In heavily-populated areas, such as Northern Virginia, the urban and the suburban combine to make cities and neighborhoods unique. One drawback of such an area, though, is the significant congestion on local roads and highways. When someone gets into a car accident in a rural area, there is frequently just one or two cars involved. When a car crash takes place in a more populated locale, there is a chance that many more vehicles and injuries may be involved.
A recent auto accident in Virginia Beach involved nine vehicles in a set of chain reaction effects. The episode began when a police officer attempted to pull over a vehicle on suspicion of fictitious tags. Instead of pulling off to the side of the road, though, the 22-year-old driver apparently fled instead. His car spun out and struck a Ford Taurus as well as a Toyota 4Runner on Cleveland Street. The 22-year-old’s vehicle, still spinning, also hit two parked cars and may have pushed another parked car into yet another vehicle.
The driver then took off on foot, although he was later caught. In cases like these, witnesses can prove vitally important; in this instance, a witness noticed the suspect starting to run and the witness held the suspect until authorities arrived.
Fortunately, none of the occupants of the struck vehicles lost their lives in this convoluted crash. When a driver is speeding away from police, though, anything can happen and other drivers and pedestrians can inadvertently cross a reckless driver’s destructive path. In the Virginia Beach incident, flying debris damaged several cars while two people had to be taken to hospitals. The extent of personal injury from just a few moments of reckless or negligent driving is nearly unlimited, but accident victims have many rights under the law. A Virginia auto accident attorney can highlight these rights and assert them as necessary in order to help victims receive compensation for their damages.
Source: WTKR, “Driver charged after accident involving 9 cars in Virginia Beach,” Doris Taylor, Oct. 29, 2013
