A driver and his passenger – identified as 39-year-old Jason Booth and Guillermo Gutierrez, 33 – sustained injuries in a car accident after another vehicle struck them from behind. The Colusa County Sun-Herald reports that the injury collision occurred the morning of August 18, 2010 on Highway 20 at O'Hair Road.
Booth, who was driving a Ford truck, was stopped at the intersection to make a left turn with his turn signal on when he was rear-ended by a vehicle whose driver was identified as 36-year-old Ruben Medina. Booth and Gutierrez were hospitalized with injuries, but they are expected to survive. Medina was not injured.
Colusa County Car Accident Statistics
There were no fatalities, but 12 injuries involving car accidents reported in Colusa in 2008, according to California Highway Patrol's Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS). In Colusa County as a whole, six people were killed and 138 people sustained personal injuries as a result of car accidents in 2008.
Laws and Liability Issues
If the details of this news report are accurate, it seems to me that Medina may have been traveling too fast given the conditions. The news report states that Booth had stopped to make the left turn and had the signal on at the time. California Vehicle Code Section 22350 (Basic Speed Law) states: "No person shall drive a vehicle upon a highway at a speed greater than is reasonable or prudent having due regard for weather, visibility, the traffic and on surface and width of, the highway, and in no event at a speed which endangers the safety of persons or property."
Where negligence or wrongdoing is apparent in a car accident, injured victims can seek compensation to cover medical expenses loss of wages, cost of hospitalization, physical therapy, pain and suffering, and other related damages. Victims in such cases would be well-advised to contact a reputed California personal injury lawyer, who will better inform them about their legal rights and options.
What are some precautions you take as a driver to avoid rear-end collisions?
