Utah Law Talk

A family from Sandy, Utah, lost three of its members following a car accident near Farson, Wyoming this past Thursday, February 26, 2009. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, the Gustafson family was traveling to Powell, Wyoming, to watch an older daughter’s basketball game. The driver of the vehicle, 49-year-old Eric Gustafson, lost control of the Ford Excursion he was driving on Highway 28, about 33 miles east of Farson, Wyoming. From reports, the vehicle lost traction on snowy and icy roads and slid off the road, rolling four times down an embankment. Luanne Gustafson, 48 years old, was partially ejected out of the car and Jaret Gustafson, 76 years of age, was fully ejected. Jaret Gustafson is believed to have been the only one in the Ford who was not wearing a seatbelt. Another family member, Diane Gustafson, 73, died the next day from a heart attack. Officials are not sure whether it was related to the car crash, but the family believes that knowing her husband had passed on that she may have wanted to join him. Others in the car, including the driver and three kids ranging from 9 to 16 years old, were treated at a local Wyoming hospital and released.
This is a tragic story. It provides a few lessons, though, for us to learn from. First, always wear your seatbelt when you are in the car. Rear seat passengers are not insulated from harm just because they are not riding in the front. The driver needs to make sure all of his or her passengers are buckled up. Second, spend a little extra money and outfit your vehicle with snow tires. I would venture to say that most of the slide-offs we hear about would not happen if the vehicle had good quality snow tires. Motorists, of course, still need to maintain safe speeds on snowy or icy roads. Although you have to factor in the cost of the initial mounting and end-of-season change over, snow tires are still cheap insurance to reduce the risk that your car may slide off the road.
The family should be aware that there are benefits available under the vehicle’s insurance policy, including modest funeral benefits. They should contact their agent to get an explanation of the benefits and then make a claim with insurance carrier. My condolences to the family.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 28th, 2009 at 2:09 pm and is filed under Pedestrian Accidents, Vehicle Injury. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.