Two women died last Tuesday night in a two-car collision south of Flagstaff, Arizona.
They were driving northbound on Interstate 17 when their vehicle veered into the median and lost control around 9:30 p.m. The car then rolled through the median and into the southbound lanes, colliding with another vehicle.
The two women were ejected and pronounced dead at the scene.
There are many issues here to consider:
1. Why weren’t these women wearing their seat belts?
The fact that they were ejected makes lack of seat belt use likely; Seat-belts save lives.
The investigation from this accident is that three women in the car survived, but these two did not.
Sad.
2. What caused the vehicle to veer? Inattention or a mechanical defect? This needs to be explored.
3. It appears that there was no median barrier to prevent the car from traveling into the opposite lane of travel. Should there have been?
In the past recent years, many people have died on Arizona’s highways because the State refuses to install median barriers.
Like seat belts, median barriers save lives.
Per the State’s own experts, they are 95% in preventing crossover collisions.
So why are they not in place? Should they have been at this location?
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families.