Brandon Taylor, 34, of Roanoke, VA was killed Wednesday night on I-64 in Indiana. Brandon was a passenger driven by Sabrina Felton, 56, also of Roanoke. The pair was traveling in a 2010 Toyota Prius. State police reported that Ms. Felton had just passed a semi-truck and was traveling in the left eastbound lane when she saw a westbound Toyota Camry in her eastbound passing lane.
The Toyota Camry was being driven by Reuben Boswell, 89, of Henderson, Kentucky. Ms. Felton and Mr. Boswell were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Brandon Taylor was taken by lifeflight to St. Mary’s hospital. He died from his injuries.
Wrong-way Accidents
Unfortunately, wrong-way accidents occur more frequently than we realize. A quick google search using “wrong way fatal accidents” provides a list of fatal accidents that all occured on Interstates and all of the listed accidents occured at night. Three of the first ten accidents that appeared in this search all involved DUI. All of these accidents have occured in the first three months of this year.
Wrong-way accidents are most likely to occur on interstates because of the two-lane roads. Confused or impaired drivers turn down what they believe is an entrance ramp and find themselves on the highway. The immediately go to the left passing lane because they believe they are traveling on the right. Because it is an interstate, cars are traveling at high speeds. Tragically a head-on collision is almost always unavoidable at this point. In Wednesday night’s crash, driver Sabrina Felton tried to veer into the median. Unfortunately, her quick reaction did not save Brandon’s life. Police have not stated if the wrong-way driver tried to brake or swerve his vehicle to avoid the collision.
Police have not released any information about DUI or excessive speed, two common factors in wrong-way crashes. The wrong-way driver was 89 years old, not from Indiana and driving at night. This situation turned out to be deadly.
A photo published on the Dubuois County Herald showed a severly mangled white Toyota Prius. The passenger door had been cut or torn away and the front passenger seat was missing the headrest and did not look to be attached to the vehicle after the crash occured. Airbags had been deployed and the car appeared to have rolled at least once. Information about seat belt use has not been released.
If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident that was not your fault, call The Thomson Law Firm for a FREE consultation about your case. (540) 777-4900. There is no time limit for a FREE consultation and after-hours appointments are available. Get your questions answered at The Thomson Law Firm for FREE.
