Boston Injury Lawyer Blog

The family of Samantha Mattei is suing MBTA and trolley operated Aiden Quinn for Boston personal injury. Mattei is one of 68 people who were injured in the 2009 MBTA green line trolley accident caused by Quinn, who was text messaging.

Mattei, who was a freshman at Merrimack College at the time, broke her back and sustained a serious concussion, facial lacerations, nerve damage, and other injuries when she was thrown from her seat and into a pole. According to the 21-year-old’s family, she also continues to suffer from nausea, vertigo, headaches, memory loss, and speech impediments.

Mattei also now walks with a cane, needs help getting around campus, cannot drive, and may lose her scholarships because she has a hard time concentrating and her grades have suffered. Also since the Boston train accident, Mattei has fallen seven times and had to go to the hospital emergency room. Her family’s MBTA accident lawsuit is seeking compensation for Mattei’s pain and suffering, lost wages, and medical expenses.

Prosecutors say Quinn, who pleaded guilty to negligent operation of the trolley, passed through a red light and two red lights before striking another trolley. Mattei’s family say that MBTA should have properly evaluated Quinn’s driving record (he had prior speeding tickets), and failed to stop drivers from talking on a cell phone while operating trains even though they knew that distracted driving can cause train accidents. Several other victims from the green line trolley crash have filed Boston injury lawsuits.

The National Transportation Safety Board released its report about the trolley accident this week. In addition to confirming that Quinn ran a red light because he was texting, NTSB said that that there should have been a system in place to stop the trains automatically if they came too close to hitting each other.

NTSB confirms texting led to ’09 trolley crash, Metro, April 28, 2011

Crash victim’s family files lawsuit against T, Boston, April 30, 2011

Victim from texting crash sues T, Boston Herald, April 30, 2011

Related Web Resources:
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

National Transportation Safety Board

More Blog Posts:
MBTA Releases Documents Relating to 2009 Accident on Green Line, Boston Car Accident Lawyer, November 12, 2010

Boston Green Line Train Crash that Injured Dozens is A Reminder of Why Text Messaging And Driving Don’t Mix, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, May 12, 2009

Continue reading "2009 MBTA Green Line Trolley Accident: Family of Injured Salem Woman Files Boston Injury Lawsuit" »

Our Boston attorneys have recently seen that a 55-year-old resident of Millbury was hit by a MBTA commuter rail train yesterday afternoon. The accident occurred on the tracks near 61 Frank Street in Worcester.

The commuter rail train left Boston at 2:40 p.m. and was traveling at approximately 40 mph when it struck the pedestrian.

Luckily, one of the passengers on the train was a registered nurse. The nurse provided first aid to the pedestrian until Worcester EMS arrived. The injured man was immediately taken to UMass Memorial Medical Center – University Campus for treatment.

Continue reading "Man hit by MBTA Operated Commuter Rail Train in Worcester " »

Speaking exclusively to WHDH, Betty Velasquez says the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority is not taking the injuries she sustained when her purse, arm, and foot became trapped in a train door seriously. Velasquez, a Quincy resident, says the incident caused her to fall consciousness and temporarily lose feeling in her hand and arm. She also has suffered from dizzy spells and migraines following the MBTA accident.

Velazquez says she had to go to the hospital and underwent a CAT scan. She is on several kinds of medication and working with a physical therapist. She also has taken several weeks off from her job while she recovers.

The unfortunate Boston train incident happened at South Station on November 6 when Velasquez’s purse got caught in the train door as she tried to board. She was able to free her body from the train, but she ran next to it in an attempt to pull her purse free. Her body slammed into a wall close to the end of the platform before she freed herself.

Two MBTA workers have been disciplined over the incident. The 39-year-old train operator was suspended for 10 days and the train attendant whose job it is to observe the doorways and platform was fired.

While the MBTA says it is fortunate that Velasquez wasn’t seriously injured, her Boston injury lawyer says that his client’s injuries were definitely not minor ones.

