Four-Vehicle Crash on Long Island Injures 4 Students

On October 31, a four-vehicle accident on Long Island resulted in serious injuries to four students.

The crash occurred at approximately 3 p.m. at Dutch Broadway and Elmont Road in Elmont. One of the vehicles involved in the accident left the road, hit a tree and a pole then struck the four children before flipping over and coming to rest in a nearby yard. The three girls and one boy were between the ages of 15 and 16 and had just left Elmont High School.

Two of the girls were in critical condition after the accident, while the other two were in serious condition. Police were still investigating how the accident occurred.

Determining liability in multivehicle accidents

In accidents involving more than two vehicles, liability is not always easy to determine. Chain-reaction accidents can be a result of negligence on the part of a single driver, but can also be caused by carelessness on the part of multiple people.

Below are a couple examples of multivehicle accident scenarios and the liability issues they pose:

• Driver A blows through a red light and broadsides Driver B, which causes Driver B to crash his car into Driver C. Both Driver B and C were proceeding through the intersection with a green light. In such a case, even though Driver B (and not Driver A) hit Driver C, Driver A would still be considered at fault and liable for damages.
• Driver A has to stop suddenly due to a hazard in the road. Driver B slams into Driver A, and Driver C is unable to stop and hits Driver B, and then Driver D runs into Driver C. Every car in this scenario from Driver B backwards did not stop in time. In such a case, each of those three driers would be considered responsible for the damages caused to the driver they rear-ended. Driver A is not at fault.

For more information on liability in auto and pedestrian accidents involving multiple vehicles, consult an experienced personal injury lawyer with Jakubowski, Robertson, Maffei, Goldsmith & Tartaglia, LLP.