Speed limits are posted for a reason. This teen driver did not think they applied to him.
There are some days where it is not even safe to have a nap on the couch in your living room. You never know what might come through the wall. Consider this reported case of an 8-year-old, having a nap on the living room sofa, when a car came off the highway and slammed into the house. It smashed into a wall, just mere inches from the young girl’s head.
It is an awful story, but unfortunately, a typical one; one that is played out in hundreds of other locations across America. The cause of this bizarre accident and near miss? Speeding and not paying attention to the posted limit in the area by the house. The 18-year-old that was driving at the time of the accident was ripping through a 45 mph zone, doing between 70 and 80 mph. Speed limits are posted for a reason. Evidently the teen thought they did not apply to him.
But there is more to this story. Not only did the car plow through the wall of the house trailer, it first smacked into the family’s truck, shoving it a good 25 to 30 feet, and then launched itself onto the porch and rammed through the wall. The home’s owner, a trained paramedic, frantically searched for his daughter before finding her safe on the couch just inches from the car. He then offered aid to the passenger in the car and the driver. They were transported to local hospitals for care.
If the truck had not been in the way and slowed the car down, it would have plowed clear through the mobile home and could have seriously injured or killed the three family members inside. According to the home owner, the stretch of road in front of their house seems to be a common area where drivers speed.
End results? Two injured people in the car, a wrecked mobile home and one scared little girl. The passenger in the car definitely has a cause of action to seek compensation for her injuries as the driver was careless and reckless, not to mention negligent. Should it turn out that the car went out of control because of a mechanical failure that would be another issue altogether. In this instance, it was confirmed the driver was speeding.
Pay attention to the rules of the road, because when you don’t, you won’t like the consequences, and the aftermath of a crash may haunt you for the rest of your life. Negligence is the cause of more than 100,000 traffic fatalities every year. If you do not want to become a statistic or seriously injure or kill another person, smarten up and drive safely.
Charlie Donahue is a New Hampshire personal injury lawyer located in Keene. Donahue handles injury cases in New Hampshire and across the United States. To learn more about New Hampshire injury attorney, Charlie Donahue, visit Donahuelawfirm.com.
