The Dangers of Head-on Collisions in Delaware

If you have been injured in an auto accident caused by the negligence of another driver, or if you have lost a loved one in an accident, we are here to help you. At the law offices of Silverman, McDonald & Friedman, our compassionate auto accident attorneys in Newark, Seaford, Wilmington help people throughout Delaware who have suffered an injury or who have lost a loved one in an accident caused by someone else’s negligence.

On November 9, 2016, a Pennsylvania woman was traveling westbound on Lancaster Pike in Hockessin, not far from Wilmington Road, when local police reported that her SUV crossed the center line and veered into the eastbound lanes, where it struck a truck head-on and burst into flames. The impact of the crash caused the truck to cross the westbound lane, crash through the guard rail and it came to rest in the bottom of an embankment. The driver of the SUV was found dead at the scene. The driver of the truck, also from Pennsylvania, was taken by Newark paramedics to Christiana Hospital in Stanton with minor injuries. Police report that the driver of the ruck was not wearing a seat belt. According to a story in the Delaware Free News, the police are still investigating whether the SUV driver was wearing a seat belt, and if alcohol or drugs might have been a factor in the crash.

Head-on crashes are often serious and far more deadly than other types of traffic accidents. The speed of the two vehicles at the moment they collide with each other determines the extent of the property damage and injuries. The head-on crash in Hockessin occurred too recently to know what might have caused the driver of the SUV to veer across the center line of a divided roadway and crash into an oncoming truck. It was broad daylight when the crash occurred on a clear, autumn weekday morning.

Common causes of head-on crashes

There are several factors that cause head-on car accidents, and almost all of them involve some form of driver error and inattention:

• Distracted drivers allow their attention to be distracted from the task of driving. Things such as texting on a mobile device, eating, drinking, applying makeup, fiddling with the GPS–these activities divide the driver’s attention between driving and something else. Taking your eyes off the road for just a few seconds is long enough for the vehicle to veer out of its lane and crash into oncoming traffic.
• Drunk or drugged driving— Depending on how much the driver has had to drink, the alcohol or drugs impair the driver’s reaction time. The foggy brain of someone who has had too much to drink also has difficulty gauging the distance and direction of the traffic around them.
• Drowsy drivers who try to drive despite feeling exhausted and sleepy, yet they think that they are capable of steering a vehicle safely are likely to fall asleep and lose control of the vehicle.
• Senior drivers who have diminished vision and slower reflexes can become confused behind the wheel and crash into fast moving oncoming traffic.

The role of technology in preventing head-on and other traffic crashes

Because most auto accidents are caused by some form of driver error, auto makers continue to come up with ways in which technology can help keep drivers safe and alive behind the wheel. When you think about it, a driver’s attention to the task of driving is what keeps them from colliding with the other vehicles and obstacles around them. These technology solutions can stand in for the driver’s attention and keep the vehicle on course.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has a feature on its website about the various crash avoidance technologies that work in the background to keep drivers safe on the road. Features such as autonomous braking and steering use radar, lasers, cameras and other sensors to detect when the vehicle is beginning to drift out of its lane or if there is a collision or another obstacle up ahead. Adaptive headlights can adjust to driving conditions and blind spot detection can give the driver visibility where they did not have it before and warn them of what could happen. With front crash avoidance systems, when the system detects the possibility for a collision, it warns the driver with an audible and then sometimes a visual alert and other sensory alerts such as tightening the seat belt. If the driver does not respond to those alerts, some systems pre-charge the brakes and then apply the brakes to either avoid or mitigate a crash. These technologies are part of the evolution toward autonomous vehicles. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) estimates that crash avoidance technologies could potentially eliminate about 60 percent of traffic crashes. The NTSB wants these technologies such as forward collision warning, lane departure warning systems, speed limiting technology, and electronic stability control systems to be made mandatory.

Please call Silverman, McDonald & Friedman today at 302.414.5553 or fill out our contact form to schedule a free consultation, if you have been injured in an auto accident. Our attorneys in our Wilmington, Newark and Seaford offices may be able to help.

Related:

• Catastrophic Injuries and Death in Traffic Accidents
• Injuries and Fatalities from Wrong-Way Drivers in Delaware