Nancy Catherine Griffin, 55, of Kernersville, North Carolina lost her life on November 12, 2010 when she lost control of her car on NC Highway 109 near Thomasville.
Ms. Griffin was driving her green Subaru down the southbound lane of the highway at an estimated 55 mph—the authorized speed limit on that stretch of the road—when she somehow lost control of the vehicle. She crossed the centerline, swerved right and overcorrected left. When she crossed over the centerline the second time, her car collided with a small school bus travelling in the northbound lane.
Sonia Ivette Perez, 45, of Valdese, was driving the school bus owned by the Western NC School for the Deaf. She and her passenger, Rebecca Jean Shelton, 36, of Morganton, each sustained injuries and were taken to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem. Though substantial, their injuries are not considered life-threatening.
This fatal accident is truly regrettable, and hopefully not another one caused by unnecessary cell phone usage or driving distractions. It is not evident that investigations are still ongoing, but the families of all three victims deserve to know as much about the collision as possible. A free accident report is available on egertonlaw.com.
One Comment
Harvey McFadden
" I did not think I was going too fast". A common remark from people losing control of front wheel drive vehicles. What the average person and some experts are not aware of is that there can be as high as 950 pounds or more weight on the front axle of their vehicle than the back. So a car that feels like a limousine on the front holds like a golf cart on the back
A 3000lb car with a weight ratio of 65% front weight and 35% rear weight will weigh 1950lb on the front and 1050lb on the rear. After you use 10 gallon of fuel from the rear tank one of the front wheels has as much traction as both rear combined.
If you analyze single vehicle accidents you will find most of them had better tires on the front than the back or a very large weight difference. In fact the worst balanced cars have 4 times as many fatalities as cars designed with better balance. How are you going to tell how fast is too fast under these conditions when it is possible for a balanced car to handle fine on a slippery surface at 50 mph and an unbalanced car to lose control at 20 mph and both to feel the same to the drivers.
Society of Automotive Engineers paper 2002-01-0553 shows any decrease of tread depth from new of the rear tires can contribute to an accident.
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