The Virginia State Police reported Aug. 24 that an 18-year-old woman died and another woman was injured in a two-vehicle wreck in Dinwiddie County, Virginia.
The police stated that a 2005 Chevrolet Cavalier was going north on White Oak Road in Dinwiddie County when it crossed into the southbound lane. It slammed into a 2017 Hyundai. The force of the wreck made both vehicles spin off the road.
The Cavalier driver died at the Virginia crash scene. The other driver was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The cause of the crash is not known at this time.
Our View
Our Virginia and North Carolina personal injury attorneys are saddened to hear about this fatal, two vehicle accident in Virginia. We do not have enough information to know what the cause of the wreck was. However, it is clear that the 18-year-old driver was distracted by something in the vehicle. We do not know if the distraction was a cell phone, but this is certainly a common occurrence with young drivers. The Virginia State Police probably are in the process of checking her cell phone records to see if she was using her phone when the tragic crash happened.
According to a recent study of teen driver car accidents done by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, a large number of teens were distracted during an accident. The study looked at 1700 videos that were taken inside of crash vehicles. The report found that 58% of crashes involved some type of distraction. This was the case in 89% of crashes where the car left the road, and in 76% of accidents with rear end crashes.
The top reason for teen crashes in this AAA study was the driver talking to someone in the car – 15% of crashes. Next, at 12%, was where the driver was talking to or texting someone on a cell phone. Singing or even dancing to music was a cause of an accident in 8% of cases.
This study indicates that a large number of crashes involving teenagers is at least partially due to preventable driver distractions. Our personal injury attorneys urge parents to remind their teen drivers to do the following:
- Drive with as few people in the car as possible
- Do not turn on the radio
- Put your cell phone away while driving at all times
Driving distracted can injure and kill people. Also, people who are hurt by a distracted driver may be able to sue them in court for their injuries. Or, the loved ones of someone killed due to the negligence of another driver can sue for wrongful death.
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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