The Orlando Sentinel reported on an incident in which a bystander who tried to help a disabled vehicle on I-4 died in a rear-end crash, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
The bystander slowed down her vehicle to help the disabled car, but the car behind her did not notice her slowing. She was rear-ended on the interstate and pushed into the vehicle on the shoulder.
Unfortunately, she was not wearing a seatbelt. The impact of the car behind her ejected her out of her vehicle and into the right lane of I-4. She was taken to the hospital in critical conditional Later, she died at a local hospital. The male driver that hit her car went off of I-4 and landed on Turkey Lake Road. He was wearing his seatbelt and only had minor injuries. The driver of the disabled vehicle also received injuries in the accident.
At the time in which the article was published, it is unclear whether charges will be filed against the driver who rear-ended the woman.
This is a tragic and sobering example of the differences between wearing a seatbelt or not. One car was rear-ended, and the driver got ejected onto the road. The other car crashed and fell off the interstate yet had injuries that were much less severe.
Let this be a lesson to all readers to wear your seatbelt at all times when you’re in a moving vehicle. Even a simple accident like this can kill you when you don’t have one on.
