The driver of a car ran into oncoming traffic on Kentucky State 7 in Elliott County and hit a pickup with two teenagers inside. The man died and both teens were taken to a hospital in Morehead. Kentucky State Police say that the now deceased driver was heading south, and for an unknown reason, crossed the center line striking the pick-up truck.
EMS personnel pronounced the driver dead at the scene, and State Troopers are still investigation the crash. At the time of this report, there was no indication that alcohol or drugs were a factor.
Head-On Collisions
Head-on crashes carry the speed and momentum of two vehicles and thus are inherently more dangerous. According to the Federal Highway Administration, head-on collisions, also called wrong way driving accidents, are more likely to end in serious injury or fatality. Over 400 people are killed in the United States in head-on collisions making up one percent of the total fatalities, however, the fatality rate per collision is almost 27 percent higher.
Causes of Head-On Collisions
There are some common causes for head-on crashes, some of them are:
- Impaired driving,
- Falling asleep,
- Distracted driving
- Poor signage,
- Darkness/poor visibility to see signs
In a common scenario, a driver drifts over the median and crashes into oncoming traffic. This happens more on two-land rural roads because of the closeness of the vehicles passing each other. Another scenario is incidences of wrong way driving where a driver enters the exit of a freeway or divided highway and runs into an oncoming vehicle. Alcohol is the number one reason for WWD accidents.
Who’s at Fault?
Determining Fault in a head on is sometimes difficult because of the high-impact of the vehicles. The vehicles are often nowhere near where the impact was, and there is debris strewn over the scene. The fault in a head-on collision is of course the driver that is driving on the wrong side of the road, but this isn’t always easy to determine. The accident investigators will do their best and then issue a report, but they are not infallible, and sometimes make mistakes.
Don’t go it Alone
If you’ve been injured in a head-on or any other auto accident, do not take the insurance companies word for anything. It’s their job to pay you as little as possible, and with a head-on, they might use any uncertainty in the accident report to deflect responsibility from their client. Call the attorneys at Kaufman & Stigger, PLLC, and they will stand behind you to make sure that you are treated fairly and that you get the highest compensation allowed by the law.
When you call Kaufman & Stigger, PLLC, at 800 937-8443, you will immediately speak to a member of the legal team and not a message machine. You can also Live Chat with an expert who can immediately began helping you with your claim.
