Six people were personally injured the afternoon of May 4, 2009 in an Anaheim Hills car accident after a dump truck lost its brakes and struck several vehicles at the intersection of Imperial Highway and Santa Ana Canyon Road, The Orange County Register reports. Anaheim police officials said the white dump truck traveling north on Imperial hit a Toyota Camry on the driver’s side. That man who was seriously injured had to be cut out of the vehicle using the jaws of life. The truck also hit three other vehicles — a Honda CR-V, a Honda Accord and a Honda Odyssey van. Out of the six people injured, three needed to be hospitalized.
It’s indeed the miracle that the driver of the Toyota Camry who was hit by the dump truck survived this horrible Orange County car crash. According to the Anaheim Police Department’s spokesman, the truck hit the Camry on the driver’s side and crushed it so that the distance between the two front doors was reduced to 16 inches. This Anaheim Hills car accident could have easily ended up in catastrophic injuries or fatalities. Thank God it didn’t! I wish this victim and the other injured victims the very best for a speedy and complete recovery.
According to California Highway Patrol’s 2007 traffic accident statistics, there were 30 deaths and 2,006 personal injuries involving car accidents in Anaheim. During the same year, there were 178 fatalities and 14,185 personal injuries reported in Orange County as a result of car accidents.
In this particular case, if the newspaper report is accurate, there was a mechanical problem with the dump truck involving the brakes. The question here is why the dump truck lost its brakes. Was it a product defect that triggered the malfunction or was it a result of poor maintenance on the part of the company that owned the dump truck? If it was a product defect then the manufacturer could be held responsible for the injuries caused. If maintenance was an issue then the company that owns the dump truck could be held liable for the truck accident and injuries.
The injured victims in this case would be well-advised to retain the services of Orange County car accident attorneys, who will be able to look into all aspects of this case and determine whose negligence caused this unfortunate car accident. Victims in this case could be eligible to receive compensation for medical expenses, cost of future treatment, loss of earnings and related damages.