Read the local news this morning, and it sounds like a warzone out there:
In Seymour, Indiana, a teenage boy was riding his bicycle home really early on Sunday morning, hauling his 17-year-old buddy with him on the bike – when they were hit by a pickup truck. One was killed, the other teen sustained severe head injuries.
On Friday morning, Lake County prosecutors filed hit and run charges against a 35-year-old driver whose vehicle hit a construction worker who was busy on the job, filling in potholes at the intersection of I-80 and Ripley Street. Open and closed containers of beer were found in the driver’s Mercury Cougar, and now he’s facing 2 felonies and around 15 years in jail.
Early Sunday morning, a 49-year-old Union Mills man decided to drive his car at speeds between 80 and 100 mph (according to the accident experts) for some unknown reason. He had left family in LaPorte and was heading home. The driver crashed, his car flipping and rolling from Indiana 39 into the LaPorte Municipal Airport, where it landed on the runway. The driver was thrown from the vehicle during the crash, and his body was found almost 500 feet away. He wasn’t drunk, and he wasn’t wearing a seat belt.
Just the day before, another driver crashed his car into the fence that borders the Lakeside Correctional Center over at the Indiana State Prison. This 26-year-old driver is reported to have been driving his Chrysler Concorde over the speed limit, when he lost control of the car and crashed through the fence, slamming into a pine tree, and sliding down an embankment.
Saturday afternoon, there was a big pile-up over in Steuben County, with a number of cars involved, and lots of injuries. In Toledo, a SUV flipped over. In Mount Vernon, a car careened down an embankment at the intersection of Indiana 69 and William Keck Bypass, injuring several people – including some kids.
There’s more. But let’s stop here and consider what’s going on. It’s not a fluke, there’s no rash of car accidents suddenly hitting the news reports.
The sad reality is that car accidents occur 24/7 in our local area. Sometimes, people die. Other times, people are seriously injured and lives are permanently changed — the lives of the victims, and their loved ones.
Read the stories that are linked here. None of these people thought they would be in a crash.
- The teenagers going home on Saturday night had plans for their lives, for this summer.
- The construction worker filling potholes when he got hit by that car had loved ones who never thought he’d never come home when he left for work that morning.
- The men who lost control of their cars and died in car crashes could be alive today, we can assume they thought they would be.
Personal injury lawyers that help clients with claims involving serious injury and death in motor vehicle accidents may know the statistics better than others do – it’s a part of the job to keep up to date with accident information – but the public should be aware of this stuff, too.
When you watch those car commercials, or take a date to the latest flashy road race movie, driving seems fun and fast and thrilling. Don’t be fooled.
Driving a motor vehicle is a serious matter. Don’t drink when you drive. Don’t ignore safety measures. Don’t speed or road race. Your life, and the lives of others, really is at stake.
Be safe out there.
