A post-holiday news release from the Oregon State Police notes that the state recorded three Oregon fatal car crashes over the just-concluded Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The statement notes that this represents an increase over the same period during the last two years. Only two people died on Oregon’s roads over the 2009 Thanksgiving weekend, an identical figure to 2008. The statement noted, however, that the number of Oregon car crashes troopers responded to skyrocketed this year: “troopers reported responding to over 300 traffic crashes, nearly 2-1/2 times the number reported during last year’s Thanksgiving holiday period,” the statement said.
The statement noted that icy road conditions, particularly in Eastern Oregon, were a factor in all three of the state’s fatal holiday weekend accidents. The unusually high number of non-fatal crashes, however, are a special cause for concern as the vast majority of them cannot be attributed to bad weather.
In Gearhart, for example, a 21-year-old driver was cited by police on Thanksgiving Day for his role in a two-car accident that left one person seriously enough injured to require medical evacuation to Portland.
According to a report in The Oregonian, that accident took place when the 21-year-old, Britt Cutright of Columbia City, hit another car while attempting to make what state police described as a dangerous left turn into the northbound lane of US-101. Cutright was uninjured, as was the driver of the other car, but two of her four passengers were hurt. The one who required transportation all the way to Portland was only 18 years old.
An incident like this is a reminder that accountability for reckless drivers does not end with a police citation. Victims of accidents such as these should contact an Oregon car crash attorney as soon as possible following the incident to explore their options and discuss the best way to obtain justice in the wake of injuries, mental trauma or damage to their vehicle or other property.
The Oregonian: Serious injury accident on Oregon coast injures two, with one sent to Portland hospital
Oregon State Police News Release: Preliminary Post-Thanksgiving Holiday Period Statistics