Overcorrection Can Be Fatal in Auto Accidents

I've often wondered what would cause a driver to suddenly veer out of their lane and into oncoming traffic. As a Virginia personal injury attorney I do a lot of research on these types of accidents and I discovered that it's usually the result of overcorrection which is a leading type of fatal crashes. Overcorrection is simply over steering in reaction to an event, and the loss of control to the reaction of the vehicle. This is what happened yesterday in Tazewell County, Virginia (VA) when a man was killed after his vehicle crossed the median of a highway and was struck by a tractor-trailer Tuesday morning.

The driver was in his early twenties and was driving his Dodge Dakota pickup truck southbound on Route 19/460 when the vehicle ran off the right side of the road. He then over-corrected, causing the vehicle to go through the median. The vehicle overturned in the median and then slid into the southbound lane, where it was struck by a tractor-trailer. The collision happened on Route 19/460, just a mile north of Route 639, the spokesperson said.

There was no report yet if the driver of the tractor-trailer suffered any injuries as a result of the collision. My thoughts go out to the family of the young man but also to the driver of the tractor-trailer.  He may have suffered injuries and at the very least his truck will be damaged which is most likely his primary source of income.

Drivers on any two-way highway must stay on their side of the road in order to keep themselves and everyone else safe and alive. A moment's distraction, speeding around a curve, passing other vehicles unsafely and even falling asleep at the wheel because of fatigue can put cars and trucks in the wrong lane at the wrong time and in exactly the wrong place -- in the path of another oncoming car or truck.

CA