The police report her car was disabled by the crash and had stopped in the traffic lanes. Apparently, she exited the vehicle, and shortly after that, she was struck by her own vehicle as it was hit by another vehicle.
When the police arrived at the scene of the car accident, she was found deceased.
This situation is among the worse for any motorist to encounter, as remaining in your vehicle would be unsafe, because of the likelihood of the vehicle being struck by oncoming traffic.
At the same time, leaving a vehicle exposes a person to the risk of being struck directly by traffic, which would not expect to come upon an individual in an interstate highway lane, or, as was the case here, by debris from a secondary collision.
Safety features like seat belts, side curtain airbags, and laminated glass that keep vehicle occupants inside a vehicle are important. Rollover accidents are particularly deadly because they often lead to ejections of drivers and passengers.
Horrific accidents can result where occupants of vehicles are ejected onto roads and are struck by traffic in those lanes. Survivable crashes can quickly become fatal accidents in these situations. This is why police and other emergency personal always stress the importance of buckling up every time you get into your vehicle.
Source: Ajc.com, “I-285 southbound near the airport reopens following fatal wreck,” Mark Morris, February 6, 2014
