Georgia Car Accidents -- Exiting Vehicle after Highway Collision can be Fatal
Three people were killed in two separate highway car accidents last week in Atlanta and north Georgia after they exited their vehicles after minor car accidents. In the first incident, 2 young women, one the mother of an eleven month old daughter, were killed Saturday January 30 when struck by a tow truck coming to the scene of a minor accident on I-20 near I-75. I have attached a CBS Atlanta video about the incident.
According to an AJC on line article, the second incident occurred on the evening of Friday February 5 on I-575 in Cherokee county. In the second incident, the driver of a vehicle involved in an earlier car accident had exited his vehicle and was standing in the median when a tractor trailer that veered to avoid the first collision struck and killed him.
As an Atlanta car accident and tractor trailer attorney, it saddens me because these types of tragic deaths can be avoided in most situations. Indeed, the family of the young mother in the Friday night incident stated in an interview on cbsatlanta.com that they believe that had she and her friend stayed in the vehicle, they would be alive today. That may very well be true.
If you are involved in an accident on a highway, you should follow some basic safety rules:
1. If possible, safely move the vehicles as far as possible off the roadway.
2. If you are capable, and as soon as you are out of harms way, call 911.
3. Stay in your vehicle until emergency personnel make the scene safe and tell you to exit your vehicle (even if your vehicle is off the roadway).
4. If you feel you must exit your vehicle, be extremely careful doing so and move as far away from your vehicle, traffic and danger as possible.
Following these simple rules can save your life. We cannot second guess if the 3 victims last week would not have been killed had they stayed in their vehicles. But nothing I read about the incidents indicated to me that the vehicles they exited were in any way further damaged after the original collisions.
Regardless, the families of the victims need to know their legal rights. This will be especially true for family of the young mother who left behind an eleven month old daughter. The fact that the drivers and passenger exited their vehicles does not mean that the drivers of the vehicles that ran them down are not liable for the deaths. If the drivers were in anyway negligent for the killings, the families of the deceased may be entitled to wrongful death damages.
In Georgia, good wrongful death attorneys know the survivors of a person wrongfully killed are entitled to recover the medical bills, funeral bills, pain and suffering and the full value of the life of the deceased. The value of these damages can be significant, often exceeding a million dollars. Hopefully, once they are able to begin to move on and heal from the deaths of their loved ones, the families of these deceased will talk to competent accident injury lawyers to discuss their rights.
