FORT SMITH, AR — Two people were taken to the hospital after an accident between an exterminator truck and a Jeep that happened in Fort Smith, Arkansas on Monday, May 4th, 2015. News reports out of central Arkansas said that the accident happened on Monday afternoon.
Fort Smith Police said that two people were hurt when the Ray’s Fort Smith Exterminator truck they were in and a Jeep Wrangler collided while driving near the intersection of Towson Avenue and Boxton Street. Authorities currently suspect that the Jeep swerved to avoid a collision with another car when it struck the exterminator truck in the lanes of oncoming traffic.
Both men in the pickup truck were taken to the hospital with unspecified injuries.
Fort Smith Police are working to determine what exactly happened in the accident.
Scene of the Accident
View of the Road
Commentary:
If everything I’ve read in the news turns out to be accurate, and the driver of the Jeep had to swerve to avoid a vehicle that was driving erratically, then people may be surprised to learn where the fault may actually lie in this accident. Even though there may not have been contact between the Jeep and the other vehicle, the other vehicle may be found responsible for what happened. We recently settled a case where a truck driver swerved, and a minivan had to veer off the road to avoid them. The minivan then lost control in the median and skidded into the path of an oncoming semi-truck. We later tracked down the truck that swerved in the first place, and that trucking company was found responsible for their role in the accident. Just because a two vehicles have no “contact” to speak of, doesn’t mean that one of them can’t be responsible for an accident. If a car runs a red light, and another car drives through their green light, only to take massive evasive action and crashes into a pole to avoid the red light runner, the red light runner would still bear fault in the accident, and this very may well be a similar case.
— Grossman Law Offices