What should you do when someone you love is severely injured or killed in a car accident?
Nearly everyone who has been driving for years has undergone the shock, fear, inconvenience, and often physical or emotional pain of an auto accident. Fortunately, for most people, car accidents do not involve severe injuries or death. In most cases, the worst those involved have to contend with are dented cars, angry drivers, complicated insurance forms, possible towing, and the frustration of being without a working vehicle while their own cars are being repaired. Some people, of course, only wish their car accidents had been that easy.
For too many people vehicular accidents result in terrible injuries and/or death. Victims of such collisions are frequently faced with surgery, long periods of recovery, disfigurement, permanent disabilities or even death. A recent accident on Long Island is just another piece of evidence that driving is not as safe as it often seems. This crash, which occurred along Montauk Highway near South Country Road, resulted in one fatality and one life-threatening injury.
The Circumstances of the Collision
This particular accident occurred as two cars, driven in opposite directions, one driven by a man and the other by a woman, collided head-on at 2:15 a.m. The man, identified as Gregory Goodley, age 45, of Shirley, was killed; the woman, Rebecca Davis, age 22, of Bellport, was seriously injured. Both Goodley and Davis were driving Fords — Goodley a Mustang and Davis a Focus. Davis was airlifted to Stony Brook University Medical Center; Goodley was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Dangerous Curve Has Been the Site of Too Many Accidents
The stretch of Montauk Highway at which the fatal accident took place curves as it connects with South Country Road. The spot is infamous and has been the scene of many accidents. As a matter of fact, the collision in question took place almost directly in front of a roadside memorial commemorating a previous fatal accident.
Police records show that in January 2015 Orlando Heinecker, age 35, was killed at the same spot when he was ejected from his vehicle during a three-car crash involving a drunk driver. In December 2010, Scott Albrecht was killed as he drove home from work when a drunk driver crossed into his lane and hit him. In the most recent accident, as far as has yet been determined, no alcohol or drugs were involved.
Al Emmarino, the owner of A&D Collision, a business very close to the scene of the accident, remarked: “I’ve seen numerous accidents over at this intersection here. The road’s kind of very busy. The turn, it’s fast, and people are just driving way too fast.” He elaborates that there are no traffic lights, no stop signs, “nothing to slow anybody down.”
The Awful Tentacles of a Serious Car Accident
Car accidents involve much more than the vehicles involved and their drivers and passengers. Apart from the damage or destruction of the cars that collided, the pain and suffering of those injured, the risks taken by emergency workers who rush to help, and the traffic jams that sometimes cause other accidents or delays of emergency vehicles, serious car accidents affect all those connected to the victims — spouses, parents, children, siblings, other relatives, close friends and colleagues. For intimate family members, the serious injury or death of a loved one has devastating, life-altering consequences, financial and logistical as well as emotional.
This is why it is essential for victims and their families to be aware of their legal recourse when a serious car accident occurs. If the accident was the fault of another person, or of a municipality or public authority, an experienced personal injury attorney should be contacted promptly. A skilled personal injury lawyer will protect their interests and get them the compensation they deserve.