• 26
  • January
    2012

This week has been all about distracted driving, and another auto accident just occurred on January 17 outside Chicago involving a fire engine on I-55 just north of U.S. 30. The fire truck was in the far left lane along with two police cars and an ambulance, all with their lights flashing and with orange cones surrounding the area. The emergency responders were there to assist a single-car accident that had left a vehicle in a ditch off the highway.

Police and firefighters were assisting victims of the first accident when a second car knocked over the line of orange cones and barely missed the police cars but sideswiped the fire engine, causing extensive damage to both the fire truck and the vehicle. The driver of the vehicle reported he had been distracted and did not see the emergency vehicles. Thankfully, no one was injured from the second wreck, but the driver is being charged with violating "Scott's Law," which sets high penalties for vehicles causing accidents at emergency roadside scenes.

The fact that a person can fail to see four emergency vehicles with flashing lights and orange cones is testament to how a preoccupied mind can easily block out visual cues.

Doehrman Chamberlain - Indianapolis accident attorneys