Motor Vehicle Accident on Mississippi River Bridge at Baton Rouge Takes One Life

By the middle of March, over 12,000 people were injured in motor vehicle accidents on the roadways of the state of Louisiana, according to the Louisiana Traffic Safety Office. Over 72,000 were injured in motor vehicle accidents during all of 2014.

Although all motor vehicle accidents in Louisiana and elsewhere in the United States have their own unique fact patterns, a recent collision that occurred in Baton Rouge, on the bridge crossing the Mississippi River, is an example of how devastating such an event can be when it occurs.

Deadly Car Accident on Baton Rouge Area Bridge

The driver of a vehicle crossing the Mississippi River bridge at Baton Rouge thought he hit something while motoring. As a result, he pulled his car to a stop on the bridge.

The driver was not alone in the car. He was carrying passengers with. Indeed, when he brought the car to a stop on the bridge, one of his passengers (a woman in her early 20s) exited the motor vehicle.

As is the case with virtually any bridge, including this one crossing the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge, there exists no real space on which a person can safely bring a motor vehicle to a stop. Indeed, warnings commonly posted before the entrances to bridges advising motorists that stopping on bridges is not permitted.

The Collision on the Bridge

The facts surrounding the incident suggest that the female passenger exited the vehicle to see what, if anything, the driver may have hit. Directly after exiting the vehicle, a pickup truck motoring in the same lane came upon the scene. The driver of the truck did not realize the automobile was stopped on the bridge -- and at least partially, if not all the way, in the lane of traffic.

As a consequence of not realizing that the automobile had stopped, the pickup truck driver collided with the car that had been carrying to the young woman. Having been in a position in which she was examining the area around the parked car, the woman outside of that vehicle was struck.

She was pronounced dead at the scene. Reports remain unclear as to whether she was struck by the oncoming truck or by the parked car after it was struck by the truck.

Potential Negligence Associated with Baton Rouge Accident

In the end, only a qualified personal injury attorney is in a solid position of advising whether and who might be negligent in the type of accident just described. The reality is that when it comes to automobile accidents, more than one individual or other third party, may be negligent.

In the case of the Baton Rouge Accident, the driver of the first car might be deemed to be partially negligent for improperly stopping his vehicle on the Mississippi River bridge in the first instance. The driver of the pickup might be deemed negligent for a variety of reasons, perhaps including inattentive driving or speeding. Indeed, even the woman who exited the car may share in the negligence that resulted in her own death by exiting the motor vehicle on the bridge.

Determining the extent of negligence is a complicated task. This undertaken represents one of the more complex elements of many personal injury cases, including those arising from car accidents.