Dixon Double Fatality Rollover Crash
I’m Ed Smith, a Dixon personal injury attorney. While it’s easy to assume that the most catastrophic of automobile accidents typically involve multiple vehicles or collisions with obstructions in the road, highway barriers, or other stationary objects, very serious wrecks can and do occur in situations in which a vehicle operates in isolation. Inclement, safety-threatening weather may make for a slippery or uneven driving surface or for low and obstructed visibility, while distracted driving due to focus on some other activity in the vehicle, technical malfunction, and of course the presence of alcohol or other drugs, can all lay the conditions for a serious single vehicle incident. Although there is typically more ample opportunity for the driver to self-correct and spare himself and his passengers serious harm in situations where no obstacles, moving or otherwise, are directly present in the vicinity of the vehicle, there are plenty of cases in which the loss of control is great enough that little such possibility presents itself.
Details of Dixon Double Fatality Rollover Crash
Some set of circumstances of the above sort – though we remain unsure exactly which at this point – tragically set in motion such a single vehicle incident in the wee hours of Sunday morning: A 2003 Toyota Tundra was traveling – not at high speed, but at a typical and comfortable 65 mph, it is estimated – east toward Sacramento along a stretch of interstate 80 just outside of Dixon at a few minutes before 2:30 a.m. on Sunday. For reasons that as yet remain unknown and even somewhat mysterious – though it is possible considering the hour that fatigue or a tilt into sleepiness behind the wheel may have been involved – the Tundra began to waver from its conscientious between-the-lines path and to veer toward the shoulder of the road. It has not been reported specifically which lane the Tundra was traveling in at the time of the loss of focus, but the evidence as detailed by the basic agreed-upon information reported by local media outlets suggest that the slow lane is most likely, since the Toyota was able to reach the gravel of the road’s shoulder before any correction was attempted.
Location of Crash – Northbound branch of State Road 113
Once the truck reached the gravel, however, the driver of the vehicle became aware of the danger and attempted to reorient his pickup to a safe and central position on the interstate. This took place just before the exit for the Northbound branch of State Road 113. Whether what followed was purely a result of over-correction and a too-fast attempt at regaining position or some other factor (mechanical or otherwise) is yet to be determined: The attempt to veer left back into the road somehow caused the truck’s center of gravity to shift disastrously; the pickup left the ground briefly as the top tumbled down and the bottom up. It is believed that the Tundra made several complete rolls before grinding itself to a stop in the highway.
The truck was full that evening, with three passengers in addition to the driver. The driver of the vehicle – an Elk Grove man of 71 years – and the passenger sitting directly behind him – a Sacramento woman of 69 – both suffered fatal injuries and were deceased before first responders reached them. They were both on the side of the vehicle which suffered the first and most intense impact from the rolls. The injuries of the other two passengers – fully identified as Maria Dixon and Marina Soto, 62 and 51, both of Elk Grove – have been reported as “non-life threatening”. The only other information yet released by the California Highway Patrol is the definitive ruling out of drugs or alcohol as the culprits in the incident.
Dixon Wrongful Death and Personal Injury Attorney
I’m Ed Smith, a Dixon personal injury lawyer. If you or someone you love has been severely injured or killed in an accident, please call me at (707) 564-1900 or (800) 404-5400 for free and friendly advice.
I’ve been helping families in Elk Grove and Dixon recover compensation for their damages since 1982.
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Source of Dixon Double Fatality Rollover Crash – http://fox40.com/2016/09/18/2-dead-2-injured-in-rollover-crash-in-dixon/
:RW