The Cycle of Life Around an Automobile

I found two recent newspaper articles of interest when you spend a lot of time around motor vehicle cases. In one story, a woman gave birth to a baby in a vehicle. The St Cloud Times reported that:

Debbie Petersen tells KSAX-TV she was up all night with pains she didn’t think were contractions. But that all changed around 4 a.m. Wednesday when her water broke at her Randall home.

The nearest hospital was in Brainerd, about a 30-minute drive. Her husband Chris was driving her when Petersen says she could feel the baby’s head emerge about a block from the hospital.

Petersen says the baby’s head and shoulders were out by the time the couple arrived at the emergency room. Doctors finished the delivery in her car in the parking lot.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Minneapolis Tribune had this story about a death:

The Ramsey County medical examiner’s office has ruled preliminarily that Gores died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Gores’ relatives said Thursday that they believe she accidentally left the car running in her attached garage, had dinner and then went to bed, falling victim to the carbon monoxide that filled her home.

Cars play such an important part of many people’s lives. They are dangerous if they are left unattended, but they also can get us places for protection. What’s interesting to me is that despite the clear involvement of the cars in each instance, there would be major questions if no fault benefits would be involved.

Both involved actions that deeply involved the car in each case. Both involve choices that didn’t expect to involve the car. But, each are cases that because of the cars involvement should at least be looked at and all benefits should be considered.