A two-vehicle collision in North Carolina left one woman dead and sent two people to the hospital on Aug. 7. The car accident occurred when one of the vehicles involved, a Volkswagen Jetta driven by a 54-year-old Vilas woman, crossed the center line of N.C. Highway 194 and struck a pickup truck that was traveling in the opposite direction.
The accident occurred around 4 p.m. near Howard’s Creek Road in Watauga. The woman was driving south when her Jetta traveled off of the shoulder of the highway, causing her to overcorrect and enter the northbound lane, where she struck the pickup truck. The force of the impact caused the truck to roll onto its side. It came to a stop on the roadside guardrail on the northbound side of the highway. The guardrail apparently prevented the truck from falling into a roadside embankment. The 54-year-old woman’s Jetta came to a stop in the southbound lane facing north.
The woman suffered fatal injuries in the crash. A helicopter crew airlifted the pickup truck’s driver, a 47-year-old Vilas man, to Johnson City Medical Center. The man’s injuries were described as non-life-threatening. The 19-year-old West Jefferson man riding in the truck received treatment at Watauga Medical Center and was later released.
The Jetta’s driver may have been distracted, causing her to drift off of the roadway and overcorrect to get back in the southbound lane. Victims who are involved in rollover accidents often suffer from serious injuries that may require long recovery periods, leaving victims out of work temporarily or permanently. Personal injury attorneys are sometimes able to help victims file suit against the estates of deceased negligent drivers.
Source: Watauga Democrat, “UPDATE: One killed, two injured in 194 crash“, Jesse Campbell, August 07, 2014