There are many dangerous decisions people make while driving. They speed, get distracted by their phones, fail to check for pedestrians when making turns or drive when they’ve had too much to drink.
Even a single bad decision behind the wheel has the potential to cause a catastrophic crash, but when one unsafe move is followed by others, the likelihood of a serious accident can increase. This appears to be what happened in a recent and tragic Denver accident in which two people were killed.
According to news reports, the accident began with authorities responding to calls that a driver, sitting in traffic, had fallen asleep in his car. When firefighters approached the car to try and talk to the driver, he decided to speed away.
The driver then raced off and only stopped after he smashed into three cars, according to witnesses on the scene. Two people died in the crash and six others were transported to the hospital with serious injuries.
The combination of the driver’s sleepiness, his decision to flee from responders and the fact that he was speeding and unable to control his vehicle might suggest that he should not have been driving at the time. It is unknown if factors like drug use or intoxication were a factor in this crash, but it will be crucial to determine why so many bad decisions were made so that victims and their families can identify who and what was responsible for the crash.
The grief and shock of losing someone in this type of accident can be extraordinary. Survivors can be left feeling helpless, angry and lost. However, there are legal remedies that may be available that can make recovering from this type of loss a little bit easier. While a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit cannot bring a loved one back, it may result in compensation, accountability and closure which can all be crucial in helping people begin to rebuild their lives.
Source: CBS Denver, “2 Killed In 4-Vehicle Crash That Began As Report Of Driver Asleep At The Wheel,” Jan. 3, 2016