A fatal pickup truck accident in Texas this weekend may be the most deadly single vehicle accident in history. The pickup truck was transporting 25 people – ten squeezed into the cab of the pickup and 15 in the bed of the truck when it crashed into two trees. An officer who investigated the F-250 truck crash has been an officer for 38 years and indicated that he had never seen a comparable motor vehicle accident with so many people piled into a single vehicle. Thirteen of the vehicle occupants died in the collision while the rest of the vehicle occupants suffered injury. According to media reports, law enforcement officers speculate that the pickup was transporting illegal immigrants, which is why so many people were crammed into the pickup truck.
This terrible tragedy serves as a grim reminder that the many safety features of a motor vehicle are meaningless in a collision if vehicle occupants decline to utilize them. It is never advisable to pack more vehicle occupants into a car, truck or SUV than can be accommodated by vehicle seatbelts. Seatbelts are 56 percent effective in preventing fatalities in collisions involving passenger cars. They are even more effective in preventing fatal injury in vehicle collisions involving other types of vehicles like pickup trucks, vans and SUVs.
Seatbelt use also substantially reduces the risk of serious debilitating injuries by 53 percent. Seatbelts keep vehicle occupants inside a motor vehicle during a collision where they can take advantage of the protective shell of the vehicle. In addition to preventing vehicle ejections, seatbelts also reduce the risk of head trauma suffered when one’s head impacts a steering wheel, dashboard or other hard surface inside the vehicle. Airbags also provide protection from blunt trauma impact and penetration from objects during a collision.
While this safety equipment provides protection from serious injury and wrongful death during a motor vehicle collision, these safety features are meaningless when a vehicle is overloaded beyond the capacity of safety equipment to protect vehicle occupants. Riding in the back of a pickup truck is particularly dangerous because it is especially easy to be catapulted away from the vehicle and slam against the hard surface of the roadway. The truck bed also provides no structural protection from the impact of a serious crash. Although sitting in the bed of a truck can be fun and appealing to kids, you should never allow children to ride in the bed of a pickup even for a short distance or at low speeds on residential streets.
When motor vehicles are overloaded with passengers, the available safety options for vehicle occupants are reduced considerably. The risk of catastrophic injury and wrongful death is always present when traveling in a motor vehicle, the danger increases exponentially when vehicle occupants overload a vehicle and ignore safety equipment. The experienced Mississippi motor vehicle accident attorneys at Barrett Law have been providing effective legal representation to Mississippi auto accident victims for over 75 years. We provide careful investigation, thorough analysis of the law and facts and impassioned advocacy so we invite you to call us today at 662-834-2376 to learn how we can help.