Train Door Accidents
Train doors are supposed to be properly maintained and train workers must make sure that the doors and platform area are clear for departure. Train doors also must be closed properly before a train can leave a station. Malfunctioning train doors can cause injuries. A person boarding or exiting the train can caught in between or get hit by the doors as they shut. A passenger can fall out of a moving train if the doors open suddenly.

Injuries caused by a defective or faulty train door and/or because a MBTA worker was negligent can be grounds for a Boston injury lawsuit.

Boston subway survivor speaks out, WWLP, December 9, 2009

MBTA Train Snags Purse, Sends Woman Sprawling, The Boston Channel, December 8, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

Continue reading "Quincy Woman Trapped by Boston Train When Her Purse Got Caught in Door Claims MBTA Not Taking Her Injuries Seriously" »

A 2009 poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation reports that in the last year, up to 1.9 million US motorists have either been in a motor vehicle accident or were nearly in an auto collision because they were drowsy while driving. 105 million motorists admitted that they’ve driven while sleepy in the last year, while 54 million drivers say they drowsy drive at least once a month.

What many of these drivers don’t understand is that drowsy driving is extremely dangerous. It one of the most common causes of traffic crashes. The National Transportation Safety Board says that 250,000 US drivers a day fall asleep while operating a vehicle. This causes 60,000 serious injuries and 8,000 deaths a year.

Boston car crashes, truck accidents, bus collisions, and pedestrian accidents are not the only kinds of traffic collisions caused by drowsy driving. The NTSB recently announced that drowsy driving was the likely cause of the deadly MBTA train crash in Newton last year involving two green line trains. The safety board says train operator Terese Edmonds may have fallen asleep at the wheel. She may have been suffering from obstructive sleep apnea.

Excessive sleepiness can impair a motorist, resulting in slower reaction times, distracted driving, decreased cognitive performance, various mood swings, and slowed reflexes. These side effects can prove tragic on the road, where a motorist may have a hard time driving in a straight line, fail to notice exit signs, miss traffic signs, and not realize that he or she is tailgating the vehicle ahead.

While it is tragic that so many people are injured in motor vehicle crashes caused by drowsy drivers, the good news is that drowsy driving accidents are preventable.

The National Sleep Foundation has declared November 2-8 Drowsy Driving Prevention Week. The intention is to make more motorists aware about the dangers associated with drowsy driving and falling asleep at the wheel.

1.9 Million Drivers Have Fatigue-Related Car Crashes or Near Misses Each Year, Reuters, November 2, 2009

Drowsy-driving tragedies preventable, Boston.com, August 3, 2009

Related Web Resources:
National Sleep Foundation

Drowsy and Distracted Driving, NHTSA

Continue reading "Boston Injury Accidents Caused by Drowsy Driving Are Preventable" »

It’s been eight months since an 82-year-old Dorchester woman died while riding an MBTA escalator. Now, the family of Helen Jackson is suing the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority for Boston wrongful death. The lawsuit alleges that Jackson died of strangulation when, during a fall accident while riding the escalator, her jacket, scarf, and hair got stuck in the metal machinery.

MBTA officials had implied that Jackson died because she went into cardiac arrest while riding the moving machinery located inside Orange Line’s State Street station. Witnesses, however, say otherwise.

A number of passersby unsuccessfully tried to free Jackson from the escalator, but they could not separate her clothing from the metal. Jackson died at the scene.

According to the family’s Massachusetts wrongful death complaint, a medical examiner found that Jackson’s cause of death was strangulation. She also sustained injuries and blunt trauma.

A state inspection determined that there were no defects with the escalator.

The Boston wrongful death lawsuit accuses the MBTA of failing to monitor the escalator (despite a history of accidents) and neglecting to provide Jackson with the proper medical response.

Also, an emergency call box reportedly did not work properly when someone tried to call for help. And although security cameras showed pedestrians rushing to help Jackson, no MBTA official saw what was happening and did not respond to the emergency.

