Driving comes with inherent dangers. Even if we reached a point where people quit driving while using their cell phones, quit driving while drunk or high, and quit breaking traffic laws to get to their destination 30 seconds earlier, auto accidents would likely still happen. But there are some high risk driving behaviors that take accidents from being rare and unavoidable to being likely and wholly avoidable. One such behavior is street racing.
Street Racing Recently Killed a Man in Reno
The Reno Gazette-Journal reports that illegal street racing is being blamed for a car accident that killed a man in Reno and injured a girl. Witnesses claim that several cars were racing at high speeds just before the incident occurred in the wee hours of the morning. The deceased man was a driver who was ejected from his car after he lost control and hit the center median. He was only 26 years old. His passenger, a 16-year-old girl, had to be hospitalized due to her injuries. Early reports on the incident hint that the deceased man may have been involved in the street races, but that is not yet 100% clear.
Reno Death Not an Isolated Incident
USA Today has previously reported on the dangers of street racing across the country. According to their report the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says that “153 people were killed in 122 crashes while racing between 2001 and 2010.” But this number is extremely misleading. This statistic only considers an accident to be “racing involved” if law enforcement charges a driving with a crime for racing. If, instead, one counts all of the accidents where investigators determined that racing was involved in an accident that number skyrockets to 1,047 deaths just between 2001 and 2008.
Innocent Bystanders at Risk
Obviously the people most endangered by this hobby are those who participate in it. But innocent bystanders can easily become victims of the racers’ irresponsible driving. One such example occurred a few years ago in North Carolina. In that incident two racers were racing at around 85 miles per hour. One of the drivers hit a Mercedes being driving by an English professor who was in no way involved in the race. The accident killed the English professor, her 2-year-old daughter, and a 13-year-old passenger in the racer’s car. Both of the racers were found guilty of crimes and sentenced to serve years in prison for manslaughter, but that does not undo any of the damage done to the families of those killed in this completely avoidable accident.
Call Naqvi Injury Law
If you or someone you love has been injured by street racing or some other type of negligent driving, you may be entitled to compensation. That is why you should call the experienced Las Vegas car accident attorneys at Naqvi Injury Law. When you call us at (702)553-1000 we can schedule a free case consultation. You deserve to have someone fight for you, and we would like to fill that role.