By Jim Lewis, Eastern Shore Accident Lawyer

A mother was driving down U.S. Route 13 in Accomac, Virginia (VA) when she reportedly fell asleep at the wheel of her PT Cruiser, drifted to the other side of the road, overcorrected, and wound up flipping the car multiple times. Her 7-year-old child was in the back seat and wound up suffering fatal injuries, according to delmarvanow.com. The mother, and a passenger in the front seat, suffered serious injuries as well.  

This is a terrible accident. Losing anyone in a sudden accident is heartbreaking, but to lose someone so young makes the loss that much more gut wrenching.

Drowsy/sleepy driving is a major problem in this country. Roughly 60 percent of drivers admit they have driven a vehicle while feeling sleepy in the past year, and 37 percent admit to have fallen asleep while driving, according to a study by the National Sleep Foundation.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 100,000 car crashes every year are the direct result of a tired driver. This leads to an estimated 1,550 lives lost and 71,000 injuries, according to drowsydriving.org.

This may sound like common sense, but many people appear to ignore it – if you are feeling tired while driving, pull over and take a break.

You’d be amazed at how a 15-30 minute break from driving can re-energize your batteries. Maybe stop at a Sheetz or your local gas station and grab a cup of coffee. The worst thing you can do is continue to push yourself and potentially dose off while you’re driving.

As we saw from the Accomac accident, drowsy driving can have horrific consequences. Our firm has experience handling cases involving family members. For example, we represented a wife who was injured by her husband who got into a wreck while driving a rental car on the wrong side of the road. We advised her she could file a suit against her husband because this way the rental car company would be forced to apply its insurance to protect/defend her husband, the at-fault driver. We totally understand how awkward filing suit against a family member can be, but if it the best course to help compensate you and your family, a suit should be pursued.

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton is a Virginia injury law firm handling Eastern Shore VA injury accident law and we have handled thousands of car and truck accident cases, including many on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Check out our case results to see for yourself. We are familiar with Route 13, including people from Accomack, Onancock, Chincoteauge, Wachapreague, and Cape Charles, Bloxom, Eastville, Exmore, Greenbackville, Machipongo, Mappsville, Melfa, Nassawadox, Onley, Tangier, Temperanceville, Wachapreague, and Wallops Island. We provide free injury case consultations, so call us toll free at 1-800-752-0042. Our injury attorneys also host an extensive injury law video library on Youtube. Rick Shapiro and James Lewis were included among the “Best Lawyers in America” 2010 Edition. These two, along with fellow attorney John M. Cooper were named 2010 Virginia “Super Lawyers” For Personal Injury Law (less than 5% of outstanding lawyers are chosen), and our firm includes attorneys selected by the National Million Dollar Advocates Forum. In addition, we were the first injury law firm in Virginia to join Primerus, a select group of highly ethical, respected law firms. We provide this blog as a pro bono public service.

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