State police have announced that a woman blamed for a fatal Westchester car accident was going 85 mph and traveling the wrong way on a New York freeway when she slammed into an SUV.
The Associated Press reported that the SUV was also speeding, traveling 74 mph in an area where the speed limit is 55. The information was released nearly a year after the deadly July 26 crash that killed eight people on the Taconic Parkway in Westchester County north of New York City.
The accident killed the driver of the van, her daughter, three nieces and three men in the SUV. The crash, and how the van’s driver could race the wrong way down the freeway with a van full of frightened children in heavy traffic, made national news for months. An autopsy revealed that the 36-year-old woman was drunk and high on marijuana.
Two wrongful death lawsuits have been filed by two of the men who were killed in the SUV. The fact that the SUV was speeding could result in lawsuits being filed against the estate of the SUV’s driver as well.
Speeding and drunk driving are two of the primary causes of serious and fatal car accidents in New York and nationwide. Together, speeding and drunk driving were responsible for two-thirds of the nation’s car accidents in 2008, claiming more than 23,000 lives.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that speeding was responsible for one-third of all fatal accidents, claiming 11,674 lives. Drunk driving accidents accounted for another one-third of all fatal traffic accidents and killed 11,773 motorists.
If you have been injured in a car accident in the New York City or Long Island areas, contact the Law Offices of Nicholas Rose to discuss your rights. Call 718.261.0549.
