According to police, Jacob Laird, 19, of Springboro was northbound on Shermansville Road, just north of Agnew Road, when he lost control for unknown reasons. His Pontiac Grand AM veered off the east side of the road into a ditch and rolled. His passenger, an unidentified 17 year old girl, was injured in the Crawford County car crash and flown by helicopter to Hamot Medical Center in Erie, Pennsylvania. Mr. Laird was also injured in the Pennsylvania car accident and transported to Hamot.
By report, neither of the young people was wearing a seatbelt.
We hope that both of these young people recover without incident. We are particularly concerned for the unidentified young lady. A life flight indicates something about the serious nature of the injuries but, fortunately, we’ve known many people who recover quite well from injuries that required a life flight and so we are optimistic about her prospects.
The article does not explain how the young man lost control but it certainly does not indicate that any other vehicle was involved. It is likely that he was at fault in this car accident.
The fact that neither driver in this Meadville car accident was wearing a seatbelt is legally meaningless in Pennsylvania. Such information is not admissible in a civil trial (if there ever is one) and cannot be considered by the insurance companies who will ultimately be involved in this case. However, I cannot stress enough how important it is for people to wear seatbelts. I have said this here before and will say it again many times. I have handled more than a thousand (if not thousands) Pennsylvania car accident cases and I have never seen a single car accident in which someone suffered a serious injury because of wearing a seatbelt. However, I have seen many examples of grotesque injuries and deaths that would have been avoided had the person only worn a seat belt. So, wear your seat belts!