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Why accident investigations are important

Fatal car accidents can leave loved ones emotionally devastated. After all, losing a child or parent in an accident changes you forever. As you struggle to move on, you certainly want answers and want the responsible parties to be held accountable. This is why crash investigations are critically important to finding those answers.

No matter how obvious the culprit to the accident may be, an investigation is essential to holding a person criminally or civilly liable for their actions. The recent crash on Interstate 5 in Glenn County is a prime example. While it may seem like a safe assumption to believe that FedEx was responsible for the crash, since it crossed the center divide and crashed into the bus, this notion may not be so clear cut.

Questions must be answered as to whether it was purely driver error (i.e. the driver was distracted and lost track of where he was on the road), some mechanical failure that caused him to lose control, such as a hydraulic braking failure, or whether a separate accident caused the driver to veer into northbound traffic.

The answers to these questions could have significant legal implications. For example, if the truck had missed or repeated failed safety inspections, and a mechanical failure was found to be the primary cause of the crash, FedEx could face liability. The company could see a number of wrongful death lawsuits from the loved ones of the 10 people killed in the accident.

As such, after a fatal car crash, an investigation can help answer the questions that can lead to accountability.

Source:ABC News.com “Bus immediately engulfed in flames after collision with FedEx truck,” Colleen Curry, April 11, 2014

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