It was a deadly weekend on the roads near Kansas City. A pair of car accidents led to two fatalities and several other serious personal injuries.
Fatal Truck Accident Near Kansas City
The first fatality happened in a truck accident in Olathe, Kansas, on the southwestern outskirts of Kansas City. A woman was driving southbound on Interstate 35 at 2am when she slammed into the back of a tractor-trailer on the shoulder of the highway. The driver of the car died from her injuries, though the trucker was unhurt in the accident.
The crash was bad enough to shut down the highway for several hours in the early morning. Police are still investigating the accident to see why it occurred.
Car Accident Leaves One Dead and Two Injured
The second fatality happened in a car accident later in the morning in Kansas City. According to police reports, a Honda was driving westbound on Interstate 70 near the baseball and football stadiums when another vehicle merged onto the highway from Blue Ridge Cutoff.
While police are still investigating exactly what happened, it’s clear that the two vehicles collided and hit the concrete barriers dividing the highway. The Honda flipped over the separators and ended up in the eastbound lanes of I-70.
The driver of the Honda was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash. The two passengers in the Honda – both teenagers – were brought to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the other car that was involved was not hurt.
Kansas City One of the Safest Cities for Driving
Despite the terrible weekend, Kansas City and the surrounding area are frequently cited as some of the safest urban areas for driving.
A study done by the website NerdWallet found that Kansas City and Olathe – the locations of each of these fatal accidents – were among the safest in the nation. Residents in Kansas City are tied with those from Brownsville, Texas, for the most amount of time between accidents. Kansas City natives only get into a car accident once every 13.3 years, on average.
Olathe and neighboring Overland Park, both in the Kansas City metropolitan area, both made it into the study’s ten safest cities for driving. Olathe came in at 10th, while Overland Park ranked 6th. Both areas had a low number of fatal car accidents per 100,000 residents: Olathe only had 1.5, while Overland Park had 1.6.
St. Joseph Car Accident Attorneys at the Smith Law Office
The low number of car accidents that happen in and around Kansas City means that fewer people get seriously hurt in crashes. Even if you’re not in a car crash, this helps you, as well by keeping your car insurance payments down.
Nevertheless, as these two fatal accidents show, accidents still happen. When they do, and you’re the one who gets hurt, you deserve to be compensated for your losses. That’s where the car accident and personal injury attorneys at the Smith Law Office can help. Contact us online or call our St. Joseph law office at (816) 875-9373 to get the legal representation that you need to make a full recovery.