Maryland Injury and Disability Law : Washington DC Metro Injury & Disability Lawyer & Attorney : Greenberg & Bederman : Accidents, Falls, Medical Malpractice : Maryland, DC, Virginia

According to the Center for Disease Control, more than one third of adults age sixty five or older fall down every year. Twenty to thirty percent of those who fall suffer from injuries. Some of them are moderate injuries like bruises, but many of these falls involve injuries that are more severe, such as fractures or head trauma. Head trauma injuries are particularly dangerous. In fact, traumatic brain injuries accounted for 46% of fatal falls among older adults.

Snow and icy conditions increases the likelihood of slipping and falling for everyone, older adults included. In order to help avoid either falling or being the cause of someone falling, we would urge you to make sure that the walk in front of your home is properly shoveled and cleared of ice. You should also use either salt or sand to help prevent ice patches from forming overnight or to clear ice that is already there.

Another obvious hazard with snow and ice on the ground is driving. This particular bout of snow left much of the D.C. regions roads impassable, and even after days of plowing there are still many roads that are not safe to drive on. It might seem like stating the very obvious, but driving during a snowstorm or in the aftermath of a snowstorm is not a safe thing to do.

In the first place, driving while it is snowing limits your visibility a great deal, even during the daytime. It not only obscures your vision, but the snow itself can also dust over and cover patches of ice, potholes or curbs. After the snow stops, the roads can still be very slick and difficult to drive on. And the snow that is left after plowing has a tendency to melt during the day and freeze at night, leaving the roads in an almost constant icy state. There is also the matter of road salt, which inevitably ends up on your windshield and smears very easily.

There are also other drivers to contend with, all of whom are probably dealing with the same road conditions, ice, limited visibility and rock salt in one of two ways. They are either driving in a very timid fashion, or they are driving entirely too aggressively. The timid driver can cause backups and fender benders, while the overconfident driver is convinced of his or her invincibility due to four wheel drive, or the fact that they are driving an SUV. Cars with four wheel drive are just as susceptible to crashing as any other car, but many of the drivers don’t seem to believe such a thing is possible.

In a perfect world, everyone could simply stay home until the roads were clear, but considering that we live in the Washington, D.C. area, this will never happen. Everybody has to be at work. So the only advice that we can offer is for you to use common sense, try to stick to roads that have been thoroughly plowed and salted, make sure that you have plenty of windshield wiper fluid to help with the salt, and drive as carefully as you possibly can.

Traffic accidents can and will happen at any time of the year, but snow and ice make the prospects even more likely. With traffic as heavy as it is in Virginia, Maryland and D.C, crowded roads and poor weather can make a dangerous combination. Greenberg and Bederman is currently offering legal assistance to people in the D.C. area who have been injured due to no fault of their own. We have decades of experience in helping victims of falls, car and truck accidents, and medical malpractice. If you or a loved one has been seriously hurt, contact Greenberg and Bederman for a free legal consultation today.