Drunk Driving

An Oregon car crash Wednesday left two people dead in Beaverton, highlighting in the most tragic way possible the need for caution behind the wheel as we head into this holiday weekend.

According to The Oregonian, the Washington County car accident took place at mid-afternoon on South Murray Boulevard. The driver “barely stopped for the red light” before making a right turn and then speeding up. The abrupt acceleration caused “the car to fishtail across both lanes, jump the curb and crash into” a concrete wall, the paper reports. A 54-year old man riding in the passenger seat was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. The driver, a 61 year old woman, was airlifted to a Portland hospital following the Oregon car accident, but died a few hours later.

Television station KGW quotes police investigating the accident saying both that speed “appears to have been” one cause of the Oregon single car accident, and that alcohol use may also have played a role.

Alcohol-related Oregon fatal car accidents and holiday weekends seem to have a grim connection. As the Daily Astorian notes, Memorial Day has long been the holiday weekend in Oregon most closely associated with alcohol-related fatalities. This year is no exception. According to the newspaper an Oregon drunk driver strayed over the center line of Highway 30 just east of Astoria Sunday night, striking a motorcyclist nearly head-on.

The motorcycle rider, who was wearing a helmet, was thrown from his bike and killed. Both the alleged drunk driver and his 13-year old daughter who was riding in the truck with him were uninjured. The Oregonian, quoting Oregon State Police, reported that the truck driver was arrested and charged with drunk driving, reckless driving, manslaughter and recklessly endangering another person (this is presumably a reference to the child in the truck).

Unmentioned by the media, but also worth considering as we think through the legal implications of this tragic Oregon fatal motorcycle accident, is where the alleged driver obtained his alcohol. If a bartender continued to serve the suspect or a store clerk sold him alcohol after he was obviously drunk that person too could be subject to legal action.

Articles Posted in Drunk Driving

Beaverton Car Crash Kills Two

Astoria fatal crash raises multiple legal issues