A 51-year-old man driving in Wayne County struck another vehicle while attempting to allegedly avoid hitting a deer. The car wreck became fatal when the 30-year-old driver from Jesup died at the scene.
Georgia state troopers reported that the accident occurred on the afternoon of July 12. The man was driving southbound on Oglethorpe Road when a deer appeared in the road. The man apparently swerved his 2007 Chrysler 300 into oncoming traffic to miss the animal and hit the other driver in his 1992 Saturn head-on.
A collision reconstruction team was tasked with examining the crash site. Apparently the deceased man was only wearing a shoulder seat belt and died from his injuries sustained in the accident. The driver who swerved to miss hitting the deer was wearing both a lap and shoulder belt and recovered at a nearby hospital. The man will not be charged with anything until the reconstruction team finishes their analysis.
If the Georgia driver is charged, the family of the deceased may make the decision to file a civil suit. These type of suits can be time consuming and inconvenient to a grieving family that doesn’t have skilled representation. In cases such as this one, an attorney may be able to work with the family to pursue compensation for funeral expenses as well as their pain and suffering. Legal representatives may be able to work with the police department to collect sufficient evidence of the damages involved in the incident in order to establish a case.
Source: The Florida Times-Union, “Jesup man dies in crash when another driver swerves to miss deer, state patrol says,” July 15, 2013
Source: Savannah Morning News, “Ga. driver swerves to miss deer, hits car head-on”, July 15, 2013