It is that time of the year again, when summer is coming to a close and many Baltimore-area young adults are getting ready for college to begin. The start of a new school year is often met with feelings of excitement and anxiety, whether it is a person’s first experience at college or whether the person is returning for another school year.
Unfortunately, this exciting time can be stripped away from some individuals when tragic incidents occur. For example, one college student was killed in a fatal accident last year as she and others were traveling back from a football game.
The accident was allegedly caused by an individual who was extremely fatigued when he took the wheel of a pickup truck. After the truck made an illegal turn, it was struck by a charter bus carrying cheerleaders from the game, and the truck spun around and was hit head-on by a third vehicle. The student died three days after the accident.
The student’s family brought a cause of action after the incident for wrongful death against the driver and the owner of the vehicle. The case recently settled for an undisclosed amount.
Individuals connected with the suit are now trying to raise awareness about the dangers of fatigued driving. Drivers who are operating with little or no sleep pose unique risks to themselves and others on the road, given their slower response times and inattentiveness to details. Indeed, fatigued driving has been compared to drunk driving in this respect, as both conditions can make the driver a danger to others on the road.
Where prevention does not happen, and accidents occur, the injured person and their family may have a cause of action for the injuries or death against the driver of the other vehicle involved. Cases like these illustrate why it is imperative to investigate all details of a crash, to determine whether another driver was not only under the influence of alcohol or drugs, but if that person had little or no sleep that played a part in the accident and resulted in a lack of care exercised by the driver.