Escalator accidents
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that there are about 30 escalator/elevator fatalities a year. Over 17,000 people are injured in these kinds of premises liability accidents. Escalator accidents can be caused by:

• Escalator defects
• Poor maintenance
• Missing escalator teeth
• Escalator malfunction
• Screws coming out of the escalator
• Too big of a gap between the moving steps and the escalator’s sides
• Clothing or shoes getting stuck in the escalator

Also, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission says that the rate of escalator injury has doubled for older adults, with almost 39,800 elderly people injured between 1991 and 2005. Trip and fall accidents and slip and fall accidents were the most common kinds of injury accidents involving the elderly to occur on escalators.

Escalator is cited in death at T station, The Boston Globe, November 3, 2009

Rate Of Escalator Injuries To Older Adults Has Doubled, Science Daily, March 14, 2008

Related Web Resource:
MBTA

Danger On The Escalator, CBS, February 17, 2005

At the US Department of Transportation’s Distracted Driving Summit this week, family members who lost loved ones in car accidents involving drivers who were distracted spoke to attendees about their tragedies. One woman lost her mother of a driver who was talking on his cell phone. Another woman, a motorcyclist, was killed when she was struck at a red light by a driver who was painting her nails. And of course, there are the accounts of loved ones lost because drivers were texting while driving, reaching for a cell phone, or glancing at a PDA to "quickly" read a text message.

According to the NHTSA, almost 6,000 people died in distracted driving accidents last year. Over 500,000 others survived these auto accidents with injuries. As one man who lost his mother told the summit, “distracted drivers destroy lives.” Yet many drivers continue to engage in some form of distracted driving.

Talking on a cell phone and texting while driving have proven especially dangerous, and calls for a nationwide ban on texting has become more urgent. The CTIA-The Wireless Association reports that 110 billion texts were sent out in December 2008. Compare this figure to the 10 billion texts that were transmitted in December 2005.

On Wednesday, the Obama Administration announced that federal workers will no longer be allowed to text message while operating a motor vehicle while on the job or in a government-owned auto. According to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the government is also considering restricting truck drivers, train operators, and bus drivers from using cell phones.

In Massachusetts, there is still no ban on text messaging. Localities are allowed to decide whether to restrict cell phone use. Earlier this year, the Boston area’s transit authority announced a new policy change banning bus, trolley, and train operators from carrying cell phones and personal electronic devices while they are on the clock. The crackdown came after a trolley operator who was text messaging caused aBoston train accident that injured 49 people.

Boston car drivers are allowed to talk on handheld devices and text message while driving an auto. This can result in serious Massachusetts traffic accidents and personal injuries and wrongful deaths may ensue.

Cell Phone Ban After Boston Trolley Crash, Huffington Post, May 9, 2009

New regulation bans federal employees from texting while driving, Los Angeles Times, October 1, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Distracted Driving Summit, US Department of Transportation

State Cell Phone Driving Laws, Governors Highway Safety Association

An Examination of Driver Distraction as Recorded in NHTSA Database (PDF)

Continue reading "At Distracted Driving Summit, Families of Car Accident Victims Bring to Life the Deadly Consequences of Multitasking While Behind the Wheel " »

According to a federal safety panel, Terrese Edmonds, the train operator who failed adhere to a red stop signal, causing the May 2008 Newton, Massachusetts train accident, may have fallen asleep because she was suffering from an undiagnosed sleep disorder.

Tests indicate that there was Doxylamine in Edmond’s urine. The drug is an over-the-counter sleeping aid. Officials say that the 24-year-old train operator should have stopped her trolley for a minute and then kept the train going at 10mph because of the red signal, which indicated there was a train up ahead. Investigators say that instead, the trolley that Edmonds was operating drove into another train at a speed of 38mph.

Seven people were injured in the Newton train crash, which took place in May 2008. The panel says if the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority had used an automated train control system, the fatal Massachusetts green line accident could have been avoided. Other MBTA lines use this automatic braking system.

Investigators also say they discovered broken electrical connections between the track sections. Because train operators are not required to report faulty train signals—a safety risk—this also could have contributed to the deadly Newton, Massachusetts train collision.

