Virginia State Police are still unclear if a dump truck somehow came out of gear, or if it was never placed into gear in the first place during a recent and deadly incident. Either way, a woman from Boones Mill, Virginia lost her life in a fatal commercial vehicle accident that occurred in Boones Mill.
The victim was a 74-year-old woman who had been standing behind a dump truck when it rolled backwards, striking her and causing instant catastrophic fatal injuries. Authorities pronounced her dead at the scene.
Truck accidents have splashed across Virginia’s news outlets several times recently. On June 25, a garbage truck careened into the back of a residence in Pantops. Brake failure is blamed for that jarring incident, and both its driver and a fellow worker received minor injuries during the event.
Just one day earlier, on June 24, a man fell nearly one hundred feet down a ravine in Prince George’s County when he leapt out of the way of a tractor-trailer truck.
In that complicated accident, wildlife on the roadway wreaked havoc on local drivers who became entangled in their efforts to help one another. An earlier accident was joined by a second collision caused by a deer; shortly thereafter, multiple cars pulled over on the side of the road as drivers attempted to assist other motorists.
One would-be Good Samaritan — who stopped to lend a hand to another driver — saw a semi-truck coming his way and feared the worst. He jumped over the side of the roadway, not realizing it was a steep cliff until he had already taken the plunge. Thankfully, rescuers were able to retrieve him from the ravine and transport him for treatment.
Tractor-trailer accidents and crashes caused by commercial vehicles can be especially frightening for those affected. Often, the chain of events occurs so quickly that victims may not even know what literally hit them.
However, if those involved believe negligence was a factor, investigators, attorneys and victims will need to work together to determine if the ultimate responsibility lies with either the truck driver or the parent company of the operator.
Source: WSET – TV, “Dump truck runs over and kills Boones Mill woman.” June 24, 2012
