Safe driving requires precise maneuvering and careful decision making. Sometimes, it is a difference of mere inches that separates a safe, smooth drive from a devastating accident. Many car accidents occur after a driver carelessly swerves over the center line or into a shoulder lane. This slight error — a mistake of mere inches — can result in a catastrophic crash.
Though the error in judgment may be slight, it does not excuse any such action. Drivers who fail to exercise the proper amount of care needed to prevent such an accident may be held accountable in a court of law.
Tragically, a young girl was killed and three others were injured in a recent three-vehicle accident in California. The accident occurred after a Jeep SUV driven by a 56-year-old man swerved into the shoulder of a California highway. As a result, a Mazda minivan that was stopped in the shoulder was smashed into by the careening SUV. The rear of the minivan was utterly destroyed by the impact. Sadly, there was a girl strapped in a booster seat in the back of the van. She was pronounced dead shortly after the crash occurred.
Three others were also injured. A young boy who was also in a booster seat was taken to a nearby hospital. A woman who was thought to be the mother of the two children was also taken to the hospital, as well as the driver of the other vehicle. Both the boy and the man suffered what were considered major injuries. The woman’s injuries were said to be minor. After the van had landed in the median after impact, another vehicle hit the van. The driver of the third vehicle was uninjured, and that vehicle had only minor damage.
Though investigators did not know why the minivan was pulled over onto the shoulder or why the Jeep swerved into it, the driver of the Jeep may face charges depending on what the accident investigation reveals.
When an accident investigation reveals that a car crash was the result of another driver’s negligence, victims and their families may choose to pursue compensation from the negligent driver. Though never able to erase the trauma and pain these victims and families have had to endure, compensation can sometimes relieve them of financial stresses.
Source: San Jose Mercury News, “Cupertino: Child killed, three people injured in three-car Highway 85 accident,” Eric Kurhi, April 21, 2014