Not a week goes by that we do not see a significant number of road debris items laying in the middle of Georgia highways. Whether it is an old mattress, furniture, tools, chain, truck tie-down straps or whatever, these items on the highway often result serious injury or death to innocent motorists who encounter and try to avoid them.
In October of 2008, a woman, trying to avoid road debris, died instantly in a single car crash. The accident happened at about 7:30 a.m. in the westbound lane of Interstate 285 in north Atlanta, Georgia. The victim tried to avoid a truck bed liner in the highway when she hit a median wall.
In July of 2010, a Canadian woman died when a brake drum broke free from a large commercial truck was struck by the wheel of a tractor trailer and thrown into the air and through the woman’s windshield, striking her in the head.
Motorists are responsible for securing whatever cargo they are transporting on or with a vehicle. A motorist’s failure to do so will result in their being held liable for all damages that result from an automobile accident, motorcycle accident or any other motor vehicle accident caused by the debris being in the roadway. Although sometimes it is difficult to identify the owner of the debris or the person responsible for it being on the roadway, it may not be impossible. Most of the time, law enforcement officials will use all of the resources available to them to determine the responsible party.
If you or a loved one have been seriously injured as a result of being involved in a motor vehicle accident which was caused by someone’s negligent failure to secure a load, call the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP. We have been representing the injury victims for over 40 years.
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