Multi-vehicle crash
HAINES CITY, Fla. — A 59-year-old man driving at an excessive rate of speed crashed into two other cars, killing himself, a nine-year-old child, and critically injuring the child’s mother. Polk County sheriff’s deputies and officers from the Haines City police department received the emergency call around 10:30 p.m. on Saturday night, reporting a devastating accident on US7/92. According to Fox 13 News, the 59-year-old driver hit the rear of one car, lost control, went into the opposite lane and plowed into a Toyota 4-Runner driven by a 34-year-old woman. Her nine-year-old child required a med flight to the nearest trauma center. Sadly, that child died at the hospital. The critically injured woman had another child in the car with her. The surviving child, whose age was not disclosed, sustained non-life threatening injuries. The speeding driver was ejected from his vehicle and died at the scene. Deputies said the speeding driver was not wearing a seat belt.
We have all heard that speed kills. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has the facts to support that assertion. According to the NHTSA, speeding is one of the riskiest behaviors in which a driver could engage. The NHTSA attributed 9.378 deaths in 2018 to speeding crashes in the U.S. Astoundingly, 49 percent of all speeders involved in crashes resulting in one death in 2017 were not wearing a seatbelt. Almost one-third of all fatal speed-related crashes involved a male between the ages of fifteen and twenty.
Speeding causes many otherwise preventable accidents. When speeding, drivers have greater difficulty maintaining control over their vehicles. Speeding also increases stopping distance and reduces the effectiveness of safety devices installed in cars. The result is more deaths and serious injuries than crashes involving vehicles traveling at or near the speed limit.
The NHTSA espouses several motives for a person to drive at high speeds. One of the most common reasons is disregarding the law and the safety of others. Some people take it upon themselves to drive aggressively at the risk of killing another.