Other safety issues discovered during the National Transportation Safety Board Investigation:
• No positive train control system.
• Poor coordination between crew members about signal indicators.
• Inadequate reporting requirements regarding possible signal malfunctions.
• Failure to screen rail transit operators for possible obstructive sleep apnea.

Sleep Apnea
This is a common disorder. Because a person may have problems sleeping at night, he or she may be prone to excessive sleepiness during the daytime. Many people don’t know that they suffer from sleep apnea—a condition that can be fatal if the person with this disorder is a truck driver, a train operator, or another motorist behind the wheel of a motor vehicle.

There are tests that the operators of common carrier vehicles can take to determine whether they have this disorder that could put their passengers at risk.

Sleep disorder likely factor in fatal Newton Green Line trolley crash, Boston Herald, July 14, 2009

NTSB executive summary of findings in Green Line crash, Boston.com, July 14, 2009

Conductor Killed In Newton Train Collision, WBZ, May 29, 2008

Related Web Resources:
American Sleep Apnea Association

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

Continue reading "2008 Newton Train Accident: Sleep Disorder May Have Caused Operator To Doze Off" »

As our Boston MBTA accident lawyers at Altman & Altman, LLP know, the injuries and damages from a serious train crash can be devastating. Just yesterday in Washington DC, at least 9 people died and over 70 people were taken to local hospitals after one subway train rammed into another train during the rush hour commute.

The force of impact from one train colliding with the other was so strong that the striking train became compressed to approximately one-third its actual size, and a number of people were crushed to death. Rescuers had to use a crane to locate some of the bodies and firefighters had to use other heavy equipment to cut open the cars and rescue the survivors that were trapped inside.

8 of the people that died were train passengers. Jeanice McMillan, the train operator of the striking train, was also killed in the deadly train collision.

The National Transportation Safety Board is trying to determine the cause of the deadly train crash. Some of the possible factors under consideration include signal failure, mechanical problems, computer failure, and train operator error. Investigators are working to retrieve recorders from the train that was hit. The train that initiated the collision, however, is an older train that does not come with this device.

NTSB official Debbie Hersman says that a few years ago, the NTSB had recommended that the older fleet either be retrofitted or phased out. Back then, the NTSB noted safety problems involving trains rolling back on the tracks and operators being unable to stop the them.

Hersman says it is “unacceptable” that Metro did not act on the recommendations. Metro says that it has, however, upgraded the emergency exits and braking systems of the older trains. The striking train in Monday’s crash belongs to the 1000 series of trains that, according to the Washington Post, is now being phased out. These trains make up 30% of the Metrorail’s train fleet. Officials are calling Monday’s train collision the worst in the Metrorail’s history.

NTSB: Train in crash was recommended for phaseout, Boston.com, June 23, 2009

Nine Killed in Red Line Crash, The Washington Post, June 23, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

Metro Home Page

Continue reading "Boston MBTA Accident Attorneys: Deadly DC Train Crash Kills at Least 9 People and Injures Over 70 Others" »

Last Thursday, the Massachusetts Senate included and approved in its version of the state budget an amendment banning Internet use while driving—this includes text messaging, emailing, or surfing the Web while operating a motor vehicle. Bus drivers, train operators, trolley drivers, and the drivers of other public transit vehicles would be banned from holding a cell phone while driving and would only be allowed to carry the device for emergency purposes. Transit drivers that violate the ban would be fined $500. Drivers would have to pay an insurance surcharge, in addition to a $75 fine.

The amendment is intended to prevent Massachusetts motor vehicle accidents from occurring because motorists are texting while driving and comes one day after Rebecca Solomon, a Methuen teen driver, died in a single-car collision. Police are trying to determine whether the 18-year-old high school senior was texting while driving.

Earlier this month, the MBTA imposed an emergency cell phone ban on its vehicle operators following a multi-trolley crash occurred right after the trolley driver had been text messaging with his girlfriend. Nearly 50 people were injured in the Boston MBTA accident.

