Articles Posted in Car Wreck

According to WBTV, an off-duty FBI agent was injured in a car accident when a speeding driver careened off the road and barreled into his SUV parked on the side of Interstate 485. In all, three individuals had to receive treatment for their injuries as a result of the reckless North Carolina driver. The driver responsible for the accident was driving a pickup truck and traveling at speeds in excess of 80 M.P.H. in a 65 M.P.H. zone.

Investigators say the driver was attempting to avoid another vehicle when she crashed into the agent’s SUV as it was parked on the shoulder with its blue lights flashing. The driver suffered life threatening injuries and had to be airlifted to Carolinas Medical Center-Main. The driver was accompanied by a passenger who was also injured, though not seriously. Investigators are still trying to discover the cause of the accident. They are attempting to determine whether texting or alcohol was involved.

It seems that the driver of the pickup truck was likely distracted. This is yet more proof of the dangers associated with distracted driving. Distracted driving has become a huge road hazard, enough that the federal government has gotten involved. It has devoted an entire website to telling the world about the dangers of distracted driving. According to http://www.distraction.gov, in 2009, 20% of the crashes that reported injuries involved distracted driving. Of accidents that involved fatalities that number was 16%.

Although the police are not certain what caused the accident in this case, if the driver of the pickup truck was distracted because of something she was doing in the car at the time of the crash, she will likely be liable for the injuries to the agent and her passenger. The FBI agent and the passenger will have a cause of action against her negligence. She failed to exercise due care in the operation of her vehicle. As a driver, she had a duty to ensure that the operation of her vehicle did not interfere with other drivers. Driving while distracted is a textbook example of negligence on the road.

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WNCT reports that a notoriously dangerous curve along Turkey Quarter Creek Road in Cove City, North Carolina has caused several accidents and recently claimed another life. A young girl, Jordan, and her father, Doug, were driving along that road when the tire on their car blew out. Doug lost control of the car and careened off the side of the road. The car landed in a concrete ravine and was obscured such that no one discovered the wreckage for two days. Doug was killed instantly, but Jordan, an incredibly resilient 9-year-old, managed to survive for two days trapped in the car with her dead father. A supply of PopTarts and Gatorade was all she had.

Jordan’s mother, Claudette Leohmann, believes that the accident could have been prevented. This is not the first accident on the dangerous stretch of road. According to Leohmann, there have been at least 20 on the same section of roadway over the past several years. This many accidents should have been sufficient for the North Carolina Department of Transportation to take notice. The DOT now says they are aware of the issue and have begun an investigation into the curve. Leohmann says that it’s too little too late. The lover her life is already gone and her daughter has been scarred by having to endure such a tragedy.

The question now becomes whether anyone can be held responsible for the dangerous curve at Turkey Quarter Creek. If any such claim arises it will be one of negligence on the part of the North Carolina Department of Transportation for failing to make the road safe for drivers. The problem will be in establishing the duty element of any negligence claim.

For a person or entity to be liable for negligence, there must have been a duty owed and a subsequent breach of that duty. There must also be actual and proximate causation and damages. It is unlikely that any North Carolina court would hold that the DOT owed a duty to the first accident victims. However, once it came to the Department of Transportation’s attention that the road posed a special danger to even the safest and most cautious drivers, the failure to do something to remedy the situation may rise to the level of a negligent breach of duty.

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