Oregon Injury Lawyer Blog
Television station KOIN, citing the Oregon State Police, reports on a two-vehicle head-on Oregon car crash over the weekend near Rainier, Oregon on the Columbia River, north of Portland.
The station reports that at about 10:30pm last Friday a pick-up truck traveling “southbound on Highway 30 near milepost 44” collided in a head-on motor vehicle accident with a northbound passenger car. The Oregon crash took place as the truck moved over into the left lane to pass another vehicle. The driver and four of the five people traveling in the car were injured, KOIN reports.
Where this becomes an important lesson for all drivers is when we look more closely at the injuries. The driver of the pick-up truck, a 37-year-old St. Helens man, is reported to have been taken to a Portland-area hospital in critical condition. In the car, the driver, a woman from Longview, Washington, was also injured along with three of her four passengers. Unlike the man in the pick-up truck, however, the injuries to the people in the car are described as “non-life threatening.” In fact, one of the car’s passengers – a two-year-old – was not hurt at all.
The difference? Everyone in the car was “using safety restraints or in a child booster seat,” and the three children in the car were all in the back. In contrast, the driver in the pick-up was not wearing a seat belt or other “safety restraint” the station reports, citing the Oregon State Police.
Any Oregon injury traffic accident is tragic, but it would be difficult to find a clearer example of why seat belts, child seats and other safety devices – and their proper use – matter. Especially noteworthy is the fact that the toddler was the only person uninjured in the crash – surely an affirmation of the life-saving power of proper child seats, properly installed. As a Portland car accident lawyer who sees the sad consequences of reckless driving all too often, it is good to be reminded how much good can come from the simple act of buckling up.