According to a study commissioned by Vlingo, a Cambridge, Massachusetts speech-recognition technology maker for cell phones, 1 in 4 US drivers say they text message while driving, with younger drivers more likely to engage in this form of distracted driving behavior than their older counterparts. Among those surveyed:

• Almost 60% of teen drivers say they text and drive.
• 49% of 20 – 29 year-olds send and receive texts while operating a motor vehicle.
• 13% of motorists over 50 text while driving.
• 83% of the 4,816 online survey participants think texting while driving should be banned.

Time and again, texting while driving is proving to be a dangerous habit that can cause serious motor vehicle injuries or deaths. Teenagers that text while driving are a high-risk group when it comes to getting involved in or causing a Boston motor vehicle crash. A new Nielsen study says the average teen sends almost 80-text messages daily. The habit, which even adults find hard to break, can prove fatal when an inexperience teen driver is texting while behind the steering wheel of a car.

Massachusetts Senate Budget Bans Texting while Driving, Insurance Journal, May 26, 2009

Mass. high school student dies in car crash, Telegram.com, May 21, 2009

Driving While Texting Still Popular Despite Bans: Survey, VOXEO, May 20, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Cell Phone Driving Laws, GHSA

National Safety Council

Continue reading "Boston Personal Injury Law Firm: Massachusetts Senate Approves Amendment Banning Texting and All Internet Use While Driving" »

The Daily News Tribune says that during the time it takes to compose and send a simple text message while driving (requiring the driver to take his or her eyes off the road), a motor vehicle will likely have traveled the length of a football field—enough time and distance for at least one motor vehicle crash to occur.

On Friday, a Boston Green Line MBTA train did more than that when its operator, who was sending a text message to his girlfriend, ran a red light, causing a multi-trolley crash and injuring at least 46 people. Three of the trolleys involved in the Boston train accident were totaled, and another trolley was damaged.

According to the MBTA, Quinn, an Attleboro resident, failed to step on the brakes soon enough. He will likely be fired and could face criminal charges. As an aside, his private driving record indicates that he was cited for speeding three times—in 2002 and 2007.

The MBTA prohibits its drivers from using their cell phones and similar devices in any capacity while driving. Yet this rule is often ignored. At least 9 MBTA trolley operators and bus drivers have been suspended for talking on cell phones or texting while on the job. Over the weekend, MBTA officials said its drivers are going to be banned from even carrying such devices while at work.

Texting While Driving
Text messaging while driving any kind of vehicle is considered dangerous, and some states have put laws in place to ban texting and/or talking on the cell phone while operating a motor vehicle. In Massachusetts, only school bus drivers are banned from talking on a cell phone while driving.

According to a 2006 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study, driver distraction during the three seconds prior to a motor vehicle crash is the number one cause of 78% of auto crashes and near collisions. Dialing a cell phone, reading, and applying makeup are the three activities that appeared to increase the risk that a driver might be involved in a car crash by three times. Texting while driving has been cited as a reason that some fatal train accidents and deadly motor vehicle crashes have occurred over the past few years.

Not only does texting require that a driver not look at the road while composing or reading a text message, but he or she will likely have to take at least one hand off the steering wheel to hold or operate the cell phone or PDA device. In order to avoid causing a Boston train accident or a Massachusetts car crash, drivers must have both eyes on the road at all times, with both hands controlling the steering wheel and their mind focused on the task at hand—which is to drive safely.

Negligent driving by an MBTA trolley operator can be grounds for an MBTA train accident lawsuit.

Editorial: The dangers of texting while driving, The Daily News, May 12, 2009

City man driver in T crash, The Sun Chronicle, May 12, 2009

Related Web Resources:
T crash puts spotlight on hiring criteria, Boston.com, May 12, 2009

Cell Phone Driving Laws, GHSA

MBTA

Continue reading "Boston Green Line Train Crash that Injured Dozens is A Reminder of Why Text Messaging And Driving Don’t Mix" »