According to recent reports, a man on his moped suffered what police described as life-threatening injuries after an accident on a local bridge. Sadly, the woman riding as a passenger on the moped died shortly after being transported from the scene of the auto accident to a nearby hospital.
According to authorities who investigated the crash, the driver of a sedan plowed into the moped from behind. As the vehicle pushed the moped along the road, both the driver of the moped and the passenger were thrown off of the vehicle violently. The woman who died landed on the roof of the car, while the driver of the moped landed in the street. The survivor was rushed to a nearby hospital for an emergency surgery.
The accident happened on a state road shortly after 10:30 p.m. Initially, police seemed to blame the accident on the moped, saying the vehicle did not have working lights on it. However, while of course it is important for mopeds to have working safety equipment, that does not mean that the victims have no case for compensation in this situation. Indeed, drivers of other vehicles still have some obligations to be mindful of the road in front of them, use their own headlights to detect hazards and, especially, keep a safe following distance from all other vehicles on the road.
Missouri is what is called a comparative fault state. This means that even if a victim was partially responsible for his or her own injuries, he or she can still recover partial compensation, that is, compensation that apportions the fault among all parties in the case.
