Utah Law Talk

Four people are seriously injured tonight in Salt Lake County, Utah, when a Mustang came into the opposite lane of travel and struck a Jeep Cherokee carrying a man, his wife, and their 5-year old child. According to KSL News, this car accident happened on Utah State Highway 111 near 7000 South around 5:30 p.m. on February 3, 2009. According to police, there may be some witnesses who say that the driver of the Mustang may have been distracted. All persons involved in this crash have sustained serious, life-threatening injuries.

The driver of the Mustang was removed by the jaws of life after a passerby used his personal fire extinguisher to put out a fire in the Mustang. Kudos to this brave and quick-thinking individual for saving this guy’s life! The family in the Jeep were more easily removed and transported to area hospitals, with the 5 year-old being first taken to Pioneer Valley Hospital and then flown to Primary Children’s Hospital. All of the family’s injuries are said to be life threatening. Our best wishes to this family for a speedy recovery.

I have been chided in the past by some readers when I offer my opinion as to who is to blame for the various car accidents I comment on. Being a Utah personal injury attorney, however, I weigh in on an almost daily basis on who is to blame on any given car accident. In this case, the facts very clearly point to the Mustang driver being responsible for this crash. Obviously, when someone comes head-on at you – in your lane of travel – there is a serious violation of Utah’s driving rules. Many head-on accidents in Utah end up being fatal accidents. Luckily that wasn’t the case here.

I also feel in this car accident that the Mustang driver was distracted. I see no other explanation, besides perhaps a vehicle defect, as to why he would be driving in the opposite lane of travel. I’m sure law enforcement and/or the county attorney will review cell phone records to see if cell phone use or texting played any role in this serious car accident.

Published by: Ron Kramer

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 at 2:40 pm and is filed under Childrens Injuries, 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.