According to the West Virginia State Police, a Honda SUV was traveling northbound on I-79 when it crossed the median for an unknown reason and smashed into a Ford SUV going southbound.
The driver and passenger in the Honda SUV died, and the driver of the Ford and his passenger were injured. A third vehicle was struck by debris, but no one was injured in that case.
The police are investigating why the Honda SUV crossed the median and caused the fatal accident.
Our View
It is not clear why this accident happened at this time, but it bears the markers of a driver being distracted for some reason. It is possible that the Honda driver fell asleep behind the wheel.
According to the CDC, drowsy and fatigued driving is a major issue in the US, leading to many personal injuries and deaths each year. Most fatigued driving accidents occur when the driver has not gotten enough sleep, but it also can happen due to sleeping disorders, drugs, drinking alcohol and working nights.
Driving while sleepy is dangerous for these reasons:
- It makes drivers less able to watch the road
- It slows reaction time if it is necessary to brake or steer suddenly
- It affects one’s ability to make good driving decisions
Far too many people in the US fall asleep behind the wheel, according to CDC statistics. It is believed that one in 25 people have reported falling asleep while driving in the last month. Also, the NHTSA states that drowsy driving caused 72,000 crashes, 44,000 personal injuries and 800 deaths in 2013. Those numbers are probably underestimated, too. It is thought that up to 6,000 fatal accidents happen annually due to fatigued drivers.
When there is a fatal accident where the driver that caused it dies, what are the legal options for the victim? As personal injury and wrongful death attorneys in Virginia and North Carolina, we have seen crashes such as this one. Our attorneys represented the family of a trucker in Virginia who was sideswiped and killed on I-95 when he was checking his rig on the shoulder of the freeway.
Not only did the victim die; a few days later, the trucker who caused the accident passed away as well. He died from a medical condition that led to the accident, but it was a medical condition that he knew about or should have known about, and did not treat. That truck accident lawsuit led to a $2.25 million settlement.
An experienced personal injury attorney with dual licensure in Virginia and North Carolina, Eric Washburn received a B.B.A. in Finance from James Madison University—initially worked in the information technology field before obtaining his law degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan. Once an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney in Danville, Va., Eric has been recognized by Super Lawyers Magazine as a “Rising Star” Super Lawyer in Virginia since 2014.
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