Even the best drivers sometimes make misjudgments in the amount of time they have to pull out in front of another vehicle. The more experience a driver has, the easier such judgments become. While teenage drivers may have faster reflexes than older drivers, their lack of experience can easily lead to an accident. A North Carolina teenager faces charges in an accident that led to the serious injury of another driver.
A 26-year-old male was headed east in a pickup truck on a North Carolina road in early April. As he was travelling, the 16-year-old driver of a van attempted to turn west in front of him. The truck hit the front of the van before running of the road and landing in a ditch. The pickup driver sustained injuries requiring him to be air-lifted to an area hospital.
The teenage driver was uninjured. However, she has been charged with failure to yield the right of way to the truck driver. Initial reports indicating that the young driver was talking on her cell phone at the time of the accident were later refuted.
The criminal court will presumably hear the charges and, if a conviction is obtained, assign any punishments it sees fit for the incident that resulted in serious injury to another driver. This, however, may not help the injured driver. He will likely face high medical bills and may perhaps have to miss time from work while he heals from the injuries. He retains the right to file a personal injury lawsuit in a North Carolina civil court. If the civil court determines the accident was a result of the teenager’s negligence, it could decide to allocate a monetary award to the man to compensate him for his medical bills, missed work and other damages permissible under our state laws.
Source: Carteret County News-Times, “Driver charged (update),” Helen Outland, April 11, 2013