One person was killed and two more injured in a wrong-way accident that occurred Monday, March 19 on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard in Sarasota.
According to reports from the Florida Highway Patrol, a 50-year-old woman was driving her Ford Escape north in the southbound lanes of Lakewood Ranch Boulevard toward Endeavor Drive at approximately 12:30 p.m. She collided head-on with a Hyundai Santa Fe driven by a 68-year-old man from Lakewood Ranch.
A 98-year-old passenger in the Hyundai suffered fatal injuries, while the driver sustained minor injuries. Both were wearing their seatbelts. The driver of the Escape suffered serious injuries and had to be transported to a nearby hospital for treatment. She was also wearing her seatbelt.
Wrong-way accidents often deadly
Because wrong-way accidents typically involve head-on collisions, they tend to be quite serious in nature — often leading to severe injuries or fatalities. The most common causes of these accidents are driving while impaired, distracted driving and unclear signage, especially at highway entrance ramps.
In any circumstance, drivers are expected to always travel the correct way and obey all rules of the road. A failure to do so could, at the very least, result in liability for any injuries or deaths that occur. Many wrong-way drivers also face criminal charges.
If you or someone close to you has been seriously injured or killed in a wrong-way crash, you may need to seek compensation from those responsible. Learn more by consulting a dedicated Sarasota personal injury lawyer at Goldman, Babboni, Fernandez, Murphy & Walsh.