Three-Vehicle Accident Leaves One Unbuckled Driver Dead

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A woman lost control of her 2002 Suzuki XL7 and veered across the median before hitting the rear tires of a tractor-trailer, spinning around and hitting the back left side of a pickup truck. The Kentucky New Era reported on December 18, 2011, that Assistant County Coroner Mike Stokes pronounced the 34-year-old driver of the SUV dead at the scene.

According to WTVW-TV, the woman was not wearing a seat belt. The driver of the 2007 Freightliner tractor-trailer, 51-year-old Tony Pritchard, and the driver of the 1995 Nissan pickup, 85-year-old Loriston Lovelady, were not injured. Both Pritchard and Lovelady were wearing seatbelts, according to WTVW. The New Era reported that the Suzuki stayed on the road, but the woman was ejected from the vehicle and ended up near the opposite end of the median.

While the recent recommendation from the National Transportation Safety Board calling for an in-vehicle cell phone ban has garnered responses of “nanny state” government, it should be remembered that there still remains some opposition to laws requiring passengers to wear seat belts. Some people claim the laws infringe on their rights not to have to wear the harness while others may cite examples of people trapped in burning vehicles, but the numbers still show that seat belts save thousands of lives every year. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that someone is injured in a traffic crash every 15 seconds and someone is killed in a crash every 13 minutes.

There are many truck accidents that are unavoidable, but simply remembering to buckle up will minimize injuries and more than likely save lives. Do you or a loved one refuse to wear a seat belt? Why do you do so?

Moore Law Firm – Cincinnati truck accident attorneys

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If you have been injured or have lost a loved one as a result of another person's negligence, you deserve to be fully compensated for your losses. The simple fact is that you should not be forced to pay the price for another person's careless or reckless actions.