoreA Fall River, Massachusetts woman who was a passenger in a 2009 Honda Civic was killed recently in a one-vehicle crash on Route 18 near the intersection with Walnut Street in New Bedford. According to police reports, the driver had suddenly steered her vehicle onto the median and struck a cobblestone planter. There was extensive damage to the front passenger side of the vehicle where the deceased woman was sitting at the time of the collision.
Read MoreEarlier this year, a road rage incident in Belmont, Massachusetts resulted in the death of a 35-year-old man who had been engaged in an argument with a 54-year-old man from Hudson in the area of Upland Road. Witnesses to the incident stated that they heard the Hudson man hurl racial epithets toward the victim who had apparently exited his car to confront the other driver. The victim was moving towards his own car when the other party, who was in a Dodge Dakota, suddenly drove toward him and struck the victim with the driver side of the pickup truck, dragging him for a short distance before the driver fled the scene. Witnesses ran to the aid of the man lying on the ground who was taken to a hospital where he later died.
Read MoreHave any Massachusetts motorists had their auto insurance premiums reduced at all in the past year since the pandemic shuttered businesses and many commuters either lost their jobs or found themselves working at home? You may have received a refund for a month or two but since traffic volume over the past year has drastically reduced, and many businesses are finding that working remotely is saving them money, should auto insurers reduce their insurance rates?
Read MoreEarlier this year, a 4-year-old Mashpee boy, and a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, was killed in an accident with a flat-bed truck on Route 151, according to Falmouth, Massachusetts police. The boy was a passenger in a sedan driven by a 28-year-old woman who suffered minor injuries. The boy was airlifted to a Boston hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. There were no reports on how the accident happened; only that it remained under investigation.
Read MoreAs expected from reduced traffic volumes in 2020 due to the pandemic that forced many Massachusetts businesses, especially bars, restaurants, hotels, salons, and gyms to close down or that forced others to work remotely from home, the number of traffic accidents fell dramatically from 2019 levels. However, the incidence of fatal car accidents did not experience a similar decline.
Read MoreA recent car accident in Hyannis, Massachusetts involved 4-5 drunk males whose vehicle had been observed by a passing Uber driver to crash into a barricade. The Uber driver told police that he saw the vehicle impact the barricade before the males, whom he reported from observing their conduct to be visibly intoxicated, attempted to extricate the vehicle from the barricade. The car’s airbags were also deployed, which would make driving it very difficult even if it were operational.
Read MoreIn early March, an 18-year-old driver was killed when his vehicle struck a pole at a high rate of speed, splitting the vehicle in half. The incident occurred at the intersection of McClellan Highway and Addison Street in Boston, Massachusetts. Another vehicle allegedly involved in the incident crashed into a guardrail, but the driver escaped serious injuries.
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