Articles Posted in Car Accident

Five people were killed the morning of August 4, 2009 in a fiery Orange County car accident after their SUV reportedly blew a tire and rolled over a steep embankment on the southbound 5 Freeway in Mission Viejo, California. According to a news report in The Orange County Register, officials could not determine the age, identity or gender of the car accident victims because their bodies were burned beyond recognition. The single-vehicle car crash involved a Chevrolet Tracker, a small SUV, which veered off the freeway, hit a signpost before rolling over and catching fire.

My heart goes out to the family and friends of all these victims who were killed in this horrific Mission Viejo car accident. We don’t know yet whether these victims were all adults or whether there were children involved or if they were all members of the same family. I offer my deepest condolences to the family and friends of these deceased victims. Please keep them in your prayers.
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Two women, Karla Castillo and Cindy Luna, were killed and four others were injured in a Los Angeles car accident early morning August 2, 2009, the Daily Breeze reports. The fatal car crash occurred when the driver of a 1998 BMW 328i coupe traveling on the 110 Freeway, attempted to take the Glenn Anderson 105 Freeway eastbound exit, but passed the off ramp, California Highway Patrol officials said. The 20-year-old Downey woman then turned her car sharply to the right and crossed over the raised gore point causing the vehicle to roll over several times. Los Angeles fire officials declared two women dead at the scene. They had been ejected from the car, officials said. Four other young women were taken to hospitals with serious to critical injuries.

I offer my deepest condolences to the families of Karla Castillo and Cindy Luna who were killed in this car accident. I also wish the injured victims the very best for a quick and complete recovery. Please keep them in your prayers.
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Two people died in a crash involving several vehicles including a motorcycle in a horrific accident on the 55 Freeway in Orange. According to an article in The Orange County Register, California Highway Patrol investigators believe the chain of events started with a motorcyclist who lost control of his vehicle for an unknown reason and hit the center divider near Lincoln Avenue.

The male driver, who has not been identified, was thrown in the opposite direction and died after he was struck by several vehicles. A Honda driver, who swerved to avoid hitting the body of the motorcyclist, lost control and crashed into the guardrail, bounced off the center median and was hit by two other vehicles on the driver’s side. The Honda’s driver was pronounced dead at the scene, the article said. No other injuries were reported.

There are so many things that could have gone wrong there. The first thing to figure out with this one is what caused the motorcyclist to lose control. Eyewitness accounts say speed was a factor, but it must be determined if it was speed, negligence, debris on the freeway, mechanical malfunction in the motorcycle or some dangerous condition on the roadway that caused the initial accident.
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A 14-year-old boy died after the car he was a passenger in ran a stop sign and hit a car full of small children, The Orange County Register reports. The teenager who died was identified as Phoenix Nguyen. Thankfully, Devin Miller, his wife and four children who were in the car that Nguyen hit, were unharmed.

The accident occurred when Ty Van Nguyen, 18, of Garden Grove was driving an Acura on Bushard Street when he ran the stop sign on Banning Avenue and hit the Millers’ Cadillac Escalade, police said in a news release. Miller tells the Register that a Huntington Beach police officer told him he suspected street racing, but police have not confirmed that yet. Phoenix’s sister Paulene and two other teenagers, whose names were not released, were also severely injured in the accident, according to the article.
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A 48-year-old Fremont woman died in a two-car auto accident on the I-880, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The woman was reportedly driving her 1982 Mazda with her husband as passenger when she suddenly lost control of the vehicle. The car spun out came to rest sideways in the middle of the freeway when it was hit on the driver’s side by a Honda traveling in the same direction, the Chronicle reports.

From what I can see, this case could be a real “who’s at fault” challenge for the California Highway Patrol investigators and the attorneys for the various parties involved in the crash. What caused the woman to lose control of the Mazda? Was there a dangerous condition on the freeway? Was there a pothole there or some other condition on the roadway that needed repair? Maybe there was a mechanical malfunction or defect in her automobile or maybe it was fatigue, distraction or inattention.

The other issue here is also why the Honda hit the stopped Mazda. Maybe there wasn’t enough time and distance for the Honda to avoid the collision. If that’s the case, the driver of the Mazda would be legally responsible for the injuries to the driver of the Honda. That said, if the Honda had the time and room to maneuver around the Mazda, but hit the car because the driver was traveling too fast or following too close, the driver of the Honda could be held legally responsible for the woman’s death and her husband’s injuries. If it is determined that there was a defect on the freeway surface that caused the accident, then Caltrans could be held responsible for the accident.
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One person was killed in a Minneapolis traffic accident when a tire flew off a dump truck into oncoming traffic, according to an Associated Press news report. Not much information was available about the victim, but the report states that the truck was driving south on the Interstate 35, but that the tire went into the northbound lane striking a vehicle.

This type of auto accident is not at all uncommon, especially in Los Angeles and Orange counties where big rig accidents and mishaps involving debris on the freeway are quite common, unfortunately. Our firm handled a case that was identical to the Minneapolis accident. It involved a moving van that lost the tire and struck a vehicle. The crash resulted in the driver suffering severe brain injuries and the passenger suffering multiple broken bones.

Freeway debris and trucks spilling all kinds of debris is certainly a reality in California. According to a New York Times article, about 140,000 cubic yards of debris are dumped on our freeways and in California alone 155 people lost their lives in the last two years after accidents involving objects on highways.
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