A young Oregon driver is facing several criminal charges and traffic citations after a car accident on Highway 26 recently. The nineteen year-old driver is said to have caused injuries to himself and his passenger as he travelled through a highway work zone near Government Camp. No one working in the work zone was involved in the injury car accident.
The teen driver was heading through a posted work zone with a speed limit of 55-mph when the car accident happened, Oregon officials assert. In fact, a local officer noted that he clocked the driver at 87 mph as he entered the work zone. As the officer began to track the driver with the intent to make a traffic stop, the driver sped up to 94 mph in the work zone, according to a report.
This is when he lost control of his vehicle. The car crashed into a guardrail on the side of the roadway. The impact caused injury to both the driver and his passenger, though details as to the severity of those injuries have not been released. The man is now facing criminal charges including speeding, reckless driving, driving without a license or insurance and possession of marijuana.
The young driver that caused the car accident in this case may not only have to face criminal allegations from this tragic crash. He may also find that he is liable to his passenger for the injuries caused in the incident. This liability stems from personal injury laws that allow many victims in car accidents such as this one to recover financially from their injuries. The recovery may be able to assist the victim with costs such as lost wages that he suffered when he was involved in this car accident.
Source: oregonlive.com, “Damascus teenager crashes after speeding through Government Camp-area work zone,” Molly Harbarger, Oct. 15, 2012
