Woman Seriously Injured in Accident With Tow Truck on Mathews Bridge in Jacksonville
A woman crashed into a tow truck that was clearing vehicles from a prior accident on the Mathews Bridge in Jacksonville, Florida and was seriously injured according to an article on News4Jax.com. It is not exactly clear how the accident occurred, but presumably, the tow truck was stopped in one of the lanes on the bridge and the woman's car crashed into it while it was involved in clearing the previous accident.
Normally, an accident where a moving vehicle strikes a stopped vehicle, often from behind, is the fault of the driver of the moving vehicle. However, that is not always the case. When tractor trailers and other trucks are stopped on the road, they are supposed to alert other drivers that they are stopped well in advance of their location. This is particularly true at night or on roadways that have curves or inclines because drivers do not normally expect vehicles to be stopped on the roads and need time to react, especially on higher speed limit roads. If there are any visibility problems in the area, a perfectly alert driver may crash into a stopped vehicle because he/she did not have enough time to see the stopped vehicle and react. This occurs fairly often on the highway or other rural roads with high speed limits and average or poor lighting when semi trucks stall on, or partially on, the road and the driver fails to set up flares or reflectors alerting other drivers of their location. Semi trucks and trailers are very difficult to see at night and can be very dangerous if stopped on the roadway without proper markings.
When personal injury and wrongful death attorneys represent clients in cases involving a vehicle running into a stopped truck or other vehicle, it is important to look at exactly where and how the vehicle was stopped, under what conditions the crash occurred and what the driver of the stopped vehicle did or did not do to alert other drivers.
