Normally quiet Bedford County, Virginia (VA), was the scene of a deadly head-on collision on November 6, 2011. According to state troopers, a Jeep carrying four people crossed the center line of VA Highway 24 and slammed into a van. The two people in the Jeep and a passenger in the van lost their lives. Four others sustained serious injures.
Coming just two days after another fatal head-on crash in Hampton, VA, the wreck in the largely rural area between Lynchburg and Roanoke shows how no drivers or passengers can ever assume they are safe. A mechanical failure, a moment’s inattention, speeding around a corner or through a turn, or swerving to avoid an object the road can all cause a car, truck, SUV or motorcycle to leave its own lane and hit another vehicle — too often with tragic consequences.
While it is too soon to know why the Jeep wound up in the path of oncoming traffic, if investigators determine that the driver was acting recklessly or negligently, the injured victims and family members of the deceased could have grounds for making personal injury and wrongful death claims against the at-fault driver’s insurance.
EJL