Cross Bronx Crash Leaves One Dead
After he crashed into the back of a truck on the Cross Bronx Expressway, a teen driver died and his passenger was seriously injured. The early-morning crash on October 21 happened when the car came upon a knot of other vehicles stopped in traffic. After the collision with the truck near the Bronx River Parkway, the car hit a guardrail and an SUV. The driver of the car might have been speeding.
The eighteen-year-old driver died at the scene, but the seventeen-year-old passenger was taken to Jacobi Medical Center, where he was later upgraded to stable condition. No one else was injured in the crash.
Speed: A Frequent Factor
Speeding has been a problem for drivers since the invention of the automobile, and as cars have gotten faster, the risk of injury or death in a crash has become greater. Many of the safety features developed and installed on passenger vehicles were because of efforts (often successful) to make crashes less likely—and to make them more survivable when they do happen.
Seat belts, crumple zones, airbags, anti-lock brakes—these and many other advances have saved many thousands of lives over the years.
But human behavior is a complicated thing, and there might never be a simple technical solution that will prevent all drivers from speeding. Some might do it for the thrill or because they’re not paying attention, or they might choose to exceed the speed limit because they’re running late.
Fewer drivers might speed if they all knew the risks. An analysis of 2015 crash data by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that 27 percent of traffic fatalities that year were due to speeding. More than 9,500 of that year’s 32,000 car crash deaths involved at least one vehicle that was exceeding the posted limit at the time of the crash.
Teens and Twenty-Somethings Most at Risk
The victims in this crash were in the demographic most likely to be in a fatal speed-related crash—men under age twenty-four. When someone in that group is in a fatal wreck, there’s about a one in three chance that excessive speed was a factor.
There does not seem to have been any alcohol involvement in this particular crash, but, overall, nearly half (45 percent) of speeding crashes also involved drivers who had been drinking. That’s more than double the rate of non-speeding crashes.
Bronx Car Accident Lawyer
When you have been the victim of a car crash, it’s important to work with a lawyer you can count on when you seek to recover damages. The experienced car accident attorneys at Greenstein & Milbauer, LLP have helped many clients reach successful resolutions in their cases, including claims that center on speed, alcohol, distraction, and may other factors.
Call us today at 1-800-VICTIM2 (842-8462) or complete the contact form below to schedule a free consultation to discuss your situation and learn how we can help.
