Iowa State Patrol Fatality Reports for Saturday, February 26, 2011.

Getting back to today's accident reports I've covered the first wrong-way interstate highway accident from I-29 in another report. The second reported accident occurs because according to the report one driver ran a stop sign. That's a failure to yield case and 99.9% of the time will result in the non-yielding driver being held responsible. In this instance a person died as a result of the impact between the F-250 and F-350 pickup trucks. I covered this last week so I won't get into it again. Let's just say if the ISP report is accurate it has vehicle 1 running the stop sign and being struck by vehicle 2. That would boil down to the F-250 being driven by Jeffrey Clendenen being the at-fault driver and Richard Diltz, the driver of the F-350 being free of negligence so far as we are able to tell from this report. The passengers in the F-250 and in the F-350 of course have no liability and shouldn't have problems with having their claims honored by the insurance companies involved. A 39-year-old passenger lost her life in this collision. [Amy Lynn Rogers] What made the driver not stop at the stop sign? Without investigating, talking with the passengers, drivers and viewing the scene no attorney would be able to determine what if any distractions were taking place just prior to the accident.  Location: 500^th Street and 270^th Street, Story County, Iowa. Follow this link to see the location. There don't' appear from Google Maps to be any buildings that might obstruct a driver's view. Cell phone? I'll attempt to put the location map in this blog but I'm not sure it will work; if not just follow this link.

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In the third collision in Jackson County we have a weather related condition, fog that contributes to the environmental conditions making the driver of vehicle 1 not see an oncoming semi-truck and according to the report that driver pulled out right in front of an oncoming semi-truck. The point of impact is in the right side lane of Highway 61 southbound and the driver's side gets plowed into by the semi-truck. Ordinarily I would say the driver failing to yield at the stop sign is the one totally at fault, but in this instance the weather may be a factor that would require drivers on 61 to slow down, to drive slower than the speed limit in order to allow other drivers more time to react. In other words if the driver of the semi were driving slower the accident might never have occurred. That could be true because of the time and distance involved. Without more information I can't say that the driver of the semi-truck would be determined to be negligent and I say that because there isn't enough information to be gleaned from the police report that would allow me to determine the semi-truck speed. The report indicates the speed limit to be 55-mph. There is nothing in the report about the truck's speed. So no firm conclusions can be deducted from the known facts. [Drivers: Marcella Amling from Bernard, Iowa and she died. Craig McKillip from Atalissa, Iowa driving the semi-truck and insured with Bennett Grain.]

Also, I did notice along with fog the report indicates smoke as a ‘weather condition' and that I would be curious to know more about. What is the source of any ‘smoke' because that might also lead another party that may be liable because they caused an artificial or man-made condition that interferes with the public's right-of-way, U.S. Highway 61. Recently I ran across a ‘fog' condition that was created by an ethanol plant in Minnesota and reported about it. I don't see any mention of such an artificial condition in this case, but the issue of ‘fog' is one lawyers need to be curious about and not just assume a report of ‘fog' is accurate. Vapor fog from an ethanol plant can be considered a nuisance to drivers on the highways and roads of America. Obviously this is a very interesting accident to investigate and a very unfortunate event for this young middle-aged woman that lost her life. We wish them well in Jackson County, Iowa.

Did ethanol plant vapor discharge obstruct a driver's vision ... Jan 27, 2011 ... Frankly I'm not sure without knowing more about the accident sequence and whether the driver should not have pulled out from safety.  www.lombardilaw.com/.../did-ethanol-plant-vapor-discharge-obstruct-a- drivers-vision-causing-a-dangerous-condition.cfm - Cached

Alright let us continue on the fourth and final fatal accident has one of the longest narratives I've ever read in an Iowa State Patrol report. There are two diagrams. Because of the significance of this case I'll be carrying it as a single post but here I'll simply give a boiled down version. We have a man who is a passenger in a car that stops on I-80. He exits the vehicle and then for unknown or unstated reasons ends up walking on westbound I-80. As the report indicates he then lies down on the road and is run over by a car. Why did the car in which he was a passenger stop? Why did he get out of the car? Why did he begin walking on I-80? Why did he lie down on I-80? What was going on that night and in his life that would compel him to do such a thing? What do the people in that car in which he was a passenger say was going on that night? All of this is very bothersome to me. [Date: 2/13/2011, time 12:03 a.m., location Johnson County, Iowa, westbound lanes of I-80 measuring 1343 feet east from I-80 and Ireland Avenue.]

