An 86-year-old man died in a fatal Orange County car accident on May 16, 2009 after his sedan hit another vehicle on the 55 Freeway in Orange and overturned several times down an embankment, ejecting the motorist into a nearby parking lot. According to an article in The Orange County Register, the fatal rollover accident occurred on the southbound 55 south of Lincoln Avenue when the Yorba Linda man, driving a 1998 Honda, tried to change lanes and struck a 2005 Ford driven by a 22-year-old Anaheim man, California Highway Patrol officials said. The driver of the Ford was not personally injured. The elderly driver of the Honda has not yet been identified.

I offer my deepest sympathies to the family of this deceased victim who died in this horrific car accident. Please keep them in your prayers. I’m relieved that the other driver was not injured in this Orange County car collision.

According to California Highway Patrol’s 2007 Statewide Integrated Traffic Reporting System, there were 10 fatalities and 814 injuries relating to car accidents in the city of Orange. In Orange County as a whole, 178 deaths and 14,185 personal injuries were reported as a result of car accidents in 2007.

Based on this newspaper report, it is hard to tell who was at fault for this fatal Orange County car collision. Either one of the drivers may have been at fault. The elderly driver may have not looked properly before changing lanes. The other driver may have been traveling too fast or may have accelerated not allowing the driver of the Honda to change lanes. I would also be curious to find out whether there was seatbelt failure in the Honda during this rollover crash. The newspaper article does not mention that the man was not wearing his seatbelt. So if he was buckled up, why was he ejected from the car?

The family of the deceased man would be well advised to contact an experienced Orange County car accident attorney who is also well versed in dealing with auto product liability cases. The Honda should be preserved in its current crashed state, unaltered, so it can be examined for seatbelt defects, mechanical malfunction and other evidence.