Last month, two single vehicle car accidents resulted in fatalities on New Jersey roadways.
Man Dies After Car Hits Construction Vehicle Parked on Street
On April 22, 2015, a serious car accident near a construction project resulted in one man’s death and 3 others being seriously injured. A BMW rammed into a front-end bucket loader parked in the middle of Market Street in Paterson, New Jersey. There were 3 passengers in the car. The driver had to be extricated from the car. The front passenger died as the result of the accident, and the two back passengers sustained serious injuries.
Due to a construction project, the front-end bucket loader had been parked in the middle of Market Street for a week. What caused the driver to ram into the construction vehicle is still under investigation.
High School Senior Dies After NJ Car Accident
On the same day, an 18 year old Emerson High School senior also died after a single car accident. A 17 year old female driver, who also went to Emerson High School, was driving the 18 year old senior and a 15 year old male passenger.
The 17 year old lost control of her Nissan Pathfinder, which ran off the road and flipped numerous times before finally coming to a stop. The 18 year old, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, was ejected from the vehicle. When the emergency responders arrived to the accident scene, she was found on the road suffering from head injuries. She was transported to the trauma center at Hackensack University Medical Center and died later in the hospital.
According to other students at the high school, the 18 year old and the driver were best friends and always together.
The 17 year old driver has since turned herself in and was charged with juvenile delinquency. She faces up to four years in a juvenile correctional facility if she is convicted.
Though the prosecutor’s office could have charged the driver as an adult, she was charged as a juvenile because drugs/alcohol do not appear to have been a factor in the accident.
However, the cause of the accident, i.e., what caused the driver to lost control of her vehicle, is being investigated.
Legal Consequences
In single car accidents, such as the above accidents, drivers may be sued by injured passengers and/or deceased passengers’ families in a NJ car accident lawsuit or NJ wrongful death lawsuit.
The drivers are liable for single car accidents if they were negligent while operating their vehicles. Acts of negligence vary and may consist of the following:
- texting on their phones while driving,
- talking on their phones while driving, and
- driving too fast or speeding.
In such lawsuits, injured passengers are typically suing someone they know, and the litigation process can be overwhelming and difficult for the injured victims. Injured passengers should talk to a NJ car accident lawyer to inquire about their legal rights.
FREE legal consultations. 800.281.8695
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Sources:
- www.northjersey.com (Passenger killed, 3 others injured after car crashes into bucket loader in Paterson; Driver charged with juvenile delinquency in crash that killed Emerson HS senior)
- www.nj.com (Emerson High School senior killed in car crash)
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