Crash:

Minimal Reports

A crash occurred in Woodbury County on February 21, 2011

VEH 1 WAS TRAVELING WRONG DIRECTION (SB) ON I-29 IN NB LANE VEH 1 COLLIDED HEAD ON WITH VEH 2 ON I-29 NB NEAR 131 MM SEATBELT USE UNKNOWN AT THIS TIME ACC STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION ISP ASSISTED BY WOODBURY CO SO, IOWA DOT, MERCY AIR CARE, SLOAN AND SALIX FIRE & EMS, SIOUXLAND PARAMEDICS

A crash occurred in Story County on February 17, 2011

VEH 1 NB ON 500TH AVE AND RAN A STOP SIGN AND WAS STRUCK BY VEH #2 ON PASSENGER SIDE VEH #2 WAS WB ON 270TH OR E-57

Full Reports

A crash occurred in Jackson County on February 16, 2011

UNIT #2 WAS SOUTH BOUND ON HIGHWAY 61 AT D-61. UNIT #1 STARTED EAST BOUND FROM THE STOP SIGN AND WAS UNABLE TO SEE UNIT #2 DUE TO FOG. UNIT #2 STRUCK UNIT #1 ON THE DRIVERS SIDE.

A crash occurred in Johnson County on February 13, 2011

A PASSENGER IN A VEHICLE THAT WAS STOPPED ON THE RIGHT SHOULDER OF THE WEST BOUND EXIT RAMP TO TIFFIN, EXIT #237, EXITED THE VEHICLE AND WALKED EAST BACK DOWN THE RAMP. THE PEDESTRIAN THEN WALKED INTO THE TRAFFIC LANES OF WESTBOUND I-80. AFTER NEARLY BEING STRUCK BY A SEMI TRACTOR TRAILER AND AN AUTOMOBILE, THE PEDESTRIAN BECAME PRONE OR NEARLY PRONE NEAR THE CENTERLINE OF THE WESTBOUND LANES OF I-80. IT IS UNCLEAR WHY THE PEDESTRIAN WAS NO LONGER UPRIGHT. VEHICLE #1 WAS WESTBOUND ON I-80 WHEN THEY STRUCK AND RAN OVER THE PEDESTRIAN AS HE WAS PRONE OR NEARLY PRONE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WESTBOUND LANES. DRIVER #1 STOPPED MOMENTARILY, 1/8 TO 1/4 MILE DOWN THE ROAD AND CHECKED THEIR VEHICLE BUT SEEING NO DAMAGE, CONTINUED ON HIS WAY. DRIVER #1 CLAIMS HE WAS NOT AWARE THAT THE OBJECT HE HAD STRUCK IN THE ROADWAY WAS A PERSON. VEHICLE #2 WAS ALSO WESTBOUND ON I-80 AND DRIVER #2 SAW AN OBJECT LYING IN THE TRAFFIC LANE AHEAD AND ATTEMPTED TO STEER TO THE RIGHT TO AVOID IT. DRIVER #2 THEN RECOGNIZED THAT IT WAS A PERSON LYING IN THE ROAD. THE FRONT LEFT TIRE OF VEHICLE #2 RAN OVER THE LOWER LEG OF THE BODY AND DRIVER #2 PULLED TO THE LEFT SHOULDER OF THE ROAD AND STOPPED, ATTEMPTED TO RENDER AID TO THE VICTIM, AND REMAINED AT THE SCENE.