Three Die in Two Separate Crashes This Week In Minnesota

In two motor vehicle highway collisions, three Minnesotans were killed this past weekend:

• Friday night, a driver was in the left lane of westbound I-94 lost control of his car while making a lane change and ended up in the ditch. The driver and passengers in a second vehicle stopped to help. A sport-utility vehicle rear-ended the second car and spun into the ditch, smashing into the first car. Two people were killed.

• Saturday morning, a SUV skidded off eastbound Hwy. 36 west of Rice Street in Roseville and went into a ditch killing the driver.

These deaths come a month and a half after the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (MDPS) report that more than 300 people have died so far this year in Minnesota traffic collisions. According to the MDPS calculations, 450 deaths are projected for 2008. This would be a drop from 510 in 2007.

As with any death in a Minnesota motor vehicle collision, there are a number of issues that will need to be reviewed. My partner, Joe Crumley, addressed this topic in a recent article for the Minnesota Lawyers Trial magazine. I was interviewed last year on the same topic. In all of these cases sorrow for the families of those involved goes out.