Quintuple-Fatal Car Wreck On Interstate 5

Five people were killed when a Toyota driver veered off the road and careened into a road sign, chain link fence, and tree in the Stockton area.

According to the California HIghway Patrol, the 33-year-old driver executed an “unsafe turning movement” while travelling at a high rate of speed. The driver lost control of the vehicle and left the road. The driver and four passengers were killed almost instantly.

No other vehicles were involved.

Speed and Car Crashes

Excessive velocity is the primary or a contributing factor in about a third of the fatal car crashes in California. Many of these accidents happen when the tortfeasor (negligent driver) is negotiating a curve.

Fast-moving vehicles are more responsive to steering changes than slow-moving vehicles. As a result, many tortfeasors oversteer into curves. Then, they overcorrect to try and regain control of their vehicles. The overcorrection has the opposite effect. These drivers frequently lose control of their vehicles, causing serious crashes like the one in the above story.

Environmental factors, mostly wet roads, usually make this problem worse. Drivers have a legal duty to slow down and use extra caution in these situations. But many drivers ignore this responsibility.

Car Crash Injuries

Each year, vehicle collisions kill or seriously injure millions of Americans. Some of these serious injuries include:

• Exsanguination: Excessive blood loss is usually the official cause of death in car crash fatalities. Most victims lose so much blood at the scene that, by the time emergency responders arrive, these victims are at the point of hypovolemic shock.
• Head Injuries: The trauma, motion, and/or noise of a car wreck could cause a head injury. Trauma injuries usually involve a victim’s head striking a solid object. Furthermore, the sudden, violent motion of a car crash usually causes the victim’s head to slam against the inside of the skull. Finally, sudden loud noises, like a high-speed wreck, create shock waves which disrupt brain functions.
• Broken Bones: These injuries are usually not fatal, but they usually are debilitating. The massive force in a car crash usually shatters bones. As a result, some permanent loss of function is usually inevitable.

Injuries like these usually trigger tens of thousands of dollars in medical treatment bills. Most health insurance companies cite liability concerns and refuse to pay these costs. So, a San Jose personal injury attorney usually sends a letter of protection to a medical provider. Since this letter guarantees payment when the case is resolved, the provider usually charges nothing upfront.340

Passenger Injuries

Injured passengers have the same legal rights and the same medical needs as all other victims. However, passenger injury claims usually have some emotional twists.

Most injured passengers know the tortfeasor. So, they understandably hesitate to file injury claims, at least in many cases. But doctors do not care about this dynamic. They demand payment, regardless of the circumstances of the wreck. So, injured passengers need money. Furthermore, the individual is usually not financially responsible for compensation. The insurance company has a duty to provide a lawyer and a duty to pay damages.

These damages usually include compensation for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering. Additional punitive damages might be available as well, in some extreme cases.

Contact a Dedicated Attorney

Regardless of the circumstances, speed-related vehicle collisions usually cause serious injuries. For a free consultation with an experienced San Jose personal injury lawyer, contact Solution Now Law Firm. You have a limited amount of time to act.

Resource:

mercurynews.com/2021/03/12/i-5-fatal-crash-5-people-killed-near-stockton/