County: Harrison County, Ohio

City: Short Creek Township, Ohio

Date: September 4, 2010

Type: Fatal One-Car Accident
 
According to the Ohio State Patrol, a one-car accident early Saturday morning on State Route 519 killed a man. The 47-year-old Dillonvale man hit a tree after he drove his van off the left side of the road. The man was pronounced dead at the site of the crash. The crash remains under investigation.

One-car accidents involving immovable objects such s trees or telephone poles often end up causing serious injuries or death when the vehicle is traveling at higher speeds.  This is because the force of the impact is completely transferred into the body of the vehicle striking the rigid tree or pole. This transfer of force not absorbed by the crumbling body panels ends up being transferred directly into the bodies of the occupants of the vehicles. Since force at impact equals mass times acceleration, the higher the speed of travel, the more force that enters the relatively frail human body.  Even with seat belts, the forces on the neck and back can be catastrophic.  When two cars hit, they each absorb some of the impact through parts of the front of the car being designed to absorb some of the impact. In cases such as this, there is only one vehicle to absorb all the forces, and it is not always enough to save the lives of the occupants. Our prayers go out to the family involved with this accident. As this accident illustrates, cars are deadly objects, not just to people they may hit, but to the occupants of the vehicle themselves.
 
In 2008, Harrison County, Ohio (population 15,856) had a total of 336 reported accidents, with 105 of those being injury crashes. Short Creek Township, Ohio (population 1,012) had a total of 38 reported accidents in 2008. 27 people were injured in these crashes.


If you've been seriously injured or have lost a loved one in a Short Creek Township truck / car accident, call the Harrison County auto accident and wrongful death attorneys / lawyers at Chester Law Group at 1-800-218-4243 or order your FREE BOOK entitled The Insider’s Guide to Handling Ohio Accident Claims at www.ChesterLaw.com.