Personal Injury Law

Chain reaction crash sends two to hospital

By Ryan Bradley, Esq.

A Missouri car accident involving three cars occurred Friday afternoon on Interstate 44 and sent two people to the hospital.

According to the initial crash report filed by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, traffic on the highway began to back up due to an earlier accident. Thomas Mayfield, 21, stopped his 2006 Honda at the end of the line of cars. Behind him was Joyce Morris, 52, who was unable to avoid hitting Mayfield's car with her 1994 Mercury. Moments later, a second collision occurred when Logan Harris, 20, slammed his 1998 Jeep into the back of Morris' car. The force of the second impact sent Morris' car into Mayfield's for a second time.

Both Morris and Harris were taken to local hospitals for treatment. Mayfield did not sustain serious injury.

The initial crash report did not say why Morris or Harris were unable to stop their cars before colliding with the traffic ahead of them. No citations were listed on the crash report.

Usually negligence on the part of the at-fault driver is assumed in Missouri rear-end collision cases. This is because every driver is responsible for the road ahead of him or her and should always be in control of where the car is going. Many times these crashes are caused by driver inattention. A person will be distracted by a cell phone or the radio and not see cars stopping ahead on the road. The true cause of an accident is often not found in the initial crash report, which is why it is sometimes necessary to consult a Missouri car accident attorney to help investigate your case.

Full post as published by Missouri Accident Lawyer Blog on April 03, 2010 (boomark / email).