Wrong Way Collision Causes Multi-Vehicle Pileup

Horry County witnessed a devastating collision last month.  Mikkhail Coleman was driving on the wrong side of S.C. 9 near Longs when he collided head on with a car that was traveling in the right direction.  The impact caused one of the two cars to hit a third vehicle.  One of the three cars overturned, and rescuers had to use the Jaws of Life to get one person out of a car where the person was trapped.  Gary Rodgers died from injuries sustained in the collision, and four other people were injured seriously enough to require hospitalization.  Rodgers was 68 years old.  Coleman, 46, is facing criminal charges for DUI resulting in death.  He was arrested at the scene of the accident, but he posted his $25,000 bond, so as of August 2024, he is free on bond while his case is pending.  If you suffered serious injuries in an accident where a driver was going in the wrong direction in your lane of traffic, contact a Columbia car accident lawyer.

If a Driver Drives on the Wrong Side of the Road, Is It the Road’s Fault?

Head-on collisions tend to cause more serious injuries and have a higher rate of fatalities than other types of collisions such as rear end collisions and sideswipes.  Part of the reason for this is that roads are designed in a way that effectively prevents cars from colliding head on.  Each lane of traffic allows cars to travel in only one direction; as long as cars stay in their own lane, there is no chance of a frontal collision, but errors in judgment of the other car’s speed can lead to rear-end collisions.  Likewise, in multi-lane roads, a median divides the lanes going in one direction from the lanes going in the other direction.  Therefore, collisions where one car strikes another while merging into an adjacent lane are common, but frontal collisions are not.  On narrow roads where there is only one lane, traffic lights indicate which direction cars may pass through the one-lane area.

In other words, frontal collisions only happen when a driver makes an egregious error.  People do not cross the center lane of traffic or drive on the wrong side of the median unless they are unaware of their surroundings.  At fault drivers in frontal collisions are more likely to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs than in other types of collisions.  The exception is where the lanes of traffic are not clearly marked to show which go in which direction, such as if there is no double yellow line in the middle, or if the area is so poorly lit that drivers cannot see where the lanes begin and end.

Let Us Help You Today

The personal injury lawyers at the Stanley Law Group can help you if you got injured in an accident where a drunk driver was driving in the wrong lane of traffic.  Contact The Stanley Law Group in Columbia, South Carolina or call (803)799-4700 for a free initial consultation.

Source:

myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/article290507344.html