Earlier this month, a 32-year-old mechanic was killed as he tried to fix an immobile school bus along the shoulder of Interstate 805 under the El Cajon Boulevard overpass. The car accident occurred when a woman driving a Nissan Altima sedan lost control of her vehicle in the wet and rainy conditions and slammed into the San Diego Unified School District bus he was repairing.
The man was badly injured in the collision, and rescue workers found the mechanic wedged into the engine compartment of the bus with serious leg injuries. He was rushed to the hospital where doctors performed a surgery to amputate part of his left leg, but his condition worsened soon after that. The man never recovered, and shortly afterwards, he went into cardiac arrest and died. The sedan driver, a 41-year-old woman, was also seriously injured.
Police suspect the woman was driving too fast in the wet conditions. Parts of the highway near the accident were saturated with water, which can cause motorists to lose control of their vehicles when the tires lose traction with the road.
Even though drivers may be obeying the posted speed limit, this certainly doesn’t mean that they are permitted to drive at those speeds under adverse weather or other conditions. Negligent drivers often make this mistake, and the results can be tragic. When driving in limited visibility because of rain or other precipitation, or because of other factors like slowed traffic, people need to take extra precautions and drive defensively.
In these types of cases, family members of the deceased may be able to collect damages from the at-fault driver. These damages can include compensation for pain and suffering and medical expenses.
Source: Ramona Sentinel, “Ramona man dies after car hits San Diego school bus he was repairing in yesterday’s rain,” Dec. 14, 2012
