2 WOMEN DIE IN SEPARATE BRITISH COLUMBIA HIGHWAY ACCIDENTS

Police say that two women are dead and one person was airlifted to hospital after separate collisions on highways in the province during the final weekend of August. The crashes follow the province increasing speed limits on the roads earlier this year. Police say that they responded to several accidents by the end of Aug. 30.

One of the deceased women was from Ontario and died in a single-vehicle crash just south of Clearwater. The second woman died in a crash on Highway 97. The head-on car accident happened around 8:30 a.m. when a pickup truck that was travelling south crossed over the centre line and struck the Manitoba woman’s sedan. The impact caused the truck to land on top of a third vehicle and then burst into flames. The highway was closed for several hours in both directions.

Police say that while the Manitoba woman died, a male passenger in her car was hospitalized with serious injuries to his head. The pickup truck driver was also injured, but his injuries were not as serious. Police say that they believe speed to be a factor in the head-on collision.

When people die in car accidents, their surviving family members might be able to recover some of the damages under the Family Compensation Act. The act could provide the survivors with death benefits and reimbursement for funeral and burial expenses. The survivors may also be awarded payments to replace the income of the decedents and to reimburse any other out-of-pockets costs associated with the deaths. Certain family members of a decedent may also file a wrongful death claim if the death was caused by a third party’s act of negligence.

Source: CTV Vancouver , “Car crashes claim 2 lives on B.C. highways“, August 30, 2014