While waiting for a flat tire to be fixed on the 5 freeway in the City of Orange, a 54-year-old man was struck and killed Thursday night. According to a report by KABC News, the victim was sitting on the bumper of a Toyota Sequoia while one of the passengers changed the flat tire when the accident occurred. The driver of the Toyota had pulled over at the State College Boulevard exit to the northbound 5 freeway and stopped at about 9:30 p.m., well before a green Lexus traveling at about 60-65 miles per hour struck the rear of the Toyota. The deceased was pinned under the Lexus, and he died at the scene. The passenger who was changing the tire sustained major injuries and two other passengers who remained inside the SUV suffered minor injuries. The driver of the Lexus sustained moderate injuries, and all of those hurt in the accident were transported to local, Orange County hospitals. The crash does not appear to have been related to driving under the influence, and the precise cause of the crash remains under investigation.
Cause of the Crash and Driver Inattention
Tragic accidents like the one above are often caused by driver inattention and are completely avoidable. However, it is very important in such cases to reconstruct the accident and determine the location of the stranded vehicle (relative to the travel lanes), whether the emergency flashers were operating, and whether the moving vehicle had its headlights on. If the Toyota Sequoia was completely out of the travel lanes and had its emergency flashers operating, it would be very difficult to understand how an attentive driver could not have seen the Toyota in sufficient time to determine it was stopped and out of the travel lanes. The area of the accident is relatively flat and straight. About the only "confusing" element to this area of the roadway is the striping, and at night it might appear as though the shoulder was actually a travel lane.
If you have been injured or a family member has been killed in a stalled vehicle accident, contacting an experienced Orange County car accident attorney is generally the first and most important step toward obtaining compensation for the injuries and damages suffered.
SOURCE: I-5 crash in Orange kills 1, injures 4 others, KABC News, Orange County, August 23, 2013
Hiring a good accident attorney should be your top priority as soon as the undesirable event occurs, so that he can appraise the situation in terms of injuries and liabilities.
ReplyDeletest george car accident attorney